Nick Oldham - The Last Big Job

But Loz had had enough of the other man pushing him round, beating him up when he felt like it, shoving his hand into Nero’s cage, treating him like a piece of shit. Enough was enough. A man can only take so much. He had his dignity, his basic human rights and they had been well violated. If he, Loz, could handle things just right, there would be nothing to worry about.

‘ This is how it stands.’ Henry was addressing FB and Rupert Davison, though his eyes continually strayed to the latter. Danny sat at the back of the office, looking supportive1y at Henry. ‘We have ascertained by means of the tachograph fitted to the security van that the robbery took place on Lancaster Services on the M6, southbound. A search of the car park found blood on the tarmac and this has since been matched to one of the victims. No witnesses have yet been found, probably because there was a row of builders’ portacabins outside the services themselves which obscured views from the shops across the lorry park.

‘ At the scene of the shooting at the White Lund industrial estate in Morecambe, the forensic people — who have worked their backsides off for us — have matched blood found on two sets of overalls found there with all four of the dead security guards. We can be sure, therefore, that the people found dead at the warehouse are the ones who committed the robbery and murdered the guards. This is further confirmed by the guns found there, too. Ballistic matches have been made with the bullets found in the bodies of the security guards. The owner of the warehouse, a very dodgy importer, who, incidentally, reported the job, hasn’t been very helpful yet, but we’re keeping up the pressure on him. He’ll crack, but I don’t think he was involved directly with the robbery or the shooting afterwards.’

‘ Conclusions so far?’ FB interrupted.

‘ That the robbers had a falling-out over the division of the money, and one or more of them got away with it.’ Henry took a breath. ‘We’ve had some interesting work done by the financial and intelligence analysts, which I’ve just received from Danny. Don Smith, one of the dead villains in the warehouse, seems to have been pretty careless up to a point. We have records of several recent mobile-phone calls to a number in Tenerife and also spending on his credit card for a flight to Tenerife from Manchester and back via Lisbon and Paris.’

‘ Why do you say up to a point?’ FB asked.

‘ Because we haven’t managed to trace his home address yet. The address for his credit cards and telephones relate to a rented office in Blackpool, which is scrupulously clean, a shell,’ Henry explained. ‘What is obvious, therefore, is that a robbery has taken place, there’s been a fall-out big style between the offenders, an OK-corral-style gunfight, and the survivors have skedaddled with the dosh — and these are the people we need to nail.’

FB gave a weary clap. ‘I know that — what I don’t know is what you’re doing about it.’

‘ My best, that’s what.’

‘ Is that going to be good enough?’ FB was tough.

Henry’s mouth tightened. ‘Yes. I’ll catch the bastard or bastards. The link seems to be Tenerife — which is also the link to one of the security guards, a guy called Colin Hodge, who visited the place just a short time before the robbery. We think he was the inside man. The other link is Billy Crane, who has suddenly reappeared on the scene. Danny has had him positively identified as having stayed at the Imperial Hotel on the night of the triple murder in Blackpool, and leaving via Manchester Airport the day after, catching a flight to Lisbon, subsequently connecting to Tenerife. I saw him back in the country’ before the robbery in the company of Elphick, Thompson and Drozdov junior — three of the four dead men at the warehouse. The fourth dead man is Don Smith, of course, long-time associate of Crane’s. And today the fingerprint people have given me some partial idents lifted from a vehicle — not enough for court — putting Crane at the warehouse. There are also some partial prints of his on a pistol found there, which is the same gun that killed two security guards, Thompson, Elphick and Drozdov.

‘ Our next step must be to trace and arrest Billy Crane. He’s the key to all this and he’s got some nooky questions to answer. But the good bit is — if we don’t get to him first — and soon — he’s as dead as a dodo.’

Later, in the gents’ toilets, Rupert Davison was urinating at one of the stalls when Henry slotted in next to him.

‘ Henry, how are you doing? You’ve been avoiding me, haven’t you?’

‘ Like the plague,’ Henry admitted.

‘ I’ll tell you what — that Danny Furness has aged well, hasn’t she? I screwed her, you know?’

‘ Did you really?’ Henry bristled. He began to pee.

‘ Are you still serious about blowing me out over those interview tapes and the like?’

‘ Is that why you’ve come today, to ask me that?’

‘ I was invited by Mr Fanshaw-Bayley, actually, because I have a vested interest in this investigation. Two Manchester villains are dead, plus their Russian pal. You need to keep me sweet so I can ensure your enquiries around Greater Manchester go smoothly.’

‘ Are you saying you would obstruct my officers?’

Davison shrugged. ‘I could ensure they did not get the cooperation they require.’

Henry finished urinating and moved on to the wash-basin. He turned a tap on to a trickle and put his hands under it. ‘That sounds like obstructing the course of justice.’

‘ Does, doesn’t it?’ smirked the Superintendent. He finished and joined Henry by the sinks.

‘ That interview-tapes business — you know you’ll never get anywhere with it, don’t you? My word against a mere Custody Officer. I handed the master tapes over to him — which is actually documented in the custody records of Thompson and Elphick — so I don’t have a great problem there. As regards the working tapes of the interviews, losing them is unfortunate, but it won’t get as far as discipline. Happens all the time to other officers. I’ll probably get mildly rebuked. I can live with that.’

‘ But you did steal and destroy the masters, didn’t you?’ Henry said.

Davison placed his hands under the soap dispenser and then turned on a tap. Henry leaned across and turned it off, coming in close to Davison, eyeball to eyeball.

‘ You did, didn’t you?’ Henry pushed.

A smile crept over Davison’s face. ‘Of course I did.’

Henry took a step away. ‘Have you come here to gloat?’ He put his hands towards the hot air dryer, then changed his mind and went for the roller towel. ‘To tell me not to bother going for you, is that it?’

‘ Not to gloat, Henry — just to ensure that you don’t waste your breath and time on something where you’ll end up with egg on your face,’ he said confidently.,

‘ What happened to the master tapes?’

Wonderfully, Davison came alongside Henry by the towels and spoke in a hoarse, but clear whisper. ‘In a busy custody office, it’s very easy to make things go missing. I went back down a little later and while the Custody Sergeant was tied up booking in prisoners, I helped myself. The tapes are kept on a shelf under the desk until they are collected by the tape librarian, usually the day after. They are destroyed now.’

And so are you, mate, Henry wanted to tell him, but before he could make any sort of response, Davison said, ‘It’s a shame our operation against Thompson and Elphick came to nothing. Unfortunate they bubbled you as a cop, isn’t it?’

Henry’s eyebrows knitted together. Something in Davison’s tone of voice triggered off a warning bell in Henry’s head. ‘You sound like you know something about it?’