The Body in the River (40 page)

Brookes stopped the tape again and he and Middlemiss left the room.

Ten minutes later, they were invited to return.

The solicitor said,
‘
Mr McBride wishes to make a full statement about his part in this matter. But before he does he wishes to know whether that will reduce any penalty he might receive.
’

‘
As you are aware, that is very much up to the judge. But if your client has information that will help our case against Silver, then I would certainly mention his co-operation to the judge.
’

‘
There is another concern my client has, which is his safety. Silver apparently has a vile temper and may turn it on Mr McBride if he gives evidence against him. Will you ensure his safety?
’

‘
If your client is willing to give evidence we will of course give him any protection necessary.
’

‘
OK, then we may proceed.
’

Brookes looked at McBride.
‘
What is it you want to tell us, Mr McBride?
’

After another hesitation,
‘
Mr Silver insisted that I kept two sets of books.
’

‘
Yes, go on,
’
Brookes prompted.

‘
One for his tax return which showed his profits from the property rentals. The other showed his income from other sources that he then had me convert into rental payments disguised as being from holidaymakers.
’

‘
Can you explain that in more detail, please?
’

‘
He received money from other businesses as insurance.
’

‘
You mean protection money
–
payments that stopped him, Silver, from attacking them?
’

McBride looked at his solicitor, who nodded. The accountant then said,
‘
Yes.
’

‘
Where do you keep these books?
’

‘
In my office safe.
’

‘
Good, then we can go and fetch them, can
’
t we?
’

Banham-Cross intervened,
‘
First you must agree to protect my client.
’

‘
I
’
ve already done that. Besides, I have a warrant to search your client
’
s offices.
’

‘
So this was all a trick?
’

‘
Hardly a trick. It was to give your client an opportunity to state his part in this, which he has now done.
’

*

‘
Men are not hanged for stealing horses
,
but that horses may not be stolen.
’

George Saville, Lord Halifax

Brookes sat in his office, with the door closed. He was thinking about where he was in the battle to put Silver behind bars. He now had evidence that should persuade a court to confiscate the criminal
’
s fortune and convict him of, at least, tax evasion. But without the evidence of those from whom he extracted the money, that was not enough to see him put away for more serious offences, and Brookes would settle for nothing less than a long sentence. But these people were unlikely to come forward whilst Silver remained a threat.

It was three days since he
’
d interviewed McBride, and Silver was at large again. The listening devices planted at the club worked and Brookes had listened to the tapes of his conversations with other gang members, discussing what he would do with Brookes when he got the chance. The detective
’
s first reaction had been to dismiss the threats as braggadocio, knowing that Silver was a bully. But on reflection he realised that, whilst the man made his living on threats, he occasionally had to reinforce them with actual violence, otherwise those threatened would not pay the protection money. He felt a pang of fear as he realised he could actually be in danger. But what should he do about it?

He could hardly go and hide somewhere; that was not in his nature. But he must take some precautions, as Silver
’
s team of bully boys had a reputation for brutality. Nor was this something he would discuss with his team. Whilst he was not concerned about appearances, he did not want them worrying about his safety.

However, he was not the only one who
’
d listened to the tapes and realised the danger. Looking up, Brookes saw Fred Middlemiss hovering in the doorway. Seeing he had been noticed, the DS said,

‘
Got a minute, boss?
’

Brookes nodded.
‘
Yes, Fred, come in.
’

Middlemiss did so, closing the door behind him. At Brookes
’
invitation, he took a seat opposite and sat for a moment, as if having trouble finding the right words.

Finally he cleared his throat and said,
‘
Two things, boss. First, this pig Silver is a dangerous man and he doesn
’
t make empty threats; I reckon he might make a move against you.
’
He paused and Brookes said,

‘
And the second thing, Fred?
’

‘
One of my narks reckons there
’
s some new young blood been brought in from the continent. They
’
ve been taken to one of the toerag
’
s knocking shops
’

Brookes frowned, his mind still on the first item.
‘
Can you translate that into English, Fred?
’

Middlemiss smiled.
‘
The word is that a couple of young girls were brought across from France yesterday on the channel ferry. They were taken to Silver
’
s brothel in Essex.
’

Brookes
’
mind came back to the present. He said,
’
How reliable is your source?
’

‘
Never let me down so far, boss.
’

‘
And
who
is your source, Fred?
’

‘
One of the street toms in Romford. I helped her once by nicking her ponce for beating her up; this is her way of saying thanks.
’

Brookes scratched his head thoughtfully.
‘
Anything about this on the tapes from The Venus Club?
’

Middlemiss shook his head.
‘
Not a murmur.
’

Brookes frowned.
‘
Don
’
t you think there would be, if Silver knew about them?
’

It was Middlemiss
’
s turn to frown.
‘
You
’
d think so, wouldn
’
t you, seeing as he is the boss? Unless he
’
s cottoned on to the fact we
’
re listening in.
’

‘
Or keeps that part of his life to himself.
’

Middlemiss nodded.

