‘Perhaps he didn’t have time,’ Grady said.
Vinnie didn’t respond. But a thought worried him.
Had Babik been tipped off again?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Thankfully, Vinnie and Harry didn’t have to wait long for confirmation that both the blazing addresses were indeed empty, as Grady had suggested. A further hour and all the urgent stuff had been done. A new team was briefed and out doing house-to-house enquiries around all three addresses. Every cop in the area was updated on Babik and every spare cop was actively searching for him. The fire brigade had done an excellent job of extinguishing both fires. In fact, most of both houses had been saved, apart from the upstairs where the fires had been started. The leading fire officer at both scenes had confirmed that accelerants had been used. Both scenes were closed and wouldn’t be safe to search properly until the following morning. In fact, the fire brigade would be there for a while yet, damping down to guard against any secondary spontaneous combustion.
The scene at the first address was obviously closed and had only been visited by the paramedics to confirm that life was extinct. A routine procedure in the circumstances. Harry had arranged for a Home Office pathologist to visit the body in situ prior to its recovery to the mortuary and resultant post mortem examination. The forensic scientists would also want to see the body in situ. He had discussed the scene with both over the phone and both had said that nothing would spoil before first light. Harry had given one of the local DS’s the job of coordinating the initial forensic strategy.
Vinnie walked into the SIO’s office as Harry put his desk phone down. ‘The chief?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, and as you might expect, he’s not a happy chief constable.’
‘What about Grady?’ Vinnie asked.
‘Well, unless we lock her up we can’t keep her here indefinitely, so I’ve sent her home for now, told her to speak to no one and to take her time coming in tomorrow. She still has no phone, so should be out of Babik’s reach for the moment.’
‘Do we believe her?’ Vinnie asked.
‘I’m really not sure, only time will tell. Darlington said he’d turn out a detective from the professional standards unit to sit on her rented property to make sure she does as instructed, and to note any visitors.’
‘Good idea. Does Babik know her address?’
‘She says not, it’s on a short term lease as she’s not been here long, and according to her she spent most of her time at the first address used by Babik.’
‘Do you think she was shagging him?’
‘She says not. Says that would be a no-no in undercover rules.’
‘Where have we heard that one before?’
‘Quite.’
‘What about the hostage?’ Vinnie asked, of no one in particular.
‘Not sure what more we can do tonight?’
Vinnie knew that her description had been circulated far and wide and that the intel unit was leaving a detective on through the night to monitor comms and intelligence streams. They’d even turned out a few informants to ask around, but until someone was reported missing, it would be like trying to find a dropped pie in Wigan.
‘However, I think we need to pay Sadiq another visit,’ Harry said, breaking Vinnie’s thoughts. ‘Then we should know for sure. Let’s head off home now and I’ll leave you to set that up in the morning. I’ll be busy getting the new investigation team briefed and out. Not to mention the press conference.’
‘No probs, Harry, see you bright and early.’ And with that, Harry picked up his phone and left. Vinnie looked at his watch, it was well after ten now and he couldn’t think of anything else they could do tonight. Then he wondered if it was too late to put a call in to Christine. Apart from the fact that he’d not had chance to ring her back, he wondered if she could organise a press release, with the missing woman’s description for the following day if there was no news of her overnight. He rang Christine’s number, which was picked up on the third ring. ‘Still up, then?’
‘Halfway through a bottle of Merlot, if you are nearby?’ Christine answered.
‘Love to, but I’m still up in Preston so it would be towards midnight by the time I got back to Manchester,’ he said, and then thought about asking to crash at her place. That said, he was whacked and would have to be up early. As if reading his mind, Christine spoke.
‘I only meant for a nightcap, are you forgetting about my house guests?’
Vinnie felt guilty, what with all that had gone on this evening he’d forgotten to ask about the two women. He tried to make it sound as if he was just about to, and then Christine filled him in. The cops had been around and taken details, then she had a visit fromby a detective as Vinnie had suggested would happen. A DS Mathews from the public protection unit in Manchester. Vinnie said he didn’t know that DS, before asking, ‘What about the social worker at the address in Queens Drive?’
‘Shocked and upset, but thankfully unharmed, apparently. It wasn’t her that the intruders were after,’ Christine said.
‘You’ve had quite an upsetting time yourself; I hope you are not putting a mask over things?’
‘What, the ones that enhance my beauty?’ she said.
Now he knew she was OK, so asked, ‘Any idea what this is all about?’
‘The girls have told me quite a story of how they were trafficked over here on a false premise. Their lives were constantly threatened to ensure compliance, and after tonight, there is no doubt that the bastards involved mean business.’
Vinnie wondered why the bad guys had waited until now to strike; after the main man had been tried and convicted, and said as much.
‘Already asked, and DS Mathews just reckons that they didn’t know where the girls were being kept until they applied for their replacement travel documents,’ Christine said.
‘A leaky embassy?’
‘That’s what the DS reckons.’
‘Are you sure you are safe now?’ Vinnie asked.
‘Absolutely, and as if to confirm things someone at their embassy is going nuts to find out where their “citizens are being held.” Mathews keeps putting the phone down on them.’
