Tree of Snakes

By Hylton Smith

A rough sleeping man is brought to A&E. He died in hospital. The police were alerted that tests indicated he may not have died from natural causes. The incident spirals into a complex series of events which compel the police to get involved again. Reluctantly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hylton Smith
• Release date: Aug 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005754181

Hylton Smith

Born in the Northeast of England, I graduated from Newcastle University in Chemistry. My entire career has been in the manufacturing industry, first in research, then general management. After a number of years as the chief executive of a UK division of an American multinational corporation, I set up my own company, and in less than five years I was able to retire and turn to a boyhood yearning to write science fiction stories. This has gradually expanded to other genres such as alternate history and crime fiction.

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Published by Promethean

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © by Hylton Smith 2022

Chapter 1

October 2023

Day 1

The prospect of approaching retirement was gnawing away at his focus on the task in hand. With less than a month to go, Charles Keane, going on sixty years of age, and still sporting a silver Beatle hairstyle, twirled his engraved black propelling pencil between his fingers with impressive metronomic precision. Longing for a return to his social circle of friends was all he could he could think about, once he had shed the mandatory burden of confidentiality of the police force. That was about to change.

His most trusted Detective Inspector opened his office door without knocking. Liz Montgomery’s facial expression preceded the bad news. Uniform have just called in a possible suspicious death. Do you want me to check it out before you get involved? You know how these things go.

Where is the body?

In the hospital. Yes, I know, what has that got to do with us? The medical consultant trying to treat the patient couldn’t save him and his boss believes there is some evidence of being poisoned.

Does Her Majesty know about this?

Not yet, but that won’t take long. I can do the preliminary bullshit while you brief her. Until we speak to the doctor we can’t decide if our pathologist should be there.

Ok, Monty, smart move. Well, what are you waiting for? Keep me up to date by text.

The ascent staircase to the royal office gave him a short window of thinking time before anything was decided about his involvement in a new case. He was, for once, emboldened by his impending departure from office having been signed off, and therefore safe from subsequent alteration.

Good morning. DCI Keane. You’re unusually early to seek me out. It is Monday – and I don’t recall you ever presenting yourself before nine-thirty. What can I do for you?

He decided not to make this a formal discussion. I’ve despatched DI Montgomery to sketch in details of a strange death, in of all places, the city hospital. In view of my retirement, I wanted to alert you to this and ask how you want to proceed.

He was surprised by Chief Superintendent Harriet Conway’s response. Very well. Let me know when she returns and I’ll take it from there.

As if he was glued to the thick pile carpet and struck dumb, he remained silent. Conway spoke again. Was there anything else?

No, err…not, well, that’s fine. I’ll send her to brief you as soon as she gets back.

He convinced himself that this was good news, but there was still the thorny situation of his replacement. CS Conway was probably keeping something from him.

Meanwhile, the hospital staff weren’t making a lot of sense to Monty. The consultant who’d claimed there was reason to investigate foul play was in the midst of a lengthy life-threatening surgical procedure. Monty was also being confused by the disparity of claims in the statements she took. There had only been one nurse who witnessed the final moments of Gareth Beveridge’s life. Her account on its own seemed to be straightforward, in that she responded to continual beeping of the monitoring equipment, and adjusted oxygen supply before paging a senior doctor. However, some doubt was thrown upon this by another nurse who insisted that she was asked by the first responder to inform the duty doctor. On asking the two of them to explain the inconsistency they began to contradict one another, using several profanities in the process. When Monty called a halt to this fiasco, she demanded that the first nurse take her to see the doctor in question immediately. And make it snappy, I don’t have all day.

