The Retirement Party

by Graham Miller

  Chapter Fifteen

  It didn't matter how much the regulations changed, how many new devices like video capture were introduced, interview rooms remained fundamentally unchanged. They were places where desperate people were questioned and somehow that despair seeped into the fabric of the room itself.

  DC Angel suspected that her boss, DCI Haines had deliberately paired her up with DS Stonor in an effort to mend bridges after the debacle with her arresting his informant. For his part, Julian Lockwood was surly and unresponsive after spending most of the day in the cells.

  She had given her boss a quick rundown of her opening strategy and knew that he'd be watching. That was a problem with the modern video interview suites. You never knew how many people were watching. And you never knew what would be seen when the tapes were reviewed.

  When the formalities were over, Stonor let her open the questioning. 'So, Julian,' she emphasised the word, letting him know that he wouldn't be called Jules. 'You are here because you assaulted me.' He looked up at her from under his eyebrows, furious that he'd been tricked by her standing in his way. 'But what we're really interested in is Mazey Taylor.'

  'That girl who was killed? What's that got to do with me?'

  'Well, she had a video on her phone that showed a friend's phone receiving a video from an account called WankyBoi and we wondered if you might know anything about that?'

  'Mazey? Nah.' He shook his head. 'We never sent her a video. I'm fairly sure of that.'

  'But you do admit to sending videos using the name WankyBoi?' Gently does it, she thought. Just build the confession one piece at a time.

  'Yeah, so what?' Julian shrugged. 'Everyone does it, don't they? The whole world's on YouTube. It's not a crime.'

  'And you do this, in your shed, with Ceiran Knight and Tom Small?' Angel pressed.

  'I suppose so.' His eyes narrowed as he realised he might get his friends in trouble.

  'You do realise,' DS Stonor leant forward and started speaking, 'that our technical team is already taking your shed apart? Preliminary reports are that they've found a list of who you sent it to along with the unedited videos.'

  DC Angel looked sharply at DS Stonor. According to her strategy she was about three questions away from getting Julian to admit to a whole string of offences. From what the schoolgirls had said to her and what the police search had revealed, she was fairly certain that Tom had been under sixteen when the videos started. If that fact could be confirmed, new offences would be on the table for the older two – creating and distributing child pornography. If she could just get Julian Lockwood to admit to it, then they could charge them there and then which would take the pressure off the technical teams to get the data quickly.

  Now DS Stonor had spooked their suspect and he looked dangerously close to going silent and getting a lawyer.

  'My shed? You can't go in there!' Julian looked around as if he could escape. 'I've got a new padlock and everything.'

  'We arrested you at your home address. Under PACE we can search your premises and that includes any outbuildings.'

  Julian Lockwood went silent, the colour draining from his face. 'You've been in my shed?'

  'Yep.' Stonor nodded. 'Even now the technical team are examining all the computers they found in there. We've asked TimeBomb to check your account and if we find even one girl who got a video the day before her sixteenth birthday, we'll come for you.'

  'Right. You can't pin this on me. I need my lawyer.'

  'Is that a formal request for legal representation?' As Stonor said the words, Angel groaned inwardly while maintaining a calm expression. Now the interview was over, depending on the advice of Lockwood's solicitor. Given the time of day and the weekend, she was doubtful if they'd get much further until Monday morning.

  * * *

  DC Angel went back upstairs to CID where she found a harassed looking DCI Haines.

  'Any thoughts about our strategy for interviewing Small?' Haines asked. 'And have we got a responsible adult?'

  'I do have a plan. And Mrs Small isn't going anywhere.'

  She outlined her strategy to DCI Haines and he agreed. DS Stonor was still around so they sent him to manage the video suite while Haines and Angel handled the interview itself.

  Tom Small was unremarkable – average height and build – and had a mop of curly dirty blond hair that was shaved round the back and sides. His mother was showing the strain with bags under her eyes and a drawn expression. Her face was angular, with a pointed nose and sharp cheekbones under a severe fringe.

  When they walked into the interview room, she laid a protective hand on her son's arm. After all the formalities were completed, Tom Small spoke first.

  'I've been talking with my mum. It's probably best I don't answer any questions. You can only hold me twenty-four hours so I'll just wait it out.' Although his words sounded brave, his voice wavered, as if he was testing waters, asking for permission.

  'That is of course, your right,' DC Angel explained smoothly. 'But maybe you'll listen to us first. We only need to ask you a few questions, we could have all this cleared up really quickly.'

  She deliberately let the pause stretch out until Small took the bait. 'What sort of questions?' he asked grudgingly.

  'We've already seized your phone, and your friends' phones and all the computers we could find at your addresses. But if we could just clarify a few details with you now, well it would save us waiting for the computer technicians to tell us the details.' This time he kept quiet over the pause, so she continued. 'When did you start making videos with Jules and Ceiran?'

  He looked at his mother, who gave a small shrug, as if to say you might as well answer. 'I dunno. Quite a few months back, I guess. Less than a year.'

  'Would you say it was before Christmas or after it?'

