Three days later
The images on the television screen filled Detective Chief Inspector Anna Tate with a deep sense of despair. They showed police officers under attack, buildings and cars on fire, shops being looted, and other acts of mindless, wanton vandalism.
It would have been shocking enough if it had been happening in some far-flung, lawless country. But these appalling scenes were being captured by news cameras right here in her beloved London. What’s more, most of the action was taking place south of the River Thames, where Anna lived and worked. When she turned down the volume on the TV she could hear the urgent chorus of sirens outside.
According to the news, the neighbourhoods worst hit were Brixton, Peckham, New Cross, Rotherhithe and Clapham, all within a short distance of her terraced house in Vauxhall. It was why she’d changed her plans and decided not to take her daughter out for dinner at the local McDonald’s. Far too risky.
Civil unrest had descended on the capital three nights ago following a police raid on the home of a known drug dealer named Warren Fuller. During the raid his twenty-seven-year-old wife Grace was shot and killed by a firearms officer who claimed it was a tragic accident. She was in a bedroom with her husband when the officer entered. The gun apparently went off during a struggle between the two men, and Mrs Fuller, who was cowering in a corner, was hit in the chest, the shot killing her instantly.
Within hours of the news getting out there was a backlash, with Grace Fuller being described as the latest victim of brutal police tactics. Her family called for the officer who fired the shot to be charged with murder.
It didn’t matter that she was the wife of a dangerous gang member. What mattered was that as well as being unarmed, she had also been four months pregnant with her first child.
The situation quickly spiralled out of control as people took to the streets to protest against what they were calling the murder of an innocent bystander. They were even claiming that the killing had been racially motivated because the victim was black.
Anna, who had spent the last month off work, had already contacted the office and offered to report for duty. She’d been told to stand by and wait for a call back.
Meanwhile, she had heeded the warnings to stay indoors and so had watched the drama unfold from the comfort of her living room sofa.
She had expected the riots to be short-lived, but instead they’d spread like wildfire and had become increasingly more violent. Disbelief had given way to anger as her city was being torn apart before her very eyes.
‘We’re now hearing that Scotland Yard is calling for re-inforcements from forces around the country,’ the newsreader was saying over footage of a pitched battle between hooded rioters and police. ‘So far two hundred arrests have been made and fifty people have been injured, including ten police officers. This afternoon the Prime Minister convened another meeting of the Government’s emergency response committee to discuss the growing crisis, which is being likened to the riots that engulfed London in 2011.’
Anna was a detective inspector back then, and she could well remember how bad it was. The unrest lasted for five days and nights and spread to other parts of the country. Five people died and damage to property topped two hundred million pounds.
Those riots started after an undercover police officer shot dead a man of mixed race who was suspected of being armed and a threat. Since then the seeds of disorder had again been taking root, and what was happening now had been widely predicted. In fact, Anna had been surprised when she heard the Metropolitan Police Commissioner himself describe London as a powder keg. The comment came during a speech in which he criticised the latest round of spending cuts that were being imposed on the force at a time when the city was in the grip of an epidemic of knife and gun crime. In the previous year the number of murders in the capital had reached a ten-year high.
As a senior officer with the Major Investigation Team based in Wandsworth, Anna had seen first-hand how dangerous London had become in recent years.
It was due to a combination of factors – the sheer number of ruthless gangs, a growing sense of alienation felt by ethnic groups and those living in deprived areas, and a significant reduction in police numbers. Plus the skyrocketing cost of living that was pricing many Londoners out of their own city. A culture of grievance and blame had been allowed to take hold and now the city was suffering the consequences.
Anna’s eyes remained anchored to the TV screen as she sipped lukewarm coffee from a mug. The newsreader had linked to live coverage from Brixton where a double decker bus was completely engulfed in flames. A reporter at the scene explained that the youths responsible had been chased off by police in riot gear, and went on to remind viewers that the district had also experienced mass rioting back in 1995, sparked by the death of a black man in police custody.
Next came pre-recorded footage of a supermarket being looted in Clapham. The looters were making so much noise that Anna almost didn’t hear her phone ringing. She had to rush into the kitchen where she’d left it on the table.
The caller ID told her it was her boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Bill Nash.
‘I’ve been expecting you to ring, guv,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised it’s taken you so long.’
‘Well I was hoping I wouldn’t have to,’ he replied. ‘But as I’m sure you’ve seen for yourself, things have got much worse out there today and I’m afraid your compassionate leave is over. I want you back at work immediately.’
‘Is it for general support or something specific?’
‘Specific. We’ve got an unusual case, and I need someone on it I can trust to do a good job. It’s like a war zone out there and we’re stretched to breaking point.’
‘So what is it?’
‘Four hours ago rioters set fire to a derelict pub in Camberwell,’ Nash said. ‘The brigade were on the scene pretty quickly and put the blaze out before it destroyed the building. But there was a fatality. A boy no older than ten or eleven was found inside and it seems he died from smoke inhalation.’
‘Do we know who he is and what he was doing in a derelict boozer?’ Anna asked.
After a beat, Nash said, ‘He hasn’t been identified yet, but we know why he couldn’t escape the fire. He was chained to a wall in the cellar.’