Deep Cover

by Leigh Russell

  ‘I thought I’d pop out to the shops before she wakes up, and surprise her with it. The only trouble is I’ve no idea where the nearest shop is. I wonder if you would be kind enough to point me in the right direction?’

  If this ruse failed, Ian would have to wait for someone else to come along, and he didn’t know how much time he could afford to waste. To his relief, the woman was as obliging as Ian had hoped she might be.

  ‘There’s a corner shop by the station where you can get milk, and other groceries,’ she said.

  ‘Thank you. And which way is the station from here?’ Ian pointed vaguely in the wrong direction.

  ‘Come along, I’m going to the station myself. I’ll show you the way. It’s quite straightforward really.’

  ‘If you’re sure you don’t mind my walking with you?’

  The woman had not actually invited him to accompany her, but she nodded uncertainly.

  ‘No, that’s okay.’

  Ian thanked her, and together they left the building. He positioned himself furthest from the kerb, so that the woman was between him and Frank’s car, shielding him from view. Side by side they walked along the street to the station where they parted. Although Ian wanted to go to the station as well, he went into the small grocery shop instead, and looked around there for a while. Once he was confident the woman would have caught her train, he slipped out of the shop and into the station, leaving Frank still sitting in his car outside Jenny’s block. Safely on the platform, Ian called Jack to let him know he was on his way. Half an hour later, they were sitting on the park bench, a foot apart, holding their phones to their ears as they discussed the situation.

  ‘It sounds like you’ve gained Tod’s trust,’ Jack said.

  ‘Yes, I think so,’ Ian replied, conscious that he was playing a dangerous double game.

  If Jack discovered that he had conducted a private deal of his own with Tod, the Anti-Corruption Unit would be at Ian like a ferret on a rat and he would not only be immediately suspended, he would probably end up behind bars himself.

  ‘The thing is,’ Ian went on, ‘he thinks I bumped Nick off and that’s what got me in with him. As long as Nick never resurfaces, with any luck there shouldn’t be a problem.’

  Jack grunted. ‘Maybe. Even so, don’t let your guard down even for a second. He’s a tricky bastard and you can’t afford to let anything slip.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘What about Jenny?’

  ‘What about her?’ Ian answered with a question, looking away to conceal his unease.

  He wondered whether Jenny had told Jack that he had spent the night in her bed. With a cold feeling down his spine, he realised it was even possible it had been Jack’s idea for her to sleep with him. Perhaps Jack didn’t trust Ian, and had asked Jenny to keep a watchful eye on him. What better way was there for her to observe him than by inviting him to share her bed? Ian shivered. His undercover role and his own subterfuge within that framework were making him paranoid. He hated the way the work was changing him. He was shaken by a sudden longing to see Geraldine’s face, and hold her in his arms again. She had pushed him away, and hurt him so deeply he still ached whenever he thought of her, but he had never for one moment doubted her honesty.

  His new set of colleagues and associates were very different. He didn’t know who he could trust. Probably no one. He himself had become the most duplicitous of all, and he had slipped into it so easily. Now he didn’t know how he was ever going to be able to return to his former life. He had no idea where his relationship with Jenny was heading, if they were even in a relationship. He wasn’t in love with her, and she had given no indication that she had any serious feelings for him. On the contrary, she had made it quite clear that the affair was between Tallulah and Archie, and it needed to stay that way. The truth was, as Ian and Jenny they hardly knew anything about one another. He rather thought he was just a passing fancy for her, as she was for him, but thinking about her now, he was uncomfortable with that idea and resolved to try and avoid her. Perhaps they could say they had split up now that Jenny had done her job and introduced Ian into Tod’s circle. If she was becoming emotionally attached to him, that might be unkind, but it would surely be better for her than if he allowed her to believe he was beginning to care for her. He sighed. It was just the kind of emotional problem he would once have been able to discuss with Geraldine, only of course that was out of the question.

  ‘You don’t think there’s any chance Tod might suspect her?’ Jack asked.

