The Dirty Dozen

Chapter Thirty-Six

Teflon used the radio to request CID from Stoke Newington and a lab liaison sergeant attend Carl’s flat as it was now a murder scene. He then called Murphy and told him what had happened. When he heard Jane was suffering from shock he told Teflon to take her home — or even better, to her parents’ or sister’s so they could look after her.

‘O’Reilly’s dead as well,’ he added.

A uniformed van took Nichols to Leytonstone Police Station, and when the local DI arrived Teflon filled him in.

‘Is she all right?’ the DI asked, looking at Jane.

She was sitting in the car with Carl’s blood on her hands and clothes, looking numb and staring into space.

‘Nichols was going to kill her. It scared the shit out of her, but she’s a tough cookie. She’ll come through it.’

Teflon didn’t want anyone to know the real reason behind her troubled state of mind.

‘Lucky you were there, then,’ the DI remarked.

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

Teflon got in the car and said her name, but she didn’t respond. He gently shook her arm.

‘Jane?’

She slowly turned her head and looked at him.

‘He said it was in the pit.’

‘You have to stop thinking about Carl, Jane. You’re in shock and need someone to look after you. Murphy wants me to take you to your family. Where do your parents live?’

‘I don’t want to go there,’ she said, sounding more coherent.

‘Murphy said—’

‘I don’t care what Murphy said. Carl’s last words were: “It’s in the pit.” If he knew where George and Smudge hid it, then it makes sense it was at their house or the garage.’

‘It could be anywhere, Jane. Murphy is having every suspect’s house and work premises ripped apart by search teams. If the money’s there they’ll find it.’

‘What do you think he meant by “the pit”?’

Teflon shrugged. ‘If he’s a mechanic then it could be the vehicle examination pit in the garage.’

Jane nodded as it suddenly all fell into place.

‘Nichols came here for the garage keys because he knew Carl had a set. He was going to take the money for himself... We need to go to George’s garage right away.’

‘Murphy’s in charge of the searches and has the garage under control.’

‘Carl wanted me to find the money.’

‘I’ll go and get the keys from Carl’s flat.’

He shook his head in disbelief at what he was doing.

When the Colonel saw the Luger next to O’Reilly’s body, he realized why he’d run. He didn’t want to be caught with a gun that ballistics would match to the bullets recovered at Woodville Road after he’d shot one of the police officers in the patrol car.

Tommy Ripley said nothing and didn’t resist arrest. When he was being booked in at the station he demanded to see his solicitor. His jaw nearly hit the ground when he saw a bloodied and beaten Tony Nichols brought into the custody suite in handcuffs. The PC who’d brought Nichols in told the custody sergeant he’d been arrested for the murder of Carl Winter. Tommy exploded with rage and before anyone could stop him, he lunged at Nichols, punching him so hard it broke his nose and knocked him unconscious.

The other man in Tommy’s office at the time of his arrest had an Irish accent. He told the Colonel his name was Danny Grogan and he was just having a friendly chat with Tommy and Aidan. There was something about Danny the Colonel didn’t like, so he arrested him. As soon as they arrived at the station, Dabs took a set of fingerprints from Danny and checked them against Patrick O’Dwyer’s — they were a match.

Graham Smith was out for a drive in the countryside with his wife when Stanley and his team forced entry to his house. Smith returned home just after 3 p.m., casually parked his car in the driveway, got out, and with a look of disdain said, ‘How can I help you, officers?’ When they arrested him, just like Tommy, he said nothing.

Teflon unlocked the servicing garage, opened the large metal sliding door and switched the lights on. There was a green Ford Transit van over the inspection pit with keys in it. As Teflon got in and reversed it out, Jane saw some mechanic’s disposable gloves in a box on a worktop and pulled four out. She handed Teflon a pair.

‘We’d better put these on, so we don’t leave our prints on anything.’

They stood side by side and looked down into the long, eight-foot deep inspection pit. It had a concrete base and small drainage hole, with sheet metal sides. Teflon grabbed a crowbar, a hammer and some screwdrivers from the toolbox.

‘If it’s hidden down there it’ll be behind the metal. Ladies first,’ he said with a grin.

Jane climbed down the steps and started knocking on the metal on one side of the pit while Teflon did the same on the other side. At the far end Jane noticed a change. It suddenly sounded hollow.

