The Dirty Dozen

Chapter Nine

When the meeting finished, Murphy told Kingston he wanted a chat with him in his office.

‘How did Tennison take being told she was an experiment?’ Kingston asked as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

‘Not as badly as I hoped she would,’ Murphy replied as he opened his desk drawer, then got out the bottle of whisky and two glasses.

‘Just a small one for me,’ Kingston said.

Murphy poured him a large measure.

‘I was hoping she’d tell me to stick the Flying Squad up my arse and piss off back to divisional CID. She’s thicker skinned than I thought she’d be...’

‘As a female officer she’s probably used to being put down all the time—’

‘Why are you defending her?’

‘I’m not — I just reckon she’ll do her best to show us were all wrong about her abilities, that’s all.’

Murphy gave him an inquisitive look. ‘You don’t think she’ll be an easy ride then?’

Kingston pretended to look offended. ‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I know you too well, Stu. Your dick has always ruled your brain and you’re only being nice to Tennison so you can get in her knickers.’

Kingston laughed. ‘No way! She’s not my type — far too serious for me.’

‘Bollocks! She’s reasonably attractive, got big tits and a nice arse—’

‘Sounds like you fancy her, Bill.’

‘Don’t try and turn it around, Stu, we both know she ticks all the boxes in your quick leg-over book. I’d rather you steered well clear of her. She’ll screw up soon enough and then we can get rid of her.’

‘I don’t fancy Tennison — but as I see it we’re stuck with her for now so there’s no harm in giving her the menial stuff to do to keep her out of harm’s way.’

‘Most of the bloody office reckons KP’s got the hots for you and some even think she’s your bit on the side. If you start making a play for Tennison it could cause you all sorts of bother. The last thing I want is two women in the office fighting like tarts over you!’

‘For Christ’s sake, Bill, I flirt with KP, that’s all. She likes attention and it keeps her on her toes.’

‘Well, for everyone’s sake keep it that way, Stu.’

Kingston downed his whisky. ‘Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?’

‘Yes, this landlady, Fiona Simpson — is she a good witness?’

‘Yeah. She’s feisty, that’s for sure, and she seemed willing to go the whole way — as a witness, that is,’ he added quickly.

‘Stop being so bloody defensive. Get a statement off her, then take her up the Yard to look through the Flying Squad mugshot albums.’

‘I’ve already arranged for an artist’s impression to be taken from her at five today, then she has to open the pub at six. But I’ll give her a ring and see if she can do a statement tonight.’

‘Get Tennison or one of the others to take the statement off Simpson.’

‘The rest of the team are all busy and I don’t think Tennison is experienced enough to do it—’

‘Ten minutes ago, you were telling us what a good job she’s doing.’

‘What I meant is she’s inexperienced when it comes to armed robbery investigations. Simpson is our only witness who might be able to identify one of the blaggers and needs to be handled carefully.’

‘Point taken. Try and get the statement tonight if you can, if not, tomorrow morning at the latest. I need you to hold the fort here this evening as I’ve got a seven o’clock meeting at the Yard re this Operation Countryman fiasco.’

‘Are they looking at us for anything? Or the rubber heelers?’ Kingston asked.

‘I don’t know for certain... but it’s only a matter of time before they decide to stick their noses into our business.’

‘I don’t think we’ve got anything to worry about—’

‘Come on, Stewart, we both know some of us have sailed close to the wind evidence wise — especially the Colonel.’

‘To be fair,’ Kingston insisted, ‘he’s never put a man in prison who didn’t deserve it—’

Murphy slapped his hand down on the desk. ‘A disgruntled man in prison turned supergrass and started bloody Countryman!’

Kingston shrugged. ‘But we wouldn’t get convictions if we didn’t use the occasional verbal.’

Murphy shook his head. ‘The ends don’t justify the means as far as Countryman’s concerned. To them bending the rules is corruption even if it means putting villains away.’ He leaned forward across the desk. ‘I don’t want any fit-ups on the Leytonstone job, Stu — especially with Miss Goody Two Shoes on the team.’

‘Don’t worry about her. Tennison doesn’t need to be involved in any arrests. You could stick her in the office to man the radio.’

Murphy nodded. ‘You know I’m not averse to putting words into the mouths of suspects when it’s necessary, but I prefer to nick them red-handed on the plot, that way the evidence is watertight.’

Kingston smiled. ‘I’ll make sure the lads are aware of your feelings and everything is above board — as far as possible.’

