by Matt Johnson
Just as I was trying to work out how I was going to capture my suspect, Nina appeared behind me with the SOCO.
‘Got something, Finlay?’ she asked.
I raised a finger to my lips and, with my other hand, pointed to the road beneath the car.
Before we could react further there was a scraping sound from the opposite side of the Jaguar. A small man in dark clothing scrabbled out then sprinted off down the road.
Without a thought, Nina and I both gave chase.
For about twenty-five yards, I kept pace. But Nina did better. The man was fast but Nina had youth on her side and, after fifty yards, she was still with him. I was rapidly starting to lose ground.
I decided that alternative tactics were called for. Nina seemed to be gaining on him. She was tall, athletic and moved freely. And the cigarettes didn’t seem to have affected her fitness. But like me, she also had no radio, so if we were going to catch our suspect, we needed a quick plan.
I dived right into a small side street, in the hope that I might head them both off. I soon slowed to a jog, and then a walk as I struggled to regain my breath. I had only gone about two hundred yards when I heard the sound of someone climbing fences in a nearby garden. Whoever it was, they were in a hurry and appeared to be coming my way.
Crouching down behind a low wall, I waited. He was close. A second later and the small man leapt the wall next to me and landed on the pavement.
I made my move.
Only to find myself staring down the barrel of a handgun.
I automatically looked up at the face of my attacker. I’m not sure which of us had the greater shock. In front of me, as large as life, stood the same man that I had disarmed at Marica’s wedding.
It was clear he recognised me. His lips opened into a broad smile, exposing broken, yellowed teeth. Just like at the reception, he stood with the pistol pointed at me, the hand steady and near enough for me to grab. I raised my hands to waist height. If I moved swiftly, I just might…
But as I went to grab the pistol my opponent stepped backwards, shaking his head from side to side as he did so. He wasn’t going to be caught twice.
The smile faded as his lips curled into a snarl. I saw his hand tighten on the pistol and the index finger slide onto the trigger. He was going to shoot.
I dropped to the floor and dived forward, trying to take out his legs and get hold of the gun. But he moved aside before I reached him. I hit fresh air and landed heavily on the footway.
There was a shout. ‘No!’ It was Nina. She was behind me.
I looked up. The Romanian levelled the gun at her. Then, he hesitated for a moment, as if unsure whether to fire.
With the gunman distracted, I tried to move closer to him. There was just a chance I could sweep his legs away. Before I had the chance, though, he turned and ran.
Nina bent down to help me. ‘You OK?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Get after him.’
She took off and I dragged myself to my feet and jogged slowly after her. Reaching a junction, I looked left then right. There was no sign of them. I was still breathing heavily. For a minute or so I stood quietly, as I got my breath back and my heart rate slowed. I swore at myself. Once again, I had been very lucky.
Soon, Nina came jogging back to me. She was alone.
‘Lost him?’ I asked.
‘There was a car, a grey one. It must have been looking for him. He jumped into the back seat.’
‘Get a number?’
‘Too far … sorry … I thought he was going to shoot you back there.’
‘Me too. Guess you distracted him.’
‘Come on,’ said Nina. ‘We need to find some uniform lads and get a description circulated.’
Several seconds passed before I summoned the courage to speak. Finally, I blurted the words out.
‘I knew him.’
Chapter 43
Nina looked puzzled for a moment.
‘The gunman?’ she said at last.
‘Yes … the fuckin’ gunman. Who the hell else did you think I meant?’
‘Whoa … steady. I’m not the bad guy here. You mean you recognised him?’
I took a deep breath. ‘Yeah … I’m sorry, Nina. I guess I should be thanking you … and yes, I recognised him.’
‘It’s nothing you wouldn’t have done for me. For one moment I thought you were going to try and snatch the gun from him.’
‘I thought about it … he didn’t fall for it twice.’
‘What do you mean, twice?’
‘Just a couple of days ago … in Romania. Would you believe I took what might have been the very same gun off that very man?’
‘I don’t understand? How … how … I thought you meant you recognised him as a known criminal. You mean you’ve met him before?’
‘At the wedding me and Jenny went to. He was one of the men working for the family that invited us … the Cristeas.’
‘The Cristea family?’
‘Yeah. They’re the publishing folks that invited me to their daughter’s wedding.’
‘Oh my God … oh my fucking God.’ Nina started walking in small circles, her head held tightly in her hands. ‘You’re kidding me … the Cristeas? Seriously, Finlay? This isn’t some kind of a wind-up?’
‘At a time like this? Are you kidding? Why … do you know them?’
‘Do I know them? Finlay … the Cristeas are the reason we have a sex-trafficking problem in London.’ She stalked off towards the car park without another word. I followed, my heart beat picking up once again.
When we reached our car, she stopped, opened the driver’s door and, jabbing her finger in the direction of the passenger seat, indicated for me to get in. With the doors closed, she paused for a second, appearing to compose herself.
‘The Cristeas are one of the reasons this squad has been formed. They’re into trafficking in a big way. Relia was going to testify against them.’
‘You never mentioned them.’ I said.
