CHAPTER 34
The Smugglers’ was busy even on a lunchtime. I had kept it simple, in a sweat shirt and jeans rather than office smart, and I didn’t look too much out of place. I made my way to the bar.

“Diet coke, please. Slice but no ice”

“Pint? I mean, it’s not a pint, but it’s a ‘large’, and it’s close enough”

“Ye please. Is the landlord about, bar manager, whatever you have?”

“Landlord’s out the back. You got a problem, love?”

I smiled. “No, not at all. It’s a business thing”

“I’ll give him a shout. MARLENE!”

I must have looked puzzled, because the plump man in the T-shirt who was serving me laughed.

“She does the DJing for the drag night, love. You’re new to this sort of place, aren’t you?”

I thought of Bridget, off in points south.

“In this country, yes”

“Well, we only bite if asked very nicely, love”

I remembered Elaine’s instructions regarding teeth and shuddered. Marlene proved to be a tall and fit-looking man in his fifties with plucked eyebrows and a very business-like manner.

“Hello, Todd here says you want a word. Business, he says”

I pulled out my warrant card but kept it shielded from other eyes.

“Detective Constable Owens. Could we have a quiet word?”

“Oh, sodding hell, it’s not that tit who was flogging E in the bogs, is it? He’s barred now!”

“No, Marlene, if I may. It’s business, and sort of pleasure together”

“Oh, get her! Todd, going to be upstairs if anyone else wants me! Come through, Constabule. Bring your drink”

He led me up a tight little staircase and into a small but neat flat, and the camp manner fell away as he invited me to sit.

“What in hell do you want, girl? We’ve had a bit of a shitty new year, as you well know. Please tell me it’s not another load!”

I smiled again, doing the sweetness and light Blake had mentioned so often.

“No, not at all. I really think it’s good news. Now, you will be aware of a number of recent arrests?”

He snarled at that. “Utter bastards! What they did to poor Omar, and the state of little Vernon Pugh… Hang on. Was that your job?”

I shrugged. “Yes. Well, me and my team’s, to be exact”

His breath went out in a rush, and he was stammering.

“DC Owens, I am so sorry! If I had known… Have you eaten today? Want a cuppa? Coffee? Sandwich?”

Keep the smile going, Di.

“I’m fine, ta. If you have any questions that don’t cause problems, I would be happy to answer them. Just remember that a lot of stuff is yet to go before the courts so, you know”

“I do know, Constable”

“Diane, or Di, please”

He smiled back with real warmth. “Thank you. I do have a couple, love. Firstly, we hear that your team was led by someone on our bus”

I laughed. “Trust me, if Inspector Powell was on anybody’s bus, she would be driving it. She’s a real mover and shaker and, yes, she is gay”

I had taken the precaution of having a chat with Elaine about local gay culture before coming out (don’t smirk at thinking that, DC Owens) as I was long out of touch with it, and she had laughed when I asked her permission.

“You really think there is anyone in Wales that doesn’t know I’m a lesbian? Course you may, Di!”

Back to Marlene.

“Yup she’s a lesbian, married woman, but straight as they come, professionally, that is”

“Please give her our thanks, as a gay venue if not as actual representatives of the community. No, there’s more. You had a twink on your books, pretty lad. Some of our boys put two and two together after the arrests, and Omar and Scott have dropped hints”

“Yes. Chris. A very, very brave man”

“How is he?”

“Got a bit of a kicking, I’m afraid, but he’s as well as could be expected. No. Stupid phrase. He is recovering well, and he is a strong man, inner strength, if you take my meaning?”

Marlene reached out for my hand.

“Can you pass him a message for us?”

“I can do”

“Any time he wants to come here, his first drink is free”

“Thanks. I’ll tell him”

“Do you have any real news on the five you nicked?”

“Er, enquiries are continuing”

He laughed out loud, with real joy in it.

“And you have them well and truly stitched up, am I right?”

“You might be, a spokeswoman did not say”

“Wonderful. Sure you don’t want something stronger? Or is it duty head on today?”

“Very much so, Marlene”

“So what are you really here for?”

“Simple as simple can be. Those five aren’t the first, nor are they likely to be the last. I know you set up your cameras after the Admiral Duncan, so I know you understand what I mean. Oh, and thank you for the footage. You gave us a real breakthrough, though I can’t go into details!

He nodded. “That means a lot, Diane. Really?”

“Yup. You gave us our first name. We got a lot more later, but your cameras were our first opening. So thank you. Now, I said they weren’t the first, and we are still digging into earlier assaults, trying to see how many crimes we can put to them. We need people to know they can come to us and be taken seriously, and we need them to understand that will remain true. That’s why I’m here”

“Outreach, then?”

“Yes indeed. A face and a way of contacting us. Anonymity if necessary. I am doing the rounds of the gay villages here and in other cities, and for the near future I will be the SPOC, the single point of contact, and no, I am not putting on pointy ears. We are getting some business cards, posters and leaflets printed, so would you be happy to put some out for us?”

“Of course, Di! Could I make a suggestion?”

“Go ahead?”

