Fatal Connection (14 page)

Lexi waved a skewer of crispy scorpions at her partner. ‘Nicely handled, ‘she said.

‘Isn’t that poisonous?’ Troy pointed at her meal.

‘Not after cooking,’ Lexi replied. ‘Neither are stir-fried bean sprouts, peanuts and lime.’

Troy pulled a face and chomped some more chocolate.

‘I checked what Yasmin Nadya One said at the insect farm and she’s right.’

‘Oh?’

Lexi reminded him. ‘You’re eating bits of insects
right now. The maker’s allowed up to sixty fragments in every hundred grams of chocolate.’

Troy smiled. ‘That’s different. Chocolate doesn’t have legs and a head that needs snapping off.’

Lexi thought for a moment and then said, ‘We’ve gone a long way. From north to south and squirrels to miners.’

‘And victim to culprit.’

‘Yeah.’

Lexi’s phone rang and, when she answered it, the commander’s voice said, ‘You’re wanted. You and Detective Troy Goodhart. I’m sending you the details now.’

‘What is it?’

‘There’s been a car crash.’

Mystified, Lexi replied, ‘We don’t do car crashes.’

‘You’ll do this one.’

‘Why?’

‘Wait till you see what’s in the back of it.’

‘What?’

‘Blood and bone – and much more besides.’

‘Okay,’ said Lexi. ‘Now it does sound like one of ours.’ She ended the call and smiled at Troy. ‘He says thanks for solving another case. You did brilliantly. Take a well-earned holiday to recover and some time to feel pleased with yourselves.’

‘Oh yeah?’

‘Well, no. But let’s finish the food at least. Sounds like we’re going to need strong stomachs.’

The crimes in all of
The Outer Reaches
books are inspired by genuine scientific issues and events. Here are a few details of the science that lies behind
Fatal Connection.

A tragedy in Minamata, a fishing town in Japan, alerted the world to chemical contamination. In the 1940s, birds, pets and people began to lose control of their movements – a sign of brain damage. Almost
half of the sick people died and women gave birth to dreadfully deformed children. Several hundred people died of ‘Minamata disease’ through the 1950s and 1960s. The town’s biggest employer – a chemical company – had dumped a sludge containing mercury substances in Minamata Bay. The poisonous mercury had accumulated inside the fish and they had been eaten by the local population. Compensation claims almost bankrupted the chemical company and that convinced similar companies to take pollution seriously and clean up their acts. Cynics might say they were protecting their businesses from expensive pay-outs as much as protecting the public.

Today, the mercury pollution problem is not of Minamata proportions. But pregnant women with low levels of mercury in their bodies give birth to children who, in intelligence tests, lag behind their friends who had less contaminated mothers. Most people get more mercury from amalgam fillings in their teeth than from eating polluted fish, but the mercury from fillings is a far less toxic form.

Malcolm Rose is an established, award-winning author, noted for his gripping crime/thriller stories – all with a solid scientific basis.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Malcolm was a university lecturer and researcher in chemistry.

He says that chemistry and writing are not so different.
‘In one life, I mix chemicals, stew them for a while and observe the reaction. In the other, I mix characters, stir in a bit of conflict and, again, observe the outcome.’

When the body of an outer is discovered in the woods, young detective Troy Goodhart and forensic specialist Lexi Iona Four are partnered on the case. Then two more bodies are discovered, and all three corpses are found to have body parts missing. Somebody is killing with a purpose. As major Troy and outer Lexi unpick the case, they enter a complex, dark world of deception, where one false move will mean death.

Three scientists wearing airtight protective suits are found dead in a sealed, high-security laboratory. They had been studying an unknown substance brought to Earth by the recently returned Mars probe. Was this substance responsible for their deaths? Was it an accident – or could it be murder? Young detective Troy Goodhart and forensic specialist Lexi Iona Four quickly realise that this case is about something much worse than straightforward murder.