The Cabinet Meeting’s Agenda for the day was as follows:
Minutes of previous Cabinet meeting – 12 April 2018
Matters Arising
Royal Visit – Final Programme
The Extra Cover Cricket (ECC) security project – 17 to 25 April 2018
The Commonwealth Sports Ministers’ Conference – 23 to 25 April 2018
National Security – at 19 April 2018
2018 Hurricane Plan – 1 June to 30 November 2018
New Tourism and Sporting Initiatives
New Diplomatic Appointment
Any Other Business
***
Hon. Walter Thompson MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Culture, Hon. Sebastian Smith QC MP, Attorney General and Minister of Residential Affairs and Hon. Preston Grant MP, Minister of Tourism, International Transport and Sport held a brief ten-minute meeting while they drank tea and nibbled on the biscuits provided. Anyone seeing them could easily guess what the subject of their conversation was: the previous night’s St. Lawrence Gap attempted robbery incident which had already received heavy local, regional and international media coverage.
It was fair to say that Barbados was not being projected in any positive light. The British High Commissioner had made it his business to call Minister Thompson promptly at 8:00 a.m. to ask how he, or rather the Government of Barbados, was going to respond to the incident.
While there had not been any direct threat by High Commissioner Tullock to change the Advisory notice on Barbados, one could only imagine that, by simply making his call, Tullock had at least implied that it would shortly be reviewed if no visible response was taken by Barbadian authorities. There was probably a window being allowed to see what that action would be, given that thousands of additional British visitors were now in Barbados for the Test Match, due to start the next day. Aware of all this, Minister Thompson had promised to speak with Tullock following the day’s Cabinet meeting, once discussion on the incident had taken place. He knew that having escaped prisoners on the run was not helping matters.
All three Ministers were determined to speak with Motby during the luncheon recess about holding a post-Cabinet meeting media conference to help settle things down in the country. They would offer to join him at this media conference, assuming that he agreed to their initiative.
On their way into the Cabinet room, they noticed that Motby and Giles Archer, Communications Director in the Prime Minister’s Office, were in deep conversation. Perhaps Archer was thinking like them, or the other way around? Broaching this matter with Motby over lunch might be easier than they had originally thought!
***
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr Lewis, I’m Inspector Moss,” the man quickly approaching Lewis stated.
“That’s okay, I was a little late myself, parking was an issue today.”
“No kidding – more like every day in Bridgetown. Best way of getting a good parking spot is to come into Bridgetown early and leave late.”
“I’ll remember that!”
“Let’s go meet the person you came to see. Follow me please.”
***
Castille, having had a late breakfast following a sea bath, contemplated how he would utilise some time until he had to return to the east coast around 5:00 p.m. that afternoon.
Never being one to go sightseeing in any of the countries in the Americas that he had visited over the past few years, he was intrigued by something he had read in a ‘Barbados: Love It & Return’ booklet that lay on his bedside table. At page seventy was an article about a restaurant at the Animal Flower Cave in St. Lucy, the northern parish in Barbados. He had to have lunch somewhere and thought why not visit to kill part of the day. He estimated that the journey from his hotel to the Animal Flower Cave would take around fifty minutes each way. If he took one hour over lunch, that would still allow him to be back at his hotel by 2:00 p.m. at the latest. That would allow him more than sufficient time this afternoon to recce the place where he was looking to meet his Barbadian contact tonight after his expected conclusive meeting with Power on the east coast. Leaving lose ends around were not his practice.
***
Vickers was sitting in one of the two small RBPF HQ conference rooms on the second floor awaiting their arrival. He stood up when they entered.
“You must be Bertram Lewis. I’m Johnny Vickers so happy to meet you, though I wish the circumstances were more pleasant. Mrs Lewis said you were on your way in when we met with her yesterday.”
“It’s my pleasure to meet you too, Chief Superintendent. Mum told me that you were both very kind during that meeting,” said Lewis.
“I guess you want to know what we know?”
“Yes please… I want you guys to find my dad, and soon, because my mum is a complete mess now and my sister Caroline who lives in Texas, is equally disturbed.”
“I understand. Let’s get going then.”
Vickers explained that it had only been twenty-four hours since the police had been notified about Dr Lewis being missing. Vickers had been tapped to head the investigation into Dr Lewis’ disappearance and Moss was assisting him.
“To date we’ve discovered that Dr Lewis left his office on Tuesday afternoon not feeling too well, apparently with a bad cold. His staff had suggested that he go visit any of the doctors located close to CBOB. We’ve since confirmed that he did visit a doctor, but where he went thereafter remains unknown to us at this time,” said Vickers.
Looking at his watch, he added, “It’s actually now thirty-six hours since his disappearance.”
“Which doctor did my dad visit?” asked Lewis.
“Dr Richard Dawson, the Dawson Clinic just there in Belleville,” answered Vickers.
“Well, as far as I know, he’s not my dad’s usual doctor. He certainly isn’t our family doctor. I’ll ask Mum if Dad changed his doctor recently, as they have both used the Central Bank’s panel of doctors since he joined the organisation,” said Lewis who was puzzled by this revelation.