‘I think it’s hidden behind this section.’

The piece of sheet metal was three feet square and held in position by Phillips screws. Teflon handed Jane one of the screwdrivers and they undid the screws together. When they removed the sheet there was a square hole. Teflon picked up the inspection pit lamp, turned it on and handed it to Jane.

‘Carl wanted you to find the money.’

She held the light by the entrance and could see a large open area to the right that stretched back a good six or seven feet. She felt nervous; it was as if she was about to enter a tomb looking for hidden treasure. She crouched down, moved forward a few inches, then stopped and looked back at Teflon.

‘Do you think it might be booby-trapped?’

He shrugged and Jane moved forward, then held the lamp up and her eyes opened wide at what she saw. She was overjoyed, yet filled with sadness, knowing how Carl had led her here. She unzipped one of the duffle bags, which was filled with banknotes. After a quick look in a smaller duffle bag she shuffled backwards out of the hole.

‘It’s an Aladdin’s cave in there. There’s duffle bags filled with cash, balaclavas, guns, a priest’s outfit, a fake beard and coveralls.’

She handed the lamp to Teflon to have a look.

His voice echoed from inside.

‘There’s a sawn-off shotgun in a plastic bag and some screwed-up Security Express van logos as well — they must have put them on the van they used at the Shoreditch job.’

Jane was grinning from ear to ear.

‘We got them, Teflon. George, Tommy and the rest of the gang will be going to prison for a long time.’

Jane and Teflon went to see Murphy at Leytonstone. He was over the moon when he heard what they’d found at the garage.

‘Well done, you two. We’ve got those bastards bang to rights now.’

‘Would you like us to help with the interviews?’ Jane asked.

‘It’s all right, me and DI Kingston will do them. You two can go back to Rigg Approach and write up your statements, then have the bank holiday Monday off.’

Jane realized that Kingston, having arrested George Ripley, couldn’t have been involved with him or Tommy, as any connection to them would have been exposed by the brothers. It was also clear he was not involved in the death of Fiona Simpson. She was glad she’d been wrong about him, and realized that subjective suspicion is worthless without objective evidence to back it up. She didn’t think the Colonel was corrupt, but he was a tad dishonest when it came to paying an informant a small amount of money and she decided to tell him not to do it again.

As Jane and Teflon walked out of the front of the station, they saw Maureen Ripley getting out of her car. As soon as she saw Jane, she exploded with rage.

‘You fuckin’ bitch! My son is dead because of you! I ’ope you rot in ’ell!’

She ran forward and spat in Jane’s face. Jane wiped the spit off with her jacket sleeve and walked on.

‘Don’t walk away from me, you cow!’ Maureen screeched, grabbing Jane by the wrist.

Jane pulled free of her grip, spun around and pushed Maureen up against the wall with the palm of her hand.

‘I’m not proud of what I’ve done, but your son is dead because of George, not me. Tony Nichols stabbed Carl to stop him telling us where the money from the robberies was hidden. I watched a decent, kind man die because your husband is a filthy criminal. Carl told me you did nothing to stop the beatings he suffered from George — all because you liked the high life. Well, now you’ve got nothing but misery and shame ahead of you.’

As Jane walked away, Maureen stood frozen with shock. Then she started to cry, knowing what she’d been told was the harsh truth.

It was midday on the Monday and Jane was getting ready to go to her parents’ for lunch when the phone rang.

‘Sorry to spoil your day,’ a gloomy Teflon said, ‘but Murphy wants to see us right away in the office.’

‘Why, what’s happened?’

‘The Ripley job’s gone pear-shaped — Tony Nichols is alleging our search of the garage was illegal under Judges’ Rules.’

‘That’s rubbish.’

‘Murphy’s fuming. Because we knew there was no one there on a Sunday and weren’t making an arrest, we should have got a warrant.’

‘But we were searching as a direct result of their arrests and didn’t need one!’

‘That’s what I thought... If the cash, guns and other stuff we found is ruled inadmissible as evidence, the whole lot of them will walk out of court free men — apart from Nichols.’

Jane was mortified.

‘I’ll be there in half an hour.’

She phoned her mother. ‘I have to go into work, but hopefully I can come over later.’

