Blood Tracks (23 page)

Gina sat on the park bench, catching her breath, deep in thought. She looked at her phone, waiting for it to ring. She didn’t have to wait long.

Seeing Tom’s name appear, she muttered, “I’m ready for you.”

“Hi, Gina, you’ve answered at last.” Tom sounded so relieved. “How you doing?”

“Fine,” she said coolly. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m great.”

“I’ve only just noticed you’ve left me a load of messages – anything wrong?” She feigned innocence.

“No, not really. It’s just that Danny was telling me about that weird thing in the fish tank. You know, those stones glowing red.”

“Aah…” She sounded bored.

“Have you got them? How many were there?”

“How many should there be?”

“What? How should I know?” He sounded rattled. “I’d love to see them.”

“Why?”

“Because it sounds ‘so cool’, as Danny would say. I’ve always had a bit of an interest in geology, ever since I was a lad.”

“Really? I never knew that.” Her words dripped with an unveiled sarcasm.

“Oh,” he said cheerfully, “there’s a lot you don’t know about me, Gina.”

“Actually, I know more than you think.”

“What do you mean by that?” he said with a nervous laugh.

She ignored his question. “Why do you think those blue stones would glow blood-red?”

“I really don’t know.”

“Well, should I tell you then?”

“Yeah, sure. If you’ve got a theory.”

“It’s called phosphorescence. It’s a physical property of the stones which means they’ve reacted to the UV light that you put in to get rid of the algae. If those stones are exposed to ultraviolet light they will start to glow, but only after the light has been turned off. Isn’t that cool?”

“Yeah, wow! You seem very well informed, Gina.”

“It’s amazing what you can find out from the internet. But listen, it gets even more interesting, because any old stones can’t do this. Only
very
special stones.”

“Well, I wouldn’t get carried away. I doubt there’s much special about stones in a fish tank, but I’d like to see them all the same. I have a mate who could look at them for us and tell us exactly what they are. He’s probably more reliable than the internet.”

“Thanks, Uncle Tom, but we don’t need your mate. You see, I’ve been to a jeweller’s, got them checked out myself, and can you guess what they told me?”

“No,” Tom said tensely.

“Oh, come on now, Uncle Tom, I want you to guess,” she said in a sing-song voice. “What do you think those stones are?”

“Really, Gina, just tell me. I don’t know.”

“Hard luck, if you won’t even guess then I’m not telling you. Bye.”

“Gina!” he jumped in. “Don’t hang up. Okay, I’ll guess. It’s a stupid, random guess but I suppose, if you’re saying that they’re very special…well, I suppose you could be talking about something like diamonds?”

“Wow! Well done! What a great
guess
. You’re so clever, Uncle Tom,” she said with bite. “Yes, the jeweller said that those cloudy, dirty blue stones from the bottom of Danny’s fish tank are rough diamonds. He got very excited actually, said that those unimpressive-looking stones are worth a fortune. How about that then?”

“They’re mine!” Tom blurted out.

“I don’t think so,” Gina retorted. “They belong to my dad.”

“No! He stole them from me and I want them back.”

“Have you been looking for them, all this time? Is that what this has all been about? Going through my dad’s things, digging up his allotment, taking his shed apart? And what about the day of Dad’s funeral, when our house was broken into and everything turned upside down – you organized that, didn’t you, Uncle Tom?”

He didn’t deny it; instead he said, “I only want what’s mine, Gina. You just need to hand over the stones to me.”

“No! I’m not going to do that.” She ended the call defiantly.

Declan put the shopping bags down on the pavement to answer his phone.

“Hi, Gina, what are you doing using your mobile at school. You bad girl.”

“I’m not in school. Is Tom in work?”

“No, he hasn’t been in all day. Even Kylie doesn’t know where he is.”

“Where are you? It doesn’t sound like the warehouse.”

“No, Kylie said it would be okay to take a late lunch so I could help Mrs. Mac and Bridie do their weekly shop. We’re just outside Mrs. Mac’s. I’m unloading the car and then I’ll head back to work.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Bridie drove; she nearly killed us.”

