Chapter 6

Marilyn walked with her to the stairs. She held out her hand.

“See you later, Brightman. I’m heading back to my office to plug a new name into our searches. We’ve been trying to get the names of the robbers that Anderson was with out of the records for a week. They all went into juvenile and the records sealed. We’re looking at another avenue, but I believe that we now have the one we really wanted.”

She went up to the team office and stood by the ‘Rascal Wall’.

“Quick heads up, team. I’ve just spoken to the lad from the taxi garage. His fingerprints were on the bag of weed so he was arrested for possession. He just told me that he had a short affair with Esme before Alfred started driving again. He also said that Bill Wolf was his supplier and Henry Hunter was the heavy. He added that Bill had told him that his brother, Terry, had an affair with Esme before him, which would be just before Alfred got out. That gives us the fact that Alfred must have known that she was pregnant, seeing that she was close to six months when she was killed. He either thought that it was his, or else he didn’t care. We’ll never know. Terry Wolf is one of those who was part of that botched robbery.”

Tim put his finger up.

“We just got the other names from the lawyer. Once we said that we thought it was a Wolf that murdered his client, he coughed them up. A couple must have been mates of Wolfs’, but the last one was Barry Hanson, kid brother of the Leeds murderer.”

“Good work. That gives us Terry with Barry, or Bill with Henry as our murderers. Send a request to Leeds to see if any of the family members match the guy looking out of the car. If that Astra has been gathered in the raids this morning, it will be great to see what Thirsk can get from it. A certain fishing rod bag would be good as well. We’ll have to wait until they start processing their prisoners and the CSI will take some time.”

The rest of the week had things in the office calming down. Only Tim and John stayed on the Anderson case, while the others went back to other cases. On Friday, they had a report from Leeds, listing the properties raided, the ones who had been picked up, and the results of the preliminary searches.

Marilyn scanned the lists, without seeing Terry Wolf or Barry Hanson on them. The Astra wasn’t among the forty cars impounded. On an impulse, she rang Otley Police Station and asked for the traffic division, getting on to the duty sergeant.

“Sergeant Walters, it’s DI Houseman from York. We’ve had a round-up of three criminal gangs recently. You may have heard about the gunfight at Youlton. I’ve been trying to track a red Astra that’s involved, but it wasn’t found, nor were the two guys I’m hoping to speak to. Do you have a patrol that goes out to the Bradford Airport?”

“We do, ma-am. Where do you think it will be?”

“Probably in the long-term parking. These guys haven’t been seen in more than a week. Can you get a patrol to run up and down the cars, all I need is the red Astra. It probably has false plates, even different on both ends.”

“Got it, ma-am, give me your number and I’ll call you back. We have a patrol on the Leeds Road at the moment. I’ll get them to swing by.”

“Thanks, Sarge. It’s a long shot, but these guys have fallen off the radar.”

She was deep into budget projections when her phone rang.

“DI Houseman.”

“It’s Sergeant Walters in Otley, ma-am. The patrol has found a red Astra in the long-term. Neither of the front or rear plates matched even an Astra. One was from an old Commer truck, years since it had been on the road. What do you want to do?”

“I’ll call Thirsk to pick it up. It’s very likely to have been at two murders, so it will need a full inspection. I’ll ring Jacob to organise recovery, can you send a uniform down to guard it until they turn up. Where in the carpark is it?”

“It’s way down the back very close to where the shuttle bus turns around. It’ll probably take a couple of hours before they pick it up, so I’ll send a motorbike down.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. I’ll ask Jacob to put a priority on the job.”

She rang Jacob and he promised to send the truck out.

“A lot of work has come my way this week, Marilyn, but thankfully Leeds aren’t sending me any of those cars that they collected. They’ve been taken to their pound, untouched. I still have to process those bodies that they took out of Youlton. If any of them are owners of one of the cars, we’ll get it in for a full look.”

“It’s a bit harder for you, now that the case has attracted attention from the press and the anti-terrorist brigade.”

“Harder for everyone. Leeds complains about the situation every time I talk to them. Mind you, I think that they secretly love the attention.”

Marilyn went to her door.

“John. Can you give me a few minutes?”

“On my way ma-am.”

He came into her office.

“Take a seat, John. Now, with your browsing the media, have you come up with any places that the families prefer, inside the UK?”

