The Body in the River (35 page)

Brookes frowned.
‘
So none of your officers have had any business with him lately?
’

‘
Not to my knowledge, no, and I do keep up to date on these villains. Have a word with Brian Collins whilst you
’
re here, he
’
d know if anything is happening.
’

‘
That
’
s what I had in mind to do, Charlie, but I thought you
’
d want an explanation first.
’

At that point, Leighton
’
s PA brought the coffee in.

For the next ten minutes, the three chatted about other things as they drank their coffee. Then the two detectives said their goodbyes and descended to the first floor, where the CID offices were situated. Brookes had purposely not told Rose of Middlemiss
’
s information about phone calls Collins seemed to have made. There was no danger of her reactions in Collins presence giving anything away. He would also be interested in her opinion of the man without her view being tainted.

DCI Collins
’
office was a glassed-off section of the general CID office. Knocking on the door, Brookes waited to be invited in.

He thought he detected a note of tension in Collins
’
voice when he welcomed them. They sat down and politely refused Collins
’
offer of coffee.

Brookes got straight to the point.
‘
I expect you
’
ve heard about my visit to The Venus Club. I
’
ve just spoken to your governor and thought I should pay you a visit just to let you know why we were there.
’
He then gave a brief summary of what he
’
d told Leighton.

Collins listened quietly to the explanation then said,
‘
Thank you, sir, we did wonder what you were doing on our patch.
’

Brookes was immediately conscious of the way Collins had put it. He
’
d made Brookes sound like some kind of poacher.

Brookes said,
‘
Do you have much trouble with Silver or his club?
’

This earned Brookes a vigorous shake of the head.
‘
None at all. Silver makes sure he does nothing wrong and the club
’
s well run.
’

‘
Really; do you ever pay the place a visit?
’

‘
Haven
’
t done recently, no.
’

‘
What about your team, do they visit the place?
’

‘
One of my DS
’
s, Bill Knowles, looks in now and again; he
’
s my clubs officer.
’

‘
So his visits will be recorded in the clubs book, but they were just routine?
’

‘
Yes, sir, they should be.
’

Neither Brookes
’
expression nor tone chanced one iota when he asked his next question.
‘
So you have no contact with the place or the man then, Brian?
’

‘
No, sir, no cause to.
’

Brookes nodded.
‘
Shame, we
’
re looking for all the info we can get on him. Clearly you have nothing that might help.
’

Rose moved forward as if ready to ask a question. Brookes nudged her with his knee, knowing that the desk between Collins and them would prevent him from seeing this. She sat back in her seat and said nothing.

Brookes said,
‘
OK, Brian, thanks for your time.
’

The two got up and left.

In the car, Brookes said,
‘
Jacqui, I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest when you answer, whatever you felt. You
’
re good at reading people; what did you make of Collins?
’

She glanced at him then back to the road ahead. A frown spread across her face. Finally, she spoke.

‘
He looked uncomfortable from the moment we arrived. His reaction was totally different from Mr Leighton
’
s.
’

Brookes nodded encouragingly.
‘
Yes, keep going.
’

‘
That
’
s it really, sir. Nothing I could put my finger on; his reaction just seemed strange.
’

‘
I
’
ll tell you why that was.
’
He went on to tell her about Silver
’
s mobile phone records.

She frowned again.
‘
So Collins lied to you, sir; why on earth would he do that?
’

Brookes gave her a look.
‘
Why do you think?
’

‘
I don
’
t like to think about it, sir. That
’
s why I asked.
’

‘
Collins is bent. Can you think of any other explanation, Jacqui?
’

She shook her head.
‘
No, sir, I can
’
t. But Silver
’
s evil. And he
’
s responsible for at least one murder; surely not.
’

‘
And he
’
s filthy rich, don
’
t forget that.
’
He paused for a moment then added,
‘
Sadly, there are one or two coppers who do stray from the straight and narrow and you
’
ve just met one.
’

‘
Shouldn
’
t we report it to Internal Affairs, sir?
’

Brookes nodded.
‘
Eventually, yes. But there might be a way we can use this to bring them both down. Just keep it to yourself for the moment. Fred Middlemiss and Liz Foreman are the only two others who know this so Mum
’
s the word.
’

Rose nodded, but the worried expression remained on her face.

