The Godfathers of London

by M. C. Dutton

  It was a good day. Granted it was raining, and granted it was dark and grey – but it was a fabulous day, a day when things were going to happen. When Jazz got into Ilford Police Station he went straight to custody and asked the custody sergeant to organize a DNA sample from Parminder Chakravarti, and an impression of his teeth.

  Jazz asked how Parminder had been that night. The Custody Sergeant looked through the log written up by the night Custody Sergeant and said apparently Parminder hadn’t slept very much, and had paced up and down for most of the night. He’d fallen asleep about 5 a.m. Jazz was pleased to hear that. He had got Parminder worried.

  He met Ash in the CID office at the desks they had taken as their own. The other officers weren’t happy about this, as they had to hot desk, but Jazz and his other half kept a desk to themselves in the corner. Just another thing that put Jazz on everyone’s hit list. He sat down with Ash and told him his strategy. Ash could see he was right but proving it would be difficult. Then Ash thought and said unless, of course, the forensics came up trumps… For a start there would be semen from the suspect and if that matched Parminder he would be banged to rights. Also the pear. Ash said it was a done deal if these samples proved to be Parminder. He would also tell Parminder why he did it. It was obvious to Jazz but Parminder would never guess anyone else would know.

  Ash was beginning to realize that Jazz was a natural old-fashioned detective and had something others didn’t. He hadn’t figured it all out yet and he hoped he would live long enough to figure it out. Everyone he came into contact with told him his time was limited if he was working with Jazz. ‘You will be dead by the end of the year, mark my words.’ It wasn’t the best of introductions to Jazz.

  The DNA sample had been taken and the impression of the teeth, and a Met Police motorbike rider took it over to Jenny’s lab straight away. By the time they left to go there Jenny would have examined the DNA and would hopefully have a result for them to look at. ‘Fingers crossed,’ said Jazz. ‘We could be putting this one to bed today.’ They didn’t know at that moment that they would need all their time to investigate the three tortures and murders that were about to be brought to their notice. They would need all their energy, time, intelligence and nerve to work through them.

  They got a quick cup of tea and Jazz got a biscuit for free from Milly. Ash looked at him and said he was ‘a jammy bugger’. Jazz smiled and said, ‘It’s actually a jammy dodger, but if you got it, flaunt it.’ They wiled away about thirty minutes talking about the interview of Parminder. ‘It’s 11 a.m. and time to go get the DNA and see if the slipper fits Cinderella’s foot,’ said Jazz. Ash thought him a little mad, but he was beginning to like Jazz more. They left the police station laughing.

  The interview arranged for 2 p.m. had Jazz and Ash ready in the interview room with all the paperwork they needed. The solicitor was on time and the interpreter was waiting. All were shown into the interview room and Parminder joined them within a minute of everyone settling down. The solicitor had spent a short while with Parminder and, using the interpreter, had a prepared statement for the police stating he was innocent and hadn’t been in the house or area that day. It was listened to with due respect and noted on the interview tape. All well and good, and Jazz graciously thanked Parminder for his effort in this. Parminder felt it was going well. The solicitor who had some experience of Jazz in the past wasn’t so sure. He could feel the cockiness just behind the smile. Something was up.

  Jazz politely asked Ash if he would be so kind as to hand him the piece of paper near him from the lab. Ash, in the same mode, said he would be delighted to pass the paper to him. The interpreter was translating this little conversation to Parminder who suddenly felt this wasn’t right.

  Jazz quoted from the lab paper on the DNA discovered in the semen and on the pear and compared it to the DNA swab from Parminder. To a point of several million it was correct. The teeth marks in the pear were also a match of Parminder’s pearly whites. Jazz looked up, not smiling now, and said that Parminder was charged with the rape and GBH of Mina Chakravarti and the GBH of the grandmother. He was read his rights and Jazz waited for a response. Parminder, knowing he was beaten, asked how Jazz knew it was him in the first place.

