by T J Walter
‘Shouldn’t we report it to Internal Affairs, sir?’
Brookes nodded. ‘Eventually, yes. But there might be a way we can use this to bring them both down. Just keep it to yourself for the moment. Fred Middlemiss and Liz Foreman are the only two others who know this so Mum’s the word.’
Rose nodded, but the worried expression remained on her face.
*
Chapter 24 – Rat on the Run
‘Let’s run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it.’
Reginald Rose
As soon as the two had disappeared from view, Collins got to his feet and started pacing impatiently about his small office. He’d looked closely into the eyes of each of the two visitors but had detected nothing to indicate they knew anything about his arrangement with Silver. But he needed to be sure.
He stopped by the window which looked out on the station yard. Brookes and Rose came into view as they walked to their parked car. Collins took a pace back, anxious in case they looked up and spotted him. But neither did; they simply got into the vehicle and drove off.
It was Collins’ signal to leave. He made sure his file cabinet was locked and left the office, closing the door behind him. There was no lock on the door, but anything sensitive he locked in the filing cabinet to which only he had the key. He knew he had to cover his back as the game he was playing was a very dangerous one.
He looked at his watch; it said 6.10pm. Late enough, he thought; Sid Porter would be at The Venus Club getting everything ready for the evening trade. Collins would have preferred to see Silver, but he dare not contact him at Pentonville Prison as all visits and phone calls to prisoners were recorded. He had to find out exactly what had happened when Brookes had visited the club and Porter had been there at the time.
Collins’ modest Honda Accord was parked in the yard. He’d had the sense not to buy a more expensive car from the money he got from Silver; that would give the game away. Instead the money would go to his retirement fund. He got into the car and drove out onto City Road, turning left and left again at the traffic lights, heading towards Shoreditch. He was nervous and constantly checked his rear-view mirror. But it was rush hour and he spotted nothing out of the ordinary in the mass of vehicles behind him.
So he failed to spot the Ford that Fred Middlemiss and Liz Foreman were in. Middlemiss, who was driving, kept half-a-dozen vehicles behind the Honda. There was the danger of them losing Collins at traffic lights, but the bug Brookes had planted under the rear bumper of the Honda earlier, while pretending to drop his keys, would indicate where the vehicle had gone. Foreman sat with the tracking device in her hand.
She said, ‘Is this legal, Fred?’
Middlemiss glanced sideways at her. ‘Probably not, Liz, but sometimes you have to be a bit sneaky when you’re dealing with rats.’
Foreman gave him a smile. ‘Adds a bit of flavour, doesn’t it, Fred, doing something we shouldn’t?’
He returned her smile. ‘Long as we don’t get caught it does, yes.’
Collins drove east to Shoreditch High Street, then turned left, followed at a safe distance by the two detectives. A quarter-mile further on, Collins turned left into a side street. Middlemiss continued along the main road, deciding it was too dangerous to follow directly behind. They had only gone a hundred yards when Foreman saw from the tracker that Collins had pulled the car to a halt.
‘He’s stopped,’ she said.
Middlemiss turned into the next side street and pulled into the kerb. ‘What’s happening, has he moved off again?’ he asked.
Foreman shook her head. ‘He must have parked, the dot’s not moving on the screen.’
‘Then we’re in business, Liz.’ He turned and pointed back the way they’d come. ‘That’s The Venus Club on the right back there. He doesn’t know you by sight, does he?’
Foreman shook her head. ‘No, we’ve never met.’
‘OK, he knows me. So you get out and go back to the main road and see where he goes. But be careful, Liz, don’t let him clock you.’
She gave him a look that said she knew how to suck eggs as she got out of the car. ‘I wasn’t born yesterday you know, Fred.’
She got to the High Street in time to see Collins crossing the road. Reaching the other pavement, he looked right and left. Foreman had her mobile phone out and appeared to be making a call. Collins took in her presence as he did the other half-dozen pedestrians in the vicinity, but moved on, apparently satisfied her presence had nothing to do with him. He stopped at the door of the club and rang the bell. Foreman gave a wonderful show of having an argument on her mobile phone as she walked past on the other side of the road, gesticulating wildly with her hands, and Collins took no further notice of her.
