by Paul Gitsham
“They have several dozen known accounts, some with openly provocative names such as ‘Keep Britain British’ and others with more innocuous titles such as ‘Proud to be British’, sharing harmless patriotic fare. The First World War commemorations have been a real party for them, with lots of pictures of poppies and young Tommies. We’re expecting a major offensive in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday with attempts to hi-jack the poppy appeal.”
“Why? Surely most of the people sharing these posts have no idea who’s behind them and would be appalled if they knew?” The tone of the questioner, sat somewhere towards the back, suggested that they may be reconsidering some of the pages that they had personally liked or shared.
Garfield gave a shrug, “Nobody’s really sure. Some of it’s plainly propaganda and the number of shares – which is in the tens of thousands for some of these posts – probably helps them claim to be on the side of the ‘silent majority’. We think it might also be a form of market research, using the number of likes, shares and retweets as a means of gauging popularity for different causes. They might also get a bit of click-through revenue from people visiting their websites. As to its effectiveness in terms of active members, it’s hard to tell. They operate a lot of sock puppets – fake accounts – so it appears as if they have more supporters than they actually do.”
Warren cleared his throat slightly, he didn’t want to end up spending all morning discussing the far-right’s social media strategy.
Taking his cue, Garfield switched to the next slide.
“On the opposite side of the argument to the BAP, we have the counter-protestors. It’s early days, but part of my team is also trying to identify as many of them as possible. Somebody killed Tommy Meegan and it’s as good a place to start as any. There were a lot more there than we expected, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
That was something of an understatement. From what Warren had gleaned so far, the number of BAP supporters was as predicted, but the counter-protest was significantly larger than anticipated. It had been sheer weight of numbers that had caused the lines to collapse and it was little more than good luck that more people hadn’t been injured or even killed.
“We’re compiling a list and scrutinising CCTV for known faces, but we know that a lot of attendees were either concerned locals, or not known to us. We have a couple of super-recognisers helping us, but the seasoned veterans were wearing masks or had their faces and tattoos covered. Aside from the usual agitators there were also protestors from more mainstream leftist groups, people showing solidarity with the local Muslim community, and lots of students, none of whom are likely to be in our files.”
“Any indicators from social media about who may have wanted to kill Meegan?” asked Warren.
“It’s hard to tell. BAP members, particularly the Meegans, get so many death threats posted on their blogs, Facebook pages and twitter feeds they hardly bother to block them anymore. Where possible, we’re identifying and cross-referencing accounts with the list of attendees, but it’s slow going.”
Warren thanked him, feeling slightly dejected. The power of the internet had transformed policing in recent years, with many officers like Mags Richardson in his own unit becoming experts in its use. However that power was also its downfall. The chances were good that buried amongst the vast amounts of data being collected were hints to the identity of Tommy Meegan’s killer. But finding those clues could take months or even years of sifting. Quite aside from the huge budget implications, Warren didn’t have months or years. The local and national media were already reporting a spike in inflammatory social media posts, from the far-right, the Muslim Community and anti-racism campaigners. Even if Warren and his team had yet to find a direct link between the fire and the protest march and its aftermath, the public at large were already conflating the two events. Unless something was done soon Middlesbury was facing a bloodbath.
Dear Reader,
Hello, and as always thank you for taking the time to read A Case Gone Cold. This is the second short story that I have written in the DCI Warren Jones series and just like Blood is Thicker than Water, I really enjoyed the experience. Not all story ideas are suitable for a longer novel, and novellas let me share these tales with readers. If you enjoy this format, rest assured that there will be more to come, alongside more traditional length novels. I also hope you enjoyed the sneak preview of The Common Enemy, due out this summer.
The central premise of this story came from my parents’ own unfortunate experience of burglary a couple of summers ago. It was during a conversation with my father about his discussion with the CSI that attended the scene, when the idea that grew into A Case Gone Cold first formed.
If this is your first taste of DCI Warren Jones, and you want more, then you’ll be pleased to know that are several more entries in the series, and there are plenty more in the pipeline.
You can follow me on Twitter @dcijoneswriter
Visit my facebook page: www.facebook.com/dcijones or my website www.paulgitsham.com
Or email me on [email protected]
All the best. Paul.
Acknowledgements
Even a shorter story requires a lot of help from many quarters. First of all my parents, who not only support everything I do, but also supplied the key inspiration for this story by generously being burgled.
For legal questions I have my favourite solicitors, Dan and Caroline. I hope no one ever reads our Facebook Messenger transcripts, or I will have some explaining to do. Any errors are definitely down to me.
The team at HQ Digital have been superb as always, with wise suggestions from my editor Clio, and another first-rate cover design.
Finally, there is Cheryl, who not only puts up with me on a daily basis, but also, alongside my Dad, proof-reads everything I write and tells me exactly what she thinks! Everything I do is better, because of you.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen DCI Warren Jones and his team, and I hope that you enjoy this short reminder of him. Don’t forget to look out for his next adventure, The Common Enemy, due out this summer, an excerpt of which you can preview at the end of this book.
Paul Gitsham January 2018
If you enjoyed A Case Gone Cold, then why not try another twisty crime novel from HQ Digital?
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