“The bitches just laughed!” Cameron looked up. “Another woman then emerged from a wardrobe where she’d been filming us. She said she had film from the previous time as well. Told me that if I help them, they wouldn’t release the film and would pay me, enabling me to continue covering my parents’ palliative care – the bitches knew everything about me!”
“So you were blackmailed and agreed to smuggle the chemicals in?” Cameron nodded and Laura pushed a pad of paper and a pen towards him. “I need names, write them down. What happened to the chemicals once they were on-site?”
“I don’t know. In any case, they introduced me to someone else doing the same thing at Lindsey Oil Refinery, John Wilde, so it appeared okay,” he responded, as he wrote, pleased to have something else to focus on.
“Is that the same John Wilde who was murdered recently?”
“Yes, but a recent CEFA contact assured me they had nothing to do with that.”
“Likely story. Is that name on the list as well?”
He nodded and pushed the pad of paper back to Laura who glanced at the list of names.
“Come on, Cameron!” Laura suddenly said sharply, raising her voice and leaning forward to glare at him. “I’m not stupid! Either you are in deeper than you are admitting, or you are plain dumb! Nikki Williamson was at John Wilde’s house when he was murdered! I know that because I saw her running away – he and his wife had decided to become whistleblowers, and I was on my way to meet them!”
Cameron blanched, completely stunned.
“Come on, Cameron!” Laura continued, raising her voice. “Which is it to be – in deep or stupid? You had to deliver the chemicals to someone! Who is it?”
Cameron shook his head. “All I had to do was get them to the stores at FS7.”
“What’s FS7?” Laura demanded angrily.
“It’s a building reference,” Don cut in. “Fawley Stores 7.”
“Then what?”
“I would send a text confirming delivery. That’s it.”
“You’re telling me you never tried to find out?!” Laura was incredulous.
“Pah! Of course I tried! I waited for as long as I could on a couple of occasions. I thought that I hid pretty well, but after the second attempt having sent my confirmatory text, I received a response telling me very clearly what would happen if I tried again to find out who took delivery of the chemicals.”
“That suggests you oversaw the delivery of the chemicals to the store yourself, so you can describe the containers?”
“No, my team does everything. I just knew when they were being delivered so I could alter the manifests on the system. Knowing the time, I went to have a look.”
“So how did you think you’d be able to identify who was moving them?”
Cameron shrugged. “I just assumed that they would be taken quickly in case there was a random stock audit. I was hoping someone would look out of place, and I could follow them.”
Laura rubbed her fingers across her forehead and sighed at his naivety. “Okay. I need the dates, write them down. Also, where Nikki is staying.” Once he had obliged, Laura continued, “That’s enough for now… Detective, read him his rights for colluding with terrorism, take him into custody, and have him transferred to London.”
Laura then strode from the room indicating that Don should follow. As she did, she called Gurning to brief him on Lindsey Oil refinery and Nikki Williamson. “Can you get someone over to her hotel, please,” she asked, as they ended the call.
* * *
Back at the Operations Project Room Laura called for everyone to gather round.
“Right, very little of use came from the interview – the chemicals were delivered to building FS7 and the recipient remains unknown. Do we know who has access to those stores?”
“Yes, we can easily run a list,” one of Don’s team volunteered. “It’ll be a lot of people, but we can screen particular days if you can get that information.
“Good! Do it, for the dates on this paper, “Laura placed a sheet of paper on the table. “Is there any CCTV?”
“Yes there is.”
“Good. Review any CCTV footage to try and identify who took the chemicals.”
“Well, that sounds as though progress can now be made,” David commented. “Which is more than can be said for search of the site.”
“Why’s that?” Don asked “There weren’t many unused buildings, structures, or rooms for my team to check. This stuff has to be somewhere!”
“We checked them all, Don. There was nothing untoward,” one of the security supervisors said.
“I want to run through your findings,” Don announced, unconvinced of the result. “And while I’m doing that, have the team check each other’s work – fresh eyes and all that!”
Grudgingly, another supervisor trudged off to give the latest set of orders – this was going to land badly. Don had just questioned the integrity of the team. The man knew it had to be done, but it left a bad feeling.
Half an hour later they had drawn a blank, yet again. The majority of people in the room were sitting around aimlessly, looking at blank computer screens, just waiting for orders or something to happen. Laura, Rob, David and Don exchanged glances, sharing the feeling of hopelessness and not knowing what to do next.
“Something just doesn’t stack-up,” Don mumbled.
“I agree, but all the unused areas on your list were confirmed as unused, or operational again. Nothing to suggest…”
“That’s it!” Don exclaimed, interrupting his security supervisor. “My list should be up-to-date at all times! “Remind me which building is operational again.”
“FTS2.”
