CHAPTER 22

Fortunately, the drizzle did ease shortly after Walter Jones left the Paradise. Arriving at the police station he turned his collar back down and brushed the few spots of moisture off his jacket. A couple of police cars parked outside made the place look official. Other than that, and the ancient rectangular blue light hanging above the door on a wall bracket, it was hard to tell what the building was.

   Walter stomped up the three steps and pushed the double doors. He felt tired after a long weeks of tedium. The desk sergeant recognised him immediately. The sergeant a medium tall guy who more than fitted his uniform. Grey hair and matching moustache. Glasses that looked up from the ledger of names he was writing in.  

“Is he in?” Walter asked. 

“Who, Andy?” 

“Sure, who else would I see in here.” Then thought about the tone and said, “Sorry, a hard few weeks. Is he in?” 

“Through to the back office. You know the way.”  

Pushing the swing door with its panels of wire reinforced glass, Walter looked down the long corridor bright underneath a line of fluorescent tubes. Stairs off to the left. Up probably where the higher authority worked and down to where the bad guys lived. Past the noisy squad room to the office at the end with DI Andy Morris on a long sign on the door. 

He knocked a light rap and walked straight in to see Andy sitting behind a desk ladened with papers. Mates from the same background way back and the same age. Andy shorter but with blond hair like Walter. 

“This is a surprise. I thought you were on stakeout.” Andy said looking up from writing on an official looking form. 

“Just finished.” 

“How’d it go?” Andy said, chucking his pen onto the desk. 

“Good. I’ve enough stuff to sink her for sure. One thing that might interest you has cropped up. You remember Jimmy Raynott, the fella from the smoke with all the goodies for sale? From the war years. Black market stuff.” 

“Sure. A right weasel is that one. Slippery. Like ice and just as cold. I’d like to collar him for sure.” 

“I might have something for you.” Opening his briefcase he removed a photo of Jimmy. The one with him standing on the doorstep smoking, He pushed it over the desk. “Take a look at that.” 

“That’s him all right. Looks like it’s taken outside the Bay View.” 

“It is. He’s staying there.” He pulled out another. “Take a look at this one. See the tin he’s carrying. No label. Does that mean anything?” 

“Sure it does. There’s been a spate of robberies from wholesalers all over the south. They just take tins and loads of them. Fruit, meat. Other things. Jams, marmalade, that sort of stuff.” 

“Why only tins?” 

“Take the labels off and you don’t know what they are, do you? Could be anything from anywhere. No way of checking stock with no labels or a sign of the contents. A real neat trick for sure. This is big. There’s huge money being made here. ” 

“Well, Jimmy Raynott’s in it up to his neck.” 

“Seems that way. No proof though. Like I said, a few tins with no labels I need more than that.” 

“I can’t help you there other than he went out at six-thirty this morning. Left in his van. He’s been at the Bay View a few days and has never appeared that early. That’s the best I’ve got. But there are the tins in the Bay View. I definitely saw quite a few. Raynott unloaded them a couple of days ago. I’d say at least twenty and they're sure to still be there.” 

“There’s still no way of knowing where they came from and Jimmy Raynott won’t be giving anything up, that's a certainty. Sounds like he’s up to no good but what changes there, eh. He’s always at it. We must’ve nabbed that fella ten times and he’s slipped away each time. But that’s what he’s good at. Leaving no evidence.” 

“Well, I’m paying the lady a visit early next week. Would it help if you just tagged along. It could be sort of unofficial. Helping with my investigation and all that. You might be able to have a snoop about.” 

“That, Walter my oh so lovely mate, is the best idea you’ve had in a long while. When are you thinking?” 

“Monday I’ll be in the office getting everything together. How about Tuesday. Make it about ten. All those dumb clackers will be out of the place by then and with luck just Raynott and Gloria Dubonnet will be there. And the daughter and cook, of course.” 

“What about them? The daughter and cook. Are they involved?” 

“Don’t think so. The cook definitely not. The daughter?... No, that’s hard to see. From what I can make out she pretty much has a hard time.” 

