6.30pm Thursday 11th March 2010, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.
A five-year old girl, Regina Balfour, is kidnapped in broad daylight from the Eden Shopping Centre, while her mother’s back is momentarily turned. Left behind is her ladybird shaped backpack, which contained supplies for her insulin pump. She needs her medication to live more than a few days, and her condition will rapidly deteriorate without it...
"We'd need some evidence," says Jocelyn. "Being in contact with former criminal associates would be a violation of probation and might get him put away, but what we really need is evidence against Louise, to keep her from offering up her daughter. Although getting her hired goons arrested would leave her vulnerable."
"I confess this is a bit out of my area of expertise," Simon reluctantly admits."But this has not been a total wash. We've strong reason to suspect that Louise's daughter is the planned sacrifice," he summarizes, as though he reached that conclusion himself. "This offers us an opportunity, albeit it a risky one. If we can find a way to damage her vehicle tonight after she gets home, she won't be able to make it to Balfour's little get together tomorrow. One hopes, at any rate. I suggest waiting until late tonight and trying to puncture her tires. Not precisely legal, mind, but depending on her neighborhood it may be fairly low risk.
"The alternative would be to file a report tomorrow that keeps her tied up for a few hours, but that's far less likely to succeed."
"She could just get a ride from one of her criminal friends, or from someone else from the church," says Jocelyn. "Or a taxi, for that matter. She won't care if the cabbie remembers her. She thinks the world ends tomorrow night. Although, the surest way to damage her car would be for one of us to drive it."
"Kris said he could call Samuals's probation officer," says Jocelyn. "That's a good way to get more information about him and his associates. He can pass the description of the two blokes we saw outside and see if the P.O. knows who they are as well. I don't want him to make the call while he's driving, but once he gets here he can do that. As a constable, he'd be the best one to make that call. He and Lucy can also keep Louise under surveillance while we go cover Balfour."
What are Simon and Jocelyn doing while they wait for Kris and Lucy to arrive? It's going to take an hour or two. Will they hang around in the street all that time? If Simon wants to search for Louise Hayman's social media presence that sounds like a Library Use or Computer Use roll.
Seeing that Louise has been confirmed as a church member, Simon decides not to bother looking her up.
"Our best move at the moment is likely watching Balfour. His wife's accident will likely put him off his game, and I'd like to have eyes on him when he learns of it."
"Agreed," says Jocelyn. "Now that those men are gone, I could go retrieve the car and bring it back here. I can park it somewhere it can't be seen from the window, and we can wait inside it. That way, when Kris relieves us, we can get moving quickly."
It's dark by the time Kris and Lucy arrive, parking up someway down the street from Jocelyn and Simon who are sitting in Prisha's big shiny Range Rover, looking a bit out of place in this part of Lewisham. At least one young guy has banged on the window looking to be sold some drugs. Jocelyn and Simon are parked so that they can just about see the flats but they're not easily visible themselves due to the angle of the window.
The lights are on in Flat 21 and the curtains are drawn. No one has left the entrance to Flats 17-24 but they've seen the curtains twitching a good few times and seen the face of that same man on at least one occasion. No sign of Louise though. A couple of cars have pulled up into the parking spaces along the road and one guy has gone into the entrance about 30mins ago, fairly nondescript, black man, in his fifties or sixties with a greying beard and cropped head, dressed in blue overalls or something similar and carrying a canvas tool bag. He was driving a white Peugeot Partner van, 2008 plate, markings say A1 Plumbing and Heating.
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As they roll in slowly to the service road behind the Mercator Road flats, Lucy points out that one end has been blocked off by the council. 'Only one way in or out. That's not ideal.' Once they're parked and he's killed the lights, Kris makes contact with Jocelyn and confirms they're parked a few hundred yards away from them. Out of sight of the flat so as to avoid arousing too much suspicion. 'So how'd you want to play this Constable?' asks Lucy with a sort of half ironic, half concerned smile.
”With a SWAT team, Lucy!” replied Kris. He called Jocelyn. ”Have we any local info, other than from the probation officer? I really don’t like the idea of going in there without back-up.”
"Only what I've observed while I was here," says Jocelyn, filling him in on the details. "The probation officer may know more about the neighborhood. We can back you up while we're here before we head off to surveil Balfour, if we're going to take these pieces off the table and not just keep an eye on them."
Simon looks briefly concerned at the thought of staying here. "I do think unless we have exceedingly good reason we should head towards Balfour's as soon as we can," he tells Jocelyn. "He sent his wife out for some reason, and I'm guessing it has something to do with what they're planning for tomorrow. If she was unable to do whatever it was, he may find his and forced-- and we may be provided our chance to catch him in the midst of something incriminating."
“My concern is the guy who went into the flat with the tool bag. Could be legit, but equally, could be tooled up in a whole different way,” replied Kris. “I’ll get control to run his plates and see what we find.”
He looked up at the flat. “I wonder if he shares Balfour’s philosophy, like his daughter? If he doesn’t and realises his granddaughter’s going to be killed, then he might act differently.”
"I'm also suspicious of the large bag's contents," says Jocelyn. "We're not exactly armed for bear, so we'd need a small army if we're going to raid the place. Maybe we could flush them out. If the fire alarm were to go off suddenly, for some reason, would they come outside? I'm wary of endangering any firefighters who showed up to investigate the alarm, though. Before we take any action, I think you should talk to the probation officer."
Running the plates confirms they are for a 2008 white Peugeot Partner van which is recorded as being owned by A1 Plumbing and Heating since it was first registered as new. Because it is a company vehicle the driver isn't listed.
A1 Plumbing and Heating were incorporated in 2001. Their registered address is in Peckham, a few miles from here. Their tax returns are up to date. There is a company director listed as David Packhurst and a company secretary listed as Deborah Addams. There's nothing on the PNC of any interest related to the company or the two staff members listed.
"What reason do we have for going up to see them?" Simon asks. "No doubt that will really trigger their paranoia. Unless you call the probation officer and can cook up a justification to check on Samuals." .
"Unless we're actually going to make arrests, we shouldn't let them see us," says Jocelyn. "The company will know who its employees are, and they'll be able to tell us who was driving that van. Then we can look up his record."
