Power Shift

by Judith Cutler

  ‘Not so much indentured as slave? Working for virtually nothing to pay off exorbitant fees to traffickers for smuggling them into the country?’

  Choi nodded. ‘Exactly so. You have clearly done a great deal of homework in the last thirty hours, Inspector. Allow me to congratulate you.’

  Kate blushed but didn’t argue. She’d no idea where her brain had been yesterday, but at least some of the things she’d learnt on all those courses returned to it today. Or was it simply something she’d read in the newspapers? Whatever. ‘Do you have any idea who’s responsible? Enough for us to work on, if not for you?’ She smiled, ironically. ‘Which organisations are benefiting?’

  He shook his head. ‘I’m sure my intelligence will produce something for you soon. As for access, they come in via the wholesale market, I presume.’

  She thought of the traffic in the area. ‘In a container lorry. One of the hundreds, if not thousands, coming in every night.’

  ‘Quite so. A pleasant little conundrum for you to solve, Inspector.’ He sipped his tea for the first time. ‘This is a very unusual flavour, Miss Power.’

  ‘If it’s like mine, it’s not so much unusual as rather nasty.’ She laughed. ‘But at least it’s healthily nasty. The station brew is—’

  ‘I know. Absolutely disgusting. Stewed and then diluted with milk.’ He flicked his wrist.

  Was it a genuine Rolex? Kate didn’t doubt it for a second. ‘Aren’t you taking a risk, wearing that round here?’

  ‘On the contrary, I’m safer wearing it round here than anywhere else.’ She was sure his smile was deliberately enigmatic. He got to his feet, the herbal tea unfinished. ‘Rest assured, I will supply you with any information that reaches me. I know from experience, alas, that you are unable to reciprocate.’

  She walked with him to the top of the stairs, wishing the surroundings were more appropriate. They shook hands, both bowing slightly.

  ‘I look forward to working with you, Inspector.’

  ‘And I with you.’

  But as she watched him descend, assured, polished, dangerous, she wasn’t at all sure that she was.

  Chapter 4

  Helen Kerr, arms akimbo, was waiting for Kate when she got back to her office. Kate suppressed a sigh: instead of getting her head round an allegation about major international crime, she was in for a truculent discussion about pregnancy.

  ‘Come on in,’ she said, more mildly than she wanted. She held the door, closing it gently on the two of them. ‘Are you feeling better? Come on, sit down.’

  Helen remained on her feet. ‘The thing is, I was out of order then. Way out of order.’

  Kate gestured at one of the chairs, with what she hoped was authority, but said noncommittally, ‘Hormones do funny things, don’t they?’

  ‘Fucking right. I thought PMT was bad enough—but this! Any road, I was out of order. Gaffer.’

  Kate nodded a friendly acknowledgement. ‘Look, sit down. I’d offer you tea but this is a herbal brew and disgusting stuff.’

  ‘I’m off tea. Makes me throw up. Maybe that stuff’d suit me better.’

  ‘Try it.’

  Perhaps this was the way forward. Kate reboiled the kettle and poured water on to a pinkish bag. Helen sniffed at the resulting pale raspberry-coloured liquid with interest, swirling the bag around for a couple of minutes before fishing it out and slinging it accurately into a bin. She even volunteered a smile as she took the first sip ‘Ah, it’s not half bad.’

  Which Kate took as approval. It was a risk, but she’d take it. ‘Which part of the Black Country are you from?’

  A beam lifted the heavy face. ‘Ah, I come from down Lower Gornal—d’you know it?’

  ‘No, but my best mate comes from Tividale. He would.’

  ‘Ah, he would. But don’t take no notice of anything he says. They think we’re thick down Lower Gornal. Thick as pig shit.’

  ‘I might think you’re thick as pig shit if you come in when you’re poorly,’ Kate ventured.

  ‘If I really was bad, you’m right. But, honestly, it’s just this business of throwing up me guts for a bit. Then I’m fit as a flea. So long as you don’t offer me tea.’

  ‘Tell me, how long does it take each morning before you’re well? An hour? A couple of hours? And then are you really OK?’

