He had still not heard nor seen anything of any of the gang members or had a visit from the police. This was the only thing that was bugging him. Just as these thoughts were milling about in his head there came a knock on the door. He went to the window and moved the curtain just a fraction to see who was standing at the door.
The man who was now banging on the door again was not going to go away without seeing someone. Roger was beginning to get nervous. He went into the hall and gingerly opened the door. The man was not familiar to Roger. He asked who Roger was and when the reply came back as to who was asking the man produced a wallet that was all too familiar to Roger. The card inside the wallet told Roger this was a detective constable from the local police.
“Can you tell me what you were doing last evening”? The detective asked in a formal way.
“Why are you asking”? The reply came from Roger.
“I ask the questions”, the detective announced sternly. “But as you ask, an attempted break-in at a warehouse in the city took place late on Sunday night and you were singled out as a possible suspect”, he went on.
“Let me put your mind at rest officer, I was at home all night and if you call back later when my wife returns she will vouch for me. I did not leave the house from Saturday afternoon to this morning”, Roger replied and for once he was telling the truth.
“I will be back later to confirm this”, the detective assured Roger.
Roger was convinced that the officer believed him and knew that a return visit would not happen. What did concern him was the possibility that this warehouse could be the one that the gang had done and if so this meant that either they were foiled in the attempt or that they had got caught in the act.
If it was the former he would have heard from one of the gang, at least he would have expected Mick to let him know. As for Pete, he would suspect his loyalty was to Bert as they lived together so he was not surprised that he hadn’t heard from that quarter.
His suspicion was that they had been caught in the attempt and arrested. If this was so, he would have to be very careful not to draw attention to himself for at least the remainder of today. He could not be sure that the other members of the gang would squeal on him if the other robberies were revealed. These speculations were doing nothing to calm his nerves. He picked out the lottery ticket from his wallet and this made him feel better. His thoughts turned to tomorrow. This would be the start of a new life.
Chapter 8
The Arrest
At precisely 11 o’clock on Sunday night Mick was picked up by Bert and Pete. Bert explained the new arrangement to the plan. Mick was a little concerned as he hated changes. He was convinced that it bought only bad luck. Like the others he was in need of a cash boost to restore his drinks cabinet. Drink was his only real friend as it never let him down like some of his other acquaintances.
Bert explained that the job would be done in the same way as was previously planned with one difference. With only three in the gang the split would be that much greater.
Bert explained all this to Mick as they drove to the warehouse. The prospect of getting a bigger share was enough to put Mick’s fears to the back of his mind.
The fact that they had one of the gang missing meant that the look-out job would have to be scrapped. To fill the van with as much as they could they would need all hands to the loading.
They reached the industrial estate where the warehouse was situated and drove around to make sure the coast was clear. Once satisfied that all was quite they drew up to the doors. Pete was quick to get out of the van and even quicker to jemmy open the big up and over door. Bert backed the van in and Pete lowered the door to the ground to make it look like it was closed.
Mick shone his torch around the warehouse and sure enough the cases lined the walls.
Without taking too much notice of whether the boxes were spirits or wine they formed a chain to load the van. Within twenty minutes they had loaded half of the van.
“This is easier than house break-ins”, Mick called to Bert as he passed another box over.
“And to think the payout will be all ours, no four way split”, Bert replied.
“It won’t be if we get caught, now get a move on” Pete cautioned.
Just as Pete had finished his sentence the door flew open and in charged half a dozen coppers dressed up as if they were about to break up a demonstration.
“Stay where you are and get down on the floor”, shouted the man in plain clothes.
Laying face down on the concrete floor Bert could not believe that they had been caught. This surely had to be a set up, He thought to himself.
As the handcuffs were placed on the wrist of each of the gang the plain clothed policeman came a little closer to the group.
Bert was the only one who recognised the man. He had met him on the odd occasion that he had accompanied Roger to the lock-up where the goods were exchanged for cash. He did not know however that this man was a police officer.
Detective Sergeant Davis stood all three against the van and read them their rights.
“You have been arrested on a charge of theft. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention when questioned, something which you later rely on in a court of law. Take them away constable”, Davis commanded.
As the three of them sat in the van that was taking them to the station they remained tight lipped. Having been on the wrong side of the law before, they knew the procedure. They would each be charged with being in possession of stolen goods and would be grilled as to who knew what about the hoist.
What was bothering Sergeant Davis was where the forth member of the gang was. He had to find out. It was his intention to put him away for having the nerve to think he could get away with putting pressure on him to pay out more than he wanted for the last job. “No one crossed the ‘fence’, least of all a bunch of amateurs like this lot”. Thought Davis
When they arrived at the station the duty Sergeant booked them in and handed each of them over to a constable to escort them to separate cells. When Detective Sergeant Davis arrived at the station the desk Sergeant asked if he would interview them. He looked at the station clock which showed it was now Monday morning.
