He felt exhausted after being out all night and needing to rest decided to go to his bedroom. As he passed John’s room he looked in to see if he was awake, but he was still sound asleep snoring. John’s hair was matted, and his skin looked chalky from the brick dust that permeated the café cellar as they knocked through the wall. His clothes were dust free as he had worn the white decorator’s boiler suit over the top of them, even splashing the suit with paint by flicking a wet brush at it, so as to add to the illusion they were bona fide handymen if stopped by the police.
David lay down on his bed. He started to sneeze and scared he was coming down with a cold swore to himself. The thought of spending more freezing nights in the multi-storey car park was abhorrent, but as he began to drift off to sleep thinking about Florida, he knew it would be worth it.
It was almost 10 a.m. and Jane was double-checking the number of £20 notes when Kath suddenly slapped the table with the flat of her hand and excitedly held up a wedge of £5 notes.
‘We got a match, darlin’! Look at this: the serial numbers on these fivers found at O’Duncie’s match with the cash Mr Collins withdrew. We got five hundred quid’s worth here.’
Jane’s eyes lit up. ‘Well, that much is definitely not the sort of money Julie Ann would have given O’Duncie for food and accommodation, and surely she wouldn’t buy that much worth of heroin in one go.’
‘Fuck me, this is going to brighten up DCI Bradfield’s morning. There’s other fivers here but they’re not on the list so probably money O’Duncie made from selling drugs.’
PC Donaldson spoke up. ‘I was going to wait until I’d finished double-checking all the tens to tell you, but I’ve got seventy that match the list.’
Kath counted on her fingers. ‘That’s a grand two hundred so far of nicked money O’Duncie’s got.’
Jane grinned. ‘There’s only the £1 notes still to check but that shouldn’t take long as Mr Collins only withdrew five hundred of them.’
‘Well, that deserves a coffee and sandwich break,’ Kath said as she picked up a £5 note from the table. ‘What do ya fancy, Jane?’
Jane was stunned and didn’t know what to say until she saw the sly grin come over Kath’s face.
‘Only jokin’, but you can pay as we’ve helped you out here.’
Jane agreed and said there was money in her handbag. Kath snapped off her rubber gloves and asked Jane to carefully put the fives and tens that matched the list in the box to be sent to the fingerprint department.
PC Donaldson said he’d do the £1 notes with Jane while Kath went to the canteen.
She saw Bradfield there and he asked how it was going. She didn’t want to steal Jane’s thunder and simply said WPC Tennison had some good news for him. He was out of the canteen like a shot.
As Kath had anticipated Bradfield was jubilant, clapping his hands and full of praise for a job well done as he now had something concrete to put to O’Duncie, though he would have to wait until his solicitor Cato Stonex arrived to do a further interview, sadly without DS Gibbs. However, he was straight on the phone to tell A10 about the money and that WPC Tennison was available to make a statement that the young girl in the bedroom had lied about seeing DS Gibbs assault O’Duncie. The A10 DCI didn’t sound happy, even though Bradfield and Gibbs were ‘one of their own’, and said they would attend the station to speak with Tennison in the afternoon.
After another half-hour Jane was also able to tell Bradfield that there was a total of £180 in £1 notes that matched the serial numbers on the list, making a recovered total of £1,380 in different banknotes stolen by Julie Ann Collins from her father. He asked Jane to put the box of money in a confidential dispatch bag, secure it well with a numbered ratchet seal and get two uniform PCs in a patrol car to take it to the lab for the attention of DS Lawrence asap. She was then to come to his office.
‘Sit down, Jane. I just wanted to have a chat so that it’s clear why I have not invited you to sit in on the interview with O’Duncie. I know you have the record of all the individual notes and amounts that matched, but A10 are coming in to talk to you.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So it’s not possible for you to be in two places at once, right? So I’ve asked Kath instead.’
‘I understand, sir, and I’m grateful you even considered having me present for the interview.’
‘You’ve done a good job, Tennison, and learnt a valuable lesson about procedure, though I admit I should have advised you better after the search and seizure of the money.’
‘You did, sir, but I was a bit confused and misunderstood you,’ she said, revealing her loyalty and what she intended to tell A10.
‘You’re entitled to have your constables’ federation rep present when they interview you.’
‘Do I need to?’ she asked nervously.
