Chapter 4

After the big lunch of small bites, I only needed something light on Sunday night. I watched some mindless show on the box and went to bed early. Tomorrow was going to be a turning point for Max Force.

I dressed in a skirt suit to look businesslike and called a local Uber company to pick me up outside the flats and gave them my mobile number to call when they arrived. I had the cash in a shopping bag inside my shoulder bag, along with the vouchers and my normal bag. It was quite heavy. The mobile rang that the car was outside, so I told him I’d be right down.

It car was tidy but smelt slightly of old kebabs. I got in the back and told the driver to go to where my bank was. When we got there, I gave him a tenner and asked him to wait. In the bank, I deposited all the cash into my business account, telling them that I had made a killing at the races. When I went outside, I was pleasantly surprised that the driver hadn’t done a runner with the ten quid.

I got back in the car and asked him to take me to Harrods. When we got there, he turned in his seat.

“My name is Hassam, Miss. Here’s my card. When you’ve finished shopping give me a call and I’ll pick you up again.”

“Thank you, Hassam. Here’s another twenty, I’ll be a while and I may have something to eat before I’ve finished.”

“Not a problem. I’m told that a woman can walk into that store and come out a princess. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do the same for men.”

“You want to be a princess, do you?”

“Not me, Miss. If they could do that, there would be a line going up the road and around the corner.”

I was smiling as I walked through the doors of the emporium. A doorman asked me how I was and if I needed any help to find a department. I flashed the two vouchers and asked how these worked. He asked me to wait for a few moment as he said something into a two-way radio. Inside a few minutes, a young woman came up to me.

“Good morning, Madam. My name is Amanda and I’m your personal assistant today. I’m told you have some vouchers. May I see them.”

I pulled them out and she had a quick look.

“Congratulations on your win, Madam. You must have looked stunning to beat some of those women that we usually see bringing these to us. Now, do you have any idea of what you want to buy?”

“A good range of cosmetics will be good. It’s a present to me. After that, I would like to see lingerie, a present to the men I might meet after I’ve shopped.”

She giggled and then led me to the cosmetics area, asking me what I was now using and what I had used before and liked. We decided on a brand, and I was sat on a stool while a cheery woman cleansed my face and examined me against a chart. A half an hour later, I was looking fabulous, had a bag of the products and one of the vouchers had been spent.

At the lingerie department, I went for high end luxury, and bra and panty sets, nighties and camisoles later, Amanda told me I was close to the end of the voucher. It worked out that I had enough for a half a dozen packs of very sheer tights. It didn’t take a lot of time to go through the money in a shop like this.

I thanked Amanda, and she left me with my bags, with my vouchers in her hand. I found the café and took a seat at an empty table. I ordered a salmon salad, which was delicious. After I had paid, I wandered around a bit, finding that I could have spent my two vouchers on a dress, and still would have chipped in more.

Back at the doors, I called Hassam and added his number to my speed dial while I waited for him. He wasn’t long and I asked him if he knew Soho.

“Like the back of my hand, Miss. What are you looking for?”

“I’m thinking of setting up a small office for my business.”

“What kind of business, if I may be so bold?”

“I’m a Private Investigator.” And I gave him one of my cards.

“Do you want something flash and storefront, or something that looks like you’ll find Sam Spade when you walk in.”

I had to laugh at that, and then realised that I did need to decide on what I really wanted to convey. It would be just me, so I didn’t need a flash office, which would need a receptionist and more investigators.

“Sam Spade and sleazy.”

He drove me to a small real estate office and parked.

“I will come in with you, Miss. This man is a cousin of mine, from the richer side of the family. He is the slum lord of sleazy offices, but I think he may have something for you.”

We went in and I was introduced to Abdul, who showed me brochures of various offices, all too expensive and flash. In the end, he pulled out a piece of paper with a picture of a door and an address.

“This may be what you’re looking for, Madam. It’s been on my books for some while, as the location is less than a lot of customers can live with. I can do you a very good deal, even better for cash.”