The door to the club opened and Collins disappeared inside.
Foreman reported this to Middlemiss on her radio.
He said, ‘Is there anywhere you can watch the club entrance from, Liz?’
She had already thought of this and replied, ‘There’s a coffee shop that’s open, I’m heading there now.’
‘Good, sit tight and let me know when he comes out.’
Foreman took her finger off the transmit button and added to herself, ‘Well, well, I never would have thought of that, Fred.’
*
Inside the club, Porter had led Collins to the bar. He said, ‘How come this arsehole Brookes came here without you warning us? The boss is fuming.’
Collins nodded. ‘I can guess. But Brookes didn’t tell me he was coming here, which he should have done; this is my patch.’
‘Well I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes when the boss gets out of the nick.’
‘What did Brookes say?’
‘Didn’t say nothing. The boss went at him soon as he came down from his office.’
‘But he must have said something.’
‘According to the waitress, all he did was give her his card and tell her to give it to the boss and they would wait at the bar.’
‘How comes they ended up having a bundle?’
‘A crowd came in and they moved away from the bar and sat at a table. Only the paying guests are allowed to sit there so I went over and spoke to them. But he called his two heavies over and that’s how it all got started. The boss must have seen this and weighed in himself. We were all surprised when the pig bent his finger back then nicked him.’
‘So nothing was said about how they came to be here?’
‘All the pig said was that he thought it was about time he met the boss and that he was on his case.’
Collins nodded. ‘Let me know if there’s any more trouble and make sure everyone behaves themselves; we don’t need to give Brookes any encouragement.’
‘What about the cash from the collections?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The businesses we’re looking after, we do collections Friday night. But only the boss has got the safe key.’
‘Well what do you usually do when the boss is not here?’
‘He usually leaves me the key.’
Collins gave him a look. ‘It’s up to you then. Have you ever heard of something called initiative?’
Porter returned the look. ‘No need to get saucy with me. You’re not in any position to throw your weight about here.’
Collins opened his mouth to make some angry retort but realised he was indeed in no position to do so and closed it again.
Instead he said, ‘Remember, your boss won’t want any hassle whilst he’s in stir. Just be damned careful how you run things.’ Not waiting for a reply, he turned and left.
From the coffee shop opposite, Foreman saw him leave and head back towards his car. Once he was out of sight, she left the shop and called Middlemiss on her radio. He told her to stay where she was and wait until he came and picked her up. Once Collins was on the move, Middlemiss did so, and they used the tracker to follow his car north to Tottenham, where he lived.
Once he was at home, they returned to Hackn
ey and booked off duty, having telephoned Brookes and informed him of Collins’ visit to the strip club.
*
At 8am the next morning, Brookes, Rose, Middlemiss, and Foreman sat in Brookes’ office, drinking coffee. Middlemiss had given the details of DCI Collins’ movements the previous evening.
Brookes gave him a wry grin. ‘Thanks, Fred. So there is no doubt about Collins being bent. Do we all concur on this?’
Middlemiss coughed. ‘Bent as a nine bob note, boss. No wonder Silver has been getting away with murder; if he’s got the local DCI in his pocket he can’t lose, can he?’
Brookes nodded, then turned to the other two. ‘Are we all agreed on this?’
Rose said, ‘There can’t be any other explanation, sir, can there?’
Foreman nodded. ‘If he denies ever visiting the club then runs there immediately you’ve left his office, he’s got to be bent.’
There was silence for a long moment, then Brookes said, ‘I’ll have to put what we have to the Professional Conduct crew. But first I want to use this to our advantage. I’ve spoken to DI Mann from Fraud. He thinks that Silver must have the deeds to the holiday properties put away somewhere within reach. If we can get our hands on those, we recover most of his ill-gotten gains; that would really hurt him. If we can make him think we’re just about to seize them, he might just panic and try to get them moved. Mann knows who Silver’s accountant is; a guy called Ian McBride.’