“Okay, Tuesday. Shall I meet you outside?” 

“No, we’ll come here at nine-thirty. Best if we all arrive together at the Bay View. I’ll be with George. You know him. My sidekick.” 

“Perfect and thanks a lot, Walter. I’ll see you Tuesday.” And Andy smiled as he watched Walter disappear into the corridor. Thought about Jimmy Raynott and grinned really wide. 

 

By five Gloria was fussing about the menu. Why would she do that? Because of the tins of course. Derek was making a stew and trying to decide which of the new tins to open. 

“The meat’s in the smaller ones, Derek.” snapped Gloria. 

“Which should I use though? There’s so many,” replied Derek, his voice shaking and kind of squeaky. He stuttered a bit and Gloria recognised that as a sign he was becoming flustered. At that moment Dee walked in. Immediately she understood the problem. 

She pushed her mother away. “Go and do something useful,” she said. “Count a bit more money or something. I don’t care. Just get out of the kitchen. You’re making matters worse.” As Gloria left Dee said, “Come on Derek, it’s easy. The slightly smaller tins are meat. You’re making a stew. It can be any meat. Just open a tin and see what there is.” 

“You do it Dee,” Derek said, “If I make a mistake Gloria will be cross.” 

“No she won’t… I tell you what, I’ll choose then there can be no problem with my mother, can there? Look, we’ll try this one.” She lifted a tin off the shelf in the larder. “I know what. Let’s make this interesting. How about we guess what’s inside. What do you think?” 

“Lamb,” said Derek. 

“Right, I’ll say beef. Now give me the tin opener… There you go. What’s that?” 

“Lamb.” 

“So, you were right. This is something you can do and you do it much better than me, don’t you.” 

“I do, don’t I. Thanks Dee,” said Derek beaming. 

“Now, get on and make the stew. Be sure to put in pepper and salt. Add a bit more pepper than usual. Make it a bit hot.” 

“How much pepper, Dee?” 

“I’ll measure it out for you. Watch. Ten guests, half a teaspoon per guest… See, this much. Put all that in.” She spooned the correct amount into an egg cup, “See for ten up to there in the egg cup. The same for beef.”  

“I can do that. How about carrots and potatoes?” 

“Do you know which of the tins?” 

“I do. They’re the really small tins. Peas are bigger just like the fruit. We only use peas if they’re opened thinking they’re fruit. Then we don’t have carrots. Gloria said. But if we’re using carrots and potatoes we can’t have peas as well, can we. She’ll have a fit.” 

“There you have it, Derek. Tonight’s menu. Peppery lamb stew with carrots and potatoes… Well done.” Dee patted him on the back and smiled so he saw how pleased she was. As she left the kitchen all she could hear was Derek humming some indistinguishable tune. Something that came right out of the depths of his head which would not be so far down. 

 

As she went through the door into the dining room she picked the tablecloths off the dresser top and started laying the tables. The rattle of cutlery brought her mother in. 

“I could’ve handled that with Derek,” she said with a bit of snap. 

“No, you couldn’t and really you know that, don’t you, so don’t waste your breath. You’ve no patience and you speak too quickly and there’s always anger in your voice. All you want to do is make Derek suffer when you promised not to.” 

“That’s before you stole my money. All that being nice thing is now cancelled.” 

“That’s just like you, isn’t it. Why make Derek suffer because of what I’ve done.” 

Gloria let out a long sigh and barked, “Don’t be so bloody stupid. You’re better than that. I told you, didn’t I. You like him. You protect him. He’s my route to controlling you. So think about that before you start getting all high and mighty… Talking of money, have you heard from Dexter?” 

“No, but give him a chance. He’s hardly had time to get to Wandsworth let alone start looking. You’ll know soon enough when he’s found Tolly Parkin.” 

“Well, make sure it’s soon. I won’t wait forever, you know.” With that Gloria left the dining room with a swish of her dress and flash of her eyes and Dee started thinking she might need a contingency plan.