Moffat's Secret

by J. C. Williams

  Evers nodded to Mac.

  Mac filled in the last of the details. “This all came down last Wednesday. The FBI notified Boston PD as well because they knew we were building a case. On Thursday, I was invited to join the team and I asked for you, Chad. Adrien seconded the motion. Then we had to get Braxton College to agree and then track you down. Here we are.”

  Sandy asked, “Alan, you said Biskell is in the country. Do we know where?”

  “We do. He’s in a hotel in Hyde Park, that’s on the west side as well. I put you guys up not too far from him. However, not quite in the same price range.”

  They all laughed.

  “Better hope you don’t run into him, with the lawsuit still pending,” Adrien commented.

  Four faces looked questioningly at Evers.

  He explained. “Biskell filed a harassment suit against me and the MET in civil court. Both here in the UK and in Italy.”

  “So, you’ll stay clear?” Tellier pressed.

  “Sure, I will. Unless, of course, I get a call from a constable that the hotel bar is serving underage drinkers. I’ll have to respond. It would be pure coincidence if Biskell happened to be in the bar and we just happened to bump into him.”

  “You’re poking the bear,” Mac said, but he was smiling. “Can I come?”

  “Wish you could,” Evers smiled back. “This bear is more growl than bite.”

  He then became serious. “Let’s freshen our tea and we can go over the warehouse location and a plan for tomorrow night. If you all can stay awake, I’d thought we’d do dinner together tonight.

  The Cambridge inspector’s cell phone rang. He stepped into the hall. The others took a break.

  When they resumed, Smythe took charge. “We have a problem. It’s off for tomorrow.”

  The air was let out of the room, until he added, smiling, “It’s on for tonight.”

  Chapter 60

  Archer listened to Smythe’s explanation.

  “We think something leaked from our B&E felon or about his arrest. It spooked whoever is planning this. We got this from the girlfriend. Can we be ready?”

  Evers answered, “We’ll have to be. Cameras at the two entrances were being installed today. The van should be ready. We’ll need to set up teams for surveillance. As soon as we see both cars enter, we’ll call in an SCO19 team. They’ll bring firepower.”

  “Is that like SWAT?” Mac asked.

  “Yes. SCO19 is the designation for the MET’s Specialist Firearms Command.” Evers rose from the table. “I’ll get all of this coordinated and have them on stand-by all night.”

  Adrien asked, “How do you want to divide us up? Will we need more official British police?”

  “Not since we are just watching. No action. Got that Mac?”

  “No problem there, since I was not allowed to bring a weapon.”

  “How about these pairings? Mac and Gary take the watch from eight to midnight. Sandy and I will take midnight to four, because I think that is the most likely window. Then Adrien and Chad from four to eight. We’ll call it at eight if they have not showed up. Everyone okay with that?”

  Everyone nodded. Chad was secretly happy he was not paired with Sandy. They might be distracted. On the other hand he wished he could have time with Mac. He still wanted to talk to him about events in Israel.

  Evers checked the nodding heads and went on. “I’ll be at the van about ten. I have to go home and get some clothes. These won’t get it.” He fingered his sport coat and dress slacks.

  “Do you live far?” Chad asked.

  “About an hour away.”

  “That’s a lot of time, especially with all you have to do. I’m sure my room has two beds. I’ve packed clothes for a couple weeks. We’re about the same size. I’ve got clean clothes you can wear.”

  “Thanks. I’ll take you up on that. I’ll meet you guys for dinner. Let me know where you will be. I’ll check on everything and poke that bear.”

  -----

  Lupa waited at the hotel for Archer to show up. The tapped phone conversations in Israel gave the tracker the name of the hotel. Once Archer checked in and left again, bugs could be placed in his room.

  Lupa called St. Andrews to give an update and receive instructions. They discussed how much Archer knew and, more importantly, how much more might he tell others.

  The discussion became heated.

  Decisions were made.

