Kate’s Big Decision: Part Three: Undercover by Ann Reader

 The interview went well, even the HR representative with the unfriendly demeanour seemed  impressed.  Kate learned that there were in fact three port offices that she would have to attend.  Most of her work would be in central Southampton but she would spend one day a week at the container port and one at the cruise ship offices.  All the shipping coming into Southampton was required to pay port authority fees. The fee differed according to the size of ship and length of stay. Some of the larger private yachts were also liable to pay. Kate’s job was to correlate which vessels berthed where, how long they stayed and ensure all fees were properly invoiced and paid, or chased if payment was not received.

Kate spent the weekend before she started work on the Monday familiarising herself with the area. She was shocked to find how many possible landing sites there were. There were regular car ferries from the Isle of Wight into Southampton and Lymington just down the coast to the west. There was also a regular hovercraft. There was a foot ferry from Southampton to Hythe in the New Forest.  There was the old Esso port at Calshot and the container port in Southampton Water and then there were the cruise ships. In addition, there were any number of marinas up and down the coast.  How was anyone to police that lot she wondered. 

She soon settled into the work which was largely paper based and pretty routine. She was generally able to get a lift from someone when she had to go to one of the more distant offices although she often had to get the bus back at the end of the day. It was on her second visit to the container port that she first noticed something suspicious.  She was introduced to Darren who was permanently based in that office.  She noticed immediately that he was wearing expensive designer clothes and wondered how he could afford them. His job title did not attract a pay grade much better than her own.  She decided to be friendly with him. 

Darren obviously had a high opinion of himself and did not question why she was befriending him. Soon he offered to give her a lift home. She became aware he had a girlfriend called Melissa.  She played up her newness to the city and soon she was invited to join them for a drink one evening. She had little in common with Melissa but found the girls obsession with clothes and shoes a helpful starting point for conversation.  She pretended to be interested in all the latest trends and where such things could be bought.  It allowed her to drop her impecunious situation into the conversation hoping they would take the bait.

She soon became sure she was on the right track with her interest in this couple. Melissa would express a desire for some designer item and Darren would reply, “when my boat comes in,” with a knowing look or even a wink if he thought Kate was not looking.  It was clear she would have to gain their trust to find out more. 

Melissa seemed to take to her and as the weather improved, she asked Darren to invite her to go sailing with them on his yacht. Kate was bursting to ask how he came to have a yacht but restrained her curiosity.  It wouldn’t do for them to get suspicious of her just as she was making progress.  Kate had no experience of sailing but the idea really appealed to her and she willingly agreed to try it. Melissa offered to lend her suitable clothes as they were of similar size. 

She was delighted to discover that she did not get seasick she absolutely loved the feeling of whizzing over the water with the wind in her hair and had no difficulty in expressing her joy.  Darren introduced her to Paul, another sailor who was to join them on the return journey from the isle of Wight.  He also appeared to be living above his means as he apparently had his own yacht which was in for repairs at a boatyard on the Medina. During their stop on the island the two men had disappeared together leaving Kate and Melissa in the pub they had chosen. Clearly they were discussing something they did not want overheard.  Kate wondered if drugs were coming in through the island or whether the yachts were just a money laundering exercise.  She needed to get more into their confidence 

Paul was clearly attracted to her and very quickly asked her to crew for him the following weekend when he returned to collect his yacht.  Fortunately Darren and Melissa offered to transport them across as Kate did not reciprocate the attraction,  the last thing she wanted was a romantic entanglement with a potential drug dealer or money launderer but if she was to get to the bottom of who and how and where drugs were coming in, she had no choice. Getting to know these people better was clearly the key.