‘OK, I’ll leave a number with KP so she can call me at the Yard if anything urgent comes up.’

‘Have you heard back from the rest of the team on the surveillance operation?’ Kingston asked.

‘They think the gang they’re following is going to hit a jeweler’s in Chingford next week, so we’ll all be needed if that’s a goer. I’ll let you know when I hear more, but they’ve got enough to be getting on with.’

Waiting for Kingston to finish his meeting with Murphy, Jane phoned Barclays Bank to speak to the manager, but there was no answer. It was nearly 4:30 p.m. and she suspected the bank must have closed and the staff had gone home. Next, she contacted ITV and asked to be put through to the office that produced Shaw Taylor’s Police 5. They were very helpful and said the best they could do was to give the robbery a voice-over mention at the end of the show next week, as they had other cases that had been filmed and were ready to go on air. Jane thanked them and said she would speak to her DCI and get back to them.

She then phoned Leytonstone Police Station and spoke to the duty sergeant. He said that the house-to-house enquiries at Edgar House were still ongoing; there was no important information to relay to her and they hoped to be finished by 6 p.m. Jane said she would try and collect the completed forms later in the evening, or the following morning.

She sat at her desk checking the completed house-to-house forms and signing off those that needed no further action. A lot of the residents were elderly people and she made some notes about the couple at number 40 Edgar House, where ADC Murray had spoken with Mrs. Helen Clarke about garage twenty-nine. She wanted to speak to Mrs. Clarke as there were some important questions Cam had failed to ask her. She read through the form the uniform sergeant had completed regarding the woman who’d seen two men walking towards Felstead Road, and felt it was lacking in detail. Jane decided she should also visit this woman, who was called Rita Brown and lived at flat 14 Edgar House.

Katie walked up and dropped some statements on Jane’s desk.

‘When you’ve finished what you’re doing, would you check these for any further action or enquiries that need to be made and type them up,’ she said, before starting to walk off.

Jane called after her. ‘When I’ve finished what I’m doing I will be going over the house-to-house enquiries with DI Kingston and then revisiting some of the residents at Edgar House. I might have time to check the statements for further action, but I’m not an office typist.’

Katie started to say something, then, spotting DI Kingston coming out of Murphy’s office, she picked up the statements and called out to him.

‘Excuse me, sir, could I have a word with you?’

‘Not just now, Katie.’ He looked across the room. ‘Colonel, I need a word with you.’

The two men went into his office.

‘What’s up, Guv?’ the Colonel asked as he closed the door.

‘Murphy thinks I fancy Tennison,’ Kingston whispered, worried that Katie might be waiting outside his office close enough to hear what was being said.

‘I’m not surprised, the way you were buttering her up in the meeting.’

‘You mentioned our little bet to anyone in the office?’

‘Don’t tell me you’re welshing on it — because if you are, you’ll still owe me twenty quid.’

‘The bet’s still on but I don’t want Murphy, or anyone else on the team, getting wind of it.’

The Colonel double-tapped the side of his nose with his finger.

‘Trust me, Guv, I won’t tell a soul.’

‘You’d better not or I’ll make sure you’re the one that gets screwed. Tell Tennison I want to see her.’

‘Making your play already?’ He winked.

‘About the bloody house-to-house. Now get out on the streets and start hassling your informants for information about the robbery.’

‘I was going to speak to Gentleman Jim. He’s always had his ear to the ground when it comes to armed robberies, especially among the old-style blaggers — having been one himself, of course.’

‘Bloody hell, is he still about?’

‘Yeah, he’s sixty now and has set up a Sunday antiques stall in Brick Lane flea market—’

‘Antiques! What the fuck does he know about antiques apart from stealing them?’

‘He does a nice line in watches, if you’re interested.’ The Colonel pulled up his jacket sleeve. ‘I got this Omega Seamaster from him — apparently Jacques Cousteau used to wear one like this.’

Kingston laughed. ‘That watch is either a fake or knocked off — you tried it out in anything deeper than a bathtub?’

‘It worked fine in me local swimming pool. Anyway, Gentleman Jim always likes a few quid up front first before he starts digging around, so I’ll need at least a score out of the squad informants’ fund.’

‘Twenty quid’s a bit steep to start with — sweeten him up with a tenner and see what he comes up with first.’

‘He generally turns up trumps, so he’ll be expecting a twenty.’

