by Lee Wood
Roger decided he would give it a few minutes and then walk back over the bridge and risk walking along the path on the other side and past the back of Kevin’s house and see if he could take a look, although he could see the fence was probably about two metres high and had what even from that distance looked like wire spikes on top.
Once he got to the metal fence, it became clear there was no way to get a look inside. The green fence was high and on the other side, apart from a gap where the gate was located, there were high and dense trees lined all along. Kevin definitely didn’t want anyone seeing inside.
Roger walked back to his van to sit and wait to see if any vehicles came out. By 2 p.m., nothing had happened,. He made the decision to collect the vehicle trackers from the collection point. eBay offered a service whereby he could arrange for the items he purchased online the previous afternoon to be available for collection from the local branch of Argos after 2 p.m., Roger needed to take them back to the house, charge the batteries, read the instructions and set them up and test them. So he wouldn’t be able to use them until the following day at the earliest.
An hour later, Roger had the batteries of the three devices on charge and was registering the details onto the website so he could use his phone to track any vehicles he attached them to. The batteries would last for about two weeks before the devices needed to be charged again. He hoped that was enough time.
20
Modern-Day Slaves
The next morning just after seven, Roger was back on Fen Road wondering what that day would bring. He didn’t have to wait long. Just ten minutes after he’d arrived, the Transit van drove out. Roger followed the vehicle to a local builder’s merchant where Kevin and Tyson got out and walked into the main building where Roger assumed they would pick up supplies.
He parked three bays down from the Transit and walked towards the building. Just as he got to Kevin’s van, he pretended to drop his keys under the Transit and bent down, trying to make it look like he was to retrieve them. He took a transmitter out of his pocket and attached the magnet side of the device underneath the van in a place that couldn’t be seen. He picked up his keys and walked on to the building. He took a quick look around and saw Kevin and Tyson over the other side picking up supplies. He walked slowly back to his van and drove out and parked up in a nearby side street and checked the transmitter was working. His phone showed a street-by-street map of the area and the position of the tracker.
It wasn’t long before he saw the Transit on the move. Now he could follow it at a safe distance and not be seen. He followed them to a large house in Kimberley Road in Cherrywood just in time to see them unloading the ladder from the roof of the van. If the previous home visits were typical, it looked like they would be there for about two hours. Roger would just have to sit it out, but he had everything he needed, a flask of hot coffee, sandwiches he’d made before leaving the house, and a folded blanket to place across his lap for the times he might need to use his plastic bottle for a wee.
While he waited, he used the time to order other things he decided he needed. When he had walked down the path by the river behind Kevin’s house, he noticed a man fishing under a large umbrella on the far side of the river just down from the back of Kevin’s house. It could be a good place to sit and observe. He would need the fishing gear and a pair of top-quality binoculars. The ones Roger had gone for after his research were a pair of Steiner x50 Military Binoculars with anti-reflective shielding to ensure they wouldn’t give off a glint of light or a momentary reflection that could give away the fact he was watching. Under the darkness of the large fisherman’s umbrella, it would simply look like a man waiting for something to take the bait.
In the meantime, he would continue to watch the O’Connor family and learn everything he could about their illegal operations.
Now the tracking device was in place Roger could sit at home with his computer and track every move Kevin’s Transit made. He wanted to take a closer look at the house. The fishing gear wouldn’t be available for him to collect until later in the day, so he had some spare time. He got in his van and drove to his usual spot on Fen Road so he could take a walk along the riverbank and get an idea of the best vantage point. However, just as he was about to get out of his vehicle, he noticed a Transit van coming out of Kevin’s drive. But this wasn’t the same vehicle that he’d attached the tracker to. This vehicle had the wording ‘TC Driveways’ on the side.
Roger quickly jumped back in his van and followed the Transit. He had to try to keep up, and this driver was driving far quicker than the previous van.
After nearly four miles, the Transit pulled up at a big house on Parkers Piece, a small square of detached houses in an exclusive part of Cherrywood. Out of the driver’s door stepped Tyson O’Connor. No wonder the driving had been different. Out of the passenger door stepped two very scruffy-looking workmen, the same ones Roger had seen unloading the boxes from the boat. They went round to the back of the van and started to unload large tools.
One of the workmen dropped an empty plastic bucket. Tyson kicked the man and went to punch him as he cowered away. Roger could see Tyson barking orders at them.
They carried a large heavy ground digger from the van to the front driveway and attached it to the portable generator and started it up. Roger watched as Tyson spoke to one of the men and he picked up the digger and started work. The noise was extremely loud and being an engineer, Roger knew about such work. He was alarmed to see the man working without any form of ear protection.
The other man came across and shovelled the pieces of old driveway into a wheelbarrow and make a pile next to the road. Roger watched the two men working away. Many of the things he saw horrified him. The men were clearly working with old and dangerous tools. Instead of heavy boots, they were wearing scruffy trainers and the way they were being forced to labour with Tyson ordering them around, when not sitting in the van on his mobile, was far outside of modern health and safety laws.