“Listen, Declan, I’ve found five blue diamonds – rough, uncut diamonds.”

“What? Where?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but they were in Danny’s fish tank, just lying there, all this time, with all the other stones on the bottom of the tank.”

“Come off it! That’s crazy. Are you sure they’re diamonds?”

“Yeah, a hundred per cent. I’ve had them checked out. But it’s Tom. Tom’s involved. He knows about them; he wants them. He’s just phoned me – he says they belong to him and that my dad stole them from him. But that’s crap, isn’t it? My dad wouldn’t do that.”

“But…but what the hell were they doing in the fish tank?”

“My dad bought the tank for Danny. He had it in the car on the day he died; he must have hidden them in there. He mustn’t have told anyone. But Tom’s been looking for them all this time. I know he has.”

“But where are they from?”

“I don’t know. My head’s spinning.”

There was silence. Declan’s brain was racing so fast he couldn’t speak.

“Declan, are you still there?” Gina asked.

“Yeah, sorry.” He sounded distracted.

“Did you find out anything about his expenses, from Kylie?” Gina asked anxiously.

“Yeah, she had spreadsheets for all his business expenses going back the six years that she’s worked there. She wasn’t happy, but she let me look at them. There wasn’t much on that day, just a payment for petrol. Nothing for any hotel and I checked through the whole of that week for hotel payments but there’s nothing recorded.”

Gina’s voice jumped on him. “Nothing! Are you sure?”

“Well, that’s what Kylie’s spreadsheets say.”

“Declan…” Her voice trembled. “He lied. Tom knows the truth about my dad and I’m going to make him tell me.”

“How?”

“I’ve got something now that he’s desperate to get his hands on, haven’t I?”

“Oh, please, Gina, don’t do anything stupid! Where are you now?”

“I’m in the park but I’m going to head home. I can’t get through to my mum. I want to get to the house before Danny. I need to keep Tom away from him. He terrified Danny this morning.”

“Listen, Gina,” Declan said gravely. “I need to make a phone call. I’ll get back to you in a minute.”

“Who are you calling?” she asked.

“Someone who’ll know what to do.”

Bridie bustled up to Declan, observing his troubled eyes and furrowed brow.

“What’s wrong, Declan, darlin’? You look like you have the worries of the world on your shoulders. Deidre! Put the kettle on, will you, Declan’s not himself.”

Mrs. Mac came for a closer inspection. “Oh yes. Definitely not himself.”

Declan looked down at the two concerned pensioners. “Thank you, ladies, but I haven’t got time for tea,” he said, bounding into the house.

Declan chewed his nails, waiting for Stevie to pick up.

“Hello, Declan,” came the gravelly voice. “Any news for your Uncle Stevie?”

“Yes! You need to phone the police, now!”

The man guffawed down the phone. “Have you forgotten, lad? I
am
the police.”

“Yeah, I know…but I mean proper police,” Declan said. “We need police cars with their sirens blazing. We need to find Cotter and arrest him, right now, before Gina gets to him or he gets to her.”

“I feel a bit insulted, Declan. I’ve been a ‘proper’ policeman for twenty-five years. I’ve got more experience than most of the uniforms put together. Us plain-clothes are the real deal. You should show more respect.”

“Whatever!” Declan snapped. “Just arrest Cotter, will you?”

“There’s nothing I’d like to do more, but why?”

“How about if I told you what Cotter and Sissouma are smuggling in those sacks of cocoa beans.”

“Go on, I’m all ears.”

“It’s diamonds! Rough diamonds.”

“Diamonds, hey!” His usually sarcastic tone sparked with excitement. “Can you be sure of that?”

“Oh yeah, just wait until you hear what Gina’s found in the bottom of her brother’s fish tank,” Declan said triumphantly before launching into the tale of the glowing stones.

“Oh my God, lad, this is beautiful, just beautiful! I could kiss you!”

“This is what Sissouma was talking about when he said what his boss supplied induced great happiness but cost much more. I thought it must be drugs, but it’s diamonds.”