It was in the heart of Soho, and I just had to have a look at it. Before we went to see it, I negotiated a deal which would give me the bond and a year of the lease paid for, with that starting on the first of January.

He gave Hassam the keys and we were off. There wasn’t any parking outside, and Hassam found a space around the corner, outside an Italian Restaurant. This was looking up. When we found the door, I had to laugh. Hassam joined me. The door was between a pub and a sex shop. He opened the door and led me up a flight of stairs to the floor over the sex shop. It was set up like an office and absolutely big enough for me. There was a reception area and a separate back office for me. The window looked out over the street and there was plenty of natural light.

Up another flight of stairs, he unlocked the door, and we went into a living area, probably bigger than the flat I was now living in. The lounge and kitchen area were open plan, with a bedroom with ensuite, a separate bathroom and toilet, and another smaller room which could be whatever you make of it.

The kitchen had been modernised a few years ago, by the look of it, and sported a washer / drier and a dishwasher. The cook top and oven looked like they had never been used. No wonder, with all the food outlets within five minutes. I was loving it, already. I noticed that the heating was a split system with heat and cooling. Hassam saw me looking at it.

“The system is on the roof. I helped my cousin install it for the previous tenant. It was too hard to take away and Abdul added a bit to her bond when she was paid.”

“Her?”

“Well, them. There were two of them working from here. Nice girls but skirting with danger. I used to take them to their clients. It was almost too much to drive away and leave them. They both fell foul of the law too many times, as well as doing too much kinky stuff. What looks like an office was a reception and a room with a massage table. I think they went north.”

“I’ve seen enough. Can you lock up and take me back to Abdul tomorrow. I will sign the paperwork give him the bond money, in cash. The lease will be paid with a cash cheque.”

“He will be happy with that. Will you want some help with moving? I have another cousin with a van.”

“That will be wonderful. Tell me you have another cousin with a car yard. I will need to sell my own car as there’s nowhere to store it here. How would you like to be my speed dial driver?”

“Madam, you are just wonderful. It will be a pleasure to drive you wherever you want. I’ve had this dream where someone dives into my car and tells me to - follow that cab!”

We locked up and I stood outside, soaking up the smell of Soho. Not only did I now have and office here, but I also had living quarters above it. It was a dream come true, and there was more than enough in the bank to cover setting up here.

Back at the car, I looked at the Italian Restaurant and asked Hassam if he was hungry. He gave me a big grin and we went in, sitting at a table and ordering our meal. I told him that the meal was on me, and that we could meet here, or somewhere close by, if I gave him a call, as the parking outside my office was almost non-existent. After he drove me home, I gave him fifty and asked him to pick me up here in the morning, about ten, to go and see Abdul.

I had a good look at what cash I had left in my wardrobe and counted out the bond money we had agreed on. I had found that if someone wanted to up the price when they thought that had you hooked, having the amount agreed on, in cash, was a good ice breaker. That done, I snipped the tags off my new clothes and put them in my drawers. Adding the new cosmetics to my vanity. I had duplicates of the essentials in my bag and pulled out what I had been using, storing it in a drawer rather than tossing it out.

I was sitting on my couch, watching the TV, when my mobile rang. It was David, calling from home, telling me that he had set up a meeting with the police in his office on Wednesday. It was a good job I didn’t have much sleuthing to do this week!

I thought that I could move some of my things on the weekend, if I started very early in the morning, before Soho woke up. Then, the following weekend was the next Ascot meeting. Attending that would depend on the outcome of the meeting on Wednesday. Before I went to bed, I looked on my computer to see what cars like mine were getting in the marketplace. If I achieved that, I would actually make a small profit.

The next day, Hassam picked me up and we went to see Cousin Abdul. Of course, he had to try and up the agreed figures, having realised he ‘had made a mistake with his quote’. Putting the agreed amount on his desk and telling him to take it or I’m on my way, set his memory back to what we had discussed. He gave me to the end of the year to come up with the lease, seeing that I was going to pay it yearly. Probably Hassam knowing where I lived eased that detail.

