This is the second fan fiction I've written for this forum. To be honest, I found this one to be a little harder to write then the first, but I hope everyone enjoy it anyway.
One interesting thing. In so doing I came across a record of an actual event that occurred in London in December that year, and although (at this stage) I'm not going to mention WHEN or WHAT that event was, I have actually thought about using it has a basis for a POSSIBLE third story should I ever decide to write one.
Although there's no actual certainty about a third story, I have kept my options open about it for now…
Title: Second Entry.
Genre: Post Ashes to Ashes series 3.
Cast: D.I. Graham Armstrong (the New Arrival).
Author: Standardshigh.
Number of Words: About 1150.
CLICK
"Tuesday 13th December 1983. Day 8. Time….about 7:30. I have been here for over a week now, and I must say I am beginning to get used to it by now. I still don't know half the people in the station, but I'm getting there"
"On Sunday night we got a call out to an incident near Kelsey Street. A young black man had been taken to the Royal London Hospital in White Chapel (1) with what appears to be a gun shot wound to the stomach. A passer by had found him in an alleyway & called an ambulance"
"Needles to say, the Guv wasn't particularly happy, having to be dragged out to work on a cold dark Sunday night, but we went anywhere. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the victim was already dead, having died of internal bleeding"
"We have managed to identify him though-he's name is Leon Baxter, 23 years old from Bethnal Green. The Guv seemed to recognise him, though-apparently, he had been arrested a few years ago for a GBH after getting involved in a drunken fight outside The Sun on Bethnal Green Road (2), but was then released on bail afterwards.
"At this stage it's still pretty much speculation, but previous experience has taught me that this could point to a racially motivated attack. If this really is the case then it's possible that the National Front might be involved (although whether or not this was a premeditated attack by an organised gang or just an isolated attack by a single individual working 'freelance' from them remains uncertain). I have come across similar cases over the years".
"In all honesty, I can't really remember there being any major trouble with the National Front in this part of London at this particular time, although I do know a few things, like they managed to gain some power back in elections of 79, and that they eventually split into two main groups which I THINK was around about this time, but I'm not sure. I have managed to convince the rest of the team that this could be a strong possibility for the attack, and we have gathered a list of National Front members in the area which, I hope, we'll start interviewing tomorrow."
"Being part of this investigation kind of reminds me of when my department (and by that I mean my OLD department, from where I came from, originally) was involved with Operation Trident back in 2001"(3)
"Mind you, this team I'm with now could be from a foreign country for all I know, given how different their attitudes & methods are to how I'm normally used to working. I sometimes feel that the only thing we have in common is that we both speak English."
"The new Guv continues to intrigue me. I've never had a boss like him before! He really is force unto himself, that one! I must admit, he really is one of those people tends to annoy the hell out of me sometimes, but I get the feeling that patience is the key to all this-something tells me that our relationship isn't going to be a smooth one (and we have already clashed a few times since I've been here I have to say, although that might be partly my fault though, seeing how I'm the 'New Guy' around here), but I do think it will take time for us-BOTH of us-to get used to each other" .
"And can I also say that Alex Drake has been, in all honesty, an absolute GOD SEND to me. I've started listening to some of the tapes that she made (by myself, of course, in my…well, in HER flat, to be precise), and I must say that they are quite fascinating. Listening to them (some of which date back over two years), I have learnt a quite a few things about her".
"The only thing that does frustrate me, however, is that I can't help but feel that there's something missing in those recordings-some of them seem slightly disjointed, or even….edited has it were (even though they're not). The only thing I can think of-listening to them-is that there must have been, at some point, a lot more tapes made by her, but that the others seem to gone missing for some reason.
Were they destroyed, or did she take them with her, wherever she went? But then again, if that is the case, why didn't she take ALL the tapes, rather then just leave a couple hidden around here?"
"Perhaps someone else took them instead?"
"Another thing that intrigues is this dead copper called Sam. Alex has mentioned him a couple of times in her tapes, and he appears to be just has big a mystery has the Guv. From what I've learnt so far, he appears to have arrived about ten years ago, up in Manchester. I don't really know that much about him (and I'm sure has hell never met him), but this Alex woman seems to think that both him & her were never meant to be here" .
"This, has you can imagine, was a HUGE wake up call for me. I have made a note of this, because, for all I know, this could be a BIG turning stone in my investigation of why I'm actually here"
I must say that despite never actually meeting Sam Tyler, I have, however, read a copy of his work file, but even then I still don't recognise him from his photograph" .
"In fact, I don't really know much about the others either-Chris Skelton, Ray Carling or Sharon Granger.
"I've started to notice lots of odd little things recently-like my desk for example. Someone, SOMEWHERE, has scratched a 4 digit number onto it, and yet I don't know why. No one else seems to know why ether, not even the Guv, although he does seem to be somewhat evasive about it whenever I mention-he can be a bit like that sometimes. But then again, like so many things around here, I'm probably reading to much detail into something that, for all I know, could turn out to be something completely innocent. The phrase 'clutching at straws springs' to mind…."
"There's still so much I don't really understand at this stage, but, at the same time, I kinda expected that, to be honest. The thing is, I have been in with the police for a VERY long time now, and my instincts are telling me this could take me a VERY long time to solve. We could be talking weeks, perhaps even months-who knows?"
"Either way, like I said earlier, patience could be the key to all this, so I am, at the moment, preparing myself for what could be quite a long haul from now on. This situation's not going to be resolved over night, that's for sure"
"Detective Inspector Graham Armstrong, Fenchurch East".
CLICK
(1) This is the closest main hospital to Fenchurch.
(2) This is an actual pub. It's located at 441 Bethnal Green Road, London, and still exists today.
(3) Again, this is based on FACT. It was set up in March 1998 by the Metropolitan Police Service unit designed to investigate & inform people about black gun crime following a series of shootings in the boroughs of Lambeth and Brent. Such was it's success that it became a dedicated Operational Command Unit within the Met in 2004.