Because he felt nothing but contempt for this bunch of no hopers he decided it was time to go home. He would interview them all later he decided. His plan was to let them stew for the rest of the night in the hope that they would incriminate the forth member of the gang.
Mick lay on the flat wooden bed pondering what might happen to him. He was convinced that having a record already he was facing another spell in the slammer. Another thought was going through his mind too. The warehouse was not alarmed when they broke in. This did not add up. With all the booze held in that warehouse you would expect the owners to have some sort of security.
This was beginning to look like a set up. This was the thought on the mind of the other two also. What was bothering Bert was the appearance of the person he had previously met as the ‘fence’? How could he be involved in the raid when he was going to be the one receiving the goods when the job was done?
Bert had heard of bent coppers before whilst he was in prison. This copper was different. He had allowed them free reign all this time and yet he had set them up on a job he had recommended they take on, even though he knew their forte was house break-ins and this was a new venture for them?
Something didn’t add up. Why would this bent copper ‘cut off his nose to spite his face’ as the saying goes? Had Roger let him down somewhere along the line? Was Roger in on the setup? Bert knew he would have the rest of the night to think these things over. Davis would be in no hurry to interview them. He had all the evidence he needed. All he needed now was a confession from each of them.
Off the record, Davis wanted to find out why Roger was not on the
shout as he had expected? Once the tapped interviews were over he would find out. His intention was to find enough evidence to arrest Roger for the break-in at 23, Sisson Road. All he needed was a lead in by one of the gang. This was not going to be easy but he was determined that this gang were to be a lesson to the other gangs not to cross him.
At 8.30 Monday morning Detective Sergeant Keith Davis walked into the station. He spoke to the desk Sergeant and asked for an interview room.
“You can have room 12, but before you do, can you tell me who you want in the room with you for the interviews”? The duty Sergeant asked.
“Constable Williams is free if he’ll do”, the Sergeant informed.
“Yes that will be fine”, replied Davis.
He was more than pleased with this choice of partner as he had worked with him for some time and knew his weakness for a smoke. He would allow him to leave the room and this would allow him to switch off the tape while he asked the questions he needed answered.
“Which one do you want first”? The Sergeant asked.
Davis thought very hard before asking for Mick to be bought in. Of the three of them he would bet that Mick would buckle easiest.
“Send in Harper”, he instructed.
“By the way, the inspector sends his congratulations on an excellent nights work. I must say Keith you surprised us all with this arrest”, The Desk Sergeant informed him.
Constable Williams had been called on the tannoy as he was just re-entering the building after a smoke break. He was informed that he was needed in room 12. He sat next to Davis and waited for the interviewee to be bought in.
Mick looked much the same as he always did with the exception of more stubble around the face. He had made up his mind that he did not want a solicitor as he was going to hold his hands up to the charge.
The interview began with the confirmation of Mick’s name, date of birth and his present address. The questions were asked by Sergeant Davis as Williams took notes. As Mick had already made up his mind to bare all with regard to this crime he would go no further in implicating his involvement in the burglaries.
“How many of you were involved in the warehouse break-in, either directly or indirectly”? Davis asked Mick with the knowledge that Roger was the organisation within the gang.
A question for a question was Mick’s tactic.
“How many people did you arrest at the warehouse”? Mick replied cheekily.
“Don’t get clever with me, none of you could have organised this activity without a planner”, came the angry retort from Davis.
After about half an hour it was clear that while the tape was running Davis was not going to get any valuable information from this interview.
Williams was by now in need of another nicotine fix and so the interview was suspended. Davis and Williams left the room with Davis telling his interview partner that he would get the coffees for them and the prisoner. He was aware that a cigarette would take at least ten minutes and after getting the coffees he would still be back in the interview room before Williams returned. This would give him valuable time to try the softly, softly approach with Harper.
Placing the coffee in front of the dishevelled and tired prisoner Davis began to pace the room.
“Do you know of a man called Roger White”, Davis asked.
“Roger who”? Harper replied, knowing that Davis was hoping to get a confession from him so as to implicate Roger. He did not know why this question was asked. He could only assume that somehow this officer had some knowledge of the gang. This puzzled him as they had never been apprehended whilst carrying out the many burglaries.
The frustration was written all over the face of Davis. He tried one more question before his partner returned.
“Did you have anything to do with the break-in at 23 Sissons Road which I believe to have the hallmark of White on it?
This question was a surprise to Mick and although he denied any knowledge of the accusation, he had showed in his facial expression his surprise.
