Chapter 3: A One Way Ticket To Somewhere Terrible

As he walked back to the car, he called out to Aaron, ‘That’s the easy bit, now we just have to persuade the Council to fix it.’ ‘Bloody useless the lot of them.’ came the reply. Getting back into the car, Reg said, ‘I’ve just met Aaron Ellis.’ Peter showed him their screen which now had three red spots on. As they looked, another spot appeared, showing that Aiden and Glenda had managed to do Milton Phillip’s car.

Returning to the station, they hadn’t been back long when Aiden and Glenda arrived. ‘Well done everyone.’ Aiden said. ‘We’ll put some more traces out during the week but that’s a good start.’ ‘We may need a second trace for Liam Lewis,’ Reg said, ‘In case he starts using his girlfriend’s Mini.’ ‘Good thinking,’ Aiden said, ‘Keep an eye on that.’

‘Ok, we’ll meet back here at nine tomorrow, unless there’s any activity during the night. There’s no need to man this room all night, I’ll take the monitor to my bedroom and set the alarm for loud. If we need to mobilise, I’ll ring you. Someone else can do the same tomorrow night. For now, we will only follow if they leave the immediate area.’

‘Tomorrow we’ll look at fitting traces to some of the other dealers.’ Over the next three days they managed to fit four more traces. Every time a trace moved its destination was logged. However, no one had gone to the same destination so far.

The following day, Saturday the little red dots moved about all over the place, but no one moved any distance. Then at five o’clock, Liam Lewis was logged heading in the direction of the Runcorn bridge. Reg and Peter were sent towards the bridge. By the time they got near, Liam had gone across it then turned off.

Thanks to the trace, they caught up and stayed half a mile behind so there was no danger of being spotted. The car turned off onto the B155 heading into the Halton Brook area and stopped.

After it had remained stationary for five minutes, Reg drove closer then passed the car. It was parked near a dilapidated row of shops. There was no sign of Phillips. Reg pulled up further down the road and waited. Soon they saw him come out of the middle shop and get back in his car.

Reg let him get a good distance away, then he said, ‘Let’s go for a walk.’ He put his gas coat on and told Peter, ‘If necessary, you are my supervisor and we’re looking for a leak.’ Picking his metal detector up, they walked back towards the shop. There was a side road just before the shops. Looking down it, Reg spotted an entry going behind them.

Followed by Peter, he went down the entry. Reg recognised the metal box in the wall right away. Indicating to Peter to take a photo of it, Reg stepped back and worked out that the wall belonged to the middle shop. They carried on along the entry, eventually coming out beyond the shops.

Walking back past the shops, they saw that the middle shop was the most derelict one. It sold second hand furniture and was packed with it. Returning to the car, Reg explained to Peter that the metal box was probably where the drugs were delivered. He told him about the previous case.

Returning to the station, they showed Aiden the picture and added a printout, plus the shop details to the white board. Reg went and sat at the computer. After a bit of searching, he discovered that there were no CCTV cameras covering the shop. They discussed their options. Aiden was reluctant to put a car there to watch for the courier, it could be a month before his next visit so it would be bound to be spotted.

Then he had an idea, after a quick phone call he arranged for one of the vehicles with the special roof rack to be sent over. Thinking it might need to be parked there for a few weeks, he found a local sign firm and ordered six magnetic signs for the vehicle’s front doors. Two said ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENT. Two said PLUMBING DEPARTMENT. and two said GENERAL BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

His plan was that every couple of days, the vehicle could be driven a few streets away, have its door signs swopped in minutes, then replaced so it would look like there was work going on by different branches of the same firm.

The vehicle arrived the next day and was parked so it would see anyone going down the entry and the vehicles parked nearby. Three days later the new signs were ready, so it was moved, had the first two signs stuck on, then parked up in a slightly different spot.

The receiver was set up in the station. So, every hour, someone rewound the tape, checked no one had gone up the entry then reset it to record. An enormous saving of manpower and little risk of being spotted.

Over the next week, several of the people on their list were seen to visit the shop. All the vehicles with a trace on had been recorded as having called at the same address, a detached house in Overton, Frodsham, a Cheshire village five miles from the shop.

A check on the voters register showed that the house was owned by a John Ryding who lived there with his wife and an eighteen-year-old daughter. He had no previous record. All three had new cars, Ryding’s car was a silver Volvo XC90 SUV. It was kept in a large garage attached to the house.

Peter and Reg were despatched to keep an eye on the house from a distance. They would follow the car if it moved in the hope an opportunity would present itself to add a trace to it.

Whilst they were there, Glenda did her umpteenth check of the day on the cameras on the car outside the shop. Halfway through her check, a man appeared with a briefcase. He walked down the entry behind the shop, reappearing five minutes later, still carrying a briefcase. As he came out of the entry, the camera car got a full facial. Then as he drove away, his car, a blue Nissan Qashqai, could be seen pulling out and showing its number plate.

A CRO (Criminal Record Office) check showed him to be a Graham Russel aged twenty-four, who had been arrested for dealing at Lancaster University three years ago. He had got six months suspended sentence and a year’s probation. After which he had disappeared from view.

He lived in a semi-detached house in nearby Preston Brook with his wife. The house had been bought cash just three months after he had finished his probation. He was listed as unemployed for the previous five years so clearly, he had continued dealing after his court appearance.

Meanwhile, Peter and Reg had followed Ryding’s car down into Frodsham centre. He had parked on the main road and gone into a shop. Reg pulled up in the road two feet out from the car and put his hazard lights on.

Whilst Peter got out and lifted the bonnet, Reg opened the boot, then as he walked forward between the cars he dropped to the floor, fitted the trace to Ryding’s car, then got up and went to look under the bonnet with Peter.

After pretending to do something under the bonnet, Reg went to the driver’s seat and turned the engine a few times, switching off before it started. Then on the third attempt he let it burst into life. Revving it up, he kept it running fast and loud whilst Peter closed the bonnet then went round and closed the boot. As soon as he was back in the car, Reg did a kangaroo take off, stalled, then starting again he drove away.

Returning to the station, everyone was delighted with progress. They now had a dealer, a supply shop and a courier. As Reg updated the whiteboard, Russel’s detail suddenly struck a chord. Aiden noticed him freeze and asked what was up. ‘He was done for supplying drugs to Lancaster University at the same time as my pal Robert was there,’ he said. ‘Robert committed suicide soon after.’

‘There were probably several dealers in the university,’ Aiden cautioned him. ‘But looking at his house and car, he was evidently a major one.’ Reg said. ‘Even if he didn’t supply my pal direct, he very likely supplied whoever did.’

‘Our main task now,’ Aiden said, ‘Is to get a trace on the courier’s car. We’ll go as two teams. There are only two exits to his road, so we will park up so we can each see one end of his road. Then we’ll follow him between us. Reg, you seem to be the expert so unless an unmissable opportunity presents itself to me, you fit the trace.’