“It sure is,” Stevie said excitedly.

“Did you know about this already?” Declan asked, puzzled.

“I had my suspicions.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Find Cotter and arrest him before he gets to Gina. She’s got the diamonds. She’s talking about using them to get the truth out of Cotter.”

“The truth about what?”

“About her dad.”

“Well, she may not like what she hears. If Martin Wilson hid those stones, he must have been in it up to his neck. Where is she now?”

“Heading home.”

“We’ll use unmarked cars and keep an eye on her but I can’t arrest Cotter yet. I need to hold back and see how this plays out. I still haven’t got any solid evidence. I don’t want to blow my chance of nailing him.”

“But you can’t hold back. Cotter is dangerous. Look what he did to me.”

“He won’t touch her.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Listen carefully, lad, because I need to explain to you what we’re dealing with here. Then maybe you’ll understand how important it is to get these bastards,” Stevie said ominously. “I’ve known something was going on since the day of Martin Wilson’s funeral. We had a tip-off from the Met that Sissouma was in the area. My colleagues down in London had him under low-level surveillance; they knew he was working for a dangerous man back in the Ivory Coast. They suspected he coordinated some kind of money-laundering operation but they hadn’t managed to get anything on him.

“I was assigned to tail him that day. I saw him outside the Wilsons’ house. I saw him get out of his car and nod to Cotter when he looked out of the upstairs window. A second later Gina Wilson looked out but Sissouma didn’t even notice her. It got me wondering what the connection was between the two men. So I started to take an interest in Cotter. I figured that with his warehouse business, shipments from the Ivory Coast and some kind of connection with Sissouma – Cotter was in a great position to get involved in smuggling something.”

“Then why didn’t you raid his warehouse?” Declan asked.

“I did what I could. I tipped off the docks security and they did a spot check – got the sniffer dogs in, but there was nothing. I even got my boss to persuade the tax office to have a good look at Cotter’s finances, but he must have a top-notch accountant – the guy came out squeaky clean.

“After that I got my knuckles rapped by my Super. I was told to lay off Cotter, that there wasn’t enough to go on, but I was convinced it was worth keeping an eye on him. The next minute Cotter goes and disappears – off on his travels. I think the sudden interest in him must have rattled his cage. But I didn’t forget about him and when he turned up again six months later I went back to my Super and asked for some manpower, resources for surveillance. He refused, said that he couldn’t justify the budget unless I had something more solid to go on. But then, Declan, you walked into my life. A little gift from above; my very own ‘covert human intelligence source’…cheap at half the price.” Stevie gave a raucous laugh.

“I’m glad you find it funny. You turned me into a bloody informant. Lying to people – to good people!”

“It was your own choice.”

“Come off it, Detective Sergeant,” Declan spat. “You made sure I didn’t have a choice.”

“Don’t be bitter, you’ve done a great job. You got hold of the code, worked out what it meant, and if you hadn’t seen Egon in the warehouse and got his car reg I’d still be none the wiser.”

“Why, how does Egon fit into this?”

“Well, I started doing some digging around about our friend and things became
very
interesting. He came over here from Belgium about ten years ago, to retire. He wasn’t on anyone’s radar; just a normal, law-abiding citizen. An old bloke in ill health, bothering no one. But guess what his job was back in his home country?”

“Just tell me, will you?” Declan said, getting increasingly stressed about Gina.

“He was a diamond cutter in Antwerp; one of the biggest diamond centres in the world.”

“What! Why the hell are you only telling me this now?”

“Because the less you knew before the better. I’d stake my life that all the equipment you saw in his cellar was for diamond cutting. He must have come out of retirement to set up his very own underground business. No one would have suspected him. They may have illegal cutting operations going on in Antwerp, but it’s not something we’d be on the lookout for in this country.”

“So they’re smuggling rough diamonds out of the Ivory Coast in the sacks of cocoa beans, which get unloaded directly to Cotter’s warehouse, where he retrieves them from the sacks and then what…he passes them on to Egon?”