Seeing this Davis suggested that if he owned up to the Sissons Road job he would see to it that he would mentioned this cooperation to the powers that be.
Mick was not taken in by the tactic Davis was using. He might not be that intelligent, but he did know from his previous prison stay that if someone was being nice to you, you could be certain it was going to cost you in some way or another. He need not reply to the question as Williams had arrived back in the room much to the annoyance of Davis.
They continued the interview for a short time but it was evident that Davis had lost interest in the interviewee. He was certain that if this nut did not crack it was unlikely that the other two would. He saw these three members of the gang as cannon fodder and realised that the organiser of the gang would go Scot free if they didn’t ‘grass’ on their leader.
He was puzzled as to why White had not taken part in the job and knew that he was the only one he had told of the contents of the warehouse. No matter how much he wanted White’s scalp, he could do nothing to arrest him without some evidence that he was involved.
He and Williams interviewed both Bert and Pete with little more than a confession of guilt. They too would have no truck with shopping Roger. What bothered Bert was why he had turned them in when he could have made a tidy profit from the proceeds of the stolen goods from the warehouse. Unfortunately he did not get an answer to his unasked question. What he did know was that from now on Roger would have to watch his back.
Sergeant Davis was showing signs of impatience and frustration at not being able to punish Roger for undermining his authority. He did not want word to spread to his other clients that he was softening in his old age. By allowing this one gang member to escape his wrath he would be opening the floodgates to the other gang leaders.
After the interviews he sent Constable Williams round to Roger White’s house for two very important reasons. The first was to ask the question of his whereabouts on Sunday night, for which he knew an alibi would be given. Secondly it was to make sure he was still living at the same address. If this was so, he intended to give him a visit that would cause him a great deal of concern. For the sake of his reputation as the ‘fence’ not to be messed with, he would get his man by fair means or foul even if it didn’t happen while he still served in the force.
Chapter 9
A New Beginning
Tuesday morning was the start of a new life for Roger. He rose early and decided that to make a reasonable impression when arriving at the hotel he would be staying at he would put on his best clothes from the wardrobe and keep the new suit and accessories in the van ready to change into for the presentation.
Dawn had just broken and he was determined to leave before the rest of the family were up and about. He crept into the bedroom and gathered the clothes he needed without disturbing Sandra. He considered the risk of waking her up was quite small as she was a very heavy sleeper. Once he had what he needed he tiptoed across the landing to the bathroom and washed and shaved.
Dressed and ready to leave he crept down the stairs avoiding the creaking steps. He did a quick check to make sure he had the winning ticket still tucked safely into a compartment of his wallet. As he took a final sweeping look at his surroundings he picked up the van keys from where Sandra had left them and exited the house quietly by the back door.
He drove along the A14 to the hotel on the outskirts of Birmingham. The journey was uneventful which pleased him as his experience of this road during the rush hour was one of stop, start, stop, start. It was often littered with parts of smashed up vehicles from the frequent accidents that occurred.
Arriving at the hotel he parked the van in one of the spaces left in the car park. Taking the new outfit from the van he walked into the hotel foyer. As it was still early in the morning the night porter was sitting at the desk.
Roger walked up to the desk and announced who he was and that he had booked a room. The porter, who was dressed in full uniform with the hotel crest on his tunic, looked in the opened book on the desk and saw the name of White written against room 13. He informed Roger that he was booked in for Tuesday and that meant that he could not enter the room before 2pm. The only way he could have the room was if he paid for Monday as well.
This was not a good start to his day. He could not wait until 2pm to get into the room. The presentation at the nearby hotel was to take place at 1 o’clock. Although he wasn’t happy about the situation he considered it a small price to pay when he considered he would soon be holding a cheque for millions.
Not to lose out he asked if he paid for the two days would he be entitled to this morning’s breakfast. The porter assured him that this was quite in order. He passed the fob to Roger and gave him a leaflet that informed of the dining room opening times then asked if he had a bag. Roger replied that what he had was with him. The porter came around the desk and beckoned Roger to follow him.
Once he had tipped the porter and closed the door behind him he scanned the room. It was not a four star hotel but it was fit for purpose, he thought. First he hung up his new suit and shirt and from his holdall he took a toilet bag and opened the adjoining door to the bathroom. He freshened up and emptied the other items from the bag onto the shelf above the sink. He would have breakfast first and then return to his room to take a leisurely shower and get dressed.
In the dining room he sat at a table for two and ate heartily into a full English breakfast. As he ate he looked at some of the other people who were already eating. Half way through his meal he was approached by a suited man.
“Would you mind if I joined you”? The stranger asked as he bent over Roger.
“If you wish”, Roger replied nervously. He was never comfortable around dressed up people. They always reminded him of ‘The Bill’.
The Lottery Ticket Page 7