Heavy Duty Trouble (The Brethren Trilogy) (33 page)

‘
Oh yeah
,
and
what’s
that?
’

‘
He said
I had to make sure
to tell you three
little
words
:
Retired, not removed.
’

‘
Retired?
’ checked Wibble.

‘
Yes
,’ I nodded, ‘retired.’

‘
Not removed
?’

‘
That’s what he said
,’ I confirmed.

Wibble gave out a low whistle
.

‘Now isn’t that an interesting proposition?
’
he said.

‘Yeah,’ said Bung
,
now smiling
, ‘isn’t it just
?
’

‘So when does he want his answer?’
asked Wibble.

‘He’s staying up at the clubhouse today. If you want to take him up on it you’re to
get it done and
meet him up there
this
afternoon.’

And of course when they went, they would have to return their colours. They understood that. They were the property of
the
club. They would be out, out with honour perhaps, but out nevertheless, and giving the
ir
colours
back was part of the price they would have to pay.

It had taken me a while but eventually I’d realized wh
ere I’m come across what
Charlie
had said back there in the café, what
it was that had sounded
so
familiar
but which I hadn’t been able to place
. It wasn’t so much a quote as a paraphrase
,
but the meaning had been the same.

You always need to leave them a way out. Put them in a corner and they have no choice but to
fight or
snitch
.

Charlie had moved on from
T
he P
and had found himself a new guide.

When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard
.

Charlie had
found
the
Art of War
.
He had
been reading his Sun Tzu
.

What worried me
as I spoke to Wibble and Bung
was the only other
quote that
I could remember
from when I’d read it
which had been
years
and years
ago
now
. N
ot being someone who
actually
needed to know how to manage chariots in battle
, much of it had passed me by
.
Almost all of it in fact, except
one phrase which had really stuck
with me
.

All warfare is based on deception
.

Case number 36542 of 201
1

REGINA

–v–

CHARLIE GRAHAM, ANTHONY JOHN GRAHAM,

NIGEL PARVIS,
S
TEPHEN TERRANCE ROBINSON,

PETER MARTIN SHERBOURNE

EXHIBIT 75

DESCRIPTION:

Transcript of recording from electronic dictation machine (Exhibit 74)

ITEM 1

Late afternoon
Friday the fifth
.
Fuel stop. We’ve been driving in silence
ever since we left the
studio
.

So this
i
s where it
’s all going to
end
.

We’re on our way back up
on to
the moors, back to where it all started, the Legion’s clubhouse high up in the hills of the North Pennines.

Apart from when we’d dropped Wibble off for his meet,
I’
ve
only been there once before, one of my first meetings with Damage.

ITEM 2

They think I’ve gone for a
crap
and they’re not far wrong since I’m shitting myself about what we could be walking into. S
o
this is
just a quick note. Bung’s outside and Wibble’s headed in to get
some
drinks set up.

We’re
a bit
early and
we’ve got some
time to kill
so
we’ve stopped at
the last
proper
village before
the road
head
s
up in to the high valley
.

W
e
drove
along the front street
and
past the shops
. T
hen Bung pull
ed
off the road and sw
u
ng
behind a low brick built complex and into
a car park
.
We’ve left the car
discre
e
tly at the farthest end. It
look
s
like
a classic
council
development initiative,
the local TI centre, a café, bogs and some easy in, easy out retail and office units
all set
round a courtyard
.

I
t
was
cold
when we got out of the car. I
t’s
been
grey
,
miserable
and
overcast
all
day here
,
and it’s
getting dark already
. As we tramped through the rock garden and headed inside for a coffee
there
wa
s the sweet tar smell of
coal fires hanging in the air
.

They’
v
e
been
talking about wanting to grab some fags. There
won’t be a
machine here,
the place is
council owned
and it’s
not PC to smoke
. S
o we’ll need to walk a couple of hundred yards back down
the street
to the shops
to get some after we’re finished
.

It could be my
last chance.