*

‘
Let
’
s run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it.
’

Reginald Rose

As soon as the two had disappeared from view, Collins got to his feet and started pacing impatiently about his small office. He
’
d looked closely into the eyes of each of the two visitors but had detected nothing to indicate they knew anything about his arrangement with Silver. But he needed to be sure.

He stopped by the window which looked out on the station yard. Brookes and Rose came into view as they walked to their parked car. Collins took a pace back, anxious in case they looked up and spotted him. But neither did; they simply got into the vehicle and drove off.

It was Collins
’
signal to leave. He made sure his file cabinet was locked and left the office, closing the door behind him. There was no lock on the door, but anything sensitive he locked in the filing cabinet to which only he had the key. He knew he had to cover his back as the game he was playing was a very dangerous one.

He looked at his watch; it said 6.10pm. Late enough, he thought; Sid Porter would be at The Venus Club getting everything ready for the evening trade. Collins would have preferred to see Silver, but he dare not contact him at Pentonville Prison as all visits and phone calls to prisoners were recorded. He had to find out exactly what had happened when Brookes had visited the club and Porter had been there at the time.

Collins
’
modest Honda Accord was parked in the yard. He
’
d had the sense not to buy a more expensive car from the money he got from Silver; that would give the game away. Instead the money would go to his retirement fund. He got into the car and drove out onto City Road, turning left and left again at the traffic lights, heading towards Shoreditch. He was nervous and constantly checked his rear-view mirror. But it was rush hour and he spotted nothing out of the ordinary in the mass of vehicles behind him.

So he failed to spot the Ford that Fred Middlemiss and Liz Foreman were in. Middlemiss, who was driving, kept half-a-dozen vehicles behind the Honda. There was the danger of them losing Collins at traffic lights, but the bug Brookes had planted under the rear bumper of the Honda earlier, while pretending to drop his keys, would indicate where the vehicle had gone. Foreman sat with the tracking device in her hand.

She said,
‘
Is this legal, Fred?
’

Middlemiss glanced sideways at her.
‘
Probably not, Liz, but sometimes you have to be a bit sneaky when you
’
re dealing with rats.
’

Foreman gave him a smile.
‘
Adds a bit of flavour, doesn
’
t it, Fred, doing something we shouldn
’
t?
’

He returned her smile.
‘
Long as we don
’
t get caught it does, yes.
’

Collins drove east to Shoreditch High Street, then turned left, followed at a safe distance by the two detectives. A quarter-mile further on, Collins turned left into a side street. Middlemiss continued along the main road, deciding it was too dangerous to follow directly behind. They had only gone a hundred yards when Foreman saw from the tracker that Collins had pulled the car to a halt.

‘
He
’
s stopped,
’
she said.

Middlemiss turned into the next side street and pulled into the kerb.
‘
What
’
s happening, has he moved off again?
’
he asked.

Foreman shook her head.
‘
He must have parked, the dot
’
s not moving on the screen.
’

‘
Then we
’
re in business, Liz.
’
He turned and pointed back the way they
’
d come.
‘
That
’
s The Venus Club on the right back there. He doesn
’
t know you by sight, does he?
’

Foreman shook her head.
‘
No, we
’
ve never met.
’

‘
OK, he knows me. So you get out and go back to the main road and see where he goes. But be careful, Liz, don
’
t let him clock you.
’

She gave him a look that said she knew how to suck eggs as she got out of the car.
‘
I wasn
’
t born yesterday you know, Fred.
’

She got to the High Street in time to see Collins crossing the road. Reaching the other pavement, he looked right and left. Foreman had her mobile phone out and appeared to be making a call. Collins took in her presence as he did the other half-dozen pedestrians in the vicinity, but moved on, apparently satisfied her presence had nothing to do with him. He stopped at the door of the club and rang the bell. Foreman gave a wonderful show of having an argument on her mobile phone as she walked past on the other side of the road, gesticulating wildly with her hands, and Collins took no further notice of her.

The door to the club opened and Collins disappeared inside.

Foreman reported this to Middlemiss on her radio.

He said,
‘
Is there anywhere you can watch the club entrance from, Liz?
’

She had already thought of this and replied,
‘
There
’
s a coffee shop that
’
s open, I
’
m heading there now.
’

‘
Good, sit tight and let me know when he comes out.
’

Foreman took her finger off the transmit button and added to herself,
‘
Well, well, I never would have thought of that, Fred.
’