Chapter 21
Andy listened to the CDs for a third time. Now he was sure. None of the others knew Lemmings except Murphy. He collected his notes and picked up the phone on his desk and pressed a button.
“Newton,” he said.
“Yes sir?”
“If anybody wants me I’m with Bill Green.”
Without saying anything else he went out of his office and up the stairs to the next floor. At the end of the corridor, he knocked and entered Bill Green’s office.
“What can I do for you, Andy,” Bill asked looking up from his desk.
“I’m at a dead end again with Lemmings, Bill,” said Andy.
“Don’t be so negative, lad. Let’s go over what you’ve got. Two heads are usually better than one,” said Bill in his rough Yorkshire accent.
“When you interviewed Baker and Robbins did you think that they lied?” asked Andy.
“Robbins was too scared to lie. Baker was the cool one. Aye, my feelings are that he has done this before. He may know more than he told us, but I doubt if more can be got out of him. He dislikes us too much,” said Bill Green.
“Could Baker have worked with Lemmings before?” mused Andy.
“No, he only met him through the web,” said Green.
“Then it’s clear from the interviews that the only one that knew Lemmings was Murphy and he told us all he knew. We’ve lost him.”
“You’re not giving up, lad?” Bill asked.
Andy shrugged his shoulders. Then said: “I don’t know where to go from here.”
Bill Green folded his arms and lowered his head.
“Follow the money,” he said in a quiet voice.
“What!” said Andy.
“Lemmings provided the cash for the safe house and he gave money to Murphy for the disposal of the bodies and Mr S. Where did he get the money?” asked Bill Green.
“I have absolutely no idea, but it won’t have been legit,” Andy said.
“Well, you had better find out. Find the source of his money and you will find Lemmings.”
If it was only as simple as that! Fat lot of use you are, thought Andy.
“Thank you, I’ll do that,” said Andy and stood up to leave.
“You have really no idea, lad where Lemmings gets his money. Have you? Sit down,” said Bill Green.
“No idea,” said Andy with a little irritation in his voice.
“Why don’t you go and ask Murphy where the dosh came from?” Bill said.
“All Murphy knew was that Lemmings loaded, he always had money. That’s all he knew. You know that. You’ve heard the interviews.”
“Aye, but I repeat. Where did Lemmings get so much money? Eh!” said Bill Green. He continued,
“From a hole in a wall? Not likely. No, it came from crime. So who are the scum that he got it from and how. Come on, Andy you’re a good copper. Follow the leads and use your head. I repeat find the source of his cash and you will find Lemmings.”
“Drugs are the quickest way to get cash,” said Andy. “Do you think that’s how he got money?”
“It would explain a lot of things,” said Bill. “Another thing before you go, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve achieved a hell of a lot you know. Thanks to you, we have one bent copper in custody and others under investigation. One, corrupt and sick judge is dead and three of Lemmings’ group of sick bastards in custody. Then there’s the gang crime in Manchester that you have put us on to. Not bad work for a young copper Andy.”
Andy smiled.
“One last thing,” said Bill Green thoughtfully. “If you think that you have lost all chance of picking up Lemmings, give him to the media and the description we have of Mr S. Splash Lemmings’ name all over the papers and T.V. Tell them the story of his organisation and the children he has murdered. Appeal to the public for information and offer a reward. It could pay off you big time. Especially, since the British public have a pathological hatred of paedophiles. There’s millions of eyes and ears waiting to help you.”
“Where’s the reward coming from?” Andy asked.
“Every force has a slush fund for this sort of situation. I’m sure that we can put up a £10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of Lemmings.”
“Will Padwick clear it?” asked Andy.
“Leave that to me,” said Bill Green.
“Right, I’ll call a press conference,” said Andy.
“Let Padwick know, before you do,” said Bill.
Nothing like an old copper with an old copper’s head. What a good idea, thought Andy as he left Bill Green’s office. As he walked into his operations room he looked at Newton and said, “Newton, phone the Super’s office and ask permission to call a press conference.”
“Now sir?” asked Newton.
“Immediately,” said Andy.
Chapter 22
The press conference was full of T.V. cameras and newspaper reporters. At a long table, covered with a blue cloth, were sat three police officers. Chief Superintend Padwick began the conference.
“Ladies and gentlemen this conference has been called because officers from this force have carried out an extremely successful operation, in which a very dangerous paedophile ring has been destroyed and as a result, several arrests have been made. Our investigation has shown that this ring was not only involved in the abuse of children, but was also involved in the abduction of children and several murders of children. Given the scope and the seriousness of this investigation we have decided to put the facts before you so that there is no unnecessary speculation, since this could cause distress to parents of missing children. I will now ask DCI Rawlings to outline the operation to you and explain how you can help us further with our investigations. DCI Rawlings will you continue, please?”
Andy began, “Ladies and gentlemen thank-you for coming. After a long and far-reaching investigation we have arrested three men and charged them with child abduction, sexual abuse and murder.” There was a murmur around the room. Andy continued:
“These men have been part of a paedophile ring organised, financed and run by a man called Mark Lemmings. Mark Lemmings is still at large and is the principal reason for this press conference. That is why we are urgently appealing to the public to help us catch this man and an accomplice that is only known to us as Mr S. These men are very dangerous and should not be approached.”