  Once again Ian hesitated. He didn’t know whether Jenny had told Jack about Frank’s surveillance on her, and wished he had thought to ask her. On balance, he decided it was best to say nothing. Even if Jenny had spoken to Jack about it, he wouldn’t know that Ian was aware of the problem. In any case, like Jenny said, she could look after herself. She had done before Ian turned up and there was no reason to suppose that would change. But he felt uneasy, afraid his actions might have compromised her safety.

  ‘I don’t see why he should be on to her,’ he replied cautiously. ‘She seems to be very well established at the club.’

  ‘Yes, she said it’s helping a lot having you there to shield her from unwelcome attention.’

  Ian squirmed on the bench and gave a feeble smile, wondering what else Jenny had told Jack.

  ‘I’m glad to know our fake relationship’s helping her,’ he muttered.

  ‘Now,’ Jack went on, ‘what are we going to do about Tod? You know we’ve been watching him for a while. Jenny’s been there, keeping her ear to the ground for nearly a year, and we know he’s running a pretty sizeable drug ring. But we don’t think he’s at the top of the tree, not by any means. No, there’s someone else receiving the drugs into the country and we want to find out who. It’s no good constantly shaking the tree and watching the small fry drop out, we want to fell the whole bloody tree, and wipe out the lot of them. Get back in there, Ian. You need to become his right-hand man and make sure he takes you into his confidence.’

  Ian nodded. ‘I think I can see a way,’ he said. ‘If I can persuade Tod to suspect Frank of being disloyal, then he might promote me to the position of personal bodyguard, meaning I’ll be at his side far more. At the moment it’s not easy to get anywhere near him without Frank turning up to elbow me aside. I’ve only been in the room alone with Tod briefly on a couple of occasions.’

  There was no need to explain how that had come about.

  ‘Go for it,’ Jack said. ‘And if you need us to pick Frank up and take him off your hands, just give us enough rope to hang him with and we’ll do the rest. It will be one less drug-pedalling thug on the streets.’

  38

  Jack was relying on Ian to position himself between Frank and Tod but that wasn’t going to be easy.

  ‘It seems to me you got two options,’ Jack was saying. ‘You could try and drive a wedge between them. Force Tod to distrust Frank sufficiently to want to distance himself from him, and that will allow you to step neatly into the vacuum.’

  Glancing casually around with a sweep of his eyes, Ian saw Jack grin at the neatness of the scheme he himself had just proposed. What Jack didn’t know was that Tod knew exactly who he was dealing with, and Ian was the last person he was ever likely to trust with information pertaining to his drug ring.

  ‘The other possibility would be to enlist our help in removing Frank from the club. You would have to work out some way to have Frank arrested so that we can keep him under lock and key for a while, without arousing Tod’s suspicion.’

  Ian hesitated. Either of those plans would be more difficult to implement than Jack realised now that Tod knew Ian was a cop. He was hardly likely to trust anything Ian said to discredit Frank. On the other hand, if Frank was arrested, Tod was bound to realise that Ian had something to do with it.

  ‘Funny that,’ he might say, rubbing his long fingers toge
ther and staring at Ian across his desk. ‘You turn up randomly and Frank gets nicked. And now you think you can step into his shoes, just like that? Like he was never here? Well, you can piss right off if that’s what you think.’

  Frank had been working for Tod for years. Somehow Ian would have to find a way to discredit Frank that didn’t appear to involve Ian at all, so that Tod felt he had sacked Frank on his own initiative. That wasn’t without its risks. Possessed of a certain low cunning, Frank was almost certain to realise what was going on and retaliate.

  ‘What about Jenny?’ Jack enquired. ‘Surely she must have something on Frank?’

  Ian hesitated again, but he couldn’t explain to anyone, least of all Jack, that it would be dangerous for Jenny if she were to cause any hint of dissent or trouble at the club. Now she had introduced Ian to Tod, she needed to keep her head down or Tod might suspect the truth that Ian was only posing as her boyfriend, and she was in on the deception. So far, there was no reason to think that Tod might suspect Jenny knew about Ian’s true identity. But it was impossible to discern what anyone was really thinking in this strange world of double lives. Tod must already be wondering if she was an undercover cop too. Ian couldn’t do anything that might risk blowing her cover. He had tried to salvage his relationship with Geraldine by enabling her to see her twin sister again, but in his zeal he had overlooked Jack and his plans. Now he could only hope he hadn’t endangered Jenny’s life in the execution of a plan that had seemed foolproof.

