Shadows

by Conrad Jones

  “No way is that a coincidence,” Braddick hissed. “Fucking hell!” He pulled out his chair and sat down heavily on it. He looked at the woman and shook his head. “Excuse my language. We haven’t been introduced.”

  “DI Joanne Jones, but most people call me, Jo,” she said, leaning over the desk to shake his hand. “We met a few years back. I was undercover with the Matrix team.”

  “Really,” Braddick said, frowning. He was sure that he would have remembered her. She was very unforgettable.

  “I’ve brought DI Jones in from UC to front up the DS for the time being,” the ACC interrupted. “In light of what has happened, I would suggest that you brief both units at the same time and then decide between yourselves which angles you will cover. I want both departments working on this. Put it to bed quickly. The press will be having a party.”

  “No problem for me, sir.” Braddick sighed and half smiled at Jo. “I’ll be at least an hour catching up with where we are at. It would be a big help if you can ask your team what they have on the recent whereabouts of Gary Mason and the Farrell family.”

  “I know Gary Mason and the Farrells,” Jo nodded.

  “You do?”

  “Yes. His brother runs security for most of the clubs in town. Big Ron Mason?”

  “That is him. They seem to have gone off the radar lately.”

  “I’m sure DS will have plenty of up to date info on him.”

  “Excellent.”

  “What about the Farrells?” Jo prompted him.

  “We thought that they were out of business but it appears we were wrong. Maybe your team and Matrix are aware of their movements over the last few months. MIT wouldn’t necessarily hear about them unless they popped up on our radar,” Braddick said. Matrix worked serious organised crime and had undercover officers on the streets.

  “If they have been dealing again, Matrix will know about it. I’ll get on it straight away,” Jo said, writing down the names. “I’m familiar with both families,” she added. Braddick looked confused. She smiled. “From my time undercover.”

  “Of course you would be.” He searched the memory banks but still couldn’t place her. “There’s no need to fill you in on them then?”

  “None at all.”

  “Sounds to me like you’re already ahead of the game.”

  “With the Farrells, yes. First class scumbags, the lot of them,” she said, smiling. “Eddie junior was at the top of my ‘absolute wanker’ list before he disappeared.”

  “Just ahead of his father,” Braddick agreed.

  “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”

  “It rarely does in that business.”

  “If you don’t need me for anything, I’ll get on, sir unless there is anything else?” she said, standing. Braddick glanced at her physique. She was attractive. There was something about the way she carried herself. Her long raven hair was immaculate, her clothes smart but understated. She had applied make-up that emphasised her beauty without being too obvious. She was a head-turner, no doubt about it. The ACC seemed to be distracted as she walked to the door. She turned and caught him staring at her behind. “Was there anything else, sir?”

  “No, no,” he stuttered and looked out of the window blushing. “Best you dive in at the deep end and get on with it. I need a few words with DI Braddick anyway.”

  “Shall we say an hour?” she said, turning to Braddick and looking at her watch.

  “That’s fine,” he said. She closed the door and left the scent of Chanel Chance behind. “I think she’ll fit right in.’’

  “She will. There’s no doubt about it.”

  “You wanted to talk to me about something, sir?”

  The Assistant Chief Constable walked to the window and looked down at the Albert Dock. He could see the huge Ferris wheel turning slowly, hundreds of shoppers milling about oblivious to how perilous the world could be. A Mersey ferry was leaving its berth, leaving a foamy wake on the slate grey water. “I want to talk to you about Steff Cain,” he said, turning to face him. He seemed to be thinking carefully about what he was about to say. “I feel somehow responsible.”

  “Sir?”

  “Eyewitnesses say that she stopped her car in the slow lane, turned off the engine, got out and climbed up the east side of the bridge and then simply threw herself off.” He shrugged. His expression showed disbelief. “To an outsider, there would appear to be no question that it was suicide.”

  “To an outsider, yes. I agree.”

  “Can you see her doing that, I mean can you really see that happening?”

  Braddick looked at his fingernails but didn’t see them. His mind searched for answers that were not there.

  “Maybe, if it was someone else,” he said, looking up. “Who knows what goes through the mind of someone before they kill themselves. We can’t put ourselves there.” Braddick paused. “But Steff Cain?” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t see any situation that would make her take her life. She was solid, well balanced and tough as nails.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “She had everything to live for.” The ACC nodded in agreement. “When you add in the fact that her parents were killed in a gas explosion the night after she took her life, then the alarm bells ring in my head. She didn’t do that of her own choice. Not a chance.”

  “I know what I think happened.” The ACC turned back to the window. He was staring but not seeing anything except what was in his mind. “I want to hear what you think?”

  “I think someone told her to jump, threatened her family and left her with no option. If it were your kids or parents being threatened, what would you do?”

  “I can’t even think about it.” The ACC pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment. “I want to know who did this, DI Braddick,” the ACC said, sitting down opposite him. He looked haunted. “I want the bastards screwed to the wall.”

  “Is there something that you’re not telling me?”

  The ACC stared at Braddick for a long moment before speaking. “She came to me last week and told me that she had an informer who was ready to testify. He was frightened but he wanted to turn evidence and go into protection. Cain was close to bringing him in.”