  Smugly Jazz settled back. Ready to amaze everyone, he started at the beginning. You are a young man in a strange country. You don’t know the language and quite honestly you are not the best looking fellow I have ever seen. You can’t chat up the girls without language skills and you are feeling a bit frisky. Mina is gorgeous, she is the nearest you have been to a woman you want. She rejects your advances and you have visited a few times and now the neighbours are telling you to stay away. You are fixated and so horny you want her no matter what. While the family are away you make your move and you break in the back way so the neighbours won’t see you. I don’t think you meant to attack her or the grandmother but you had to keep the grandmother quiet because she could still shout so you whacked her with the metal bar you broke the window with. After you had raped Mina, she said she would tell everyone and panic set in, so you beat her with the metal bar in fear of being found out. You are a nasty piece of work and there are no excuses for what I am saying. You deserve everything you get.

  With that, in disgust, Jazz told the police officer present to take Parminder away. They would contest bail.

  Again, Ash was given the job of typing out the MG3 and sitting on the phone to the CPS to get a charge. It felt good to get this one but his feel-good factor ended with a phone call to say the grandmother had died and that Mina was in intensive care. It was thought a bleed in the brain had been discovered and there didn’t seem much hope for her. The Chakravarti family had been contacted in Pakistan. Jazz sat with Ash whilst he was hanging on the phone to the CPS and told him he would have to change the charge. It was now a manslaughter charge as well. The adulation and joy of a charge left both Ash and Jazz. They felt pretty depressed and promised themselves a drink in the pub when the charge was set by CPS. The rest of the case papers could be worked on tomorrow.

  Jazz got home later than he thought again and a little wobbly. The drink in the pub turned into quite a session. Ash drank the odd half pint of beer and Jazz had double shorts. Ash didn’t stay too long; he said he had to get home to the wife and check the children were in bed and if he had time to say goodnight to them. Jazz tried to show interest. Ash had a boy, Ashok, who was seven, and a girl Tara, who was five. Apparently they were the brightest children in the infant school they went to and the most beautiful children ever born. Jazz suspected Ash was maybe exaggerating a little but liked his pride in them. When Ash left the pub to go home, Jazz took the opportunity to have a few more doubles before setting off home. The Lion in Ilford was used to seeing Jazz on and off over the past few years.

  When Jazz entered De Vere Gardens he saw the kitchen door open and felt a little let down when Mrs Chodda came out. She just wanted to wish him a good evening and offer him some leftover curry and rice for him to take upstairs if he wanted to. She added it was a mild curry. He thanked her and went into the kitchen to collect the bowls of food she had set out. Over in the corner was the woman he’d seen the other night. He felt good seeing her and nodded hello. Mrs Chodda, unlike her usual ways, just said that it was her sister’s cousin-in-law, Amrit Singh, who was visiting. She didn’t ask Jazz to join them in the kitchen. He left with his bowls of curry and rice feeling a tad miffed, although he didn’t know why he was bothered at all.

  The next day Jazz was told that Mina had died. Parminder didn’t get bail and was sent to Chelmsford Prison where he would be kept at Her Majesty’s pleasure until his trial. This case would go to Snaresbrook Crown Court – maybe even the Old Bailey. It didn’t leave a very good feeling but at least they got him. DCI Radley called Jazz into his office, wanting to know what was happening with the case. It had got into the press, DCI Radley was giving a press conference that afternoon, and he wanted to know how he was found, etc. After an hour’s debrief DCI
Radley thanked Jazz and said he could go. As an afterthought he asked how he was getting on with Ash and was glad to hear it was going well. ‘Just keep him safe,’ was the parting shot from DCI Radley. Jazz didn’t need to hear that.

  Jazz kept Ash close and when a call came in that a man was on the ground after being attacked they took the call and went to London Road. The victim was pissed and said he had been hit. CCTV was found and looked at and it showed the victim sitting on the ground holding his head. He said the restaurant owner of the Little Rabbit, two doors away from where he was attacked, actually was his attacker. Jazz went and saw the restaurant owner who said he only attacked him in self defence, that the man had threatened him and he was frightened. He had thrown him out of his restaurant for being argumentative and violent. Jazz asked to see the restaurant’s CCTV and the owner got it for him. Jazz and Ash looked through it and they saw the victim sitting on the floor holding his head when all of a sudden the biggest bottle of beer flew into the picture and hit the victim on the head. They could see the bottle was thrown from the restaurant by the angle. They arrested the restaurant owner and took him in to charge. He continued to say he threw the bottle in self defence because he was being attacked and he was scared.

