by M A Comley
“Wait…you can’t leave me hanging like this.”
“Oh yes we can. Thank you, Mrs. Rathbone.”
The boy’s mother showed them to the front door. She leaned in to ask, “What were you getting at back there?”
Katy motioned for her to step outside the house with them. The woman pulled the door to behind her so that her son couldn’t hear their conversation.
“We’re not entirely sure if Troy was at the scene or not. We had a reliable tip-off that he would be at a certain place last night, so we staked it out. We saw a van, watched another vehicle pull up, an argument ensued, and the two men who arrived later ran off. Not long after that, the mobile distillery went up in flames. We have no way of knowing who, if anyone, was inside the vehicle, but if there was someone in there, they never made it out.”
Mrs. Rathbone’s hand shot up to cover her mouth. She dropped it moments later and said, “Thank God he was at home last night.”
“Precisely. Please don’t say anything until we get confirmation of all the facts. You seem to have your son under control…keep a close eye on him for a few days, will you?”
“Any specific reason, Inspector?”
“We have a few things in the pipeline. If we know you’re keeping a watchful eye on Paul, then he’s one player we don’t have to worry about watching.” Mrs. Rathbone frowned and nodded. “I think I understand. I’ll take care of Paul.”
• • •
Once Lorne and Katy made it back to the station, Lorne decided to give Patti a ring.
“Patti, it’s Lorne. Can you speak?”
“I have five minutes to spare. Terrible incident last night, Lorne. I hear you and Katy were at the site when this van exploded.”
“That’s right. Another minute or two and we might have been inside the van. I take it there’s no news on the victim or victims yet? I know it’s a bit soon, and I haven’t rung up to hound you, I promise, I just thought your colleague might have some news for us.”
“No, like I told Katy earlier, it’s going to take at least forty-eight to ninety-six hours before we get any kind of results, due to the state of the corpse. I can tell you that the DNA results have confirmed the victim as Elaine Syposz.”
“That’s great…er, you know what I mean. When will her body be released? I want to keep the pressure on the husband if I can. I’m sure he’s behind her murder. I just need to prove it.”
“I see. Well, I doubt she’ll be on her way to the funeral home before next Monday. I hope to get the paperwork completed over the weekend, providing more cases don’t land on my table in the meantime—you know how it is around here.”
“Thanks, Patti. I’ll relay that information to the hubby, gauge his reaction, let him know that we haven’t forgotten him. Talk soon.”
The next call Lorne placed was to the victim’s husband, Joseph. She fidgeted in her seat to make herself more comfortable before she dialled the number. There was no answer at the house, so she rang his office. His secretary answered and put her on hold for a good two minutes. Lorne was seething by the time he casually answered.
“Hello, Sergeant. What can I do for you?”
Lorne found it hard to read his tone but deduced quickly that it lacked friendliness. She tried to keep her own tone light and friendly to keep him on his toes.
“Hello, Mr. Syposz. I’m just ringing to inform you that your wife’s body should be released next Monday.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I like to chase this side of things up for the victim’s families. I take it you’ll be making the necessary arrangements for her funeral? Please let me know when it will be held, as my inspector and I would like to attend, to pay our respects.”
After a long pause, she heard him let out an exasperated breath. “Why? You didn’t even know my wife. There’s no need for you to come to the funeral, in fact, I’d rather you stayed away.”
“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way. The reason we attend funerals is because in our experience the murderer sometimes feels the necessity to turn up, though it’s not really known why. Perhaps it’s their way of ensuring the person is really dead. So, we will be attending, but we’ll remain at the back, you won’t even know we’re there.”
All of a sudden, Lorne heard the dial tone in her ear. She looked at the phone and shook her head. “You bastard. I know you’ve killed her. If you think I’m going to give you an easy ride, you’re gravely mistaken, you tosser.”
“What’s that, Lorne?” AJ called out, a grin spreading across his face.