  He frowned and looked at the table top. 'It was just before Christmas. Ceiran got a new hard disk with his Christmas money and we copied everything over to there.'

  'Okay. And was it always you and Julian Lockwood and Ceiran Knight?'

  'What do you mean?' He started to look suspicious.

  'Well, you seem to have been a little group, the three of you. Was there anyone else who joined or left? Or did the three of you start making videos together with no one else involved?'

  Tom Small looked mutinous and shook his head.

  'For the record, Mr Small is refusing to answer.' DC Angel then softened her tone slightly. 'Listen, we have your phones. Within a few days we'll have a record of where and when they were switched on. I think it's highly likely that it'll show that your phone was often with Ceiran's at Julian's house. Most evenings. Is that right?'

  'Yes,' he said resignedly. 'It was just the three of us. We used to go round, hang out in his shed. Mess about with computers and stuff.'

  'And the videos? Who's idea was that?'

  He shrugged. 'I dunno. We were all just talking and stuff. About what goes viral what's not been done before, what would be funny, you know. What you could do with TimeBomb if you couldn't be traced. That kind of stuff.'

  'So, the three of you came up with the idea and made the videos together?' Angel tried to keep the excitement out of her voice. 'No one else?'

  'I suppose so.' He paused as if he realised this wasn't enough. 'Yes. What of it?'

  'Thank you. You've been very helpful.' DC Angel turned and nodded at DCI Haines who was looking smug.

  'Wait a minute,' Tom Small nearly shouted. 'What have I done? Why are you looking so happy about it?'

  'Tom.' DC Angel tried to be friendly. 'We have technical support looking through all the hard drives. By the end of the week we will have found out who made the videos, when they started, who they were sent to. You haven't done anything, just confirmed what we were going to find out anyway.'

  He looked confused so DCI Haines took the opportunity to close things up. 'Interview suspended at sixteen fifty-three,' he said officially as he started switching off equipment and gathering up his notes. />
  'Thank you, Tom, you'll be taken back to your cell for a bit.'

  'What? I can't go?' Tom started to panic. 'How long for?'

  'We're not sure. We've got to go over what you've said, discuss things with the CPS and find a magistrate. Don't worry, it won't take long.' DC Angel caught DCI Haines shooting her a warning look so she stopped talking.

  Haines and Angel reconvened in the MIT room.

  'So, what did we get out of that?' Haines asked mainly to get complete clarity on where they stood.

  'Well, we know Tom Small had his sixteenth birthday in March.' DC Angel indicated his file. 'And he's admitted that the three of them were in it together since before Christmas. He's just given us his two friends on a plate. We can charge them right now with producing and distributing child pornography.'

  'Are you sure that will fly?' DCI Haines paused while he picked his words carefully. 'You heard him just now. It was the three of them. They planned and executed the whole thing between the three of them. Surely in terms of consent, and his age...?' DCI Haines tailed off as he realised he was entering murky waters.

  'In terms of consent and age,' DC Angel said firmly, 'legally he was incapable of consenting to sexual activity until his sixteenth birthday. It's all in how we present it to the magistrate. Two older boys, no, not boys, men. One eighteen, one nineteen, preying on a fifteen-year-old to make videos and send them out to unsuspecting girls.'

  DCI Haines nodded. 'And when we get the records back from TimeBomb, if one of those girls was under sixteen...'

  '...then we can add that on as well.' She stopped to think. 'They probably were, but there are a lot of hurdles to get over in that case. Firstly, we have to wait for TimeBomb to comply and they're demanding a warrant. Then we'll have to match up the numbers they give us with names. When we have the names, we have to then check how old they were when they received the videos.'

  'But what we got this morning is much more concrete,' DCI Haines said, nodding. 'And the fact they were sending these videos out to unsuspecting women or girls is good too. We can sell it to the magistrate that these are sex offenders in the making. Who knows what they would go on to if they're not stopped now?'

  'Just because it all happens over the internet using phones doesn't change anything. They're not going to go on to become sex offenders – that's what they are right now. It's no different than if they sat next to these girls on the bus and did this or jumped out at them in the park. The only difference is that they think they can hide behind the technology.'

  DCI Haines nodded. 'Once we've got all that squared away, we can put the pressure on them over the Mazey Taylor killing.'

  'Do you think that'll work?'

  'Yeah. At the moment Lockwood and Knight are laughing at us. They've had an uncomfortable night in the cells, expecting to go home in a couple of hours. They think that even if the videos are obscene, they'll probably get a slap on the wrist.'

  'No worse than if they'd been sending dick pics I suppose,' DC Angel said morosely.

  'Exactly. Now we can sit them down with their solicitors and their parents and lay it out for them. Sex offenders register, time on remand, special conditions, all of that. I reckon they'll suddenly get a lot more co-operative. Especially if it's only one of them who's the killer. We'll have them turning on each other before the end of the week.'

  'What about Tom Small? Shall we release him?'

  'No. Just because he was underage, it doesn't exempt him from charges of child pornography at all.'

  'Well, technically. But they hardly ever prosecute if it's just a child sending dodgy photos of themselves.'

