The Retirement Party

by Graham Miller

  She decided that she would call for the CCTV. She knew in her heart that Dark Car Man was behind this, and the more photos she got, the better. All of them were two junctions away from the crime scene so they probably wouldn't be used in court.

  After some deliberation she just entered it on the system as part of the general enquiries around the area. Her information about Dark Car Man had been knocked back by Haines at least twice. She felt protective of her own private investigation and didn't want it up on the system only to be shot down again.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Even though they had a third attack, DCI Haines still kept his meeting with Billy King as he had done every Tuesday evening. He knew he should be in the station, but Billy sounded excited. So, he slipped out and went back to the wine bar where they'd met before. As before there were two bodyguards, one in the car outside, one at the bar.

  'I've got the nod,' Billy King said before Haines had taken the first sip of his beer. 'This is kosher. The big guys are going to meet somewhere around Bradwick. You're going to get everything. They're going to have a big sale, cash, drugs, and top-level dealers all in one place.'

  'I'm still nervous though. Did you get an answer to our original question? Why here?' Haines asked. 'I love this town, but I am realistic. There must be hundreds of towns around this size within striking distance of Birmingham, all just as good for this kind of thing.'

  'That's the thing. It not the town they want, really, or even the users here. There are punters everywhere, every town, up and down the country.'

  'What do they want with Bradwick then?' Haines was getting annoyed with his rambling around the subject. Billy King fell silent and chewed his lower lip. Haines decided to wait him out.

  'You see, it's tricky.' King's good mood had evaporated. 'They, the gangs in the cities, have spotted a potential, an opportunity. It might still be viable. That's what the meeting is for. It's a test.'

  There was a telling pause. Was King really going to hold out, Haines wondered? 'What?' Haines asked, unable to keep the disbelief out of his voice. 'We've known each other for over twenty years. You're a drug dealing gangster and I run the local CID. I think we're kind of past keeping secrets from each other.' Haines allowed a short pause, before carrying on. 'Unless of course, you want to end our relationship.'

  'No, of course I don't. It's just that, you know...'

  'These people have already killed Sean.' Haines was emphatic. 'And you know they won't stop. The people we've arrested and charged so far are only foot soldiers. You can't seriously be considering working with the people who sent them.'

  'No, no, you are right. This is my town and my people.' He took a deep breath. 'Harbours. That's what the city gangs are after. North of Bradwick there's a whole network of tiny creeks and abandoned shipyards. Apparently, they've been out and had a look at them. They might be out of use but some of the quays are still good and some of the channels could be deep enough to get boats in and out. Boats from the continent.'

  'And you seriously thought that you might step up to be an importer? Is that why you didn't want to tell me?' There was both humour and an edge of danger in Haines' words.

  'No, not really. It's just, you know, with Sean gone.' He stopped to consider his words. 'It's this town and this summer. It's just gone on and on, not properly sunny, but still not cold. We're still hot and sticky but we never see the sun. And now these girls are being killed, on top of all the beatings and revenge killings that have been bothering me.' He shook his head. 'I dunno, it's like everything's changing. Maybe it's time for me to change as well. It's not something you can carry on doing for ever.'

  'But isn't that what we are doing? If we stick together now, we can send these chancers back to Birmingham. And if anyone else comes along, we can do the same thing again.'

  'Stick together? It's fine for you to say that but it's my people who are being beaten out there. It's my friends who are dying!'

  DCI Haines took a deep breath. 'I know that. I do know that. Believe me I don't want our town to be seen as a drug riddled, violent crime hot spot.' He paused and chose to be a bit more open with Billy King. 'Also, it'll be bad for me. I need to catch whoever's killing these girls. In fact I should be in the station right now, running the team. And I need to get a big score against these dealers from the cities as well. I'm moving up, away from the operational side of things. This is my last chance to make a difference.'

  'And you think I shouldn't make the same move?' King sounded a bit truculent.