“Just having my daily cuss about men, AJ, that’s all. Carry on with your work if you don’t want to end up joining the club.” Lorne made her way into the office to let Katy know what had happened.
Katy twiddled her pen between her slim fingers. “Why can’t we find out anything about him? He’s a prime suspect and yet…”
“I know, it’s frustrating the hell out of me.” Lorne slumped into the chair. “I’m going to spend the afternoon going through his background details again to see if we’ve missed anything obvious. There has to be something.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The following day, Lorne got up early to ensure Tony had everything he needed for his journey to France.
“Will you stop fretting, woman? I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
“I know. Let me do this, Tony, please? It’s my contribution to making sure this all goes to plan. You know what a control freak I am.”
“Yeah, I’m well aware of that, Lorne.”
His comment earned him a punch in the arm. She kissed it “better” and hugged him as if she’d never see him again. “Please don’t take any unnecessary risks. Just do as the gang says, all right?”
“Yes, boss. I’ll keep in touch via phone, and the tracking device will be planted right underneath the lorry’s cab out of sight. I must say one thing, I’m more excited than nervous about this trip. It’ll be good to get back in the saddle after all this time.”
“Yeah, promise me, there’ll be no heroics.” Lorne worried that he may be more than a little rusty in his unarmed combat skills after being out of the field for the past few years.
“I promise. Don’t worry. Just nail these bastards, eh? So Luigi can carry on trading and building his business, and hopefully save his marriage.”
She stepped back with a nod. “Hear, hear. I’m sure they’ll be able to make a go of things once the pressure of this situation slackens off. I’ve packed you some sandwiches for the trip and there’s a small bottle of Coke, too.”
“Like there aren’t hundreds of roadside cafes en route. I’ll need to stretch my legs, I mean leg, now and again, if that’s all right with you?”
“Of course…I’m sorry. I just wanted to take care of you.”
Tony kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
• • •
The feel of his lips on hers remained with her throughout the drive to work. On the way she dropped Tony off close to Luigi’s office, and wished him luck. Despite sinking her teeth into Joseph Syposz’s background checks for the second time in twenty-four hours, she still came out of the task empty-handed.
That can’t be right, can it?
Lunchtime came and went without even a biscuit passing her lips. Things bucked up in the afternoon when her mobile phone rang. She frowned, not recognising the number.
“Hello?”
“Is that DS Warner?” a woman asked, speaking as though she had her hand over the phone, shielding it for some reason.
“It is. Who’s this?”
“Shirley Harris. The barmaid from the Barrel Inn.”
“I remember. Is everything all right, Shirley?” Anticipating that the woman was about to tell her something important, Lorne left her desk and darted into Katy’s office. She continued the conversation with Katy listening in.
“The two men. They’re here. Right now. I’ve just come on duty. They’ve been here a while apparently, and I’m not s
ure how long they’ll stick around. Can you come over?”
“Sure, we’re on our way. Is there any way you can try to stall them if they seem to be ready to leave? Do they have much left in their glasses?”
“They’re half full. I’m not sure what I can do to keep them here. I don’t want to put myself in danger. I did tell you how dangerous these men are, right?”
“You did. Sorry, that wasn’t fair of me to ask you that. We’ll be there shortly.”
Lorne and Katy ran through the incident room, down the stairs, two at a time, and jumped into Katy’s car.
“I think this calls for the siren, at least until we’re near.” Lorne slapped the light onto the roof of the car and flicked the switch.
Katy put her foot down and weaved in and out of the traffic like an expert Rally driver. “Okay, we’re almost there. Kill that.”
Lorne turned the siren off and pulled the light back inside the vehicle. She placed her hand over the clasp to her seatbelt, ready to jump out the second they arrived.
Katy parked as close to the entrance as she could. They bolted towards the door. Before she opened it, Lorne took a steadying breath. “Act casual. We don’t want to scare them off.”
