Chapter Seventeen;
Manson

DI Manson returned to the station about half past two to find Stuart on the radio to Stevie and Millie printing out a map and a few photos of the dockyards where Bolt was set to make his stop-off. The dock, one of the smaller ones in the area, backed onto a shipping yard, a yard dotted with discarded shipping crates. It hadn't been hard for the team to work out that this was where Bolt planned to dump the women so they'd stay out of sight for a while, at least until the expected heat died down.

The team were still at a loss for how he was getting them into the country in the first place, but that came second to catching Bolt. If they could get him with the women that was all they'd need to chase up every road he'd walked down, every phone call he'd made and every connection he had. Once they had Bolt, Neil was certain, everything else would fall into place.

Of course, with Bolt having dropped off the radar entirely for the whole day, not seen since their first tip-off that Bolt was back in Sun Hill when PC Brown and PC Gayle had stopped him for a broken taillight on his blue Vauxhall, things were harder. That had been at 9am, but it had felt like years ago now. Since then Neil had been left with a long report on why David Bolt was in hospital, more than one assurance by Stuart that two of his team were going to make life difficult, Will disobeying requests to get out of the tour bus company and the revelation that Hayleigh Bolt was playing them all for fools. He wondered what would be next and whether any of this would surprise him anymore.

"What's happening?" He asked the room, waiting from an answer from no one in particular.

PC Brown made to answer, but Stuart cut her off. "Stevie's on the tour bus now and it's headed down to the docks." He motioned to Millie's arrangement of photos on the whiteboard and the PC held up a photo like a game show host's assistant before turning and sticking it back on the whiteboard again. "Will has dropped off the face of the planet despite being called 100 times." He waved his phone to address the issue. "Bolt's still disappeared, uniform are watching Mrs. Bolt but no movement yet, and Max went down to the Harley Club to get that confirmation from Holman that Kowalski is Brecht. He should be back by now but, you know, it's Max." Stuart shrugged.

Neil walked over to the whiteboards and watched Millie label the last of the images. "Okay, so you're assuming I'm going to give this obbo the go-ahead Stuart." He spoke to the board more than the DS and Millie glanced at him, the whiteboard marker in her hand held suspended in mid-air as she listened to the DI. "But we still haven't got any confirmation yet that Brecht is in any way involved in this whole thing."

Stuart glanced at the DI with a frown. "But Guv, even if he isn't, surely he's suspicious enough as is. Dragging a whole tour bus down to the same docks which we have under watch because a good source told us something was going on there? Even without Bolt, this could be a big haul."

Neil glanced at the picture of Kowalski on the whiteboard beside him. "Okay. PC Brown, can you get down to Sgt Stone and see if he can spare us any more uniform. We need all the help we can get on this one." Millie nodded and Neil turned to Stuart. "You better have something here Turner." Stuart just gave a grin.

As Millie left CID she ran into Max coming in the doors. He stopped at the sight of her and held the swinging door open. She gave him a small nod and left, hurrying downstairs, as Max pulled the photo of Kowalski from his pocket and shook it out flat. "Holman confirmed, it's Brecht." He waved another piece of paper, a statement to the fact it seemed. "I've just been downstairs with PCs Valentine and Roberts, they've pulled in a kid." The DI took the second piece of paper finding it wasn't a statement but an account of an incident at the Harley Club. "They were called out to the Club where this boy, an Andrei Yanletti, was giving the place his very own once-over." He tossed the photo of Brecht back onto his desk. "But Holman's too busy to make a statement right now and the boy won't talk."

"Forget that. Seriously, who doesn't want to give Holman a piece of his mind, the guy is a prig. We've got the go ahead for the obbo." Stuart grinned like a child who'd just been handed a lollipop.

"Meeting in 5 minutes." Neil said before walking back to his office.

"Where's Fletcher?" Max asked, glancing up at Stuart as he put the report about Yanletti and Holman in a pile on his desk. "Still MIA?"

"Yeah. Though maybe he's avoiding Stevie's phone calls. She does not take well to being ignored." He raised his eyebrows with a grin as he spoke then turned his attention to the door as PC Brown re-entered the room. She glanced at DS' then went to the DI's office. Stuart and Max slipped in closer to listen.

"Guv, Sgt Stone says unless he takes PC Archer and PC Sloane off the Bolt house, he can only spare us Be… PC Gayle." She added, unsure Neil knew Ben as well as she did. It seemed he did though.

"Okay, Ben will have to do, we need those two on the Bolt house just in case." Millie nodded and left again. Neil looked up at the figures in the doorway. "Okay. Ready?" They nodded and Neil stood up. "Alright." Straightening his jacket, Neil left the office. Stuart shot Max a grin and followed the DI. Max just shoved his hands in his pockets and joined them slowly.