Chapter 4

Sammy got his phone out and made his call.

“Inspector, we have a positive identification of James Norman as Jamie Murphy, brother of Jock Macready.” He listened for a few moments and then hung up.

“The Inspector says to thank you for that. We have James Norman on our radar as an associate of one of the Angels’ Chapters. I think that he may have a group of thieves who steal the goods and then the items are sent elsewhere for sale in pubs, or even on the internet.”

“That will be a good one, boss,” commented Arty.

“Yes, it will bathe us in the bright lights of adoration for, at least two seconds. Now, tell me about these other two and what happened Saturday.”

I ran through the time-line of my being the girlfriend of a car stealer and the events of Saturday that ended it.

“So, if we take his car, we’re going to find your fingerprints and maybe some DNA in it?”

“Yes, and also the friendship ring I slipped off before I bailed out. There’ll be my prints on the plastic bag, if they’re reusing it.”

“Can anyone corroborate your story?”

“I called Angela on the way home and she picked me up from the station. You’ll find her at the hospital. I also told my mother everything on the weekend.”

I was wondering just where we were going, it seemed to be around in circles. The picture got clearer when the radio crackled and a voice said “Subject on the move.”

A half an hour later, we were in an industrial area, sitting by the side of the road with me being told who the Old Girl in the uniform was, and just making idle talk, as a small convoy of marked police cars and a van went by.

“Now we wait some more,” commented Arty.

Fifteen minutes later, the voice on the radio called “Clear.”

Arty drove us around the corner where Inspector Mason was standing, again with a big grin on his face. He simply gestured for me to go inside the building and have a look. I was staggered. The place was like a distribution centre, racks piled high with boxes, all sorted by type. There were TV’s, video players, computers, printers, kitchen appliances, furniture. You name it, they had it.

Mason and Sammy came and stood each side of me.

Sammy murmured, “I think this may be a bit longer than two seconds.”

Mason looked at me. “We’ve taken Jamie away. He didn’t take kindly to being followed here. He put two of our guys on the ground before he was zapped. On top of receiving, there’ll be a raft of other charges for resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. Our guys have been taken to the hospital to be checked over. All this, young Olivia, is from you asking the one word question, “Why’ on Monday.”

Just then a voice called, “Boss, there’s enough weed in the office to host Woodstock, all over again. This one just keeps giving.”

Sammy laughed. “Just wait until we go through what else Olivia has told us this morning. Arty pulled a couple of CCTV shots for the six-pack I showed her and she identified our car thief and both the guys in that deal shot. That’s going to keep us busy next week. I’ll tell you the full story when we’re back in the office.”

Mason grinned. “I’m sorry, Sammy, I’ve been told to take Olivia off you and take her to lunch, but only at the police canteen. Our boss wants to talk to her.”

He led me out to his own car and the driver opened the door for me to get in the back. Mason got in beside me and told the driver to take us to the station.

“Olivia, you’ve been a whirlwind around the place, this week. I believe that my boss wants to thank you, personally, for drawing that monster, Short, into talking out of turn. From what I’ve heard, there have been some discoveries made in the playground, and not just fresh remains, either. She’ll give you the full run-down, I’m sure.”

When we arrived at the police station, he led me through to the canteen. I was a little surprised that it was very well appointed and the menu board had some interesting items listed. As we sat down, the woman I had met before swept in and came up to our table as we both stood for her. She enveloped me in a strong hug and then chuckled.

“I know it’s not the Ritz, but the chef here used to work there. I believe he used to wash up. Now, if you’ll choose your poison, we can eat. Mason, thank you for bringing Olivia here, I organise her afternoon transport.”

Mason nodded, said “Yes, Ma-am,” and left us to it.

“Sammy has reported that you recognised my picture, even though I only spoke to you for a few minutes in the midst of all that hoo-ha. Even got the name right, he said. That’s pretty good, you know. Even after training, a lot of the force wouldn’t remember your name after an hour.”

“I don’t know why I keep names in my head. I do know how I recognise faces, it’s because I study the eyes. That’s how I was able to pick two of the other pictures he showed me.”

I chose the only option off the menu that didn’t have fries. You can’t go wrong with sausage and mash. Can you? All the time we ate and spoke, she had her phone beside her and it was a constant barrage of text messages. I asked her how she could cope with it.