“We host occasional information evenings. Terrence Higgins, Stonewall, Albert Kennedy Trust, that sort of thing. Would you like to do a table some evening? Just sit and answer questions, give out info?”

“Love to. Give them a face to go to”

“Yes. Too many of the boys in particular haven’t had the best experience with authority, so it would certainly repair some bridges. Some of your boys aren’t exactly diverse in their thinking”

Yes. Indeed, and two of them were on remand now. “I can understand that. Anything else?”

“Yes. If there does turn out to be a trial, could you let us know where and when, so we can all take popcorn?”

A laugh, a hug and on to the next place.

I did a few more pubs, with similar results, and ended up wondering how Chris’ liver was going to survive, before doing the final piece of work for the day. It was a nondescript door to a bog-standard end-of-terrace house, no signs, no little plaque by the door, and I checked my notes twice before ringing the bell. When the door opened, the security chain was on. I couldn’t see anyone, but someone spoke from the shadows inside.

“Hello. How can I help you?”

“Could I speak to Deb, please?”

“Who wants her?”

“Diane Owens”

“Hang on”

The door shut, and I waited for enough time to be about to give up, when a tall woman came round the corner.

“You Diane Owens?”

“Yes”

“Got some ID?”

Out came my warrant card again, and it was given a serious going-over.

“Seems OK. What do you want?”

Milk of human kindness a bit lacking, then.

“Could we have a talk?”

She stared at me for five or ten seconds, then shrugged.

“Café down the road. You can buy me a cuppa”

She led the way, I did the honours, and we found a table right in the back next to the door to the toilets. Brilliant. The place was clean, though, and the tea welcome after several glasses of fizzy stuff.

“So what do you want?”

Sod it. It had been a long day.

“Well, for starters, I would quite like to know why you have so much hostility towards me, but I don’t want to waste your time. OK? So I will simply tell you why I am here”

“No. You are CID. I can tell. I want to know which of my girls you are after”

“Why would I be after anyone?”

She took a sip of her tea and sighed.

“Because we have a beat officer, Paul Welby. He’s our lad, we know him. You are CID. Your lot chase people”

“I am chasing nobody. Well, I am…”

“Knew it!”

“Not your people, OK? Look, here are my cards on the table. I am with, or I was with the Serious Crimes Unit—no! Let me finish. Please sit down!”

She had stood straight up, and it took a few seconds for her to decide to stay and listen.

“Look, that is not why I am here. I was working with them on a big case, and that’s taken a new direction. I can’t stay with it, because I have an involvement in it that means I have to step away. I’ve been given a job that sort of stems from the case we’ve just finished. It is not chasing someone, it is an offer of help”

“Talk to me, then, but make it quick”

Pulling teeth? Blood from a stone.

“I am here to speak to LGBT people about issues they have, so that they have a face, a name to come to, a dedicated officer”

“We have Paul”

“Yeah, but this ties in with the case we have just tied up. There were a lot of victims, and we believe there may be quite a few more, people too frightened, or who don’t trust us, to come forward”

“Not bloody surprising, is it? Money bloody well talks, and your lot have always followed the money and the bloody tabloids”

I took a slow breath. Police, professional, DC Owens.

“Not this time. Evans, Evans, Evans, Pritchard and Hansen”

I left that one to sit between us as her eyes widened slightly.

“You are talking about the beatings? The gaybashing?”

“And the rapes. I was one of the arresting officers”

“I hope you beat the living shit out of them!”

“The minimum of reasonable and absolutely necessary force may have been employed in their arrests”

She barked out a laugh, and everything suddenly fell into place. I had been given some clues before the visit, of course, but there were her hands, chin perhaps a little square… She caught the direction of my gaze, and glared.

“So? One word about trannies or drag queens and I am gone”

“You pass well”

“And that is meant to make a bloody difference? Why the hell should it?”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t for me. Back to business. We suspect there are other victims, as I said, and we want them to see that they can have justice, just like any other man or woman”

Ten years of being soiled goods rose up in me, right then, in a surge of bile and anger.

“We show them they are worth just as much as anyone else, that’s what”

She sat quietly again, staring at me, then spoke, very quietly.

“You really do believe that, don’t you?”

“I have my reasons, very good ones”

“Who are you after?”

“I told you, I’m not after anyone”

“Liar. It’s not one of my girls, I know that now. You’re after somebody related to…”

Her eyes went wide, as her voice went to a whisper.

“You are after that cunt of a councillor! Sorry, I don’t normally use that word, but, well, in his case I can’t think of another that fits better. That’s two of his little tribe you’ve got banged away, including one of the reasons I have difficulties trusting you lot”

I was beginning to realise exactly how sharp the woman was, as several expressions crossed her face in turn.

“Bloody hell. You said you have to step away? And you haven’t admitted it, but you are looking to lock up Ashley Arsehole Evans, so that means… Shit. Shit with sugar on it”

I got the glare full on once more, but this time there was a touch of tenderness in it.

“How old were you?”

I sighed, and vowed not to take up poker.

“Sixteen, Deb”

“Cunt, Sorry, but if you can find me a better word, I’ll gladly use it. Drink up. I have someone you need to meet”