‘Busy.’
‘OK, what was so urgent you made me leave an active murder investigation?’
‘An investigation you have no official role in?’
Poe remained silent.
‘Did you happen to catchThe Morgan Soames Hourthis week?’ Flynn continued.
‘What’s that?’
‘A weekly chat show.’
‘I don’t have a TV.’
‘I do wish you’d take the occasional interest in popular culture, Poe.’
‘Popular culture sucks.’
‘Did you watchParkinsonwhen it was on?’
‘I did.’
‘Well, it’s a bit likeParkinson. Only Rod Hull wouldn’t have dared attack Morgan Soames with an emu.’
Poe nodded. The belly laughs coming from the Parkinson household must have been deafening the day Rod Hull fell off his own roof and died. ‘What about it?’ he said.
‘Have you heard of Kane Hunt?’
‘The red-pill pudding head?’
‘That’s him. Three days ago he was a guest onThe Morgan Soames Hour. During the interview he showed Morgan a death threat he claimed to have received.’
‘What type of threat?’
‘A pressed flower and some bad poetry.’
‘And?’
‘And he collapsed on air,’ Flynn said. ‘Doctors turned off his life support machine this morning. He never regained consciousness.’
‘And this is the party, is it? You should have said, I’d have brought some balloons.’
‘Is he always like this?’ Chief Superintendent Stewart asked Flynn.
‘Always,’ she replied. ‘Anyway, the toxicology report showed he’d been given a lethal dose of hyoscine.’
‘Which is?’
‘It’s a medicine used to treat motion sickness and postoperative nausea. Accidental poisonings are very rare but this seems to have been an unusually concentrated dose. We’re still waiting for a Yank specialist from the Centre for Disease Control to get back to us.’
‘How was it administered?’
‘We don’t know.’
‘Whenwas it administered?’
‘We don’t know.’