“It’s a lot better than having to actually speak to these officers. I have to know what’s going on in my area, and the texts are really just snippets of news that add to what I already know. The only ones I have to answer are either from the guys above me, or from those messages with a red star at the front of them. That denotes an important message.”

When we finished the meal, which was very good, she led me up to her office. There was a low table with a coffee percolator and some cups on it. She poured two cups and we sat on easy chairs to sip our drinks.

“Olivia, the Headmistress told me that you are an exceptional girl and this week has proved her right. I am now going to tell you what your little chat with Short has brought about. The TV guy was right when he told everyone that we had four radar teams in the playground. Mason spoke to the gardener, who told him that kids had been playing silly buggers with him by moving his plantings around. We put our two teams on the garden beds and located three places which look like bodies. It does take a lot of time to properly get them out in a way that doesn’t destroy evidence.”

She put her cup down and looked straight into my eyes.

“If they’re who we think they are, it’s you who have given their families closure. The other thing that’s really odd is that we put the Uni guys to work over the grassed area, mainly to show that we didn’t have direct information, just a hunch. In one corner of the park they think that they found a burial site, possibly medieval, with at least fifteen graves. I’m told that they want to get a dig organised.”

I sat there, stunned.

“I’m not sure what to say. If there are three new graves, that would mean that Short had killed nine, rather than six.”

“You are correct. What you, or anyone else outside the force, don’t know, is that the six we have down to him are all connected cases, but not directly linked to Short. Much of the evidence is circumstantial. If we find something that links him directly, then we’ve got him bang to rights. It may be DNA, or even something so small as a laundry tag on a sheet, if he used one to carry them to the park. I really can’t thank you enough for your help. We’ll have to keep you out of it. If not, his new defence team will claim that you led him into a false confession. I know, you’re on the defence team, but I’m sure he’ll sack you all because he’ll be angry at himself when he gets the latest news.”

I took a sip of my coffee and thought that Walter would be happy to be rid of him.

“When we were in that room, there was a camera on the wall but the recording light wasn’t on?”

“That’s because the light has a separate switch. We can turn the light off if a prisoner asks that the recording is stopped, but the video and audio carry on. It’s the same in every one of the contact rooms. You’d be surprised at the things we record when wives come in.”

We talked for a little while and then she stood.

“Now, I have to get back to work. I’ve arranged for you to have another car take you home, but, before that, you have a pleasant duty to perform.”

She pressed a button on her desk and the door opened. A female constable put her head in.

“Annie, can you take Olivia down to the garage and go,with her to the prison. She has a delivery to make.”

“Yes, Ma-am,” said Annie and I got another hug before I was led down to the garage. On the way, Annie picked up her equipment and buckled herself in. She let me hold it as she put the hi-vis stab-proof vest on, and I was staggered by the weight of all the kit.

“Surely you don’t carry this lot around all day?”

“We have to. This is the usual load for beat work. If we are on dangerous outings, there’s a bullet-proof vest over it, as well. You get used to it and they work up to it at the training college, adding a bit every couple of days until it feels natural.”

She told me a few things about the training as we were driven to the prison. When we arrived, we just had to go to the outer office to collect Mr. Bentine, who was sitting there with his fresh clothes on.

Annie sat in the front, with the driver, and I was in the back with Mr. Bentine. He took a little while to open up, but, when he did, he told Annie that I was his guardian angel who had worked her magic on his life. I thought it was a bit over the top. He told me that he had been informed that his wife, and her boyfriend, had been taken into custody while the police worked out what to do with them.

He said that he had been told that the boyfriend had falsified an official police report in regard to her injuries. The police doctor had reported that there had never been any recent injuries to her face, and that the only slight bruise on her was on her left hip. This showed that he had told the truth. He was happy to be going home and, tomorrow, would be taking out a restraining order on his wife, barring her from his home.

At his house he gave both us girls a hug and told us that he would now dress as he liked, and hang the consequences. As we got back in the car, Annie grinned. “I love a happy ending.”

They dropped me at home and I went inside to take a shower, before putting on a light dress and going down to the kitchen to start making something for dinner when my folks got home. I thought about my day and realised that I had felt as if I was part of a team while I was with all of those I had met. Annie was like a sister, Sammy was like a big brother and Mason was almost an uncle figure. It was weird.