After approximately thirty minutes of total inactivity, Monty declared her intention to remove the body and take it to a police pathologist. This did manage to root out the doctor and he appeared quickly, clearly out of breath. He introduced himself and then said he couldn’t allow the body to leave the hospital until further tests were completed, and any next of kin could be contacted. Monty’s threshold of frustration was breached and she simply shrugged her shoulders, then delivered an ultimatum. You people contacted the police and implied there may have been grounds indicating foul play in this man’s death. You made an official request for police involvement, and it would appear that none of you can get your stories straight enough to be taken seriously. I’m afraid I have to advise my superiors that this constitutes lack of any evidence for the police to pursue. So, it’s back to you. Over and out. Goodbye.

*

Back at HQ Monty was about to unload the shambles from the hospital to her boss, but before she could utter a word he held up his hand and shook his head vigorously.

No, no, no. The throne room is where you need to be, on the strict instructions of Queen Harriet. I don’t want to hear a single word. So, off you go.

Yes, ok. But you need….

It’s an order, Monty, not a discussion. Close the door as you go please.

She was still trying to figure out how to describe the contradictory statements from hospital staff to CS Conway, without involving her boss in any way whatsoever.

You wanted to see me, Ma’am?

Oh, yes. Where is DCI Keane?

In his office, I think. I was told to come here immediately.

Fine. Take a seat and give me the short version of what you found at the hospital.

I’m afraid I couldn’t really be sure what transpired before or after this man’s demise. There is absolutely no corroboration in any of the individual statements. The one person who could have explained this was conducting intensive surgery, apparently on a seriously ill patient. I said there was no further action we could take unless our pathologist examines the body.

I see. As you well know, I have to account for every decision we take in these situations. My instinct is to demonstrate appropriate concern over a potential poisoning but insist on the hospital staff cleaning up their act. I have a good relationship with someone who’d be embarrassed by how you were treated so indifferently while attempting to make sense of their claim, which was reported by our uniformed response personnel. Tell DCI Keane I want to see him right away.

Am I able to tell him why, Ma’am?

Run along DI Montgomery. Time is of the essence when our reputation could come under scrutiny.

*

DCI Keane was close to losing his characteristic stoicism at being summoned to climb the stairway to hell yet again. You didn’t knock, I could have been interviewing someone.

I was told you wanted to see me immediately. Anyway surely your guard dog would have asked me to wait my turn.

Mm, true, but I do have an interview scheduled and I need to ask you a couple of questions about that.

Fine. Ask away.

Do you seriously still believe DI Montgomery is up to the task?

Of course, why would I backtrack on that? She’s more than capable.

I guessed you would put loyalty ahead of potential. I’ve just spoken with a friend at the city hospital who agreed to send the consultant who claimed this chap died of unnatural causes here to clarify what actually happened. I can’t rule out Montgomery having mishandled the situation. Therefore, I want you to meet with him.

No way. I’m on my way to regaining a life. Everything has been agreed and documented.

I know, but unforeseen difficulties can appear out of nowhere. I shall not gamble with our reputation by appointing a maverick officer to your vacant seat. So, if you want Montgomery to fill your position you’ll have to be at the meeting with Mr Crawford.

Mr? I thought he was a top surgeon?

He is. God, the title of ‘Mr’ indicates the man is very much upper echelon.

Right, sorry. If I agree to meet this guy, Monty is still a front runner to succeed me?

Yes, amongst other front runners. If you don’t agree to meeting Mr Crawford then her final assessment may be diminished.

Ok, set it up. But hear this – I’m not going to become involved in the case any further.

Agreed, that would seem to be counter-productive. Relax, just get up to speed with Montgomery and prepare for Mr Crawford.

*

When apprised of this, Monty almost blew a fuse. You couldn’t make it up, could you? Her royal fat arse tries to assess everything by how it might affect the so-called reputation of the force. In a case like this people just want to know the truth, yet she sees hostile journalists under every rock. And who the hell is Mr Crawford? One of her cronies at the eye-wateringly expensive monthly regional meetings.

Keane chose his words carefully. Look, Monty, I’m making every effort I can to get you promoted, so please don’t rock the boat. At least not just yet. There’s no way I want to get dragged into this case, so it must help both CS Conway and ourselves to speak to this Crawford bloke. Queen Bee gets her feathers smoothed, I keep out of the front line and you stay in the box seat to succeed me.

