Death and Deception (25 page)

The CP officer asked another question, ‘What about the adults in the films? Do you take those parts yourselves?’

Grigor looked shocked. ‘No, I could never…’ he controlled himself. ‘No, they are friends of Abrams. They pay lots of money to Irina, and Abrams gets his share. They will arrive later, around 7.00pm, when the children are ready...’

There was a hot, sick silence in the room. Dan wondered if the others felt like he did, that a swift left hook to the Latvian’s face when he was led from the room and seated back out in the corridor, would make him feel a whole lot better.

‘You do realise that if they’ve made twelve films, there are potentially dozens of abused children in the local area? Children who desperately need help, but are too frightened, or too messed up, to tell anyone.’ Oliver put her hands over her eyes.

‘Abrams uses his singing competitions as a front for grooming, doesn’t he?’ asked Dan. ‘All those youngsters keen to do anything he wants them to.’

Pelakais nodded.

Oliver’s mouth dropped. ‘The scale of this operation is shocking. But what’s more shocking is that we knew nothing about it. Nothing at all. How can that be?’

‘It’s a secretive world, Ma’am. Very few people manage to penetrate it, and with the rise in on-line porn, it’s even harder to track them down,’ said DS Yelland

‘Right. Dear God, I despair of humanity sometimes. Well, we know the time and place. Now we need to plan. Please escort Mr Pelakais outside, PC Short, and then come back in. We may need him later.’

The ACC spoke before the door had even closed on Pelakais.

‘Superintendent, I shall expect your written strategy on my desk in an hour, before you do anything at all. Understand?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘You can have all the resources you need, but after last night’s fiasco, if we’re going to catch these bastards at it, it must be done by the book.’ He stood and moved towards the door, his eyes issuing a warning to Dan that his role would be “Advisory capacity only.”

‘Thank you,’ he said to the room, ‘don’t get up,’ and he was gone.

Oliver suppressed a sigh of relief. At least they had convinced him it was a goer.

‘Right, ladies and gentlemen, as I said, we know where, and we know when. Let’s see if we can work out how to catch them. We have,’ she checked her watch, ‘two and three quarter hours to get into position, so don’t promise me what we can’t have, give me what you’ve got.

‘Dan, get your team organised. I want Uniforms and cars ready in one hour. Get Bill Larcombe onto it. Also, we need good quality maps of the house and surrounding area and Traffic need to arrange to block the road on my command. Straight back to me.’

Dan strode from the room, heart hammering.

‘DCI Garrett, we need an Armed Response Vehicle and at least two long-distance rifle operatives.’ Garrett nodded once and took out his mobile phone as he and his Sergeant, Duncan Lake, moved to the rear of the room. Special Ops teams were always ready to be called for terrorist threats or major incidents such as this one. He just had to give the signal.

‘DS Yelland, I need a couple of people who can come with us tonight. We may have several traumatised children.’

‘That will be me and DC Short, Ma’am,’ replied Annie Yelland,indicating her companion, a broad, sandy-haired officer with a genial, open face. ‘We’re on duty. Just tell us where you want us.’

‘Ok.’ Oliver let out a long breath, aware that the decisions she made now were crucial. But that’s what they paid her for. She looked around the table and felt confident. It was a good team. ‘Let’s decide exactly how we’re going to do this.’ She turned to her secretary, who so far had stayed quietly in the corner.

‘Stella, we’ll need coffee and sandwiches, up here and in the Incident room, as soon as is humanly possible, please. Then I need you to write down everything I say during this planning session and use your magic to transcribe it into proper sentences for our Lord and Master up at the big house.’

Stella smiled her assent, scuttled from the room and met a pink,
puffing Bill
Larcombe on the stairs, carrying an arm full of maps and print-outs.

‘All go round here, isn’t it?’ she said, and twinkled a smile at him as he gasped for breath on the landing.

‘I think I’m a bit past rushing about, Stella, to be honest, but I want the bastards who did this, so I’ll do whatever it takes, even if I have to shoot the buggers myself.’

‘Oh, I don’t think it’ll come to that, Bill, love. Madam’s got everyone running around and jumping when she squeaks in there.’ She cast a backward glance at the door. ‘Best get going, or I’ll be in trouble, too,’ she said and skipped down the stairs like a woman half her age.