We had dinner and the TV News had a report about the nearly twenty bodies found in the playground. A couple of mothers complained about the park being closed and someone from the Uni beamed as he spoke about the wonderful opportunity to dig a previously unknown burial site. There were tents erected over three garden beds and the police would only say that investigations were on-going.

That evening I got in touch with Angela and arranged to meet on Friday evening for a meal and a chat. I had a new message on my phone, from Ingrid, and had to laugh. She told me that they were having a great time, but had to learn “Keep your hands to yourself!” in five languages in the first three days.

Friday was the day that the firm sat around and discussed cases. Mid-morning, I found myself sitting in the conference room as various cases were discussed. It was interesting to hear about the wide range that we were dealing with. When they got to the cases I had been involved in, Walter stood up and introduced me properly to the others I hadn’t met. Some of them had been giving me odd looks.

“Olivia has been with us, this week, as a trainee for the summer. On Monday, she went with Frank to the police station where he had an interview set up with Jock Macready. She asked him why he kept breaking into stores and he told them that he did it to get money so his mother could buy drugs for her ailments. He asked if she would take his mother some money that was in his wallet. Olivia did what she was asked, spoke to the mother and found out that the mother needed a hip replacement. The drug she needs is cannabis, which, she said, was purchased for her by Jocks’ brother.”

“But Jock doesn’t have a brother!” said one of the older lawyers.

“Not a full brother, no, but he does have a half-brother who goes by the name of Jamie Murphy. Olivia saw a picture. The police were informed, and they discovered that Spud Murphy, who is serving a long sentence for robbery with violence, has been getting a regular visitor who registered as James Norman. Yesterday, Olivia was shown a picture of James Norman and identified him as Jamie Murphy.”

He nodded to me to carry on.

“Yesterday, I was taken out by DS Samootin and we cruised around until we had word that Jamie had been followed to a warehouse and arrested. I was shown the inside and it was jam-packed with stolen goods. I believe there was a bit of cannabis there as well.”

Frank chuckled. ”Sammy has sent me an email. There is at least a quarter of a million pounds worth of stolen goods there, taken from a wide area. There was seventy kilo of weed and over a kilo of cocaine. Jamie will be going away for quite a while, plus the extra for sending two of the arresting officers to hospital.”

There was a general hubbub at that, and then Frank added.

“Sammy wants Olivia to go to the remand cells to see Jock, on Monday. He will have a list of questions that he wants Olivia to ask. If Jock answers them to his satisfaction, he tells me that they will drop all charges of breaking into the store, just having one left as trespass. Sammy says they’ll agree to a six-month suspended sentence, seeing that it’s his fourth time in court.”

Walter nodded. “I’ll say that’s a good result for her first time with one of our clients.”

There was a round of applause and I blushed.

Walter then carried on. “After that first day she saw some more of our lovely clients and then, on Wednesday, I took her to see Jeremy Short.”

There was an intake of breath in the room at that.

“Short tried to goad her, and she was positively frigid, as she should have been. This caused Short to make a comment about how she reminded him of a girl called Holly, who loved to play on the swings and who is now able to see the swings all of the time.”

There was a bit of a clamor of questions at that, and Walter had to put his hand up to quieten the room.

“What we’re going to tell you will not leave this building, do you agree?”

There was a chorus of “Yes, sir” and he then nodded to me again to fill them in on what I now knew.

“Inspector Mason spoke to the gardener in the park just down the road from where Short lived. He was told that kids had been toying with him by moving his plantings about. As you have seen on the news, the police started searching the park with ground-penetrating radar. They are sure they have three bodies to bring up, and are hoping that this gives some direct link to Short. That will ensure he gets the maximum sentence. Sorry, guys and girls, but I think that will blow any defence argument based on circumstantial evidence out of the water.”

There was groan from one older guy and then another round of applause and the Walter wound up the meeting, everyone was invited to take lunch at the usual café and he said it was on him, causing a few whoops and cheers.

Mum walked by my side to the café, holding my arm as she told me that she was almost bursting with pride at my activities this week. After lunch, Walter told her to head for home with me, as he thought that I’d deserved a bit of an early day.