  “An informer?”

  “Yes. He was ready to turn evidence on his employers. The intel was excellent. Everything looked kosher. ”

  “And you think this is related?”

  “I am certain that it is what caused this, absolutely certain. There is no other logical explanation except that she lost her mind and we both know that that didn’t happen, don’t we?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then it has to be to do with the informer.”

  “Okay, I’m following you so far. Let’s say it was to do with that, then who is the informer?” Braddick sat forward.

  “She wouldn’t give his name. She was going to bring him in next week. I do know that he was high level and could bring down the entire operation in the city and probably beyond. She said that it would have ramifications across the country.” He paused for a moment to let the information sink in. “She said that it would be too big for us to handle and that the National Crime Agency would need to be informed. She was certain that they would take the case over.”

  “Bloody hell! Who did he work for?”

  “Viktor Karpov.”

  “Are you fucking joking me?” Braddick stood up and put his hands flat on the desk. “Cain had someone inside the Karpov operation?” he asked, shaking his head. Visions of his dead girlfriend drifted to him, her face blistered and burned, her eyes gone, replaced by maggot filled sockets. The woman he had loved was just another victim of the Karpov machine. A machine that crushed all in its path. She was the only witness to a shooting. Braddick had become infatuated with her and convinced her to go into protection and their relationship spiralled out of control. He had crossed the line and began a sexual relationship with her. The Karpovs found out where she was and wiped her from the f
ace of the earth. That is what they did. He had been a fool to think that he could protect her.

  “Oh my God,” Braddick whispered beneath his breath. His guts twisted, making him feel weak. “If the Karpovs discovered that she had a mole in their operation then they would have wiped out her entire family before she had chance to take a statement from him. Do you have any idea what these people are capable of?”

  “I’m aware of the Karpov family, DI Braddick,” the ACC said defensively, but he didn’t sound convincing. “And I warned her to be very careful.”

  “Careful?” Braddick scoffed. “Careful? For fuck’s sake!”

  “I don’t appreciate your tone.”

  “Stuff what you appreciate where the sun doesn’t shine,” Braddick said quietly. “You knew that she was playing with fire. The Karpovs are pure evil. She never stood a chance.”

  “She could have come to me, asked for help.”

  “What could you have done against that organisation?” Braddick snapped. “Fucking Batman couldn’t have helped her. As soon as that name was mentioned, she should have been taken out of the operation and the NCA should have been brought in immediately. She was fucked from the start. This is on you.”

  “Don’t you think I didn’t discuss that with her?” The ACC blushed purple with anger and embarrassment. “Do you really think I didn’t insist on that?”

  “You didn’t insist hard enough from where I’m sitting.”

  “She was adamant that the informer would only come in with her.”

  “Then you should have let them go and whistle in the wind before you dangled her out there!” Braddick said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Anyone else, maybe… but the Karpovs, no way. You should have brought the NCA in straight away.”

  “Don’t preach to me, Braddick,” the ACC said frowning. Deep creases furrowed his forehead. “We discussed this for hours. She was adamant that the informer didn’t trust any of the serious crime agencies. He told her that the Karpovs have NCA officers on their payroll. He told her that he would only deal with her. Nobody else. She weighed up the risks and demanded to be allowed to bring him in. It was that or lose him completely.”

  Braddick mulled over what he had said. It made sense. Braddick had been in the NCA when Karin Range came forward as a witness to a murder. When the Karpovs found her, she was murdered. He knew that there were rats in the agency; someone had given her location to the Karpovs. He had spent a year trying to sniff them out and when he pointed the finger at one of his colleagues, he had been sent back to Merseyside as a detective inspector and told to shut his mouth. When rumours about his relationship with Karin began to circulate, he was given the option to request a transfer back to his force or face an investigation. He was lucky to have kept his job. The ACC was right; there were rats in the agency. There were rats everywhere. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes.

  “It’s just fucking wrong,” Braddick sighed. “She was a diamond.”

  “I am as devastated about what has happened as anyone in this fucking building,” the ACC snapped, his face blushing with patches of crimson. “More so because this happened on my watch and she came to me with it. I wish she hadn’t. I wish I had done something differently but I didn’t. I have to carry that with me. She wanted to see it through and I let her do that. The Karpovs must have found out and targeted her and her family and there isn’t a damn thing that I can do about it. If I could go back and change things then I would but I can’t.”

  “The Karpovs are a fucking threshing machine. They smash everything in their path. Everything and everyone. She should have had every member of her family put into protection.”

  “And who would have signed off on the cost of that?” The ACC shrugged and tilted his head. “Exactly how long would we have had to protect them?” He shrugged again. “A year, two years, ten years, come on, you tell me?”

  Braddick knew that his superior was right. They would never have been safe. Not even if they locked up every man with the surname Karpov. Not ever. He walked to the window, puffed out his cheeks and blew the air out with a whistle. Across the road, the river trundled by on the way to the Irish Sea, never slowing, never stopping, relentless in its progress. Cain had tried to capture a monster. Taking out the Karpovs was like trying to change the direction of the river using a bucket. He felt sick to his core.

