Dark Side by Margaret Duffy Page B

websites, looking for anything about a man who liked to be known as Raptor. He also has the added advantage of being able to get into SOCA files, some of which are shared with MI5, his high security rating meaning that information not necessarily readily available to the forces unless requested by a very senior officer is at his fingertips. Other, more sensitive information has to be accessed in person, in London.
    Nothing so tortuous was required, however, and he soon established that the serious criminal most likely to be the man in question had at least four aliases and, indeed, liked to be known as Raptor. Reading a book in the same room, I heard a snort of derision from my husband when this came up on the screen. This individual had recently been seen in Bath. Although thought to be deeply involved in a case where evidence against another London gang leader, his brother-in-law, had ‘disappeared’ from both computer and paper files, the Met had been unable to make any charges stick. One of the reasons for this was that a detective involved, implicated in corruption, had been found dead. The subsequent inquest finding had been that he had committed suicide having taken an overdose of sleeping tablets, a verdict about which his family had been very unhappy. No details were available. In another case names and addresses of witnesses had somehow been leaked, several of whom had received threats and changed their evidence or refused to testify. That case had collapsed.
    â€˜This villain, who incidentally is a strong suspect in a jewellery shop raid in the West End a few days ago, has not only created for himself several identities,’ Patrick continued after giving me the previous information, ‘but would appear to have several addresses. It’s known he has a flat in Ealing and another in Manchester. He was spotted by a keen-eyed off-duty detective in Glasgow who tailed him to a tenement block in the Broomielaw but it’s not known whether he sometimes lives there or was merely visiting someone. The thinking is that he’s on the move for much of the time, staying with family, friends, cronies, what have you. There’s no real evidence for that – but taking into consideration the experience of those doing the investigating there’s every chance they’re right.’
    I said, ‘I’m wondering how he keeps tabs on his henchmen if he’s flitting around all the time.’
    â€˜The main theory is that he commutes between various centres of operation and doesn’t just travel around in order to keep giving the police the slip. One scam has been selling so-called assassination kits to other gangs – weapons, mostly handguns, imported from abroad and assembled over here. Apparently they’re supplied to customers packed in DIY power tool cases. This appears to be a personal project – but it’s been done before.’
    â€˜You said Sulyn Li Grant’s Beretta could have entered the country that way.’
    â€˜Along with many others,’ Patrick replied wryly. ‘After receiving information the Met raided a lock-up garage that turned out to be a workshop used for putting weapons together. But other than a few bits and pieces that pointed to the previous presence of firearms the place was empty.’
    â€˜That suggests he could have been tipped off, too.’
    â€˜It does. He also dabbles in exporting stolen top-of-the-range cars to Europe but that might be coming to an end as his agent oppo in Le Havre has recently been arrested by the French police. I hope they keep him securely locked up so he can implicate this self-styled Raptor before someone puts a bullet in him.’
    â€˜Is there a real risk of that?’
    â€˜It never hurts to prepare for the worst with these people when they become desperate. I’m also asking myself if that implicated Met cop really committed suicide.’
    â€˜But don’t you think we should leave