The décor was in good repair, Janine noted, lemon painted walls with green flecked carpeting and white woodwork. Flowers on the reception desk scented the air, paintings hung along the corridor. Richard was right, there was no sign of anything out of place inside the premises.
Back outside, Sergeant Butchers took Janine and Richard to the pavement and introduced them to Ms Ling, the practice manager and key holder. She was a petite woman, of Chinese descent Janine guessed. Her skin was smooth and her face bare of any make-up. She looked young on first impression but Janine saw the fine lines that fanned out from her eyes and the touches of grey in her hair suggesting she was reaching middle age.
‘Ms Ling,’ Janine said, ‘I’m DCI Lewis, I’m in charge of the inquiry. And this is Detective Inspector Mayne.’
Richard said, ‘Hello.’
Ms Ling nodded. ‘Who would do such a thing?’ she said.
‘I know,’ Janine said, ‘I’m sorry. This must be a terrible shock. Have there been any other violent incidents lately? Any threats to Dr Halliwell?’
‘No,’ Ms Ling said, ‘nothing like that.’ She blinked fast and her mouth trembled.
‘We need to contact the rest of the staff,’ Janine said, ‘establish if they’re safe. Would you be able to help us? If you can give their details to these officers.’ She gestured to Lisa, Shap and Butchers.
‘Yes of course,’ said Ms Ling, ‘I’ll need to go inside for the files.’
‘We can have someone take you round to the fire door at the side,’ Janine said.
‘Dr Halliwell,’ Richard said, ‘he would usually carry a bag?’
‘Yes, a briefcase,’ said Ms Ling.
‘What would be in it?’ Janine said.
‘His prescription pad and first aid kit,’ said Ms Ling.
‘Any drugs?’ said Richard.
‘Only small amounts, single doses for emergency use,’ Ms Ling said.
‘Thank you,’ Janine said, ‘the surgery will have to remain closed until we have completed our inquiries here.’
‘Of course. I’ll get the staff details for you,’ Ms Ling said.
Janine nodded to Butchers to accompany the manager.
Lisa came over. ‘Boss, this is the doctor who was in the news yesterday over the Marcie Young inquest.’
‘Really?’ Janine, on a rare day off, hadn’t caught the news.
‘He’ll be getting more than his fifteen minutes, then,’ said Shap.
Janine glanced at him, always pushing it, was Shap: the cynical comments, the asides and put-downs. He smiled at her. Leave it, Janine thought, pick your battles.
‘Marcie Young, that was an overdose, wasn’t it?’ Janine said.
‘Her mother thought the GP was to blame,’ Richard said.
‘The coroner returned a verdict of misadventure/accidental death,’ Lisa said.
‘We’ll include that in the briefing, ‘Janine said. At this stage it was impossible to tell what was significant and what was trivia. The only way not to overlook essential details was to collect everything and use systems to collate and cross-reference all the data so it was accessible to the team at a moment’s notice.
A news crew had pitched up and wanted the police to make a statement but Janine had spoken to someone at the Press Office and agreed that no details at all would be released until next of kin had been informed.
Butchers and Shap and Lisa had been contacting other practice staff and now reported back.
‘We’ve spoken to everyone but Fraser McKee, one of the other two GPs, the registrar,’ Butchers said. ‘He’s not answering his phone or his mobile.’
‘You take a car over to his house,’ Janine said, ‘and see if he’s there. Shap, Lisa, can you notify next of kin?’
Shap looked pissed off. It was not a job anyone liked doing. He’d probably palm it off on Lisa but then Lisa needed to gain experience in all aspects of the job so that was no bad thing.
Janine watched them go and then walked to her own car. She needed to get back to the station and set all the wheels in motion for the launch of a murder inquiry.
