The Body in the River

by T J Walter

  In a last effort to make his point, the QC said, ‘I put it to you that you went to that club with the intention of causing a fracas with my client. And you did so. And it was you that assaulted Mr Silver and not the other way about.’

  To the magistrate, Brookes said, ‘No, your worship.’

  Brough-Hughes asked no more questions of him. Fred Middlemiss took the stand next and confirmed all that Brookes had said. In cross-examination, he too did not engage in a war with the barrister and addressed each of his answers to the magistrate. Brookes’ two detective constables followed. They too kept their cool under cross-examination and Brough-Hughes scored no points at all.

  Curry stood and said, ‘That concludes the case for the prosecution, your worship.’

  Brough-Hughes stood and said, ‘I call Mr Sidney Perkin.’

  The bouncer from the previous evening arrived in the witness box, took the oath, and stated his name and occupation, which he described as an usher.

  Brough-Hughes said, ‘Mr Perkins, where are you employed?’

  ‘At The Venus Club in Shoreditch.’

  ‘Were you there last night?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘There was an altercation; tell the court exactly what happened.’

  ‘These two cops came in. They were stood at the bar. Then they decided to sit down at a table. The tables are reserved for paying customers. I went over to remind them of this. Next thing I know there’s two more Old Bill pulling me away and one of those at the table bending Mr Silver’s finger back. Then they handcuffed him and took him away. For nothing; he didn’t do nothing.’

  ‘Did you see Mr Silver poke the detective in the chest?’

  ‘Na, that’s a load of crap. He just pointed his finger at him to make a point. The cops were out of order.’

  Brough-Hughes turned to Curry. ‘Your witness.’

  Curry stood and showed his inexperience, looking a little lost.

  Seeing his predicament, Blaketon said to the witness, ‘Four police officers have given evidence that you aggressively grabbed Superintendent Brookes by the shoulder and wouldn’t release him.’

  ‘No, I might have rested my hand there but that’s all.’

  ‘So you admit touching him?’

  ‘As I say, I might have just rested my hand on his shoulder but that’s all.’

  Blaketon nodded. ‘What exactly are your duties at the club?’

  ‘Just to see people to their seats and make sure they don’t touch the girls.’

  ‘What about drunks, you must get some of those; what do you do when there is a drunk?’

  ‘Just show him the door, sir. That’s all I do, no violence, nothing like that.’

  ‘And all these drunks go quietly, do they?’

  ‘Most of them, yes.’

  ‘What about those that don’t?’

  ‘Then we have to put them out, sir, but gently like.’

  ‘So you are a bouncer then. OK, you can sit down.’ He looked at Brough-Hughes. ‘Your next witness?’

  ‘I call Doctor Richard Homes, your worship.’

  Blaketon frowned and signalled to the bailiff to wait a moment. To the barrister, he said,

  ‘Exactly what evidence will he bring?’

  ‘Evidence of the injury to my client.’

  Blaketon frowned. ‘But we already know the extent of that injury. I’m sure it’s very sore, as it was nearly broken. Will he tell us any more than that?’

  Brough-Hughes coughed into his hand. ‘He will confirm the extent of the injury, yes, your worship.’

  ‘But will he add anything more?’

  The barrister shook his head finally. ‘No, your worship.’

  ‘Do you have any more witnesses?’

  ‘No, your worship, the defendant is too distraught to give evidence. That is the case for the defence.’

  Blaketon nodded. ‘I don’t think there’s any call for closing statements. My mind is clear on what happened. Your client tried to bully Superintendent Brookes and wasn’t successful. Perhaps he will know better next time. I find him guilty as charged.’ Then to Curry he said, ‘What do we know about Mr Silver?’

  Curry passed a copy of Silver’s previous convictions to the usher, who passed it to the magistrate. He also passed one to Brough-Hughes.

  Blaketon read the list of offences and punishments. Finally, he looked up. ‘Stand up, Mr Silver.’ When he had, Blaketon continued, ‘It seems you have been a violent man for most of your adult life and you haven’t learned the error of your ways. So you need another lesson. You will go to prison for seven days. Perhaps that will make you think before attacking your fellow man.’ To the bailiff he said, ‘Take him away.’

