CHAPTER 17
She was straight off home after the shift, wife to unchain, dragon to feed, as Alun cheekily suggested. We had sat at our little tables all bloody day without budging, it seemed, as Chris bustled about with cups of tea and coffee, plates of biscuits and so on, at lunchtime taking everyone’s order for a run up to the canteen.

I could see what he was doing as a support worker, but it was more than that. I don’t think it was a cynical ploy on his part, but his comment about goats and arriving late came to mind. Get involved with us, become part of the team, and we’d feel more inclined to be punctual when it was needed. Whatever his reasons, he did help us markedly through the day.

What we were doing was data analysis, which sounds boring, and is, but we needed to find out as much as we could about Jamie Evans, from vehicles he controlled to jobs he’d held, addresses he had occupied, any dealings with us, all of that. Candice was trawling her ASBO listings for associates and relatives, Ellen was straight onto HMRC for any tax and job records, and so on. Any and all angles, and it was a slog.

On one of my toilet breaks, right at going-home time, I ended up walking straight into the Super in the corridor.

“Sorry, sir!”

“No at all. DC Owens, isn’t it?”

“Well, PC, actually”

“The job you’re on, it’s DC for now. Anyway, how is it going? Don’t worry about ‘need to know’, this one’s my baby”

“Er, won’t Inspector Powell be reporting directly, then?”

He smiled, and there was real warmth there. This was another real policeman, I saw.

“Elaine can be a little intense, a little narrow in her focus, DC Owens. I like to get as many angles on things as I can. Talk me through it—oh, follow me”

He took me to a little room the nick kept for people who needed a space to unwind, and, ignoring the sign saying ‘do not lock door from inside’, proceeded to do exactly that before sitting down with me in the easy chairs.

“The station is a bit shook up, DC Owens. Diane, if I may. Dai Gould’s nephew makes it very personal for a lot of staff here”

“He’s a good bloke, sir”

“Yes, and well-liked. That gives us momentum, which we must take advantage of. What do you have?”

I talked him through the SOCO report and our other little snippets, and it was obvious he was well up to speed with most of them.

“This Evans fellow? What are you doing with him?”

“Data trawl at the moment, sir”

“Any eyes on him?”

“Not yet, sir”

“Do it. That is my formal authority to establish surveillance on Jamie Robert Evans. I ‘ll sort out the paperwork for you tomorrow, but please, get on him. Let Elaine know I’ve authorised it. Keep me up to speed”

He stood to leave, and as he unlocked the door turned back to me.

“And take some time to unwind. As a team, together, if you can. Keep that bonding going and you will do far better work than sitting in silence”

He was off, and after a few minutes thought I went back to our room, our own boss already gone.

“Boys and girls!”

That brought a laugh.

“Boys and girls, we have had a heavy day. I am back in my digs, so I am walking home. Anyone fancy a pint?”

Nem con, and after closing everything up we made our way with some deep sense of purpose to the Great Western, where we found a booth in a corner. Once I was outside half of my own drink, I gave them an edited-for-eavesdroppers account of my chat with the Super.

Rob nodded sharply. “Aye, get onto the bastard as soon as. Makes sense to me. Who’s up for a bit of a sit in a car with cold coffee and a peppered steak slice?”

Alun laughed. “Dunno about steak slices, but I am going to have one of the burgers”

Candice picked up the menu for a check on what they had to offer.

“Your missus not do the cooking to your taste, Al?”

His face fell. “Not that, mate. Lynne’s not really up to it these days”

Typically for a copper, Candice didn’t let it go.

“What’s up, Alun?”

He shrugged. "Don’t really know, girl. She gets tired very easily. No energy for anything these days”

I reined back my comment about energetic PCSOs. “Sounds like CFS, mate”

He nodded, as Ellen asked the obvious question, and gave the answer.

“Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, girl. One of her quacks was talking about ME—don’t even think of asking me to try and say that one. All we know is that she has no energy, gets tired as quick as, headaches, and they’ve done all sorts of tests and, well, fuck-all comes up. So, well, I like the food here, and it saves her having to wear herself out”

Another lesson to me in assumptions, followed immediately by a swell of questions from the team about what they could do to help. We really were building up to that concept—a team.

“Ran into the Super as I came on, people. Wanted to know what was going on. Said he likes to get as many angles as possible”

Rob laughed. “I’m going to take a guess here, as he did the same with me. Anyone he HASN’T tapped up?”

Once again, nem con. Cheeky Super. I laughed with the rest, and then raised our little friend’s needs.

“So that’s all of us, then. Now, he wants eyeballs-on with our mate. Ideas?”

It was Blake’s turn to laugh. “Not you then, Di! We want enough pieces left of him to arrest! You lot should have seen her on plot. That was one scared arsehole after she spoke to him. No, Di, we need someone at the hospital with the victim. You and Rob, I think. Both got the touch, there, and we want our other friend to be nice and relaxed. I’m up for it. Anyone else?”

Alun nodded. “Done the training, me. Can cascade it as necessary, but for now, aye. Me and Blake, if nobody has any other ideas?”

There was general agreement, Candice and Ellen offering to do the relief bit. As our food arrived (I had succumbed to the smell and the menu) I delegated myself as the messenger to our boss the next day.

Blake made a quiet comment as we tucked in. “Di, don’t take this wrong, but we want him in one piece. There again, if I have any say in this, that piece may be missing a few teeth”

I left that one to lie on the table as we ate.

As it turned out, I was first in the next day, my digs being so close. Chris was in five minutes later, Elaine in his wake. As he started rattling the kettle, I followed her to her little space.

