by G D Parker
Tammy’s heart pounded, and heat filled her veins with mixed feelings. She didn’t know if she felt excited or nervous at the prospect of her findings. It was raining even harder, the sound of the rain hitting the roof of her car, sounding like the beating of drums. She looked up from her laptop and could see something in front of her car. She switched on the wipers to reveal a dark figure standing in front of her. Sudden panic caused her to jump as she gasped for breath.
There was a man dressed in a grey suit, a white shirt and red tie. He was soaked through to the bone as rain water ran down his face and off his hair, causing drips to form on his chin. He stared at her. He was so still with no reaction to the coldness that he must surely have been feeling, looking like one of those street performers that pretend to be statues.
Fear struck Tammy again with an intense hot feeling in her stomach, as she slowly closed her laptop and placed it under her seat, keeping her eyes fixed on the figure in front of her. With minimal movement, she put the car into reverse, still keeping her wide eyes on the man. As she glanced in her rear-view mirror, she hit the gas. The wheels screeched, as though in a drag race, as she pulled away, reversing straight out onto the main road without even looking. A car swerved, just missing her, sounding his horn as he drove past, but she stayed focused on the man.
In the blink of an eye, the man started sprinting quickly towards her. Tammy’s fight or flight mode kicked in, and with a trembling hand, she put the car into first gear. Failing to engage the first time, she tried again with the sound of the gears crunching. Her panic increasing, she screamed, losing her breath. With another attempt, the car was finally in first gear, and she sped off down the road, shark tailing as she tried to maintain control, then steadying the car.
The man continued to chase her, but shrank into the distance, unable to keep up as she sped off up the road. Tammy took deep breaths and managed to take control of her breathing, getting away as fast as she could and heading home. She felt overwhelmed with regret for going out to nose around, playing detective.
Later that day, Tammy was feeling overpowered by exhaustion and was still shaken up. She went straight to see Davidson to discuss what had happened. Even though they had a close working relationship, she still felt the need to knock on his office door before gaining entry.
‘Come in.’ He was sounding more approachable this morning.
‘Russell, something happened last night. I managed to find the trace and the location of the device that hacked Tommy McGregor.’ Tammy tried to hold it together, reluctant to let her anxiousness become apparent.
‘Okay, that’s good news! Why do you look so… What’s the word-,’
‘Rough?’ she interrupted.
‘Not rough, just not yourself. Has something happened?’ Davidson enquired.
‘Well, I followed the trace into Cardiff at about 2.00am this morning,’ she began.
Mr Davidson noticed a tremble in her voice and grew concerned. ‘That’s illegal, Tammy. What were you thinking? What happened? Are you okay?’ He stood, feeling concerned for her wellbeing.
‘There was a man,’ she said, pausing whilst thinking of how to elaborate. ‘It was raining hard, and he was strangely dressed in a suit. I’ve got it all here.’ She held up a dash cam. ‘It’s a little distorted from the rain.’
Davidson took the dash cam, fiddled with it for a brief moment, then watched the footage.
‘You should never have gone, Tammy. I’m not happy about this. Anything could have happened to you. Your job is to be a technical director for me, not running around trying to be a detective.’
‘I know, I’m sorry. I just got carried away. I just wanted to help,’ Tammy tried to explain.
‘Well, we need to report this to the detective. This man needs to be checked out. That’s not normal behaviour. I’ll arrange a meeting. What’s your calendar looking like today?’ asked Davidson.
‘It’s clear today,’ she replied.
‘Well, go home and get some rest. I’ll call you if I need you. See you tomorrow.’ He waved his hand towards her.
‘Thanks Russell.’ Tammy turned to walk away, when Davidson spoke again.
‘Tammy, please don’t ever do anything like that again, do you understand? I might be a hard-faced bastard, but I do care!’
‘I know you do, and I won’t,’ Tammy said. ‘I’m sorry! See you tomorrow, Russell.’ She left Davidson’s office, leaving him feeling miffed over her actions.