‘That’s all right, dear. I’ll keep a plate of food for you and warm it up when you get here. I read in this morning’s paper about those men you arrested for the Security Express robbery. You must feel so proud.’

‘I did, but it looks like I’ve messed up and they could get off.’

Jane heard an intake of breath on the other end of the line.

‘Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good.’

Jane trudged up the stairs to the office, knowing that Murphy was going to give her hell and probably then kick her off the squad. She opened the door and walked in.

‘Welcome to the party, Treacle!’ the Colonel shouted, raising his beer can.

Jane looked around the room. The whole squad was there, smiling and raising their cans.

‘You bastard, Teflon — you had me worried sick!’

‘I knew it would get you here quickly.’ He grinned.

‘We always have a piss-up after a good result and thought you needed cheering up,’ Stanley said.

Murphy tapped his beer can on the table to get everyone’s attention.

‘I want to thank you all for your hard work over the last few days — especially you, Jane. We wouldn’t have been able to charge the Ripley gang if it hadn’t been for your tenacity and attention to detail. Welcome to the Flying Squad.’

He raised his glass, then everyone clapped and cheered loudly and toasted her. Teflon opened a can of lager and handed it to Jane.

‘Murphy’s recommending the Colonel and me for the Queen’s Police Medal for bravery,’ he said.

‘You deserve it — I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. Cheers!’

She tapped her can of beer against his.

‘I was wondering if you’d fancy going out for a drink or to the pictures some time?’

‘Yeah, I’d like that, but just on a friendly basis.’

‘I’m fine with that,’ Teflon agreed.

‘We got you a little present, Treacle.’

The Colonel handed her a large rolled-up poster with a red ribbon tied around it.

Jane unrolled it and everyone laughed. It was a blow-up of the Ripley family and friends photograph taken at the wedding, with her smiling and surrounded by the gang of criminals. Above it was the heading: A ROSE AMONG THIEVES. The Colonel took it from her and pinned it to the wall next to the Dirty Dozen poster.

Dabs approached her. ‘I had the pictures you took developed and thought you might like to have this one.’

It was the picture of a happy-looking Carl with his arm around Jane, taken by a guest at the wedding with Jane’s camera. She felt herself welling up.

‘Thank you, Dabs.’

Jane gently touched the photograph of Carl and put it in her bag. For the moment, she was enjoying the thrill of finally being accepted as one of the Flying Squad. But she knew that once the elation had worn off, she’d have to ask herself whether it really was the right job for her. She’d seen some things that she’d never be able to forget, however hard she tried.

‘You’ve certainly changed your tune about Tennison,’ Kingston said.

Murphy shrugged, taking out a bottle of Scotch and pouring two large glasses.

‘She’s a good detective, but a woman on the Flying Squad will always be a liability. She’d never have been able to take down O’Reilly or Nichols like the Colonel and Teflon did, or be any good in a street fight with people like the Ripleys. I’ll be telling the Commissioner’s office their little experiment isn’t working and I’m asking for a male replacement.’

The office celebrations were in full swing and Jane was feeling a little drunk when she went over to the Colonel to have a quiet word in his ear about the ten pounds he’d pocketed.

‘Why did you only give Gentleman Jim a tenner when it was supposed to be twenty?’

He smiled. ‘You’re a sharp cookie, Jane, but I didn’t nick it. If I’d had to pay Jim a score I would have, but I decided to front him out and gave the tenner back to Kingston. He didn’t want it, though.’

‘So, what did you do with it?’

‘You’re drinking it, Treacle.’

She smiled and wagged her finger at him. ‘You’re as slay as a fox, Cooonel,’ she said, slurring her words.

Stanley turned the radio up and the sound of the Bee Gees’ hit ‘Stayin’ Alive’ filled the room. He jumped up on the table, then started doing point-and-shake moves and gyrating his hips like John Travolta. There was a loud cheer in the room, and everyone clapped and whistled to the music.

‘Can you jive, Jane?’ Teflon asked, holding out his hand.

‘Can a duck swim?’ She took hold of his hand.

There was a loud roar of encouragement from her colleagues as she did a walk-through move and a twirl with Teflon.

It suddenly hit her that despite their rough edges, they were not only a great bunch of guys, but bloody good at what they did. And one thing was guaranteed: there was never a dull moment in the Flying Squad.

Yes, she thought, the Flying Squad is where I want to be.