Going Viral by Andrew Puckett

underestimating … although I suppose if they were doing it without a hood, then ten by ten might just do it. It’d be a squeeze, though.’
    After he’d gone, I phoned the number Rebecca had given me. It went to voicemail, so I asked her to ring me back. She did, ten minutes later.
    ‘I’ve got some news,’ I said.
    ‘So’ve I. You go first.’
    I told her what Tim had said about the Bristol Cabot lab. ‘He wants to go up again next week to take a closer look.’
    She said slowly, ‘I’m not sure about that… Let me talk to the boss about it. Meanwhile, I’ll tell the team in Bristol that we need some names, urgently.’
    I said, ‘Tim also thinks that ten by ten is the very least you’d need for an outside lab.’ I explained his reasoning.
    She said, ‘I know what he’s found in Cabot looks promising, but I’m not writing off a hidden lab round here yet… like I said before, it feels right.’
    In fact, she went on, would I mind drawing up a plan of what I thought it might look like, and find some photos of the sort of equipment it would need? ‘Then I can pass them round so that we’ll all have a better idea of what we’re looking for.’
    I said I would, then asked what her news was.
    ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘only that the boss agreed to your idea. Our two uniformed friends from last night are calling at the flat, perhaps even as we speak.’
    ‘Do they know what they’re looking for?’
    ‘Yeah… actually, your photos might’ve come in handy there…’
    ‘If there were a lab, it’d hardly be in full view.’
    ‘No, but it might have given them an idea of the sort of space they’re looking for. Never mind. Look, can I come round to your house tomorrow? You can give me the pictures and I can bring you up to date on everything.’
    We agreed on noon.
    *
    Saturday morning. As before, she was on the dot - the bell rang just as the pips were going on the radio. I switched it off, let her in and made some tea.
    ‘I talked to the two cops this morning,’ she said when she’d sat down. ‘The ones from Thursday night. They weren’t greatly amused, especially when I couldn’t tell them what it was all about.’
    ‘Policeman’s lot,’ I said.
    ‘Yeah. Anyway…’
    They’d called at the flat in the evening in order to catch them both in. The couple, whose names were Emma Read and Will Cummin, had told them they’d heard noises, so they’d rung the police. They seemed to have nothing to hide. One of the cops asked for the loo and had a quick look round. He hadn’t actually gone into their bedroom because the baby was sleeping in it, but nothing had seemed suspicious.
    ‘They said the place was quite pokey, not much room to hide anything.’
    ‘So what now?’ I asked.
    ‘We’re going to have a good look at Bristol Cabot, obviously…’ She hesitated… ‘The boss thinks you should go up there with a Health and Safety Inspector.’
    ‘You can’t just tell a Health and Safety Inspector to do that.’
    ‘We’ve got a tame one. She’ll liaise with you and fix up a date. You can meet her at the station.’
    ‘All right. But you’re going to go on looking round here?’
    She nodded. ‘The boss has been running checks on the BTA names we’ve got, and I want to look at those who’ve got history first –’
    ‘History?’
    ‘Form. For instance, Hannah Bell – she’s the secretary of Exeter BTA, also the wife of the chair – she’s been very active in the past…’ She told me about Hannah’s record of vigorous protest and the tale of the policeperson’s ball.
    ‘Some of the others have form as well, although not as much as her. Anyway, I want to poke around some of their gardens to see if there’re any likely outhouses or sheds – so if you’ve got the plan and pictures, I won’t need to involve you anymore.’
    As I handed her the file I’d made, it occurred to me that, on reflection, I wouldn’t mind being involved a bit more…
    ‘I’m available if you need