There was a missed call from Davidson on Valentina’s phone. She returned the call from her office. Roberts was present.
‘Mr Davidson, DI Valentina here. Sorry I missed your call. What do you have for me?’
‘Morning! Tammy has made good progress with the data retrieval from Tommy McGregor’s mobile phone. I’ll need you to meet with me to go through everything in detail. It’s a matter of urgency.’
Valentina covered her phone with her hand and mouthed to Roberts, ‘They have something’. He returned a smile and gave a thumbs up.
‘We can do that. We’ll come to you. When are you available?’ Valentina enquired.
‘I’ll keep my afternoon clear if you can make it?’
‘We’ll be there after lunch,’ Valentina stated.
‘Thank you, see you then.’ Davidson ended the call.
‘What was it, boss?’ asked Roberts with eagerness.
‘They have something. He was actually polite for a change. Must be important; he’s keeping his afternoon clear to go through the details.’
Roberts nodded a smile, then continued to work on his computer, scrolling through details about the acid attack on Emily. He found the extent of her injuries upsetting. Even though he was professional, he could still appreciate a pretty looking woman and understood what effect this would have on her.
Davidson showed an element of disquietude as the detectives arrived. Valentina was an expert in human characteristics and body language. ‘Take a seat both,’ Davidson said as he ushered them into his office.
‘So, what do you have, Mr Davidson?’
‘Please, just call me Russell. Well, this needs to be an off-the-record conversation.’
Both Valentina and Roberts looked at each other puzzled.
‘I can’t guarantee that, I’m afraid,’ said Valentina, causing Davidson to fidget in his chair.
‘I need that, or I can’t share with you what I know.’
Valentina felt pleased to see this powerful, arrogant man, who she had disliked from the outset, becoming a little vulnerable.
‘Come on, Russell. Let’s just talk it through and we’ll be the judge,’ interjected Roberts before Valentina could say anything.
‘It’s Tammy,’ said Davidson, followed by silence. ‘Let’s just say, she’s gone a little above and beyond her call of duty.’
‘What do you mean?’ Valentina asked, giving him an inquisitive look. Davidson then placed the dash cam from Tammy’s car on his desk. ‘What’s on there?’ she asked.
‘It’s footage from Tammy’s car. She traced the hack back to Cardiff and decided to take a trip to investigate.’
‘She traced it?’ Valentina enquired. ‘No wonder you wanted to keep this off the record. Hacking a mobile phone network is a serious offence!’
‘She’s a little shaken. Take a look.’ Davidson pushed the cam towards them both, looking intrigued as they played the footage.
Roberts immediately put a potential link between the description of Emily’s attacker and the man on the cam.
‘What is it we are actually looking at here?’ asked Valentina. ‘And please don’t leave anything out.’
‘Tammy has all the technical details. I’ve sent her home for the day, but she’ll be back tomorrow. In a nutshell, she decoded a scrambled IMEI number. That’s the number that-‘
‘I know what an IMEI number is,’ Valentina interrupted abruptly, feeling that her intelligence had been mildly insulted.
‘Sorry. She managed to trace it, as I’ve expl
ained. She foolishly took a trip to the location. The signal then became live. It was being used by someone, and that’s when she saw this man in front of her,’ Davidson explained.
‘I’ll need to speak with Tammy and get all the details. Is that all you know?’
‘It is. What will happen to Tammy?’ Davidson looked concerned.
‘Let me get all the information, and we’ll go from there. Can you also send me that video from the dash cam, please? We’ll need to investigate it further.’
‘Of course. Well, I have nothing else for you. Thank you for coming.’ They all shook hands, and Davidson looked worried as they left the building.
Roberts turned to Valentina in the car. ‘What are you thinking, boss?’
‘Well, the man in the video matches the description of Emily’s attacker. Also, I want to know how on earth Tammy managed to hack the mobile network and trace an IMEI number?’
‘She’s clearly a very intelligent woman to be able to manage that, boss.’