“Super ran into me last thing yesterday, ma’am”

“I know what he’s like; he’ll be sounding out everyone on the team. What did he have to say?”

“I let him know we had a face in the frame at last”

“And?”

“He’s authorised proper surveillance, ma’am, on that Evans guy. See where he goes to after work be a starter”

“Who’ve we got on him then?”

Sucker punched.

“How’d you know I’d already… You can be a right sod, Inspector!”

“Where’s he to, anyway?”

I grabbed one of our local street-map booklets.

“Up in Llandaff. LIO’s got a little file on him and no, he isn’t related”

“To the LIO?”

Something that had been almost my first act on seeing that name, that surname.

“No, ma’am, to our favourite family, as I am sure you knew full well I meant”

Her grin was feral, and I immediately thought of Blake’s description of her.

“Not daft, are you? Who’s been detailed to watch the shit?”

“We had a natter down the pub last night, the team did that is. I’m not wanted cause I is a gurl and it might get rough, so Blake and Alun stuck their hands up”

Her face clouded,

“Really? Little bit of sexism?”

I couldn’t help it, and started to giggle.

“Not really… Elaine. They said first of all that I was the best one for the hospital stuff, dealing with the rellies and so on. Best for the boy as well”

“Still…”

“No, not at all. The rest of the lads thought I might be a bit too enthusiastic if it came to a ruck, innit? They want him conscious and in possession of all body parts, though Blake did sort of drop hints about not being too careful with his teeth”

Once again, I saw her own teeth, and there was no mirth there.

“When you see Blake, remind him that some of the wounds we’ve picked up are bite marks, and Evans is going to need his teeth for a match, aye?”

“Wilco, Elaine! Tea? Chris has already got the kettle going”

“Yeah, go on. And I want a timeline comparison ready. When we get other names and faces, I want to crossmatch them straight away”

“I think Alun has a programme for that. Analyst’s Notebook or some such name. Lets you plot timelines visually”

She nodded. “Get it done, girl, or at least started. Bedside?”

“I thought Chris might do some of that”

“Indeed. You not doing any of the staging, then?”

I shrugged. “I think so, but the team wanted to get a handle on his movements first. We will need to change, mix and match, regularly. I’ll let you know”

“Sounds good. Now, did the Super say he was doing the necessaries with the paperwork? If so, I’m off up there to do my own briefing. Sneaky bastard can’t keep going behind my back without consequences!”

There was still a smile there, though.

The week played out, Omar still in an induced coma according to Chris, whose absence from our team room was a wrench. I got to do my own sessions on surveillance, and Jamie Evan’s face became engraved in my little mental book of Things to Hate.

I was on stag with Alun one evening, parked up in the pull-in by the Spar shop just down from the Butcher’s Arms, when I saw the bastard coming straight towards us. Fuck. I grabbed Alun, and hauled him over so that his face was in front of mine.

“Kiss me, mate. No tongue, or I’ll cut your balls off”

Fist kiss, sort of, in forever, but that wasn’t the point. The piece of shit on the footpath walked right past us, just a leer as he clocked our embrace before turning his attention back to the roll-up he was making as he walked. Multi=tasking: how bloody clever of him. I caught a glimpse of the tattoos as he went past, or at least some of them, and blessed that LIO.

So that week went, small instants of terror inserted into long hours of tedium. We were still awaiting any results from the forensic lab people, but they said they had a number of different sets of DNA and promised a call as soon as they had any matches.

Rob and I had just handed over to Candice and Alun and on our way back to the city when my mobile rang.

“Hello, can I help you?”

Idiot. I should have looked at the caller ID before answering. Sloppy, DC Owens.

“Di? It’s Blake. Where are you?”

“On our way back to the office, mate”

“Omar’s awake”

Thank god. “How is he?”

“Shit state. Boss is on her way in, but she’s asked if you can sort out that tattoo file, bring it in? I’m going to call in the other two, take a step back from this one. We could have some more targets very soon, and we don’t want to show out by accident”

“Fair play, mate. I’ll see you as soon as, OK?”

“See you soon, then. Oh yes, got a question to ask. Got a couple of tickets from a mate, for the Blues. He’s had a family thing get in the way”

No, mate. No way. “Not that into rugby, Blake”

He laughed, and it was natural. “No, girl, not for you! Wanted to see if Mark… if your Dad fancied going”

“I’ll ask, OK? Now, let’s get this done. See you in a few”

I wondered if the sneaky bastard was trying to get to me through my parents, before letting it go. He seemed to be getting on well with Dad, and in a little flash of insight I realised how few friends my parents actually had. Mothers and fathers of sluts were not generally flavour of the month, were they?

Let it go, girl. Sort that file and see to a victim. Elaine passed me as I went back out to the car, her face like thunder and her manner even scarier than Blake’s description, but her voice was controlled, even warm.

“Ta, Di. See what he does when he clocks the picture, aye? Have you taken along some fake ones?”

“Got eight files here”

“Good. Not really evidential here, but it gives us what the Yanks call probable cause, aye? His parents are with him. Good people, girl. See you back as soon as you can manage. We need to get this disseminated and digested”

Shortly afterwards, I was at the door of a private room in the hospital. A very, very dark-skinned couple sat by the bed, Blake and Chris hovering nearby and a uniformed lad sitting just outside the door. I went to identify myself, and he grinned, shaking his head.

“I know who you are, love. Just get this one sorted, yeah? For Dai Gould?”

I nodded, pulled on a smile and stepped into the room.