With the keys in my hand, I got Hassam to take me home and wait for me to bring down my vacuum and cleaning supplies. He dropped me off at the door, and I opened it to put my cleaning equipment inside. He took off and I closed the door and locked it. I took everything to the top of the stairs and started with the living space.

By lunch I had tidied up the living area, cleaned the porcelains, and filled a waste bag with the contents of the vacuum. As I worked, I was planning where I was going to put everything, and the items I wanted to buy to make it mine. I stopped for lunch, going outside, locking the door, and strolling around. I discovered I was around the corner from Ronnie Scott’s and more food outlets in one place that you could work through in a year. That’s when it dawned on me that I had more than a year to try everything. I had a pizza to give me strength and went back to work on the stairs to the office, and then the office itself.

I had the place spic and span with the cleaning gear piled by the door when I rang Hassam. At the flat, I gave him his money and he drove off with a smile and the promise that he would pick me up again in the morning. I carried my stuff up to the flat and put the kettle on. After all that hard work, I had a shower, and relaxed in my nightie and gown, eating a simple tea that I had nuked. Only the best when I cook at home!

Instead of watching TV, I went on the laptop and redesigned my business card, with my new address. I wouldn’t send it off to the printer before I had the new landline number. I realised that a lot of the ‘mom and pop’ jobs that I had been doing would dry up as soon as I moved, so I would have to find more of the well-paying ones. If I got a full week, or more, I would be able to carry on quite easily. What it needed was word of mouth referrals. I would need to email all my old customers with the new details.

Hassam dropped me off at the legal office and I told him that I would give him a call when I’m ready. I went up to Davids’ office and was shown to his board room. There were a few men sitting around the big table, and one girl with a steno pad.

David introduced me around. Two I knew already, the Detective Inspector and his Sergeant from Islington. Then there was a man from the tax office and an Assistant Commissioner. The girl remained anonymous. The discussion began with the sergeant describing me taking him the list of names, and the outcome of the search in the records.

Then I had to describe how I had come by that list, with David letting them know that his wife was my client. Then I had to tell them what I had discovered over the three meetings that I had attended, letting them know that I had been in disguise in a blonde wig. As I got to be given the winning tips, the taxman frowned. When I got to the mystery bet, with its result, he got red-faced. The AC and the DI looked serious when I got to the promise of big money at Epsom in May.

After that, the discussion ebbed and flowed, until the AC decided.

“What we are going to do is set up surveillance of the bookie site at the next two meetings at Ascot with still and film photography and directional microphones. You guys can run that from Islington. Maxine, will you go there to point out the criminals for the team, as well as this other man you said could be being groomed. If we can record the process with him, it would give me the ammunition I will need to set up a surveillance and arrest operation at Epsom. I’ll have to bring in the Surrey boys on that.”

I was booked to join the team on Friday, to fix the microphones and pick the best photography points. There was always a lot of cameras around during the meeting so the police wouldn’t stand out. I asked the tax man about the winnings, and he told me that if it was substantial, I should declare it at tax time, but it would be tax free. He asked how much I had won, and I told him that the mystery bet cleared fifty thousand on just two races.

The tax man and the AC left us to work out the details and I was taken to the Islington station to join a team that the Inspector had ordered to assemble by phone. I gave Hassam a quick call to tell him that I was going to be taken home and wouldn’t need him to pick me up.

In the team meeting I felt as if I was back in the force. I had missed it, but now knew that I didn’t have to take orders from anybody. It allowed me to relax and add my comments without worrying that I would be put down. They had a satellite picture of Ascot, and I pointed out the places where I had been contacted, and the area where the bookies set up. It didn’t take long, and the sergeant dropped me off at home.

In the afternoon, I drove myself to a retail park and looked for office equipment and odd bits of furniture. I made notes of all the things I would need in the office. That would be paid for from my business account. The furnishings that I would buy for the flat upstairs would come out of my private account.

Most of the furniture was easily transportable as it was flat packed. I would need two desks, good chairs for me and any receptionist I might have, a couple of chairs for clients, and carpet for both rooms. I would need to measure the rooms next time I went to Soho.