‘Yeah, and a stupid one for trying to play cops and robbers. Could have got herself killed! Although, we don’t know if that man is linked with the hacking of Tommy’s implant. He could have just been a drunken opportunist seeing a pretty woman in a fancy car.’
‘Very true, I’m going to have the CCTV checked in that area to see what his movements were and run a facial recognition to see if he comes up on the database,’ said Roberts.
‘Excellent,’ Valentina smiled. She felt as though they were making progress, and she had a positive feeling in her gut that they were on the right track.
The footage on the CCTV was grainy due to the adverse weather conditions, as Roberts sat in the control room directing the operative on where he wanted to look and at what time. They both flinched at the near miss of the rear of Tammy’s car as she reversed onto Lloyd George Avenue.
‘Wow, he’s got some pace on him,’ said the operative to Roberts.
‘He certainly has, fella. Play it back again but go from zero two twenty hours this time. I want to see where he comes from.’
The operative played back the footage from that time as requested, and a little movement from the bottom left corner of the screen was just visible.
‘He’s coming from the direction of those flats,’ said Roberts.
‘That’s Aprillia House, Detective,’ the operative advised.
‘Is there a camera looking from the south of that area?’ Roberts asked.
The operative searched around. They could just make out the man coming into shot from the rear of Aprillia House.
‘My gut says he came from there,’ Roberts said pointing at the screen. ‘Do me a favour and burn all this to a disk for me. I need to go through it with the DI.’
‘Will do.’ The operative made the disk and handed it over to Roberts.
‘Thanks, fella. Could you ask your team to look out for this individual? If you see him again, call me straight away.’
Back in the detective’s office, Valentina was having a cheeky fag out of the office window, even though smoking was prohibited in the building. She felt that she needed it, but was careful to ensure the smoke stayed outside.
Roberts walked in.
‘Smoking again, boss?’
‘Yeah, but you didn’t see me!’
‘Makes no odds to me. I got this!’ Roberts held up the CD.
‘What is it?’ asked Valentina.
‘The CCTV footage from Lloyd George Avenue. I think we could be onto something here.’ Roberts loaded the disk into his laptop and played the video, giving Valentina a running commentary.
‘Get down to Aprillia House and do a door-to-door, but stay discrete,’ Valentina ordered. ‘Your face has been on the news recently from the acid attack, so I don’t want you drawing any attention to yourself and blowing this case.’
‘Will do, boss.’ Roberts left the office, and Valentina sparked up another fag the moment the door shut.
In an Umbro t-shirt, blue jeans and a pair of Nike Air Max, along with a snap back cap, Roberts approached Aprillia House, pressing the first buzzer. There was no answer. He pressed the next buzzer, and again there was nothing. ‘God’s sake,’ he said to himself, trying the last buzzer.
‘Hello?’ said a woman’s voice enquiringly.
‘Afternoon, I’m Detective Roberts from South Wales Police. Can you let me in, please?’
He heard the door click open and he pushed through it, making his way up the stairs to the top floor where the flat was number 47.
Roberts gently tapped on the door and a middle-aged woman answered in a pink dressing gown, folding her arms across herself. Roberts flashed his warrant card.
‘You don’t look like a policeman,’ the woman said, half closing the door, suspicious of Roberts.
‘I’m CID, madam. I have reason to be in this attire. I don’t want to come in. I just need to ask you one or two questions?’
‘Just me?’ the woman looked puzzled.
‘No, we are going door to door. Can you tell me, do you live alone?’ asked Roberts.
‘No, I have Crystal living with me.’ She gave him a smile from the corner of her mouth.
‘Is Crystal home?’
‘Yes, she never goes out. I’ll get her for you.’ Roberts waited, and within seconds the lady returned holding a grey-brown cat. ‘This is Crystal,’ she smiled again.
‘Sorry Madam, do you live with any other persons?’
‘No, just me and Crystal.’