  The courts found him guilty but Jazz and Ash were due back at court because the restaurant owner has gone for a Newton Hearing. A Newton Hearing was where you agreed with the guilty verdict but disagreed with how it happened. It would discuss whether it was a self defence action, as said, or an ABH as the police had charged him with. It was all a bit of a nuisance to have to go back to court. Jazz went and saw the restaurant owner and told him that the CCTV would prove he was an attacker and that the stance of the victim was passive. He also said if he didn’t think again about what he was doing then Jaswinder Singh would make sure that everyone, especially the police who used his restaurant on a regular basis, would not want to avail themselves of his hospitality again. The Newton Hearing was dropped and the restaurant owner did his community service as his sentence specified.

  There weren’t many nights off for a while. Ash was working hard next to Jazz and learning a lot. They were called to a robbery. Two men had followed a guy from the Barking nightclub ‘Blings’ to a cash point. Suddenly the victim felt a knife at his neck and heard someone saying, ‘Take the maximum out of the machine otherwise you get shanked.’ The man stuttered he could only get out £170 and then he purposely put in the wrong pin number. The two men were caught off guard and the victim turned and punched the one with a knife and the other ran away. Security guards close by heard the noise and came running over to the victim; they grabbed the remaining defendant and proceeded to give him a good pasting. By the time Jazz and Ash and the police arrived the defendant, whose name was Richie Waters, was not feeling too good.

  Richie was taken back to Barking Police Station to be interviewed. Jazz asked Ash to interview the victim; he would take the defendant. He went into the charging room where Richie sat with his head in his hands. Jazz asked if he was okay and Richie looked up saying he had voices in his head saying hurt yourself, hurt yourself. Jazz sat down and quietly said he would give him some water to drink to clear his head a bit. Richie thanked him and put his hands around his head again. He said, ‘I did nothing, it wasn’t me, I was just there.’ Jazz nodded understandingly. He could see Richie was high on something. When the water came and the door was closed, Jazz added a little vodka from his flask into the plastic cup of water and encouraged Richie to sip it, just to freshen him up.

  Suddenly Jazz spoke. ‘Did you hear that?’ he asked incredulously. Richie looked up. ‘Did you hear the voices? I can,’ added Jazz. Richie frowned and listened, and said he could hear the voices.

  ‘They are saying you must tell me who you were with. Can you hear that?’ Jazz asked. Richie said yes, he could hear that; he was quite excited. ‘So who were you with, Richie?’ asked Jazz.

  ‘I was with Andy French,’ replied Richie.

  Jazz went outside and told the sergeant to get a warrant for Andy French. He went back into the room with Richie just as his phone was ringing. Richie answered it and said, ‘Hello Andy, I’m in custody at the moment so I can’t talk.’ The phone went dead. Jazz did a 1471 and got the number and had it checked.

  When Andy French was brought in, both Richie Waters and Andy French were charged. Jazz told Ash to put in the report that they had found Andy French through a telephone call made to Richie Waters whilst he was in custody, and Richie confirmed it was Andy French who held the knife and threatened the victim. He didn’t want in writing his version of Richie hearing voices, and that was how he got Andy French. The gods were with him, Jazz knew that. The case could have been thrown out if they knew of Jazz’s druggy encouragement to get Richie to talk. Ash was a bit rattled by Jazz’s methods; he was not used to such ways of working. But it was good to be on the winning side.

  Over the next few weeks Jazz and Ash had developed a reputation that they were unbeatable. Their clear up record was pretty awesome. For some it just made them mutter under their breath that he took chances and okay, he had got lucky so far but look at his history – they saw trouble ahead. Jazz was riding on the crest of a wave that was about to drown him.

