The Badge & the Pen Thrillers

by Roger A Price

  ‘You wondered right, but I thought you were doing some deep exposé type investigation?’

  ‘Even knowing that much could get you killed, Palmer, so be careful what you say. Walls have ears as well as sausages, and all that.’

  He smiled at what she had said, she clearly loved playing the reverse cop-like strategies, it was partly what got up the noses of some of his contemporaries; but not Vinnie. ‘Ok Sherlock, I’m just up at the fire scene, where the poor victim lost his life.’

  ‘I was just about to head up there; can you wait for me and show me around?’

  Vinnie agreed and arranged to meet Christine in the Asda café on the entrance to the site. He had a cappuccino waiting for her when she arrived fifteen minutes later.

  ‘So, what were you intending to bell me about?’ Christine asked, before she’d sat down.

  She had a natural way of disarming Vinnie by asking not so much random, but unexpected questions, or just questions at unexpected times. After a slight pause, he said, ‘Oh nothing, just a catch up chat. Anyway, to business, what did Harry tell the press?’

  ‘Don’t you mean what did Harry not tell us,’ Christine said with a smile.

  ‘Probably, but do I have to ring him?’

  ‘Of course not,’ she answered, before going on to elaborate.

  As expected, Harry had told the press that the fire had been started deliberately, and that a man had died in the fire, but no more, other than to add that the two men thought responsible had been seen running away from the rear of the premises by a witness, and it is was highly likely that they made good their escape in a waiting vehicle which may have been parked on the hard shoulder of the M6 northbound, somewhere between junctions 31A and 32, and if anyone had seen bla, bla, bla, they should get in touch.

  Christine finished by asking, ‘Anything to add, Vinnie?’ followed by, ‘My first job is to try and find the witness; I thought I’d start with site security, unless you can point me in the right direction?’

  ‘Nothing to add, but I can save you some trouble. I’m the witness, but I can’t tell you why, not yet anyway.’ Vinnie saw Christine raise an eyebrow, but she didn’t say anything.

  ‘Look, I’m about to have a look around the rear of the place, in the direction that the two figures went last night, join me if you want, but the building itself is off-limits for now.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ she said, ‘there’s an outside broadcast unit on its way so it would be good to get a feel for the place before they arrive.’

  Ten minutes later, they were around the back of the building. Vinnie had noticed from his earlier walkabout that all the CCTV on-site pointed to the front of each building, and it appeared the same at the rear. It was the first time he had seen the back of the building in clear daylight and as he looked out across the grass towards the motorway’s sounds Christine asked which way the two shadows had gone, exactly. He pointed towards the edge of the embankment 150 metres away, which led to the M6.

  As he set off towards it, he looked at the building’s only neighbour to their left and hadn’t realised how far set back it was, probably about thirty or forty metres. When they reached level with its rear, Vinnie stopped and stared to his left at a further building, at its back. It was obscured by its larger neighbour and positioned about a further twenty-five metres behind it. In distance, it was roughly halfway between the motorway embankment and the back of the burned-out building.

  ‘I’m guessing you didn’t know that was there?’ Christine asked.

  ‘No, it’s totally hidden from view. It looks like an annex from the main building in front; come on let’s take a closer look.’

  Five minutes later they had circled the small one-storey brick building. It had no windows but a glass front door facing back towards the estate. There was a gravel path linking it to the rear of the main building which hid it.

  ‘Did you notice the CCTV,’ Christine said, smiling.

  ‘I did, come on.’

  Vinnie had seen the usual cameras at the front of the building looking towards the glass, double-door entrance. And as there were no windows in the annex, he hadn’t expected to see any at the rear. But not only where there two cameras on the building’s rear wall, one on each edge, but they were facing outward – towards the motorway.

  As he walked to the front door, Vinnie pulled his warrant card out. On opening the door, he could see a small reception area of about ten feet by ten feet, a small counter to the left which had a door behind it, and a further closed door was to their right. He rang the bell and two minutes later a portly man in his sixties appeared through the door behind the desk.

