Nothing Ventured(27)
“Detective Constable Warwick?” said a voice he could barely make out.
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“My name’s Martin. I work at John Sandoe Books in Chelsea, and you visited our shop last week. Your man is back, but this time he’s looking at a Dickens first edition.”
William raised a hand in the air, a sign that every other available officer should pick up their extension and listen to the conversation.
“Remind me of your address?”
“Blacklands Terrace, off the King’s Road.”
“Keep him talking,” said William. “I’m on my way.”
“There’s a squad car waiting for you outside,” said Lamont as he put down his phone. “Get moving.”
William ran out of the office, bounded down the stairs two at a time, and shot out of the front door to find a waiting car, its engine running and passenger door open. The driver took off, siren blaring, lights flashing, before William had even closed the door.
“Danny Ives,” the driver said, thrusting out his left hand, the other hand remaining firmly on the wheel as he accelerated away. He clearly didn’t need to be told where to go.
“William Warwick,” said William, who accepted that if a fellow officer didn’t declare his rank he was probably a constable. Though in truth, most of the Met’s drivers considered themselves to be in a class of their own, and that the capital was nothing more than a Formula One racetrack, with the added challenge of pedestrians.
Ives nipped into Victoria Street, dodging in and out of the early evening traffic as he made his way toward Parliament Square. He ran a red light as he passed the Houses of Parliament. Although William had been on a couple of blue light runs in the past, he still felt like a schoolboy fulfilling his wildest dream as cars, vans, lorries, and buses all moved aside to allow them through. As they approached the traffic lights at Chelsea Bridge, Ives slowed down and ignored the no-right-turn sign, cutting down his journey by several minutes. He accelerated along Chelsea Bridge Road toward Sloane Street, always particularly busy during the rush hour. He reached the traffic lights in Sloane Square just as they turned red and slipped into the bus lane without stopping. As they swung left past Peter Jones and continued on down the King’s Road, Ives turned off the siren but kept his lights flashing.
“Wouldn’t want to let him know we’re on our way, would we?” he said. “A mistake they often make in films.”
He turned into Blacklands Terrace, where William spotted a young man standing outside the bookshop, waving his arms. He leaped out of the car and ran across to join him.
“You just missed the man. I couldn’t stall him any longer. That’s him, in the beige raincoat, heading toward Sloane Square.”
William looked in the direction the bookseller was pointing but only caught a glimpse of the man as he turned the corner.
“Thanks!” William shouted as he took up the chase on foot. His eyes continually searching the crowd ahead, but he had to dodge between pedestrians, as he no longer had the help of a siren. And then he spotted a man in a beige raincoat. He was just about to grab him, when William noticed he was pushing a stroller with one hand and holding a small child’s hand with the other.
William charged on, becoming less and less confident with each step, but then he caught sight of another beige raincoat disappearing into Sloane Square tube station. When he reached the ticket barrier he took out his ID card but didn’t give the inspector a chance to check it as he raced past. He saw the man near the bottom of the escalator, but then he disappeared again. William dashed down the escalator, brushing aside the early evening commuters, and had nearly caught up with the man when he turned right and headed for the eastbound District line.
William emerged onto the crowded platform as a train screeched to a halt. He looked left and right before he spotted the man boarding the train about five carriages away. William leaped into the nearest carriage as the doors began to close, grabbed a handrail to steady himself, and caught his breath. When the train came to a halt at the next station, he jumped off, but a beige raincoat didn’t appear. So, like the king on a chessboard, he advanced one square at a time, slipping into the next carriage at each stop.
The passenger in the raincoat didn’t get off, and four stops later William was in the adjoining carriage. He took a seat near the front and glanced through the window of the dividing door to take a closer look at his quarry. The man was turning a page of The Evening Standard, and when they stopped at the next station he didn’t even look up. This was going to be a long journey.
By the time the man folded his newspaper, they had stopped twenty-one times, which had given William more than enough time to be sure he was following the right man. Sixty, sixty-five, graying hair, slight stoop. He didn’t need to hear his accent to know this was the same customer the manager of Hatchards had described to him.
The man finally got off at Dagenham East. William kept his distance as he left the station. To begin with he was able to lose himself in the crowd, but as the passengers thinned out he had to hang farther and farther back. He considered arresting the man there and then, but first he needed to find out where he lived, so he would know where the evidence was hidden.
The man turned down a side street, and stopped at a little wicket gate. William kept on walking, and noted the number, 43, as the man unlocked his front door and disappeared inside. When William reached the end of the street, he added Monkside Drive to his memory bank and reluctantly decided it might be wiser not to attempt to enter the house until he’d reported back to DCI Lamont and obtained a search warrant. He felt confident that the man in the beige raincoat wasn’t going anywhere soon.