Tom Greene said, ‘More to the point, it would be very handy if your Mr Ritz could tell us something about what this man looked like.’
Waters turned towards Serena, who read from her notes; ‘Tall and thin, over six feet. A narrow face, short, dark hair, shaved at the sides. A denim jacket, tight black jeans and a pair of those Dr Marten-type boots, reddish brown. He had tattoos of some sort on the back of his hands. Mr Ritz said that for one thing, he didn’t look anything like Michael Yates. Joe Ritz is not a fool. He’d realised more or less straight away who this character was looking for, even though he had mentioned a different surname. Joe had remembered Wortley’s story.’
A small penny dropped in Waters’ mind at that moment. Joe Ritz was indeed no fool, which was why he had gone first to Smith – someone he knew and trusted – rather than calling the number on Serena’s card, which might have been a convincing fake.
Freeman nodded again and waited, letting everyone absorb what they had heard. Then she said, ‘Good work. Old-fashioned work, knocking on doors and showing photos but it pays off in the end. This is more valuable than you realise, Team Waters. Before I add in my news, Tom, run that CCTV again.’
He had it ready to go. One click and the CCTV footage they had all watched innumerable times was up on the screen. Once more the two men were walking along Eden Street, away from the Kingsgate centre and towards the murder of the unfortunate Neville Murfitt. One of them was relatively short, shaven-headed and broad in the shoulders, and the other was tall and thin, some inches over six feet tall, and now, of course, after hearing Joe Ritz’s description, this man appeared even taller and thinner than before. The detectives sat in silence until the footage ended, and then Greene said, ‘And this…’
Now it was the tall man watching Murfitt from across Eden Street, thirty-six hours earlier, standing close to the florist’s shop where Miriam had been working at the very moment the footage had been recorded. Waters thought about her momentarily, about taking her to The Blue Note tomorrow evening as they had arranged before parting last night, and then brought his mind back to the job. When the man wandered over and began the conversation, Denise Sterling said, ‘It’s the same bloke who was at the shelter, I’d bet my pension on it. But he didn’t know him personally, did he? Wortley, I mean, he’d never met Wortley. Someone gave that tall bloke the job of finding Wortley, and he thought he had. The ID card ended up being Murfitt’s death warrant.’
John Murray said, ‘Agreed. But it’s five months since Michael Wortley left Norwich in a hurry, and they were still looking for him ten days ago? You have to wonder what it was he did to annoy someone that much.’
Murray was looking directly at Cara Freeman then, having put two and two together and, as usual, coming up with the correct answer in his own steady time. When the CCTV clip came to an end, she said, ‘My meeting this morning was with the Regional Serious Crime Unit, which, as you all know, was where I was based until very recently. I still report to Commander Harry Alexander. He’s my real boss, not, well, the other one…’ as if she either couldn’t recall Detective Chief Superintendent Allen’s name or bring herself to say it. ‘That’s a temporary situation. Some of you will remember meeting Harry Alexander during Lake Central’s investigation into the kidnapping of those two youngsters from Kings Lake – I don’t recall their names…’
Serena said, ‘Tina Fellowes and Cameron Routh, ma’am.’
‘That’s them. This is a very involved background story, even by the standards of a certain detective sergeant who shall remain nameless, but it’s relevant, so I’ll try to summarise for the benefit of those present now who were not at the time. It began with the murder of an inmate in Littlemoor prison. His niece was the young woman kidnapped along with a relative of the two brothers who were conducting most of the drugs business in Lake at the time. The two brothers had done some sort of a deal with people who turned out to be much bigger fish than they had realised. This is where RSCU got involved because they were running a long-term investigation into those people, and there was a huge shipment coming into the Kings Lake docks. It all got very complicated as to whether we went after the two youngsters and compromised a bust that had taken over a year’s work, or whether we waited for the ship to come in and possibly put their lives at risk. In the end, events made the decision for us, as so often happens. The Pacific Star was boarded before it could dock, the detective sergeant in question found the kidnap victims, and someone in this room got shot for his trouble.’