Lorne stepped into the pub, her gaze falling on the barmaid right away. The barmaid’s eyes drifted over to two men sitting at a table in the centre of the pub. Discreetly, Lorne and Katy walked up to the bar and ordered a couple of orange juices. Lorne positioned herself so that she could view the men over Katy’s shoulder. They looked innocent enough. They weren’t displaying “vicious murderer” tattoos across their foreheads or anything significant like that.
The barmaid handed them their drinks with a nervous smile.
“Hey, don’t worry. We’ll just be observing them, so there won’t be any fallout for you, I promise.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” she replied. She went back to cleaning the shelves behind the bar.
Lorne and Katy sipped at their drinks. Between sips, Lorne gave her partner a running commentary of what the men were up to, which was nothing really. “Okay, they’re on the move.”
“Are they heading towards the bar for a top up?”
“Nope. Let’s go.”
Katy clutched Lorne’s arm. “Stay here a second or two.” Katy beckoned the barmaid over with her finger. “Is there a back way out of here?”
“Yes, through that door.” She pointed at the door behind Lorne.
“I’ll take the back, you follow them out the front,” Katy strode away. Lorne left it five more seconds then walked casually towards the door. She met Katy in the car park.
“Quick, get in. Their car went in that way.” Katy extended her hand in the direction where the traffic appeared to be the heaviest.
Lorne jumped in the car and slammed the door shut. “Let’s hope we don’t lose them. Do you want me to call for assistance?”
“Not yet. Let’s find out where they’re going first, if we don’t lose them, that is.”
They managed to locate the suspects’ vehicle easily enough, and Katy made sure she kept a few cars in between them. They followed the men to a terraced street not far from the pub.
Lorne spotted a parking space at the top of the road. “Pull in here.” She jotted down the number of the house the men went in and the name of the road. “What next?”
“I’m going to arrange for a surveillance car to keep an eye on them. They didn’t seem nervous at all, as though they had a job planned or anything, so they might remain here for a while. Who do you think would be best to carry out the surveillance? AJ and Karen? Or do you think two men would be better to deal with this?”
“My vote would be for AJ and Graham, Karen seems a little timid for this sort of thing.”
Katy rang AJ, made him aware of the situation, and told him to get down there immediately. They saw his vehicle pull into the road behind them twenty minutes later. The two men left their vehicle and jumped in the backseat of Katy’s car.
“They went in that house. Any movement or if any other callers come to the property, let me know straight away,” Katy ordered.
“Got it, ma’am.” The men left Katy’s car to take up their surveillance task and Katy drove away. She travelled past the house, which looked like it could be some kind of squat, at normal speed while Lorne craned her neck to see inside the front window.
“Nothing. Looks like the front curtains are drawn. What now?”
“We go back to the station and piece together our plan for tomorrow evening. Ring the other departments to ensure they’re aware of their roles. I want to reiterate that this is our bust and they’re just there to give us backup. Was Tony all right when he set off this morning?”
“Yeah, I’m sure his adrenaline was pumping hard. I hope he’ll be all right.”
“He’ll be fine. He’s used to working undercover. It’ll be like riding a bike for him.”
“I know. But the last time he did any undercover operations, he had two good legs to rely on. Not sure how he’s going to cope with just one. He’s still not a hundred-percent happy with his prosthetic leg.”
“He wouldn’t have taken on the job if he didn’t think he could cope, Lorne…you know that, right?”
“Yeah, go on say it: I’m a born worrier.”
“I don’t have to state the obvious. You’ve already done it.” Katy smiled and winked at her.
• • •
Lorne left work at around six that evening and headed home, stopping at the fish and chip shop on her way. She was halfway through her cod and chips when Tony rang.
“Hey, you, where are you?” Lorne asked through a mouthful of food.
“We docked a few hours back. I’m parked up for the night. Good thing I set off a day early, as the ferry was full. There probably wouldn’t have been room on the Friday ferry. Anyway, I’m just checking in. How are things back there? All okay?”