‘A good place for her investigation to start, but I wish her luck. Trying to get information out of a foreign embassy is like trying to get a glass of Merlot out of you.’
‘Just finished the bottle as you mention it, but I did ask if you were nearby.’
Vinnie smiled and then asked what next for the women. Christine told him that they were going to be put on a flight the following day by social services and DS Mathews, to avoid any further problems, One of the girls — Bob-A, she referred to her as — had arranged for an uncle to meet them at the other end. But she and her mate had given Christine a great starting place for her story, which she would get on with the following day.
Vinnie told her to be careful and she said that she would. He then asked his favour.
‘Not a problem, I’ll speak to the newsroom tomorrow morning first thing, to create some space, so if your missing lady hasn’t turned up overnight, we’ll be good to go,’ she said.
‘How do you mean, space? He asked.
‘There is always a story than can be dropped or put back. I’ll ask them to prepare for a late insert, but I’ll need to know by eight to get it in the nine am bulletin.’
Vinnie said that he’d ring her at quarter to, and bade her goodnight. That meant he’d need to be in the office by seven, so he decided not to bother driving back to his place in Manchester. He’d head five miles up the road and take advantage of the grace and favour rooms the chief, Brian Darlington had set aside for them in J block of Lancashire police’s Hutton Hall training school. Then he remembered he’d no car — damn! He’d borrow one from the local CID office. It had been a long time since he’d been in a section CID car and he wondered if they were still as bad as they were in his day; full of empty fast food wrappers and cigarette ends — and those were the better ones!
Chapter Tw
enty-Six
Preston prison was an old stone Victorian jail, built initially to house around 600 inmates, but Vinnie reckoned there was at least double that number currently locked up there. Like all police visitors to prisons, he and Harry had to hand over their mobile phones at reception and then wait for an escort to take them to the security office. From there, they were led to an interview room which had a steel table and four old wooden office chairs within, but nothing else.
They each took a seat at the door side of the table and waited. Vinnie was always amazed at how noisy prisons were. A constant level of shouting, clatter and all sorts of sounds echoed around the stone corridors. An unending hustle and bustle that would get on his nerves, he was sure, if he worked here. They must become immune to it, he mused, as a further sound announced the reinforced glass door being swung open. In walked a prison officer, followed by Mohammed Sadiq, who slouched his way to the other side of the desk, all the while avoiding eye contact with either of them.
The prison officer stood by the door and asked, ‘Do you want me to stay, Sadiq?’
‘Yes please, boss, this won’t take long,’ he answered.
Vinnie was about to argue, and was taken aback by what Sadiq had said, but before he could speak Sadiq continued, looking up at them for the first time. ‘I don’t know what you two want, but you are wasting your time, innit. I ain’t no grass.’
Vinnie noticed two things: one, Sadiq’s whole demeanour and diction had changed, and two, he’d now adopted the pseudo Pakistani-come-London accent favoured by so many young Asian males. He glanced at Harry, who seemed to register Vinnies thoughts in his gaze before he answered. ‘We know you are no grass, and we are not here for that.’
‘Well, if you thinks I’m going to clear some jobs up just because you lot can’t detect shit, forget it, man. I ain’t even done what that bent jury did me for, so you’re wasting your time, all ways.’
Vinnie decide to join in. ‘Look, OK, you’ve seen through us, but we don’t want you to admit to anything you’ve not done. And for the record, we don’t let people admit stuff they haven’t done just to clear the books; that’s not how it works.’
‘Well, what is all this then?’ Sadiq said.
‘We know you’ve been involved in the enslavement of other trafficked women, and here is your chance to tell us.’
‘So, why haven’t you cautioned me, and where’s my brief?’
‘I will caution you if you start to admit something, and you can have a brief at any time. We were told you didn’t want one,’ Vinnie said.
Sadiq paused, and shifted in his seat before replying, ‘Well, if you are after fitting me up with more stuff I haven’t done then I want one now. In fact, scratch that, I want to go back to my cell.’
Vinnie could hear the prison officer start to move, so quickly added, ‘OK Mohammed, but if we have to go to the trouble of obtaining a production order to get you to the police station, simply to talk to you, we won’t be writing off any offences as “detected, no proceedings”; we’ll charge you with everything we can. So, last chance.’
Sadiq was on his feet now and he glanced down at Vinnie and said, ‘I’ll take my chances,’ before he looked past them at the approaching prison officer and declared, ‘I’m done here boss, can I go back to my cell please.’
The prison officer didn’t speak, he just led Sadiq towards the door and told Vinnie and Harry to wait where they were; someone would be along shortly to escort them out. Neither man spoke until both Sadiq and his escort had gone.
‘Well done,’ Harry said, adding, ‘You clicked onto that straight away.’
‘Cheers, Harry, but let’s save it until we get outside.’
Harry nodded and Vinnie added, ‘Anyway, it looks like we have a production order to arrange.’
Ten minutes later they were walking through the main gate into Ribbleton Lane, Preston, just outside the city centre. Vinnie and Harry crossed the road and waited until they were into the Ringway and well away from the prison before they spoke. Harry broke the silence.