‘Not by name, no. But I would have as you learned more about how things work, what exactly we’re investigating and the scale of it. Jesus … I don’t bloody believe it. We are in so much shit. If it gets out that you’ve been holidaying with them…’
‘But I had no idea.’
‘Didn’t you think to check them out before you went?’
‘Not in detail, no. I think I just assumed, with MI5 knowing about them, they were just a publishing company.’
‘Really? Christ’s sake. You’ve been away from real policing for way too long. You should have checked. And I can’t believe that Toni Fellowes didn’t warn you.’
‘You know her?’
‘Of course … our paths have crossed many times.’
‘So … what am I going to do?’
‘What are we going to do, you mean?’ Nina paused, seemingly running things over in her mind. An idea seemed to come to her. ‘You definitely haven’t done any checks on the Cristeas?’ she asked. ‘No PNC check, no Interpol, nothing?’
‘It never occurred to me,’ I replied. ‘I just thought they were an ordinary family – pretty well off, but normal. I saw some of them carrying sidearms at the reception, but I thought that might be normal for backwoods Romania. To be honest, I’ve been a bit distracted since the bombings … not thinking straight.’
‘I’m sure Complaints Branch would be very sympathetic … just before they sack you. So, there’s no trace on any electronic search to say that you could have known that gunman?’
‘No … none.’
‘Do you know his name?’
‘No … and one other thing, those pictures from Interpol: there was one with a girl in a very distinctive dress. I couldn’t say for definite, but she looks like a girl that lost a dance competition at the wedding.’
‘I know the picture you mean, we see a lot like that.’
‘A lot of murdered slave girls, you mean?’
‘Yes, a lot of them end up dead, dumped at the side
of the road.’
‘You seem to know so much about trafficking.’
‘Let’s just say there are family connections. My father was Romanian, worked in the embassy over here, that’s how he met my mother. We settled over here but my old man knew a lot of people involved in trafficking.’
‘Why is the Romanian connection so relevant?’
‘During the war my father’s country fought with the Nazis. He told me how the Germans set up what they called “Joy Divisions” in the concentration camps and “Soldattenbordell” elsewhere.’
‘Brothels for soldiers?’ I asked, guessing at the translation.
‘Exactly. And they used Romanian soldiers to run them. At the end of the war those men had learned the trade and how lucrative it could be. It didn’t take long before they were forcing women into it again.’
‘You know a lot about the subject.’
‘It’s been a particular interest of mine for some while.’
‘I’m impressed. But it’s not going to help me at the moment.’
‘I agree. Didn’t you think that maybe you should have said something? I mean, we do have rules about associating with criminals and accepting gratuities.’
I managed a half-smile. ‘I’ll have to tell the local Murder Squad what I know.’
‘They’ll hang you out to dry, Finlay. You’ll be on a disciplinary hearing faster than you know it. Christ, that bastard Youldon will be rubbing his hands with glee.’
‘No choice…’
‘Let me think…’
I went to speak but Nina raised her hand to silence me.
After a few moments, she spoke. ‘You do have a choice. It’s not your fault you’re an idiot. To my way of thinking, to err is human. Trouble is … to forgive isn’t job policy.’
‘Got a suggestion? I have to tell them…’
‘No, you don’t. You have to give a description and, in case anyone in the street saw the chase, you will have to say what happened. But you don’t have to tell them that you’d met the gunman before … you don’t have to say that the Cristeas are behind it.’
‘Why not, if the Cristeas are the killers, then they’ll need to know?’
‘You leave that to me, Finlay. Relia was Romanian and came through the slave route … and I’ll explain that we were hoping she was going to give us evidence against the Cristeas. I’ll tell the Murder Squad that they have to be considered prime suspects.’
‘You think that’ll work?’
‘For your sake … for our sake, I hope so. Now, just do yourself a bloody favour and leave the detective work to those that know what they’re doing.’
I didn’t answer. Nina was offering to cover for me. She would steer the Murder Squad in the right direction without saying how she knew.
With little option, I had to agree. ‘OK,’ I said. ‘I will. One thing though.’
‘What’s that?’
‘If the gunman dived under the Jaguar straight after leaving the flats, he was hiding there for maybe half an hour. Why not sneak off? Why stay there?’
‘Maybe they were still around when we arrived. He saw us and hid in the first available place.’
‘But we were a good twenty minutes inside the flats. He could have used that time to make good his escape.’
‘Maybe he was waiting to be picked up.’
‘Yeah … maybe. Or maybe he was watching us. And only hid when we wandered over to look around the car park.’
‘Who knows, Finlay?’ said Nina. ‘Like I said, we’ll leave that to the detectives to work out, shall we?’
Chapter 44
I gave a description of the gunman we had chased to the local CID before we left. They circulated it over the radio and started to organise a search of the local streets. I guessed it would be fruitless. He was long gone.
For most of the return journey to New Scotland Yard, we didn’t speak. Nina was clearly brooding, her mood sombre and quiet, her driving more sedate. I didn’t push the conversation. I thought hard about the advice she had given me. I had been a fool, there was no doubt of that. Her generosity in covering for me surprised me a little. In truth, she hardly knew me. One day, I promised myself that I would return the favour.