"Be that as it may, I met with Dr Dawson earlier this morning. He confirmed that he saw Dr Lewis late on Tuesday afternoon. He examined your father and provided him with a prescription for appropriate medication for the bad cold he had. Where he went next, Dr Dawson doesn’t know and has not heard from him since.
“So, Inspector Moss and I have some more work to do. We’re working with other officers in the Force, with some help from our Barbados Intelligence Bureau or BIB friends. Can I call you later today, no tonight? Even if we’ve not found your dad by then, I’m hoping that we will be able to provide an update on the progress we’re making.”
“Guess I’ve made a wasted journey to see you then, Chief Superintendent,” said Lewis.
“No, your journey wasn’t wasted, Mr Lewis. I wish more people with reported missing family members would take an interest in the investigation like you have. If you or your mother think of anything unusual which was noticed in the few days before your father went missing, just give either Byron or me a call. Sometimes, the smallest pieces of information help turn investigations on their head,” said Vickers.
“Much appreciated, Chief Superintendent. I’m a lawyer from New York, but I’ve always thought that you guys in the RBPF were good and, based on my first impressions from this meeting, I stand by that. Gentlemen, please find my dad, and soon. Our family love and are missing him very much already. So, if I can help you in anyway, please call me,” said Lewis.
“Well, thanks very much for your vote of confidence, Mr Lewis. Yes, we’ll certainly keep you posted. What time is best for us to call you tonight, at your mother’s place, I presume?” asked Moss.
“Yes, I’m there. Anytime is fine,” responded Lewis.
“Fine. Thanks again for coming in. Inspector Moss will show you out.”
***
Meanwhile, Motby had received and read P.A.A.N.I.’s special SSB from Colonel Burke on the situation at 9:50 a.m. That brought him as ‘up to speed’ as he could have b
een on all national security developments when he entered the Cabinet room at 9:57 a.m.
Given the events of the past forty-eight hours, Agenda Item #6 was now likely to require more discussion than would normally have been the case, so he had asked Elizabeth Burkett to immediately bring him any updates received from Colonel Burke, or any of the other Heads of the country’s security agencies during the Cabinet meeting.
***
Moss found Vickers back in his office.
“What next, skipper? My read is that you found out some more from Dr Dawson than you told Mr Lewis,” stated Moss.
“Perceptive, aren’t you?” Vickers asked him.
“I’ve known you for close to fifteen years and have now been working closely with you for the last couple, so I know when something’s up,” said the younger sleuth.
Vickers did not take the bait.
“You sound like my wife. Look Byron, I need to make a couple of calls. Then we’ll hit the road again.”
“Okay, but don’t forget that you’re meant to meet, or at least call Dr Edwards around 4:00 p.m.”
“I hadn’t forgotten.”
With that, Vickers picked up his phone and started to dial. “Close the door on your way out please…thanks. Hello?”
Moss left the room. Once outside, he realised that the old fox had not responded to his question about meeting with Dr Dawson. He sensed that the skipper had something up his sleeve – he knew him well enough to know that he would share it with him before the day was over.
***
By 11:45 a.m., with the Prime Minister having secured unanimous Cabinet approval for the Royal visit programme to Barbados (final version), the EEC security project and Commonwealth Sports Minister’s Conference, he turned to the sixth item on Cabinet’s Agenda.
Having not been informed of any updates from Burkett, Motby initiated the National Security discussion. As expected, the Cabinet meeting had gone along pretty quickly and smoothly so far, though everyone around the table knew that Agenda Item #6 would be tricky to deal with. The shock of the escape from a prisoner transport vehicle was not only a first for Barbados, but had alarmed the population and primed the local and regional media to raise concerns about the country’s security. Truth be told, they went somewhat overboard with their concerns. Both major newspapers carried editorials (one on its front page) about the state of the country’s security. Was the airport secure from terrorists (recalling the attempted assassination of Motby thirty months earlier)? Was the country’s main seaport safe for the thousands of cruise ship passengers who joined cruise ships or visited each week on them? Was HMP Dodds, the island’s sole prison facility good enough to prevent any attempt at a mass escape by inmates? Should more prison officers be recruited, etc.
In addition, the early morning radio call-in programme on the Government-owned Barbados News Corporation (BNC) had apparently captured callers’ concerns not only about the prisoners’ escape, but also the overnight attempted robbery of two English visitors in one of Barbados’ most popular tourist locations, St. Lawrence Gap. That led to questions being asked about the security of the visiting England and West Indies cricket teams, their supporters, international cricket officials and media. This all prompted Neal Butler, President of the BCA and AC Smith to call in, one after the other, to reassure both Barbadians and visitors to the island that all was well as far as security arrangements for the Test Match at New Kensington Oval was concerned. Both teams and the other public activities which were set to take place during the coming week in Barbados were expected to go off as planned, free of incident.