  ‘Suppose. Yeah, by ten I’d say I was in the clear’

  ‘So why don’t we swap shifts, this week at least.’ She was almost thinking aloud. ‘I’m supposed to be on days, but if Neil Drew’s off I ought to come in early anyway. And you could come in when you felt up to it, and complete your shift eight hours later.’

  ‘Hey, that’s a bosting idea. Why didn’t I think of that…’

  Because you’re too busy being angry about being pregnant. Should she push any further? Just a very little…

  ‘Now, we ought to meet to see how this arrangement’s working, but I can’t see us fitting it in for a couple of days.’

  ‘I bet you don’t know if you’re on your arse or your elbow, do you? I mean, our bloody paperwork’s outside of enough, but yours must be…’ She shook her head.

  ‘Quite. But if it is working, we could see if we can fix a swap for you with someone next week too And then someone else, until your morning sickness is over.’

  ‘It’d be over fast enough if I got rid of the bab.’

  Kate said nothing. She looked steadily at Helen, whose heavy jaw and strong brows were knotted with baffled anger.

  ‘It’s not that I don’t want it, like,’ she said at last, tugging at her hair. Her hands were remarkably elegant, with beautifully shaped nails. Not cared-for, of course. Cuticles like fringes. But she hadn’t bitten the nails down ‘Not as such But it’s turning my life upside down—you know what I mean I mean, I don’t even smell like me any more. As for my fits…’

  Kate got up and reached for her diary, scribbling on a scrap of paper a number from the back. ‘You could always try these people. This is their direct line. So Personnel don’t ever have to know.’

  Local Problems of Law and Disorder: well, perhaps they were more local than the Home Office had anticipated. But she’d do no more than put the policy document in her bag to read at home. She couldn’t leave Steve Timms to carry the day’s load. It wasn’t fair on him and would only add to the contents of steepling in-trays that dominated everyone’s desks.

  She found Timms, hands in pockets, glowering down at Mrs Speed, who was reciprocating with a hard, sideways glance in the direction of Kate’s room. The kettle! Hoping she hadn’t been noticed, she slipped back and returned to produce it with a magician’s flourish. ‘Da-dah! Any chance of a proper cuppa? But not too strong. I’ll just go and wash those mugs.’

  Timms was looking anxious when she returned, hands still wet since the roller towel had expired. She was going to have a significant conversation with the cleaner.

  He cleared his throat. ‘I was wondering, gaffer, if you’d like to try some of my tea. Green tea. Very refreshing and very good at mopping up free radicals.’

  ‘I didn’t know they’d let any out.’ Kate grinned.

  No one else did.

  The green tea was better than anything Kate had yet drunk at Scala House, and she popped into the office to tell Steve so.

  ‘Steve, what do you do for lunch?’ When he hesitated she continued, ‘I want to spend a little time with everyone here, and lunchtime is as good an opportunity as any. Do you have any plans for today?’

  ‘I—I usually bring my own’ He reached into a torn Safeway carrier for a couple of round plastic food boxes, an apple, a banana and a bottle of mineral water.

  ‘How about I nip and get a sarnie and we eat here together?’

  His Adam’s apple, which hitherto she’d hardly noticed, wobbled convulsively. ‘I could nip out and get it for you?’

  She ought to argue that a bit of fresh air would do her good, but he seemed so eager that it might be churlish to refuse. ‘Cheese salad, please.’ She would
n’t want to offend someone who might well be a veggie by asking for anything meaty. She fished in her purse. ‘About one? Meanwhile is there anything in your in-tray that has to be done today and I could do for you?’

  He pointed. One more note, a single sheet would cause a veritable Niagara of paper. ‘All urgent. Or they were last week. Maybe the week before that.’ He patted a pile of files. ‘And that’s all paperwork that’s got to be completed before the DPP will even look at the cases.’

  ‘What one thing would make life easier for you?’

  He laughed drily.

  ‘No. Seriously.’

  ‘Get rid of the Home Secretary. We’ve got so many bloody initiatives we don’t know where we are. And X is top of the list one week, Y the next.’

  ‘I hold him, you shoot him. What about more local help?’ This time he almost wriggled with embarrassment. ‘Between ourselves, Steve.’