Date:
Wednesday 26
^th
April Time: 15:
28
Miles Westlake

The journey from the hospital felt much further than the couple of miles it actually was. Miles felt weak and strangely light, like he had left most of his real body behind in the bed and had been left with the little bit of skin, flesh and bone he needed to complete his task before he could let it all go, forever. He struggled to focus, to bring himself back to the mundane task of placing one foot in front of the other.

A group of children from the local primary school charged past him on their way home, laughing and giggling, and he had to lean against a wall until they had gone. They shouted at him, ‘Alright, mate? Had one too many, eh?’ and laughed in his face. Their noise was too much for him to bear. Pedestrians flashed him curious looks as they rushed past. His senses on fire, his skin hot to the touch, his eyes burning, Miles watched them go until there was some quiet once more.

Clutching walls and hedges for support and ignoring the stares and comments, Miles Westlake stumbled onwards.

PC Adam Foster was on the phone to DI Hellier. Westlake’s car was providing a wealth of evidence that Carly had been in it.

‘Sir, the Forensic guy has found long, dark hairs which might be Carly’s, and a whole pile of prints which are less helpful. Westlake’s wife is here and she’s blonde, so is the baby. I found her in the kitchen washing up. Forensics haven’t even started on the other rooms for evidence in the Claire Quick case, so I’ve banned her and told her to go back to her mum’s for the time being.’

‘OK, Adam, get her out of there as soon as you can. We’ll bring the car in for Forensics to have a go over. Any sign of Westlake himself?’

‘No, sir. He’d be a bit mad to show up here though, we have quite an audience in the street and there’s a fair bit of chat about what the local kids think happened. I reckon they’re getting pretty close, too. The kids knew he was having an affair with Carly, even if his wife didn’t.’

‘But they didn’t think to tell anyone?’

‘Well, you don’t do that if you’re a kid, do you, sir? They all idolised Carly by the sounds of it. Thought she would end up on the telly. No way they’d tell an adult and risk getting her into trouble. Until now, of course.’

‘Of course. Now that it’s all over the news. Right, Adam. Stay there until the other Forensic bloke arrives to do the main rooms and I’ll see you back here by 5.00 pm. We’ll need you and your oppo, Pete Salter for tonight, we’ve got a job on.’

From the corner of the road, Miles Westlake could see the activity around his house. A man in a blue plastic suit was doing something to his car, and there was another one talking to his horrible neighbour and a pile of nosy kids. Looking for evidence of Carly, thought Miles. Well, let them look.

He turned and entered the garden of the neighbouring old people’s flats keeping close to the wall. All the back gardens on the row were connected with old privet hedges and he thought he would be able to push through them and get to his own back door unseen. Taking care to make no noise, he pulled the old shrubs apart and slipped through into the next-door garden, glad that she was out bending the ear of the Policeman at the front of the house. He pushed through her hedge into his own garden, scratching his arms and face on a bramble and coming to a stop in the farthest corner behind the shed. A workman in overalls was whistling through his teeth as he finished puttying the kitchen window in place.

It wasn’t the workman who caused him to catch his breath, however. There behind the new window, was Sophie, washing dishes. He knew that meant she would have Emily with her. Probably she would be in the baby car seat on the table behind where Sophie stood, laughing at something the workman said. Miles felt the ground lurch under him. She had come back. After all he had done, she had come back. He took a step forward. He wanted desperately to see his daughter one more time.

He froze and thought again. The thoughts were so slow to come. Maybe she had come back because she thought he was going to die and she wanted the house back. That was a more likely reason. They’d parted on very bad terms. She’d accused him outright of sleeping with Carly and he’d admitted it. It would have been impossible to deny since she had caught him in bed with Carly. She’d moved out that day back to her mum’s, and he’d only seen Emily twice since then.

He was going to leave her anyway. He’d been waiting for Carly to leave school, so they could be together. Properly together. He felt a deep howl growing at the back of his throat, but held onto it. Only a little more time, and they would be together.

He turned away from his house, his wife, his child, his life, and weaved back the way he had come. He would have to finish his task in whatever way he could. There was nothing left for him here.

