The Calling

CHAPTER 28

Reed sits himself down in Luther’s chair and calls the Status Dogs Unit. The call is taken by Sergeant Graham Cooke. Reed introduces himself, briefly outlines the situation.

Cooke says, ‘Does this have anything to do with that little girl?’

‘It may do, yeah.’

‘Then let me sit down a minute. Close the door, get a pen.’

Reed waits. Then Cooke comes back to the phone and says, ‘What do you need to know?’

‘Let’s start with, who is he?’

‘Gary Braddon. Born Caerphilly, 1963. History of association with the far right.’

‘And he likes dogs, does he?’

‘Well, it depends what you mean by “like”. He’s got previous: keeping a dog for fighting, causing unnecessary suffering to a dog by failing to seek veterinary care for its wounds. Also convicted of possessing equipment associated with training dogs to fight. Five counts of illegally owning pit bull terrier-type dogs for the purposes of fighting.’

‘Meaning what?’

‘Meaning, he’s not allowed to keep dogs. So he keeps them off site. We never established where.’

‘Well, I think I might be able to help you out there. The name “Henry Madsen” mean anything?’

‘Not off the top of my head, no.’

‘He’s Braddon’s vet. And corner man.’

‘Braddon’s vet goes by the name of Henry Mercer.’

‘That’ll be our boy.’

‘Allegedly runs the best training yard in London, although we never tracked it down. He’s a very secretive boy, Mr Mercer.’

‘He is that,’ Reed says. ‘So is there money in this game? Because money’s an issue right now.’

‘There’s plenty. Your dog wins three fights, it’s a champion. Five, it’s a grand champion — that’s what they aim for. So they put the dogs through a training regime, get them down to an agreed fighting weight, just like a boxer. That means treadmill work, diet, stamina, running around. And steroids, so you can get them completely lean, no fat.’

‘Do you think Henry could go to Braddon for money?’

‘You think he’s the man who kidnapped Baby Emma and that other little girl?’

‘We’re pretty sure, yeah.’

‘Then not in a million years. Braddon’s a right-wing nutcase. And he’s a dog lover. Two inches to the right of Mussolini. That’s a dangerous combination for a man who kidnaps children. Mercer, Madsen, whatever his name is, Braddon would cut his balls off and feed him to the dogs if he ever showed his face.’

‘All right,’ says Reed. ‘So this is the problem we’ve got: our man’s gone to ground somewhere in London. And you’re right, he’s very secretive. He’s got no friends to speak of, and he’s got no money. He needs somewhere to hole up.’

Cooke hesitates a moment then says, ‘Braddon’s dog fights tend to be held in any one of a number of vacant properties. Mercer, or Madsen, he’d have keys to them all.’

‘You know the locations?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Can you send us a complete list, soon as? And any other material you might have to hand that’s going to help expedite a warrant to search.’

‘Plenty of that,’ says Cooke.

Reed says, ‘What do you drink?’

‘I don’t mind a whisky.’

‘There’s a bottle on the way,’ Reed says. ‘We owe you one.’

Cooke asks Reed to give him a little time.

Fifteen minutes later he comes back with a list of five properties used by Gary Braddon as venues for holding dog fights.

Within the hour, Search Team One, with DS Justin Ripley acting as Police Search Adviser, arrives at the first address on the list.

It’s an abandoned kitchen interiors shop in Lewisham.

They find cupboards have been removed and converted to make a dog-fighting pit, much like a boxing ring.

A comprehensive search proves the property to be unoccupied. Search Team One finds no indication that Mia Dalton or Henry Madsen have been present.

Search Team Two, headed by DS ‘Scary’ Mary Lally, stumbles upon an extemporized dog fight in progress behind a tyre-replacement garage in Deptford.

Watched by a dozen men, two pit bull terriers quietly maul each other in a pit fourteen feet square and three feet high.

Diagonal ‘scratch lines’ are drawn on opposite corners of the pits. These are the lines behind which the dogs must remain until the referee commands them to be released.

Four arrests are made. Two of the dogs will later be destroyed.

They find no evidence that Mia Dalton or Henry Madsen have been present.