The Body in the River (17 page)

She looked up from a pile of papers in front of her.
‘
Well, sir, you know this has only fallen into my lap this morning, so I can only talk in general terms. As far as the properties abroad are concerned, Fleming
’
s company has bought villas and houses in twelve different countries. Seven of these are Commonwealth so their laws broadly reflect ours; if we can prove to an English court that the properties were bought with the proceeds of crime, their courts will probably co-operate and help us confiscate them. The other five
–
USA, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Monaco
–
all have different property laws and attitudes towards money laundering; I will have to get our legal bods to look into those. Certainly they will all want hard evidence in order to co-operate.
’

‘
Tracing Fleming
’
s movements is a different problem. Martinique is a French colony and the French are very prickly about outside interference, especially from we Brits. Fortunately, I get on well with my counterpart in the French Gendarmerie; hopefully he will know someone in Martinique. If Fleming moves on in the Caribbean, things may become even more difficult. Caribbean politics are difficult thanks to our colonial ancestors.
’

‘
How difficult?
’
Aitcheson asked.

‘
Bearing in mind that they are now mostly independent states and populated by the descendants of slaves, the leftover resentment towards the former colonial powers makes them very prickly. Add to this the fact that most are young developing democracies, which insist on long drawn out bureaucratic procedures, and you begin to see what we are up against. And that is to say nothing of corruption. If this man Fleming has the right contacts and is willing to spend money, he could disappear without trace in some banana republic.

‘
That
’
s the good news; others won
’
t co-operate at all. Countries like Cuba and Haiti won
’
t give us the time of day. If Fleming manages to reach one of those islands, we have very little hope of getting him back. If he gets to the mainland of South America, the picture is even bleaker.
’

‘
Have we any idea where he is likely to go from Martinique?
’
asked Aitcheson.

Bill Parlour replied,
‘
His money seems to be in a bank on the Cayman Islands, and he has property in Jamaica. But with Silver on his tail, he
’
s hardly likely to go to where he
’
s known to have contacts. Bearing in mind that he
’
s English, it
’
s possible that he will head for an English-speaking country.
’

Brookes interrupted,
‘
What about the Cayman banks, Bill? Won
’
t they co-operate?
’

Parlour shook his head.
‘
Even though the Caymans are still British, international banking laws are strict on customer confidentiality. It won
’
t be easy getting anything from them.
’

‘
Difficult maybe,
’
Brookes insisted,
‘
but surely not impossible. If we provide evidence that his money is the proceeds of crime, there must be some legislation that requires their co-operation.
’

Parlour still looked sceptical.
‘
I
’
ll get a legal opinion and get back to you.
’

Aitcheson added,
‘
I think John
’
s right, Bill. I
’
m sure there is some statute that can help us here.
’

Parlour nodded.
‘
I
’
ll look into it, sir.
’

Brookes turned to Hinds.
‘
Fleming is obviously en-route to somewhere; how will we trace him onwards from Martinique?
’

She nodded.
‘
That depends how he travels. If he used an airline, we can trace him from the passenger lists provided he used a name we know, or by the more laborious route of scanning airport security videos if we only have a photograph. But there are hundreds of boats and ferries that trade between Martinique and the other Caribbean islands. If he chooses that route, he will be difficult to follow; he doesn
’
t seem to be short of cash, and money talks, especially in the smuggling world.
’

The detectives sat deep in thought for a while.

Then Aitcheson said,
‘
We are obviously going to need the help of the French police; who do we know that might be sympathetic, Sally?
’

‘
As l have said, sir, I get on well with my opposite number in the Gendarmerie; hopefully he will come up with someone in Martinique.
’

‘
What about at this end; how
’
s your French, John?
’

‘
Not good, sir. But I discovered this morning that a young DS who
’
s just joined the team, Jacqui Rose, is fluent.
’

‘
OK, you must take her with you.
’
Turning to Hinds he said,
‘
Sally, see what you can find out and make the travel arrangements; I
’
m sure you will accompany Mr Brookes and his DS.
’

She nodded,
‘
Yes, sir.
’

Aitcheson then addressed Collins and Parlour;
‘
It goes without saying that you both continue to give John your full support.
’
Then back to Brookes,
‘
Keep me briefed on progress and if there
’
s anything you need that you can
’
t get, come back to me. Be careful what you release to the press on this or they will blow it up and we
’
ll have everyone running for cover. I want a result on this one and sooner rather than later. Thank you all.
’

*

‘
You cannot choose your battlefield,

The gods do that for you

But you can plant a standard

Where a standard never flew.
’

Nathalia Crane. The Colours

When Brookes arrived back at the incident room, Short greeted him with a sheepish grin.

