by David Lowe
‘What do you suggest we do?’
‘I’ll speak to George and suggest it’s time you and I went back to the hut to go through the evidence and intelligence we’ve got. Staying out here searching for these two, all we’re doing is rapidly disappearing up our own arses.’
Chapter Thirty-Four
Murphy’s house, Frodsham,
21.05 hours, Sunday, 7th July
The front door of Murphy’s house was forced open. Wearing protective equipment, armed officers from Cheshire’s rapid entry team ran into the house. As the officers made their way through the rooms of the house to make it safe for the Special Branch officers to carry out their search, their shouts of ‘Armed police, don’t move’ were audible to Gary Baker and Andy Curtis and the rest of their team waiting on the roadway.
Andy turned to Gary and said, ‘Not long before we see Murphy coming out of the house handcuffed ready for your team to take him to Chester for questioning.’
‘I know he didn’t pull the trigger, but that bastard’s responsible for killing those two uniform bobbies,’ Gary said watching the action at the front of the house.
As Gary spoke he saw Murphy’s eighteen year old son being brought out of the house by two of the rapid entry team, closely followed by the twenty year old daughter. Handcuffed, both were shouting at the officers as they led to one of the vans. The Special Branch officers could hear the daughter shouting, ‘You fucking bastards, do you know who my father is? He knows your boss, you’ll pay for this.’
Andy laughed, ‘Too right we know who your father is. He’s the one who’ll be paying for what he’s done.’ As he spoke, he heard the inspector of the rapid entry team request the attendance of the officer in charge of the search to enter the premises.
The two detective sergeants gave a puzzled looked to each other. Gary said, ‘Where’s Murphy? You don’t think they had to shoot him do you?’
‘No,’ said Andy, ‘we’d have heard shots if they did. Come on, I’ll come with you to the house.’ As both the officers walked down the driveway to the house, Andy radioed through to the rapid entry inspector, ‘Just to confirm sir, did you find Murphy in the house?’
‘No,’ the inspector replied, ‘just the target’s son and daughter.’
Andy looked at Gary who, with his team had been carrying out the static surveillance on the house. Before Andy could say anything, Gary said, ‘When his wife left earlier we saw Murphy in the bedroom window. Being short of units to follow her, the commander told us to stay with Murphy at the house.’
‘I wasn’t going to blame you Gary, but ask where the fuck is he?’ Andy stopped walking and radioed through to the inspector, ‘Have you checked the attic and the garage?’
Indignantly, the inspector replied, ‘Yes we have and as I told you, the house is clear and ready for the search.’
* * *
Working their way through the evidence and intelligence relating to the shootings in the main Special Branch office in Chester David and Steve were interrupted by a door slamming. Looking up, both officers saw their DI storm out of the DCI’s office. Taking large strides, he walked purposively towards them. Holding his pipe in his hand, George shouted over, ‘You two, bring your cigarettes and outside, now!’
David took his cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and he and Steve followed George out of the building where George was forcefully stuffing the pipe’s bowl with tobacco. It was a rare occurrence, but they knew their DI was in a foul temper. So much so even Steve kept any quips he had to himself.
For a couple of minutes the three stood there smoking outside the main entrance to Cheshire’s headquarters in stony silence. David was the first to pluck up the courage to break the ice and seeing George’s pipe had gone out he said, ‘Do you want a light George?’
‘Fucking incompetent pricks,’ George said snatching the lighter out of David’s hand. David and Steve knew something major had happened.
‘Who are incompetent pricks?’ David asked.
‘The officers in Cheshire’s Branch office, that’s who. They’ve just hit Murphy’s house and the fucker’s evaded them again! They’re so fucking useless, they couldn’t spot a whore in a brothel!’
‘That’s all we need,’ David exclaimed.
‘If you don’t mind me asking,’ Steve said, ‘what happened?’
