The Stratford Murder by Mike Hollow (best thriller novels of all time .TXT) 📗

in Irish politics. DC Cradock has raised the question of whether there might be a link to the IRA.’

‘I knew it – Irishmen. I told you, didn’t I?’

‘Well, sir, actually I don’t think you—’

‘Yes, explosives, cash – it’s as plain as the nose on your face. It’s the work of Irish Republicans.’

‘Except they’re not Irishmen, sir, as far as we can tell.’

‘Scratch at the surface, John, and you’ll find an Irishman underneath. You just have to scratch hard enough.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Now, if there’s any trace of Irish Republican activity in this business, you must talk to Special Branch. You know what they’re like – that sort of thing’s definitely their parish, and they won’t want us tramping all over it. Who’s that high-up in Special Branch that you got pally with when you were seconded to them?’

‘I think you must mean Mr Ford, sir, but I don’t think I can claim to be pally with him – he is a detective superintendent, after all.’

‘Well, acquainted with, then. But he must be quite pally with you if he wants you to go and work for him.’

Soper’s words came as a surprise to Jago, but his face didn’t show it.

‘Excuse me, sir, but how did you know that? I’ve never mentioned anything of the sort to anyone here.’

‘In my job I hear things, John, and that’s one of the things I’ve heard.’

‘Well, I can assure you I have no plans to transfer to Special Branch. The experience was useful, and so’s the connection with Detective Superintendent Ford, but I like my job here.’

‘I’m glad to hear it, John – I wouldn’t want to lose you. Filling vacancies is the very devil of a job these days, with the force so stretched.’

Jago was still wondering whether he was being commended as a valued officer or identified as a potential source of unwanted paperwork when Soper continued.

‘So anyway, if there’s the slightest whiff of the IRA in your investigation, I advise you to go and report it to your friend Mr Ford at the earliest opportunity. I don’t want them coming down on me like a ton of bricks for encroaching on their responsibilities.’

‘Yes, sir. I’ll call him immediately, and see whether he can give me a few minutes tomorrow.’

‘That’s the ticket. And get those chaps behind bars, or we’ll all be in trouble.’

‘Yes, sir,’ said Jago, suddenly feeling the need for an early night. ‘We’ll do our best.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The only time Detective Superintendent Ford could give him was first thing in the morning: at a quarter past seven, in fact. As Jago made his way to the railway station he hoped the track had survived the night’s bombing, and was relieved to find that the service was running at something close to normal. By ten past seven he was sitting in Ford’s office at New Scotland Yard.

‘So, you think you might have an IRA connection to your case,’ said Ford. ‘Tell me about it.’

‘Well,’ Jago began, ‘as I said on the phone last night, it’s just a possibility. But with explosives involved, and a suspect with an unusual interest in Irish politics, I thought we should check with you. We heard a lot about the IRA bombing campaign last year, but it seems to have quietened down now.’

‘Yes, but it hasn’t stopped. I’m just thankful no more lives have been lost. We had those bomb attacks on phone boxes and cinemas in November and December, but by then the Prevention of Violence Act had come in, so we could deport suspects and stop others entering the country. And then De Valera cracked down hard in the South – he banned the IRA and interned a lot of suspects. The only incidents we’ve had since then are two shops bombed in Birmingham in February, and then a bomb in Oxford Street. No attacks in Scotland or Wales yet, because the IRA don’t want to upset the Scottish or Welsh Nationalists. The last incident we know of – because the bomb worked – was in Westminster in March.’

‘So are there still IRA cells active in England?’

‘There may be. We’re keeping an eye on known sympathisers in the London area, including on K Division, where you are – and that’s where we had our first breakthrough, the summer before last.’

‘When that car was stopped in Ilford? A random check, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, and if your chaps hadn’t taken a look in the boot and seen all that potassium chlorate, that would’ve been the end of it. I know they let them go when the men in the car produced a receipt to show the chemical wasn’t stolen, but they had the gumption to take their names and addresses. And then, thank goodness, one of your men was suspicious enough to tell his station officer, who called us.’

‘And it turned out they weren’t what they seemed?’

‘Too true. We raided one of the addresses, in Dagenham.’

‘Also on K Division.’

‘Yes, and we found a notebook full of names and addresses, and when we checked them against our files we found quite a few were IRA suspects. That was really helpful – it’s amazing how often the IRA have left incriminating documents and papers lying around for us to find. We raided the addresses in the notebook and found all sorts of things – sticks of gelignite, detonators, fuses, the lot. We made a lot of arrests too. All thanks to your men.’

‘The people you arrested – were they all Irish? The reason why I ask is that our suspects aren’t, as far as we know. They’re as English as you and me.’

‘Well, that’s an interesting point. We’ve traditionally looked out for Irishmen, but we think they’ve tried to use people born here with English accents instead, because they don’t attract the same attention. When we got the ringleader of the Liverpool bomb attacks last year it turned out he wasn’t an Irishman at all – he was a seaman from Manchester. He got twenty years’ penal servitude for conspiracy, possessing explosives,