‘
Sorry about this morning, boss, I forgot to set the alarm.
’

Brookes put on a frown.
‘
You
’
re lucky, Derek; my old boss would have fined you a bottle of whiskey.
’
His frown turned into a grin.
‘
Forget it, man, we
’
re all human.
’

Short looked relieved.
‘
How did the meeting go?
’

‘
OK; Aitcheson approved my plan to go after Fleming. In the meantime, Paul Moore stays as liaison officer. I want you to put the murder docket together while I
’
m away; make sure it
’
s watertight. I may need a copy to get Fleming extradited from wherever it is he
’
s running to. And I want you to keep after Silver and his gang; even if they weren
’
t actually complicit in the murder, they
’
re the cause of it.
’

Short nodded.
‘
We got some of Fleming
’
s DNA from a comb in his bathroom; if that
’
s a match with what we found in Alison
’
s flat, it
’
s a slam dunker. We
’
ve got motive, means, and opportunity.
’

‘
Good. I need an arrest warrant for Fleming to take with me, Derek; get that organised.
’

‘
That
’
s already in hand, boss; Stumpy
’
s at Thames Court getting it signed.
’

‘
Good. Where are Jacqui and Fred? They
’
re coming with me.
’

‘
They just popped up to the canteen for a sandwich; should be back immediately.
’
Looking over Brookes
’
shoulder, he added,
‘
In fact, they
’
re here now, boss.
’

Turning, Brookes saw them entering the room. He beckoned them with a finger.
‘
Right, you two, you
’
re off to the Caribbean with me. We
’
re going after Fleming. Jacqui, we
’
re going to need your French. When we
’
ve finished here, get off home and pack a bag.
’

Short interrupted,
‘
That reminds me, boss; Fleming
’
s false passport was issued six months ago and carries his photograph. But the guy whose name it
’
s in, Jason Wilson, died a few months after his birth in nineteen seventy-one.
’

Rose said,
‘
How is that possible, sir?
’

Short said,
‘
You should read Frederick Forsyth
’
s book, The Day of The Jackal; he tells you exactly how to go about it. Basically, all you need is a copy of a birth certificate, two photos, and a reference. You can get a copy of the birth certificate through the post, provided someone was born on the date and at the place stated. It
’
s only now, in the age of the computer, that the registry are beginning to tie deaths with births, and catching up with old records is a nightmare.

‘
The reference is supposed to be from a pillar of the local community who knows you. But there are enough bent pillars in our wonderful community who
’
ll sign anything for fifty quid and that
’
s no hurdle. And with a population of over sixty million, most of whom seem to want to travel abroad, the Foreign Office haven
’
t got the time to carry out the proper checks. All they do is contact the referee and confirm what he said on the application form. It
’
s not difficult at all.
’

Brookes added,
‘
We have to work on the assumption that he has more than one new identity. So we won
’
t depend on names when we get there, we
’
ll have to rely on visual identification. At least this confirms Fleming
’
s complicity in the money laundering, if ever there was any doubt. An innocent man with nothing to fear doesn
’
t go to these lengths to prepare an escape route and abandon all that he
’
d built up here.
’

*

At 1am the next morning, local time, the Air Caraibes Airbus A330-300 touched down at Aine Cesaire Airport, on the island of Martinique. When it finally came to a standstill, close to the terminal building, Brookes and his two sergeants joined the queue of weary travellers waiting to disembark.

It had been a tortuous journey. A ninety-minute flight from Heathrow to Paris Charles-De-Gaulle Airport followed by a frantic taxi ride across Paris to Orly Airport. Then a two hour wait; their onward flight had been delayed for
“
technical reasons
”
.

When given this news, Middlemiss had commented,
‘
Typical bloody frogs; they couldn
’
t organise a piss-up in a brewery.
’

Brookes had said,
‘
Watch your tongue, Fred; we need these people
’
s co-operation.
’

When they
’
d finally boarded the plane, they
’
d faced an eight-and-a-half hour slog across the Atlantic, following the setting sun.

By the time they arrived, any romantic notions of a free trip to the sunny Caribbean had evaporated. Travelling tourist class for 4,255 miles had been no picnic, especially for Brookes, whose 6
’
2
”
frame did not fit comfortably into the seat provided. And there was more discomfort to come; Martinique time was four hours behind London, and jet-lag would later take its toll.