The Body in the River (37 page)

Mann nodded.
‘
Yes, sir, of course. You have my word.
’

‘
OK, we have a bent copper in our midst and I want to winkle him out. But I want to kill two birds with one stone. I want to leak information to him and get him to pass it on to Silver. If he does, we will soon know and that should screw him down nice and tight. The information is that we
’
re about to raid the place where Silver has the deeds to these properties. Needless to say, that
’
s not true, as we don
’
t know where they are. But Silver doesn
’
t know that and he is in prison so he can
’
t do anything himself to verify it or otherwise. But I reckon that when he learns of our plans he
’
ll panic and order McBride or one of his heavies to shift the deeds.

‘
For us to do this properly will mean we
’
ll need phone taps and tracking devices, which is why I
’
ve got to go upstairs to get approval.
’

Mann puffed out his cheeks and blew out a lungful of air.
‘
Wow! It
’
s not one of your team I hope, is it, sir?
’

Brookes shook his head.
‘
No, of course not, I
’
d trust every one of them with my life. In fact it
’
s DCI Brian Collins at City Road. Do you know him?
’

Mann shook his head.
‘
I know of him but we haven
’
t met, no.
’

‘
What do you think of the plan?
’

Mann didn
’
t reply for a long moment, while he considered his answer. Then he said,
‘
Ambitious, sir. I think it
’
s a bit ambitious.
’
Then he smiled.
‘
But I also think it might work.
’

Brookes smiled and turned to Rose.
‘
Jacqui, what do you think?
’

By now she had gained enough confidence not to be overwhelmed by being asked. She smiled and said,
‘
I agree with Mr Mann, sir, it is ambitious. And I also think it might work.
’

*

The three detectives arrived at New Scotland Yard and found a place in the basement car park. Taking the lift to the eighth floor, they trooped into Aitcheson
’
s office suite.

Brookes knew the commander
’
s PA and said,
‘
Helen, how are you? He is expecting us.
’

She smiled.
‘
Fine, sir, and I can see you are too. He said to go right in.
’

Aitcheson
’
s office was roomy but not especially plush. The police budget did not allow for such luxuries. But it was functional. As well as a desk and upright chairs for formal meetings, it had a low table surrounded by comfortable armchairs. After shaking hands with his visitors, Aitcheson invited them to sit. They declined his offer of coffee and Brookes got straight down to business.

‘
I
’
ve asked to see you, sir, as we have a problem, and it
’
s something you should know about. But it
’
s also something that may be of use to us in bringing Silver to book. I
’
ve brought Richard Mann along because, as you know, he
’
s dealing with the financial aspects of the case and it
’
s there I think we can hit Silver: right in the pocket.
’
He paused.

Aitcheson nodded encouragingly.
‘
Go on, John.
’

‘
Yes, sir. We know a great deal about Silver
’
s dodgy businesses but don
’
t have enough evidence on any of these activities to pin even a parking offence on him. He
’
s far too well-ensconced and we need some way to rattle him. All the laundered money from the holiday company is paid into Swiss bank accounts in other people
’
s names; we
’
ve no doubt it is all then transferred into one of his accounts somewhere and it will take ages to sort this out.

‘
But the majority of his fortune is invested in these expensive properties he
’
s bought. The keys to these of course are the property deeds. Richard and I are certain that they will be in Silver
’
s name and that he keeps them somewhere safe close at hand. If we get hold of them, Fleming
’
s evidence and the books at Holiday Homes should get us a conviction of some sort that will enable a court to confiscate the properties.

‘
This is my strategy now, to bring Silver down. He
’
s got a violent temper, as his recent behaviour shows, and if I keep nibbling away at his empire something will finally give.
’
He paused again.

Aitcheson turned to Mann and said,
‘
And do you go along with this?

Mann nodded.
‘
Yes, sir. Without those deeds, we
’
ve no way of proving the link to Silver. With them, we have him at least for tax evasion and money laundering. There
’
s no way he could show that he
’
d come by the sixty million he needed to buy these properties legally.
’

Aitcheson nodded and turned back to Brookes, who said,

‘
Now for the bad news, sir. We
’
ve uncovered a bent copper who
’
s in Silver
’
s pocket.
’

Aitcheson frowned.
‘
That
’
s a very serious accusation, John. I hope you
’
ve got evidence to back it up.
’

‘
Sadly, sir, I have. We learned that the two have been swapping telephone calls over the past few months. After my confrontation with Silver, I paid a courtesy visit to City Road to let Chief Superintendent Leighton know what we
’
d been doing on his patch. After talking to him, we went to see his DCI, Brian Collins. During our conversation, he said he hadn
’
t visited Silver
’
s club for months and had no contact with him at all. I didn
’
t show out but left.
’
He pointed at Rose.
‘
My DS was with me and she can confirm all this.
’

He looked at her and she nodded.

