5
Friday
There was no record of any current address for Jack Butler that Irvine could find. She checked all available sources but nothing turned up. She was alone in the office at Pitt Street at seven with only her desk lamp and light from her computer monitor illuminating the place.
She didn’t want to wait for Moore to arrive before giving Armstrong the heads-up about Johnson’s death, Butler and the Colorado connection. It didn’t matter how they had left things yesterday, he deserved to know what was going on.
Except maybe Frank Parker’s late-night house call. That might not go down so well with him.
Armstrong sounded wide awake when she called his mobile.
‘Where are you?’ she asked.
‘At home.’
Sounded like he was still pissed off.
‘I need you to get to Pitt Street now.’
‘Why?’
‘New lead. Something big. You should get the DG here as well. He’ll want to be in on it.’
She knew that would get him interested.
‘What’s going on?’
‘I don’t have time to get into it right now. I’ve got to speak to the Super.’
‘What time do you want us there?’
‘Soon as.’
‘I’ll call the DG. This better be worth it.’
‘It is.’
Liam Moore arrived at the office fifteen minutes later. He was still taking his jacket off when Irvine came into his room.
‘I called Armstrong,’ she said. ‘The SCDEA guy. He’s going to come in with the DG.’
‘You work fast. As always.’
‘I thought, you know, it was the right thing to do.’
‘It was. When will they be here?’
‘As long as it takes to get organised and drive over.’
‘Okay. I suppose you’d better bring me up to speed on everything before they get here.’
Irvine nodded, walked to the chair across the desk from Moore and sat down. She had her file and put it on the desk. It was overflowing with new material so she ordered it as best she could and told him what she knew.
She did the same thing for Armstrong and the DG, Paul Warren, half an hour later.
When she was done, Warren looked at Moore before he spoke.
‘It’s just the one guy running things here?’ he asked Irvine.
‘So far as I’m aware, sir, it is now. But the FBI may know more.’
‘Do we have an address on him?’
‘No. But I’ve got this.’ Irvine took copies of a photograph of Butler from her file and passed them around.
‘I got this from the MOD this morning. It’s maybe four or five years out of date but it’s the best I could do.’
‘Priority number one has to be getting this guy in custody,’ Moore said. ‘Are we agreed?’
Warren nodded.
‘We can’t have him running around out there killing everyone who can identify him. It’s bad enough already. The last thing we need is more bodies piling up.’
‘What should we do?’ Irvine asked.
Moore pointed at the file in her lap.
‘Go through everything on him. I mean, service history, family, previous addresses. Everything. Run down every lead. If you need more bodies to do it, let me know. I’ll authorise the manpower for it.
‘Do you want me to speak to press relations?’ Irvine asked. ‘You know, to get his name and picture out there?’
Moore leaned back, clasping his hands behind his head. ‘What do you think?’ he asked Warren.
‘My inclination is not to do it. Not just yet anyway. I mean, if he sees it, he might go right off the deep end. Could be a bloodbath.’
Moore nodded.
‘Isn’t it a bit late for that?’ Armstrong said. ‘Look at what he did to Johnson, to Russell Hall and the accountants. How much worse is it going to get?’
‘We don’t know,’ Moore said. ‘That’s the problem. We have no idea how many more people he’s likely to target. So let’s not give him a reason.’
‘Who’s going to speak to the FBI?’ Irvine asked.
‘I’ll handle that,’ Warren said. ‘Can you give me the names of the agents over there?’
Irvine nodded.
‘Okay, people,’ Moore said. ‘Let’s get to work and get this bastard locked up.’