Persons of Interest: A DC Smith Investigation

by Peter Grainger

  ‘That’s right, sir – it’s Smith with an ‘i’. You say that Ms Diver is out on the case now?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Is it her first one?’

  ‘Her first what?’

  ‘Case, sir.’

  Diver’s smile really had no idea what was going on now – widen, stay just as it was or run away?

  ‘Er, no, of course not. Why do you-’

  ‘It’s just that we noticed she only applied for provisional membership of the ABI six weeks ago. That’s not long to get many cases under your belt, is it? And you say that you are moving offices? One could ask, where from, exactly, or one could assume that this is actually a new business.’

  ‘That’s not the case at all. Diver’s was, is, a long-established agency here in Kings Lake.’

  ‘Oh yes, I knew Bernie Diver. I’m just not at all clear how you did – if you did.’

  ‘Bernard Diver was my uncle. Our uncle.’

  ‘Good God! Really?’

  Smith stood up, and Waters followed suit. Jason Diver knew that he had been insulted, he just didn’t quite know how – the feeling meant that he could not leave it like that.

  He said, ‘This is a perfectly legitimate business, sergeant. We offer a service that people need, and-’

  ‘I don’t disagree but that doesn’t mean that everyone in it is perfectly legitimate, does it?’

  Diver stood up then, a little red-faced again, trying to look even taller than Waters.

  ‘I don’t like what you are implying.’

  ‘Which is curious because lots of my clients say the same thing. We often have to go to court to sort it all out.’

  The phone on the desk began to ring.

  Diver said, ‘Is that some sort of threat?’

  ‘No, a simple statement of fact. I have two more points, Mr Diver. I didn’t see your own registration anywhere as a private investigator, so I’ll assume for now that it’s in the post and that I’ll see it up on the wall in a nice frame the next time I call round. Second, I cannot imagine what all this is costing to set up but I’m guessing it’s a lot more than people like Sandra Fellowes can afford to pay. I wouldn’t want to hear of someone like that being pursued in the small claims court in a few months’ time, and I read those lists religiously.’

  The phone on the desk made a new noise and then a recording of a woman’s voice – a young, cultured, beautifully modulated voice – began to say “You have reached Diver and Diver Associates, enquiry agents. After the tone, please leave your name and number and we will...”

  Smith stared down at it for a moment and then said, ‘Good afternoon, Mr Diver. We wish you every success in your new business venture.’

  They were the last to arrive for the RSCU update meeting but it didn’t matter – Detective Sergeant Terry Christopher had seized control, and although it only involved a few Kings Lake officers in summarizing what had been found so far, there was much urgent, confidential consultation to be done at the front of the room before things could get underway. Smith had driven relatively quickly back through the town and conversation had been kept to a minimum – this was the first opportunity to discuss the visit to Diver and Diver.

  Waters said, ‘I didn’t throw my weight about too much, did I?’

  ‘Hardly at all. In fact, you could have waded in and supported me. He was a bit of a handful.’

  ‘You didn’t seem to need any help.’

  Smith looked around the room and then at his watch – how much time were they going to waste in here? He had left his own notes for the reporting back on his desk but wasn’t in the least concerned; what mattered was following up on the encounter with Jason Diver, which had been more productive than one might have expected – he just wasn’t quite sure how yet.

  Waters said cheerfully, ‘As a piece of community liaison, I thought it was very successful.’

  ‘Yes, that’s how it should be done.’

  Waters was smiling.

  Smith continued, ‘Well, what a twerp. There’s no other word for it if I’m going to continue setting a good example as the senior officer. You get them occasionally – people who watch too much television and fancy themselves as Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. It was worse before the regulation, we’ve had some nutcases over the years. But even now I don’t think it’s too difficult to get a piece of paper and have a bash at it. You’d better warn your dad, though – there are some new kids in town. “Kids” being the operative word.’

  ‘Will do. He might already be aware of it. They’ve got some money, though. Did you see the number plate on the Saab?’