‘All right, but it’d better be worth it. Knock out a request then. I’ll get Murphy’s approval. He wants this case done by the book so don’t let Jim participate in any way or get into agent provocateur territory—’

‘He said he’s too old for robbing banks and reckons he’s going straight.’

‘We both know that’s bollocks!’

As the Colonel left Kingston’s office, Katie walked in, holding the statements up.

‘I asked Tennison to check these statements and help me type them up, but she refused.’

Kingston sighed. ‘Not now, Katie. I’ve got other things to sort out first, then I’ll have a chat with you.’

As Jane walked into the room Katie gave her a scowl and stomped out.

‘What’s bothering her?’ Jane asked with a knowing smile.

‘You are. She said something about refusing to help her type up the statements.’

‘That’s not quite true.’

‘Well, I’ll have a word with Katie and remind her you’re a DS, not a typist.’

‘Thank you, sir, I’d appreciate that.’

She handed him the house-to-house folder.

‘I’d like to revisit Mrs. Clarke and Mrs. Brown personally and go into a bit more detail about garage twenty-nine and the two men seen walking away from Edgar House,’ she told him.

‘Seems strange they should choose that particular garage to dump the getaway car, so further enquiries are fine by me,’ he said without looking up.

‘Is this evening OK, or would you like me to stay in the office and help Katie?’

‘She’s got by on her own many times before and right now the investigation is more important than typing up statements. You mentioned about extending the house-to-house at the office meeting?’

Jane told him about the two other blocks of flats in Blake Hall Road, but Kingston said that for the moment she should just get the enquiries at Edgar House and Felstead Road completed. As he checked the rest of the house-to-house forms, Jane looked around his office. It was much smaller than Murphy’s but had the same style desk and chairs and a large locked filing cabinet; the grey carpet was stained and worn, and the walls were painted the same puke green as the squad office. She noticed a couple of Flying Squad team photographs on the wall behind the desk, and some taken at boxing matches. There was also a large black and white group photograph with about thirty teenagers dressed in sleeveless vests, shorts and boxing boots, with CHINGFORD AMATEUR BOXING CLUB 1958 at the bottom. Lined up on the ground in front of them was an array of silver cups and shields. Jane squinted to see if she could recognize Kingston in the photo.

‘I’m third in from the left on the back row,’ he said without looking up.

‘How old were you then?’

‘Sixteen. The club was at the old Territorial Army drill hall back then, but it’s moved since and now called the Waltham Forest Amateur Boxing Club. The photo to the left was when I won the Lafone police middleweight boxing championships. I was nineteen then and just joined the job.’ He was clearly proud of his achievements. ‘Do you like boxing?’

‘I’ve only ever seen it on TV when I lived at home as my dad sometimes watched it, though he was more into wrestling.’

‘That’s all fake, boxing is the real thing. You get hit hard sometimes — as you can see from the shape of this. It’s been broke a few times,’ he said, tapping a finger to his nose.

Although his nose was slightly crooked, Jane thought it gave him a rugged appearance and didn’t spoil his good looks at all.

‘Do you still box?’

‘Not in proper bouts, but I occasionally pop down to the Waltham Forest club to help out with the kids and do a bit of sparring.’

‘You live over that way then?’

‘Born and raised in Chingford, but I live in Woodford now. What about you, Jane?’

‘I’ve got a flat in Marylebone.’

‘Marylebone, very posh,’ he said with a grin.

‘It’s just a small one-bedroom flat, but I’m looking to move somewhere slightly bigger with a garden.’

‘Anywhere in particular?’

‘Not really.’

‘Well, as long it’s within twenty-five miles of Charing Cross you’re entitled to the police housing allowance.’

‘I wouldn’t be able to afford a place of my own if it wasn’t for the housing allowance,’ Jane remarked as she sat down.

‘Crack on with the house-to-house for now. I was a bit hasty this morning about that seventeen-year-old girl who witnessed the shooting of the police car — what was her name again?’

‘Abby Jones. I’ve got a gut feeling she may have seen a bit more than she said.’

‘I know she’s an adult as far as the law’s concerned, but when you speak to her again I’d suggest you have her mother or father present to avoid any allegations that we tried to force her to be a witness or put words in her mouth.’

‘I was going to see her over the weekend, like you suggested in the office meeting, probably Sunday if that’s OK.’ She smiled, recalling his change of tune when Murphy said Abby needed to be seen again.

‘If you want to work Sunday it can’t be for overtime — only a day off in lieu. You can do a couple of hours overtime this evening on the house-to-house, then head off home.’