I tried the meatballs with rice in the café and felt full when I left. There was a service station with cheaper petrol, so I filled up the Mercedes. When I was back in the flat, I sat down and reviewed the jobs I had on board, then ringing a couple to tell them that I couldn’t find their husbands locally, so would need to spend time on databases around the country if I was going to go further, with a quote that made them sigh and tell me to drop it. I doubt that finding the errant spouse was worth the cost, anyway. It just left me a couple which would need time to spend visiting the known haunts that I had not got around to.

I did that on Thursday, able to tell my clients where their spouses were shacked up by the end of the day. It’s amazing what publicans will tell you when you say that you’re looking for the guy because you’re pregnant. I think that it must be a venting of displeasure that another guy is getting something that you aren’t. With the cases closed, and the payments in my bag, I was ready for the big case and the police operation.

Friday, I was picked up by the Inspector with the sergeant driving, and we went to Ascot, to join the team that had gone down with a van to carry the ladders they may need. The course had been told that there was to be a police operation but hadn’t been told the reason. I expect that they thought it may be surveillance of criminals using the place to launder drug money.

I could pinpoint the site where Honest Joe set up, and a camera and microphone was put on the wall, made to look like the normal CCTV unit that was scattered around the place already. I was told that they were radio controlled with a Wi-Fi transmitter. The observer would be in one of the rooms under the stands. The photographers decided where the best spots were, with me going to stand in the places where I had been spoken to, giving them the reasons over a two-way radio. When we had set up, I was taken home.

I called Dee on Sunday, and she invited me over for lunch. It was a low-key affair, for them, just the three of us with a meal served by her maid. We spoke about the operation on the following Saturday, about my friend Bertie, and about the horses that they would have running. Before I left, Dee gave me a list of tips from her extensive range of contacts. She would be able to work as a bookie with those contacts. I did tell them that I had used the money I had won to lease an office with living space in Soho, and David congratulated me on using it to progress my career.

On Monday, I thought that I would use the tube to get around. I went to Soho with a tape measure and noted the room sizes, then contacted Hassam and asked him to hire a van, with me picking up the cost, and coming to get me as early as possible on Tuesday. When he picked me up, he took me to the retail park, and I used my own credit card to buy carpet and the few bits I wanted for my new flat. Then I used the business credit card to get the carpets, desks, and chairs for the office. It was all loaded in the van, and we took it to Soho, parking the van outside the door and transferring the items inside as quickly as we could. He had a sign which said, ‘Removalists at work, be gone in fifteen.’ I would come back the next day and start my moving in.

On Wednesday, I used the tube again, looking quite drab in scrubbed jeans and a sweater. I unrolled the carpet in both rooms to settle and assembled the two bedside cupboards I had bought, and the new bookshelf. Without a mantlepiece, I would need somewhere to keep my photos and the lucky handbag.

Down in the office, I got to work on the carpets for both rooms, and then assembled the desks and the chairs. I stood back and looked at my new office. It just needed some pictures and my detective licence to make it homey. I looked at the pile of Allan keys on the desk and had to smile, there had been a few boys who had told me I was good with tools.

I sat at the desk and made a list. I needed to get the power, water and sewerage put into the company name. I needed to get a proper security system as the one here was woeful. I really needed the telecom people to make sure I had a landline with a plug on both floors, as well as a wi-fi modem so I could run the laptop and computer printer.

Abdul was only a few streets away, so I locked up and walked to his office. There, I paid the lease money with a cash cheque on the business account. I asked him about the services, and he wanted to know what I wanted done. He told me that it would be organised over the next two weeks, he had a set of keys he could use. I told him what I wanted with the security system, and I outlined what it should do. For that, he said, he would get it done and forward the account for me to pay.

I asked him where the closest Post Office was, and he told me it was in Poland Street. I told him that I would be back. At the Post Office I got myself a Post Box, paid for a year, filled in the forms, and received the keys. Back at Abdul, I told him the box number and he added it to his notes in my file.

Marianne Gregory © 2024