It was exactly as the reporter from the newspaper had described. These men seemed to be modern-day slaves.
Roger had purchased some one-way blackout film for the rear windows of the van. This meant he could see out, but anyone attempting to look into the van could not see inside. He sat on the floor with the telephoto lens of his newly acquired camera taking pictures of what was happening.
21
The Lion and Lamb
Who were these men and why were they prepared to work under what he considered to be Victorian era conditions? The reporter had mentioned something about this and Roger had also read things in the national newspapers, men being used as virtual slave labour. Is that what was going on here? It certainly looked like it. Another dirty string to the O’Connor bow. Roger took out the camera with its telephoto lens and took shots of the men working; he managed to capture one or two where Tyson was punching one of the men.
After observing the work for over two hours, Roger decided he’d seen enough. He didn’t think he would learn much more from being there. Along with the photos, he made detailed notes. This would all be strong evidence for him to present to the police.
What he wanted to do next was see if Kevin O’Connor would visit the pub again so Roger could find a way to attach a tracker to his 4x4 while it was in the car park.
From his observation so far, he’d seen Kevin liked to go home for lunch at around one o’clock and leave again at around two.
Putting a tracking device on Kevin’s 4x4 would mean Roger could sit at home and observe the places he visited. If the opportunity arose, Roger might even put a tracker onto the tarmac Transit van. And where had those two men come from? Tyson hadn’t stopped to pick them up from anywhere. He’d left home and gone straight to the house they were tarmacking. Did the two men live in the O’Connors’ house? Then he recalled the reporter mentioning the sheds at the back of the O’Connor property.
At ten minutes past two, Roger noticed the black 4x4 leaving the O’Connor driveway.
He followed at what he judged to be a safe distance. After all the time and effort, not to mention the expense he’d put into it, he didn’t want to spook the driver or make him aware he was being followed.
Just as he’d done before, Kevin made his way to the Lion and Lamb pub and stopped along the car park’s right-hand side wall. Roger drove past the pub in order to give Kevin some time to get out of his vehicle and walk into the pub before he turned round and parked as close to his vehicle as possible.
Leaving three minutes, which seemed more than enough time, as Roger drove into the pub car park, he was pleased to see there was a gap next to the 4x4. He reversed into the space so his driver door would be next to Kevin’s passenger side. Roger got out and walked round to the back doors of the van. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the car park, and he checked to ensure Kevin wasn’t still sitting in the driver’s seat.
Once he was certain no one would was observing him, he placed the tracking device underneath the 4x4 where he felt it wouldn’t be seen. The powerful magnet clicked as it came into contact with the metal. Roger got back in his van and checked the website on his phone to ensure the transmitter on the tracker was turned on. When he was satisfied it was working, he drove off. Judging by his previous visit, Kevin could be in the Lion and Lamb for quite some time. And if he left to go anywhere, then Roger would know without having to follow him. The £80 he paid for each device seemed like money well spent.
As it was well after 2 p.m, he could go to the collection point for the fishing gear and binoculars he’d ordered.
After Roger had all the items, he took them back to the three-bedroom house he was renting and unpacked them. A fishing rod, fishing line and hooks. The Wychwood HD Compact Brolly with groundsheet was amazing. It even included a folding bed that could also be used as a chair. The other goods included a fisherman’s basket and a large foldaway trolley to carry all the gear. Normally the basket would be used for bait and fishing tackle, but as Roger had another use for it, he would store the binoculars and his food and drink instead.
After clearing all the items away and putting the empty packaging in the refuse bins, Roger checked to see the current location of the landscaping Transit van and the 4x4. The map on the tracking device website told him the Transit van was at Fen Road and the 4x4 was still at the pub.
He had been observing Kevin and his son Tyson for a week. So far he had only followed them during the daytime when they seemed to go out and undertake work such as gardening and laying driveways at various houses. The reporter had indicated they were involved in a lot more.
From what Roger had observed a few days earlier, the canal boat could be involved. And he now had all the equipment to watch the back of the property from across the river. He needed to find out more.
Then, he wanted need to find out what they got up to at night as well. The illegal drugs trade they were rumoured to be involved in. If he could find evidence then he could report it to the police. That would put them away in prison for a very long time.
So far he had collected evidence of their daytime activities and put together a file of what he had observed. But it wasn’t enough. He would need to go deeper into the murky lives of these people.
With all this undercover work, Roger was beginning to understand what the police had to do to catch criminals. It certainly wasn’t like you see on TV. So far he’d spent a week watching the O’Connors, and he was only just beginning to get an idea of all the things they were involved in.
