Chapter 86

The ambulance paramedics had an air of efficiency and training and appeared on the scene wearing their green overalls and took over from the two ringers who had attempted to revive the Tower Captain. Their local team was having a busy morning with their colleagues attending an accident on the M275. The authoritative voice of Commander Edgar Bennett subsequently ushered all of the ringers out of the tower and told them to wait at the bottom of the narrow stone steps.

This allowed the paramedics to go to work. Meanwhile, the Commander scaled the belfry ladder that continued up to the tower roof. At the top of the ladder the Commander had difficulty pushing open the hatch. The daylight streamed down towards him as he tilted his head upwards. He was greeted by Jo and Jackie who had stepped aside for Archie to talk with Emma.

Archie and Emma turned their attention towards the Commander.

“I was wrong,” the Commander said simply to Archie. “We now have your man David downstairs, and it looks as though the ringleader has passed away. I’ve also had to surprise my personal assistant Monica, who was the daughter of the Tower Captain, as you probably already knew. They are both being led away from the Cathedral as we speak.”

Archie viewed the Commander through fresh eyes. “I did not know about Monica and I am pleased that you caught David. Whilst we’re unable to track down all of the South American suppliers, we’ve closed down this UK group for good.” Archie’s face lit up, all his worrying over the last few months might finally have come to an end.

“Fancy a walk,” Archie said to all present.

It was on the seafront promenade that Emma and Archie, Jackie and Jo, and the Commander found themselves twenty minutes later. Wind blowing through their hair, the salt spray visible off the bow waves of the sailing yachts in the distance, all of the party took a moment to breathe in the air and absorb the far reaching horizon. The hovercraft was zooming across to Ryde on the Isle of Wight and the Pride of Bilbao ferry was making its way through the entry buoys. The ferry carefully kept the bobbing red buoys to the left and the green starboard buoys to the right. The ferry sea lane cut through this swathe of the Solent, leading all the way to the harbour entrance.

Not so many luxury cruise ships passed through Portsmouth anymore. When they did, the age old saying of “Port Out, Starboard Home” had significance if the occupants of the cabins wanted to have the view of the shoreline. These cabins were always the far more expensive quarters.

The Commander turned to Archie, “We need to catch up with all of the main stock that was brought off the Islander.”

Archie nodded, for he had already had similar thoughts. “Let’s take a trip up to the Tower Captain’s place.”

The five of them piled into the Commander’s old Volvo and were soon off the Portsmouth roads and skirting through the southern Hampshire countryside. The outskirts of the town had given way to hedgerows, brambles and trees. The Commander wound down his window and rested a hand out onto the edge of the metal roof of the car.

The Volvo swept into the Tower Captain’s grounds and up the long gravel drive to the beautiful old house. Archie had an intake of breath at the size of the property and Emma and the girls in the back savoured the perfectly manicured lawns and were peering as far as possible to the paddocks beyond.

What a place! It was impressive what drug money could buy. It took the five of them over thirty minutes to properly inspect the property and outbuildings. Emma had not been able to take her eyes off the pigs and hens. An incredible life, she considered. It was only once they had scoured the whole property that the car in the outbuildings and the other small packages in its boot were revealed to contain the remainder of the stock from the freighter; an incredible haul. The vehicle was full to the brim of cocaine, packaged in every way inside the metal chassis, which had been specially designed to take the sealed packages.

The Commander called in the Police and, once they had arrived, suggested that they all properly retire to the local public house, The Bell Inn.

“The property will have to go up for auction, you know Archie,” said the Commander. “It would be a shame for a hard worker to miss out on such a beautiful rare opportunity, especially when that hard worker is still working in conjunction with the Navy, albeit discreetly, and would be at the top end of any previous officer scale.”

Archie was stunned and could not keep his grin from showing. He had work to do, which included the lady opposite him. She was chatting away with Jackie and Jo, giggling at something that had amused them all, loving the scenery and surroundings and letting the countryside do much of the talking.

“I might just go for that auction, Commander, I might just do that.” The five headed back up the lane by foot to the local hostelry. They could hear the police sirens closing in. Archie was warm inside and could not resist grabbing Emma’s hand.

At last, Archie considered, life was definitely on the up.