Mark pressed a remote control in his hand and the screen behind him lit up. Lemmings’ photograph filled the screen.
“This is the most recent photo we have of Mark Lemmings after his release from Wakefield Prison and at the back of the room you can collect a hand-out that we have prepared giving you a copy of this picture together with details of his criminal record and the best physical description we have of Mr S. Are there any questions?” said Andy.
A chorus of voices began to ask questions simultaneously. Andy held up his hand and the room quietened down.
“We will answer all your questions, but please one at a time,” said Andy.
A man in the front row shot his hand up.
“Yes,” said Andy.
“Thompson, I’m a newspaper reporter. I’ve three questions:
One, when did you first learn of this paedophile ring? Two, how many members are in this ring? Three, how many children have they abused and how many have they killed?”
“That’s four questions Mr Thompson, but I’ll answer them all. It’s been over a year. The ring had six members. The number of children abused, we are withholding until parents have been contacted and they have killed several children, but again we are withholding the exact number until we have spoken to the relatives. This is, very much, an ongoing investigation and I’m sure that we will be talking to you again shortly.”
A woman raised her hand.
“Yes, your question?” said Bill Green.
“Jill Mortimer. You said that there are six members of this ring but you have only mentioned five. Why?”
“Be
cause we don’t know the identity of the sixth member and only Lemmings can describe him we think. He is only known to us as Mr S,” said Andy.
“Is there any significance of the names ‘Mr S’ for instance?” asked the woman.
“It’s fairly straight forward. Mr S, stands for security. Mr P, procurement. Mr D, was in charge of disposal. Mr H, dealt with finding safe houses. Mr C, computers and mobiles. Mr F, was Lemmings. He provided the money. We have Mr P, Mr D, and Mr H. We have a description of Mr C that we have given to you and I would expect to arrest him soon. The most dangerous two are still at large, they are Lemmings and Mr S,” said Andy.
“Can you give us a picture of the scale of child abuse and this type of crime DI Rawlings,” said a man in the back row.
“One child is abused every twenty minutes in this country and about 300 children are brought into Britain for the sex trade every year from various countries. We know that Lemmings’ group has killed at least six children. We have recovered one body and the remains of two more. We have an on-going investigation on others. There may be more,” replied Andy.
The room was stunned into silence. The conference continued for another thirty minutes and then Padwick ended it promising to call the press back as soon as there were more developments.
Chapter 23
Mark was wedged on the brown, grubby, plastic synthetic- bench seat between Nick and Lawrence. The pub was dirty and dingy. The walls stained yellow by old tobacco smoke. It was a typical docklands pub, where Hull’s hard dock men did their drinking after a tedious day’s work. The air smelt of their sweaty bodies and stale beer. Both the men he was sat between were dressed in black and had shaved heads. Heavyset, dressed in black, they looked what they were, a pair of hard bruisers. They were there to ‘look after’ Mark, but Mark was not comfortable in their company.
At the bar were three men who looked like trawler crewmen from their dress. They were talking quietly amongst themselves. Mark wondered if they were from a deep sea trawler. They looked as if they had been at sea for a long time by their tanned and weathered faces. At a round table with cast iron legs sat four dockers. They were thick set men with large hands. They were drinking heavily after a hard day. He had been with the two bruiser in the ‘King’s Arms’ for over an hour and he was getting fidgety and nervous. It had not normally taken this long before. He had the deal done in half the time in the past and his drugs. He sat with half a lager in front of him, untouched, on the round table with the cast iron legs. It had been there for the last hour and he had taken only one or two sips from it. The two men with him were on their second pints of larger.
“You’re a queer? A nancy boy aren’t you?” said Nick to Mark, with a smirk on his face.
Mark did not reply.
“Leave him alone,” said Lawrence in a low voice.
“He’s a bum boy. That’s what he is and I don’t like queers, right?”
“I don’t give a monkey’s what you like and don’t like. We have a job to do, right. So shut the fuck-up,”said Lawrence harshly.
“O.K. don’t get a hard on!” said Nick.
“Just keep cool. Don’t give me any grief,” said Lawrence.
“O.K., O.K.,” said Nick.
Mark sat impassively. He just wanted to get the deal done and go. In the end, as he knew, he had no choice but to wait. He could do nothing else.
“What’s it like to be a queer boy?” said Nick mockingly, giving Mark a sharp nudge in the ribs with his elbow.
Mark turned to Nick and looked him full in the face and said: “Would you like me to suck you off, big boy?” He paused, “Or is it that you have a problem with your dick? Do you think that your dick’s too small? It’s tiny isn’t it? Perhaps you would like to give me a good poke up my arse?”
Nick’s face turned red. His chest lifted and fell rapidly. He clenched both of his fists. He was about to erupt and turn very violent. Lawrence reached across Mark and grabbed one of Nick’s arms.
“I told you to stop mixing it Nick. I told you to shut up. Will you shut-up now Nick? Can’t you see he’s winding you up?” said Lawrence fiercely.
