Rough Cut

by Owen Carey Jones

  _________________________

  Later that day, the plane carrying Carter and Conrad touched down at Leeds Bradford airport in Yorkshire. Having collected their bags, Carter and Conrad came out of the baggage collection area of the airport into the arrivals area. There, they saw a man wearing a suit who was holding up a piece of paper with Carter’s name on it. They approached the man and Carter introduced himself.

  “Hi, I’m Carter Jefferson,” he said, whereupon the man folded the sheet of paper and put it in his pocket.

  “Detective Constable Green, from the West Yorkshire Police,” he said, identifying himself and shaking hands with Carter and Conrad. “DI Harris, one of our colleagues from the North Yorkshire force, asked me to meet you and give you this file,” he continued, indicating the file he had under his arm, “But before I do, please could I see some ID.”

  “Of course,” said Carter as he reached into his jacket pocket for his ID wallet and handed it to him. DC Green looked at Carter’s ID, nodded and then returned it to Carter along with the file.

  “Please could you return the file to DI Harris in York when you’ve finished with it,” he said.

  “Of course, no problem,” said Carter as he took the file.

  “Oh, one other thing, DI Harris said to ask you to contact him when you arrived.”

  “I’ll give him a call,” said Carter.

  After DC Green had left, Carter and Conrad went to find the car rental desk. Once they had found their hire car in the car park and were on their way to their hotel, Carter telephoned Harris. He told him they had arrived and thanked him for the file.

  “We could do with a briefing,” said Harris, continuing the conversation, “To bring us up to date with the case. Perhaps when you’ve settled in at your hotel you could come down to headquarters and fill us in on what’s been happening?”

  “Be glad to,” responded Carter, “Say in about an hour?”

  “Fine.”

  Carter ended the call and as Conrad drove them to their hotel, Carter leafed through the file DC Green had given him. As he did so, he came across a plan of a building on which were marked all the security systems which had been installed. He opened the plan out in front of him and saw a room denominated as the New Product Development Room. He nodded sagely to himself as he noted that this room had no windows and additional security in the form of a steel door operated by a combination lock.

  When they had arrived at their hotel and unpacked, Carter and Conrad met in Carter’s room to discuss their next move. Carter had the file on Baines Automotive in his hand.

  “Before we go and fill the Inspector in,” began Carter, “let’s just remind ourselves what we know so far.”

  The two men sat down in a couple of armchairs which were by the window before Carter began his review.

  “First off, we know that Philippe’s contact here is someone at Baines Automotive. Secondly, we know that Baines Automotive is an engineering company manufacturing auto parts, so it’s in the right line of business to be able to construct the kind of equipment needed to make synthetic diamonds, especially if they’re using the high pressure high temperature method. And finally, we know, from the security details in the police files, that the company has a development room, which, for some reason, has been provided with a three inch thick steel door.”

  “If they have been making the diamonds there,” suggested Conrad, “the equipment will most likely still be there. Even if they knew we suspected them, which hopefully they don’t, the set-up we’re talking about, a pressure chamber capable of producing synthetic stones of gem size and quality, is not the sort of thing you fold up and put in your briefcase. It wouldn’t even fit through the door. And even dismantling it and moving it in pieces would be a non-trivial exercise. Even if they’re using the chemical vapour deposition method, getting rid of the equipment in a hurry would not go unnoticed. And, if they’re doing this on a commercial basis, which they appear to be, we’re not talking about a single piece of equipment. Each diamond would take weeks to produce using the CVD method so they would need a lot of machines.”

  Carter nodded at Conrad’s accurate summary. “So, let’s go and see the Inspector, shall we, and see if we can get to the bottom of this today.”

  _________________________

  Half an hour later, Carter, Conrad, Inspector Harris and Harris’s assistant, Detective Sergeant Grimshaw, were all seated round Harris’s desk as Carter concluded his summary of where the case had got to.