“I’ve seen a few pictures of them, on social media, with them wearing shirts with a shamrock on. At least, I think that it’s a shamrock. I’ve got one from my younger days with a thistle, that I brought back from Scotland.”

“That is very interesting. Can you get on to Ezyjet and find out if they took Terry Wolf and Barry Hanson to Belfast, say, in the few days after the Alf Anderson murder. If they did, find out when they’re coming back.”

“Will do, ma-am. Can I ask why?”

“I’d be unhappy if you didn’t. We’ve found the red Astra in long term at Leeds Bradford. It’s a cheap and quick flight to Belfast International from there. The thing is, that if they’re bringing back guns, or gun parts, there’s no customs inspection unless a situation is declared. Belfast is considered domestic UK, even if it’s only a few miles from the spiritual home of the IRA. Those guns, dug up in Youlton, could have come in that way. Let me know what you find.”

“On it, ma-am.”

After he left, she rang Leeds.

“DCI Russell.”

“Keith, it’s Marilyn. We’ve located that red Astra in the long-term park at Leeds Bradford. I’ve got Jacob getting it picked up. We’re checking with the airlines, but I think that Terry Wolf and Barry Hanson are the ones who left it there. I’ll give you a call when we have confirmation. We did put the surnames through immigration as soon as we had them, but domestic doesn’t require passports. If any of those guns you found have originated in Ireland, that could be how they got here, in bits. Let’s face it, thirty quid each way is cheap transport.”

“We haven’t had a report on the guns yet. We’ve been busy sorting out the family ties. Do you have anything more with your case?”

“With the DNA check of the Andersons and the baby, I think that the father was Terry Wolf, who had an affair with her before Alfred was released. She had another short affair with that lad from the taxi garage and told him that she was on the pill. That could have been that she already suspected that she was pregnant. Did you get an ID of the guy in the Astra that we sent you?”

“Not definitive. It’s certainly one of the Wolf family, but there’s three young ones who are almost interchangeable. If the Astra turns up fingerprints, that will narrow it down. That sighting that you got of it being north would fit, as Hansons’ father bought a nice house in Alwoodley in 2022. Looking at his job, there was no way he could have afforded it on his wage. Let me know what you come up with, I’ll organise an armed team to make the arrest. It would be best done where the car was, away from the crowds.”

“I’ve been told that it’s just past where the shuttle turns around.”

“That would be perfect, them worried at the car gone, very few of the public around, and that tree line where our team can hide.”

Twenty minutes later, John knocked on her door and came in, a smile on his face.

“Ezyjet had the two of them on a flight on the Saturday after Alfred was killed. They have a return flight tomorrow, arriving just after one.”

“Good work. Go out and talk to Ian. There’s a traffic camera alongside the airport, White something Lane. Take a guess at when they would have needed to arrive to get their flight and get him to access the records for that camera. If we can get a clear picture of the Astra, with the two of them in it, then we can organise an arrest when they come back. Keith had suggested that we set up a team where the car would have been, so we can surprise them without many of the other travellers close.”

A half an hour later, Ian knocked on her door, photo in hand.

“Here we are ma-am. One red Astra with a couple of likely lads clearly shown. No wonder I’ve been chasing my tail trying to find it.”

“Good work. Send that picture to Keith Russell, in Leeds. Get the return flight details from John to send with it. Did you get something back from the number plate?”

“It was last seen on a Mister Whippy van at Scarborough.”

“That’s our boys, sure enough. It looks as if I’m going to have to see the boss about overtime on Saturday. The arrest will be the team from Leeds, as part of the round-up, but we will need eyes on the ground. Monday, we’ll need to have our skittles in a row when we go to interview them.”

She followed him to the main room, where she clapped her hands.

“Right. We have almost reached the end point of the Anderson murders. We have Bill Wolf and Henry Hunter in the cells in Leeds, picked up with the round up. On Saturday, around one, we have Terry Wolf and Barry Hanson flying into Bradford from Belfast. They will be unhappy that the Astra that they left in the long-term isn’t there. It will be in Thirsk, being inspected by this evening. Leeds will be setting up an arrest at that point, away from the public. We will be going to interview them in Leeds on Monday, so I need our case against them. Hopefully, Jacob will have extra facts from the Astra, hopefully blood from both murders and a key to the Anderson home. It had been used after the first search by CSI, which was brazen, in an attempt to put the spotlight on the taxi and the lad who worked at the garage.”