  ‘Yes?’ the man asked.

  ‘I’m DI Palmer and this is a colleague,’ Vinnie announced, showing the man his ID while giving Christine a wink.

  ‘How can I help you?’

  ‘We are investigating the fire around the corner and noticed you have outward facing CCTV at the back,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘That’s right,’ the man said, and before Vinnie could ask why, the man continued. ‘We got done once before, or should I say the last owners did. Bastards smashed their way in through the rear wall, must have taken them half the night, and then they pissed off down the M6. No one saw anything, apparently, so they had those cameras installed. A bit late if you ask me.’

  ‘What do you actually do here?’ Vinnie asked.

  ‘We just keep all our company’s records here, it’s just a depository now, its design is ideal for that, which is why my company bought it,’ the man said, before going on to explain that his company kept paper records and files for the few remaining clients that still needed to hold onto non-digital records.

  Vinnie suspected that the CPS or legal chambers would no doubt use facilities like this.

  ‘What was the place used for when the break-in happened?’ Christine asked.

  ‘It was several years ago, but it used to be a holding facility for cash-in-transit deliveries, but as I say it’s just full of paper records now. I’m surprised you don’t already know all this.’

  Vinnie explained that they were from Manchester, but no doubt the locals would know the history.

  ‘Talk about right and left hands,’ the man muttered.

  Vinnie ignored the comment and watched as the man leaned down and opened a drawer and pulled out a DVD case.

  ‘You’ll be wanting this, then,’ he said, as he passed the case over. ‘I’ve been expecting you. It’s a copy of the whole twenty-four hours covering the fire, all yesterday and through the night. I’ve obviously not had time to look at it so I don’t know if it’s any use.’

  Vinnie thanked the man and asked, ‘Is this the only copy?’

  “Fraid so,’ the man answered. ‘The system re-records over itself every forty-eight hours, which is why I changed the disk sharpish this morning.’

  Vinnie thanked the man again and said that at some time later someone would call back and take a statement from him.

  Back outside, Vinnie turned to Christine. ‘Well, I’m off to find a DVD player.’

  ‘I’ll help you,’ she said.

  Chapter Seven

  ‘Damn, there’s no DVD player,’ Vinnie said, stood at the end of the double bed in his hotel room. ‘Just the flat-screen TV.’ He’d reckoned it might be quicker than trying to grab some equipment in Preston nick while the chaos of getting the incident room fully operational was still in progress. Plus, he’d agreed to let Christine help him as two sets of eyes were always better than one when watching CCTV; things could be easily missed. It was amazing how tiring and boring it could be.

  ‘Try the TV itself, sometimes they’re a combo?’ she said.

  Vinnie examined the TV more closely and could see a DVD slot in its side. ‘Nice one, Christine,’ he said, before turning the set on and pushing the DVD into the slot.

  ‘Evidentially, we should really make a working copy of the DVD to protect the original,’ Vinnie said, pausing as he spoke, but the delay in finding no
t only a DVD machine but one that makes copies, and a technician to do it in order to ensure integrity sufficient to satisfy a court, would take ages.

  ‘Taking a little look won’t harm, will it? she asked.

  ‘I suppose not, we can use anything we see as intelligence and enter it into the evidence chain later.’

  ‘I won’t tell if you won’t.’

  Vinnie thought further for a moment. Strictly speaking he should do as he’d suggested, all his cop instincts were telling him this. But at this stage they were only seeking the information from it; if there was any. He decided to press on.

  ‘If there is anything of value on it, surely only then does it become evidence and need preserving?’ Christine offered.

  ‘Strictly speaking, that’s true. If there’s nothing on it then it just becomes unused material. Let’s see what we’ve got.’

  Once the DVD started to play, it showed two views, each taking up half the screen and each with the same view. It was daylight, and the view was away from the premises they had visited, showing grass which eventually fell away. A further field was visible in the distant foreground.