Murray looked uncomfortable with the attention. Clive Betts said, ‘I remember that bust. Tens of millions’ worth of cocaine and heroin, wasn’t it?’
Freeman said, ‘Yes. National headlines for that one. Anyway, back to the present. I have an arrangement with Harry Alexander that I’ll send him an informal update at the end of each week while the new squad is bedding in, just so he’s briefed if he gets asked how we’re doing. I sent the first one from home late on Friday evening. Quite early on Saturday I received an invitation to a Serious Crimes Unit meeting on Monday. This was unexpected and it wasn’t really an invitation, if you get my drift.’
Norwich? Waters was listening to every word but he had the ability to set off and follow a second train of thought. Isn’t that where the gang that finished off the Routh brothers was based? At first we’d assumed it was a straightforward takeover by the eastern Europeans but it turned out to be much more complicated than that; at the very top of that particular tree were powerful home-grown criminals with international influence, using the disruption caused by uncontrolled immigration from the EU to develop their business and distance themselves still further from the investigating authorities. Remember sitting in Micky Lemon’s café, pinned there by a couple of Albanians while Duncan Bridges asked life-threatening questions?
Freeman continued, ‘Serious Crimes have a long-running investigation based in Norwich but with national implications. It’s drugs, people-smuggling, protection rackets and prostitution – you name it, it’s there. And they would very much like to know the whereabouts of Michael Wortley.’
It took time for this to sink in, and Freeman wasn’t in a hurry. She picked up her own mug of tea, took an unwarily large sip, burned her lip and muttered a curse under her breath. Then she checked her phone, as if expecting further orders from Regional.
It was Serena who ended the silence.
‘Ma’am? What exactly did you tell them in the meeting? I mean, you didn’t know what Joe Ritz told us until about half an hour ago.’
‘Good question, and the answer is, nothing. I didn’t need to because they’ve been quietly looking for Wortley since May. His name hasn’t gone onto any wanted lists in the county, and it certainly doesn’t need to go outside of this room into any other part of Central. They had no idea he had come in our direction. If they had, we might have heard something, I suppose.’
Murray said, ‘From the way this sounds, ma’am, they’re not looking for Wortley as a suspect.’
John Murray rarely ventured into second and third sentences without good reason, and it wasn’t necessary on this occasion.
Freeman said in answer to him, ‘You’re right, John. They think he might be a key witness in one area of their inquiries. There are potential drugs charges against him but they’re not interested in those except as possible leverage.’
Waters said, ‘We’ve seen nothing to suggest Wortley is a user, let alone a dealer – quite the opposite.’
The DCI sat back and took a much more careful sip of her tea.
‘True. But providing the muscle for those who do could be deemed as aiding and abetting supply. This all ties in with what Mr Ritz told you, which was why I said it was unbelievable that you and I had reached the same point in the story from entirely different directions. Regional know that Wortley acted as security when stuff was being moved around and taken to dealers. They have photos. I didn’t see these but we’re clearly all talking about the same person. That makes him small fry, obviously, and of little i
nterest. It’s what he did next that makes him a player.’
Serena said, ‘He didn’t have a load of white powder in that kitbag, did he?’
Freeman said, ‘No, but that was my first thought, too. It’s more complicated than that. He-’
‘Ma’am? I’m sorry but can I interrupt, just to get something clear?’
It was Waters, taking a chance. If Freeman resented interruptions, she didn’t show it on this occasion. Her look simply told him to say what he wanted to say.
‘Is Harry Alexander, Commander Alexander…’
He hesitated then because it was the first time he had spoken that officer’s name aloud and it sounded a little ridiculous.
Freeman said, ‘I know. He hates it, and says it’s why he needs at least one more promotion. Is he what?’
