Constable Loach comes back.''He gettin' me some coffee?''Yes, but that's a plus for you—I wanted a few words with you alone. If you give me what I want, then we won't take you in.''For doing what?''Lying, withholding evidence—you can get into big trouble for that.''I never done nothing.'She moved closer. 'Don't play any more games, Eddie. I want the truth this time.''About what?''The night you went to visit the drug dealers in Chalk Farm.''I told you, I never went in.''Not the second time you were there; that was when you were able248 to identify this man.' She showed him the photograph of Frank Brandon. 'But you went to the same place earlier that night, didn't you?''No.''Eddie, we know that you did. Now, I am not interested in what you scored—I just want the name of the dealer.'Eddie closed his eyes, shaking his head.'It's up to you, Eddie. Give up who was dealing or you'll be arrested.''I can't.''Yes, you can.''If it ever got out, I'd be fucking dead meat.''Oh, so you do know?''I never said that!''Give me the name, Eddie. It doesn't mean they'll know it came from you. Any more lies and 1 will lose my patience.''They don't deal from there no more.''Yes, I know that.The place was closed down.''You'll look out for me?''Yes.'Eddie chewed his lips. A cold sore on his upper lip started to bleed. He used a corner of his filthy sheet to dab at it. 'I only ever seen one of 'em—since, that's Delroy Planter.'Anna jotted the name down; it wasn't one she knew. She looked up as Eddie still messed with his lip. 'The second?''He's a mean bastard but, like I said, I've not seen him since. It was a bloke called Silas Roach.'Anna pressed for descriptions of both men. Eddie shrugged and muttered, but eventually gave Anna some idea what the men looked like. Both, Eddie thought, were Jamaican.The front doorbell rang and it made them both jump.Gordon had left the door on the latch and was already heading down the dingy corridor with coffees. Anna asked for the address where she could find the dealers. Eddie muttered and moaned, but gave it up, as Gordon held out his coffee.'Okay, Eddie. If this doesn't add up, we will be back.' Anna ran both names by Sam Power. He had no record of either of the men, and no information on the squat they were now using to deal from. The address was in Kensal Rise, not that far from Chalk Farm, nor from Maida Vale; it hung between the two. Sam knew the area well, as they had busted a row of shops there two years previously. They had swooped on two hairdressing salons and a grocery store, and made over twenty-two arrests, including runners, delivery boys and girls, customers trying to score. The stash of drugs was impressive, from heroin to crack cocaine, hash, and marijuana. It was a well-publicized raid and the row of shops had since been closed and boarded up. Sam was surprised that the two dealers would be either stupid or audacious enough to operate from there again.'Two years ago? Maybe the businesses have reopened.''Yeah, in more ways than one.'Sam suggested they take it quietly. He and Anna should first stake out the area, as neither knew what their suspects looked like, apart from Eddie's descriptions. Silas Roach had dreadlocks and always wore a multicolored, knitted bobble hat, whereas Delroy Planter, 'the muscleman,' was lighter-skinned and often wore a leather jacket and trousers.Anna and Sam, with two other members of the Drug Squad, went to Kensal Rise. They used a dental practice overlooking the semicircle of shops to set up their surveillance. Three were still boarded up, but the central one was now a cafe with a board outside, advertising all-day breakfasts. Sam still had all the maps of the previous bust, so they could ascertain the ways in and out of the premises. The other building to have reopened was a hair salon Operating specifically for ethnic customers, hair and nail extensions. However, the flat above still had boards across the windows.Sam used binoculars to check over both the properties from the window in the dental surgery. He handed them to Anna. 'There's our man now, outside the cafe.'Their undercover officer was a short skinny black guy, wearing dirty jeans, trainers, and a cap pulled down low over his face. He appeared to be in deep conversation with a very young black boy who was wheeling his bike around him. There were a number of kids with bikes, both male and female, who entered the cafe, came out, and went into the new hair salon.'They should be in school,' Anna said.'Yeah, but they'll be earning a lot of cash, running the drugs back and forth.' Sam straightened up as a BMW drew up and out got a massive guy with a muscular body and bald shaved head. 'I'd say that's your Delroy.'Anna drew up a chair to sit beside Sam at the window.'Second target just driven up in the Mercedes. From the description, that's got to be Silas Roach.' Anna passed the binoculars back to Sam. They watched as the two men conferred on the pavement, and then strolled into the cafe, shortly followed by the undercover Drug Squad officer.They maintained surveillance for over two more hours until Sam received a call from his officer and left the building. Anna stayed at the window, watching, her nerves at breaking point; she couldn't understand why they didn't simply arrest the pair. There was also something very uncomfortable about remaining closeted in the small dental surgery with its central leather chair and tray of dental equipment.Sam eventually returned. 