Later that morning, Cooper found himself watching a man in a grey sports jacket approaching a cash machine outside Somerfields supermarket. Running his finger along the edge of the card slot, the man glanced over his shoulder with an apologetic smile. He wasnt sure whether he liked being watched or not.
There were two ATMs at Somerfields, both set into the outside wall near the trolley park, about fifteen yards from the main entrance. A small queue of shoppers had formed at the other machine, fidgeting with their carrier bags and purses.
If you feel an obstruction of any kind, dont use it. Thats the best advice. Usually there are a couple of tiny prongs. Here, see?
With a flick of the finger, the man pulled out a thin, clear sleeve of rigid plastic. He held it up to reveal a loop at the back.
This is the old Lebanese Loop trick. The loop retains a card when its inserted. Since the machine cant read the magnetic strip, it keeps asking you to re-enter your PIN. Someone standing behind you watches you tap your number in. When you walk away, the suspect removes the card and empties your account. Bingo.
Surely that type of device is easy to detect? said someone in the watching group. We just saw you do it.
But I know what to look for.
PC Steve Judson had greying hair, a little longer than favoured by most police officers. He worked with the Plastic Crime Unit, a team struggling to deal with a mounting wave of cash and credit card fraud. According to the latest figures, it was big business worth at least forty million pounds a year across the country.
Judson looked at the queue for the adjacent cash machine. This is a typical location. The ATMs would be more secure inside, but the store isnt open twenty-four hours. Some customers want to use them late at night, when this car park is probably deserted.
Is that when the biggest risk is, rather than when the cash machines are busy? asked a female DC, one of two whod driven over the hills from B Division for the plastic crime session.
The risk is different. If you look at the people in the queue there theyre close enough to each other to make shoulder surfing easy. But at night, when the place is empty, youd be pretty damn suspicious of somebody who came and peered over your shoulder, wouldnt you?
There were other officers present in the car park whod come from Nottinghamshire and even from Leicestershire. Strangers, but probably future colleagues. No one was talking about their future this morning, but it must have been in everyones minds when they greeted each other.
It isnt so long ago that the NCIS bulletins were warning of cash machine gangs spreading out of London down the M4 to the West Country. Did they get it wrong?
No, not at all. Those gangs did good business in the West Country, so they decided to go nationwide. Now they operate in any place they can recruit enough illegals.
Illegals?
Cooper could hear a few sets of antennae going up, alert for derogatory remarks. It was always a tough call, knowing when to report a colleague for political incorrectness. If you tolerated it, your own career could be on the line.
But PC Judson seemed not to have noticed the reactions from the group.
Some illegals are being trained for cash machine work within twenty-four hours of coming off the boat. That way, they can pay back the traffickers. Its better than slogging your guts out in a carrot field in East Anglia for two quid an hour, I suppose.
Nobody laughed, or even dared to nod in agreement. A Nottinghamshire detective next to Cooper shuffled his feet in the shredded tree bark around the roots of an ornamental birch.
Somebody at the front asked a question about identity theft, which set Judson off on a new tangent. The Nottinghamshire officer leaned towards Cooper.
Are you Derbyshire? he said quietly.
Yes, Im based right here in Edendale. DC Cooper.
Ross Matthews. Hi. Whats it like working here?
Its OK, said Cooper defensively.
Matthews nodded. Im at St Anns, and its a nightmare. I might put in for a transfer when we go global.
He didnt need to explain what he was talking about. Everyone knew that the number of regional police forces would soon be reduced dramatically. A government commission had concluded that any force with fewer than four thousand officers was too small to deal with serious crime. So Derbyshire was certain to disappear. Even its bigger neighbour, Nottinghamshire, had suffered highly publicized problems that had led its chief constable to admit his detectives couldnt cope. Within a few months, all the officers here this morning might be working for one huge East Midlands Constabulary.
Why not? said Cooper. We can always do with some help here.
He realized that Judson had finished speaking and was looking at him over the heads of the group, waiting for his attention.
It was then that Coopers mobile rang. Probably he should have switched it off. He bet everybody else had put theirs on to silent vibrate, but hed forgotten this morning.
He looked at the number on the display, and saw it was Diane Fry. His DS shouldnt be calling him, not when she knew he was on the plastic crime exercise. Cooper looked at Judson and shrugged apologetically, then walked a few paces away from the group.