Brookes
’
frown deepened as he thought about this. Finally he said,
‘
But the threats against me might be to sidetrack us?
’

‘
That
’
s one way of reading it, yes, boss.
’

‘
From what we know about him, his sexual appetites are for underage girls, and if he
’
s got some fresh blood, it won
’
t be long before he pays them a visit, will it?
’

‘
I reckon he
’
ll be there in no time.
’

Brookes felt a stab of excitement.
‘
This might be our chance to bring him in, Fred, for something more that tax evasion. Set up a twenty-four hour watch on him. And activate the tracking device on his car. But don
’
t rely too much on that. If he has spotted the bugs we planted at the club, he might have also found the tracker. Tell Derek to work out a schedule for the watchers. I
’
ll brief them myself, Fred, I don
’
t want any mistakes.
’

Middlemiss grinned and nodded. He didn
’
t say it but he thought that keeping such a covert watch would also give warning if Silver did go after Brookes.

*

Brookes had taken great trouble in preparing his notes for the briefing. All his team were present except those currently watching The Venus Club. In addition, Inspector John Barnes of SO 19, The Yard
’
s elite armed assault team, was present with his sergeant.

As Brookes walked out of his office into the incident room, he was pleased to hear a buzz of conversation and the odd laugh; it told him his team were in good spirits and ready for action. He walked to the old-fashioned whiteboard beside Derek Short
’
s desk, on which was drawn a rough map and the plan of a residential house.

He put his notes on Short
’
s desk and called the team to order. As soon as there was silence in the room he began.

‘
This all started with a murder; Alison MacPherson, killed because she was good at her job and spotted some odd payments into the accounts of the company she worked for. Thanks to your efforts, the murderer is now in jail awaiting trial. And the case we have against him is a slam-dunker, as our cousins across the Atlantic would put it.
’
He paused and looked around the faces of his team. He had their full attention.

He continued,
‘
But there is someone else equally to blame for Alison
’
s murder: Raymond Silver, the biggest and most evil criminal in the East End of London. It was fear of him that prompted Fleming to kill her. So far we
’
ve managed to deprive Silver of his fortune and there
’
s a good chance the courts will confiscate the lot. But that doesn
’
t put him where he belongs. All the people around him are frightened of giving evidence against him so we have nothing on him except evading taxes.
’
He paused again, this time for effect.

Then he said,
‘
But he has a weakness and that makes him vulnerable. He likes young girls
–
and I do mean young; our information says some of them are as young as twelve or fourteen. And not just for sex; he enjoys hurting them, he is a typical bully.
’
Brookes stopped again for a long moment, to let this sink in.

Then he pointed at Fred Middlemiss.
‘
Thanks to Fred here, we have information that some girls have just been brought across from Europe. If that
’
s the case, it won
’
t be long before Silver will want to satisfy his gross appetites. If we catch him in the act we can get him put away for a very long time. He has lots of previous for violent offences, and raping and beating an underage girl should bring him a life sentence.

‘
Now some of you might ask the question:
“
if we know what he
’
s going to do, why don
’
t we stop it before he can hurt them?
”
The answer is simple. If we don
’
t catch him actually committing the offence we have no evidence to put before the court. And if we were to stop him this time without taking him to court, he
’
d simply lie low for a while then start his evil again when the dust had settled. Plus the fact that all our information is second-hand, so we can
’
t swear to its veracity. Sadly we have to watch and wait. What would not be acceptable was if he did manage to attack one of these poor girls without our knowing. I couldn
’
t live with that on my conscience so we cannot afford to make any mistakes. Does anyone disagree with my reasoning?
’

There was complete silence in the room for several seconds. A few people shook their heads. No-one disagreed.

Brookes continued,
‘
OK, this is how we will go about it. We know that Silver doesn
’
t drive himself. His chauffeur-cum-bodyguard lives in his flat and whenever Silver wants to go out, the chauffer goes to the lock-up garage where the Rolls is kept, brings it round to the club, and picks the boss up there. So the signal that he
’
s on the move is when the chauffeur gets the car out. But we have to cover all the possibilities and there are two exits to the club: one at the rear and one at the front, and there
’
s no vantage point from which we can see them both. So it means two separate teams of observers just in case Silver is brighter than we think. He also might decide on some other mode of transport if he knows we
’
re watching.