Chapter 7
He'd missed the match but watched the highlights. England won 2-0 against Mexico. Though not an ardent football fan he had to admit the first goal had been a superb strike from Bobby Charlton. He woke at six, still on the settee, the telly flickering static before he turned it off and crawled into bed for a few more hours.
Back up at eleven, he ate his cornflakes deep in thought then took a quick wash, donned some casuals and headed for the launderette with a bag of washing, a book and a pocketful of change. Returning home only to deposit his clean and folded laundry, he grabbed the car keys and took a tour of the areas Radler had posted his letters in, box by box, making notes on the crib sheets in his hand.
In a little 'private members' club he sometimes frequented, he had a couple of pints and joined a conversation simply to distract himself from more serious thought then he eventually went home to pore over his notes and the tourist map he'd bought. Spreading it out over his kitchen table, he methodically read through the locations then placed a felt tip mark to indicate the position of each post box followed by meticulously studying the posting and collection times.
Monday, early start, and Reg greeted him with the inevitable mug of tea and an unexpected Jammie Dodger before informing him he'd spoken to Bert Hansen whilst at the astronomy club. "He said he'd chase it up, the post-mortem and photos for Eddlestone." In turn, Gallagher, whilst surprised at his old boss's interests, spoke of his post box enquiries.
"Do you know what I think? I think these letters with the stamps in them are simply a diversion. I think, when he posts some of them he's 'double tapping', posting another letter covered by the other."
Reg interrupted. "But GPO Investigations are intercepting?"
Gally smiled. "I know, but only those letters he's posting to the bloke in the Cotswolds which, if you ask me, he's made quite obvious, big brown envelope and all that. A change of style on a letter addressed to somewhere else might go undetected but I think Radler has assumed we'd do what they'd do; snaffle the entire contents of the post box and go through the lot."
He paused and watched Reg's face. He needed more so he gave it to him. "Look, we've both read his file. He's a clever operator. I reckon he'll know Box pay special attention to new arrivals, it's what the Stasi will do I'm pretty certain, fools if they don't, but he probably can't afford the luxury of a waiting game. I don't think the timing of their arrival and the current sporting events are coincidental. They're already on a timer but I reckon they don't have to find a target because they already have one picked out. Let's face it, his own people call him der Zauberer which not only means magician or wizard, as his file says, but it also means conjurer."
Reg gave him a quizzical look. Gally continued. "I looked it up in my German to English dictionary and we know what conjurer's do, they use sleight of hand. Anyway, I think he knows damn well they'll be monitored and I think he's doing exactly what I'd do, appear to be doing something verifiably innocent whilst using it to cover an illicit contact. It's not so much dead letterboxes, Reg, it's red letterboxes." He paused to see if what he'd said had sunk in. He saw the slight confusion.
"Look, Reg, like a dead letterbox needs someone to collect its contents a red one needs someone to do the same. Who does that? I think his contact is a postman and I'll tell you why. I've been through all the times and locations. I even spoke to my postie this morning." Gallagher unfolded his tourist map and began pointing at the felt tip dots. "He tells me all the boxes in this area go to a sorting office up here and the others go to this one over there."
He dragged his notes over. "All these timings are only minutes or so before a collection." He jabbed the map. "The ones here have been posted no more than ten minutes before a collection while these, the larger in number, are only posted with minutes to spare. In all these cases, Radler's been walking around with his letter in his jacket for an hour or so without posting it. Look, the surveillance log has him in this street forty-five minutes before he posts it and I know there's a post box there because I checked. Why didn't he use it? Because it's not one of the agreed boxes is my bet."
His finger stabbed the felt tip marks. "These other boxes you can see are less in number and they're the ones where he's been posting ten minutes before a collection. Why? I think it's because they aren't on the postie's normal round, they feed the other sorting office. I think the ten minutes are so their postman contact can get to the boxes before the regular guy. Now, he'd need keys to those boxes and he wouldn't have them unless he worked, or had worked, in the sorting office for the area. I think our man has either worked on that round at one time or has somehow acquired a set. Why do they do it this way? Because the postman pockets the incriminating mail and the rest goes back to the sorting office where the GPO intercept for Box."
Reg looked up at him. "Ok, seems feasible but what about the days the letters are being posted? They seem a bit random?"
Gally grinned. "They only seem that way. My best guess is this particular postman is part-time. I think, when we find him, the days will mirror the days he works. And, I'm hoping he shouldn't be too hard to identify. I wouldn't have thought so anyway."
Reg gave a newly informed nod. "It does make sense especially since I was told this morning the surveillance on our stamp dealer pans out. The man's as dull as ditchwater and all the letters and the stamp collections being sent are clean. But you're right, Gally, it shouldn't be too difficult to identify our postman though you realise what we're talking about here?"
"More sleepers?"
"That's right. He's got to be passing this stuff on to someone else because these deaths would need more than one person to carry them out, don't you think?"
"My thoughts exactly, Reg."
Gallagher picked up the mugs and took them to the sink as he continued. "Now, our friends are going to have to maintain the impression of the existing surveillance whilst targeting the new guy to see who he's passing the information on to. If they don't, I think the likes of our Herr Radler will be quick to suspect a change in the gameplay and then we'll lose the benefit of everything we've got up to now. So, Box need to keep a team on him, end the obs on the stamp man and, when we find out who he is, transfer it to our postman."
Reg joined him and dried the mugs with the tea towel. "Why withdraw the team on the stamp man? Shouldn't we give it a few more days, at least?"
Gally shook his head. "No. I think he'll be well aware of the ‘eyes on’. What catches my attention is Radler making his envelope so obvious, even allowing himself to be seen carrying it. He's the Conjurer, don't forget. I need to see what they've got up their sleeves. They expect to be watched, they've encouraged it and with it being 'routine' I think routine attitudes will be in play. In a small village, the surveillance will be easy to spot, especially if you're looking for it. We need to make them feel safe and then put some hard to spot people in, this mob across the road are perfect."
The kettle boiled. Reg looked at him. "Cuppa and a Jammie Dodger?"
Gally smiled, "Yeah, why not? We'll have this then I've to go downstairs for range practice, so Sandy tells me." He sat down at the table. "Reg? Get Box to pull their surveillance on our stamp dealer, today, the sooner the better.”