Ministers had heard some of these concerns that morning on their way to the Cabinet meeting. They had not heard what was similarly being expressed on Star News Corporation’s (SNC), the non-Government radio station whose call-in programme started at 10:00 a.m. Some Ministers felt this ‘excitement’ would be another ‘one-day wonder’ and not be the topic of conversation by the weekend once the Test Match got underway and the two escaped prisoners were recaptured. Others had concerns that these issues might ‘have legs’ because of the presence of the visiting international sports media contingent who were going to be on island until the middle of the following week. Therefore, early action was needed – and had to be seen as being taken, to calm down an excited populace and smooth over any bad press the country might be receiving as a result of these developments. Hence the expectation that discussion on National Security could be lengthy and might get hot, prompting this Agenda item to extend beyond the meeting’s scheduled luncheon adjournment.
“As you know…” commenced Motby. He outlined, in his matter-of-fact, frank way that colleagues called his ‘unvarnished method’, deployed when he spoke with his Cabinet and others at his Parliamentary Group meetings, that there should be no serious concerns about the country’s security.
"First, the ECC security project is already ‘up and running’ successfully.
"Second, the current HMP Dodds situation is indeed worrying. Recent shortages of staff, equipment and materials was unfortunately not widely known to us in Cabinet. This situation needs to be fixed quickly, perhaps with some extra funding being put at HMP Dodds’ disposal in the forthcoming Budget. As Minister of Finance, I will see to this. Escape from HMP Dodds facility, police stations or courts by prisoners is unusual. Prisoner escapes from an escorted mobile detail was unheard of prior to yesterday.
"Third, efforts to recapture the two remaining escapees are ongoing. Security agencies anticipate recapturing both men shortly, certainly by this weekend. The robbery attempt in St Lawrence Gap last night was just that, an attempted robbery gone wrong. It’s a pity that those attacked included a journalist from a major UK newspaper, a former Test cricketer and their friends. Potentially, these persons make the country’s response trickier to deal with, but respond we must. Finding them equally quickly is essential.
"Fourth, the disappearance of the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank is of great concern. We don’t know yet if there was mischief here, i.e. he’s been kidnapped, or if he’s just gone to ground for a while to get away from the presumed pressures of his job. If it turns out to be the first option, that would mean some form of terrorism, local or otherwise, but to date the security forces have nothing to suggest that. So, we hope to recover Dr Lewis sooner rather than later, alive, physically and mentally unharmed.
“Our best people are working on all of these cases. Minister Thompson, I think we…you need to work particularly on the British High Commission to ensure that they do not issue any Travel/Security updates on our country, especially with all these Brits around, plus several of their top media house representatives. Catching the perpetrators is therefore vital. Commissioner Jeremie knows this, hence his visit to St. Lawrence Gap this morning. I hope that in any interviews you give by the middle of the Test Match, colleagues will be able to announce success on this…perhaps all these fronts. Any comments please, ladies and gentlemen, on what I’ve stated?” Motby asked.
There were many which made the ensuing discussion robust. Why was HMP Dodds in a mess? Specifically, what were the shortages? How much would it cost to put things right re money, manpower, equipment? On Dr Lewis, was he working on anything specific leading up to the Budget to be delivered in late-May? Did he have personal problems with CBOB, work colleagues, at home or health challenges?
Motby recognised that more questions, often uninformed opinions and rhetoric, were being stated by his Cabinet colleagues, with few solutions being offered on any of the four subjects he had mentioned in his national security presentation. The one thing everyone agreed on was the hope that these issues would somehow get resolved by the weekend. So Motby requested that over lunch, his colleagues seek to identify potential quick but realistic ‘fixes’ to the national security issues they were currently facing.
***
Lunch was taken between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Three Cabinet Ministers descended on Motby prior to their re-entry into th
e Cabinet Room. Motby listened to their spokesman, Minister Walter Thompson’s opening pitch about holding a post-Cabinet media conference before holding up his hand.
“Already organised, gentlemen. Giles is on the case. I trust 4:00 p.m. suits everyone?” asked Motby.
“Ah. Yes, Prime Minister. Thank you,” said Minister Thompson.
“No problem.” With that, Motby drank a glass of water that was on the table before him and pushed back his chair. As he set off for the Cabinet room, he nodded to Giles Archer across the room, who was getting ready to issue the appropriate media release and invitations to the post-Cabinet media conference.
***
The twenty-inch television the man had owned for the past ten years had finally packed up two weeks earlier after being in decline for a while. He and his girlfriend Iris McCarthy loved watching the American ‘soaps’ but had been unable to do so recently. Normally, he would have taped them for her to watch once she got home from working as a maid for a well-to do family. They did not pay much truth be told, but it was income since he had lost his job as a truck driver at a construction firm.
His windfall from last night would allow him to replace the broken television.
So, the man had journeyed into Bridgetown Thursday lunchtime and bought himself a forty-two-inch colour television from one of the country’s leading appliance retail stores. He had long desired a television set of this size in his home and was now satisfied. He expected one of the store’s handymen to collect and deliver and place his new purchase in his vehicle waiting at the back of the store. This was not to be, as he was informed that as there were no more televisions of that size at the store, he would have to go to the store’s warehouse in Fontabelle, St. Michael to collect his purchased item. Reluctantly, the man had driven his aged but functional and distinctive looking open-backed vehicle to the location to collect it.
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