‘Baker reported that Murphy’s wife left the house in the Volvo earlier,’ George said taking a puff of his pipe, ‘We were going to order them to follow, but Baker said they could see Murphy in the upstairs bedroom window. As we were short on resources the regional commander gave the order to let her go and for Baker’s team to stick with Murphy. No car left after the wife’s, so right under the fucking noses of Baker’s team Murphy’s got out on foot somehow.’ Holding his pipe in his right hand, he clenched a fist with his left and said, ‘How the fuck could they let that happen. For Christ’s sake, its open country around the house and it was still light.’
As George let out his rage, David was thinking and said, ‘It’s not all open country round the house George. At the rear of the house on the left hand side of the garden, there’s a clump of trees next to a field that’s got a dry stone wall. If he was careful, he could get out unseen. It was a weak spot Gary and I identified. At least we know he’s on foot, unless he’s arranged for someone to meet him with some wheels.’’
‘But if he’s meeting someone, who is it?’ George said, ‘It’s got to be either his wife or someone who’s not in the system.’
‘I take it you’ve no idea where his wife is?’ Steve asked.
‘No we haven’t,’ George said.
‘This is just a thought, but he hasn’t moved from the house since he got home yesterday evening has he?’ Steve said, ‘and we’ve not been able to get into the house to and place listening devices so he’s had all day to make arrangements. As far as we know, he’s got a number of pay-as-you-go phones that are difficult to pick up. I’ve got an idea where his wife’s gone. We could try the address she went to the other day in Childwall in Liverpool. When we tracked her down that night, she went to a house occupied by a Sheila Coleman. I can’t remember the address off the top of my head, but if we contact DI Walsh in Merseyside, he can get a couple of his officers to check it out. When we checked it out the other day there was no intelligence to suggest any connections with Murphy’s activities, but one thing we’ve learnt about Murphy is he’s been busy recruiting old players from his PIRA days. We’re not losing out if we give them a knock.’
George’s demeanour changed and smiling at his DC said, ‘We’ll do that, but I’d still love to know how Murphy got out unseen.’
‘All I can think of is that before we lifted McCullagh he could have told Murphy the placements of the covert spots where Gary’s team were deployed,’ David said.
‘McCullagh, fucking McCullagh,’ George said aggressively blowing out more pipe smoke.
‘You can’t blame Gary Baker’s team for what happened,’ David said, ‘When I was out doing the static obs on Murphy’s house, I found it hard keeping a watch on every inch of the grounds surrounding his house. You’re frustrated and you’ve had a long day or have you forgotten, you were helping Alex out in Poppythorn Lane first thing this morning?’
‘True,’ George said, ‘First, I’ll pass Steve’s suggestion onto the commander and he can organise Merseyside to give that Liverpool address a call. Then, I’m going to call it a day and I’m ordering you two to do the same.’ Knocking out the spent tobacco in his pipe against the wall by the entrance door, George looked at David and said, ‘It’s about time you went back to Debbie to make sure she’s feeling better after her experiences with McCullagh earlier.’
* * *
‘Martin, you don’t know how good it is to see you,’ Murphy said throwing his holdall onto the back seat as he got into Martin Connell’s car.
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‘It was a pig of a place to find, but Sheila’s instructions were good enough for me to find you,’ McConnell said, ‘where do you want me to take you?’
‘Back to your place in Liverpool. Once we get to yours, I need you to do me a little job.’
As Connell started driving back to Liverpool, he said, ‘Just tell me what it is and it’s as good as done Declan.’
‘I want you go to Liverpool Magistrates Court in the morning. Danny McElvaney and a lad who’s been working for me, Michael Pickup are appearing before the beak in the morning. They were arrested by Special Branch on Saturday night and they’re up for kidnap. My man on the inside told me he thinks Pickup’s become a Special Branch tout. I want to see if he gets bail. If he does, when he leaves court I want you to pick him up to see me. Then I’ll need to borrow your car as we’ll be going on a little journey.’