  ‘Let me have a think,’ Ian said. ‘I’ll come up with something.’

  He had no idea what to do, but somehow he had to discredit Frank without anyone discovering who was behind it. With Frank out of the way, he would somehow have to convince Tod that he had switched allegiance and was now genuinely loyal to Tod. Gradually, a plan began to form in his mind that wouldn’t have to rely on involving Jenny, or anyone else. All it needed was for Jack to put in place a false trail to establish Ian as an inveterate gambler. Heavy debt could explain his eagerness to switch his loyalty from the police to Tod. And after that, Frank could be discredited.

  That evening, Ian called on Tod.

  ‘I need to speak to you alone,’ he said.

  ‘Get your arse in here,’ Tod replied.

  Frank opened the door and growled when Tod dismissed him, muttering under his breath as he left.

  ‘I need an advance,’ Ian said quickly, before anyone could come along and disturb them.

  Tod looked up from his desk in surprise. ‘What?’

  A sarcastic grin creased his left eye half closed, while his jagged scar pulled at the skin on his right cheek so that eye remained wide open, giving his face a lopsided appearance, like a villain in a Bond movie. The scar had obviously been made by a broken bottle. Ian didn’t like to ask the fate of the man who had inflicted that injury.

  ‘Two fat pay rolls not enough for you?’ Tod went on, his grin fading. ‘What the fuck you doing? You burning notes? You got your dosh from the filth, and you got your dosh from me. What the fuck, Archie?’

  Ian shook his head. ‘I’m not as well off as you think. A policeman’s salary is a joke.’ He did his best to sound aggrieved. ‘It doesn’t even begin to cover my debts. That’s how I ended up here in the first place. I had to find another source of income somewhere before the whole thing blew up in my face. When I met Tallulah and she told me she worked here and knew the big boss, it was too good an opportunity to miss. Tallulah wasn’t keen, but I persuaded her to introduce me to you and, well, you know the rest.’

  Ian took a deep breath, and tried to control his shaking. He had so nearly called her Jenny.

  ‘You got the debt hounds after you?’ Tod stared at Ian, his black eyes unblinking. ‘How come?’

  ‘Just the odd bet,’ Ian said, trying to sound as though he was deliberately playing it down. ‘It’s not like it’s serious. Not like I’ve got a habit.’ He did his best to look abashed yet defiant. ‘All I need is a small bung. Maybe a grand. Just enough to get me back in there. The thing is, I had a run of bad luck and now, just as my luck’s about to turn, I’m flat broke. It couldn’t be worse timing. You’ve got to help me out. I’ll pay you back. But you can’t tell anyone. Tallulah would go nuts if she knew. And if my DCI ever found out I’d be in serious shit. This stays between us.’ He glared at Tod, his desperation genuine.

  If Tod believed Ian was bent, and stood to lose more than his job if his secret gambling habit ever became known, then Tod would trust him, because he would know that Ian couldn’t risk exposure. Tod stared at him in silence for a moment, and Ian held his breath. It didn’t matter if he looked nervous now. It was ironic. Tod believing Ian had a secret gambling addiction might give him a stronger feeling of power over Ian than his knowledge that Ian had killed Nick. But Nick’s body had disappeared without trace. The police would easily have been able to find evidence of Ian’s gambling habit, had it actually existed.

  Just as Ian was mentally preparing to look disappointed, and plead for money, Tod laughed.

  ‘This boy needs casino juice.’

  Ian waited, scarcely able to believe he had succeeded in fooling Tod.

  ‘You’re my boy,’ Tod crowed.

  Ian nodded warily. ‘I have to be careful.’

  ‘Forget careful. Dammit all, I have my very own police protection now.’ Tod laughed again and slapped himself on the knee. ‘I got you now.’ He held out a cupped hand. ‘Got you where I want you. My very own private policeman.’

  Ian wondered if he was being rash in warning Tod straight away that there was a mole in his organisation, but he needed to act quickly. Taking a deep breath, he shared the disturbing news that it was true about there being a police informer working at the club.