  ‘It’s obviously a dual-camera system, but both showing the same thing,’ Vinnie said, adding, ‘Probably a zoom operated infrared motion detector on the second lens.’

  Christine looked at him, and he explained further.

  ‘This is basic kit. The first lens shows the view, but if anything disturbs the motion detector, the second lens zooms onto it. You get the close-up but keep the overall view to contrast it against.’

  ‘Doesn’t sound too basic to me,’ Christine said.

  ‘Trust me.’

  ‘Oh, I do.’

  Vinnie fast-forwarded the disc. There was no date or time stamp on it but as they knew the fire went up at dusk, he could use the failing light to guide him.

  Twenty minutes later, the light was clearly going and he pressed play on the remote. He kept leapfrogging until the second half of the screen suddenly went into zoom mode. A flash of brilliant light was soon followed by another. He assumed the explosions had caused the zoom to kick in, but he backed the disc up anyway and pressed play again.

  ‘There,’ Christine shouted.

  Vinnie lent in towards the TV and could see the image of the backs of two men running from the right of the screen across the grass towards the embankment. They were shadowy and not too clear, even when the flashes appeared, which were only for an instant. They weren’t much help, as they tended to white-out the view. Certainly no way could the figures be identified from this footage, but he knew it must be Quintel and Jason. The two shadows neared the edge of the grass where the embankment started. ‘They’ll disappear in a mo, and then that’ll be that I’m afraid.’

  Vinnie sighed as a moment later the zoomed view returned to its previous state, but then a new view appeared from the second half of the screen. This time it had the footer of “Camera Three” under it. This new view showed the two fugitives slipping and sliding down the embankment towards the hard shoulder of the motorway, one after the other.

  ‘Where’s this feed coming from?’ Christine asked.

  ‘That post,’ Vinnie shouted as he glanced at camera one’s view - the overview - and could just make out a tall white post at the edge of the grass. ‘Brilliant.’

  Returning to the view from camera three, both men could be seen approaching a family sized saloon parked on the hard shoulder. The larger of the two – he assumed to be Jason – got in the driver’s side, and the other – Quintel - got in the passenger side. Then car lights came on and the vehicle started to drive forward, then the camera three view went blank. Seconds later the TV screen returned to the joint overview position and the footers changed back to “Camera One” and “Camera Two”.

  ‘Damn, what just happened?’ Vinnie said.

  ‘I can guess,’ Christine said, before going on to explain. She reckoned that the motion detector on camera three – the one on the post – probably would only be activated once camera two had picked up motion heading towards it.

  ‘I see. It would probably be in some sort of sleep-mode until alerted by the system of something coming towards it, or by a near-motion incident coming from the other way. Otherwise every time a car drove past on the motorway, the system would be kicking off.’

  ‘Makes sense, but why did it have to shut off right at that point?’ Christine asked.

  ‘Come on, let’s go through it again.’

  Vinnie orientated the remote control and then re-ran the DVD once more, and then again using the pause function until he was happy they had it on hold on the very last frame from camera three. It showed the car driving away with its lights on: including the rear number plate light.

  ‘Look,’ Christine shouted, and then ran to one of the bedside tables and returned with hotel pen and paper.

  Vinnie leaned in and could see that the rear number plate was visible for the first time. He hadn’t noticed it on the live playbacks. ‘It’s on the very last frame,’ he said as he looked up to see Christine scribbling.

  ‘Got it,’ she said.

  ‘Brilliant,’ Vinnie said, ‘I’ll get it checked on the PNC – Police National Computer - then I can go and pay the owner a visit.’

  Just then Vinnie’s mobile started to ring. It was Harry. He put a finger to his lips and looked at Christine before he took the call.

  ‘Good timing, Harry, I’ve got something.’

  ‘Where are you now?’

  ‘Five minutes from the nick.’

  ‘Good, will it keep until you get here?’

  ‘Sure, Harry, is everything ok?’