I suppose so, but I need you to summarise what this bloke has to say before her Royal Fat Arse hears it. Deal?

Right. Now make yourself scarce, apparently he’s on his way.

*

The goalposts were moved after Crawford’s mug of coffee arrived, by his first trite declaration.

You see, Inspector, err…sorry, Chief Inspector, it was a very busy day when this man died. I was asked to make an assessment when my colleague was puzzled by some of the findings from blood tests and other checks. It was only when I saw the blemishes on his face and around his neck that I recognised familiar signs of something I encountered many years ago. I recommended we should check out the patient’s stomach contents. That confirmed my hunch. The man was poisoned by a fungus. A deadly variety. There were three valid explanations as far as I was concerned. First, he may not have known it was poisonous, then if he did know he’d committed suicide, and lastly he may have been given the fungus by someone who did know they were lethal. I was told that the nurses involved gave contradictory statements and the duty doctor couldn’t clarify the situation. That could be true, because I was called away to another patient who’d suffered cardiac arrest and subsequently died. I hope that helps to clear up any confusion on your part.

It does indeed. Thank you for coming. If I can have the name of the poison and how long it takes to terminate a living person’s life, we can probably close our police investigation and send the report to archives.

Thank you, Chief Inspector, I can see myself out. Goodbye.

Having briefed Monty, Keane began swivelling around in his chair. Something was bothering him about the neatness and precision of Crawford’s explanation. He was now in mental limbo, primarily because he had come across a similar case two decades earlier.

Ok, Monty, I’ll deliver the same report to Conway as I gave you. There is no longer immediate concern from the hospital regarding this death.

Oh yeah? You aren’t fooling me. You think Crawford is simply blinding us with science to cover a cockup by him or his staff.

How perceptive you are. Just calm down and wait for him to send me his full written report, which includes the name of this poison.

Chapter 2

Day 2

Charles Keane wasn’t in a good mood. It was ten minutes past four in the morning and he’d had very little sleep. Having gone over the chat with Mr Crawford again and again, he got out of bed and showered, realising that he had to make a decision rather than be led by Chief Superintendent Conway.

For the first time in his career he was going to confront protocol, which he believed to be box ticking nonsense. His first port of call was DI Montgomery.

Take a seat, Monty, and don’t interrupt until you’re invited to comment. I’ve decided to rattle the cage of Mr Crawford. This will have a knock on effect to Her Majesty, as he is a trusted aide of one of her cronies in the dizzy heights of the NHS pyramid. It will also test your resolve as to whether you can ride out the brewing storm. Are we clear?

If I didn’t know you so well, I’d have thought you were on something. I’m all ears.

Good. I’m going to the throne room, please wait here in my office. It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes, then I’ll brief you on the outcome. Got it?

Yes indeed. Don’t do anything stupid. You know better than I do that she’ll defend the status quo to the death.

His first task was to sweet talk his way past Conway’s P.A. Morning, I need to speak with the CS. It’s really important, because I have an urgent hospital appointment and she needs to have the latest update before I set off. It’ll only take a couple of minutes.

She doesn’t like to be disturbed before checking her in-tray.

I know, but it’ll be on your head if I go without telling her why it’s so urgent. Please yourself.

Well, take a seat and I’ll have a word with her.

The intrigue was of sufficient concern to his boss to allow him a few minutes in order to present his well-rehearsed monologue and ultimatum.

Give me the short version of why this is so important, I have to leave the office myself.

Ok, actually it’s quite straightforward. My personal situation is complicated but I won’t dwell on that. I’m prepared to take on this hospital case, but be relieved of other duties. That gives you the opportunity to observe Monty doing my job, a ‘try before you buy’ option. This would give you more space to evaluate other candidates before making a concrete decision. I’d only need a junior officer to do the legwork on this case and I’m sure we can wrap it up before my official retirement date.

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