When the team were all seated Blunt explained that shortly the brown stuff would hit the fan. Everyone, including the Chief Constable, would be caught in the media storm that was about to engulf them. The very existence of the unit could be threatened as could the careers of each and every one of them.
They all turned and started to stand as the Chief Constable Bill Strumpshaw came into the room. He motioned to them to stay seated and took a seat himself.
Blunt explained that Strumpshaw's attendance was vital. He needed to know how they were progressing and what obstacles if any were being thrown in their way. The Chief Constable then informed the unit that he supported them and wanted to see them succeed. He would do whatever he could to ensure that would happen. To enable him to provide the maximum support he needed to be kept abreast of everything they were doing.
Blunt thanked him. Moving on he asked each member of the team to present their findings over the last two days and then to summarise on the flip charts.
After they had finished Blunt asked them all to sit back look at all the charts around the room and to ruminate for a few minutes. Cushion asked whether the word had anything to do with eating. The guffaws of the others, including a not un-noticed wry smile from Strumpshaw, released the tension.
After a few minutes had elapsed Blunt asked Cushion to put two fresh flip charts at the head of the table. At the top of one he wrote 'The Russians'. At the top of the other he wrote 'The Islamists'.
'Let us take Gruberova first' Blunt started 'Morski and Pidrik were seen at the Q8 petrol station between 11.13 and 11.28pm. In many ways it does not matter what they were doing before that. The amount of time the body was in the water tied in with the tides means that it is not feasible that the deed was done before 11.00pm. The next sighting of the two occurs in the gay club, The Attic. They were seen at 1pm and 2pm by three witnesses not connected with the club. One witness connected with the club says he may have seen them earlier but he is far from sure. We then have them at the Pizza Paradise on Prince of Wales Road at just gone 3am.
The question is could they have got to Overstrand and back in just over an hour and a half? I am inclined to say not. However, it is not impossible. '
'But they could have still administered the GHB and perhaps some of the women at the brothel could have taken her to Overstrand ' volunteered Flint.
'Yes that is possible. It could also be the case that there are more Russians here than we realise and they could have done the deed. After all we believe that they are tied up with Bondarevsky who by all accounts is attempting to take over the Aktion empire That means that Morski and Pidrik and the madam would know who disposed of Gruberova.. Therefore all we can say with regard to Gruberova is that the Russians killed her. But which Russians? Another problem of course is that there has not been a single sighting of any activity in the vicinity of Overstrand with respect to either a vehicle or a boat.
Let us move onto the Patels and who killed them. Ahmed what is your view?
'All the evidence points to the Russians. Although not Morski and Pidrik who were in custody. We have the cloth and the part of a cigarette packet. The Patels shopped them and therefore a revenge killing is possible.'
'True' Leibnitz interrupted 'But it's too pat. Are the Russian that inept? I doubt it! Again how would they have known that the Patels provided information about Gruberova? Did any of us let it slip?' she looked around the table at all her colleagues shaking their heads.
'Ok' continued Blunt 'therefore there is nothing in it for the Russians to kill the Patels unless they were trying to send a message to anyone that attempts to shop them or meddle in their business. But and I emphasise BUT that is a pretty long shot. Now let us move onto other things about the Russians. It would appear that The Attic may be involved in male prostitution'
'Shinton is a paedophile!' Cushion forcefully interrupted causing the others to look at him in amazement. He has obviously just been released because that Dereham Road address that Debbie got is a hostel for released sex offenders. Shinton was convicted of raping an eight year old boy'
'Ok the question is why do Morski and Pidrik go to the Attic? Melanie get hold of the land registry and find out who owns the Rose Lane building. Steve get onto companies house and find out whether The Attic is registered and all the details'
Leibnitz and Cushion left the room.
'Ok'continued Blunt let us take a look at the Pakistanis. Ahmed has provided us with a great deal of information about what may be happening with some extremists. It could be that they are looking to muscle in on the Russians attempt to take over the Aktion empire. They may have killed Gruberova'
'True' butted in Flint, ' but the same applies no-one saw anything, no sitings, nothing!'
'We may have missed something vital here.' Blunt came back, The others looked quizzically at him 'what if the body was put into the water from the sea? When we have finished Debbie can you chase that angle up. '
Flint nodded in agreement.
'The other thing is how would the Pakistanis know about GHB?'
'They could have found out in Afghanistan' stated Ahmed 'and that points us straight at anyone involved in that affair.' He paused before continuing, 'that includes Rafique Khan'
Strumpshaw broke the silence
'Steady on! You are talking about a man who is a leading politician and Muslim and also on the new security council'
'With all due respect sir you told me that the Muslim community knew about the Patels informing us about Gruberova. How did they know? We did not tell them and I doubt whether the Patels did. Blunt retorted in Ahmed's defence.
'Fair point' admitted the Chief Constable
'Thank you sir. Let me continue to extrapolate' said Blunt 'What if Saddiqe and Hussein informed us about Gruberova. By disposing of the Patel's they may think that they are killing two birds with one stone. Got rid of the Patels and implicated the Russians to boot.'
'Then what about Gruberova? ' Ahmed butted in.
'The Muslims killed Gruberova as well'
'John' the Chief Constable came in again 'there are so many ifs and buts and I can see what your problem is. You have no concrete evidence of anything'
'I agree. At the moment we seem to be feeling our way through a fog. It reminds me of a chapter in Plato's Republic that considers the problems of Appearance and Reality. The more information we are getting the more confusing it becomes. All we can do is keep chipping away and carving out new pieces that allow us to piece the puzzle together'
'I sympathise but it does not help us with the press conference that we have to give. Have you informed Ahmed that he is taking the lead?'
'What!' exclaimed Saeed 'I can't! We've all heard today what these Islamists are capable of. I'm concerned about my parents.'
'Ahmed' said Blunt 'they already know that you are involved. If they were going to do anything then they would have done it by now. I think that we can feed the information about Saddiqe and Hussein back to Khan'
'Am I missing something?' questioned Strumpshaw.