  'I think,' Haines said carefully, 'that you should move on and change. But I will not have my town become a gateway between Europe and the big cities of the UK. There are other directions. You could retire. Your record isn't that bad. You could do something else?'

  'No, not really. This is what I know and what I do. Anyway, I'm not going anywhere until all this is sorted out. I've just lost one of my main guys, I need to move things up and change people around. If I retired now – hell if I even disappeared for a weekend – then it would all fall apart. This town would become a battleground between the different gangs from the cities.' He stopped to think for a moment. 'No, you're right. We need to keep doing what we're doing. And you need to get Pietr off the scene for good.

  'The current plan is to bring a boat in. There's an industrial estate up north of here called Brookbank. It's pretty much on its last legs commercially, hardly any tenants. Pietr has leased one of the warehouses for six months and they want a test run to see if they can land a boat and unload the product right there. The warehouse would become a distribution centre. It might be abandoned but it's not far to the M5 and from there to the rest of the country.'

  'Jesus! That's dangerous that is. Once large amounts of drugs start arriving right on the edge of town, it wouldn't take long to spill over into Bradwick itself.'

  'Yeah. You'd get the serious dealers setting up here, stronger drugs being sold cheaper. Wouldn't be long before the brothels and the gang fights followed. We wouldn't recognise the place in five years.'

  Haines nodded in agreement. 'What's the plan then?'

  'Well the plan is for Friday night. I think the main players will start to arrive from five thirty in the evening, a couple of hours before it gets dark. The boat's expected around six and then they'll have to transfer to the warehouse, split it up, weigh up packages and sell direct to the major dealers.'

  Haines did some quick calculations. So we'll have to be observing from five onward. Wait for the boat to be unloaded, and as many dealers as we can catch.'

  'I reckon, give or take, the first guys will be leaving about six thirty, maybe seven. I doubt it'll be that much of a party – these guys are all business.'

  'Right, so, I've got a murder enquiry to run and now a major operation to plan in three days. Are these timings certain?'

  'Yeah, my man is right on the inside, handling the Bradwick end of things.'

  'Well, all that remains is to say thank you. Hopefully by the weekend everything will be sorted.'

  Haines walked briskly back to the station, only stopping to grab a sandwich and a drink. He thought he'd got away unnoticed but within minutes of arriving back, Glen Hargreaves slipped into his office.

  'Did you get it then? Did Billy come across with the goods?'

  'Yes. It'll be the Brookbank Industrial Estate, north of here, Friday evening. We've got the lot.' Haines caught an odd look on his colleague's face and for a moment wondered if he should have told him. Then he caught himself. Glen Hargreaves was his inspector, his second-in-command. If he was going to launch a huge operation, of course Glen should know. Why did he feel uneasy then?

  'Will King be there?' Hargreaves asked.

  'Billy King? No. I bloody well hope not. It'll be a huge job. Armed response, entry teams, uniform, even the Border Force for the boat. Last thing we want is civilians standing around watching and getting in the way!'

  'Might do him good,' Hargreaves said, almost to himself.

  'Why?
' Haines now focused on Hargreaves.

  'Well, for a start it would show him that we can follow through. That when it counts, we're not some small provincial force but we can mount big operations.' He paused, but only for a second. 'Also, it might do him good to see what happens to drug dealers round here if they don't co-operate.'

  'No. You can't treat Billy King like that. When all this blows over and we catch the killer, the three of us will have a sit down. But he likes to be treated gently. No throwing threats around. If you don't remember anything else, remember that he's as much a threat to us by now as we are to him.' There was another pause, more loaded this time. 'Okay?'

  'Yes, boss,' Hargreaves answered. It was dawning on Haines that his friend and colleague, Glen Hargreaves, couldn't wait to get rid of him and run the show on his own. Well, let him, he thought savagely. Let him see how difficult it can be keeping all the bloody balls in the air.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Angel came in early on Wednesday morning and was immediately called into a meeting with Haines.