* * *
David quietly slid the room key into the door leading to his hotel room at the Grosvenor. As he gently opened the door, the room was in darkness. Realising Debbie was still asleep, he fumbled his way towards the bed. As he started to undress he heard Debbie stir. ‘Is that you,’ she said sleepily.
‘Sorry love, did I wake you?’
‘No, I was just dozing,’ Debbie said. Sitting up, she switched on the bedside light. Picking up her watch, she looked at the time and said, ‘Bloody hell, it’s nearly half ten. I only intended to have a couple of hours sleep.’
David Hurst pulled back the bed covers and got into bed next to her. ‘Shhh’ he said gently stroking her hair. He kissed her gently on the lips and said, ‘don’t worry about what’s been going on while you were asleep, you can catch up with that in the morning. We’ve got something else to catch up on. I thought I was going to lose you today.’
Debbie pulled David towards him and began to kiss him passionately.
* * *
After hiding for the last few hours in an unoccupied, dilapidated old cottage, Maguire and Mahoney decided to make their move into Chester. It was an ideal location. Being just outside Churton, they were still within reasonable reach of Chester. There were no luxuries at the cottage. Regardless of slates missing from the roof and a few of the windows being broken, it was nicely out the way. It gave the two Irishmen a good view of the approach to the cottage, enabling them to see in plenty of time if anyone was coming towards it. As it was approaching three o’clock in the morning, they decided to make their move into Chester while it was still dark, but late enough so they would not have to stay in the city any longer than they needed to.
Getting into the Clancy’s Ford Mondeo, Maguire said, ‘The roadblocks on the approaches to Chester they were mentioning on the radio will be a fucking pain in the arse. I suggest we dump the car on the outskirts then make our way into Chester on foot.’
‘It’s still risky being on foot, there’ll be loads of peelers looking for us,’ Mahoney said as he started to drive away from the cottage.
‘Don’t worry too much. I think we’ve caused them that many problems, they’re going to be stretched and we can use that to our advantage. Surprise is still on our side, they’ve no idea where we are. On top of that, they’ll still be guessing what we’re up to. Their scarce resources will be thinly spread and that gives us the fucking edge.’
‘We should think about a new escape plan,’ Mahoney said as he drove out from the cottage drive’s entrance onto the road, ‘Once the job goes off, there’ll be hundreds of the bastards looking for us.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that too. We’ll keep to the original plan to start with and doing whatever it is we need to do to get back to Anglesey by late Tuesday night.’
‘I wish we could just get to Holyhead and get the ferry back to Dublin.’
‘We can’t, but going by what we’ve heard about the others, there’ll be plenty of room on that wee boat home. Once you get back to Ireland, make your way to a safe-house in Wicklow. In case we don’t meet up on the boat, I’ll write the address down for you. You’ve got the money Declan transferred into that account his wife set up, so use it wisely,’ Maguire said getting a piece of paper out of his jacket on which he wrote down the address. When he finished, he stuffed it in the top pocket of Mahoney’s shirt and said, ‘Keep that safe and don’t put it where the security forces can find it if they catch you. If you think that looks likely, destroy it, even if it means eating the fucking thing.’
‘What’s this you were saying earlier at the cottage about using some canal boat to hide in when we get to Chester?’ Mahoney asked turning left onto the A41 towards Chester.
‘When we were in Chester on Friday morning, I looked around for somewhere to keep our heads down before we made our move. I noticed this old canal barge moored up not far from the Cathedral. It looks like no one’s used if for some time and it’s easy to get into. We’d only be in there for twenty-four hours at most. It’s ideal. Anywhere else could be risky for us to hide, especially with those appeals being broadcast for sightings of us.’ Seeing the look of concern on Mahoney’s face, Maguire said ‘We’ve been in fucking tighter spots than this. I’ve done my homework, we’ll be fine.’
‘I know. We’re about a mile away from Chester and I reckon we’ll come across a roadblock soon. I suggest we dump the car and walk in from here.’
