Maurice Procter - Two men in twenty

Martineau listened to him in silence, reflecting that it was a pity the policewoman had allowed herself to be noticed by the suspected woman. He wrote down the woman's description, and said: 'The bus will be looked after, though I have an idea she'll be too clever to be on it. More likely she's on foot. I'll send a plain car out to join the hunt. It can take over from the other car and follow the woman if we're lucky enough for her to be spotted.'

So the police did what they could, and it was not the fault of P.W. Dale's driver that he decided to turn right at Elwood Avenue instead of left. In that direction there had been a woman walking, and she might have been the suspect. When he did turn round and go the other way, he was too late.

Martineau caused the Sedgeworth taxi driver to be interviewed again, and a more complete story was obtained. Having heard this, Martineau went and reported to the head of the C.I.D. 'The woman's actions certainly show deliberate evasion,' he concluded. 'Moreover, she seemed to be a stranger, with an accent of the London region. She didn't know which of the big stores stayed open on Wednesdays, and I should imagine every local woman knows that. She took a taxi when there was a bus waiting, but she wasn't in a normal sort of hurry because she later told the driver that she had time to spare. I think we can assume that she was casing the Co-op all right, and that she spotted the policewoman. So now the XXC mob knows we're watching the Co-ops. They might pack up and go somewhere else.'

'And you wouldn't be sorry,' said Clay drily.

'I rather think I would be. I'll chance having a few more jobs chalked up against us. I want to catch that shower, and I think I can do it.'

'I wish you luck. What do you suggest we do about the Co-ops now?'

'Well, we'll still have to watch the Co-ops, in case the boss mobster thinks we're going to withdraw our observers because he knows about them. I'd like to have a lot more men in plain clothes. If the mob does stay in this area, they'll probably turn to other types of premises. I'd like to have a lot of special patrols concentrated on the likeliest places.'

Clay nodded. 'I'll see what I can do about it.'

That was the end of the interview. Martineau returned to his own office, and found Detective Constable Robieson waiting for him. Robieson had been engaged on inquiries among the crews of the buses whose routes ran along one of the main roads which converged on the city centre alongside Sedgeworth Road, like adjacent spokes of a wheel.

'I think I might have got a bit of something, sir,' he said. 'At about five minutes to one this afternoon a woman who answers the suspect's description boarded a bus in Derbyshire Road near the end of Elwood Avenue. She asked the conductor the fare to town, and she spoke with a South of England accent. She paid a sevenpenny fare, but she got off the bus at Arlington Street in Mossbank. The conductor remembers her quite well because she was so good looking. Just his type, he said she was.'

'That could be something. She didn't know where she was when she got on the bus, but when it was passing through Mossbank she did know where she was, and she got off. She might be living in Mossbank, or she might have known her way from there to some other part of town, or it might have been just another move to cover her tracks. Continue your inquiries and see if you can find out if the woman got on another bus anywhere near Arlington Street.'

When Robieson had gone, Martineau spoke on the internal line to the inspector in charge of women police. 'Have you had a report from your Policewoman Dale yet?'

'Verbal,' the lady inspector replied. 'Just a phone call. Did she make a mess of it?'

'No, I wouldn't say that. You couldn't say even now whether it would have been better for her to turn that woman up. I shall need her help again, I'm afraid.'

'Doing what?'

'There's information which suggests this woman might live somewhere not far away from Arlington Street in Mossbank. I'd like Dale to work a ten-six every day, and spend her time around there. She can work around the shops or sit in cafés watching the street just as she pleases. She'll watch the buses and the bus stops, of course, and I suggest she has another girl with her. One with a little more experience. What about it?'

'Can do,' the inspector said. 'I'll arrange it.'

* * * * *

The XXC mob's next three robberies were achieved on a Sunday morning, a Sunday afternoon, and a Friday midnight. The premises chosen were a betting shop, a cotton merchant's warehouse, and a large working men's club. All of them were disappointing, yielding respectively £100, £80 and £60. After the raid on the club, there were complaints.

'You're slipping, Howie,' Coggan said crisply.

'It weren't worth stoppin' outer bed for,' Husker grumbled.

Jolly said: 'Five of us could've made twice as much as that labouring down at the docks.'

'All right, talk,' Cain retorted. 'Get it off your chests. Anybody thinks he can do better'n me, he can take over. I've had to vary the times and the places, haven't I? The coppers aren't just dogging out on Wednesday afternoons now. We've got 'em working round the clock. I got another job picked out. A plum, it is. It'll be another night job, then we switch back to Wednesday afternoon for another job. A job I've had in mind for some time. I got to think ahead, I have.'

'What's the night job?' Jolly wanted to know.

'Well, it isn't a Co-op. We're off Co-ops for a bit.' He went on to explain that the next 'tickle' was one of those wholesale emporiums which sell everything non-edible, from carpets and furniture to pots, pans, and underwear.

'This is the way they work,' he explained. 'A woman who needs a bit of cash and a spare-time job, she writes to this place and she takes what they call a book. She sells on the shilling-a-week lark to friends and neighbours, cracking on everything is wholesale price. If a customer wants to buy something priced six pounds, she pays six bob a week for twenty weeks. If she's a regular customer she can get her article on the down payment, or at any time during the twenty weeks. The agents go to the warehouse or store, or whatever you'd call it, at least once a week to pay their dues. They don't all go on the same day, but every day there's plenty of 'em. What we've got to find out is whether there are any days when the manager don't send money to the bank, or any days when he goes early in the morning. After that, it should be a piece of cake. It's a very old-fashioned firm. Mind you, I don't know what the safe is like. I didn't ask. I don't mention safes to nobody.'

'Where did you get all this gen?' Coggan queried.

'Well, I got the first sniff of it listening to two women talking in a pub.'

'I thought we weren't supposed to go in pubs,' Husker said.

'You're not. But I've got to, sometimes. Somebody has got to go out and fish for tiddlers.'

'Ha! Tiddlers is all you've been gettin' lately.'

'Belt up! It was all very respectable. Me and Dorrie sitting like Joe Soap and his wife in one of the locals. Nobody even noticed us.'

It was rare for France to support interjections which were irrelevant to the matter under discussion, but now he asked: 'Was this since Dorrie was spotted at Sedgeworth?'

'Nah! It was a couple of days before. I tell you I've had this job in mind for a while. You know as well as I do Dorrie's been nowhere since that do, except to shop for the table. When there's any nosing round to do, Flo goes with me now. It's Flo who's been casing this wholesale place.'

France nodded, satisfied. But Husker sneered: 'You an' your wife sittin' like Dick an' Liddy in a boozer, an' us stuck in this place suppin' bottled stuff. I've forgot what a decent pint tastes like.'

Cain turned on him. 'If you can't do without draught beer you can resign, and us lot'll go back to London. I'm getting fed up of you. Moan, moan, moan. You're not indispensable, you know. There are plenty of ways of opening a peter besides XXC.'