“Okay, but this isn’t coming in from elsewhere in Britain. This is coming in from abroad. Why else would they be pulling it out of the water?”
“Maybe they’re storing it down there? It’s not like we can easily see what’s down there if we’re walking around on land.”
“That’s actually a really good point.”
The door to the interview room opened again. “My client wishes to talk to you now.”
“Excellent news.”
They went back inside and Kate restarted the tape, introducing everyone in the room before she looked at Matt Green. “You wanted to talk to me?”
“I have information that will be important to you, but I won’t say anything until I know my daughter is safe.”
“Excuse me?”
“They’ve killed already.”
“Have they threatened you or your daughter? Is that how you got involved in this?”
Matt slumped farther in his chair. “Not initially, no. But it was too much. When Connie started poking around, then those two PCs turned up at the dock, well, I told them I’d had enough. I wanted out. They told me there was no out and that I’d better keep my mouth shut and behave or they’d make sure Sammy ended up like Leah, or worse.”
Kate swallowed hard. She didn’t want to picture Sammy, impish, willful, and so full of life, become the husk of a person that Leah had become. “I’ll make sure she’s out of danger. You have my word.”
“I need to be sure. I need to know that they can’t hurt her.”
Kate pulled her phone from her pocket and dialled. “Miss Temple, this is DS Brannon, I need you and Sammy to come to the police station at Hunstanton.”
“Why?” Gina asked.
“I have something I need to discuss with you both.”
“Fine. When?”
“Now.”
“What’s so important? Is it Social Services?”
“I can’t go into it over the phone. I will tell you when you get here.”
Gina sighed heavily. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” Kate hung up. “When she gets here, I’ll keep them here until I can find somewhere safe for them.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know yet. You’ve only just sprung this on me. Give me a couple of hours and we’ll come up with something.” She offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’ll do my part to keep your daughter safe. Now you need to do yours. The more you can tell me, the better. Names, dates, places, quantities, everything.”
“I need a laptop.”
“Your laptop is in custody.”
“Doesn’t have to be that one and you won’t get anything off it. I delete the history all the time and reformat the hard drive once a week. I’ve got data on a cloud server. I just need a laptop or computer to access it.”
“Given everything you’ve just said to me, you can’t honestly think we’re going to let you have access to a police laptop in here. You need web access to get on a cloud server. I didn’t understand half of what you’ve just said, which means you getting a laptop in here is too much of a risk to our security.”
“Fine. Bring me anything that can get onto the internet and will let me send an email. That’ll give you everything you need. You can watch every keystroke.”
“I’ll get something sorted,” Tom said. “Back in a minute.”
“While we’re waiting, start talking.”
“Did you know that the Robbins were in the army?”
“No,” she said.
“Hmm. Served ten years apiece, then came home to work the boat with dear old dad.”
“Heart warming.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Pair of saints, them two. Ally was in logistics. And Adam, well, he never talks about what he did. He just gets this creepy little smile on his face when you ask him. Like he’s keeping a secret you’re glad you don’t know. You know what I mean?”
Kate nodded and let the silence do its work.
“Someone said he was Special Forces. Anything nasty that needed taking care of, he was your man.” He picked at the skin beside his thumb nail. The little bit that comes away and tugs painfully at the tender skin a few millimetres below. He didn’t seem to feel it. “I believe that.”
Kate waited and watched as he tore the skin away and a bead of blood started to form beside his thumbnail.
“When they came back, the harbour was on its knees. I mean it was fucked. Everything was falling down, the boats were dangerous. The harbour needed dredging so they could get out. They were all fucked. Cedric couldn’t have been more than three months from losing it all. The boat, his house, everything. They all were.”
“When was this?”
“Five years ago.”
Kate whistled. “Five years?”
He nodded.
“They came out of the army together?”
“Out, in. All of it. Twins. Not identical, you know.”
“Right.”
“Can I have some water?”
She nodded and waited for him to carry on. She knew Tom would bring it back with him.
“Anyway, when they came back, it was like a miracle. Robbins’ boats was earning again. They secured funding to do up the harbour, helped the other guys get loans to fix their boats. It was like they single-handedly got the fleet working again. You know what they say about good things?”
“Too good to be true?”
“Yeah. Before we knew it we were all in it up to our necks.”
“How did you get involved? You don’t work on the boats.”
“No, but my old man did. When I needed money for Sammy, he used to bung us some cash. Then he told me I could earn a ton just by driving for a couple of hours. Easy money.”
“He didn’t tell you what you were delivering?”
“I didn’t ask. Didn’t care, if truth be told. Like I said, easy money.”
“What changed?”
“Leah.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No one else in the village was really bad with the drugs. I mean, we had a few spliffs from time to time, maybe a couple of Es at a party, but not the really hard stuff. Not the stuff that’s coming out of the pots.”
“Which is?”
“Heroine. One kilo per brick.”
“And that’s what Leah’s using?”
He nodded.
“For the purposes of the tape, Mr. Green nodded his assent.”