  Silver went berserk and thumped the desk in front of him. At the top of his voice he shouted, ‘You can’t fucking do this to me. I won’t fucking have it.’

  A second bailiff arrived to help the first restrain him.

  Blaketon raised his voice above the hubbub. ‘Just a minute, hold on, bailiff.’ Then to Silver he said, ‘That, sir, amounts to contempt of court. The sentence for that is another day’s imprisonment, to run concurrently. Now, Mr Silver, do you have anything more to say?’

  There was complete silence in the courtroom. After fully half a minute, Blaketon said, ‘Right. Now take him away.’

  *

  Chapter 23 – What Next?

  ‘Little drops of water,

  Little grains of sand,

  Make the mighty ocean

  And the beauteous land.’

  Julia A. Carney

  Back at Leman Street, Brookes began wading through a pile of paperwork that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. His team were busy finding out what more there was to know about Silver. Brookes had been at it for an hour and had made a significant dent in the pile when his phone rang.

  Picking up the receiver, he said, ‘John Brookes?’

  A familiar voice said, ‘John? It’s Sam Aitcheson.’

  ‘Yes, sir, what can I do for you?’

  ‘Tell me what you were doing brawling in a girly club the other day for a start.’

  Brookes smiled. ‘Sometimes you have to stir the pot to see what’s in the soup, sir. I went there to see Silver; he lives in the flat above and doesn’t have a front door. My DS and I went and stood at the bar. Half an hour later, Silver still hadn’t appeared. A crowd arrived and we moved away from the bar and sat at a table to make room and one of the bouncers came and leant on me. We were dealing with him when Silver suddenly appeared and started poking me in the chest – and I do mean poking. So I grabbed his finger and subdued him. He was swearing and cursing like a squaddie so I arrested him.’

  Aitcheson said, ‘How the hell did you get him put away for a week?’

  Brookes laughed. ‘He did that himself. You probably remember Cyril Blaketon, the magistrate from the old days?’

  Aitcheson said, ‘Yes, is he still around?’

  ‘Still going strong. When he’d heard the evidence he sussed what had happened. Silver’s brief didn’t help, acted as if he was the bee’s knees and tried to lord it over the court, so Blaketon came down heavy on him. When Silver opened his mouth after being sentenced he got himself another day for contempt.’

  ‘Sounds like you had some fun, John, but what did you achieve?’

  ‘This man Silver has everyone running scared because he comes across as a hard-case. Didn’t do any harm to bring him down to size, especially when we question some of those he’s got paying him for ‘protection’; they might just be a bit more forthcoming if they see he’s not as hard as he thinks he is.’

  ‘OK. I take your point, John. What’s your next move?’

  ‘Don’t know yet, sir, my team are still gathering info on Silver’s operations.’

  ‘Keep in touch and let me know what progress you make.’

  Brookes put the phone down thoughtfully. He knew he only had a limited time in which to come up with a result. He sighed and got back to his pile of paper.
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  It was late that afternoon that Brookes looked up to see Fred Middlemiss and Liz Foreman standing in the doorway to his office. Both looked uncomfortable.

  Brookes said, ‘You two look a bit sheepish, what is it?’

  The two walked in. Middlemiss said, ‘Can I close the door, boss?’

  Brookes pushed the, by now small, pile of paperwork away and sat back. ‘Yes, of course, sit down the pair of you.’

  Once they were seated, the two looked at each other. Foreman nodded her head.

  Middlemiss said, ‘A bit delicate, boss. But you know we checked the numbers on Silver’s phone memory when we nicked him?’

  ‘Yes, Fred. But not officially, remember that, we had no warrant. We couldn’t use anything we found as evidence.’

  ‘I know, boss. But there’s a number he phoned four times in the last month. And he’s had calls from that number twice.’

  Brookes nodded, half-knowing what was coming. ‘Whose number was it, Fred?’

  ‘It’s another mobile, boss, DCI Brian Collins.’