“Someday soon, you and I will get together again,” said Nick menacingly to Mark.
“Can’t wait, darling,” said Mark coldly with rock hardness in his voice and blew him a kiss.
For the very first time Nick noticed the cold iciness in Mark’s tone and in his eyes. It had not been in Mark’s voice before. There was no fear in the voice. The voice had a tone of tempered hard steel and a calm assurance. It had authority, and it sounded as if it came from a man that had full control of the situation. Doubt entered Nick’s head. For the first time Nick had doubts about his ability to take Mark. Lawrence had noticed it too and thought, Nick needs to be careful with this guy. It could be that Nick would not have much of a chance against this guy. The mobile vibrated in Lawrence’s pocket. He took it out and looked at it. Then he put it to his ear.
“Yea?” he said. “Right I’ll ask him.”
“How much do you want this time?” he said turning to Mark.
“Two keys,” said Mark.
“Two,” said Lawrence into the phone. Then he turned to Mark.
“30k,” said Lawrence to Mark.
“20k or I walk,” replied Mark.
Lawrence got up and moved away from the table. He spoke into the mobile for a few minutes then returned.
“O.K., have you got the money?” he said.
Mark did not hear him. Mark was suddenly glued to the flat-screen T.V. above the bar. He felt a gut-wrenching pain in his stomach. Sky News was on and he was on the news. He vaguely became aware of Lawrence talking urgently into his ear.
“The boss says yes, 20k. Have you got the money?” he repeated impatiently.
At that moment the bar man picked-up the remote and changed the T.V. channel to Sky Sports and the football. Mark recovered his composure.
“In the car,” Mark said without thinking.
“Right let’s go and get it.”
“Got the stuff?” asked Mark gathering his wits and slipping out of the seat and onto his feet.
“We’ll take you and the money to it,” said Lawrence.
“I’ve done deals with Mick for two years and this is not the way I’ve done them. No, you bring it to me or no deal,” said Mark.
“O.K., where?” said Lawrence without hesitation.
“The north-end car park. In an hour,” Mark said and left.
Nick watched him leave. “After the deal is done I’m going to kill me a queer,” Nick said, standing up.
“You wish,” said Lawrence with a smirk, “he’s Mick’s best customer.”
Mark stood at the back end of the dank and damp underground car park. The car park was half empty. Most people had done their shopping and gone home. On the floor, on his right hand side was a black holdall. In his left hand he held a plastic water bottle. It was almost empty. He saw a car come down and into the car park. It came towards him. As the black BMW pulled up just in front of him, he drained the water bottle. Lawrence stepped out of the car.
“Got the cash?” he said without ceremony.
Mark picked up the holdall with his right hand and threw it at Lawrence’s feet, slipping his now free right hand into his anorak jacket pocket. Lawrence knelt down and unzipped the holdall. As he did so, Mark’s hand came out of his pocket with the Luger gripped firmly in his hand. He put the plastic bottle over the barrel of the gun and pulled the trigger twice quickly. A small amount of water came out of the small hole that the bullet had made in the bottle, and a fine white plume of spray issued out. This was followed by a low puff -like sound. Lawrence fell forward on his face. Mark casually moved to the side of the BMW and looked into Nick’s terrified face through the car’s window. He fired at point blank range into him through the car’s window. As the window shattered, he shot him four times. The water bottle made the perfect silencer. As the bullets hit, they made a thud, thud, thud, thud noise as they entere
d Nick’s body. He opened the passenger door and took a quick look inside. Then he opened the boot and found a sports bag with money and plastic packets of heroin. He took the bag. Under the bag was a sawed-off shot gun. He took it and put it into the bag. He went back and coldly shot Nick in the head. He moved over to Lawrence and placed a bullet into the back of his head. Although both men were already dead he made sure he was not leaving any witnesses. Putting the Luger back in his pocket he picked up both bags and walked quickly to his car. He threw the bags into the boot and drove out of the car park. He drove the car smoothly out of Hull and headed out of the city and onto the M62. He had not been in the car park for more than fifteen minutes.
Chapter 24
Andy had spent the last two hours talking to a DC from Hull’s C.I.D. Lemming’s had quickly become the prime suspect in the murder of two drug dealers who had been gunned down in a public underground car park. This was because he had been caught on CCTV, two hours before the killings, with the men in a pub. There was also a strong probability that he was in possession of a large quantity of drugs. The Hull Police emphasised that the men were delivery men for a man at the centre of a major drugs ring. The man that, they thought, he had stolen the drugs from was the most dangerous dealer in the north. He would hunt Lemmings down and kill him if he could. Andy was told that the name of the major drug dealer was Micky Houghton. He was outwardly a respectable business man. His principal business involved the hiring out of plant equipment to builders and property developers. The business was a cover for one of the largest distribution organisations of heroin in the country.
“There’s something else you should know,” said the DC.
“What’s that?” said Andy.
“One of the men that Lemming’s killed, Nick Baker, was Micky’s cousin. It will be not be a simple matter of revenge to kill Lemmings for Micky. He will want to send a message that no one messes with his family, apart from getting his drugs back,” said the DC.
The Child Predators Page 12