  “And that brings you right up to date,” said Carter.

  Inspector Harris had listened intently as Carter had described everything that had happened since their meeting a few days earlier.

  “What can we do to help?” asked Harris.

  “This is the plan of the company’s premises,” said Carter opening out the plan on the desk in front of Harris. “It was in the file you gave us.”

  Carter pointed to one of the rooms marked on the plan. “We’d like to take a look in there, the New Product Development Room. Can you arrange that? If they are making diamonds in that factory, and all the evidence points to it, then that’s where they’re most likely to be doing it.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Harris, “I’m sure Grimshaw here can find us a JP to sign the warrant.” Harris looked at Grimshaw who nodded and left the room.

  “Could take a little while though,” added Harris when he had gone. “It is Saturday, after all. Tell you what, why don’t I introduce you to our local beer while we’re waiting for him to get back.”

  “Sounds great,” said Carter.

  Later, when Grimshaw returned, having accomplished his task successfully, he found the little group in his boss’s favourite pub across the road from the police station. Harris looked up as he came towards them.

  “Did you get it OK?” he asked.

  Grimshaw nodded and handed the search warrant to Harris who looked at Carter as he spoke.

  “Are you ready then?” he asked, as he drained his glass and got up to go.

  “Sure, let’s do it,” responded Carter, also getting to his feet.

  The group returned to the police station where Harris went to speak to the Desk Sergeant.

  Once they were all in the police car travelling towards the factory, which was on the outskirts of York, Harris said, “The factory is closed at weekends, so I’ve arranged for a car to fetch Mr Baines. He’ll meet us there.”

  _________________________

  When they reached the locked factory gate, they sat in the car and waited for the second police car, carrying Jeremy, to arrive. The factory building was deserted and Carter could feel the hairs on the back of his neck bristle as he anticipated the culmination of his investigation. The adrenalin began to flow and he became edgy just sitting there. He opened the car door and stepped out in front of the gate. Harris joined him.

  “They won’t be long,” said Harris. “A few more minutes at the most.”

  Just then a police car pulled up beside them and Jeremy got out of the back seat. “Which of you is Harris?” he demanded, storming towards them.

  “I am,” answered Harris. “I have a warrant to search these premises. Could you open up for us please,” he added bluntly as he handed the search warrant to Jeremy.

  “I don’t suppose I’ve got a lot of choice, have I?” responded Jeremy, after he had looked at the document and confirmed its contents. “But I intend to lodge a formal complaint. I’ve done nothing that could possibly justify such an intrusion.”

  “Yes sir,” said Harris wearily.

  “And what the hell are you looking for anyway?” continued Jeremy angrily.

  “I’m not at liberty to say, sir,” responded Harris as Jeremy shook his head and began opening the factory gates.

  “Where do you want to start?” he asked once they were inside the factory.

  “How about the New Product Development Room?” suggested Carter; there was only one place he was interested in search
ing.

  “You can’t go in there, it’s full of our latest inventions. Our competitors would love to know what’s in there. No, no. You can look everywhere else but not in there.”

  “I think you’ll find, sir, that we can look anywhere we like,” said Harris coldly. “But you really don’t need to worry, we won’t spill the beans to your competitors.”

  “Well, you can’t go in there. It’s on a time lock until Monday morning.”

  “Not according to our records, it isn’t. So, be a good chap, and open it up for us, would you?”

  “What about him?” Jeremy pointed to Carter, “He doesn’t sound like one of yours.”

  “He isn’t. He’s from New York, but Scotland Yard have vouched for him. So you don’t have to worry, your secret formulas will be quite safe.”

  Jeremy gave up resisting and led the group towards the far end of the factory where the development room was located. They walked through the laboratory, where products produced by the company’s competitors were taken apart and examined and tested, and stopped at the big grey metal door to the development room.

