'Is there anything that you want me to do?' I asked.
'Yes; you can use the radio and stay in contact with the operator in the communications room who is tracking the car.'
I fiddled around with the radio until I had it working.
'The car is still in the lock up. No further movement,' a voice updated me.
'Ask him for the address Vince, please.'
I spoke into the radio. 'Inspector Baird's car. Can you please give me the address?'
'It's 54 Stewart's Road, Battersea, which is south of the river, off the A3205,' the operator said.
'I'll repeat that,' I replied. '54 Stewart's Road.'
'That's correct. Good hunting.'
'I should be able to find the location as I know the 3205.' The Inspector had heard me repeat the address.
A short while later we were in Stewart's Road, and soon we were close enough to 54 to be able to see it clearly.
'What do we do now Inspector?'
'Just wait to confirm that the car emerges from number 54. The tracker can't pinpoint it exactly so it could be in one of the buildings on either side.'
We sat twiddling our thumbs for about an hour, each lost in our own thoughts. Finally, a roller shutter door started to open and light beamed out onto the street. An Aston Martin DB9 backed out onto the road and then came towards us. The voice came through the radio, 'suspect on the move again.'
'I can confirm that the suspect is passing us now,' I replied into the radio.
'Good; we know that they didn't remove the tracking device while they had it in the garage,' the Inspector commented.
The radio spoke again. 'Can you verify the registration number, please?'
Luckily I had written down the reg. as it passed.
'It's LO55TLJ,' I replied.
'Repeat please,' the operator asked.
'LO55TLJ.'
'That's not the registration of the stolen car.'
'I am confident that I took it down correctly. They must have changed the plates while it was in the garage.'
'Roger, I'll make a note of that.'
'They must have brought the car here to put different number plates on, and hide it away for a few hours while the dust settled,' the Inspector observed.
'Are you going to follow it now?'
'If they put the boot down there is no way that we can stay close, but I will follow it as long as it is in sight. You keep talking to the radio operator, and we will eventually catch up.'
'Which direction are they going? I asked the operator.
'Heading south towards Croydon.'
'I bet he is heading for the M25 and from there probably towards the coast and one of the ferry ports,' the Inspector said.
We continued heading south, and then took the M25 in an easterly direction. We anticipated that the Aston Martin would stay on the M20, however, close to Maidstone; it headed towards Chatham. Perhaps they were going to take the M2 to Dover.
'He has left the M2 and is heading for Gillingham,' the radio operator informed us.
'Where is the bugger going,' the Inspector interjected. 'He is hardly going to catch the ferry from Sheerness to Holland.'
We slowed down, not sure of where the final destination was.
'The car is now stationary in a place called Ham Green.' The radio operator updated us. 'You need to go to Rainham and then take the coast road towards Upchurch. If you travel inland from Upchurch, you will find Ham Green.'
I looked at the Inspector's road map and found Ham Green. It looked to be a small hamlet in the middle of nowhere. I gave the Inspector directions, and we finally passed the road sign for Ham Green. Where would they have parked a luxury car in Ham Green?
I got back onto the operator. 'Whereabouts in Ham Green is the signal coming from?'
'It's a small hamlet, but it looks to be on Poot Lane, south-west of the village.'
The Inspector found a place where he could park the car out of sight of anybody on the road. In fact, road was too grand a name for the track that ran through Ham Green. We went on foot to where we reckoned the car was located as per the information on the tracking device.
There was a large property set back about twenty meters from the road. It was like an industrial building, extremely solid and relatively new. Light shone out through the open door. This must be where the car was. Moving closer, we could just glimpse the Aston Martin through the door.
'Vince, we have found what we were looking for,' the Inspector whispered. 'We can't do anything further here, so why don't we go and find somewhere to sleep for the night. We can resume our investigation in the morning.'
'What happens if they set off in the middle of the night?'
'We won't be far away, and the monitoring centre will track them. I have a feeling that they will be here for a few days.'
When we were back in the car, I contacted the radio operator.
'I want to confirm that we have located the car and will be staying close by tonight. Please let us know immediately if the car moves again.'
'Will do; have a good night.'
The Inspector knew of a hotel close by which, luckily, had a couple of rooms available. We checked in just after 2.00am, arranging to meet for breakfast at 9.00am the following morning.
I am afraid that I didn't get too much sleep as the events of the day were being replayed in my head. After a lot of tossing and turning I must have finally dozed off as the alarm on my mobile woke me up at 8.00am.
'Good morning Vince,' the Inspector said in a cheery voice as I joined him in the restaurant for breakfast.
'No alarms overnight?'
'No, as I expected, they didn't move the car during the night.'
'So, what are your plans for today?'
'I would like to go back and look at that building in Ham Green in the daylight just to make sure that the car is there and to see what they are up to.'
'We mustn't give away the fact that we have found their lair and scare them off,' I said.