  -------

  Archer checked in. He lay back on the bed allowing himself some downtime. It had been hectic since he stepped off the plane. The deaths of Lipman and the rabbi jumped into his thoughts. He didn’t want to think of those things. He called Mac’s room and suggested they meet in the pub next door. Mac showed up with Sandy, Adrien, and Gary Smythe in tow. No chance for a private conversation. They decided to go straight to a recommended restaurant.

  They were all dressed for the night’s work – jeans, walking or running shoes, light jackets, or for Chad, his dark blue hoodie. Dinner was a variety of fish and chips, bangers and mash, and shepherd’s pie.

  Evers joined them, still in coat and tie. He reported that the bear was adequately poked. Biskell made more threats of legal action.

  Their conversation was filled with stories of other stakeouts. Chad had no stories but he was the first and last to laugh or in many cases the innocent believer of fabrications created at his expense.

  The dinner was interrupted by everyone’s cell calls. Some, to or from families. Some, to or from other branches. Sandy received one that left her bothered.

  “I have an update, team,” Evers said after a call. “The van is ready. They were able to get cameras set up for the two vehicle entrances to the warehouse. A high chain fence borders it. Trouble is there is a pedestrian entry that they couldn’t find a spot to locate a camera. I don’t think anyone will go in that door, but we need to take a few walks that way tonight, maybe every thirty minutes. We’ll be able to see lights on in the front offices if someone is in there.”

  “Someone like Biskell?” Tellier asked.

  “We can hope, can’t we?” Evers smirked.

  They walked back to the hotel, two abreast. Archer led the way with Sandy next to him. The night had grown chillier. Sandy seemed impervious to it. Chad pulled his hood over his head.

  “I hope we get some time together,” she said. “How long will you stay in the UK?”

  “I think until Friday or Saturday. That was left open.”

  “Even if we wrap this up, you could still stay?”

  “I’ll plan on it. This was a surprise change for you, here to London?”

  “A surprise? Nay, laddie. Well deserved recognition, I would say.” She directed a hurt look toward Chad. “You don’t think so?”

  Chad tried to dig himself out of a hole. “Oh, I’m sure you were rewarded for your talent and skills. It was the timing of it that I wonder about. It seems to have occurred on the heels of the trouble I caused you and the inquiries that you made. Did they do this to get rid of you in York?”

  “I think that was part of it. It was an easy way to get me out of their hair. I was glad that it came with a promotion. It was a quick move, though. I learned about it Thursday morning. I met with Evers at the Yard that afternoon. He told me about this case. That’s why they moved quickly. He also told me then that there were possibly two Americans joining us. I was surprised to hear you were one of them. I guess it took some time to cut through the red tape, if you did not know until Sunday.”

  “It seemed that everyone did know already. Mac, my dean, and Interpol.”

  “Where were you? You were not in the States or you would have arrived with Mac.”

  Chad decided he could trust Sandy. She even might be a better listener than Mac.

  “Secret?” she asked.

  They were almost to the hotel. “Maybe later,” he said.

  “Ooh, a man of mystery.”

  “The phone call you received earlier. Everything okay?”


  “Are you the detective now, Archer?”

  Embarrassed, Chad stammered, “Sorry, I was just concerned. You looked like it was a concern.”

  “No worries. Just teasing you. Everything is fine. I lost my partner for a Mystery Hunt this weekend.”

  “A Mystery Hunt?”

  “A geocaching hunt. We get clues to locations where there is a number hidden. We solve the six clues and get the six numbers. Latitude and longitude. It will be for a pub or restaurant. We eventually all get there.”

  “Latitude and longitude,” Chad exclaimed stopping suddenly. “You are fantastic, Sandy.” He gave her a hug.

  The four policemen behind them noticed. The watchers in the shadows of the early evening also noticed.

  Chapter 61

  Chad stopped at the front desk and requested an extra key for Evers. Then he hurried to the room and booted up his laptop. The excitement of solving the numbers made him nervous. He looked at his notes again. The little arrows made sense now. The up-arrow was northern latitude. A right-arrow was eastern longitude. A left-arrow would be the longitude going west.

