Carys managed a smile, and the two of them spoke in hushed tones, bowed over their drinks.
Kay looked up as Sharp walked into the incident room, a shorter man at his heels who wore a vexed expression and a receding hairline.
‘Let’s have your attention, everyone,’ said Sharp as he passed the desks and headed towards the whiteboard at the end of the room.
Kay picked up her coffee mug and followed her colleagues.
Sharp paced the floor while they gathered, and then gestured to the other man.
‘This is Colin Fox of the UK Border Agency,’ he said. ‘We’ve been meeting with DCI Harrison and the Chief Super about yesterday’s events, and although Demiri appears to be in hiding at the present time, we’re of the opinion that what he’s been doing has been too lucrative for him to simply walk away. We also have Gareth Jenkins’s assertion that Demiri was expecting another “shipment”. In light of what was found yesterday at the nightclub, I think we can safely say that “shipment” refers to people, not drugs as was previously thought.’
Sharp continued to bring the rest of the investigation team up to date on what had been found.
‘Of particular note is that the cellar hasn’t been cleared of trace evidence – Harriet’s team have plenty of forensic data they’re compiling including fingerprints on some of the implements found.’
‘Demiri?’ said Kay, leaning forward in her seat.
‘No. No trace of Jozef Demiri at all down there.’
‘Leaving us clues to who his clients were, do you think, guv?’ said Barnes.
‘Quite possibly. Harriet and her team are still on site, and probably will be for some time yet,’ he concluded. ‘In the meantime, Colin has a separate team monitoring the Kent coastline for Demiri’s boat. Colin, do you want to brief the team on your efforts to date?’
‘Thanks, Sharp. We’ve had suspicions that Jozef Demiri has been smuggling people into the country via boat, but it’s proven impossible to date to pinpoint exactly where the drop-offs occur. I believe some of you were involved in tracking movement of his fleet of trucks between here and the Continent, and that’s certainly how we thought he was bringing in people to start off with.’
Kay raised her hand. ‘Why haven’t you been able to monitor incoming boats? Why have they been missed so far?’
‘Detective, this county has three hundred and fifty miles of coastline. Our teams are constantly being redirected to support ongoing anti-terrorism efforts at Heathrow and the Channel Tunnel. Why do you think we missed them?’
Sharp cleared his throat. ‘I think what Hunter meant was, how is Demiri managing to get these people into the country via the English Channel? It’s a busy shipping lane, after all.’
Fox shrugged. ‘He’s running a very lucrative business. He can afford fast boats. They’re small, too, so often we don’t spot them. A lot of our successes to date in relation to people smuggling rely on tip-offs, or when the boats are in such a bad condition to start off with that they capsize before reaching land and the Coast Guard have to rescue the occupants. We have look-outs stationed along the coastline – we educate the local population and they help by reporting any unusual night-time activity. It’s often the local fishermen who are our best assets. The problem is, Demiri and all the other people smugglers up and down the coast have their own lookouts.’
‘So, you’re up against people who are probably paying good money to the same informants you use and they look away?’ said Barnes.
‘Exactly.’
The room fell silent as the team began to gain an understanding of how hard Fox’s role was, and why the Border Agency was under so much pressure.
Kay glanced over her shoulder as Harrison entered the room and stood next to O’Reilly, his arms crossed as he listened.
‘You’d think knowing there’s such a problem with migrants entering the country along the coastline, the government would recruit more people into the Border Agency,’ said Carys.
‘Maybe. Like I said, most of our resources have been relocated to cope with increases in immigration queues at Heathrow, though, so that’s not always the answer.’
‘What do you need from us?’ said Sharp.
‘Well, given your involvement from time to time with the joint Serious Crime Directorate, we could certainly use your assistance on this one. You know the locality, and any contacts you’ve got will help to add to the intelligence we’ve gathered to date.’ Fox ran his hand over his hair. ‘As it is, we’re only going to get support from one Border Agency vessel.’
‘One?’ said Gavin. ‘Surely they can provide more than one?’
Fox shook his head. ‘Border Agency has five cutters. One of those is in dry dock for maintenance, one’s down in the Mediterranean for the next three months, and I’m afraid we can’t divert the other three without leaving other parts of the English coastline exposed to illegal vessels.’
Barnes emitted a low whistle. ‘How many illegal boats do you catch?’
‘Not enough. And we have no way of knowing how many we’ve missed. It doesn’t help that we know a lot of French fishermen are exacerbating the influx by accepting bribes to bring people over the Channel.’
‘I thought the Navy would be sent to the Mediterranean,’ said Gavin.
‘Budget cuts,’ said Fox. ‘And the government expects the Border Agency to make up the deficit.’
A collective groan passed through the incident room.
‘In the meantime,’ said Harrison, moving to the whiteboard, ‘I’ve just heard from the Chief Super. We can’t get any more staff support for our investigation, either, so we’ll have to do the best with what we have.’
Sharp thanked Colin Fox, and led him from the room as Harrison worked his way around the detectives, seeking an update on their work.
Exasperated, he turned away from Carys. ‘Does anybody have anything to progress this investigation?’
Gavin held up a sheaf of paperwork. ‘Demiri’s got more businesses, linked to his legitimate one, as subsidiaries to the main organisation.’
Harrison clicked his fingers and pointed at Gavin. ‘Good point.
