gets sent to the officer and another one goes on to their permanent file. Every front-line officer picks up a few complaints. I’ve been investigated twice myself; both times it was someone I’d nicked trying to get revenge by making a false allegation.’
James counted the sheets of paper. ‘There are eight complaints here.’
Millie nodded. ‘That’s more than average, but none of them were upheld and ethnic minority officers tend to collect more complaints than whites.’
James nodded. ‘Racists?’
‘Exactly, James. But the thing is, look at the two forms at the back that I’ve marked with the highlighter pen. Read box seven.’
James separated the forms. ‘Box seven – Primary accusations,’ he read aloud. ‘Assault of a minor while in charge of the custody suite at Holloway police station.’ He looked at the complaint on the other form. ‘That a fifteen-year-old girl was assaulted by the officer while being put into a vehicle. Victim later suffered a concussion and a cut to the head that required three stitches.’
‘Neither accusation was upheld because there was no strong evidence, making it a case of Michael’s word against the accuser. Both complaints are more than five years old, but still …’ Millie said.
James took a bite out of his sandwich. ‘That second one sounds exactly like what he did to me.’
‘I know,’ Millie said weakly. ‘When I saw it, my jaw dropped. I just felt completely rotten. I all but called you a liar in front of your mission controller, James. I’m really, really, sorry.’
‘Everyone makes mistakes,’ James shrugged. ‘Ask that eleven-year-old I thumped.’
‘And your other comment, about me sticking up for Mike because he’s a cop,’ Millie continued. ‘You have no idea how true that is. Nobody likes the police. Crooks don’t like us for obvious reasons, and the only time we ever deal with normal people is in high-stress situations; like when they crash their cars, or they’ve been burgled and they can’t understand why we haven’t dispatched the entire serious crime squad to recover their stolen TV. Everyone’s always having a go at us, and you get into a state of mind where you stick up for your colleagues, because they’re the only people who’ll ever stick up for you.’
‘By the time I’ve stuffed this sandwich and the chocolate cake, I probably won’t even remember.’
‘That’s sweet of you to say, James,’ Millie grinned. ‘I haven’t told John yet and I’m not exactly looking forward to admitting that I’ve made a fool of myself. I’ll let you keep those forms to show Dave when he gets home, but make sure you don’t leave them lying around for anyone else to see.’
‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ James asked.
Millie glanced at her watch as she hurriedly bit an unladylike chunk out of her sandwich. ‘Better not, I’ve got a meeting at the station in half an hour. But there is one other thing I brought to show you.’
Millie pulled another sheet out of the bag. ‘Dave called me this morning and told me what Sonya said about her dad getting the money from a robbery. This is a list of the major unsolved robberies that took place between March and July of last year. There are eighty-six altogether, but we estimate Leon needed to make over two hundred thousand pounds to pay off his debts and buy the second pub. That rules out all but four cases.’
‘So, is Leon a likely suspect in any of them?’
Millie shook her head. ‘We don’t think so. In three of the four big robberies the serious crime squad has a good idea who the suspects are, but don’t yet have enough evidence to make arrests. The final robbery was of a security truck taking three million in old banknotes to the Bank of England to be destroyed. But it was very high-tech and almost certainly an inside job.’
‘That sounds a bit beyond Leon Tarasov,’ James said.
‘Certainly does,’ Millie nodded. ‘There’s been lots of talk about a robbery amongst the local villains, but if you want my hunch, it’s all a smokescreen put out by Leon. There’s only one way I can see a lowlife like Tarasov making an easy two hundred grand.’
James finished Millie’s sentence. ‘Drug dealing.’
‘You just read my mind, James.’
*
When he went back to work, James realised it would be best to make at least a start on his Victorian sanitation essay. He began by skimming through the relevant chapter of his textbook, then he poised his pen at the top of his exercise pad and