Date: Wednesday 25
^th
April
Time: 16:18
Exeter Road Police Station

It was unlikely that the Incident room had ever contained so many people. Dan had rounded up three patrol cars with two officers for each one plus members of his team to be shared between them. They would be strike teams 1, 2 and 3. There were two Armed Response vehicles and two vans ready for arrests. Child Protection had their own vehicle. All relevant officers were in attendance, except for Sally Ellis, who was still in the Interview room with Jamie May.

DCS Julie Oliver stood at the front of the room flanked by Dan Hellier and DCI Tom Garrett from Armed Response. The enlarged map of Jed Abram’s family property had been tacked to the wall behind her. ‘As you can see, the Abrams family lives in an old farmhouse on a quiet lane, about a mile from the main Cullompton road. Their neighbours to the right are the Farmers- they really are farmers called Farmer - and they have kindly agreed to allow us to set up a base in their farmhouse and park our vehicles in their yard.

‘There is no access or egress from the rear of the house. The drive goes up the right side of the house into a yard at the rear and to get out you have to go back the same way. There are fields behind and to the left.’

She indicated the areas that would need cover.

‘When we get there, you are to take up position as quietly as possible and await instructions. There will be armed officers at each location. Pelakais will drive back as if nothing has happened in a black Mercedes van. He will leave the van at the rear of the house with the keys in for us. If we are to make the conviction of Jed Abrams stick, it’s very important that we retrieve everything in the van.

‘The attack plan is for Team 1 to go through the back door, which Pelakais will leave open, and go straight for the main bedroom where we can take them unawares.’

She numbered the named teams and showed them their positions.

‘Team 2 will go in through the front door and stop anybody leaving that way. Team 3 will take up position at the rear of the property and prevent any suspects leaving through the fields.

‘Our sharpshooters,’ she nodded at two young, serious-faced officers leaning against the rear wall, ‘will be ready to cover any other eventualities. One of you will be on the roof of the barn.’ She pointed to a rectangular building which butted up against the hedge directly overlooking the front drive to the farmhouse, ‘if it holds your weight.’ She raised her eyebrows at the snigger. ‘The second officer will be positioned on top of the milking parlour here at the farm to cover the rear of the property.’

‘Sergeant Lake will lead Team 1. DI Hellier, I want you in that team. No shooting until you have the order either from myself or DCI Garrett. Please follow protocol. No heroics. Allow armed officers to lead when you enter the property, and do not go further until they have cleared the way.’

She eyed her team. ‘I don’t want to lose anybody. Got it?’ They nodded.

Dan, from his position at the front of the room, saw feet tapping and heard throats clearing. He felt his own adrenaline rush as a wobbling of the knees and a swift fluidity in his gut.

‘DCI Garrett will take over running the operation as soon as I say go. Is that clear?’

There were murmurs of assent round the room. Dan had heard that Garrett was the best they had. He’d make sure they were OK.

‘DCI Garrett and I will remain in the farmhouse and direct ops from there. The CP team and two patrol cars will be positioned near the gate to the farm, so they can go in to get the children out as quickly as possible.

‘I have released Grigor Pelakais to return to the house.’

She glared at any who might dare to question her decision, even by shuffling or the clearing of a throat, but there were no takers.

‘He has to go back and behave as normal because if he alerts Irina Akis, or the punters, sorry, paedophiles, who enjoy destroying young children’s lives, we’ll lose the lot.

‘Yes,’ she said, in answer to concerned looks around the room, ‘there will be several young children at the house when we arrive, hence the need to for caution. After what happened to DCI Gould last night, I want this op to be quick and clean.’

Garrett took over. ‘Most important is the safety of the children.’ He included a nod towards the CP team. ‘We intend to get there and be in place by 5.40 p.m., well before it kicks off at 7.00 pm and we plan to go in about 30 minutes after that. Pelakais says that the children will be there by 6.00 p.m. He expects there to be an older child who recruits the younger ones, bringing them, he’s assuming, by bus or taxi. Usually, Jed Abrams picks the children up and drops them off, but obviously he can’t do that today. The filming is over quite quickly, no second takes. DS Yelland?’