Roberts knew the person he was looking for wasn’t going to be in number 47.
‘That’s great, thank you for your time.’ He smiled and walked away with the sound of the door closing behind him and then locking. He then proceeded to knock on each door within the block, which consisted of only twelve apartments. He had no luck, as most people were out, presumably at work or doing whatever they did.
As Roberts was driving out of the area, he spotted a man driving past in the opposite direction towards the apartments. The man was wearing a white shirt. A gut feeling triggered inside him, trying to tell him something, so he decided to hang fire in his unmarked car. He watched in his mirrors as the car parked up. A man got out, opened his boot and retrieved a work bag of some sort.
Roberts watched intently as the man went into the block that he himself had just left. He instinctively got out of his car and went back. Luckily the door hadn’t shut properly, and he was able to gain access without bothering anyone. He quickly went to each apartment where there had been no answer previously and listened for the sound of any movement. It was flat 42 that caught his attention. No one had been home before, and now there was a stinking black bag outside the door. He placed his ear close to the door and could hear movement, so he tapped gently.
‘Who is it?’ asked a male voice from behind the door.
‘I’m Detective Roberts from South Wales Police. Do you have a second to chat, please?’
‘Hold your ID up to my peep hole.’
Roberts did exactly as the man asked, and the door was opened. The man was wearing pyjama bottoms and a black vest. In return, the man looked Roberts up and down, giving him a similar look that the lady from number 47 had done.
‘What do you want?’ The man seemed to be agitated by Roberts’ presence.
‘I’m just making a few enquiries, sir.’
‘Wearing that?’ the man said with a slight chuckle.
‘I have a reason to be wearing this, thank you. Can you tell me, do you live alone, sir?’
‘That’s none of your business. Why are you asking?’
Roberts knew this guy was going to be difficult. It was always the ones who had either been in trouble with the law before or had something to hide that gave the attitude.
‘Like I said, I’m making a few enquiries. Can you tell me your name, please?’
‘No, not until I know what all this is about,’ replied the man insolently. ‘I know my rights. I don’t have to tell you anything.’
Stay ca
lm! Roberts thought.
‘True, you don’t have to tell me anything. That’s correct. However, we are investigating a serious crime within the area, and we are hoping with the cooperation of neighbours such as yourself, we might be able to get to the bottom of it.’
The man took a step back. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘what crime?’
‘I can’t tell you that, but if you could kindly tell me your name and where you were between the hours of 1.30am to 2.30am this morning, that would be helpful?’
‘Andy Styles. I was in here asleep.’
‘Did you hear anything? Did anything from outside wake you at all?’
‘No, nothing.’ Andy pulled his chin towards his neck and frowned.
‘Mr Styles, what is it you do for a living?’
‘I’m an accountant.’
‘Okay, thank you. That’s all for now,’ said Roberts.
‘That’s it?’ Confusion set on Andy’s face.
‘Yes sir, I’m just making enquiries to see if anyone heard anything in the early hours of this morning.’
Andy held out his hand to shake, and Roberts noticed there was a white dressing covering his hand.
‘What happened there, if you don’t mind me asking?’ Roberts asked.
‘This?’ Andy said, holding the bandage with his other hand. ‘I just burnt it making a coffee; spilled boiling water over it, because I was trying to text at the same time. You know how it is? I tried to run it under the cold tap, but it didn’t help.’
‘I see, thank you Mr Styles.’ Roberts walked off deep in thought.
After two rings, Valentina answered.
‘Roberts?’
‘Boss, I think we have our suspect, but we don’t have enough evidence on him. It’s just my gut feeling.’
‘Explain?’ demanded Valentina.
‘I checked all the apartments within Aprillia House. Only a handful of people were home, but as I was leaving, I saw an individual matching the appearance of the guy from Tammy’s dash cam and the description of Emily’s attacker. I then followed him into the apartment and asked a few standard Qs.’ Roberts took a breath. ‘He told me his name is Andy Styles. Ring any bells?’