Page 46 of Next in Line

‘I thought that was all under control.’

‘So did I,’ said Miles, ‘until BW turned up for our weekly meeting and told me he’d been to see Sir Julian Warwick to confirm our agreement.’

‘What makes you think he didn’t?’ asked Tulip.

‘Lamont says they haven’t seen each other since they met in his chambers soon after he returned from Spain.’

‘Which one of them do you believe?’

‘Lamont, because if he’d been working solely for BW, he would have confirmed his story. So I may need to cash in one of my insurance policies if I’m to have any hope of getting out of this place.’ Tulip knew when not to interrupt the boss. ‘One thing’s for certain,’ continued Miles, ‘I can’t risk meeting Omar myself, so how will he get any worthwhile information he picks up to you, without attracting yard gossip?’

‘My cell’s on the same landing as his, so he can drop in from time to time without anyone becoming suspicious. But it could still be some time before Khalifah trusts him enough to confide in him.’

‘I haven’t got a lot of time left,’ said Miles, not elaborating. ‘If Omar does come up with anything worthwhile, let me know immediately, as I’ve already made an appointment to see Commander Hawksby.’

Tulip couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

•••

William arrived at Buckingham Gate just before eight o’clock the following morning, to find Rebecca waiting for him on the doorstep. Once the night watch officer had gone home, he locked the front door, aware they couldn’t afford to be disturbed, while Milner and the away team were abroad, watching over their principals.

Paul had left home just before seven a.m., and made only one stop on his way to Windsor, to pick up Jackie. She was entitled to six months’ sick leave, but had soon realized that Rebecca dropping in from time to time to bring her up to date wasn’t that exciting, besides which, she’d already become bored with afternoon television.

The vital piece of the jigsaw had fallen neatly into place when Constable Jenny Smart had decided to resign from the unit and applied to be transferred to another section, having been passed over for promotion once too often.

Paul and Jackie hadn’t needed to break into the administration block, because Jenny had left the door wide open.

They spent night and day during the week poring through file after file that provided them with more than enough of the evidence they needed to convince the Hawk about the lifestyle Milner and his cohorts had been enjoying for the past ten years at the taxpayers’ expense.

As they had only got half-way through the damning evidenceby Friday night, they didn’t go home, but, despite sleeping on camp beds during the weekend, they still had two more filing cabinets to go through by the time Milner accompanied the Prince and Princess back on the plane to Heathrow.

Back at Buckingham Gate, William used a pass key to enter Milner’s office, while Rebecca found that DI Reynolds’s door hadn’t been locked. He obviously thought no one would dare to enter his sanctuary while he was away. Sergeant Jennings’s office was locked; that would have to wait, but then he’d only recently been promoted, so his sins wouldn’t be quite as damning.

The four of them worked around the clock for the next ten days, and by the time the royal flight landed back in England, they had gathered enough evidence to ensure that Milner would not be retiring to the country in a couple of years with a KCVO as he’d promised his wife (who never hid the fact she was looking forward to being Lady Milner) but would be summarily dismissed from the force without a pension.

Milner turned up at Buckingham Gate in time for lunch the following Monday and was unconcerned to learn that DCI Warwick was on annual leave, DS Adaja was attending a training course in Manchester, that DC Pankhurst was at her grandmother’s funeral in Cornwall, and DS Roycroft wasn’t expected back at work for at least another three months. He was equally unconcerned to find Constable Smart’s letter of resignation waiting for him on his desk.

If Milner hadn’t been so convinced he was untouchable, he would have discovered that all four of them were in fact holed up in Scotland Yard, putting the final touches to a report they would be presenting to Commander Hawksby by the end of the week.

CHAPTER 18

‘IWON’T BE TAKING ANYcalls for the rest of the morning, Angela,’ said the commander. ‘Only interrupt me if the building is on fire,’ he added before putting down the phone.

He looked around the table at his team. ‘Why don’t you open the batting, William?’

‘As you all know, sir,’ began William, ‘for the past ten days we’ve taken advantage of the fact that Superintendent Milner, DI Reynolds and Sergeant Jennings have been on the other side of the world with their principals.’

‘As opposed to their principles,’ interrupted the Hawk.

‘We’ve also been able to make good use of Constable Jenny Smart’s imminent departure from the unit,’ continued William. ‘Without her assistance, it could have taken us months to follow the paper trail.’

‘She must have felt some loyalty to the people she’d worked with for the past six years,’ said the commander. ‘Why was she willing to throw in her lot with a bunch of intruders she hardly knew?’

‘She agrees with the intruders that a bent copper is every bit as bad as any other criminal, if not worse,’ said Jackie. ‘And Milner, Reynolds and Jennings are among the worst I’ve ever come across. I was finally able to convince her that most of her colleagues would applaud the stand she’s taken.’

‘I have a feeling,’ said William, ‘that your winning the Queen’s Gallantry Medal couldn’t have come at a better time.’

‘She was certainly more cooperative after I returned to work,’ said Jackie.

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