  Jeremy pulled a bunch of keys from his pocket and unlocked the combination wheel. Slowly and methodically he spun the wheel a few times and lined up the first number of the combination with the mark. Then the next, and the next, and finally the last number. He turned the wheel again and they all heard the click as it locked open. Next, Jeremy used both his hands to turn the big heavy handle and slowly he pulled the thick steel door open. When he had finished, he went in and switched on the lights before emerging and inviting the group to go in.

  “After you,” said Harris.

  As they entered the large room, Carter whistled at the high tech equipment that seemed to fill every part of it. His heart began to race as he contemplated finding the high pressure chamber and solving the mystery of where the diamonds were being made.

  Conrad quickly scanned the room and then leaned towards Carter and whispered into his ear. “There’s nothing in here that is even remotely like the size or quantity of equipment that would be needed.”

  As Carter surveyed the room, he knew Conrad was right. His heart plummeted to the soles of his shoes and he felt that hollowness in the pit of the stomach that often signals the realisation of some unwelcome truth. Carter touched a finger to his lips to warn Conrad not to say anything to Harris.

  “Maybe they’ve developed a new process that uses smaller equipment,” he suggested, desperately clutching at any explanation which would mean that he had not been wrong about the room.

  “Maybe,” agreed Conrad, “It’s conceivable. But it’s very unlikely.”

  Carter was dismayed; surely he couldn’t have got it so wrong. If the diamonds weren’t being made there, then they must be being made somewhere else. But where?

  Harris strolled over to them. “Something the matter?” he asked.

  “No, no,” lied Carter smoothly, taking a tight rein on his anxiety. “Let’s get on with it, shall we.”

  Even though Carter and Conrad no longer believed that the development room was being used as a diamond factory, Carter insisted that they search it thoroughly, just in case he was right and Jeremy had found a means of producing high quality diamonds without the need for a huge high pressure chamber or a collection of CVD units.

  At one point, Carter found a supply of graphite, the essential raw material for making synthetic diamonds and got quite excited about it until Jeremy informed him that graphite was an essential ingredient in the manufacture of brake linings and that, amongst other things, his company was developing a new high performance braking system.

  When they had finished searching the development room, and had found nothing more incriminating than the stock of graphite, they routinely examined the rest of the factory. As they entered each area, Carter looked at Conrad who, after briefly scanning the space, shook his head.

  An hour after they had begun the search, they called it off and as they were about to leave the factory, Jeremy looked at Harris.

  “Satisfied?” he asked.

  Harris looked at Carter who nodded reluctantly.

  “Yes, thank you, sir,” said Harris, “I’m sorry to have troubled you. It seems our information was incorrect.”

  “Yes it does rather, doesn’t it? And I can assure you that you will be sorry for this. I wouldn’t be surprised to find you directing traffic next week. What the hell were you expecting to find in there, anyway? Gold bullion from a bank robbery? Or perhaps a clutch of white slaves?”

  “I’m afraid it’s not for me to say,” replied Harris, refusing to respond to Jeremy’s sarcastic gibes.

  Jeremy reset the alarm system before pushing the big main door of the factory shut and locking it. Then he followed Harris, Carter and the rest of the group through the gate and closed it, snapping the large padlock shut, before getting into the back seat of the police car in which he had arrived. He glared angrily at Harris before pulling the car door shut. Harris signalled to the driver and the car drove off. Carter watched and shook his head before speaking to Conrad who was standing close to him.

  “There’s something we’re missing here,” he said and Conrad nodded his agreement, “And I don’t trust that guy, he’s much too sure of himself. I think we should keep an eye on him, stake out his house, see what he does. Could be he’s just a staging post, a middle man.”

  Harris watched Jeremy drive off before walking towards Carter, clearly furious about the embarrassment he had just been subjected to.

  “Anything else I can do for you,” he asked, barely restraining his anger.

  “Not right now, thank you,” said Carter.

  “In that case, I’ll give you a ride back to the station so you can pick up your car. Although, given what has just taken place here, maybe I should let you catch a bus!”

