No sooner had a tense Bradfield arrived at the surveillance flat when yet again Mannie Charles turned up at the tailor’s shop in his Austin van, this time accompanied by his wife. The couple began to bring out plastic-covered clothing items to stack inside the parked van. Two women were walking together and stopped to look through the shoe-shop window, and it seemed an age before they moved off. All these incidents were relayed by Clifford, each time causing work to cease in the café basement.
Bradfield was pacing up and down the old lady’s living room, cursing under his breath as she shuffled behind, desperately trying to hand him two buttered scones on a plate. Gibbs took the plate from her and said Mr Bradfield wasn’t hungry but he was and wouldn’t let them go to waste.
Bradfield watched Silas leave the café, worried that he might have seen or heard Mannie Charles arrive and was going over to speak to him. If Mannie mentioned anything about his and Kath Morgan’s visit the other night it could result in everything going wrong. If they did a runner he didn’t even have arrest teams in place yet. He thought about calling them at the station to take up positions nearby but decided to wait. The officers in the shoe shop were warned Silas was on the move.
Bradfield watched anxiously as Silas went to the shoe-shop window and pausing briefly looked in whilst shading his eyes with his hands. Silas moved on and Bradfield could feel his blood pressure rising as he got nearer the tailor’s shop. It nearly exploded when Mannie and his wife walked out and stopped to have a chat with Silas. Thankfully it appeared to be a brief hello before they got into the van and drove off.
The sound of Clifford’s voice came over the radio asking where Silas was going and Danny told him it was to check out the shoe shop and get fish and chips. Clifford said that the tailor had pissed off and he hadn’t seen anything at the shoe shop and told them there was no time for food.
Silas went into a phone box, picked up the phone book and started to flick through the pages. He then dialled a number and held the door open with his other hand as it was so hot inside. In the shoe shop the officers heard Hebe’s phone ringing. It wasn’t the one they had installed for the observation so they knew not to pick it up and simply let it ring, which it did for almost a minute.
Silas left the phone box, content that Hebe was not there and he must have been mistaken about the toilet flushing. He continued down the street and turned left entering a fish-and-chip cum kebab shop. The undercover officer tailing him went in behind him and pretended to be looking up at the prices on the illuminated menu positioned above the fryers. Silas ordered a large doner with chilli sauce and two portions of fish and chips. He chatted with his fellow countryman in Greek as he prepared the order. Silas was so engrossed that he didn’t even glance towards the undercover officer. He asked for salt and vinegar on the fish and chips and watched the food being wrapped in paper and placed into a plastic bag. He paid at a till at the end of the counter whilst the undercover officer ordered sausage and chips.
It was coming up to five thirty when Frank, who was twiddling the dials on the CB radio, indicated that he had picked up something. Bradfield rushed over and pulled the headphone jack out so he could listen on the loudspeaker. Clifford said a woman walking a dog was passing and asked how much longer they would be. John said that due to the number of stoppages they had been forced to make it would be an hour or two after midnight, at the earliest.
Bradfield was no longer frustrated at having to play the waiting game, and he was glad to hear from the shoe shop that Silas had returned and the drilling had started again. He took Gibbs to one side and spoke quietly.
‘I’m popping out for a bit and will be back a little later with Kath Morgan… ’
‘What’s the secrecy for?’
‘If you let me finish I’ll tell you… I’m going to get the bank manager, Dunbar, and bring him to the op so he can hear what’s going on for himself.’
‘Is that a wise move?’ Gibbs frowned.
‘I need him to open the vault when they get in. I’m also concerned there may be someone at the bank giving the Bentleys inside information and if it’s Dunbar the look on his face and reactions on the plot here may well give him away.’
Unseen by Clifford, Bradfield left the op via the staircase at the rear of the building and got into an unmarked car waiting in a side street. Gibbs, Frank and the other officers positioned in the flat remained, monitoring the radio action and the café.
Bradfield returned to the station and bumped into Kath on the landing as she was returning from the canteen.
‘Tell Tennison I want to see her in my office,’ he said bluntly.
‘Why, what’s she done wrong now?’
‘Nothing, just go and tell her,’ he said and walked off, but a suspicious Kath followed.
