“Prisoner secure,” someone shouted.
All Rodent could think about as he lay on the floor crying, a gun pointed at the back of his head, was that he wasn’t going to be able to go and see Jenna and tell her how sorry he was.
◆◆◆
Dillon thrust his head into Jack’s office without knocking. “Just had IR on the phone. The white van Dawlish used to take Winston to the coast activated an ANPR on its way towards the Blackwall Tunnel a little while ago. It’s just been stopped by SO19 and Dawlish is in custody.”
“And the others?” Jack asked, holding his breath in anticipation.
Dillon shook his head. “Sorry mate, it’s just Dawlish. He’s being taken to KO and the van’s being lifted to Charlton.”
“Okay, thanks for letting me know,” Jack said. He picked up his landline and dialled Steve Bull’s number from memory. “Stevie? Jack Tyler here. Listen, Rodney Dawlish’s just been nicked driving the van he borrowed back to London.”
“Great news,” Bull said, sounding dog tired. “Was he alone?”
“Afraid so. What’s the score at your end?”
Jack waited while Steve let out an expansive yawn. “Keeping you awake, are we?” he asked with a smile in his voice.
“Sorry boss, haven’t had much sleep. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, after all these months working with you.”
“Think of the paycheck you’re going to get,” Jack said brightly.
“Yeah,” Bull said wearily, “but you’ve got to be alive to spend it.”
Jack laughed.He could picture Bull slouched in the car, hair sticking up, clothing dishevelled. “You know you love it,” he said. “So, what’s the latest with our people smuggler?”
“Meade’s still in his little house,” Bull half said, half yawned. “He hasn’t been out all night. We’ve booked a couple of rooms in a little Bed and Breakfast nearby and we’re doing three hour stints watching the premises. The other two have a car so if there’s any movement they can be here within five minutes.”
“Okay, Jack said. “Did you know there was a call from Meade to Garston earlier this morning?”
“I did,” Steve confirmed. “Between them,Regand Dean have been giving us regular updates. How are the rest of the team getting on?”
“They’ve all arrived down your neck of the woods, and they’ve had a little scout around to get a feel for the place. Now, we’re waiting for the signal detector van to deploy to see if we can narrow down where Winston’s staying.”
“I hope they can find him,” Bull said, “but even if they don’t, I’m quietly confident that Meade is going to lead us to right to him when the time comes.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Jack said, feeling that they were running out of time. The officers he had spoken to at Customs and the Coastguard service had said that most attempts to smuggle people into the country occurred at night, and these were nearly always illegal immigrants, but they didn’t have too much data about people being smuggled out.
After he’d hung up, Tyler went out into the main office to see how Reg, Dean, and Wendy were getting on with the phones and research. There had been no further activity on any of the phones, which worried him greatly, and the research was progressing slowly. With most of the team deployed to East Sussex, he didn’t have many people left at his disposal.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Kelly said, joining him as he walked out into the corridor. She looked tired, like everyone else on the team, but when she smiled at him her face seemed to light up from within, sweeping all the weariness away in an instant.
Jack glanced around to make sure they couldn’t be overheard. “My God, even when you’re exhausted you’re beautiful,” he whispered.
Kelly blushed. “I bet you say that to all your DCs,” she replied coyly.
“I’m sorry we haven’t been able to spend much time together recently,” he said, subtly brushing his hand against hers. “Maybe, when we’ve got this one wrapped up, we can make up for that?”
“I’d like that,” she said with a demure smile.
When they reached the entrance to Andy Quinlan’s MIR, Jack stopped. “Well, this is my exit,” he said jerking his thumb towards the door.
She smiled and gave him a little wave. “Catch you later?”
“Definitely,” he said, feeling better for having spent a few precious moments alone with her.
Inside the MIR, he found Susie Sergeant and Tom Wilkins hunched over a HOLMES terminal, going through statements. “What are you two up to?” he asked.
“Just getting the relevant witness statements printed off for Dawlish’s interviews,” Tom Wilkins said.
“Susie, who have you got in mind to deal with him?” Jack asked.
She shrugged. “To be honest guv, I was thinking of doing it myself as we’ve hardly got anyone available, what with most of our combined teams down in Sussex.”
Jack considered this. “Okay,” he said. “But I want someone to hightail it over to Plaistow right now to see if he’s willing to tell us where Winston is holed up before a solicitor gets his hooks into him and tells him to go ‘no comment.’ Plus, the first thing he’s gonna want to do when he gets there is make a phone call, and we can’t allow that, so someone needs to ring the custody officer and explain we’re going to be making a request for him to be held incommunicado as there are three suspects still adrift who might evade capture if word of his arrest gets out.”
“Leave that to me,” Susie said, reaching for a phone. “I’ll make the call and then shoot over there to see if he’s willing to tell me what we need to know.”
“Thank you,” Jack said, turning to go. “I’ll speak to Mr Holland now and get his authority for an urgent interview without legal representation,” he promised.
Urgent interviews of a suspect at a police station without legal representation were permissible under Code C Para 6.6 or Code H Para 6.7. of PACE. They required the authority of an officer
