In Henry’s office, Danny grew impatient, wanting to get going. She tapped her teeth with the tip of her pen as she listened to the movements of the team tracking Spencer.
Her PR crackled. ‘Target Two now entering the flat above the electrical goods shop.’ She heard Henry acknowledge this piece of information. Then: ‘Unit One interrupting!’
Whoa! Danny’s heart quickened.
‘ Target One’s vehicle now pulling into the driveway of his home. DS Furness received?’
She jumped for the radio. ‘Sit on him, don’t let him see you and wait for support… Arrest Squad One, meet me down in the garage.’ She spun out of the office into the corridor and collided, body to body, face to face, with Jack Sands.
She tried to heave him out of the way.
He took hold of her, his big powerful arms circling her body, and he literally carried her back into Henry’s office, slamming the door behind him with his heel. Danny squirmed and wriggled herself out of his grasp.
‘ I haven’t got time for this shit, Jack,’ she snarled angrily. ‘Just get out of the way.’
His tongue ran along the inside of his lower lip, like a reptile was slithering about in his mouth. ‘You think you’re so fucking smart, don’t you?’
‘ Jack, I need to get out fast. I’ve got important work on. Please.’
‘ That’s exactly what I mean. You think you’re some high-fuckin’ — falutin’ detective now, working on some very important cases.’ He mimicked Danny with these last three words, shaking his head and sounding like some kind of Hooray Henry. ‘But you’re not.’ He poked his finger right in the middle of her cleavage so forcefully she staggered backwards against the desk, holding it for support. ‘You’re just a fuckin’ no-good bitch that doesn’t know anything except what I’ve taught her, and what have you done to me? Eh? Dumped me — like that.’ He clicked his fingers with a snap and a jab forward of his face.
‘ Let me go, Jack.’
She pushed herself away from the desk and tried to walk round him. He took hold of her again and pulled her to him.
‘ No — I won’t let you go. Ever. I love you. Don’t you see what you’re doing to me?’
Her eyes softened for a moment. Jack released some of the power of his grip, giving her space to manoeuvre. Just enough room to twist slightly and, once again, drive her knee up into his testicles.
He roared in agony, released her, doubled up in pain, and reeled away, clutching his privates, cursing and swearing. His eyeballs were ready to pop out.
Danny left him hobbling around the office, no backward glance.
Fifteen minutes later.
‘ In position,’ Danny transmitted.
‘ Received.’ Henry acknowledged Danny’s radio message. This meant everyone was ready to roll — the initial arrest teams, backed up by the evidence-gatherers.
Henry breathed deep. ‘Let’s hit ‘em,’ he said, his mouth dry in anticipation.
When the ‘Roger’ came from Danny, he opened his car door and moved.
Gilbert’s house had a huge sweeping driveway, the house itself set in two and a half acres of landscaped gardens. There were wrought-iron gates at the entrance to the drive, but they were open. A convoy, led by Danny and her arrest squad, drove at a sedate pace and stopped outside the front door of the house.
Danny rang the bell. She had decided this arrest was going to be made in a dignified, adult manner… at least, that’s how it would start out. This approach didn’t stop her sending two cops around the back of the house to ensure there was no chance of a back-door dash.
Gilbert came to the door. Danny had never been close to the guy before, but had seen photos of him. She was astounded — and repulsed — by his enormity. He was like an overweight walrus, with broken capillaries all over his face, tiny piggy eyes and a girth which needed a chalk-mark to measure it. He was so hideous she almost giggled.
‘ Detective Sergeant Furness, Blackpool CID.’ She wafted her warrant card and badge under his nose. ‘Are you Charles Gilbert?’
He nodded, perplexed.
‘ I’m arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Claire Lilton.’ Danny cautioned him and waited for his reply.
He blinked rapidly a few times. Then, patronisingly, said, ‘Dearie, you are making one hell of a mistake here. Do you know who I am?’
‘ I know exactly who you are, Mr Gilbert.’ Danny smiled sweetly and waved the search team into the house.
‘ What the hell’s going on here?’ Gilbert demanded. He moved his bulk and wedged himself into the doorway. ‘You’re not coming in here. Where’s your warrant?’
Danny regarded him, rotating her lower jaw as if chewing gum. ‘Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, we don’t need one.’
The officer leading the Support Unit search team was standing at Danny’s shoulder, his troops behind him, eager to get on with the job. He poked his chin over Danny’s shoulder and said, ‘So if you don’t get out of the way, you big fat tub of lard, we’ll happily move you.’
Gilbert nodded, beaten. He moved aside and whined, ‘I want a solicitor — now.’
‘ You’ll get one when you reach the police station,’ Danny told him. ‘Now what I’d like you to do is accompany these two officers to that van, get in and be taken to Blackpool police station.’
‘ I said I want a solicitor now.’
Danny remained pleasant in tone. ‘Sooner you get in the van, sooner you get to the station, sooner you get a brief.’
One of the uniformed officers on the arrest squad reached out and tried to grab Gilbert’s upper arm. It was too big and fat for his hand.
‘ Don’t you dare touch me,’ Gilbert said, shaking him off.
‘ No more delay.’ Danny’s voice hardened. ‘Get in the back of the van, now.’
Gilbert eyed her dangerously and pushed past her.
As an aside, the uniformed officer said to Danny, ‘I honestly don’t think he’ll fit in. We should’ve brought an HGV for the fat bastard.’
Danny sniggered. Stage one over. With a sense of satisfaction, she prepared to send Henry a message over the airwaves: mission accomplished.
Her boss had decided on a less subtle approach for Ollie Spencer. A rapid entry was needed in this case, because if the police took too much time getting in, Spencer might be able to dispose of vital evidence; with his flat being the supposed scene of the murder, Henry wanted as much from it as possible.
The entrance to the flat was by way of a door at the rear of an electrical shop, leading directly to some stairs and up onto a landing; the doors of the flat were off this landing.
Henry’s team had to get in, get up the stairs and locate Spencer before he knew what had hit him. To assist the team they had a map which had been drawn initially by Grace, then improved by a detective. According to this floor plan, once on the landing, there was a bedroom door to the left, bathroom, toilet and kitchen through doors on the right and dead ahead, a living room.
The Support Unit were going to do the entry, race up the stairs, split like the Red Arrows and hit each door virtually simultaneously. Maximum fifteen seconds from going in the door to locating and neutralising Spencer, they promised.