  He found a site to input the coordinates. The number on the back of the stone was the first he looked up. Something was wrong. It was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, west of Mexico. The top number was the middle of Algeria. That might make sense; it was twenty five hundred miles from Jerusalem. Could the tablets be buried in the desert? But why the two set of coordinates?

  The third was in southeast Poland. GPS was not the answer to the puzzle.

  Chad wondered if anyone in 600 BCE even knew about latitude and longitude. He didn’t think so. And, obviously the numbers bore that out.

  Chad was still researching the Internet for the history of latitude and longitude when Evers knocked. Chad put his work away. The last thing that he read was that Greenwich, England was not decided on as the prime meridian until 1884. Even then, France still used Paris until 1911. What was used as the zero longitude in 600 BCE? It wasn’t until 250 BCE that the Greeks established the use of a reference point for longitude. And there were as many reference points used, as there were mapmakers.

  “I’m going to catch some sleep, but please continue your work.”

  “No, that’s okay. It’s already nine. I have that three o’clock wake-up call.” Chad went to the dresser and opened the drawer. “Alan, take whatever you need.”

  “Thanks. Mac and Gary are set up. Sandy will get up at eleven thirty and call my cell. I’ll have it on vibrate and will try to be quiet.”

  “Don’t worry about it, goodnight.”

  They were both asleep in fifteen minutes. Archer was dreaming about latitude, longitude, and chronometers.

  ------

  Evers dressed quietly, taking a pair of jeans, a shirt, sweat socks, and sweatshirt from Chad. They may not be fashionable with his dress shoes, but who will notice at this time of night?

  The archeologist stirred and muttered something about Algeria and Poland.

  Sandy approached Evers, as he quietly shut the room door.

  “Who’s your fashion coordinator, Alan?”

  So much for no one noticing. “What happened to that polite and proper detective sergeant that I interviewed last week? Is this the real you?”

  “Sorry, DI Evers. I didn’t know you were so sensitive. I shall confine myself to quiet giggling in the future.”

  “Yuk. Yuk.”

  They had a block to walk from the hotel to his car. Evers shuddered in the night air and pulled the hood over his head.

  Five minutes later, they relieved Smythe and Mac, checked the monitors and settled back to watch. Every thirty minutes, one of them would slip out and circle to the pedestrian gate, keeping in the shadows across the street. It was a five-minute walk followed by ten minutes of observation.

  Sandy glanced at her watch. “It’s already two o’clock. Maybe we were misled about the operation timetable change.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I’ll take a stroll,” Sandy said.

  “No you don’t it’s my turn,” Alan said rising from in front of the computers.

  “Sit down. I’m dressed warmer than you. It’s chilly to the bone out there for a Londoner. Let a proper Scottish lass brave this wee chill.”

  Playfully, she pulled up his dark blue hoodie and pulled it over his eyes. Despite her bragging, she slipped on a warm coat and stocking cap. Evers faced the front of the van, his back to the rear doors. When she opened them, he waved without looking back.

  She’ll be fun to work with, Evers thought to himself. Smart, quick witted, good around people. Her promotion was no fluke. He had checked her record and cases thoroughly. It was true that she rubbed some of the York constabulary the wrong way, but so did he on his way up. In her case, from what he deduced from some honest people there, it was because she was a woman. York police were dinosaurs he concluded - at least some of them.

  He checked his phone for messages. Nothing new. His wife had sent a picture of his two girls, three and five, sleeping soundly. He looked at it again. Angels.

  The van door opened. Without taking his eyes from the monitors in front of him, he asked Sandy, “Back so soon?. What did you forget?”

  The first bullet entered the back of the blue hoodie, penetrated his skull, lost speed, and lodged against the inside of his forehead. His head fell forward on monitor. The second bullet tumbled through his head and exited through his left eye.

  Evers’ last image in his worldly life was of his two angels. The first image in the afterlife, if there is one, might have been angels as well.

  Fifteen past two Sandy spoke into her ear microphone. “We have a light on in the warehouse office, Alan. I’m coming back.”