‘Should I not come back to the office?’

‘No, it’s OK. I’ve told the others there’s no need to but ring the office just in case anything important has come up that needs to be dealt with tonight. Other than that, it’s a nine o’clock start tomorrow.’

‘I could get the statement from the landlady, Fiona Simpson, if you like. I met her earlier when—’

‘I heard you were at the pub,’ he interrupted. ‘I’d already spoken to Mrs. Simpson, so what were you doing there?’

‘I hadn’t seen the scene of the robbery and wanted to familiarize myself with it. I spoke to Mrs. Simpson as I knew she’d seen where the stolen Cortina had parked up just before the robbery and I wanted to check the vicinity for any dropped bullets or—’

He frowned. ‘The senior SOCO who attended the bank scene did all that and nothing of interest was found. Next time speak to me first. Mrs. Simpson is our best chance of identifying the getaway driver — if we can identify him that might then lead us to the rest of the team. These men are dangerous and Mrs. Simpson’s safety is crucial to the investigation. I’ve told her to tell no one that she saw the driver. I don’t want her getting cold feet by putting her under any more police pressure right now, so I’ll deal with her statement.’

‘I understand, sir. Will you be getting a statement from the old lady as well?’ Jane asked.

Kingston looked puzzled. ‘Who are you talking about?’

‘Betty, the old lady with the hunched shoulders who witnessed the robbery. Fiona Simpson implied you’d spoken to her.’

‘Unfortunately, she’s a bit senile and not very reliable, so I decided it wasn’t worth getting a statement off her. Considering it’s your first day and you were shoved in at the deep end, you’ve done well,’ he said, changing the subject.

‘Thanks, but I don’t think DCI Murphy and the rest of the team share your viewpoint.’

‘My advice is to carry on as you’ve started and don’t let them get to you.’

Jane felt she could be open with him and part of her wanted to gauge his opinion further.

‘That’s not so easy when you’ve been told you’re nothing more than an experiment—’

‘Look, if you’re worried about the team finding out, don’t be. I for one won’t say anything and I can assure you neither will DCI Murphy, otherwise he’d have everyone on his back wanting to know what’s going on. The Flying Squad has always been a male bastion, but sooner or later that was going to change and some feathers were going to get ruffled. There are guys on the team who will test your mettle, the same as they would with a new male officer on the squad, and the banter can be pretty full on at times — but like I just said, don’t let them get to you and if you’re not sure about something, just ask.’

Jane knew that what he was saying made sense and it made her feel more relaxed about being the ‘treacle’ on the Flying Squad.

Kingston handed her the house-to-house folder.

‘I’ve got a shedload of paperwork and reports to do, so unless there’s something you want to ask about the investigation, I need to crack on.’

Returning to her desk, Jane noticed a typewriter on it along with some handwritten statements and officers’ reports. She picked up the reports, which were written by the Colonel, DS Stanley and DC Baxter. The office was empty apart from Katie, who was updating the incident board with the information gleaned from the earlier meeting. Jane put the reports back in each of the officers’ in trays on their desks and the statements on Katie’s.

Katie turned around. ‘What are you doing?’

Jane walked back to her desk. ‘DI Kingston told me that squad officers are expected to type up their own reports. Unfortunately I can’t help you with the statements as I’ve got to go out and make some important house-to-house enquiries.’

‘Well, you could do them when you get back.’

Jane jotted down the office phone number on the back of the house-to-house folder, then picked up her raincoat and small shoulder bag.

‘I won’t be coming back to the office tonight. I’ll be heading straight home when I’ve finished with the house-to-house.’

‘You have to come back here to book off duty.’

‘DI Kingston said it would be fine to ring in before I go home. Have a nice evening and I’ll see you in the morning.’

As Jane left the office, an irate Katie stormed into Kingston’s office.

‘Tennison has just dumped all the typing back on my desk and walked out the door — she had the cheek to say you said she didn’t have to do it!’

Kingston stood up and gently held her by both arms.

‘I did, but—’

‘Why are you being so nice and obliging to her?’

‘Just calm down and let me explain. I told her to continue the house-to-house this evening for a reason—’

‘Well, it’d better be a good one.’

‘Everyone’s out of the office on enquiries and Murphy will be leaving at six for a commendation ceremony at the Yard, which means we’ll be alone.’

He slid his hands onto her backside and pulled her tight against his body.

‘That is a good reason.’

She smiled, stretching up to kiss him.