  Jazz found himself quite often drawn to the Gudwara in Seven Kings. He would idle for an hour there. He went in, kneeled and offered prayers, and then did his bit for the Gudwara by cleaning shoes or helped dish out food. He wouldn’t admit to himself but he was becoming closer to his religion: something that hadn’t happened before. Deepak seemed to always be there and they would take tea and sit and chat. Jazz got much from these talks.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise

  It was about 11.30 a.m. when the call came in. A dog walker had uncovered a body deep in the woods and, although not in a good state, it appeared to be someone known to the police as John Carpenter. The note around his neck said so. The paper had been carefully protected in a plastic cover so the police knew they were meant to find it. The question was being asked: why would anyone do that? You don’t usually want murder victims to be found because of clues on the person that would find the killer.

  Jazz was contacted because he’d dealt with the case of John Carpenter and the family of the victim Laura Kent. With Ash they headed to Epping Forest and were shown the area John Carpenter had been found. They couldn’t get very close because an intensive search was being conducted of the area. Colleagues of Jenny were there in their white suits. Jenny was back at the lab looking at the body. Apparently it was pretty gruesome but Jazz was to find out all the details when he spoke to Jenny.

  A forensic team had gone to John Carpenter’s flat and on first sight it seemed that the acid had been administered in the flat, with traces being found on the carpet; there were also signs of blood and bone splinters, minute but there, and from that Jazz assumed at this time that John Carpenter, although alive, would have had to have been carried from the car to the site where he was found. The forensic evidence from the flat had to be confirmed but Jenny gave it to Jazz on the quiet; she would give him the confirmed evidence as soon as possible.

  He looked at where the body was found and the distance it would have taken someone to carry the body or frog-march him to this area of the forest. They knew he wasn’t dead when dumped in the wooded area because they found evidence of a live body having been dumped there. His bowels had opened on many occasions and this had seeped into the ground under him. Samples of everything were being taken by the team. Tyre tracks were found and it was suggested the walk to where the body was found would have taken about ten minutes. It was off the beaten track for most walkers. It was in quite a dense area of scrub and not somewhere anyone would normally go.

  Apparently the dog walker was at the police station. Jazz needed to talk to him. He and Ash went back to the station. As Ash drove Jazz took a deep breath and wondered how he felt. John Carpenter was a scumbag of the first o
rder and some would say he deserved what he got. Jazz needed to know what had happened. The family came to mind straight away. He was fearful they had done this. The mother, Amanda, was mad enough and vengeful enough to do the deed but she was too off the wall to do it covertly. The rest of them he didn’t think would do it, but who knew; he hoped they had nothing to do with it.

  The dog walker was Alex Hardy, a fit sixty-five-year-old man who’d been taking his dog for a walk. He was having a cup of tea when Jazz saw him. He was still in shock at what he had found and no one could get a clear sentence from him. He was asked again to tell what he found and what took him to that area. Alex hadn’t been able to talk clearly since he found the body. He kept crying, and then he talked in gibberish. He just couldn’t focus properly. Jazz saw this and went and got some biscuits off the typist. He suggested that a dunking biscuit would go well with the tea. Alex looked up and took a digestive biscuit out of the tin. Jazz said that they were his favourites, and he took one too. After a few sips of tea and a couple of dunks of the biscuit Alex looked a bit more settled. ‘What type of dog have you got?’ Jazz asked. Alex said that he had a cocker spaniel. In answer to another question from Jazz he said that the dog’s name was Freddie and he was three years old. He went on to say he was a bundle of energy and the walks wore out Alex more than Freddie. Jazz laughed at that and then asked, ‘Why do you go to Epping Forest to walk Freddie? Do you live close by?’ Alex said he always went there but today he went to a different car park in Epping Forest. He’d wanted a change of scenery and it made a change for Freddie. Jazz coaxed him along, talking about Freddie and how long he went out for walks, what was Freddie’s favourite treat, etc. Alex was feeling a lot more relaxed and Jazz asked what was wrong today with Freddie. Alex said he got spooked by something or had spotted something; he’d just run off barking and wouldn’t come when Alex called. Alex wondered if he’d seen a rabbit and was chasing it. The conversation was getting closer to what Jazz wanted to know.