Friday
1
0th
June 2011

And now over to our crime correspondent
Eamon
Reynolds at Newcastle Crown Court where he’s covering the ongoing biker murder trial, now in its
fifth
day.

So I understand there have been
some
more developments in the trial this morning
,
Eamon
?

Yes indeed
,
Trevor. As the
Prosecution
began
to wind up their case,
at the end of
this morning we had
Mrs Susan Evans, a village post
mistress from County Durham, take the stand.

So why was she called to testify
,
Eamon
?

You’ll remember
,
Trevor
,
how Mr Iain Parke’s notebook is the document which has given the
C
ourt th
e
extraordinary story that lies at the heart of the
Prosecution
’s case.

Well, Mrs Evans runs a small post office at a village about ten miles down the valley from where the gang’s
northern
club house
stands,
and the reason the
Prosecution
called her to give evidence was to explain how
this notebook
came to be in the hands of the police.

And it’s an extraordinary story in itself
I understand?

Yes indeed.
Mrs Evans’ evidence this morning was that she was
at
the counter of her shop just before
closing
time on the day in question when a man
who
she identified in Court from photographs as Iain Parke, rushed in.

She described how he grabbed a large envelope from off the shelf, pushed something into it and sealed it as he walke
d to the counter. She told the C
ourt that she remembered this clearly
since
it was most irregular
because
customers were supposed to pay for any envelopes before using them; and the man seemed to be in a great hurry. Then using the
pen on the
counter he
hurriedly
scribbled on the front of the package
before
hand
ing
it to her t
hrough the opening in the glass screen
together with a ten pound note, saying as he did so: ‘
C
an you make sure that goes for me.’

He then swung round and left the shop immediately
,
without waiting for any change.

Mr
S
imon Kirtley
,
QC
for the
P
rosecution
,
asked if Mrs Evans had noticed if there was anyone else with him.

She told him that
there hadn’t been any other
people
in the
post office
at the time
, but that he seemed to be joined once he was back outside the shop by two large men. Mrs Evans couldn’t hear what was
being
said but there seemed to be some kind of altercation
,
and then all three walked out of sight together in the direction of the village car park.

It was then that she had a chance to look at the envelope he had left with her.

Mr
Kirtley
asked her if she remembered who it was addressed to and she told him, ‘Oh yes, I remember that distinctly,’ since as she put it, ‘It wasn’t really an address
at all
you see.’

So if it wasn’t addressed, how did she know where it was to go?

Well Trevor, a
ccording to Mrs Evans,
despite the lack of an address,
it was
very
clear wh
ere
it was intended for
,
as Mr Parke had
simply
written on it
: Headquarters, Northumbria police.

So what happens this afternoon the
n
,
Eamon
?

This afternoon
,
the
Prosecution
are expected to close their case by outlining what they allege happened that
evening
at the club house, and the subsequent killings.

After that the
Judge
,
Mr Justice Oldham
QC
,
is likely to adjourn the case until Monday when it will be over to Mr Adrian Whiteley QC to begin the
Defence
.

Thank you
,
Eamon
.

Eamon
Reynolds there, reporting from outside Newcastle Crown Court.

And doubtless we will have more on this story in our evening bulletin.

IN THE CROWN COURT AT NEWCASTLE

Case number 36542 of 201
1

REGINA

–v–

CHARLIE GRAHAM, ANTHONY JOHN GRAHAM,

NIGEL PARVIS,
S
TEPHEN TERRANCE ROBINSON,

PETER MARTIN SHERBOURNE

Court Transcript

10
th
June 2011

Mr S Kirtley QC, Counsel for the
P
rosecution

So
ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
as you have heard and seen from the last exhibit,
in
one of
the last notes Mr Parke recorded
he
said
this was where it would end
. And how right he was, although
I think
we can assume that he didn’t actually
foresee
what would really happen that evening
,
otherwise why on earth would he have accompanied
Mr Stephen Nelson, referred to as Wibble
,
and Mr Peter Milton, known as Bung,
on th
eir
last trip up to the clubhouse
that afternoon
?