The door opened and Tom came back in. He placed a plastic cup of water in front of Green. “It’s going to take a little while but we’ll have something here this afternoon.”
“Thanks.” He picked up the water with shaking hands and downed it quickly.
“So Leah using made you, what? Grow a conscience?”
He shrugged. “Something like that, I suppose. I didn’t really know what it was before. I didn’t really think it was any worse than a bit of weed. I started asking questions after that.”
“And when was that?”
“Maybe two years.” He shrugged again. “I can’t remember really, but something like that. I’m pretty sure she was using before that, though.”
“So you started asking questions?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did you learn?”
“Not a lot, to be fair. They’re pretty closed lipped and don’t want people poking their noses in where they don’t belong. As Connie found out. So I asked, and didn’t get very far. Instead, I started listening. And I learned a lot more.”
“Christ, this is like pulling teeth. Spit it out.”
“The Robbins’ don’t exactly sell or smuggle drugs. Well, not really. They offer a specialist service. Almost like a storage service.”
“I don’t follow.” But Kate was beginning to.
“Those big container ships that pass by on the North Sea, every so often one of those containers falls off. Accidently on purpose, you know? So Adam dives down and breaks them open. They transfer the contents to lobster pots and keep
them on the seabed until they get the delivery instructions. Then they haul the pots, unload the quota, reset the pot, and send out a delivery driver to one of a dozen predetermined destinations. We just stay in the car with the boot unlocked, and the guy at the other end takes it out and moves on. I’ve never seen, or spoken to, the person who collects from me, and I don’t know what happens after that.”
“I hate to burst your bubble mate, but that’s exactly what smuggling is. Bringing illegal substances from foreign shores onto British soil. Smuggling defined,” Tom said.
“Just back up a minute. You said container vessels drop these containers overboard so he can break them open, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How does that work exactly? It’s a huge body of water, Matt, how do they find them? Where are they coming from?”
Matt swallowed. “I’ve got all the details I could find saved to my cloud server. But the upshot is that there are two ports Robbins’ clients use to get their merchandise off mainland Europe. Tallinn in Estonia and Isdemir in Turkey. The ships are heading for Hull. I don’t know how it works on their end. I never saw anything or heard anything to give you any specifics. I presume some customs official is paid off and an extra container with the bricks makes its way onto the ship. But like I said, don’t quote me on that.”
“Okay. But you know more about the operation on this end?”
“Yeah. The bricks are in a container with a GPS locator. They get the transponder numbers so that finding the containers is easy. They take a detour en route to Hull and drop the containers over the side.”
“How many bricks per container?”
“I don’t know. But based on the number I shift in a week and how often they drop them, I’d say several hundred.”
“What?”
“I’m not the only driver they use. I can’t be accurate and I never saw anything with a number on it.”
Kate’s mind spun. The operation was huge. How the hell had this gone unnoticed? “Go on.”
“Well, there’s not much more to add. Adam dives down with underwater cutting gear and they empty the containers and store the shit in lobster pots on the sea bed. They pull them when they get instructions and deliver on request.”
“Is he some sort of deep sea diver or something?”
“What? No. You don’t have to be. The North Sea’s not that deep off the coast here. They drop the containers when they’ve got about twenty metres under the keel.”
“Don’t those huge container ships need deeper water than that?”
He shook his head. “The massive ones, like one hundred and sixty feet long, only have a draft of six to eight metres. Allowing twenty below the keel gives them tons of clearance.”
“And a twenty-metre dive isn’t a difficult one?”
“No, not at all.” He shrugged. “Well, not if you know what you’re doing.”
“And he does?”
“With bells on.”
“How is Leah involved?” Kate asked
“She stole a brick from Ally. Ally let her keep it because it was already opened but she’s still working it off.”
“And what is this information you’ve got in the cloud?”
“Dates of containers being dropped. The name of the ships dropping the containers. That sort of stuff.”
“How did you get this information?”
“I didn’t just listen. I looked too. I took photographs of invoices and notes I saw in Ally’s office. I kept copies of emails that I’d been told to delete.”
“Emails from Ally?”
“And Adam.”
“So how much did Connie know and how did they find out she was on to them?”
“Connie told them. She told them she had enough evidence to go to the police and get us all locked up. She told them that she didn’t really care what they were doing, she just wanted them to release Leah and let her take her to a rehab centre. She said if they did, they’d never hear from her again.”
“Naive?”
“Oh, yeah. They laughed at her and said the police had already been around to the harbour once and wouldn’t take her seriously. She told them she had pictures. Ally said she’d better make sure that whatever pictures she had showed her best side or she’d walk away and come for her.”
“Where was this?”
“At the harbour.”
“When?”
“The day before she died.”
“Do either Adam or Ally own a sniper rifle?”
“They both do.”
* * *
“Surely that gives us enough to go and pick them up?” Tom said.
They all stood in the incident room, arms folded over their chests, and staring at the speaker phone.
“If we move now we’ll get one of them for murder.” Timmons’ voice sounded slightly robotic out of the speaker. “Maybe we get the other two for conspiracy. If even half of what Green says is true, then we need this whole operation brought down. I want more before we move on this.”