  ‘Yes. It’s all a bit peculiar. Bernie Diver didn’t make more than a living at it, I’m sure of that, and he didn’t look a bit like them either. How did they end up with his business?’

  ‘Perhaps uncle by marriage or something...’

  Terry Christopher began to speak, and the conversation in the room was quietening down. Alison Reeve and two other detective inspectors sat at the front and to the side of the main group of officers. Smith looked at his watch again and spoke half behind his hand to Waters.

  ‘Talking of people who fancy themselves... Still, it wasn’t a complete waste of time.’

  ‘No, I got that much. They’re involved with Sandra Fellowes somehow.’

  ‘And if that isn’t to do with her brother’s death, I’d be surprised.’

  They were the last people speaking apart from Terry Christopher, and one or two heads had turned, including Alison Reeve’s. Smith made the shush gesture to Waters with his finger in front of his lips and turned to give the rising star his full attention, leaving Waters a little non-plussed.

  There had been, said Sergeant Christopher, a change of plan as far as this meeting was concerned; feedback to the inspectors had already established that there had been some recent changes to the way that drugs were being distributed in Kings Lake. He congratulated them all on how quickly this had been detected and reported, but went on to say that it had only confirmed the intelligence that RSCU had been working on for some months – Smith nodded as if he had suspected as much, and the movement caught the eye of the speaker. There was a momentary hesitation as a result, and Smith smiled encouragingly at him.

  ...therefore, they would omit the planned feedback from the detective sergeants and move on to the next phase. RSCU had already identified some key players in this new distribution operation – Smith thought, he sounds like a logistics manager for Sainsburys – and these were the people that were to be looked out for from now on. If anyone had knowledge of their whereabouts already, so much the better - let RSCU know immediately.

  He pressed a button on his laptop and faces magically appeared on the screen behind him, six of them – Terry Christopher really is destined for great things. Smith looked at them and recognized no-one but then he sensed a movement from Waters beside him. He looked round and saw that Waters, leaning forward a little, was in silent communication with someone further along the row – Serena Butler. She was nodding at Waters and mouthing ‘You’ and he was shaking his head, suppressing at the same time some sort of amusement. Smith looked back at her again, this time with a question of his own; she seemed a little flustered. Finally, she turned away from him and raised a hand.

  Alison Reeve said, ‘DC Butler?’

  ‘DC Waters and I have seen one of these this week.’

  Sergeant Christopher gave a little jump of surprise.

  ‘Really? Which one?’

  Serena Butler glanced along the row again to see if Waters was watching but his gaze was fixed on the screen with an oddly innocent expression.

  ‘The one in the bottom right.’

  She paused and then added, ‘The one with all the tattoos.’

  Waters said, ‘Well, we could always just go and waste some more time in The Wrestlers...’

  Serena Butler half-closed her eyes and nodded; it wasn’t the first such remark and it wouldn’t be the last but she seemed to be taking it in goo
d spirits. The five of them were back in interview room two, and Alison Reeve responded to Waters’ suggestion.

  ‘We could but we won’t, for two reasons: one, it isn’t what RSCU want us to do and it’s their operation – that needs to be absolutely clear.’ She looked around the table at them, one by one. ‘And two, as you have just heard, some of these are very unpleasant people. We don’t appear to know why they have decided to beef up their security with a couple of Albanians but if this Bridges character is running that side of things, as RSCU seem to think, then it’s another reason to keep our distance. RSCU want us to watch from afar, and that’s fine by me. You can sit outside the pub but not in it.’

  They thought it over, and Smith wrote something down on a piece of scrap paper.

  Waters cleared his throat before he said, with a look to Serena, ‘I’m not being funny but I think he, Bridges, did notice DC Butler when we were in there.’

  Reeve said, ‘Why? What happened?’

  ‘Nothing happened. He was looking at her, though.’

  Reeve still seemed a little slower on the uptake than usual, and so Smith decided to help out.

  ‘He was looking at her, ma’am.’