‘That makes sense,’ Maguire said looking for a good place to leave the car, ‘Turn left here and find a good place to dump it. We can stick it in an empty driveway in one of these houses. It’s three o’clock now. That’ll give us about an hour before it lightens up.’
Following Maguire’s suggestion, Mahoney drove into the small housing estate. Not wanting to leave it too close to the main road making easier for the police to spot it, he looked for an empty driveway to one of the small modern detached houses that did not overlook the main road. Spotting one, he quietly drove the Mondeo onto it. Both men got out of the car and gently shut the doors. Opening the boot, Maguire took out his bag first then handed Mahoney his. So as not wake any of the residents, Maguire rested the boot lid gently on the top of the catch.
Walking through the estate back to the A41, Mahoney whispered to Maguire, ‘I’m not happy about this idea of yours to hide in the canal boat. You know they’ll increase security checks all around the city and that’s likely to include checking empty boats on the canal. For fuck’s sake Jimmy, this is a Royal visit. Their checks are bad enough when there’s nothing going down, but with what we’ve been doing, the peelers’ll be even more thorough. We’ve got those duplicate keys to that solicitor’s office we’re going to use, so why don’t we try and see if we can get into the back and keep our heads down in some room that looks like they don’t use much?’
‘We can’t. We don’t have the code to disarm the burglar alarm and with it being right across the road from the Grosvenor, the security there’ll be tight and with it being quiet, we’ll easily be spotted. Trust me, with that canal boat being a bit wrecked that tells me it’s been empty for some time and no one is likely to come to it.’
In the distance they could see a police roadblock. The two men kept walking wondering how they could get round it. Seeing a car showroom on his left Mahoney said, ‘We can get round the back of that showroom and make our way over the backs of the buildings next to it. That’ll get us round the roadblock unseen.’
Maguire considered Mahoney’s suggestion. ‘Good idea,’ he said looking down at the roadblock, ‘that row of buildings ends just on the other side of the roadblock. Come on let’s find the best place to get into the back of the showroom.’
Making their way through the used cars for sale in front of the main building they found a wall next to it. Putting his bag onto the floor Mahoney said, ‘Give us a lift up. I’ll see what’s in the back.’
As Maguire clasped his hands together, Mahoney put his left foot into the palms of his friend’s hands and lifted hims
elf onto the top of the high wall. Placing his elbows on the top of the wall he began to study the layout when a voice shouted over, ‘What are you two doing? Stay where you are.’
Both Irishmen turned round to see a portly security guard standing at the corner of the outside wall of the main showroom. Leaving Mahoney hanging on to the top of the wall, Maguire walked up to the security guard and said, ‘It’s alright mate, we’re Special Branch police officers checking the backs of the buildings before Prince William’s visit tomorrow.’ Placing his hand underneath his coat, Maguire reached to the back of his denim jeans, saying, ‘Here, I’ll show you my warrant card.’ Stood in front of the security guard he produced a semi-automatic pistol. Grabbing the hair at the back of the security guard’s head, he thrust the pistol underneath his chin. ‘Do as I fucking say and you’ll live, don’t and you’re dead. Understand?’
Before the security guard could answer, Mahoney scrambled down the wall, picked up both his and Maguire’s bag and ran over to the two men. Realising the no-win position he was in and trembling with fear, he said, ‘I understand, I’ll do as you say, just don’t kill me, please, don’t kill me.’
‘I won’t if you do what I fucking well tell you to,’ Maguire said, ‘now, take us into your office.’
Maguire turned the guard around and taking hold of his left arm he placed the pistol against the back of the guard’s head. Nervously, he led the two Irishmen into the main showroom where Mahoney turned off the few lights that were still lit. Keeping the gun pointed at the guard, Maguire turned him round and said, ‘Before you came out, did you trigger any alarms when you saw us?’
‘No’ he said, his voice still trembling with fear, ‘I just came out to see what you were up to.’