“Sir, we’re putting civilians at risk,” Kate said.
“You said you’ve got them in a safe place.”
“For now. They’re here in the station. Where do you want me to keep them while we find you more?” Kate knew the sarcasm in her voice was easily discernible. She thought he did a pretty good job ignoring it, to be fair. But she didn’t care if he’d pulled her to task on it. She was worried about Sammy and Gina. She hated the thought of them being at risk in any way. To have them at risk because her superior officer wanted a bigger bust…well, that just grated on her last nerve.
“I don’t care where you keep them. Stick them in a cell, give them your own bed, whatever. Just keep them safe.”
Stella cleared her throat. “Do we have any resources to put them in a hotel, sir?”
“No. A hotel would be risky,” Kate said. “Locally, everyone knows everyone else, and moving them out of area puts them at risk, as we can’t be on hand to help.”
“Then where?” Stella asked.
“Like the man said,” Kate said, pointing to the speaker, “I guess they’ll have to stay with me.”
“Settled,” Timmons said. “Keep me updated.” The speaker went dead.
“Great. Just fucking great,” Tom said. “How do you plan to keep them secret at your place?”
“Leave her car here, park round the back, and hope no one sees them.” Kate shrugged. “The houses on either side are empty now, and I’ve got blinds. Any other bright ideas?”
Shaking heads and mumbled words of good luck were all she got.
“Thanks.” She dropped her arms and tugged on the front of her shirt. “Since I get to share my house, would anyone else care to tell them what’s going on?”
Suddenly everyone was really busy.
“That’s what I thought.”
CHAPTER 26
“Look, DS Brannon rang and specifically asked me to come as soon as possible. So here I am. Now what the hell is going on here?” Gina leaned against the reception desk and hoped she looked slightly menacing, since the nice approach had gotten her exactly nowhere.
“I’m sure she’ll be along soon to talk to you, then, Miss. Until then, why don’t you take a seat?” He pointed to the row of hard plastic chairs secured to the wall.
“I could just walk out, you know?”
“I’m sure you could, Miss.”
“She’ll be very unhappy with you if I do.”
“I’m sure she would, Miss.”
“Yeah, you sound it.” Gina turned her back on him and caught Sammy grinning at her. “And you can wipe that smile off your face, young lady. She probably changed her mind and decided to put you in jail after all.” The smile slid off her lips and Gina instantly regretted her words. “More likely she’s putting me in jail.”
“What for?” Sammy asked.
“For foisting you on the world. That’s got to be a crime, right?” She ruffled Sammy’s hair and sat down heavily beside her.
&nb
sp; “What do you really think she wants, Mum?”
“I really don’t know. Only that it sounded really important and urgent on the phone.” She said the last sentence loud enough for the desk sergeant to hear and looked over to see if it’d had any effect. Nada.
Sammy lay across the row of seats, put her head in Gina’s lap, and tucked her feet up close to her bottom. Gina stroked her hair softly and smiled as she started to snore. Gina looked out of the window. Not that she could see anything but light and a few coloured splotches through the heavily distorted glass, but the only other options were the desk sergeant or a poster advocating women to stand up against domestic abuse. Good advice, but not something she wanted to stare at for however long Kate—sorry, DS Brannon—decided to keep her waiting. She rested her head back against the wall, played with Sammy’s hair, closed her eyes, and tried to take a nap herself. She hadn’t exactly been sleeping well, after all.
“I’m really sorry to have kept you waiting.” Kate stood in front of her, her green eyes soft, and a gentle smile on her lips. She reached out and Gina waited—longed—for Kate’s touch. It never came.
“Hey, kiddo,” Kate said, shaking Sammy’s shoulder, “time to wake up, sleepyhead.” She smiled at Sammy. That full, beautiful smile that Gina had wanted to see. But it wasn’t for her.
Kate turned her head and spoke to the guy at the desk. “Can you bring Miss Temple a cup of tea and a hot chocolate for Sammy, please? I need a couple of minutes with Miss Temple.” She nodded towards Sammy, letting the officer know that he was to watch her.
“Will you come with me, please?” Kate led Gina into the same interview room they’d been in before.
Was it only yesterday? It felt like a lifetime ago and all Gina wanted to do was sleep. “What was so important that I had to drive down here like a bat out of hell only for you to keep me sitting on those bloody uncomfortable chairs for nearly an hour?”
“I’m really sorry to have to tell you this but we have reason to believe that Sammy’s at risk from the people who killed Connie. I wanted her here to make sure she’s safe. To make sure you both are.”
“Oh, God.” She felt as if a pin had been pulled from her knees and she dropped to the floor. Kate held her arms out to try and catch her, but instead Gina managed to pull them both to the ground as she landed heavily on her knees. “Oh, God.” She wanted to throw up. She could feel the bile rising in her throat, burning and spitting, churning like the fires of hell wanting to rise up and swallow her whole.
Collide-O-Scope (Norfolk Coast Investigation Stories Book 1) Page 22