‘Suggesting that the people behind whatever Michael Wortley got involved in are the same people who were running the Kings Lake imports three years ago?’
Managing intelligence is a key element in the work of senior police officers. It helps to prevent unwanted leaks and, as importantly, it enables detectives to focus on defined areas of interest without the distractions created by having too much information. Detective Chief Inspector Cara Freeman almost certainly had not been expecting anyone to ask the question as directly as Waters just had. She took time to consider her answer.
‘It appears,’ she said, ‘that some of the same individuals might be active in what Regional are looking at now. And as you’ve asked, Chris, it’s possible you’ve personally encountered one of them.’
He was running quickly through the list of people who had played a part in the Tina Fellowes investigation – Lucky Everett’s killer, Bridges, Barry O’Dowd – but these were all small-time.
Freeman said, ‘I’m not mentioning any names, and you all understand why, but at the time, Chris, I seem to recall you were lying on the pavement outside a pub, wrestling with a young woman.’
Smiles and nods – even Murray joined in with ‘But you packed all that in years ago, didn’t you?’
The arrest of Katherine Diver outside The Wrestlers – Smith never tired of reminding him of the irony – and the man who had offered to assist. Waters hadn’t been in the room when Smith picked the face out of the RSCU intelligence file, but he’d been told about it afterwards. A businessman in a sharp suit, with a briefcase and a ponytail, who had managed to get Smith to confirm that they were indeed plain-clothes police officers before disappearing into the night, never to be seen in Kings Lake again.
Freeman continued, ‘As you’ll remember, I worked on that case. I was in the room when Smith pointed out that the individual concerned had been outside the same pub we were keeping under observation. Damn, I said it! I was trying to get through a day without mentioning his name. Anyway, it’s likely that he – this character, not Smith – is involved in the supply side of the business that Wortley got caught up in. Like Serena, my first thought was that he’d ripped them off, that’s what usually happens, but it’s more interesting than that.’
She paused and exchanged a look with Greene, and Waters thought, he already knows, they’ve already discussed this. Remember that for future reference.
Freeman said, ‘On the twenty-second of April, six young women walked into the foyer of Bethel Street police station in Norwich. Four were Lithuanian, one was an Iraqi and one was from Afghanistan. One of the Lithuanians spoke good English and she explained they had just escaped from a house somewhere in the city. None of them was able to say where the house was, and when asked to say which city they thought they were in, they couldn’t be sure of that either. Most of them, as far as the interviewing officers could make out, had been in the UK for only a week or two. They had been held captive. They had been given food, clothes and a medical examination – that’s the bit I find most disturbing, if I’m honest – and then forced to work as prostitutes. I’m going to pause there and just remind myself that this is in twenty-first century England…’
Waters looked at each of the three female detectives in turn. Freeman had had time to adjust to the story and still wasn’t finding it easy – the others were hearing it for the first time. Denise Sterling’s face was impassive, Serena looked furious and Maya Kumar appeared not to have quite understood the horror of it. She was frowning, and then, as always happened, he should know this by now, she caught him watching her.
Freeman said, ‘They were asked how they had escaped from the house and how they had found the police station. They said one of the men guarding the house had come into their rooms and told them to leave everything behind. Then he took them downstairs and ordered them to get into a minibus which was parked at the rear of the building. Can you believe this, people? This gang of sick bast- sorry, sick individuals, have dedicated vehicles which they use to move the women around? The girl who spoke English told the officers she got into an argument with him, assuming they were being taken somewhere that would involve more abuse, and the man said this was their only chance to escape it. He told her they could trust him or go back into the house. She led the rest into the minibus, and he drove them to Bethel Street.’
Serena said, ‘Michael Wortley?’