  Odd, she thought. He usually responds.

  “Alan, do you copy?”

  No answer. Something was wrong. She sprinted back to the van.

  ------

  Archer woke up with a start. The Great Pyramid, he thought. That had been in existence for two thousand years before the events described in the scrolls. What a twit I am. Egyptian symbols. I should have thought of it before. What could be a better and more permanent location to use as a reference point?

  He looked at the bedside clock. Two twenty. He moved to the desk and his laptop. He was stopped by the ring of his cell phone.

  “Hello,” he answered.

  “Chad, it’s Sandy. Can you rouse the others and come to the van? Evers has been shot. He’s dead. I’ve called it in. Thanks.”

  She hung up. Chad stared at his phone. Her voice was steady and strong. She was so, so, so professional.

  -------

  Chad and Mac stood off to the side thirty feet away from the scene at the van. Three cars were pulled up. No lights were flashing. The ambulance left two minutes ago. A tall, thin man was pointing and directing. He was obviously in charge.

  “I know he’s bloody dead, Lionel,” the tall man said. “I can see that, but this goddam circus will alert our thieves and blow this operation. I can pull rank on you chief inspector, but let’s not do that. Give me another two hours and then your teams can come back.”

  The MET chief inspector looked around and sighed, “I knew Evers, too, Giles. He was a good man. Can you keep everyone ten feet from the van?”

  “Yes. Thank you, Lionel. We won’t need the van now.”

  MET cars pulled away. Two other carloads of NCA officers arrived.

  Superintendent Giles walked across the street and motioned everyone to him.

  “This is a terrible tragedy. I know this case. Evers brought me up-to-date this evening when he picked up the van. I want this son-of-a-bitch Biskell. I want his head on a platter and I want him strung up by his balls. Those who do not know, Biskell, he is suspected in this auto theft ring. Not just in the UK but all over Europe. He is suspected by the Boston police to be involved in a homicide. He threatened Evers. He brought a civil suit against Evers and the NCA. I know Evers baited him tonight. That probably put Biskell ov
er the edge.”

  He paused collecting his thoughts. One of the newly arrived officers asked, “We are continuing the operation, sir?”

  “Yes. We cannot use the van. Do we have some walkie-talkies? Good. I want two of you on each gate. There are two gates correct?”

  Sandy answered, “Yes sir, and a pedestrian entrance.”

  “Right,” Giles said. “Two more there. Chalmers, take a man and go to Biskell’s hotel. Bring him in.”

  “Sir, on what charge?”

  “I don’t care. Snoring too loud. Being an asshole. Just get it done.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Next I want to know if those cars left Cambridge.” Giles turned to Smythe. “Smythe, correct? Call your office. Wake some people up. Find out what is happening. Then get on our CCTV networks starting here and working back in time and distance. Locate those cars.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What is happening in the warehouse?” the Superintendent asked.

  “There was a light on when I made my rounds. It just now appeared,” Sandy informed him.

  “Can we go in? What’s the search warrant for?”

  Gary Smythe answered, “Suspected stolen cars.”

  “H-m-m-m. Don’t suppose we have seen any have we? Video will back that up.”

  “What about the smoke, sir?” Sandy asked.

  “What smoke?” he asked her.

  “I think I saw some smoke when I was out front.” She sniffed. “I believe I can smell it. If there is anyone inside the warehouse, they can be in imminent danger, sir. Perhaps we should help.”

  Giles sniffed, “I think you are right. It’s Moffat, correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good idea. How soon can we get the Firearms unit here?”

  “They were on standby, so I called them in as well. The sergeant here is in charge,” Sandy said, nodding toward a well-armed officer wearing a vest.

  “Good work, Moffat. Sergeant, take your men in whichever entry gives you best cover from the offices. Take possession of the warehouse and then stay out of sight. Oh, and rescue anyone in there from the fire. Moffat, go with them. In case they need a fire. When you are in, I’ll follow with Interpol. We’ll wait for the cars from inside the warehouse. Everybody have their assignments?”