Middlemiss interrupted, ’That’s one of the numbers we found on Silver’s phone. An accountant with loads of letters after his name. His offices are in Bethnal Green Road, half a mile from Venus Club.’
‘Good, so there’s the link. Now all we have to figure out is how to let Collins know of our plans to get a search warrant.’
Middlemiss had a frown on his face. He said, ‘I know one of his DS’s boss, Ed Hollins, used to work with him when I was at Plaistow. Wouldn’t trust him with yours, boss. Come to think of it, he’s close to Collins, which makes sense if they’re both bent.’
Brookes smiled. ‘I don’t think I’d trust you with mine either, Fred; I’d be very worried where you’d put it. But that’s interesting. Are you still in contact with this Hollins?’
‘Not really, no. But I know where he drinks and there’s a mate of mine uses the same pub. I owe him a drink, perhaps I should drop in on him. Once I’ve had a few I could get a bit indiscreet and brag a bit about my trip to the Caribbean and how the enquiry is going.’
‘How much can you trust your friend, Fred?’
‘All the way, boss; I’d trust him with my life.’
‘Won’t he think it a bit out of character if you do start talking out of turn?’
Middlemiss frowned. ‘He might, boss; he knows me too well.’
‘Then you would have to take him into your confidence and that could be dangerous. Let me think about it.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Richard Mann is on his way over here. Let’s see what I get from him, then we can make a plan. In the meantime, keep all this to yourselves. We’re treading on dangerous ground here. I’m beginning to think I’ll have to let Commander Aitcheson know what we have found out about Collins and get his sanction on what we’re planning.’
*
Chapter 25 – A Plan
‘Money doesn’t talk, it swears.’
Richard Mann arrived half an hour later and he, Brookes, and Rose went into conference around the low table in Brookes’ office, each supplied with the inevitable cup of coffee.
When they were settled, Brookes said, ‘OK, Richard, tell us what you’ve got for us.’
‘Quite a lot, sir. First let me start with Holiday Homes Abroad. Although it started as just a scam to hide Silver’s dirty money, Fletcher has a good business brain. He had to advertise of course to give the business the appearance of being legal. What he hadn’t realised was that there was a big hole in the market which the company filled. He had other owners of exotic houses all over the place asking him to manage their properties. And the response from people looking for holiday lets was also good; it seems there are lots and lots of very rich folk in this country and they like expensive holidays away from the mainstream.
‘Until Fleming did the runner, the business was making large profits from legitimate lets, let alone the laundered money. It will take us months to contact all the people and find exactly what’s honest and what’s not. Some accountants are clever enough to weave such intricate webs it’s almost impossible to unravel them.’
Brookes nodded. ‘So, what about the profits, how were they paid out to Silver and the other owners?’
‘That’s where it gets really complicated. It wasn’t just Silver who wanted the profits paid into foreign bank accounts, some of the so-called “legitimate” owners were trying to beat the tax man, so the accounts are a mess. But we got from Fleming a list of the Swiss accounts money was paid to that ended up in Silver’s purse. I’ve got a team of certified accountants sorting out the mess; it could take years.’
‘You’re joking? I need something to pin on Silver. What about the deeds to the properties Silver owns, even if only by proxy; does Fleming know where they are kept?’
Mann shook his head. ‘But he thinks it must be in this country, where Silver can get his hands on them if he needs to. More than that he doesn’t know.’
‘And do you believe him?’
Mann took a moment before answering. Then he said, ‘Yes, I do. He hasn’t lied about anything else. Now he’s turned Queen’s evidence on Silver’s crimes, he’s as anxious as we are to get him put away.’ Mann smiled. ‘Probably more so, as our lives don’t depend on it.’