It had been a big week, and I still had to meet up with Angela this evening. An afternoon off would be welcome. The local paper had arrived and it had quite a spread, inside, about the awards presentation. There were more pictures of Ingrid, as to be expected, but there was a good one of the five of us, with another of me, on my own. Mum and I had a bit of a laugh about it and she remarked that I might find myself being recognised in the street, I had a nap in the afternoon and set the alarm to wake me up in time to get ready.

When Dad came home I asked him if he had a place for Jock in his garage, seeing that Jock was a good mechanic and will be in need of a job. Dad said that he would take Jock on, after a proper interview and check of his papers, if it helped.

I met Angela in town and we went see a picture, just to let some steam out. Afterwards we had a pizza. Most of the evening, we had to fend off guys. It appeared that Mum had been right, as all the boys must have seen the paper, hitting on us by name. A couple looked interesting, seeing that Rod was now old hat. Angela told me that the week had been boring, just pushing the tea trolley around was no fun. She did, now, have the layout of the hospital imprinted on her brain, so it wasn’t wasted time.

She told me that, next week, she was going to help out in the wards and had been promised a session in the theatre to observe. I couldn’t tell her much of what I had been doing but we could talk about our client who had ended up on the floor of the chemist shop. She said that the lad was being slowly weaned off his dependence on pain-killers and was really a nice lad as he came to grips with his current situation.

On the weekend, I caught up with my laundry and, on Sunday, we had an outing into the county-side, ending at a nice, old, pub, where we had a very good meal and a drink. Monday, Mum took me back into the office, where I was told to wait by the door for Sammy to pick me up.

I had my bag with notepads and the tablet, plus my personal things in the front pocket. I had the morning paper to read while I waited and had insight into several of the crime stories it contained. When the car pulled up, I went out and got in the back, next to Sammy. On the way to the remand cells, he showed me a list. It had all of the break-ins over the past couple of years, with an estimate of the goods missing. He told me that his main aim, this morning, was for Jock to admit to the ones he did. If we could get this, he would push for the dropping of the charges.

When we were shown into the interview room, Jock was there, his left wrist handcuffed to an eye ring. Sammy told him that, this morning, it may be the start of his new life and to listen to what I said, carefully, and answer truthfully.

Jock nodded and then looked at me with a wry smile.

“Jock, I saw your mother last week and she was upset about you being here. She thought that you were just doing odd jobs for Jamie.”

“That’s what they were. Maybe not the usual odd job, but I just did what he told me to do.”

“I understand, I saw the picture of him. He’s a brute of a guy, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he told me that he’d rip my arms off if I didn’t go along with him.”

“Now, listen carefully. Jamie was followed to his warehouse on Thursday and arrested. I saw inside the place, it was packed to the rafters with stuff. There was also enough weed and coke to put him away for several years, on top of which, he put two coppers into hospital. Think carefully, now. He can’t get to you any more, that side of your life is over.”

“What about his mates? I don’t want them after me.”

“Who are his mates, Jock, the police think he’s an associate of an Angels gang?”

“OK, I’ll tell you. I’ve never been to his warehouse. That was off-limits to me. I know that others deliver there on a Monday evening and he pays them off when the stuff is unloaded. The Angels are from Scotland. They come down every Tuesday with a truck. I think that they have a way of sending the stuff off-shore in fishing boats.”

“Thank you for that, Jock. Now, I have a list here that DS Samootin, here, wants you to think about. The deal is – if you admit to the break-ins you actually got away with, he will go easy on you in court. You may not have to spend any more time, other than the time you’ve spent here. I have a contact that is willing to give you a job, depending on an interview and check of your skills. I’ll promise to see if there’s any way we can get your mother in for her hip replacement. I don’t want you to say anything about this list, just look at it and, with my eyebrow pencil, put a tick next to the ones you know. If we have you admitting to other cases when you go to court, any sentence that is passed down will cover all of the offences. Are you clear on that? It will wipe the slate.”

He nodded and smiled. I passed him the list and a stub of the black, soft, pencil. It wasn’t enough to be called a weapon. He looked down the list and then went through it again, adding ticks. He then gave me the list back, along with the pencil.

I had a quick look at the list as I put it back in my bag. Sammy will only see it when I get his boss to agree on the outcome of the court case. I could see that Jock wasn’t the failure his history of arrests showed.

Marianne Gregory © 2022