'No, I agree; having looked at the building in daylight we can assess if we can get close enough to have a better look. If it is too dangerous, we will leave it alone. We can always return when it is less likely that someone will be there.'
It didn't take us long to realise that there was no chance of getting close enough to the structure to have a closer look. We decided, in the interests of the on-going investigation, to leave well alone and return to London.
'Leaving now means that we won't be able to follow the car when it leaves Ham Green,' I said to the Inspector as we were setting off to return to London.
'I have that covered Vince. I will position an unmarked police car in the vicinity until the car eventually leaves and they will follow it.'
'Have you any idea why they brought the car to Ham Green?'
'One of my hunches tells me that they are altering the appearance of the car in some way before they ship it out. The London stop was to put on different number plates. The stop in Ham Green could be to modify it even more; perhaps even change its colour.'
'All the stolen cars over the last year have vanished into thin air, so perhaps you are right. They put on a new set of number plates; they change the engine number and the colour. Ingenious and highly confusing for the police.'
The Inspector dropped me off outside Victoria station, where I was able to get the tube home. For some reason, I felt that we hadn't achieved much over the past fourteen hours. I found it exceedingly difficult trusting in the signal from the tracking device and not actually seeing the movement of the car or the boat with my own eyes. I simply would have to get used to the idea of totally relying on technology and not my brain.
Chapter 16
I was woken up on Thursday morning by my mobile ringing. My mind immediately went into overdrive: Another boat stolen or were there developments with the stolen car?
With some relief, I heard the Inspector's voice at the other end.
'Good morning Vince. I hope that I didn't wak
e you.'
'Unusually for me I overslept. I am glad that you woke me up.'
'I just wanted to tell you that I had a search done on the registration number that they put on the Aston Martin, LO55TLJ. The registration was originally assigned to a metallic grey Aston Martin DB3 in 2005. Now I come to the interesting bit. The grey metallic Aston Martin was exported to Cyprus earlier this year, so it is no longer in the UK.'
'Whoever is behind all this has used their brain. That's a very clever thing to do,' I interjected.
'My guess is that they are re-spraying the stolen DB3 at that workshop we found in Ham Green. It will re-appear on the roads later this week as a metallic grey car,' the Inspector suggested.
'How long do you think that it would take to re-spray it?'
'I wouldn't think more than two or three days. That would make it ready to leave the country by Friday.'
As the Inspector was talking, a plan was starting to formulate in my mind. I should hire a car and go and look at the lockup in Battersea and the property in Ham Green. No need to tell the Inspector!
'Will you be searching the two buildings where they doctored the car, Inspector?'
'Not at the moment; I want the Aston Martin to have left the country before I do anything, and I may even leave it until we are convinced the car has reached its final destination. The last thing that I want to do is let them know that we are onto them.'
'Will you please let me know if there are any further developments?'
'As soon as the tracking device shows that the vehicle is on the move again, I will telephone you.'
'Thanks Inspector. Talk to you later.'
As soon as I terminated the call I contacted Avis and organized for them to deliver a rental car to my address in Putney.
Two hours later I was in Stewart's Road, Battersea, close to number 54. There was a sign outside advertising MOT's at £60 and services at set rates. It was obviously an ordinary garage doing maintenance work and other jobs.
I parked the car a little way down the street from the garage and went to see if I could talk to the owner.
The only person I could find was under a car with his feet sticking out. I coughed to let him know that I was there, but he totally ignored me. Eventually, I bent down and looked under the car that he was working on.
'Excuse me, can I talk to you for a moment.'
'Can't you see I am busy? I'll be out to you when I have this bolt tightened,' he said in a particularly unfriendly way.
While I was waiting, I had a good look around the garage. There was nothing that would indicate that there was any illicit activity taking place, but I did see the ends of some number plates sticking out of a plastic bin liner. This clue was evidence enough that he was probably part of the gang who were stealing and altering the cars.
I heard movement as he extricated himself from under the car. Finally, he was standing in front of me. He was a large man with dark black hair dressed in an oily blue overall. He had about four day's growth of beard darkening his features, and there were smears of grease on his face. I had to take a step back as his breath stank of garlic. Friendly would not be the word I would have used to describe him.
'What do you want?' He certainly didn't get his business by his charm.
'You were recommended to me by a friend as being an excellent mechanic. I have a 1996 Volkswagen Polo, which has packed up on me. The water pump went, and the engine seized when it ran out of water.'
'You want me to fix it do you?'
'Yes, I would like you to pick it up from my house in Putney, and get it going again.'
'You would have to get somebody to bring it here. I can't go and pick it up.'
'So you can do the job if I get the car to you.'
'I couldn't do it until Wednesday of next week. You can see I am extremely busy.'
'No that would be fine. How much would it cost?'
'That would all depend on what I have to do to it. I would give you a price once I had opened it up and had a look.'