“It certainly looks like it. Diamonds are perfect to smuggle, easy to conceal, hard to detect – not like drugs that the dogs can sniff out – and just a few of those stones can be worth a small fortune.”

“So what does Egon do with them?”

“Well, once he’s cut them he or Sissouma will have buyers lined up; the kind of buyers who aren’t going to ask questions about where the diamonds came from.”

“But where
do
they come from? I mean…how do they get hold of them in the first place?”

Stevie let out a heavy sigh down the phone. “I’ve read the Met’s file on Sissouma and the man he works for. It makes for chilling reading. His boss is a warlord in the Ivory Coast. He runs his own army; he even recruits kids to fight for him. He has control of one of the diamond mines in the north of the country. He has men, women and children working in appalling conditions: bent double in the rivers all day, panning for the stones. And then he uses the rough diamonds to buy weapons, landmines, ammunition, fuel. He’ll use them for bribes, for blackmail, everything and anything he needs to hold onto his wealth and power. They’re blood diamonds, lad, used to finance war and terror; ironic, isn’t it, that they end up being given by romantic idiots as tokens of undying love.”

“And Tom Cotter is part of all this?” Declan said in disbelief.

“Yep. We’ve uncovered something very important here, lad. God knows how long they’ve been running the operation. They could have smuggled millions of pounds worth of blood diamonds through his warehouse.
Now
can you see why I have to make sure I get my evidence.”

“But you can get a search warrant for Egon’s cellar. You’ve got Cotter telling Gina that those diamonds belong to him. What more do you want?”

“You don’t understand. It’s not enough. Egon could just say that he was keeping the equipment for old times’ sake – it’s not illegal to own it – and I’m not arresting Cotter before I know what I’ve got will stand up in court. I want these men sent down! I’m not going to trial to have one of their flashy barristers tear our case apart, convince the jury it’s all circumstantial and hearsay and get them off on some technicality. I’ve seen it happen too many times. The bigger the criminal the better the defence he can afford – that’s our justice system for you!”

“But you can’t use Gina as bait to get your evidence!”

“She’s using herself as bait! She wants to get the truth out of him, doesn’t she?”

“But you can’t
let
her.”

Stevie grunted in frustration. “I know what I’m doing. You’ve no need to worry. I’ve got her back.”

“What! Just like you had
my
back when Egon caught me trying to break into his house?” Declan scoffed. “No way, I don’t trust you. You don’t care about Gina, you just want your evidence. You’ll let it go too far. It would be better for your case if Cotter hurt her, wouldn’t it?”

“Now you listen to me,” Stevie rumbled. “I’ve put my reputation on the line over this investigation. I’ve had no support. My boss thinks I’ve been wasting my time. Are you seriously suggesting that I blow my one chance to prove him wrong? Don’t you want to see scum like Cotter behind bars? Haven’t you understood what’s behind the smuggling – war, weapons, murder?”

“But we can’t stop all that,” Declan said, exasperated.

“No, but we can smash this smuggling operation. It will starve Sissouma’s boss of serious funds.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but I’m sorry, I can’t chance Gina getting hurt. I’ve got to keep Cotter away from her.”

“Come on now.” Stevie suddenly sounded unnervingly nice. “We’ve been a good team. We’re so close to nailing these bastards. We’ve just got to hold our nerve.”

“It’s too risky.”

“Listen,” Stevie growled. “If you jeopardize my investigation by going anywhere near Gina Wilson, then our deal is off. I’ll pull every string possible to make sure that you go down. If you stop this from playing out, I’ll make sure that you end up in the worst young offenders’ institute in the country. They’ll send you to one out in the wilds, where no one can afford to come and visit you. So you keep away from her. You let me do this my way.”

“No! The deal’s off, Stevie. I’ll take what’s coming to me but I’m not standing back and letting Cotter hurt her.”

“What? You think you can do this to me?” Stevie roared. “I’m going to have you arrested for obstructing a police officer. You aren’t going anywhere, you little piece of sh—”

Declan cut him off.