‘Well, what do you reckon all that was about, apart from the fact he didn’t want to speak?’
‘Didn’t want to speak in front of the prison officer,’ Vinnie said.
‘That’s the bit that confused me.’
‘How so?’ Vinnie asked.
‘Well, if he hadn’t wanted the prison officer to remain inside the room, it was his choice. Just ask him to leave. In fact, the screw asked him if he wanted him to remain and he said yes.’
‘Which can only mean that he did want to speak in front of the prison officer,’ Vinnie said.
‘What, you mean it was all a charade.’
‘What if that screw is bent? It would make perfect sense for Sadiq to blank us the way he did so that the fact that he is “not a grass” would get back to the other crims on the wing.’
‘Hence the attitude. I played along with you as something was clearly wrong, but I just hadn’t worked out what exactly.’
‘Me neither, if I’m honest, but it fits. I guess we’ll have to wait until we can get him produced to the nick to ask him. Will a production order take long?’ Vinnie said.
‘Longer than we have, considering we potentially have a kidnap victim under threat. But what can we do? As soon as we get back will you sort the paperwork out?’ Harry finished.
Vinnie nodded and then both men picked up their pace, they’d be back in the office in a further ten minutes.
*
An hour later and things were coming together. Vinnie had earlier put a call into Christine confirming their need for a press conference. A further call on arriving back from the prison confirmed that it was all arranged for midday. Harry was going to front it; it was time to go public in their efforts to trace Babik and identify any potential kidnap victim. Babik was also a danger to the public and they had a duty of care issue which meant they couldn’t sit on things too much longer. Christine had said that she was going to be busy today as she started to follow up on what the two Romanian women had told her. Vinnie again told her to tread carefully, and added that he’d hopefully be able to meet up with her later for a drink and a proper chat. He’d have to go back to his home in Manchester tonight regardless, as he needed some clean clothes.
He’d just put his desk phone down when Harry walked back into their office.
‘Any luck?’ Harry asked.
‘The paperwork has been done, a prison service order, to give it its full title, and it is about to be faxed direct to the governor.’
‘What rationale have you put down?’ Harry asked.
‘There are some quite wide categories apart from suspecting the prisoner of an offence. In fact, if the offence we are investigating is a serious arrestable offence as defined in law, we can ask for production of Sadiq simply as part of our ‘investigation into the serious arrestable offence.’ The phrase may lead some to presume that we suspect him of involvement, but without saying so.’
‘I like it, let them think we suspect him, which would be a natural assumption. It will enhance his reputation in prison, and we haven’t had to lie. Have we?’
‘Don’t worry, Harry I’ve chosen my words carefully.’ Then a thought hit him. ‘Harry, why don’t we restrict the press conference to an appeal about witnesses to the three addresses, and information about anyone local who is unaccounted for or deemed missing not already reported to the police?’
‘What, leave a request to locate Babik out of it?’ Harry said.
‘Until we can get Sadiq over here and find out what he really knows. We can always call a second press conference.’
Harry didn’t answer straight away as he was obviously considering what Vinnie had said. Probably wrestling with the public safety issue. So Vinnie said, ‘We’ve no evidence that Babik is an actual threat to the general public.’
‘I guess not,’ Harry said. ‘He can’t get through any port, so apart from missing out on possible sightings, I guess a 24 hour postponem
ent could be justified.’
‘Plus, if he has the woman with him, we don’t want to spook him into a knee-jerk reaction which could put her in danger,’ Vinnie added.
Vinnie knew it was one of those fluid situations with no absolute right or wrong answer, always tricky.
‘I guess if we just appeal for knowledge of anyone who is missing as a separate appeal to witnesses around the addresses. It doesn’t actually link the two, although Babik will suspect so,’ Harry said.
‘Our best chance is to leave Grady in play and hope Babik makes contact with her so we can get him that way. Though I’m still not convinced about her,’ Vinnie said.
‘Me neither. If what she says is true about Babik putting her back into us as a double agent, I find it hard to believe that she has no way of contacting him,’ Harry said.
‘We know he is careful, but I know what you mean. That said, after the raid on the addresses you’d think he’d be desperate to make contact with her to find out what we know.’
‘Though, trying to be balanced about it, she did give us the lead that Bonehead, as she calls him, had touched the ammo used to kill Watson,’ Harry added.
‘A lead which is now worthless, as the suspect directly linked to that ammo is now dead,’ Vinnie said.
The door to the SIO’s office shut behind them. Both men turned around to see DS Susan Grady standing there. Vinnie wondered if she had picked up on anything he and Harry had just said. He soon got his answer.
‘And that, gentlemen, is no doubt why Bonehead is dead. The proof starts and ends with him.’
‘Physical proof,’ Vinnie said.
‘What do you mean, sir, if I can ask for your balanced view,’ Grady said.
Vinnie felt a flash of anger at her sarcasm, and then composed himself. If she was on the level, it was understandable. Calmly, he answered, ‘Your witness evidence. All the conversations and discussions that you have been a party to. Crucial stuff. We haven’t had time to go through any of that with you yet.’
‘None of which is corroborated,’ she said.
The Badge & the Pen Thrillers Page 65
