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AUGUST 1976
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HER MAJESTY’S CUSTOMS and Excise, known to many as simply Customs, is an arm of the United Kingdom’s government responsible for ensuring taxes and duties payable are collected. Its remit is wide and powers draconian. It has many types of specialist investigators. Among other things, Customs is responsible for preventing and detecting the illegal import and export of controlled drugs, the investigation of organisations and individuals engaged in international drug smuggling, their prosecution and identification of the proceeds of such crime. It’s fair to say there is a blurring of jurisdictional responsibilities between it and the police when it comes to drug trafficking. The relationship between the two has often been marked by in-fighting. Customs also employs undercover agents.
The telephone could be heard ringing some fifty yards distant through the empty corridors. An agent picked up and answered the call in a breathless voice.
“Yeah, Bill here.”
“Good. I have been trying to get hold of you for two days now.”
“Right. Is there something you want?”
“No. It’s a new assignment for you.”
“You’re kidding. I just got back from Miami and was hoping to have a few days with Caroline. Can’t it wait?”
“I hear you. Come and see me tomorrow, but I need you to start next week. You aren’t travelling too far this time, Wales.”
The phone clicked dead. Bill spoke to himself, “Wales?” He thought, At least it’s August so I won’t bloody freeze to death.
Bill Morris strode through the corridors in Tintagel House until he reached the offices occupied by Customs. It was at that point he showed his official identification to an armed guard. Tintagel House is a concrete, steel and glass edifice scarring the banks of the River Thames. It was home to secretive departments belonging to both London’s Metropolitan Police and Customs. The same building, but offices separated by mutual distrust, loathing and armed guards.
Five minutes later Bill was seated in front of his boss, Dennis Marks.
“Nice suit, Bill. Milan?”
“Nope. I bought it in Hong Kong last year.”
“Good job you told me that. If it was Milan, I would have had you investigated.” No humour accompanied those words.
Bill did not react. He knew it did come from Milan and cost over £1000 but why tell. He had splurged during a shopping trip to Milan with Caroline. She and Bill were an item. In any case, Caroline Sewell could have afforded to buy it herself if she so wished. She was a successful criminal barrister with a thriving practice in London and had eyes on becoming Queen’s Counsel and a judge.
They were an odd couple to a degree. Bill was thirty-three years old, divorced, with two kids living with their mother on the Isle of Man where his ex-father in law owned a private bank. Bill was rough and ready and had married into a family with money and class. He had looks that did not stand out in a crowd. Bill was an ordinary looking guy with a chubby face and a squashed nose that threatened to spread from one side of his mouth to the other. His appearance would have been at home in a boxing ring.
Bill considered Caroline Sewell to be his new girlfriend. Caroline was from a moneyed family, old money. She had attended the finest schools in England and graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in politics, philosophy and economics from the LSE. Caroline, at thirty-nine, had lost none of her good looks. Sometimes, she could effortlessly pass for a thirty-year-old woman. She did like danger. She liked Bill because of what he did and the stories he told her. She also preferred younger men.
The two had met when she prosecuted a drug trafficking gang. It was a showpiece trial at the Old Bailey that lasted three months. Bill had been a Customs liaison officer in the case and they got to know each other. He became a frequent visitor to her luxurious Chelsea flat with a view down the River Thames towards Westminster.
The suit was one of the few extravagant items he had bought. It did not make for good practice to be too flash. He did not have the formal education of Caroline but he knew about life. He was savvy. His thoughts wandered to Caroline because his boss was boring the shit out of him. I wonder what she is doing right now, Bill thought.