“Yeah, nothing major really. I’ll fill you in when you get home. Take care, sweetie, won’t you?”
“Yep, I’ll leave you to eat your dinner. I can hear the paper rustling. Fish and chips, is it?”
“You got me. Make sure you lock the cab tonight. Ring me during the day tomorrow, okay? I miss you.”
“Yeah, I miss and love you too, hon. Goodnight.” He blew a kiss through the phone before hanging up.
His call did little to reassure Lorne, and she spent most of the night tossing and turning in her lonely bed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Bleary-eyed, Lorne set off to work after making sure both she and Charlie had a substantial breakfast—she had no idea when her next meal would be that day.
Katy and Superintendent White were already waiting in the conference room when she arrived. Lorne glanced at her watch.
Katy laughed. “No, you’re not late. I guess none of us had a good night’s sleep.”
“Worst ever. I’m used to having Tony next to me. It’s tough when he’s not there to cuddle up to. Plus, knowing where he is…” Lorne admitted.
“I lost my husband in a traffic accident a few years back. I’ve grown used to sleeping alone. I love the freedom of stretching out in a double bed.” Superintendent White surprised them both with her unexpected personal disclosure. “Don’t go giving me sympathetic looks now. I’m over the loss. Right, let’s get this room organised, show the others what a shit-hot team they’re dealing with, yes?”
“You’ve got it. What do you want me to do?” Lorne asked.
“Let’s make sure every place has a glass of water, notepad, and pen. I’ll go and wait in the incident room and shuffle them in when they start arriving. I want to check up on AJ and Graham anyway,” Katy said.
“Are they still outside the house?” Superintendent White asked.
Katy nodded. “Yep, I’ve just been downstairs to arrange replacements. I was about to call AJ to let him know.”
Katy left the room. Lorne busied herself with setting up the room as requested while the super started
sketching out things on the whiteboard. “Has Tony been in touch?”
Filling up the glasses with water from the water dispenser, Lorne replied, “Yeah, he’s arrived safely. If my phone rings, I’ll have to answer it…if that’s okay?”
“Of course. Let’s hope today sees the end of this gang. The trouble is, once one gang is disbanded, another starts up in its place almost immediately.” She sighed deeply.
Lorne considered this for a moment then said, “Well, I have a good contact at the local paper. Actually, he was the one who joined Katy and me on the stakeout the other night. I trust him. I’ve worked with him for a couple of years now.”
The super turned to face her. “What are you saying, Lorne?”
“He knows about the sting.” Superintendent White appeared perturbed. Lorne reassured her again, “He’s totally trustworthy, you have my word. I was thinking we could invite him along on the sting…he’d be with me and Katy. We could give him an exclusive, and he could run a major story on it. I’m sure it would go a long way towards dissuading other gangs from setting up on our patch in the future.”
“Let me think about that one, will you?”
“Sure.”
Katy returned to the room with a group of people. The relevant folks in charge of the other teams of law enforcement from Border Agency and Custom and Excise, connected with the sting that involved Tony and Luigi, and the meeting got under way.
Superintendent White ruled the meeting with an iron fist—if someone pointed out a flaw, she came back at them in an instant with an explanation. Lorne was impressed with the way she handled some of the offhand comments from some of the males who appeared to be unhappy with a woman ruling their roost. It took a while to reach a consensus, but in the end, everyone agreed that Katy and Lorne should take control of the sting, under Superintendent White’s guidance of the operation.
The plan was that once Lorne heard from Tony when the pickup had taken place, he would board the ferry and be waved through customs when he reached Dover. From there, it would be up to the Border Agency to tail the vehicle, just in case Tony was unable to make contact for any reason. Once the truck reached its destination, whether that was at Luigi’s warehouse or somewhere else—they weren’t quite sure yet—then all the relevant parties would swoop in, make the necessary arrests, and call it a day. That was the plan anyway.
