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Flynn frowned but leaned forwards and reached for the hot water tap.
‘Stop,’ Poe said. ‘You’re already in the bath, remember.’
Understanding dawned on her face. ‘I’d lift the tap with my foot,’ she said.
‘Exactly. He’d have put his foot underneath the tap and pushed up. It’s why most baths have lever taps, rather than spigots.’
He sat up.
‘Careful, Poe,’ Flynn said.
Poe got to his knees and gingerly felt under the hot water tap lever. Ran his finger up and down, feeling for something sharp or irregular. Anything that could have snagged the skin.
His index finger touched something.
He twisted round and lay on his back, head underneath the taps. He couldn’t see anything but he’d definitely felt it. Something small but sharp. Probably a bit of swarf, a metal shaving that had survived the fitting process. As sharp as a razor and virtually impossible to see. But, if you knew it was there and you knew Cummings took long baths, you’d know he would keep topping up with hot water. And that he would lift up the tap with the top of his foot. The bitbetween the toes and the ankle. Where the skin was very thin. If you knew the swarf was there you could set a trap.
‘We need CSI and we need a plumber,’ he said.
‘We’ll get it checked …’ Flynn cocked her head. ‘What the hell’s going on outside?’
‘You can’t go in there,’ someone said.
‘My name is Matilda Bradshaw and I jolly well am going in there, thank you very much. I have important information for Detective Inspector Stephanie Flynn and Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.’
‘Whatever,’ the same person said.
‘Let her in,’ Flynn called out.
A few seconds later Bradshaw stepped into the bathroom.
‘You’ll never guess what’s just happened, DI Flynn,’ she said. ‘Someone has just … Whatever are you doing, Poe? I thought you preferred showers?’
‘I’m not having a bath, you berk. I’ve got my bloody clothes on and the boss is standing right next to me.’
‘Well, what—’
‘What’s happened, Tilly?’ Flynn said.
‘The poisoner,’ she said. ‘He’s just been on the phone.’
