‘Good, and if you need any assistance, let me know.’ Kingston smiled.
‘After I briefed the uniform sergeant, ADC Murray offered to oversee the house-to-house for me,’ she informed him.
Kingston looked surprised. ‘Did he now?’
Jane nodded. ‘I haven’t had a chance to check the completed house-to-house for further actions yet, but I believe Cam can bring you up to speed.’ She gave Cam a sideways look.
Kingston knew something was up. ‘In that case he can continue helping you... when we don’t need him to drive us somewhere.’
‘Anything of interest come up during the house-to-house, Cam?’ Murphy asked.
‘Er, yes,’ Cam began nervously. ‘The owners of garage twenty-nine are in their late sixties, living at flat forty Edgar House, and the male occupant was in hospital recovering from a cataract operation and hadn’t used the garage for some time. He’d loaned the car to his daughter.’
‘How many of the flats still need to be visited?’ Kingston asked.
‘Er... quite a few. A lot of the occupants were presumably at work.’
Jane knew Cam was waffling as he hadn’t checked the forms, and decided to interject.
‘Enquiries are still being made by the late-shift uniform officers. However, there are two blocks of flats opposite Edgar House where I feel it might be worth making—’
Murphy held his hand up. ‘You can discuss the house-to-house with DI Kingston after the meeting. Right, do we know how much they got away with?’
Baxter held up the statement he’d taken.
‘According to the guard inside the van, the stolen cash box contained two grand in one-pound notes.’
‘Two fucking grand. They shot an off-duty PC and nearly killed the crew of Juliet 1 for five hundred quid each!’ the Colonel exclaimed.
‘The other cash box contained six grand in fives, tens and twenties. We should release that to the press to really piss the bad guys off,’ Baxter suggested.
‘Up till now I thought we might be dealing with professional criminals — not a bunch of amateur desperados,’ Teflon said.
‘Actually, I think these guys knew exactly what they were doing,’ Kingston said.
‘Look, the robbery went pear-shaped when the off-duty PC decided to have a go and got a stomach full of rice for his trouble—’ said the colonel.
‘The other barrel of the sawn-off was probably loaded with a real cartridge, ready to be used if needed,’ Murphy added.
Kingston nodded in agreement. ‘Although the guy with the handgun popped off a few shots at the crew of Juliet 1, he seemed calm and precise in his actions during the robbery.’
‘The torching of the Cortina and clothing suggests planning from experience as well,’ Stanley said.
Jane raised her hand and Murphy pretended not to notice, but she kept it raised until he acknowledged her.
‘What now, Tennison?’
‘I spoke to a young witness called Abby Jones. After the police car crashed, the man with the handgun walked towards the officers, but the man with the shotgun said something and the two of them got back in the Cortina.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?’ Murphy asked, clearly annoyed.
‘She didn’t see their faces because of the masks and refused to make a statement.’
Murphy sighed. ‘Did you try and persuade her?’
She looked to Kingston.
‘Tennison did mention it to me, but the girl was only seventeen, in shock and had a baby with her, so I said to let her go for now and speak to her again in a day or two.’
It wasn’t quite the truth, but Jane appreciated that Kingston was at least backing her up.
‘Is there anything else you’ve overlooked, which you’d like to now share with the team?’ Murphy asked.
Jane ignored his sarcastic tone. ‘The bank manager told me he’d recently had CCTV installed on the inside of the premises, but none outside where the crime took place. I wondered if it was possible the robbers had been tipped off about this and that’s why they decided to rob the security van in the street.’
She realized that everyone was staring at her.
‘It’s a valid question,’ Kingston remarked, attracting a few funny looks.
Jane assumed he was defending her because she hadn’t embarrassed him about Abby.
Kingston continued, ‘Thursday is a regular cash delivery day at many banks as companies need to withdraw money to make up their employees’ Friday wage packets — and criminals are just as aware of that fact.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ she said, acknowledging his support.
Murphy looked quizzically at Kingston. ‘Moving forward we need to be aware that these four men will undoubtedly strike again, especially as they didn’t get away with much this time. It’s also highly likely they’ve robbed other cash in transit vans, banks, jewelers, etc., etc., so, Katie, I want you—’
Kate jumped in, eager to be center-stage.
‘I’m already on it, sir. I checked with the Tower Bridge and Barnes squads before the meeting and they’ve nothing on file for any robberies that match the MO or description of the men. I will of course make further enquiries after the meeting,’ she added, looking pleased with herself.
‘Good work, KP — as reliable as ever,’ Murphy said with a smile.
Dabs nudged Jane and whispered, ‘See what I mean about her being a teacher’s pet?’
Jane looked at Teflon, who blew out his cheeks to show Katie’s ingratiating behavior made him want to throw up.
‘Is there anything else you or DI Kingston would like me to attend to?’ Katie asked Murphy.
‘Not that I can think of for now, but I’d like DS Tennison to spend some time with you. That way she can see how we handle investigations and paperwork within the office.’
Katie didn’t look pleased, and Jane knew Murphy was deliberately burdening her with office work, but she could always use the house-to-house as an excuse to get out of Katie’s clutches for a while.
‘Right, is there anything else anyone wants to raise?’ Murphy asked.
Everyone shook their heads apart from Baxter.
‘What about “keep ’em peeled”?’ He touched his eye with his index finger, then pointed into the room and winked. Everyone recognized the impersonation of Shaw Taylor, the presenter of the Police 5 TV program. ‘He could appeal to the public for information.’
‘Actually, that’s not a bad idea.’ Murphy looked at Jane. ‘Give them a ring and ask if they could fit our case in. Also contact the bank and see if they’re prepared to offer up a reward for information leading to an arrest and charge. If you get a result with Police 5 or the bank, discuss it with DI Kingston.’
Jane nodded to herself. Murphy obviously wanted as little to do with her as possible.
Murphy closed his pocket notebook.
‘I know we’ve other unsolved investigations ongoing, but this case is our number one priority. Once you’ve finished your reports, I want you out on the streets talking to your informants and hassling any other lowlife on our patch for information. If it means visiting any dodgy pubs, you go in pairs, and I don’t want any of you coming back here shit-faced. We’ll regroup here at ten tomorrow morning. I want results, lads, and I want them quickly before someone does get killed by this gang.’
Chapter Nine
When the meeting finished, Murphy told Kingston he wanted a chat with him in his office.
‘How did Tennison take being told she was an experiment?’ Kingston asked as he pulled up a chair and sat down.
‘Not as badly as I hoped she would,’ Murphy replied as he opened his desk drawer, then got out the bottle of whisky and two glasses.