  Carter smiled weakly as he and Conrad got into Harris’s car. He knew he deserved the taunt and he probably would have reacted in the same way if the roles had been reversed; he had made a bad call and he knew it. Whether or not Harris would still be willing to help him after what had happened at the factory was doubtful but he was still convinced that he had the solution to the case within his grasp, that Jeremy Baines was in some way involved.

  CHAPTER 17

  It was early evening as the ferry inched slowly across the inky black sea towards the dock. The woman in the raincoat watched the ship and pushed herself as far back into the doorway as she could. There was no reason why anyone would recognise her, even if they saw her, but she still tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible as she waited for the person she was there to meet. The rain was a little heavier now; even in her doorway, she had to wrap her raincoat tightly round herself and raise the collar to protect herself from the large drops of water.

  Before long cars were rolling out of the ferry, their crossing from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Hull on the East Yorkshire coast completed. One by one the cars passed through the customs shed and drove past the woman until one of them pulled out of the line and stopped a few yards away from her. Its headlights flashed twice. She ran towards the car and got into the passenger seat.

  Inside, Dimitri was beaming from ear to ear. “Anna! Hi!” he said, greeting her warmly, ”Your English weather, it gets worse!” he laughed heartily, his broken Russian accent impossible to hide, “One day, I will make this trip and it will not be raining. But maybe I will be old man by then.” Dimitri laughed again as he pulled back into the line of cars.

  Anna laughed too, but she was more tense and the tension found its way into her voice, “It’s good to see you again, Dimitri. You’re always so bloody cheerful. You cheer me up.”

  “What is not to be cheerful about?” asked Dimitri, “You make lot of money, I make lot of money and nobody get hurt. What could be better, my friend?”

  Dimitri put the car into gear and they drove out through the gates and away from the docks.

  “Only bad thing is long journey I have to make to bri
ng diamonds to you. I could have give them to you in Moscow,” he said as they drove along the road.

  “But then I would have had to get them out of Russia. And if I’d been caught with them at the airport, I could have ended up in a Siberian prison camp.”

  “Siberia not so bad!” They both laughed at this before Dimitri asked, “Where you are parked?”

  “Not far. Quite near your hotel actually,” answered Anna before taking a deep breath. She looked straight ahead as she continued. “Dimitri, I’ve decided to close the operation down.”

  The silence that followed Anna’s revelation was leaden. Dimitri looked shocked and amazed, so much so that he turned his head to look at her, taking his eyes off the road.

  “No? But for why? Isn’t it good for all of us?”

  “Dimitri! Watch the road!” shouted Anna, concerned that he would crash the car.

  Dimitri pulled in to the side of the road and switched off the engine. He looked at Anna sitting beside him and she looked back at him.

  “What is it?” he asked, “What is problem?”

  “Things have been going wrong and people have got hurt,” said Anna, a serious look on her face. “And now the police are getting too close. Jeremy’s factory was searched by the police today. We must stop before we get caught.”

  Dimitri slammed his hands against the steering wheel angrily. Then, a few moments later, he looked at Anna and he was smiling again, “What the hell! We already make lot of money. So why worry? We live well for rest of our lives, no?”

  “You know the money wasn’t for me,” said Anna, quietly and reflectively.

  “Of course not! Always the Robin of the Hood, eh? Always, you are wanting to help others. Taking from rich and giving to poor,” replied Dimitri, shaking his head. Anna looked at him and smiled as he continued, “So what I do now with these?” he asked, taking a black pouch from his pocket and holding it up, “I take big risk to get these out of factory, you know. But without you arranging distribution they are worthless.”

  Anna opened the car door. Where the car had stopped, there was a waste paper bin fixed to the railings between the road and the bank of the Humber estuary. She took the pouch, got out of the car and dropped it into the bin. Back in the car, she looked at Dimitri and smiled.