  ‘Oh, I see...’

  ‘But that’s our weapon of last resort. I don’t think we can send in DC Butler in high heels unless there is an imminent threat of total gang warfare on the streets of Kings Lake.’

  The two women exchanged a look that was quite beyond Smith’s comprehension before Reeve said, ‘Even so, it’s a good observation from Chris. If she has been noticed, she should not even be sitting outside in a car, just in case, OK?’

  Smith picked up his piece of paper.

  ‘At the end of last year we had some stabbings, didn’t we? Three or four?’

  Murray said, ‘Four. Two were in the Towers.’

  ‘And as far as I know, they’re all still on the books, no-one got anywhere with them. Because of the victims, we assumed that it was a local flare-up related to drugs. Now, looking at this... The timing fits, doesn’t it?’

  Reeve nodded and said, ‘And the MO. These people, we are told, do not carry guns – they do carry knives, and they know how to use them.’

  Smith said, ‘We should take another look at those stabbings now.’

  ‘I’ll do that but not you lot. I suppose it was completely predictable but this RSCU thing has for the moment centred itself on the tiny bit of Kings Lake that was given to you – you need to keep your focus on that for the next few days. Concentrate on Duncan Bridges. Where does he go? What sort of vehicle? Where is he living? Who is he meeting? All the usual things but keeping your distance. This is still about gathering intelligence. Going after these people is a long way off, and when and if it does happen, it might not involve us anyway.’

  Smith’s mobile began to vibrate. He had turned off the ringer before the meeting but everyone around the table could hear it. A glance told him that it was Nigel Hinton, and a quick decision had to be made. He apologized to Alison Reeve and left the room.

  Chapter Twelve

  ‘Smith?’

  ‘Yes, hello Nigel. What’s up?’

  Through the glass panel in the door, he could see them talking again but it wasn’t many seconds before Alison Reeve looked up to watch him outside on the phone. She would know that taking the call as he had was uncharacteristic – usually he would have ignored it and rung back after the meeting. He could say that it was something personal but didn’t like lying to her, and she knew him a little too well – it might be risky. He could tell her the whole truth but they had all just been ordered to give the RSCU job their full attention for the next few days at least. Or he could just mention it passing, the truth but not quite the whole truth, that he was still helping out with an investigation by another force, just a few minor details.

  ‘... the DI is going with the prison grudge or turf war aspect, that Everett being a red-band probably meant that he was involved in something he shouldn’t be. But I’ve been digging around a bit on my own. Everett didn’t have visits but today I went in and had a look at the post-book. It’s where they keep records of all the letters and parcels received by inmates, and letters out as well. On the 6th of May, he had a letter. No way of knowing what it said and it wasn’t in his cell but that’s not the point – the point is where it came from.’

  The meeting in room two was showing signs of breaking up.

  Smith said, ‘I’m going to take a wild guess, Nigel – number something, Roydon Hill, Kings Lake.’

  The silence that followed spoke volumes.

  ‘Are you still there? It’s where I was going when I sent you that email saying I was following something up from what you sent me, and I’ve not had a minute to get back to you.’

  ‘How did you get it from what I sent you?’

  ‘She’s his sister, his next-of-kin on the prison paperwork. I recognized the STD code.’

  ‘Jesus, I’m sorry about that...’

  ‘Who told you my middle name? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’ve had a word with her.’

  Hinton could not get past it, not yet.

  ‘That contact was passed over to family liaison. But someone should have seen it once your name came up – sorry again. What did you get, when you met her? I’ve got a good reason for asking.’

  ‘Not a lot. She’s upset, they were obviously close but hadn’t had much contact since he went inside. Funny about the letter – she said there hadn’t been any. I can’t see how her involvement led to mine though, not yet.’

  The four of them were on their feet now, and there was some sort of repartee going on between Waters and Serena Butler.

  Hinton said, ‘Well, Everett replied, he sent a letter back to her a day later. And that’s not the end of it, either. You know I said that he didn’t have visits? Well, he was due to have one. He requested a visiting order on Wednesday the 13th. It was sent out and logged for Mrs S Fellowes.’