  Brookes nodded. ‘Just as you thought, his contact at City Road; no doubt one of the reasons he’s been getting away with so much.’ He paused thoughtfully. ‘Does anyone know we’ve got this info, Fred?’

  Middlemiss shook his head. ‘Only you, me, Liz here, and the gatepost.’

  ‘Good, let’s keep it that way for the moment. Knowledge is power; we’ll find a way to use it. Well done, Fred; is that it?’

  Middlemiss shook his head. ‘No, Liz has got some info that might be useful, about a knocking shop in Romford.’

  Brookes turned his attention to DC Fraser. ‘What is it, Liz?’

  She licked her lips. ‘I’ve got a friend on the Vice Squad at The Yard, sir. He heard we are interested in Silver. They raided a brothel in Romford last month. They arrested the woman that ran it. There were several underage girls working there, all from Eastern Europe. One had been badly beaten up just a few weeks before. The description she gave of the man that did it fits Silver to a T.’

  Brookes frowned; he wondered how the contact at The Yard had learned of their interest in Silver but decided to say nothing about it.

  Instead he said, ‘What makes your contact think it’s him?’

  ‘Apart from the general description the girl gave that was a match, she mentioned the rings he wears and that he’s got a tattoo on his right arm. “Lightning through a cloud”. It’s on his record sheet, my friend checked. And the rings are quite distinctive; one gold one with a big emerald and another gold signet ring with initials etched in it. She even remembered the fingers he wears them on, the third finger of each hand.’

  Brookes nodded, remembering having himself seen these rings on Silver’s fingers. ‘Why haven’t the Vice Squad nicked him then?’

  ‘Insufficient evidence, sir. This girl is frightened out of her wits and she wouldn’t make a reliable witness; a defence brief would tear her to shreds. Besides, she’s too frightened even to bring charges. And the other girls are too scared to back her up.’

  Brookes nodded glumly. ‘I can see their problem; it’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove.’ He scratched his head, then continued, ‘OK, we’ve got a week whilst he’s locked up in Pentonville. Let’s keep digging, see where this girl is now and see what else we can dig up about this knocking shop. Do we know who owns it or holds the lease on the property?’

  Fraser shook her head. ‘That I don’t know, sir.’

  ‘I expect the Vice Squad will have the info on that. It won’t embarrass your friend if we approach his boss will it, Liz?’

  ‘No, sir, it’s all above board.’

  ‘Good, you two deal with that then. Let me know if you need my weight behind you. Who’s running Vice now?’

  Middlemiss said, ‘DCI Mick Holt, boss. He was at Bow Street before he took over the squad.’

  Brookes shook his head. ‘Don’t know him, although I’ve heard the name. Well done you two, by the way. But keep very quiet about DCI Collins. I’ll have to pass it on to Internal Affairs eventually but I’ll keep it to myself for a day or two.’ If fact, an idea was already forming in his mind as to what use he might put the information to. As the two detectives were leaving his office, he called after them,

  ‘Ask Jacqui to come in please, Fred.’

  *

  An hour later, their car pulled into the yard at City Road Police Station. They found an empty parking space beside a Honda Accord.

  As they got out of their car, Brookes dropped his keys and knelt down to retrieve them from where they had landed. Picking them up, Brookes led the way up to the divisional commander’s office.

  His door was open, as it usually was. Chief Superintendent Charles Leighton looked up from his desk. He smiled.

  ‘John, you old reprobate, how the devil are you?’

  Brookes returned his smile. ‘Fine thanks, Charlie.’ He turned to Rose. ‘Let me introduce Jacqui Rose, my DS.’

  Leighton stood, leaned over his desk, and shook her hand. To Brookes he said, ‘Close the door, John, and I’ll order coffee.’ He picked up his phone and did so. The three sat around a low coffee table and Leighton said, ‘I see you’ve been busy on my patch. What were you doing at The Venus Club? Apart from teaching Silver a lesson, that is.’