  ‘A full team all the time’d be nice. So I don’t have to worry about other people’s jobs as well as mine.’

  ‘You don’t have to worry about them anyway. That’s up to. me. Meanwhile, hand over a couple of cases get on with your own priorities, and we’ll chew the fat over lunch.’

  At least she had a full shift, sergeant and seven constables, to greet at the start of the two till ten shift. The sergeant, Jill Todd, looked vacuously pretty: she wouldn’t be much above thirty, and had doll-like blue eyes, a milkmaid, not a meter-maid, complexion, and blonde hair wisping out of a knot. Kate told herself to suspend judgement. She herself might not be pretty, except perhaps in Rod’s, eyes, but she was young, too, and had been on the receiving end of enough bias to cure her of it towards others. Furthermore, she hadn’t been told of any other fast-track graduates in the nick, so she must assume that Jill had got where she was simply through being a good cop.

  ‘I know you’re all under pressure,’ she began, to a predictable groan, ‘but a rumour’s come my way that’s worth taking notice of. Illegal immigrants. Coming in via the wholesale market, of course, and being distributed around local retail and food outlets.’

  ‘Mr Choi paid you a visit, has he, gaffer?’ Jill asked. ‘Is he a regular?’

  ‘He seems to get a kick out of visiting us here. Twiss had to fend him off for us.’

  “Fend off”? Sounds as if he was an unwelcome visitor.’ There was a gentle rumble of assent.

  ‘He’s all buddy-buddy, that’s the trouble. He sees it as if he’s some sort of ambassador—building bridges.’

  ‘He used the same term to me when we first met, at Cherish House.’

  Jill raised her eyebrows. ‘I thought Dave Bush always went to those dos.’

  ‘Annual leave. He’s your expert, is he? We could do with him here now.’

  ‘He’ll be back this weekend,’ someone volunteered.

  ‘I’m not sure that this will wait till the weekend. Unless you really all doubt Mr Choi as a reliable source of info, I’d like you to keep your eyes extra wide. Especially whoever’s patrolling the wholesale market.’

  Jill looked around the group, none of whom seemed entirely comfortable. ‘Why don’t I finish the briefing, and then talk to you?’

  ‘Good idea. Thanks. Now, I’ve got a meeting tomorrow about local problems of law and disorder, in lines with the latest directive. If anyone has any ideas you want putting forward, or if any of you want to come with me, my door’s always open. Thanks, ladies and gentlemen.’

  Kate was regarding a gift-wrapped parcel sitting on her desk when Jill tapped and came in. ‘That didn’t take long. It’ll be Mr Choi ‘s first present,’ she explained.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Kate glanced up, startled.

  ‘I’d put a flyer on it. You’ll find it’s tasteful, just what you needed, not cheap, but certainly not expensive enough to call it-a bribe. And it’s certainly too small to return to him without causing offence.’

  Kate laughed. ‘You’ve had experience of this.’

  ‘No. But Twiss used to talk to me when he got them.’ We’re not talking set of golf clubs.’

  ‘Much less pricy. But more expensive than tees. Oh, do you play golf? Because—’

  ”Fraid not. Tennis when I get a chance. OK, so what did Mark get?’

  ‘A teddy bear when his first baby was born. Nothing wrong with that. Several local traders gave him things. He was a good community cop, as well as a good boss. He’ll be a hard act to follow.’

  Kate nodded. She wasn’t sure how to read the observation she’d rather have made herself. ‘Anything else from Choi?’ she prompted.

  ‘One day our electric kettle blew while he was here. A new one arrived within minutes of his leaving. And that microwave out there.’

  ‘But that’s a big present. Almost a bribe.’

  ‘Not when it’s for the whole lot of us. And when he fixes for the community newspaper to take his picture presenting it.’

  ‘Any road up, as Helen Kerr would say, shall I open the box?’

  ‘How’s Helen’s morning sickness?’ Jill asked, as Kate tackled the adhesive tape, without notable success.

  It was general knowledge, was it? ‘Hell, that’s the trouble with having short fingernails!’

  ‘Is she going to keep it?’

  ‘That’s her business, not for us to—’

  ‘Silly cow, it’ll soon be too late to get rid of it.’