It was pretty clear to me that Relia had been located by the very same people who had brought her into the country. She had known too much and had been willing to name names, identify traffickers and help bring other victims who might also be willing to help. The slavers had found and silenced her.
Breaking the atmosphere, Nina finally spoke – explaining to me what happened when she had tried to get Relia into the embryonic witness protection programme.
‘Every resource, every officer was already committed to supergrass enquiries – you know the type of thing: crooks giving evidence in gangster trials. I had to protect an innocent victim on my own. And now, that’s cost Relia her life.’ Nina sighed deeply.
She was right when she said that the individuals responsible for that lack of support would now be looking to protect themselves from the inevitable criticism.
With Nina’s driving now a lot smoother, I took the opportunity to flick through the remainder of the Interpol reports. There were many, almost all involving drug smuggling. We were on the down ramp into the underground car park at New Scotland Yard when Nina suddenly hit the brakes. The files on my lap slipped untidily into the passenger well of the car.
‘What’s up?’ I asked.
‘She knew.’
‘I’m sorry … I don’t follow. Who knew what?’
‘Toni Fellowes … she knew. She knows about the Cristeas; she has to. I’ve been thinking about it and it’s the only answer I can come up with.’
‘I’m not sure I understand.’
‘When she arranged that trip to Egypt – did anything happen to throw you and the Cristeas together?’
‘I wouldn’t exactly say we were thrown together. Marica – the daughter – she wanted to do a course and needed a dive partner. The school suggested that I could do it.’
‘And I bet there was an incentive, like it was a freebie?’
‘Yes, it was. Are you saying Toni engineered me meeting Marica?’
‘It’s a theory, but it fits. I bet she couldn’t believe her luck when you got invited to that wedding.’
‘You’re saying Toni wanted me to meet the Cristeas … that she sent us over there knowing they were criminals?’
‘You bumping into one of the Cristea gunmen in the street, having just met him at a wedding is a hell of a coincidence. Isn’t it more likely Toni Fellowes had been planning all along for you to have contact with them?’
‘But why would she do that? Why put us at risk?’
‘She’s a spook, Finlay. You of all people should know they only see people like us as assets. She probably figured she could use you to get close to the family. Maybe MI5 has an interest in them too.’
I didn’t reply. The trust I had placed in Toni Fellowes had just taken a serious knock.
Matt was waiting for us when we arrived back at the office. News of Relia’s murder had filtered through.
‘Boss wants to see you both,’ he said.
Nina slammed her handbag and the Interpol file onto her desk. ‘Does he now?’ she replied, angrily.
I made to speak, but the tall DS held up her hand to silence me. ‘Leave it to me, Finlay. She was my witness … and it’s my head. Besides, I can handle our beloved Superintendent better on my own.’
The phone on my desk started to ring. It was the Hampstead SOCO. He got straight to the point. ‘You mentioned a footprint on the entrance door to 43 Redhill.’
‘That’s right. In the light it looked like the sole of a trainer.’
‘Well, I’m sorry … I looked carefully, but there was no mark. No sign of one anywhere.’
I paused for a moment. I was certain I’d seen a mark. ‘You’re sure?’ I asked.
‘Definite.’
‘Could one of the boys have brushed it off
as they walked passed it?’
‘Maybe … I guess. But I wouldn’t have expected an accidental brush to have removed it completely. Smudged it, yes, but there was no mark at all on the door.’
‘Shit.’
I had a shrewd idea what had happened. I’d seen it before. A young DC accidentally damages key evidence and rather than leave it and own up, he removes it completely and denies it was ever there. One of the Hampstead lads had probably brushed against the door, realised their mistake and then wiped the door clean. It was shit practice but it happened.
‘One other thing,’ the SOCO added.
‘Go on.’
‘The victim; when we lifted the body from the bath, her left hand was missing … hacked off at the wrist.’
I grimaced. ‘Christ. With the cleaver from the kitchen, I guess?’
‘Looks like it. Place had been searched as well. No jewellery, no cash to be seen. And our best estimate is there were at least two attackers, maybe three.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Two sets of trainer marks in the kitchen and like I said, somebody searched the bedroom. Whoever did that didn’t leave any blood on the floor, so we figure there was probably a third suspect involved.’
‘Unless they searched the bedroom before killing her?’
‘Could be,’ said the SOCO. ‘Our boss figures at least two, though.’
‘Overwhelmed by numbers. Poor kid never stood a chance. Do you think that the blood trail we found was from her hand?’
‘Could well be. It was just a few spots. Not likely to have been from a wounded suspect who was running – that would probably have produced a larger spread pattern. I can’t be sure until we compare the DNA to the body, but there was no blood under the Jaguar, suggesting the man you chased was uninjured.’
‘No luck with him, I guess?’
‘None. Long gone. I’ll need you both to come up and look at some pictures of local villains later and I’ll need to take shoe imprints from both of you.’
I thanked him for his help and hung up.
Nina was still in with the Superintendent. For a moment it crossed my mind to knock on the door, pull her out and give her the news about Relia’s missing hand. The raised voices that reached my ears persuaded me otherwise.