‘Yes. The minibus was found parked in a road not far from Bethel Street a couple of days later. It was legitimate enough not to trigger ANPR but had nothing to tie it to the people involved, other than sets of prints belonging to a couple of low-lives with records. Obviously Regional haven’t pursued that yet, it’s all in the intelligence files. Nothing in the minibus puts Wortley there but when they showed the girls some photographs, they all recognised him. They said they’d only seen him at the house a day or two before he took them out of it.’
Tom Greene clicked away and their own image of Wortley appeared on the whiteboard. He said, ‘We haven’t seen Regional’s pictures but Michael Wortley’s isn’t a face those girls would have forgotten or mixed up with anyone else. For what it’s worth, I think that whereas he’d worked as security on deals that involved just looking tough as packages were transferred from vehicle to vehicle or whatever, when he was moved into guarding the sex-trafficking business, he couldn’t sit by. We know it’s highly unlikely he’d fallen for one of the women, which you can imagine happening sometimes. I think he got them out because he didn’t like what was going on, it’s that simple.’
Denise Sterling said, ‘Well, good for him,’ and looked around the room. No one ventured any disagreement, and Serena added, ‘Too bloody right!’
Chapter Twenty-two
‘All of this leaves us,’ Freeman had concluded, ‘in a strange position. We could say we’ll just focus on catching Murfitt’s killers but they thought – and there’s no doubt about it in my mind – they were stabbing Michael Wortley. We know what their motive was now. As Tom has pointed out, there’s the possibility that Wortley knows the identity of the men who killed Murfitt, in which case he’s a key witness in our case as well as in Regional’s. But it’s also pretty certain these individuals aren’t local to us, they’re not Lake villains. What else explains the thirty-six-hour delay before the man with the blade appears? To find them we’d need to go poking around in other people’s patches. Harry Alexander was clear that when it comes to it, bringing the case against them for the murder of Neville Murfitt, Regional will try to leave that with us, but he was also clear their investigation takes priority now. I don’t think they’re ready to move any time soon. But they do want us to get eyes on Wortley. They want to know where he is and what he’s doing before they decide whether to bring him in, and they’re handing that over to us.’
Waters thought, DC would have liked this, coming across the pony-tailed man again. He’d claimed afterwards that if it hadn’t been for his young detective constable being assaulted on the pavement by an attractive young woman, he might have clocked the villain in a thousand-pound suit, but he wasn’t serious. It’s rare to see the minds behind organised crime within a hundred miles of any offence, and what had brought t
his one to The Wrestlers that night years ago had never been explained – at least not to Waters. In conversations about it afterwards, he remembered DC saying that if you can take out just one of those people in your career, you’re probably doing more good than if you arrest five hundred foot-soldiers. But they’re clever, clever people who, in another life, would have made very successful senior investigating officers.
DI Greene had taken over the briefing.
‘Wortley’s bank account is our best lead. There are two sums going in each month. One will be his Army pension but we know that’s a dead end for us, the trail stops with his brother’s address, and I’m sure he’s told us everything he knows. The other amount looks like wages to me, so John, get back to his bank and see if you can hurry them up. As soon as you get anything, bring it to me so we can talk tactics. The priority is to not alert Wortley at all. Chris and Serena, what your Mr Ritz told you this morning is good intelligence and he might be a witness when we bring in Murfitt’s killers, so it’s a priority to get that written up this morning. Everyone else – it’s a long-shot but just in case the bank doesn’t come through as quickly as we’d like, start work on a list of security firms in the north-west of the county, beginning with any in the Hunston area. No need to call them yet, just a paper list.’
We imagine the world has become a safer place and yet our need for security grows. In the United Kingdom, the business contributes more than six billion pounds a year to the economy, and is expanding more rapidly than any other service industry. Three or four multi-nationals dominate the market but there are a host of smaller companies offering specialist support to every business that feels itself to be in some way under threat. More than half a million people are employed to make the rest of us feel a little safer. It is regulated to some extent, and it was Maya Kumar who said, ‘If he’s working in security for an actual company, doesn’t he have to be licensed?’
On Eden Street Page 22