Outside the church the young woman came over and put her arms around Wendy. ‘Thank you for coming. Ralphie would have appreciated it,’ she said.
‘He wanted to be someone better. You seem better equipped to succeed.’
‘I am. I was always top of my class at school, and I’ve refocussed myself on my studies. Please stay in touch. My father will not be around, not that he ever was, not when it was important, and my mother, well, you know what she is.’
‘Call me if you need me,’ Wendy said as she walked away and to her car. She had a smile on her face; for once, amongst all the misery and despair, a ray of sunshine, the possibility that she may have made a difference.
As she reached the car, Rosy came running up. ‘I remembered the name of the other man. Anton something.’
‘Antonescu?’
‘That’s it. Crisp?’
‘Crin?’
‘That’s what Ralphie said. Do you know him?’
‘I know him, but he’s dead.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘As sure as I can be.’
‘I hope it helps.’
‘It does,’ Wendy said as she gave Rosy a hug. ‘Look after yourself.’
‘I will.’
***
Commissioner Alwyn Davies was angry, and it was Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Goddard who was on the receiving end of the man’s invective.
‘How do you think this is going to reflect on the London Metropolitan Police?’ Davies said. ‘Twice they’ve tried to kill him, and the second time he’s in intensive care at St Mary’s Hospital, a guard on the door. What did you think, that they’d give up after the first attempt?’
‘We provided the best security we could,’ Goddard said. ‘It was touch and go if the man would live after the first attempt.’
‘But he did, and now he’s back at his house. Do we have security there?’
‘He’s employed a private security company, very expensive, professional. They provide security to diplomats in the city, influential visitors.’
‘Questions are being asked about Ivanov,’ Davies said. His tone was almost conciliatory; before it had been combative. Goddard didn’t like the change. He knew Davies to be a political animal, more concerned with his own survival than that of others.
‘Enough money and questions go away.’
‘What does that mean?’ Davies’s voice once again combative.
‘Not bribery or corruption, but Ivanov entered this country with his pockets full of money and no criminal convictions overseas. He came on a Tier 1(Investor) Visa, two million pounds to invest. After two years, he injected another fifty million, although the minimum requirement was ten. He followed the correct procedures and we can’t deport him.’
‘If he’s a legitimate investor in this country, then why are people trying to kill him?’
‘It’s in the report.’
‘Goddard, don’t get smart. Tell me why.’
‘Stanislav Ivanov is the head of a criminal organisation that calls itself the Tverskoyskaya Bratva. Mafia, if you like. He’ll claim that he isn’t the head, and even if he is, there are no convictions against him, and he’s done nothing wrong in this country.’
‘What about the Romanians?’
‘Serious players in the importation of illicit drugs and distribution. The Russians are attempting to muscle in, either use them or kill them.’
‘And in your patch?’
‘That’s where Nicolae Cojocaru, the most significant of the Romanians, is based, but his operations spread out from there.’
‘Yes, I’ve heard this all before, but what are you doing about it? What are you doing about Ivanov? These rogues sneak into our country, flashing their money and we do nothing.’
‘We’re here to police the wrongdoers, not to say who comes in or not,’ Goddard said. ‘We need to wrap up the shooting at Briganti’s first. Serious and Organised Crime Command have Ivanov in their sights, but unless the man makes an illegal move, they’re powerless.’
‘He won’t.’
‘DCI Cook is maintaining the pressure on Nicolae Cojocaru. He’s behind the attempted assassinations, not Briganti’s though.’
‘Can you be sure of that?’
‘There’s one inconsistency which doesn’t make sense.’
‘Which is?’
‘Sal Maynard, a celebrity-obsessed woman, was in Briganti’s, died there. It appears that she was spending time with Cojocaru’s two lieutenants.’
‘Then that’s a clear tie-in, or am I missing something?’
‘Cojocaru had no reason for Briganti’s, Ivanov did. It’s Ivanov for Briganti’s, yet Sal Maynard is tied to Cojocaru. Not that she probably knew, not too bright according to reports, and now her friend from where she lived is dead as well. The trail continues to lead back to Cojocaru, yet we know it’s not him.’
‘Goddard, I’ve little confidence in your DCI Cook, you know that. I’d prefer my man Caddick in charge, but I’ve kept him out for the time being, hoping that you’d deal with the investigation.’
‘Superintendent Caddick would not be advisable at this time,’ Goddard said. He knew that a direct statement that the man was Davies’s lackey and incompetent would have met with an immediate rebuke.
‘Very well, have it your way. Goddard, for once you make sense. Now go and stir up your team, and leave me to deal with running the Met. You’re not the only one who worries me.’
Richard Goddard sensed that for once the man did not mean what he had just said. It was as if there was a begrudging admission from Commissioner Davies that Chief Detective Superintendent Richard Goddard was a good police officer doing a decent
