‘Just a small one for me,’ Kingston said.
Murphy poured him a large measure.
‘I was hoping she’d tell me to stick the Flying Squad up my arse and piss off back to divisional CID. She’s thicker skinned than I thought she’d be...’
‘As a female officer she’s probably used to being put down all the time—’
‘Why are you defending her?’
‘I’m not — I just reckon she’ll do her best to show us were all wrong about her abilities, that’s all.’
Murphy gave him an inquisitive look. ‘You don’t think she’ll be an easy ride then?’
Kingston pretended to look offended. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘I know you too well, Stu. Your dick has always ruled your brain and you’re only being nice to Tennison so you can get in her knickers.’
Kingston laughed. ‘No way! She’s not my type — far too serious for me.’
‘Bollocks! She’s reasonably attractive, got big tits and a nice arse—’
‘Sounds like you fancy her, Bill.’
‘Don’t try and turn it around, Stu, we both know she ticks all the boxes in your quick leg-over book. I’d rather you steered well clear of her. She’ll screw up soon enough and then we can get rid of her.’
‘I don’t fancy Tennison — but as I see it we’re stuck with her for now so there’s no harm in giving her the menial stuff to do to keep her out of harm’s way.’
‘Most of the bloody office reckons KP’s got the hots for you and some even think she’s your bit on the side. If you start making a play for Tennison it could cause you all sorts of bother. The last thing I want is two women in the office fighting like tarts over you!’
‘For Christ’s sake, Bill, I flirt with KP, that’s all. She likes attention and it keeps her on her toes.’
‘Well, for everyone’s sake keep it that way, Stu.’
Kingston downed his whisky. ‘Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?’
‘Yes, this landlady, Fiona Simpson — is she a good witness?’
‘Yeah. She’s feisty, that’s for sure, and she seemed willing to go the whole way — as a witness, that is,’ he added quickly.
‘Stop being so bloody defensive. Get a statement off her, then take her up the Yard to look through the Flying Squad mugshot albums.’
‘I’ve already arranged for an artist’s impression to be taken from her at five today, then she has to open the pub at six. But I’ll give her a ring and see if she can do a statement tonight.’
‘Get Tennison or one of the others to take the statement off Simpson.’
‘The rest of the team are all busy and I don’t think Tennison is experienced enough to do it—’
‘Ten minutes ago, you were telling us what a good job she’s doing.’
‘What I meant is she’s inexperienced when it comes to armed robbery investigations. Simpson is our only witness who might be able to identify one of the blaggers and needs to be handled carefully.’
‘Point taken. Try and get the statement tonight if you can, if not, tomorrow morning at the latest. I need you to hold the fort here this evening as I’ve got a seven o’clock meeting at the Yard re this Operation Countryman fiasco.’
‘Are they looking at us for anything? Or the rubber heelers?’ Kingston asked.
‘I don’t know for certain... but it’s only a matter of time before they decide to stick their noses into our business.’
‘I don’t think we’ve got anything to worry about—’
‘Come on, Stewart, we both know some of us have sailed close to the wind evidence wise — especially the Colonel.’
‘To be fair,’ Kingston insisted, ‘he’s never put a man in prison who didn’t deserve it—’
Murphy slapped his hand down on the desk. ‘A disgruntled man in prison turned supergrass and started bloody Countryman!’
Kingston shrugged. ‘But we wouldn’t get convictions if we didn’t use the occasional verbal.’
Murphy shook his head. ‘The ends don’t justify the means as far as Countryman’s concerned. To them bending the rules is corruption even if it means putting villains away.’ He leaned forward across the desk. ‘I don’t want any fit-ups on the Leytonstone job, Stu — especially with Miss Goody Two Shoes on the team.’
‘Don’t worry about her. Tennison doesn’t need to be involved in any arrests. You could stick her in the office to man the radio.’
Murphy nodded. ‘You know I’m not averse to putting words into the mouths of suspects when it’s necessary, but I prefer to nick them red-handed on the plot, that way the evidence is watertight.’
Kingston smiled. ‘I’ll make sure the lads are aware of your feelings and everything is above board — as far as possible.’
‘OK, I’ll leave a number with KP so she can call me at the Yard if anything urgent comes up.’
‘Have you heard back from the rest of the team on the surveillance operation?’ Kingston asked.
‘They think the gang they’re following is going to hit a jeweler’s in Chingford next week, so we’ll all be needed if that’s a goer. I’ll let you know when I hear more, but they’ve got enough to be getting on with.’
Waiting for Kingston to finish his meeting with Murphy, Jane phoned Barclays Bank to speak to the manager, but there was no answer. It was nearly 4:30 p.m. and she suspected the bank must have closed and the staff had gone home. Next, she contacted ITV and asked to be put through to the office that produced Shaw Taylor’s Police 5. They were very helpful and said the best they could do was to give the robbery a voice-over mention at the end of the show next week, as they had other cases that had been filmed and were ready to go on air. Jane thanked them and said she would speak to her DCI and get back to them.
She then phoned Leytonstone Police Station and spoke to the duty sergeant. He said that the house-to-house enquiries at Edgar House were still ongoing; there was no important information to relay to her and they hoped to be finished by 6 p.m. Jane said she would try and collect the completed forms later in the evening, or the following morning.
She sat at her desk checking the completed house-to-house forms and signing off those that needed no further action. A lot of the residents were elderly people and she made some notes about the couple at number 40 Edgar House, where ADC Murray had spoken with Mrs. Helen Clarke about garage twenty-nine. She wanted to speak to Mrs. Clarke as there were some important questions Cam had failed to ask her. She read through the form the uniform sergeant had completed regarding the woman who’d seen two men walking towards Felstead Road, and felt it was lacking in detail. Jane decided she should also visit this woman, who was called Rita Brown and lived at flat 14 Edgar House.
Katie walked up and dropped some statements on Jane’s desk.
‘When you’ve finished what you’re doing, would you check these for any further action or enquiries that need to be made and type them up,’ she said, before starting to walk off.
Jane called after her. ‘When I’ve finished what I’m doing I will be going over the house-to-house enquiries with DI Kingston and then revisiting some of the residents at Edgar House. I might have time to check the statements for further action, but I’m not an office typist.’
Katie started to say something, then, spotting DI Kingston coming out of Murphy’s office, she picked up the statements and called out to him.
‘Excuse me, sir, could I have a word with you?’
‘Not just now, Katie.’ He looked across the room. ‘Colonel, I need a word with you.’
The two men went into his office.
‘What’s up, Guv?’ the Colonel asked as he closed the door.
‘Murphy thinks I fancy Tennison,’ Kingston whispered, worried that Katie might be waiting outside his office close enough to hear what was being said.