  'I think we can push the CPS to lay charges as this case is far more serious.' Haines' face was set in a hard expression. 'And we'll go for remand as well. They're just middle-class kids messing about with their computers. A few days on remand should wake them up. I reckon we'll have our confession soon enough.'

  DC Angel wasn't convinced that her boss was right. She knew the three of them were perverts. But she also knew they were solid middle-class boys. For sure they were a horrible product of the same culture that had made #MeToo a necessity. But they were not really, in her opinion, capable of murder. But she saw the look in Haines' eyes and couldn't see a way to shake her boss's conviction that one of the trio was guilty. Best not to say anything. 'We'd better get to work then.'

  Between them they contacted the CPS, formally charged their suspects and kept them in the cells for a court hearing.

  Chapter Sixteen

  'Right, everyone, listen up.' For the first time, all of CID were crammed into the MIT room, along with the assorted uniforms and civilians who made up the bulk of the team. 'First of all the good news. We've got three strong suspects and we've been granted a full extension to hold them for further questioning. That should give the technical team enough time to present us with the details from their computers. Even better,' he nodded towards DC Angel, 'it looks as if the youngest of the three was making obscene videos before he was sixteen. So we can put pressure on the other two with charges of making and distributing child pornography. I'm sure that with some diligent questioning that'll lead one of them to flip on the other and we should have a confession for the killing of Mazey Taylor by the end of the week.' There were nods and congratulatory glances around the room.

  'What do we do if they don't confess?' This was DS Stonor who was obviously feeling brave.

  'It shouldn't be a problem. They had a motive – to keep their secret. We have proof on Mazey's phone. And they had opportunity, they're all each other's alibi. It'll still go to court.'

  DC Angel had a niggle of fear at the back of her mind. There was no physical evidence against the three boys. Given their predilections for masturbating and making videos she would have expected to find either semen at the scene or a private video of Mazey.

  She was sure that they were nasty pieces of work who enjoyed sending out upsetting videos to teenage girls but she wasn't convinced they were killers. What was worse was that she'd investigated Mazey's social network and concluded that there was no real link between her and the WankyBois. She didn't know who they really were and there didn't seem to be a credible route for the boys to find out that she had one of their videos saved. In fact, she didn't appear to have told anyone that she had copied one of their videos. So, she couldn't see how the boys had motive to kill Mazey.

  She knew she was new in the department and so she really didn't want to question the boss. She did have to admit that they had motive and their only alibi was that they'd spent all evening in the shed together. Their shed was only a short walk to where Mazey was killed. DC Angel shoved these thoughts aside as she listened to the rest of what DCI Haines was saying.

  'Given that we're confident of a result we need to address the other problem plaguing Bradwick. With that in mind, this week will see the start of a multi-disciplinary crackdown on immigration. We'll be spearheading a campaign to target all the immigrants who come here from across Europe and beyond. We'll have full co-operation from the DSS to check for benefit infringements, and we'll be working with national agencies to check for both domestic and international arrest warrants. On top of that we'll work with border force to make sure all visas are in order for people from outside Europe.

  'Obviously this'll mean a lot of leg work. My team especially, I expect to spend a lot of time outside the office. I want you talking to farmers, gang masters – they need their licences checking too, taxi drivers, community centres. And I want this done as a zero-tolerance operation. You find one weapon, one sniff of drugs, one outstanding parking ticket, and you process the case.'

  There was a stunned silence. What he'd just outlined took very little time to say but added up to a mountain of work. DC Angel glanced around the room. She could see the officers split between those who were mentally adding up the overtime payments and those who were working out how to break it to their families that they wouldn't be around so much in the following weeks.


  As no one else was going to say anything, DC Angel decided to speak up. 'Sir, why has this decision been taken now? There's still a lot of work to do to close out the Taylor killing and there's still this spate of drug related violence across the whole area. Won't we be stretched too thin?'

  DCI Haines looked around the room, trying to decide if he should include uniforms and civilians in what he was going to say next. 'Could I ask those not in my CID team to go for a coffee? Just five minutes?' DC Angel's heart sank at those words although she was grateful for a smaller audience when she was carpeted by her boss. Once everyone had left, the room resettled to expectant silence. However, her expectations weren't met. 'Right, what I'm going to say next is for our ears only. It could easily be misinterpreted, especially by the press. I have received intelligence that the latest spate of violence has its origins in a turf war over drugs. Latvians are trying to establish a base in Bradwick and in doing so are intimidating the local dealers.' There were nods around the room. Everyone there knew it was the lower members of Bradwick society who'd borne the brunt of the attacks. 'Now, we are working on identifying the structure of the Latvian gang that is behind this. But at the moment this is the best strategy. We'll put pressure on their foot soldiers. We'll pay special attention to people who have connections with or are from Latvia. Those who've either arrived in the last three months or who appear to have suddenly changed jobs and got more money.' He stopped to glance around the room. 'I don't need to tell you how sensitive this will be. To the public we're just carrying out a multi-disciplinary operation, across the board, all nationalities without favour. Behind the scenes we'll apply pressure and try to build a picture of this operation.