  The smile vanished from Tod’s face. ‘You messing with me? It’s for real we got a squealer? Who is it?’ he demanded, rising to his feet, his face red with anger. Only his scar remained a livid white. ‘Tell me. Tell me and I’ll rip his balls off with my bare hands.’

  ‘It must be someone very close to you, someone who knows all about you.’

  ‘No fucker knows all about me,’ Tod growled, subsiding into his chair. ‘You find out who it is, Archie, and you come to me with a name. Do it and do it now! I’ll rip his throat out with my bare hands. I’ll drop him off the top of the tallest building. Fuck it, Archie, you find out who it is or you’re a dead man. But first,’ he added, with a sly look at Ian, ‘I’ve gotta see if your story checks out.’

  Ian’s life depended on Jack having done a good job.

  39

  Geraldine’s next task was to visit Vanessa’s last place of work, which she had left six months earlier. She had been employed at a jeweller’s shop in town where she had worked for just over two years. The interior was elegantly set out, with a central island displaying women’s jewellery, and cabinets of watches and fake crystal household ornaments around the walls. A young girl with long blonde hair stepped forward with a smile when she entered the shop, and Geraldine had the impression the sales girl was sizing her up, calculating how affluent she might be from her clothes and shoes. Geraldine returned the smile, confident that her own appearance gave little away. Plain black jeans, fairly new, a brown leather jacket, slightly faded on the elbows but originally expensive, and sturdy flat black shoes with no designer logo. With her short black hair and minimal make-up she had heard herself described as anything from ‘beautiful’ and ‘classy’ to ‘butch’ and ‘fierce’. When she wasn’t smiling she gave an impression of severity. One of her colleagues had told her she reminded him of his former headmistress. Geraldine had not been sure whether to take that as a compliment or a criticism. But now she was smiling warmly at the sales girl.

  ‘I’d like to enquire about a former colleague of yours,’ she said.

  The girl’s smile faded slowly as she understood Geraldine was not asking about an item of jewellery.<
br />
  ‘Did you want to make a purchase?’ she asked, still hankering after a sale. ‘We have a lot of lovely rings massively reduced. And we can do you a special deal, just for today,’ she added, reluctant to abandon her sales patter.

  ‘Thank you but I’m here to ask a few questions.’

  ‘What’s this? What’s this?’

  A fussy little man joined them. As he spoke, his pencil moustache twitched like a thin black caterpillar on his upper lip.

  ‘What’s this?’ he repeated, rubbing his stubby fingers together.

  ‘This customer has a question,’ the girl replied, with a sullen glance at Geraldine.

  ‘Yes, yes,’ the man said. ‘I’m the manager. What seems to be the problem? I’m afraid there’s no return on sale items, but if there’s a loose setting we can fix it for a minimal charge.’

  ‘I’m not interested in making a purchase today,’ Geraldine told him. ‘And I’ve not come here to complain. I want to ask you a few questions about a former employee, Vanessa Slattery.’

  The man took a step back. ‘Yes, well, Vanessa doesn’t work here any longer and I’m not at liberty to give out any details. You understand that, I’m sure.’

  Geraldine held up her identity card and the blonde girl drew in a breath. The manager frowned and nodded.

  ‘I can’t say I’m surprised,’ he murmured.

  ‘What makes you say that?’ Geraldine asked.

  The manager hesitated and glanced at her identity card again before inviting her to accompany him into the office. Geraldine followed him through an internal door at the back of the shop. The blonde sales assistant watched them curiously. The shop floor was pristine, with sparkling jewellery artistically displayed behind gleaming glass in every display cabinet. In complete contrast, the office at the back of the shop was squalid, with printed documents and empty food wrappers littering the surface of filing cabinets, along with half a dozen cups stained with tea and coffee. On a small desk in the centre of the room, a computer rose like a volcanic island from a sea of folders, papers, pencils, biros, small jewellery boxes and bags, rolls of Sellotape, rubber bands, staplers and paper clips and other random small items of stationery. Two white plastic chairs were covered with more papers and folders.