‘Where are you?’
It was Glenn.
‘At a concert.’
‘Shit, old-timer, at your age?’
‘Sod off! This had better be good.’
‘Roy, this is important. I’ve just had a call from Panicking Anakin at John Street nick. He’s—’
Branson’s next words were drowned out by a police car on blues and twos ripping up the road past him. He had to wait until the siren had faded before responding.
‘Sorry, mate, lost you after Panicking Anakin!’
‘Happens at your age. Hearing goes first, then everything else.’
‘Yeah yeah. Listen, I’m missing a very good concert so this had better be worth it. What’s happened?’
‘Anakin’s had a call from the hospital.’
‘Sussex County?’ Grace felt a stab of panic. Had Guy Batchelor killed himself?
‘Our friend Tooth. He’s vanished. Done a runner.’
‘What?’
‘He was improving, apparently, so because of a shortage of beds in Intensive Care they moved him yesterday into the High Dependency ward. A nurse went to give him his medication a couple of hours or so ago, and he wasn’t there.’
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Roy Grace found himself grinning. He couldn’t help it. He was remembering that at Sandy’s funeral, ACC Pewe had delighted in telling him he had ordered the guard on Tooth to be removed.
‘Have they searched the hospital, Glenn?’
‘Three response units have attended. They’ve searched it top to bottom. Just like the times he’s disappeared on us before, he seems to have done it again. You all right, Roy? You don’t sound very worried.’
‘Worried? Me? I’m having a night off.’
‘Yeah? Well I think you’d better cancel that.’
‘No way, life’s too short. You sort it out. Go find him. Don’t forget the all-ports warning.’
‘You can’t be serious.’
‘Listen, mate, trust me, I’m serious.’
He ended the call and hurried back upstairs to join Cleo.
‘Everything OK?’ she asked.
Blitzen Trapper were playing ‘Not Your Lover’.
He stood listening to the song.
Thinking and smiling. He should not be thinking like this, but he could not help it.
He was smiling about the phone call he would make in a few minutes, after the song had ended, to ACC Cassian Pewe.
Yes!
There is a God!
Glossary
AD — Attention Drawn. Typically how an urgent radio message is prefaced to alert officers that they are about to receive details of a vehicle or person that is of police interest. Also used to describe that such a circulation has been or will be made.
ANPR — Automatic Number Plate Recognition. Roadside or mobile cameras which automatically capture the registration number of all cars that pass. It can be used to historically track which cars went past a certain camera and can also trigger alerts for cars which are stolen, have no insurance or have an alert attached to them.
ARV — Armed Response Vehicle.
BHIMS — Brighton and Hove Independent Mediation Service. Local specialists in community and workplace mediation, conflict resolution and training. They help resolve disputes between neighbours or residents, families in conflict, tenants and landlords and for businesses.
CAA — Civil Aviation Authority. The statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom.
CAD — Computer Aided Dispatch. The system where all calls from the public are logged and, if they require police attendance, the live time record of who is attending, how it is developing and what the outcome is.
CID — Criminal Investigation Department. Usually refers to the divisional detectives rather than the specialist squads.
CIM — Critical Incident Manager. Usually a Chief Inspector who takes control of critical incidents when they are assessed as being beyond the scope of Ops-1, either due to their seriousness or the complexity of the volume of other demands on Ops-1.
Commanders
Gold (or strategic) Commander — The gold commander sets the strategy and assumes and retains overall strategic command for the operation or incident.
Silver (or tactical) Commander — The silver commander commands and coordinates the overall tactical response in compliance with Gold’s strategy, and is the tactical commander of the incident.
Bronze (or operational) Commander — The bronze commander is responsible for the command of a group of resources, and carries out functional or geographical responsibilities to deliver the requirements set by Silver in their tactical plan.
CPS — Crown Prosecution Service. The public agency that conducts criminal prosecutions in England and Wales.
CSI — was SOCO — Crime Scene Investigators (Scenes of Crime Officers). They are the people who attend crime scenes to search for fingerprints, DNA samples etc.
CSA — Command Secretarial Assistant. A secretary to senior officers.
DSI — Death or Serious Injury. The most serious category of road-traffic crash or criteria for incidents that may require post-incident procedures.
DV — Domestic Violence. Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive and/or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged sixteen or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.
DVLA — Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority. The government agency that registers motor vehicles and issues driving licences. An important source of intelligence in many enquiries.
Europol — The European Union law enforcement agency. Assists police and other enforcement bodies in EU member states in their fight against serious international organized crime and terrorism.
FLO — Family Liaison Officer. The trained and dedicated officer deployed to work with a bereaved family to provide support, information and to identify lines of enquiry.
FLUM — Flash Unsolicited Message. A direct short message sent between computer screens, mainly in the control room, to alert other controllers or supervisors to either a significant incident or an important update on an ongoing incident. It flashes up, alerting the recipient to its content immediately.
GBH — Grievous Bodily Harm. Serious physical injury deliberately inflicted on a person by another.
Gold Group — a senior group of police, local community, politicians and other stakeholders drawn together to manage the impact of a critical incident.
Golf 99 — The call sign for the divisional duty inspector who is expected to take ground command of critical incidents, working usually in partnership with Ops-1 for the CIM.
GPS — Global Positioning System. A satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of twenty-four satellites placed into orbit, which allows precise locations of a GPS-enabled device to be identified.
HOLMES — Home Office Large Major Enquiry System. The national computer database used on all murders. It provides a repository of all messages, actions, decisions and statements, allowing the analysis of intelligence and the tracking and auditing of the whole enquiry. Can enable enquiries to be linked across force areas where necessary.
HTCU — High Tech Crime Unit. Now renamed Digital Forensics. The body which examines and investigates computers and other digital advisors. Part of SCC.