LITMIR.BIZ

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      Laura

      There was another briefing at four o’clock. By then our approach to the new investigation was taking shape.

      Tasks had been assigned and everyone had been brought up to speed on what intel the Met had on Roy Slack’s firm.

      There was a lot of hearsay and speculation, along with a list of all the known faces who worked for him. Most of them had criminal records and violent reputations. But what was lacking was hard, incriminating evidence against them and their boss.

      There had been some successes over the past few years. Two of the firm’s drug dealers had been caught red-handed and sent down, but had refused to say who they were working for. And a major haul of cocaine from Mexico – with a street value of ten million pounds – was intercepted on a ship at Dover. But although we were certain it belonged to Slack and came from his cartel partners, we couldn’t prove it.

      The London gangs had managed to grow and prosper partly because of the huge cuts imposed by successive governments on police manpower and resources. The Met in particular had often been stretched to breaking point.

      But it was a different story now with the task force initiative and the government’s determination to get on top of the problem.

      The tide had turned in our favour and we were now getting results. Of course there was no way we could ever entirely eliminate organised crime in the capital, but at least we could inflict enormous damage and reassure the public that we were doing our job.

      And my job in respect of this new case was to focus on the main man – Roy Slack. It was the same brief I’d had on the last investigation, which was why I’d been one of the two officers sent to arrest Harry Fuller, the other being Martin Weeks.

      This time Drummond had teamed me up with Kate Chappell because Martin had since moved over to the National Crime Agency. I was happy with that; Kate too.

      ‘I want you to dig up as much as you can on Slack’s private life,’ Drummond said to both of us. ‘For instance, we know he has at least one mistress. But are there others and can we get anything out of them? And what about his enemies? I’m struck by the fact that in the past so little was done to squeeze them for information. So draw up a list of those you think we should talk to.’

      He told us to arrange for surveillance to be stepped up on Slack and his top henchmen.

      ‘We’ve been watching his flat in Canary Wharf and his office in Rotherhithe,’ he said. ‘But it hasn’t been round-the-clock because we’ve been short of people. From now on we need to know where he is and what he’s up to 24/7.’

      ‘What about the text message and the threat to kill us all?’ I said. ‘Shouldn’t we go and ask him if he knows anything about that?’

      Drummond shook his head. ‘I don’t see the point at this stage. Even if he did arrange for it to be sent he’ll only deny it.’

      ‘But we could use it as an excuse to seize his phone and laptop.’

      ‘We had him in under a week ago after Officer Wallis disappeared,’ Drummond said. ‘As you know he was questioned for several hours and his properties were searched. If we haul him in again this soon without any solid new evidence then his lawyers will go ape-shit. So I think we should hold fire until we have something concrete to confront him with. Besides, the techies are still trying to find out where the message came from and it’s only fair to give them more time.’

      I wasn’t happy with that and I could tell I wasn’t the only one. The threat we had all received was still hanging over our heads like a dark cloud – and there seemed no prospect of it going away anytime soon.

      On the way home I saw my first Christmas tree. It lit up the window of a charity shop close to the tube station in Balham.

      The big day was still three weeks away but the city was already gearing up for it. This year Aidan and I had made plans to spend it with his parents in Spain. The flights were booked and I was really looking forward to it. Usually we stayed home and had my mother round, but she’d made arrangements to spend Christmas with her best friend Sylvia who lived in the New Forest.

      Mum had also arranged to come round to our house this evening and I’d completely forgotten. It wasn’t until I walked in and saw her sitting at the kitchen table that I remembered.

      It was six o’clock and Aidan had already sorted the dinner – cheese-filled jacket potatoes – and he’d even poured me a glass of white wine.

      ‘You forgot I was coming, didn’t you?’ Mum said as I leaned over to kiss her. ‘I could tell from your face.’

      ‘It’s your imagination,’ I said. ‘I’ve been looking forward to seeing you.’

      She grinned and I wondered why I ever bothered lying to her. She could read me like a book.

      I took off my coat and gave Aidan a quick cuddle.

      ‘Looks like you’ve had a tough day,’ Mum said. ‘Is everything all right?’

      I’d decided on the way home to adhere to Drummond’s instruction and not to mention the threatening message, at least until the techies had spent more time looking into it. It was best they didn’t know. Mum, especially, would be unnerved by it.

      ‘We launched a new investigation this morning,’ I said. ‘That’s always a bit stressful. It means reading lots of files and attending long, drawn-out meetings.’

      ‘Aidan’s been telling me about it, and I saw your boss on the news,’ Mum said. ‘I’m really proud of you, Laura, and I know your father would be too.’

      As she spoke I could see the glint of unshed tears in her eyes. The mere mention of my father always provoked an emotional reaction even after all this time. She had never really come to terms with his death and that was why she hadn’t been able to move on. She wore grief like a chain around her neck and the weight of it showed on her face.

      She was fifty-eight but looked much older. Her eyes, which peered out through thick-rimmed glasses, had lost their sparkle, and her skin was stretched too tight across her bones. It was as though the life had been sucked out of her.

      I walked over and gave her another kiss on the forehead.

      ‘It’s nice of you to say that, Mum. It means a lot.’

      And then I quickly tried to lighten the mood by changing the subject. I told her about Dave Prentiss becoming a father. I knew she’d be interested because she’d met him not so long ago. I’d agreed to go along to the school to give a talk about careers in the police force, but had to pull out at the last minute. Dave had done me a favour by stepping in.

      ‘They’ve named him Josh,’ I said. ‘And he’s so cute.’

      It did the trick. My Mum smiled and said, ‘What a coincidence. My neighbour became a grandmother yesterday as well.’

      Babies were her favourite subject and she stuck with it as Aidan served up the potatoes. We both waited for the inevitable question and it wasn’t long in coming.

      ‘So have you two given any more thought to getting married and starting a family?’

      It was always so tempting to tell her the truth, but now wasn’t the time to start building her hopes up, especially if, God forbid, I wasn’t able to have children.

      ‘I keep telling you, Mum,’ I said. ‘You’ll be the first to know when we do. I promise. We just want to wait for a while and concentrate on our careers. There’s no hurry, after all.’

      She kept her eyes on me and pointed her fork at Aidan.

      ‘Well, let me tell you, young lady,’ she said. ‘You’ve struck gold with this one, and if I was in your shoes I’d tie him down with a wedding ring and children so he can’t get away.’

      Aidan couldn’t help but laugh as he reached across

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