'Okay, they're dealing from a back room in the cafe. It's got a bolted door and access over the yard into the hair salon—I'd say for a quick getaway if needed. There's a fire escape, with another possible exit route. Both cars are registered to different names than our targets, plus addresses we're checking out.''When are you going to make an arrest?' Anna asked.'Not for a while; we want them dealing. Apparently they are waiting on a drop—our man was told to come back in an hour. Right now they are sitting down to a full breakfast!''But we know they were dealing from the Chalk Farm estate.''So your informant says, but we've got no prints that match any records. These two are clean and maybe very mean, according to our man. He reckons they have weapons, and they've got heavies inside as well. I'll need backup and, if we get them, handling gear. It's going to make interviewing them a lot easier if we have something to deal with, if you'll excuse the pun.'Anna nodded and looked at her watch. It was after two. Putting in a call to the station, she was told that most of the team were out, but Gordon was there. They had a development with the boat, Dare Devil, he told her. It had been sold more than eight years ago and was now registered to a charter company working out of Malta. The same charter company had also rented it out to Carlo Simonetti, who was a legitimate businessman. The company had bought the boat when it had been anchored in Cannes, and still did charters there for the film festivals. They had no record of Alexander Fitzpatrick using it; the sale had gone through with a man named Stephen Anderson. This was possibly another alias used by Fitzpatrick, as they had so far been unable to trace him, and as yet had no luck from passport and immigration.Anna was frustrated. They had no details on the surveillance of either Julia Brandon or the Oxfordshire farm, but a trace had been put on the Range Rover driven by the two men that Anna had seen at the Old Windmill talking to Julia Brandon and her solicitor. They were possibly ex-army—or marines, as the Range Rover was registered to a mercenary agency. As yet the police had not had confirmation of either of the men's names, as the company just had a box number—but they were being checked out.Cunningham had interviewed Simon Fagan, who was still accusing the police of harassing his client. He said that he had instigated the hiring of the men to protect Mrs. Brandon from unnecessary invasion of privacy. Cunningham believed he was unaware of any further surveillance now operating. That was about it; in other words, nothing had really moved forward.Anna wondered if Simon Fagan could have an ulterior motive for his championing of Julia Brandon, either financial or sexual. She went for the latter. She asked if there was any more information from Rushton, and was taken aback to be told that Langton was handling the next interview. It was almost four when Sam was confident that they should move in. He had two wagons with drug-and-weapon sniffer dogs, and had orchestrated the entire bust along the same lines as the massive one two years previously. He was still astonished that the two targets had brazenly taken over the cafe and hair salon, knowing they had been the focus of a previous drug bust. It was either arrogance or stupidity, or gross misjudgment and inexperience.Anna said nothing. If these two men also worked out of the Chalk Farm drug squat, then that was how they operated—taking over rundown properties. From their luxury cars, they were obviously making money hand over fist. Could one of them be the killer of Frank Brandon?Sam turned to her, adjusting his earpiece. 'Okay, it's going down. It makes it a lot easier in broad daylight.'Anna stood up, but he gestured for her to remain sitting.'Watch from here! I don't want you in the thick of it. Let me do my job.'Anna frowned. The hours she had been hanging out there, and now she was told she wouldn't be in on the arrest! It really infuriated her, but there was nothing she could say.The two police people-carriers suddenly drove up and moved into position, blocking off the road exits at either end. At the same time, armed officers moved in from the front and rear of the building.Anna stared from the high window as the suspects came out with their hands on their heads. A few women were screeching and shouting abuse, as they had been removed from beneath the dryers. The hairdressers, wearing bright pink overalls, were also shouting and yelling as they were led out. They formed two lines along the pavement as the officers with the dogs held back the yapping, barking animals. The young kids were herded out and lined up; next came two mean-looking men with muscles and black shirts and trousers, struggling as they were cuffed. It was like a bizarre Noah's Ark, with people being brought out two by two.The last out were their two targets, Delroy Planter and Silas Roach.Both men were handcuffed to heavyweight officers and forced to stand facing the wall. The sniffer dogs were then released inside both the cafe and the hair salon. The weapon- sniffer dog weaved in and out of the lines of men and women. It was extraordinary to watch; if the dog picked up the scent of a weapon on someone, it sat down in front of them. The dogs were switched every fifteen minutes to keep their sense of smell clear.While weapons were being recovered this way, from flick knives to machetes to small-caliber pistols, armed officers with large boxes were removing a further array of weapons from the cafe. Then
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