He looked at the number on the display, and saw it was Diane Fry. His DS shouldnt be calling him, not when she knew he was on the plastic crime exercise. Cooper looked at Judson and shrugged apologetically, then walked a few paces away from the group.
Yes, Diane?
Where are you right now, Ben?
Somerfields supermarket.
I suppose that makes sense, does it?
They have ATMs, said Cooper. You know cash machines.
Yes, I know what an ATM is. Wait youre on the plastic crime initiative.
Did you forget?
No, Ive been a bit busy this morning, thats all.
Something on?
He heard Fry hesitate. Dont get excited. Just something Id like you to take a look at when youre finished. Get away as soon as you can, will you?
Are you going to tell me what its all about?
A house fire last night. Multiple fatalities.
Where?
One of the Edendale estates. The Shrubs, I think they call it.
I know where you mean.
For all the time shed served in E Division, Fry still didnt seem to know the area all that well. Perhaps she didnt think it was worth the effort because she wasnt intending to stay long enough. Yes, that was the impression she gave. A visitor caught in a depressing stop-over while she waited for a connection to somewhere better.
Cooper remembered a few of the initial reactions to Fry when shed first transferred from West Midlands. A bit of a hard-faced cow; Could be a looker, but she doesnt bother; Too tall, too skinny, no make-up; Stroppy bitch. None of them had been fair, of course. But Fry hadnt done much to make herself popular with her colleagues. In fact she seemed to relish her image.
In the background, he could hear Judson answering a question. A blank piece of plastic, embossed and encoded with a stolen account number. Some of these plastic crime merchants practically steal your identity.
Can you hear me, Ben?
Yes, you mentioned a fire on the Shrubs.
Great. Well, three deaths. A mother and two children.
Evidence of suspicious circumstances?
Not yet. But
Youre expecting some?
We havent had the forensics yet. But I want to know if youll be around.
OK, said Cooper, trying not to sound surprised. Ill see you back at the office after the session with Steve Judson. Is that OK?
Yes, thats absolutely fine.
When he ended the call, Cooper frowned. Somehow, Fry hadnt sounded her usual self.
Judson caught his eye across the group and raised an eyebrow. They get your PIN by focusing a camera on the keypad, he was saying. At the end of the day, they retrieve discarded receipts. They match up the time of your withdrawal with the tape from the camera, and theyve got both your PIN and your account number. They can produce a duplicate card and make fraudulent withdrawals as easily as if theyd stolen the genuine card. And you wont even know anythings happened until you see your next bank statement. Thats more than bingo its the jackpot.
Edendale District General was on the northern edge of town, occupying a greenfield site where new wards could be added as funding became available. Fry had never seen the old hospital on Fargate. It had closed years ago, its Victorian buildings so primitive and crumbling that nobody had bothered saving them from demolition. But its location must have been very handy. Even at this time of the morning, it would take her fifteen minutes to get across town to the new site, once she got away from Darwin Street.
Tell me again, who made the emergency call? she asked Murfin when he came off the radio to the control room.
One of the neighbours dialled 999 when he saw the smoke. Bloke by the name of Wade. A bit of a know-it-all, by the sound of him. FOAs took a statement earlier.
You know, we should have made sure we had complete information before we came out.
Murfin looked aggrieved. You said you wanted to get the job out of the way as soon as possible. In and out, and turn it over to the coroner, thats what you said.
OK, Gavin, thanks. Fry didnt like her words being quoted back to her, especially when shed been wrong. Its a bit irritating, thats all.
Is that why you made me look in that last bedroom?
She sighed. It had to be done, Gavin. You arent here just to wreck the place and make stupid jokes. There was nothing in the bedroom, anyway.
You didnt know that at the time.
Right. How come the hospital staff have more information than we do, eh? So the youngest child wasnt even at home, but with the grandparents? It shouldnt have needed a call to the ward sister to find that out.
Murfin was silent as he watched her get into her car. You know Ive got kids of my own, dont you? he said quietly, before she closed the door.
Fry bit her lip, caught out by a moment of tricky human emotion when she hadnt expected it. Sorry, Gavin.
But he didnt seem to have heard her as he walked away. And by the time she caught up with him later, he was back to his old self, so she didnt mention it again.
Brian Mullen was in a side room off one of the newer wards, with a PC on duty outside the door. Mullen was in his early thirties, sandy-haired, with a faintly pink complexion, as if his skin had been freshly scrubbed. His hands were bandaged, but otherwise he looked quite fit and healthy.