He continued,
‘
When we left, two of my detectives followed Collins, who went directly to Silver
’
s club. He was there ten minutes, then he went home.
’

Aitcheson shook his head.
‘
What first put you on to him, John; where did you learn about the phone calls?
’

‘
When Silver was arrested for assaulting me and searched, his mobile phone was found in his pocket. We did checks on the recent calls. There were several to Collins
’
mobile.
’

Aitcheson shook his head.
‘
You
’
re a sneaky bugger, John, aren
’
t you? You obviously know this couldn
’
t be used in evidence, don
’
t you?
’

‘
Of course, sir. But a formal investigation will soon find that record, won
’
t it? The evidence is there.
’

Aitcheson nodded.
‘
OK. What have you done about this? Have you informed Internal Affairs?
’

Brookes shook his head.
‘
No, sir. That
’
s what I want to talk to you about. I have a plan that I want to put to you first.
’

Aitcheson laughed.
‘
I thought you might have. Alright, tell me what it is.
’

Brookes scratched his ear.
‘
Our problem is that we don
’
t know where Silver keeps the property deeds. Now he
’
s got another five days to do in prison so is out of our way for the time being. If word got to him that we know where the deeds are and were in the process of getting a search warrant to go and fetch them, I think he might panic and tell his minions to go there first and move them. Provided we have them under observation, we should be able to follow them and get hold of the deeds.
’

Aitcheson nodded.
‘
I see. But where does Collins come into this?
’

‘
Ah, well we obviously can
’
t broadcast our proposed search; Silver won
’
t believe it. So we have to get the news to him by devious means. One of my sergeants has a mate who drinks in the same pub as one of Collins
’
sergeants. My sergeant was thinking of buying his mate a pint. Maybe getting a bit tipsy and, if his mate were to ask how the case was going, let it slip that we were about to pounce.
’

Aitcheson had a smile on his face.
‘
I see, and how do we know that this other sergeant will pass the info on to Collins?
’

‘
Ah, well my sergeant has his doubts about the other sergeant being totally trustworthy, which is borne out by the fact that he is very pally with Collins.
’

Aitcheson blew his cheeks out in the same way that Mann had on getting the news.

After a long moment he said,
‘
So you are asking me to stick my neck out and sanction this plan?
’

Brookes said lightly,
‘
Not really much risk, sir. With Silver in the clink there
’
s not much harm Collins can do, is there? And there
’
s enough justification for us to do what I
’
m proposing.
’

Aitcheson gave a deep sigh.
‘
OK, what exactly do you need?
’

*

‘
The best laid plans o
’
mice an
’
men, gang aft agley.
’

Rabbie Burns, Scottish poet

Back at Leman Street, Brookes briefed Middlemiss and DI Short on what had occurred at the meeting with Aitcheson.

He finished by saying,
‘
OK, Fred, it
’
s up to you now. You will have to fill your pal in on what
’
s happening and what we
’
re trying to achieve. And find out when this other guy will be in the pub. It
’
s got to happen in the next few days, before Silver is released, as he
’
s shrewd enough to find out that it
’
s a fix. Whatever you do, don
’
t make it too obvious.
’

Middlemiss nodded.
‘
No problem there, boss. I
’
ve had a quiet word with my mate. Haven
’
t told him what
’
s going on but pumped him a bit about Hollins. Apparently his wife kicked him out a few weeks ago and he
’
s staying in the section house next to the pub until he finds somewhere else to live, which is why he
’
s a regular. He
’
s got nothing else to do with his evenings.
’

Brookes nodded.
‘
Good.
’
Then to Short he said,
‘
Now, once Fred had done his bit, we
’
re going to have to watch Porter, who seems to be running things in his absence, and the accountant, until one of them makes a move to wherever the deeds are kept. Richard Mann thinks it will be in a bank
’
s safe deposit box somewhere, which makes sense. If that
’
s the case I rather think it will be the accountant who makes the move to fetch them. But we have to watch Porter as well just to be on the safe side.