  ‘For when?’

  ‘Yesterday afternoon, 2 pm.’

  In another few seconds or so they would be coming out into the corridor.

  ‘Look, Nigel – how do you want to play this? I’m probably going to have another word with her now but I’ve still got nothing solid that will help your Mr Terek. Is he still SIO?’

  ‘Until we hear differently. Just leave things as they are, we seem to be doing alright – well, you do.’

  ‘No, that was a good thought about the postal record. If his sister confesses to setting the whole thing up, I’ll let you know. Are you deleting your emails?’

  ‘What emails?’

  ‘Thanks, Nigel. Keep in touch.’

  He told DI Reeve that he would need to make a call on someone related to the business of the out-of-date phone number, a call on behalf of the detectives investigating the murder of Lionel Everett – just a minor, administrative thing really, and she did not object, she did not ask any questions. It was clear that her full attention was on the RSCU ‘initiative’ - at some point someone would slip up and start calling it an operation - as everyone else’s seemed to be, and he felt a little guilty at how easy it had been not to tell her that he had already been to see the person concerned.

  The changed nature of the meeting meant that he had not been able to speak to Mike Dunn, and so he called him when they got back to the office, leaving Murray and Waters to sort out who would be sitting where in the car tonight, and Serena Butler to look crossly on because she would no longer be a part of that. Smith’s comment that it was all her own fault didn’t seem to help a great deal, even though he did explain that it was a sort of compliment.

  He apologized to Dunn for not speaking in person, and asked how their own intelligence-gathering was going.

  ‘It’s a laugh a minute, DC.’

  ‘Mr Chambers keeping you amused?’

  ‘I never realized that discussing an overtime rota could be so much fun.’

  The sarcasm was undisguised and Smith moved things on – he did n
ot want to become involved in a conversation behind another sergeant’s back, particularly with Mike Dunn, whom he respected.

  ‘This is nothing to do with RSCU’s show but I think you know a Jack Fellowes?’

  ‘Yes. Why?’

  ‘Can you give me a quick run-down?’

  ‘He’s a little fish. We pulled him for theft from parked lorries but that was a while ago. I’ve not come across him since.’

  ‘I think he’s left us for pastures new. What about the family? Did you go to his house?’

  ‘Yes – up Roydon way. There was a wife and kids. I suppose he was doing his best to provide for them.’

  ‘It’s Mrs Fellowes that I met recently. What did you make of her? Was she Bonnie to his Clyde?’

  Dunn laughed but knew exactly what Smith meant; some of the women embrace the life of crime themselves while others try to embrace only the criminal.

  ‘I didn’t get that impression. She wasn’t involved in anything we were looking at. I seem to remember a lot of kids running around.’

  ‘Yes. The oldest is a girl. Any recollection of her?’

  ‘No, sorry.’

  They were done and Smith thanked him for the information. After a pause, Dunn said, ‘You’re still a man down, aren’t you. Maggie won’t be back for a good while, will she?’

  ‘Yes, it’s just the four of us at the moment.’

  Dunn didn’t say anything else but he didn’t need to – after a moment Smith said, ‘Sorry Mike, I did try.’

  ‘That’s alright. This RSCU thing won’t last, will it?’

  ‘I’m giving it two weeks.’

  ‘God, I hope you’re right. See you, DC.’

  Smith went back into the office. There was the sense of a lot happening – all of Wilson’s team were present, talking about the change of direction after the meeting, and his three were still in conversation though the issue of who would take the first watch outside The Wrestlers had been resolved – it would be Waters and Murray tonight and then they would alternate partners for the rest of the week. Seeing all this written up on the little whiteboard that Smith insisted on retaining by his desk seemed to aggravate Serena Butler even more. She suggested that she could do something herself, visit some of the other places on their list in the hope of finding more of the faces on the RSCU family album; after all, they were obviously in the area and...