  “Viktor Karpov might as well have pushed her off that bridge himself. It explains everything.” All the anger had gone from his voice. It was pointless being angry with the ACC. He was as helpless as Cain was against an outfit like the Karpovs. Braddick sighed. A thought occurred to him. “Who else knew about this?”

  “I am not a hundred percent sure. Obviously myself and her DS and whoever was working the informer. I’m assuming it is an undercover officer. She was keeping the information tight for obvious reasons.”

  “Not tight enough,” Braddick said, still staring at the river. “Who is her DS?”

  “He’s new, transferred in from Coppice Hill last month, Mike Pilkington,” the ACC said matter of factly. “I’ve told him to get himself in here pronto.” Braddick turned to look at him, a concerned expression on his face. The ACC read his mind. “He has no wife, no children and no close relatives to speak of. I checked that straightaway.”

  “Good.”

  “I want you and DI Jones to debrief him and find out exactly what they had on the Karpovs and see if there is anything that we can rescue from this. We need to know if we have enough to bring in the NCA. As I said before, I want these bastards nailed to the wall, DI Braddick.” Braddick exhaled loudly and nodded.

  “Of course.”

  “You will have your hands full with this Holyhead business but you will have whatever resources you need at your disposal. I will make sure of that. Get the bastards, Braddick!”

  “Okay, I need her laptop and access to all her files,” Braddick said, sitting down. He picked up his pen and tapped it on the desk. Karin’s face drifted to him again. Viktor Karpov had given the order. He killed her and took her away from him. If their paths ever crossed, he didn’t think he would be able to bring him in, not alive anyway. “Once I have briefed the teams and spoken to Mike Pilkington, I’ll call you with an update and what we need to progress, okay?”

  “Good.” The ACC nodded and stood up. He walked to the door and reached for the handle. “You know that there was nothing that I could do, don’t you?” he said, opening the door and walking out without waiting for an answer.

  Braddick thought about it briefly. “There was nothing that anyone could have done and that is the fucking problem,” he mumbled to himself. He thought about Steff Cain and how frightened she must have been, how helpless and alone she must have felt. Just like Karin had, just like he did sometimes.

  8

  Detective Sergeant Mike Pilkington took his money from the cash machine and stuffed it into his brown leather wallet with shaking hands. Cash was king when you had to keep a low profile and he had the feeling that he would have to. His head was in a spin. He checked behind him, left and right before sliding the wallet into his dark trousers. Zipping up his black bubble coat, he headed down the street, keeping his head down and his eyes focused on anyone in close proximity. The news of his DI chucking herself off a bridge had come as a hammer blow. It was completely unbelievable. She was so solid and sharp. He was devastated. His hands were still shaking as he felt for his car keys. A bottle of whisky and a sleepless night had done nothing to improve his mood. Various scenarios ran through his head as he had tossed and turned but none of them added up. Steff Cain wasn’t the type to quit anything, especially life. She had shown no signs of depression, in fact she was hyper. The Drug Squad had been more successful over the previous twelve months than it had since its conception in 2005. Most people put that down to her. She had a knack with people. Her detectives were motivated and prepared to go the extra mile to get a result. The overtime bill was down as the team didn’t grab at every half an hour they could and
the creative accounting of hours worked had stopped. Arrests were up, complaints were down and she was being tipped for the top. DI Steff Cain was a shining light in the force. He had only been there a month but she had made sure that he fitted in right away. She had taken to him immediately and as her DS, she had shared confidential information with him from day one. She was the best DI that he had worked with. When the ACC contacted him with the news about her parents, he knew that she had been pushed from the bridge, not physically but pushed nonetheless. The bastards had got to her some way, probably through her family. Family was always a person’s weak point. She was a talented police officer surrounded by other talented police officers but she was also a woman, a sister, a daughter and an aunt. The badge would protect you to a certain degree but not from those who didn’t respect it. He knew that the Karpovs had a hand in what she did. He just knew it. They chewed people up and spat them out. His DI would have been an easy target. In isolation, away from the job, they were all vulnerable. It was a fact of life. He had considered his safety before but not with the same concern. Many of the men he had arrested over the years had threatened his life and he had always taken it with a pinch of salt. Not this time. This time, the threats were real. Cain first and then her parents. The alarms were sounding. It hadn’t crossed his mind that he might be in danger until the ACC told him to leave home as usual, no overnight case, and make his way to headquarters immediately. Then it hit home. They could come after me. They probably will come after me. It was all speculation but it was educated speculation. The ACC was playing safe, obviously. He was playing it down. There was no evidence that the DI was under duress when she jumped and the gas explosion could have been a sick twist of fate, a coincidence. It could have been. He didn’t believe it was a coincidence but the alternative was unthinkable. No one wanted to think that a detective could be targeted and terminated by the bad guys. The bad guys weren’t that powerful. They would not dare to assassinate a police officer and her family. No one could think that they were untouchable like that. They couldn’t be because if they were, what was the point in it all? They could never win against that kind of mentality. People who fear nothing, respect nothing and do not value the lives of others, were undefeatable, surely? He was determined that they could be defeated. Determined but frightened.