  'I've finally got intelligence on the big raid and it looks like we're all set for Friday evening. What we need to do now is wrap up these murder cases as well.'

  Angel couldn't help thinking that they'd been plugging away for weeks without a result and now her boss wanted a result in two days.

  'How did you get on with your daytrip to Bristol?' Haines asked.

  'I was trying to pin something on Gregory Watts. I went there to meet one of his exes.'

  'And...?'

  'And nothing we can action. I'll have to conclude that you were right about him. He's a grade A creep. You definitely wouldn't want him sniffing around anyone you cared about. But he does have all his bases covered. If one of his women came forward, we could take a shot at coercive control.'

  'Is that likely?'

  'Not really,' DC Angel shook her head. 'They'd need to be strong as anything. The lawyers he could afford, any complainant would end up doubting their own name. It'd be a tough one.' DC Angel paused. She didn't want to talk about her hunt for Dark Car Man.

  'There's something else, isn't there?'

  'You remember that I said about the Dark Car Man and how that dark Fiesta drives past every crime scene?'

  'Yes, I know. But we can't get enough manpower to hunt down every single Fiesta owner in Bradwick. Not to mention the data protection problem.'

  'Well, we might not have to do that. I met with more of the teenagers of Bradwick. Turns out they know more about cars than you might expect. One of them works for the local Ford dealership.'

  'Turners?'

  'Yeah. Turns out not all Fiestas are the same. I should be able to trim down the list.' She hoped that Haines wouldn't spot the white lie.

  'Without number plates?'

  'Yes, we can approximate to the year and trim level and work from there.'

  Haines pushed back from his desk and thought. Eventually he reached his decision. 'This feels like a time-sink. You could put so much effort in with no promise of anything back. What if this guy is just unlucky? Just happens to be wrong place at the wrong time? Any decent brief will dismiss it as circumstantial.'

  DC Angel opened her mouth to argue, then saw the look on her boss's face. There would be no arguing. She had been stupid to expect him to listen to her ideas. She closed her mouth and straight away resolved to continue her own private quest.

  'Anyway, Angel, wish me luck. I've got to go see the boss, sort out this drug raid.'

  'Okay, boss. I'm going to head out for a couple of hours. Hang around McDonald's and see if I can get any more information out of the youth of Bradwick.'

  DCI Haines was used to running his own department and so was uncomfortable going to see the boss to get approval to do his job. However, he knew it was necessary.

  'So, Rob. I've got your request for operational support here. Came in this morning.' Chief Superintendent Cornish picked up a form as if to prove his point. 'It does appear to be lacking in a little detail, on some key points.'

  Haines frowned. 'I stayed late last night to make sure that I filled everything in. How many arrests are expected, and that we'll need firearms support, uniforms to handle the bodies, custody suites on standby. It's all in there.'

  'Ah. Yes. That's not the problem.' Cornish, Gold Commander for the area was a short, slightly overweight man whose features were rather bulbous. He always reminded Haines of a frog in a suit. 'No, the problem is in the quality of the information. For an operation of this scale, we really need some independent corroboration. We need to meet with your source.'

  Haines sat back in his chair and thought quickly. He didn't want to see Billy King and his boss in the same room. He didn't trust his informant that far. 'That's not really going to be possible. It took a lot of risk to get this information, the guy is right out on a limb already. I can vouch for him one hundred percent.'

  Haveland sucked his teeth. 'I'm not sure I can authorise this level of operation, the expense, and exposure of the force to negative publicity if everything should go wrong.'

  'Okay. Okay. I can see that. But look, I've been given this name, Pietr Garoza. Family from Latvia. I've run his name past all the relevant authorities. If you look at the request, I've added comments from the national gangs unit, including their report on Garoza which contains information from Interpol.'

  'You can spare me reading another report. Give me the edited highlights.'