  ‘I’ve just had a very interesting chat with Jim Reedly, albeit only over the phone.’

  ‘And?’ Vinnie asked.

  ‘I think he’s bullshitting me, see you in five.’ The line went dead.

  ‘Everything all right?’ Christine asked.

  ‘No, Harry thinks he’s being rubber-dicked, I’d better get back.’

  ‘I’m sure Detective Superintendent Harry Delany would never use that expression,’ Christine said, grinning.

  ‘You’re probably right, but I’m working on him.’

  Vinnie took the piece of paper from Christine, who said she needed to meet her camera crew back at the scene anyway, and record a short piece-to-camera in time for the lunchtime news. Vinnie said he’d ring her later, and they both headed out the hotel.

  Chapter Eight

  Vinnie walked into Harry’s office just ahead of him and closed the door behind them. As Harry sat down behind his desk Vinnie noticed a smaller one at right angles to it that hadn’t been there earlier. It had a desk phone and computer terminal on it.

  ‘That’ll be yours, Vinnie, and I’ll give you a key for the door before you leave.’

  Vinnie nodded, before trying out his new chair and turning to face Harry.

  ‘I take it things didn’t go too well with Reedly, then?’ said Vinnie, feeling like he needed to say something to start Harry off.

  ‘You could say that. I had to remind him that not only had he not been assassinated, but that the man mainly responsible for ensuring so had been.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘I rang him hoping to set up a face to face, but DCC Reedly didn’t seem to want this, so I persevered over the phone. I was trying to find out why hitherto unknown villains such as Quintel and Jason-whatever, would want to kill him.’

  ‘He’s always claimed not to know anyone by their known names or descriptions,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘I know that, which was one reason why we thought there were others involved.’

  Vinnie nodded.

  ‘But after poor Charlie’s death, I was hoping he would revisit it and try to help all he could, but all he seemed bothered about was that we catch them quickly as we had “already cocked-up by letting them escape”.’

  Vinnie understood why Harry was wound up, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t run their strategy past Reedly before t
he mock execution, which he’d willingly agreed to.

  ‘Plus, he seemed to show a total lack of concern about Charlie Parker,’ Harry said, adding, ‘Maybe he should have accompanied me to see his parents last night.’

  Vinnie shuddered at the thought of that task. “Death Warning Messages” as they were called were one of the job’s worst tasks. He recalled each and every one he’d ever had to deliver, all of them vividly and indelibly stamped in his memory.

  ‘He said he’d try and think again, but due to his seniority it had been many, many years since he’d been operational, so was struggling to think it was linked to any cases he had been involved in.’

  ‘A fair point, Harry, I bet it’s twenty years since he felt his last collar.’

  ‘And that’s what worries me. What if this is not job-related? What if he’s been shagging, or whatever? But then it’s all a bit extreme. The whole set up is too organised.’

  ‘If he had been a naughty boy, then the aggrieved would probably want the pleasure of sorting Reedly out himself, that’s what usually happens when that’s the motive.’

  Harry nodded, before carrying on, ‘Plus, as soon as I put the phone down to you I got the chief of Lancs’ office on the blower.’

  Vinnie didn’t believe in coincidences so knew whatever came next wouldn’t be good news. Harry explained that he was now not allowed to ring Reedly without first going through the chief’s office, and when he’d asked why he’d been told it was an order.

  ‘That’s a bit over the top,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘It gets worse. I’ve been told by his office to say that Charlie Parker was just passing the building, when he saw someone breaking in and went in to investigate before meeting his doom.’

  ‘For Christ’s sake, Harry, those bastards nearly cut his head off. Not the sort of attack carried out by your usual interrupted burglar.’

  ‘That’s what I said, and then I was told that the official line would be that Charlie is suspected to have died from smoke inhalation, and received severe neck injuries by - as of yet – unknown cause, but if pressed, I have to suggest that possible falling girders or similar might have caused the injury, either post death or whilst incapacitated.’