‘Good.’ Brookes chewed his bottom lip. ‘Let me run something by you. First: at the moment we have nothing on Silver, absolutely zilch. He can walk away and not even need to look over his shoulder. Second: I want the bastard and I’m going to get him. By hook or by crook. Literally.’ He gazed fiercely into Mann’s face.
Mann looked away, not knowing how to react.
Brookes continued, ‘When we leave here, you and I, Richard, are going straight to The Yard to see Commander Aitcheson. In the meantime, I’m going to tell you something that only I and a few members of my team know. You must give me your word that you will keep it to yourself until a decision is made as to what we’re going to do about it.’
Mann nodded. ‘Yes, sir, of course. You have my word.’
‘OK, we have a bent copper in our midst and I want to winkle him out. But I want to kill two birds with one stone. I want to leak information to him and get him to pass it on to Silver. If he does, we will soon know and that should screw him down nice and tight. The information is that we’re about to raid the place where Silver has the deeds to these properties. Needless to say, that’s not true, as we don’t know where they are. But Silver doesn’t know that and he is in prison so he can’t do anything himself to verify it or otherwise. But I reckon that when he learns of our plans he’ll panic and order McBride or one of his heavies to shift the deeds.
‘For us to do this properly will mean we’ll need phone taps and tracking devices, which is why I’ve got to go upstairs to get approval.’
Mann puffed out his cheeks and blew out a lungful of air. ‘Wow! It’s not one of your team I hope, is it, sir?’
Brookes shook his head. ‘No, of course not, I’d trust every one of them with my life. In fact it’s DCI Brian Collins at City Road. Do you know him?’
Mann shook his head. ‘I know of him but we haven’t met, no.’
‘What do you think of the plan?’
Mann didn’t reply for a long moment, while he considered his answer. Then he said, ‘Ambitious, sir. I think it’s a bit ambitious.’ Then he smiled. ‘But I also think it might work.’
Brookes smiled and turned to Rose. ‘Jacqui, what do you think?’
By now she had gained enough confidence not to be overwhelmed by being asked. She smiled and said, ‘I agree with Mr Mann, sir, it is ambitious. And I also think it
might work.’
*
The three detectives arrived at New Scotland Yard and found a place in the basement car park. Taking the lift to the eighth floor, they trooped into Aitcheson’s office suite.
Brookes knew the commander’s PA and said, ‘Helen, how are you? He is expecting us.’
She smiled. ‘Fine, sir, and I can see you are too. He said to go right in.’
Aitcheson’s office was roomy but not especially plush. The police budget did not allow for such luxuries. But it was functional. As well as a desk and upright chairs for formal meetings, it had a low table surrounded by comfortable armchairs. After shaking hands with his visitors, Aitcheson invited them to sit. They declined his offer of coffee and Brookes got straight down to business.
‘I’ve asked to see you, sir, as we have a problem, and it’s something you should know about. But it’s also something that may be of use to us in bringing Silver to book. I’ve brought Richard Mann along because, as you know, he’s dealing with the financial aspects of the case and it’s there I think we can hit Silver: right in the pocket.’ He paused.
Aitcheson nodded encouragingly. ‘Go on, John.’
‘Yes, sir. We know a great deal about Silver’s dodgy businesses but don’t have enough evidence on any of these activities to pin even a parking offence on him. He’s far too well-ensconced and we need some way to rattle him. All the laundered money from the holiday company is paid into Swiss bank accounts in other people’s names; we’ve no doubt it is all then transferred into one of his accounts somewhere and it will take ages to sort this out.
‘But the majority of his fortune is invested in these expensive properties he’s bought. The keys to these of course are the property deeds. Richard and I are certain that they will be in Silver’s name and that he keeps them somewhere safe close at hand. If we get hold of them, Fleming’s evidence and the books at Holiday Homes should get us a conviction of some sort that will enable a court to confiscate the properties.
‘This is my strategy now, to bring Silver down. He’s got a violent temper, as his recent behaviour shows, and if I keep nibbling away at his empire something will finally give.’ He paused again.