  'Well he was known to them. Definitely a major player. Runs one of the more serious outfits in Birmingham. Proper nasty piece of work. Even better than that, he has connections to a company that, in the last month, took out a long lease on a warehouse on the Brookbank Industrial Estate.'

  'Brookbank? I can't place it.'

  'Not surprised. It's an old place, used to be a shipyard and then the Victorians ran a spur of railway out there and it became an industrial site. Then Beeching shut down the branch line and the roads weren't quite good enough for the lorries that replaced trains in the sixties and the place kind of went downhill. There's not a lot of anything there now.'

  'I see. It really does make your wonder what a gangster from the city wants with it?'

  'Word is that they're having a trial run to see if they can still get boats in and out. It's still got overgrown docks and all the fittings.'

  'Word that you can't verify.'

  The two men sat across the desk and stared at each other.

  'Listen. David. Sir. You can check and make sure that all the info is right. The name is right and the location is right. It all checks out.'

  'So, we have outside corroboration that a drug lord has definitely leased a warehouse in a quiet estate just outside Bradwick.' Haines nodded slowly, watching Cornish closely. There was something in those piggy eyes that he didn't trust. He realised that his life would now be political battles like this. Cornish continued. 'But you said he had a long lease, so this meeting could happen any time in the next few months. What you want is for me to take the exact time and date of the meeting entirely on trust? Is that it?'

  'Yes.' Haines decided to give him as little ammunition as possible.

  'Trust is the thing though, isn't it? It's no secret that your promotion wasn't unanimous. There have always been rumours.' Haines leant forward to speak, but Cornish held up his hand. 'No, I know, we're not here to review your promotion. And I am aware that you have an exemplary record, your crime stats are very impressive. It's no doubt that Bradwick is safe on your watch.'

  The two men paused and studied each other. Haines was determined not to be drawn into an argument. Cornish steepled his fingers and waited to see if his words had found their mark. When Haines hadn't risen to the bait, he continued. 'Timing is the problem. We can't really have all these officers sent out there and then find nothing there. We'd tip our hand to Garoza, and his gang too. And, if this goes wrong, then this won't just create ripples in our part of the force. You've got support from headquarters in Bristol, and you want to
involve tactical support too. More than that, you've requested Border Force to attend as well.'

  'We have to do that,' Haines explained. 'We're dealing with foreign nationals and they also have the expertise to immobilise and search a boat. They're essential to the operation.'

  'And you're sure about this. About the boat?'

  'Yes, sir. It's a complete dry-run. They'll bring a boat in from the continent, unload the drugs and then distribute them.'

  'We could just hand all this off to Border Force. Stop them before they even land.'

  Haines wanted to slam his hand on the desk and start shouting. But he knew it would achieve nothing. Very patiently he explained, 'If we did that then all we'd have would be Garoza waiting at the warehouse and being very pissed off that his delivery didn't arrive. And he's a major player with expensive lawyers and no outstanding warrants. We know where they're going to dock. We wait for them to land the product and move it to the warehouse. Then we can get Garoza and his top dealers actually in possession of the drugs and the money. Border Force will be there to impound and search the boat. And we get to share the glory, not just give it away to another agency.'

  'If you're right about the timing. Otherwise we'd be the guys who let a boat full of drugs slip past while blowing our budget on raiding an empty warehouse.' There was a pause, broken by Cornish. 'How about this for a solution?' It sounded as if he'd just thought of it, but Haines was certain that he'd planned this before the meeting started. 'I'll approve this operation now and you can get on with the planning, briefing all the different departments, getting everything in place.' Haines waited for the hammer to fall. 'But, if there is any hiccup, if your principals don't show, then we'll have a thorough review of the whole situation. Your reputation, those rumours, where you got this information from, the whole shooting match.'

  And my promotion, Haines wanted to ask. But he didn't, because he knew that was what was at stake. But he had gone this far with Billy King and wasn't about to quit now. He knew what the Cornishes of this world were like. All hot air and fury. The only way to beat them was to front them out. Show no weakness.