they could always get permission afterwards.
As a long list of phone numbers appeared on the laptop screen, Bruce was delighted to see that both mobiles had been heavily used right up until earlier that evening.
‘Print everything off,’ Chloe said. ‘I don’t have analysis software here, so we’ll have to go through it by hand.’
Over the course of the mission, James, Michael, Bruce and Gabrielle had collected the phone numbers of gang members whenever they could. The big men like Sasha and Major Dee covered their tracks by regularly switching phones, but most of their deputies stuck to one handset. Despite this, there were still more than a hundred numbers on the list.
Once three months of Sasha’s calls had dropped into the tray of the laser printer, Chloe divided the twenty sheets into three piles and split them evenly with the boys. They each grabbed a pen and began marking off numbers.
‘07839 is Savvas’ home number,’ Bruce said. ‘25614 is one of Wheels’ phones.’
Chloe and James skimmed through their papers, writing the name of the person Sasha called beside each instance of the number being dialled. Within ten minutes, they’d marked off most of the numbers and eliminated a few others – such as the garage that was fixing Sasha’s car – by using a reverse searchable version of the telephone directory.
‘I’ve still got one number that comes up every day or so,’ James said, as he lay on Chloe’s hotel bed. ‘It’s a mobile ending 42399.’
Chloe nodded as she ran her finger down the list of Mad Dogs phone numbers. ‘I’ve got it on my sheet too. It’s an unregistered mobile, but it’s not on the list.’
‘Yes it is,’ Bruce said, waving his copy of the number list at Chloe. ‘42399, Simeon Bentine.’
‘Where?’ Chloe asked, as she slid her nail down the page for the third time. ‘I can’t see it.’
Bruce had made a discovery and seemed pretty full of himself. ‘I’m not using the list me and James got,’ he explained. ‘This is Michael and Gabrielle’s list.’
‘Get out of town,’ James grinned, as he snatched the paper from Bruce to confirm that the phone numbers matched. ‘You’re right … So who the hell is Simeon Bentine?’
‘No idea, but Michael should know where he fits in,’ Chloe said, as she picked up her mobile from her bedside cabinet and gave him a call. ‘Hey, is it safe to speak?’
‘Chloe,’ Michael said fondly. ‘It’s safe. I’m in a cab heading off to some house party.’
‘Sounds like fun,’ Chloe said. ‘Listen, I’m here at the hotel with James and Bruce. We’ve got a call log from an unregistered mobile phone found in Sasha Thompson’s house. It looks as if he’s been spending a lot of time speaking to a man called Simeon Bentine. Ever heard of him?’
Michael sounded shocked. ‘You said Simeon? E-O-N?’
‘That’s what I said. Who is he?’
‘He’s Major Dee’s money man. I’ve only met him a couple of times. He’s in his fifties, not much in common with the other Slasher Boys. Dresses in a pinstripe suit, drives a dark blue Mercedes E-class, respectable. You know, not blinged up or anything.’
‘So you’d be pretty surprised to hear that this guy is on the phone to Sasha Thompson almost every day?’ Chloe asked.
‘This is huge, Chloe,’ Michael said excitedly. ‘This is the mother we’ve been waiting for. Simeon is the money man, which means he always knows when Major Dee is doing a big deal because he has to put the cash into position.’
‘Major Dee’s drug consignments have a history of being robbed by the Mad Dogs,’ Chloe noted.
‘Exactly,’ Michael said. ‘And it could easily have been Simeon who started up this whole war by telling Sasha where Dee kept his stash of cocaine.’
‘Thanks for your help,’ Chloe smiled. ‘This sounds big. I’ll call you back as soon as I know more.’
‘Good news?’ Bruce asked as Chloe put her phone down.
‘As good as it gets,’ Chloe said. ‘I might even have hugged you if you weren’t still wearing half of the Mad Dogs FC training pitch.’
‘So it looks as if Simeon Bentine is Sasha’s mole inside the Slasher Boys,’ James said. ‘What are we gonna do about it?’
Chloe shrugged. ‘I’ll speak with Maureen and Zara. We’ll need a while to think it through, but this is something we can use to our advantage for sure.’
36. FRONT
It was gone 1 a.m. when James got home, but he lay awake, feeling on edge and asking himself the same questions over and over: Could