  Brookes smiled. ‘That’s why I’m here, Charlie, to fill you in on that.’ He went on to tell Leighton of the murder investigation he’d just conducted and what he’d learned about Silver. He then added, ‘I felt it was time I met this toerag. As you probably know, he lives above the club and uses it as his front door. One of his bouncers got stroppy with me then Silver waded in, poking me in the chest. The rest you know.’

  Leighton nodded. ‘So that’s what this is about. You know, he behaves himself on our ground so we don’t have any trouble with him. Most of his dirty work is done over in Bow and all points east, so I understand.’

  Brookes frowned. ‘So none of your officers have had any business with him lately?’

  ‘Not to my knowledge, no, and I do keep up to date on these villains. Have a word with Brian Collins whilst you’re here, he’d know if anything is happening.’

  ‘That’s what I had in mind to do, Charlie, but I thought you’d want an explanation first.’

  At that point, Leighton’s PA brought the coffee in.

  For the next ten minutes, the three chatted about other things as they drank their coffee. Then the two detectives said their goodbyes and descended to the first floor, where the CID offices were situated. Brookes had purposely not told Rose of Middlemiss’s information about phone calls Collins seemed to have made. There was no danger of her reactions in Collins presence giving anything away. He would also be interested in her opinion of the man without her view being tainted.

  DCI Collins’ office was a glassed-off section of the general CID office. Knocking on the door, Brookes waited to be invited in.

  He thought he detected a note of tension in Collins’ voice when he welcomed them. They sat down and politely refused Collins’ offer of coffee.

  Brookes got straight to the point. ‘I expect you’ve heard about my visit to The Venus Club. I’ve just spoken to your governor and thought I should pay you a visit just to let you know why we were there.’ He then gave a brief summary of what he’d told Leighton.

  Collins listened quietly to the explanation then said, ‘Thank you, sir, we did wonder what you were doing on our patch.’

  Brookes was immediately conscious of the way Collins had put it. He’d made Brookes sound like some kind of poacher.

  Brookes said, ‘Do you have much trouble with Silver or his club?’

  This earned Brookes a vigorous shake of the head. ‘None at all. Silver makes sure he does nothing wrong and the club’s well run.’

  ‘Really; do you ever pay the place a visit?’

  ‘Haven’t done recently, no.’

  ‘What about your team, do they visit the place?’

  ‘One of my DS’s, Bi
ll Knowles, looks in now and again; he’s my clubs officer.’

  ‘So his visits will be recorded in the clubs book, but they were just routine?’

  ‘Yes, sir, they should be.’

  Neither Brookes’ expression nor tone chanced one iota when he asked his next question. ‘So you have no contact with the place or the man then, Brian?’

  ‘No, sir, no cause to.’

  Brookes nodded. ‘Shame, we’re looking for all the info we can get on him. Clearly you have nothing that might help.’

  Rose moved forward as if ready to ask a question. Brookes nudged her with his knee, knowing that the desk between Collins and them would prevent him from seeing this. She sat back in her seat and said nothing.

  Brookes said, ‘OK, Brian, thanks for your time.’

  The two got up and left.

  In the car, Brookes said, ‘Jacqui, I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest when you answer, whatever you felt. You’re good at reading people; what did you make of Collins?’

  She glanced at him then back to the road ahead. A frown spread across her face. Finally, she spoke.

  ‘He looked uncomfortable from the moment we arrived. His reaction was totally different from Mr Leighton’s.’

  Brookes nodded encouragingly. ‘Yes, keep going.’

  ‘That’s it really, sir. Nothing I could put my finger on; his reaction just seemed strange.’

  ‘I’ll tell you why that was.’ He went on to tell her about Silver’s mobile phone records.

  She frowned again. ‘So Collins lied to you, sir; why on earth would he do that?’

  Brookes gave her a look. ‘Why do you think?’

  ‘I don’t like to think about it, sir. That’s why I asked.’

  ‘Collins is bent. Can you think of any other explanation, Jacqui?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, sir, I can’t. But Silver’s evil. And he’s responsible for at least one murder; surely not.’

  ‘And he’s filthy rich, don’t forget that.’ He paused for a moment then added, ‘Sadly, there are one or two coppers who do stray from the straight and narrow and you’ve just met one.’