  Perhaps that what she wanted—a pregnancy by default, as it were. Kate ignored the comment. ‘Well, that’s the first layer. Do you think Choi’s got shares in Sellotape?’ She worked away, removing the gift-wrapping at last to reveal a gift box. ‘Wow, this will have cost him a flyer in itself.’

  Jill jumped up and down with possibly feigned excitement. ‘Come on! What’s inside?’

  ‘Look.’ She held up a bone china mug, one of half a dozen nestling in tissue.

  ‘No teapot?’

  ‘No. But look what he’s packed into the mugs—teabags. All sorts of different ones.’

  Jill was upending the mugs. ‘No trademarks—they look good, but they’re not Royal Worcester or anything.’

  ‘So I can’t send them back as being too expensive a gift.’

  ‘Precisely. And, if you don’t mind my saying so, they’re a bit nicer than yours.’

  ‘I don’t at all. These are due for a charity shop: I promised Rod they’d never darken-his kitchen again.’

  ‘Rod? Oh, Rod Neville. You’re the one he’s with, are you?’ Kate stepped back a pace. “The one”?’

  ‘Everyone knows he’s with some high-flyer. So it’s you. Well, I hope you’ll be very happy.’

  Should she take the good wishes at face value or judge their sincerity by the tone of voice in which they had been delivered? ‘Thanks,’ she said positively.

  ‘How did you cope being undercover? Being apart from each other?’

  ‘How does anyone cope? Anyway, we’re back together now, that’s all that matters.’ Kate hoped Jill wouldn’t notice that her palms were sweating. How stupid to be getting so worked up over a girlie talk about boys. Why not try patting the ball back into the other woman’s court? ‘Are you involved with anyone?’

  ‘I was. But it seems to be over now. Quite over.’

  ‘Someone in the service? Or a civilian?’

  ‘What’s it matter if it’s over? Yes, a policeman. Someone quite senior.’

  Kate hoped her smile looked more sincere than it felt. ‘Anyone I know?’

  ‘Sorry, gaffer, I’d rather not talk about it. Footloose and fancy-free that’s me. I might even make a play for Mr Choi.’ Her grin seemed forced.

  ‘Make sure he gives you mugs with a manufacturer’s name stamped underneath if you do. Royal Worcester or Doulton,’ Kate said lightly. ‘Is his information genuine, do you think?’ She retired behind her desk: yes, she meant business.

  ‘Let’s just say it suits him to tell you.’ Jill sat too. ‘I’m sure if it was in his interests to keep mum he’d have done so.’

  Despite herself, Kate
grinned. ‘Funny, that was one of the expressions Mr. Choi and I were discussing. He seemed very interested in the English language.’

  Jill laughed. ‘Oh, that’s because he’s heard you’re a graduate. He thinks all graduates are intellectuals.’

  Did that imply Jill Todd wasn’t? Another reason for shoulder chips? ‘He’s missed his mark as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, how seriously do we take his information? Just maintain the routine, only more so—or go all out to find what’s going on?’

  ‘You could annoy some very influential people if you do—even more influential than Choi Who is, we reckon, quite high in a triad.’

  Kate’s eyebrows shot up.

  ‘Oh, don’t worry. He’s unlikely to bother us. We never have difficulties with the heads of triads. To all intents and purposes they’re simply respectable and influential businessmen. They’re—unofficially—in charge of districts. Here’s Choi’s.’ She got up to outline a section on the street map with her index finger. ‘Dave Bush knows more about them than I do. All their nicknames, everything. Basically they control the area by fear, latent violence. Nothing actual.’

  ‘So far as we know. So Choi’s allegation could be-simply to put pressure on another gang. Or, of course, it could be genuine. Which is what I want us to find out.’

  ‘Some of the other duty teams are very short-handed.’ Jill’s tone said hers was put upon quite enough as it was. When and why had management decided on the trendy term duty team, not shift or relief?

  ‘We find evidence of what Choi’s alleging and we’ll get help. Probably more help that we’d like. Whose beat takes them round the market? In your team, at least.’

  ‘There’s not much happening at this time of day, of course, but at night, when it’s really busy, it’s Pam or Tony. Sometimes both.’