He hoped he could find some more incriminating evidence over the next two or three of weeks. He had an important trip coming up that he didn’t want to miss. He would only be away for a week, so it might take another couple of months before he could move on to stage two of his plan. But if he could find enough evidence to present to the police then it would be worth it.
He never imagined he would ever be in this position. He wasn’t sure if what he was doing was for revenge or justice but the more he discovered about the O’Connor family, the more determined he was to see them behind bars.
22
Phil Jones
Roger Maynard was starting to see things in a different light. The more he looked in to it, the more he realised there was far more to this man than he had ever imagined.
And another thought occurred to him. Maybe if Kevin O’Connor was cunning and nasty enough to be involved in all these things then maybe, just maybe he could have bribed or threatened the witness in his daughter’s hit and run to change his story. After all, the police had originally told him the witness was rock solid and highly reputable. It might be worth Roger going to speak with him. Maybe he could get a retrial and some sort of justice and closure.
But how do you go about tracking down a witness? The police would almost certainly discourage you from speaking with him. They wouldn’t simply hand over his details.
One of the first things Roger needed to find out was what evidence the police would need. He didn’t want to go to the police at this stage as he didn’t feel he had enough information and he didn’t want to play his hand too quickly. But he needed advice.
His understanding, from what he’d seen on TV shows, was that private investigators were usually ex-police officers. Maybe if he could find someone with that sort of background they could advise him on the best route to take.
Roger decided to take the easy way. He opened his iPad and searched Google for Private Investigators in Trentbridge. The first name to come up was Phil Jones Investigations.
According to the website, Phil Jones had been a high ranking police detective for thirty years before he took early retirement and started his business. Then, the previous year, he had been joined in the operation by another ex-detective James Sheldon.
Roger recalled reading about James Sheldon in the newspapers. It seems he had been a rising star in the police force until his family were killed in a hit and run. His wife and two kids had died instantly, and he had turned to drink and made homeless after pouring the mortgage payments down his throat.
So this man would understand the anguish Roger was going through.
After becoming homeless, he had found shelter behind a local hotel. Then, in a bizarre twist of fate, he had won £168 million on the Lotto. The hotel had been threatened with closure to make way for a development of luxury flats, so he had bought it to save the jobs of the people who had looked after him.
He had also invested £75 million in buying an out of town derelict council estate with 880 houses and brought it back to life and then rented the houses to local families at a knockdown price. The area had been separated from the main town being on the opposite side of the River, so he had got planning permission for a bridge to connect it with the town. He had also paid for a school and doctors surgery and allowed local industry to rent units at affordable rents to help bring jobs to the area. He had set up a charity to oversee the project and named it MJA Housing Trust, after his family: wife Miriam and kids, Jack and Abigail.
Then he had gone into a partnership of the investigation agency with his old colleague.
Yes. Maybe this could be the man who would be able to help. It was worth a phone call. But before asking for advice, it might be worth finding out just how good they are at finding people.
“Hello. Phil Jones Investigations. Phil Jones speaking. How can I help you today?”
“Oh hello, Mr Jones. My name is Roger Maynard. I’m wondering if you can help me. I’m trying to trace the address of a man called Will Gleeson who lives somewhere in Trentbridge.”
“That shouldn’t be too difficult. May I enquire why you need to contact him?”
“It’s a little difficult.”
“Mr Maynard. I’m a private investigator. I deal with the difficult every day. However, I only get involved in things that are legal so to ensure I stay within the law, I need to know your reasons. And unless what you tell me involves something illegal then everything you tell me is confidential.”
“No, I can un
derstand that. The reason I wish to contact this man is because he was a witness when my daughter was killed in a hit and run accident. Then when it went to court, he suddenly changed his mind. I merely want to speak with him and find out if any pressure was put on him by the person involved in the hit and run who I now read in the newspaper is not as innocent as I first thought.”
“Ah. I see. And what is the name of the person involved in the hit and run?”
“Kevin O’Connor.”
“Mmm. If it’s the person, I suspect it is he’s not a nice character to get involved with. I hope you are not thinking of confronting him.”
“No. I just want to talk to the witness and find out if he was made to change his statement in any way and if he was, I hope to get him to tell the police. All I want is justice.”
“Look, Mr Maynard. Let me be straight with you. You’re speaking to an ex-police detective with over thirty years of experience. If you really want justice then don’t go to the law. My best advice is to spend time grieving over your daughter and then move on with your life. The chances of you getting justice using the court system are slim to none. There’s a good reason most police officers nowadays refer to it as the criminal injustice system. And the CPS as the Criminal Protection Service. Take my advice. Walk away.”
“I’ve made up my mind. Can you help me or not?”
“Very well. My fees are £400 a day. For that I can supply the details you want by tomorrow. I would require payment in advance.”
“Great. Thank you. Do you accept payment by Amex or I can arrange a bank transfer from my company account Trentbridge Engineering.”