Kate Takes a Holiday by Ann Reader

Torbay at Dawn

It took Kate a while to work out that the screeching noise that had woken her up was seagulls! Of course, she was in Torbay on holiday in a static caravan with Keira, Georgia and little Andy. She looked at her watch it was only 5.30 am. She had gone to bed early as she was tired after the drive down, now she was wide awake and eager to explore. The others had been up later and wouldn’t be up for some time. She decided to go for a run.

The early morning sun sparkling on the sea and the beautiful scenery together with the cry of the gulls carried her forward. She had been running for about 45 minutes when she decided to head down into the harbour and see if she could find a bakery to take something back for breakfast for all of them.

She rounded a corner and there was a familiar figure coming out of a house and going down the road in front of her. Ricky Summers, the last time she had seen him she had contrived to be thrown into his arms in a ruse to drop a tracking device into his man bag.

She didn’t think he would recognise her as she had let her hair go back to its natural colour and her running gear was far cry from the dolly bird clothes she had worn on that occasion, she didn’t want to take the risk though. She stopped and looked in an estate agents window which gave her time to let him get further away and to argue with herself over her next move.

She was on holiday no one would blame her if she simply added the address of the house she had seen him leave to force intelligence and did nothing else. She didn’t believe Ricky Summers would be up at that hour of the morning without reason and what she knew of him made her believe that reason was unlikely to be lawful. She followed him at a careful distance. Once on the harbour she soon spotted him speaking to the skipper of a fishing boat. She whipped out her phone and photographed him handing an envelope over. To keep her cover she took several photos of the pretty harbour, making sure she got a good shot of the boat including its number. She watched until Ricky began to return then continued her run up the nearest side street and her search for a bakery.

When she got back to the caravan everyone was up and planning the day’s activities. She said she had an urgent call to make and then she would join them. “DC Chalmers!” Exclaimed her sergeant, “aren’t you supposed to be on holiday?”

She explained what she had seen and agreed to send him the photographs.

“OK” he said “I want you to do nothing more, your looks are far too valuable vis a vis Ricky Summers, we can’t risk you blowing your cover. I will liaise with the local force and the coast guard and harbour master. You go and enjoy your holiday. Kate could see the sense in this although it was frustrating

Three days later she got a phone call from her sergeant.

“ Are you anywhere near the harbour? I understand there is a cafe with an upstairs window that looks out over it... if you want to be there at about 4 pm you may see something of interest!” Kate told him she was with friends and a child; he reassured her that it would be quite safe for them all to be there.

Needless to say Andy was delighted at being offered a knickerbocker glory and everyone else was happy to go for a drink. At about 4.15 Kate saw Ricky walk onto the harbour and watch as a boat came in to moor. He jumped on to the boat as soon as it was docked. Immediately the harbour was a hive of activity. Police cars arrived in every entrance and a harbour masters launch appeared as if from nowhere preventing the fishing boat from leaving her moorings. Ricky was arrested without a struggle and Kate watched him being led to one of the waiting cars. A number of officers boarded the boat with what to Kate’s trained eye was clearly a search warrant. It was not long before the skipper was led away to another police vehicle and several officers were unloading boxes from the hold.

Kate was very surprised when a tall man came up the cafe stairs and spoke her name. She beckoned him over.

“DS Garner Devon and Cornwall police,” he introduced himself, “ I just wanted to say thank on behalf of our force and the harbour master. We have recovered a very substantial amount of heroin. We’ve yet to weigh, it but I would say in excess of 30 kilos. We’ve had our suspicions that this harbour was being used for importation for some time but we were never able to get the connection before. Thanks to your information the coastguard was able to track the boat and we were able to keep an eye on your Mr Summers. So, thank you, I will be conveying our thanks to your superiors as well. I won’t keep you any longer, enjoy the rest of your holiday.”

Andy had been thrilled with the spectacle although rather disappointed that the police man he actually met was not in uniform. He declared that when he grew up, he was going to become a police man.