Judas Horse

Chapter 13

In the forty-eight hours Jack had been in London, both teams — Oxford and Chipping Norton — had shared all the intel from the past three years and were now completely up to speed.

Before he’d left for his daughter’s naming ceremony, Jack had contributed one vitally important instruction: to keep this case on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. The general public already had little-to-no faith in the police’s ability to catch this gang, so if they found out about the growing physical dangers to homeowners, they’d be up in arms. Jack advised that, although the Barrowman burglary itself would inevitably become public knowledge, ‘Mathew’s assault should remain a secret. And, most importantly—’

Lee had interrupted at this point to say that he’d personally go and see Mr Barrowman to explain. ‘Barrowman will be fine once he sees you’ve brought in the big guns. And I’ll give an edited statement to the press, to keep them out of the way.’

Jack waited until he’d finished. ‘What I was going to say was that we still don’t know who the insider is, or if there’s more than one. Any gossip on the streets could be fatal.’

By the time Jack got back to Chipping Norton, DIs Lee and Mason had got their feet firmly under the desk and Jack was now the one playing catch-up.

Lee and Mason sat opposite Gifford in his office. Oaks perched on the windowsill and a small, low office chair had been provided for Jack. He opted to ignore the obvious symbolism and remain standing in order to assert authority, whether he actually still had any, or not.

Lee took the lead. ‘There’s a livery stable in Oxford renting horseboxes, trailers, tractors and farm equipment. The owner, Jacob Mulhern, has it on record that, in the dim and distant past, he rented a three-horse trailer to a Mr Smart. I believe you know the name. It’s the same MO — fake ID, paid in cash, collected and dropped off in the dead of night.’

‘Apologies if this has already been covered in my absence, but how come this wasn’t flagged when DI Gifford originally shared Mr Smart’s name with you?’ As soon as Jack had said it, he knew the answer. Gifford never had shared the name with Oxford Robbery. Everyone in the room silently decided to ignore Jack’s question. It was pointless raking over old mistakes; they had to move forwards now. And they had to move together.

Lee continued: ‘As soon as we did realise your gang had rented trailers in Oxford, we interviewed Mulhern. We’ve had two burglaries, both about a year and a half ago. They were picked up by uniform and, because the owners just wanted to claim on the insurance and forget about it, they weren’t escalated to us. This, in itself, is nothing unusual — if the victim doesn’t pursue, we can’t pursue. Anyway, the name Smart was on file, so here we are.’

Oaks piped up, wanting to be an active part of the handover to Jack. ‘Because of Bevan’s mastery of the whiteboards, it was a quick and easy job to compare the Oxford robbery dates with our Chipping Norton dates and see that this gang has never actually had any down-time, as we originally thought. When they weren’t in one place, they were in another. They never stopped.’

‘Great.’ Jack felt he was having his own investigation explained to him. ‘So, we now have all information pertaining to these two old burglaries and trailer rentals, do we?’

‘We’ve brought you more than that, DS Warr.’ Lee’s smug tone made Jack lean forwards in anticipation; something good was about to be shared. ‘Mr Smart has just rented another trailer from Mulhern.’

Jack’s eyes widened. Oaks stood up, full of excitement. ‘So, they’re gonna hit again!’ He realised for the first time in three years, they were ahead of the gang.

Mason spoke for the first time in his soft Welsh lilt. ‘We’ve got it covered. We’re watching the most likely targets, based on the geography of the two known incidents.’

Jack’s demeanour immediately shifted from confident to concerned. ‘Sir, two incidents can’t give you any kind of a pattern, it’s statistically impossible, so there’s no way for you to know if you’re protecting the right target homes. You have to watch the livery.’

Mason frowned and his voice took on a deeper, darker tone. ‘I can assure you we know how to do our job.’

But Jack stood his ground. ‘Scattergun policing won’t work with this gang; they’re too organised. You have to be precisely targeted and the only thing you know about for sure is the livery stable.’

Mason shook his head. ‘That would mean allowing the burglary to take place.’

‘It’s the only thing you can do.’ Jack looked to Gifford for some kind of support, any kind of support, and when he didn’t get it, Jack finally snapped at this poor excuse for a police officer. ‘Tell me I’m wrong if you think I am, sir. Or tell them they’re wrong!’ Jack tried to regain his composure. ‘DI Mason, if you follow them into the rat-run, you will get lost. You have to wait for them to come out. At the livery stable.’ A troubling thought brought a deep frown to Jack’s brow. ‘How did Mulhern know to call you about Mr Smart? Does Mulhern know that Smart’s name is directly connected to the burglaries? Because if you’ve told him, then he’s definitely the one you should be protecting!’

Before Jack had finished his sentence, Lee was on his feet. ‘DS Warr, that’s enough! We’ve just brought you the best lead you’ve had in three years. We fully intend to return to Oxford and interview Mulhern. If you want to remain part of this investigation as we finally close in on Mr Smart, I suggest you toe the line.’

Jack’s jaw clenched and his nostrils flared, but he didn’t say a word. At that moment, he wanted to arrest Mr Smart slightly more than he wanted to hit DI Lee.