“Quite right,” Roberts chipped in. “I need to make contact with the ART leader later, when we have more facts. He has a team on standby.”
“That’d be great. All we have right now is that the cars are scheduled to be at the Port of London at ten this evening. I’m unsure what that time indicates, though. It could mean the cars are going to be delivered at the time or perhaps they’re due to set sail then.”
“We need to request the port’s shipping manifest,” Roberts suggested.
“Karen, can you deal with that for me?”
“On it, boss. Do we know the name of the vessel in question?”
Katy shook her head. “Nope. Can you wing it?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“In the meantime, Charlie and Patrick, I need you guys to find out what you can about Anderton. We need his work and home addresses. I’d like to set up surveillance on him from the word go. I can’t imagine him taking a back seat in the proceedings this evening. My guess is he’ll want to oversee a job of this magnitude himself.” Exhausted, Katy let out a breath.
“Are you okay?” Sean whispered.
She smiled. “I’ll let you know how I feel when this is all over. I’m going to arrange a takeaway for everyone. An army can’t march on an empty stomach, neither should we.”
He dipped his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I’ll get it. What did you have in mind?”
“Something quick and easy to eat, pizza will do. I need to send some members of the team on their way within an hour or so.”
“I agree. Do you want to place the order?”
“I’ll get Charlie to do it.” She took the fifty Sean was holding out and walked over to Charlie’s desk. “Can you order in pizza? Ask everyone what their preference is first.”
“Sure. Thanks, boss.”
Katy returned to her place beside Sean and whispered, “How did I do?”
He tutted. “I’m going to forget you asked that. Let’s get one thing straight, Inspector Foster. If I had one sprinkling of doubt about your work ethics, I wouldn’t have appointed you inspector in the first place. So toughen up that skin of yours and get rid of those silly reservations running through your smart brain. Got that?”
Katy’s cheeks warmed under his penetrating gaze. “Message received and understood, sir.”
Forty minutes later, the team were tucking into their pizza at the same time as discussing the final parts of the plan. Charlie and Patrick had come up with addresses for Anderton’s home and business. Charlie had also discovered a tenuous link to Thatcham and his partner’s business as well. Of course, all that might be circumstantial, but it was definitely something they needed to bear in mind when summing up the case.
“We’re stretching the team thin, boss, too many people we need to keep an eye on. We’re going to need uniform to lend us a hand on this one.”
“I think you’re right, however, the last thing we need is a bunch of marked cars showing up.”
“Maybe we can use a fleet of unmarked cars for this evening. Do we have that many on site?”
Roberts answered her by dropping his slice of pizza, wiping his hands on a serviette and placing a call to the front desk. “Mick, it’s DCI Roberts. How many unmarked cars do we have at our disposal?” He placed the phone on speaker for Katy to hear.
“Off the top of my head, I’d say five at the most, sir.”
“Okay, that’ll have to do. We’re in the process of finalising plans at present, but we’re going to need uniform to help us out later, so be prepared. Oh, and we’ll need them to use the unmarked vehicles for any surveillance we have in mind.”
“I’ll put my team on alert. Let me know when and where, and they’ll be there, sir.”
“Good man. I knew I could count on you.”
“Always, sir.”
Roberts grinned as he ended the call. “All sorted. We’re on a roll, right?”
Katy growled. “Yeah, everything is trundling along nicely. I wouldn’t get too cocky about things just yet, if I were you.”
“Didn’t you know? Cocky is my middle name. Lorne obviously failed to pass on that snippet of information.”
Katy stared at him and without thinking said, “Hmm…that particular snippet of information must have slipped her mind. She did tell me a bunch of other stuff, though.”
His gaze darted around the room. Katy sensed he was checking to see if the rest of the team had overheard them. They hadn’t.
He expelled a breath and leaned in. “That was a mistake.”
Katy’s eyes widened, and she feigned surprise. “What was?”
His mouth opened and shut, mimicking a fish out of water gasping for the breath that would keep it alive. “It doesn’t matter.”
She laughed. “Your secret is safe with me, sir.”
“Glad to hear it. I was desp—”
Katy raised a hand to cut him off. “I don’t want to know the ins and outs of what went on, I haven’t got the time, sir.”
“That’s me told then,” he grumbled.
“It’s approaching six-thirty. I need to get the surveillance teams organised if we’re going to pull this off.”
“I agree.”
Katy felt relieved he hadn’t wanted to pursue the awkward conversation. “Everyone finished their grub?” She glanced around the room at the empty boxes. “Right, let’s crack on, time is against us now. Graham and Steve,