'Do you have a card with your telephone number on it?'
He went over to a shelf in the corner of the garage and finally found a business card.
'If you want it done next week you will have to phone me by tomorrow morning at the latest.'
'I'll do that. Sorry to have disturbed you.'
I retreated to the hire car satisfied with my subterfuge. It was obviously a one-man operation, and they used the owner to hide the car for a few hours and get him to change the number plates.
I headed for Rainham in Kent to have a look at the workshop, in Ham Green, where the probable re-spray of the Aston Martin was taking place.
Parking the car off the road just before Ham Green, I walked the rest of the way. As I passed the building that we had seen yesterday, I could hear power tools humming away. It sounded like a polisher or buffer. The door was closed so I couldn't see in. There was a large open area between the entrance gate and the building, so, if I was to get closer, I would have to come back when it was dark. It was now 2.30pm, so I had about seven hours to kill.
I went back to the car to work out how I was going to pass the time. I had a brilliant idea. Why not drive to Maidstone and visit the family. It wouldn't take me much more than twenty minutes to drive to Daphne's parents' house, and I was sure that they would be glad to see me. I phoned her up just to tell her that I was on my way.
Half an hour later I was pulling up at the house. The kids came running out to greet me and give me a hug.
'How much time have you got?' Daphne asked me.
'I can stay until around 9.00pm. I have to go back to look at a place near Rainham, but I can only go there when it gets dark. After that, I will drive back to London.'
'The kids have been dying to go to the swimming pool, but Grandpa has been suffering from a dreadful cold and wasn't able to drive them. Do you mind taking them as you have a car?'
'That sounds like a great idea. Of course, I will bring them as long as you come along too.'
'Michael, Victoria, I will take you swimming, so get your stuff together.'
They both rushed off to get their bags packed with a towel and their swimming costumes, and we headed off as a family to the local pool.
Daphne and I got a coffee and sat down watching the kids play in the water and on the slides.
'How are things going in the investigation world, darling?' Daphne asked me.
'Thankfully, I am extremely busy and rushing all over the place.'
'Please be careful. We don't want news of any unpleasant events.'
'I am safe enough at the moment as all my investigating is being done at arm's length. The boats and cars that I am interested in all have tracking devices fitted to them, and they are being monitored on computers. Willem in Rotterdam is monitoring the boats. I finding it very difficult to get used to operating from a distance and not being in control, but it is a lot safer.'
'What are you going to look at this evening? You won't be at arm's length then, will you?'
'I am going back in the dark because I don't want to expose myself to any danger. There should be nobody around the property I am interested in once it gets dark.'
'I plan on going home this coming Saturday as the kids start school next week, so you'll have us under your feet again.,' Daphne said.
'The house is far too quiet without you all. I have missed you.'
'Michael starts his new school next Tuesday. He will be going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a very small fish in a large pond. He is slightly worried about it. Will you be around to take him on his first day?'
'I should be provided I don’t have to rush off to some foreign place should another boat be stolen over the weekend.'
'Let's hope that you are around to support him. There are times that he needs his Dad.'
'I can't promise anything, but I will make every effort to be around for his big day.'
We sat there as the kids had a marvellous afternoon, both of u
s lost in our thoughts. Finally, it was time to go.
The rest of the evening flew by, and it was soon time to leave. After many hugs and kisses I set off to return to Ham Green.
I hid the car in the same place as before, grabbed my Glock from the boot of the car and set off to see what I could find. There was no moon as it was overcast, but, as I went, my night vision improved and I could see where I was going. I was able to see enough to be able to move in relative safety.
The building where they had been working on the car was in total darkness, so they must have finished for the day. Without people around my life would be a lot easier as I wouldn't have to be as careful. There was the dark shape of a house close by, and there were lights on in that. It looked as if the house was part of the same property as the building I was interested in.
The gate was locked, but I climbed over without too much difficulty. I moved around the edge of the yard until I had reached the side of the workshop. I inched my way along the side until I reached the back. There was a small fence a short distance away from the rear wall of the building and then there appeared to be open fields. This fence would be my way of escape if I needed it.
There was a large window set into the rear wall, and this stretched across half the width of the building. I could use this window to try and look into the workshop to see what was going on inside.
The window ledge was about two meters off the ground, too high for me to look through to see the car. I shone my torch around and conveniently found three concrete blocks. I stacked them one on top of the other and then climbed on top. I could now see into the building.
As I had hoped the beam of my torch picked out a metallic grey Aston Martin DB3 sitting re-splendidly in the centre of the floor. It looked to be the finished article, so, presumably, it would proceed on the next leg of its journey in the very near future.
I leant on the window frame to give me something solid to lean on while I climbed down. The window must not have been fastened securely; it moved, and an alarm went off.
There was no way back to the road across the open yard, so I climbed over the fence and headed across the field I had designated as my means of escape.
Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation Page 11