She smiled.

“I’m going upstairs to see if we can get some overtime for Saturday. It would be good if a couple of us are there to witness their reactions when arrested.”

When she got back, she announced that the overtime was restricted to just three of them, so she chose her two sergeants as the most experienced in arrests which included armed officers.

She rang Keith and told him that there would be three of them in her car on Saturday, arriving about midday. His team will be going in earlier and would save a space for her near the action. He would have tactical in the tree line, who could stand after the others leap out of a van and start yelling at them to lay down, giving them nowhere to run.

On Saturday morning, Marilyn drove to the office, picking up Tim on the way. At the office, they met Ginger and took out their bullet proof vests from their lockers. Marilyn didn’t like wearing hers as it wasn’t exactly made to suit a full chested woman. They went over the plan as it had been sent to them. An operation like this is choreographed like a modern dance sequence. It’s needed to make sure that when armed officers are facing other armed officers, with the target between them, any shots aimed at the target will not strike another officer. It wasn’t a scenario that the tactical team would normally use, but the site demanded it.

When they arrived at the boom gate to the long-term car park, an officer lifted it for them and then got on his motorcycle to follow them. When they arrived at the place where the Astra had been, there was a space for them opposite, and a few spaces to the side. Immediately beside them was a white van, unmarked, with another several spaces along.

Marilyn backed into the space and Keith joined them, with Ginger giving up the passenger seat for him and getting in the back. Keith had a radio and was in contact with the rest of his officers, of which there was no sign. They all got comfortable and sat talking about the aspects of the case.

The two-way crackled.

“Targets now collecting luggage. Two big suitcases. More than you would need for a couple of weeks. Acting as if they didn’t have a care in the world.”

It went quiet for a few minutes.

“Targets now boarding shuttle. Out.”

Some minutes later, the journey from the terminal to the car park being a long one, it came to life again.

“Shuttle heading your way, dropping off passengers.”

Looking through the trees, they saw the shuttle approach the last turn that would take them to the turning place. They slid lower in their seats, ducking down as the two men walked their way. When they heard some loud swearing, they sat up and Keith spoke into his radio.

“Teams go!”

The doors to the van opened quietly and four officers got out, walking on rubber -soled shoes and fanning out into a semi-circle, cutting of any escape along the roadway before shouting.

“Hands on heads, drop the cases, on the floor.”

The two turned around and dropped the cases, then spun back to see another four officers with guns pointed their way.

“You heard the man! Hands on heads, on the ground, now! I said now!”

The two men dropped to the floor and two from the team handcuffed them, behind their backs. When they were secure, the four detectives got out of the car. Keith called for the transport and two marked police cars appeared from the far end of the car park to stop by them. The two men, protesting loudly, were bundled in the back and driven away.

The back doors of the other van opened, and Jacob stepped out in his white CSI outfit, along with one of his assistants. He had a key ring with a load of case keys and squatted by the cases, trying the keys until the locks opened. When the cases were opened, under a layer of clothes were a number of bags. Jacob picked one out and looked inside, holding it out for the others to see. Even Marilyn could tell that it was a breech section of an assault rifle. Jacob put it back and the two cases were put into his van for a trip to Thirsk. The tactical team were thanked for their good work and got into their own van. Both vans left the site with Marilyn behind them and Keith behind her with his sergeant driving.

On the way back to York, it was Ginger who broke the silence.

“In all my time on the force, I’ve never seen a take-down so impeccably carried out. It was like watching an opera scene.”

Tim laughed.

“Oh! I can just see it on the stage. It would have to be a hell of a story to go with that scene. The trouble is that it would lose its edge if a character sang ‘Hands on your heads, get on the ground’. The repeated phrase would be all right, as they do that a lot in opera. It would probably work in Italian.”

Marilyn was smiling as she drove.

“Calm down, lads. Now we’ve seen our likely murderers. The trick is to get them to lie enough to pin them down. You two, take it easy tomorrow, next week will be hard work to wrap this one up.”

She took them back to Fulton Road, so that Ginger could get his car, and dropped Tim off outside his house.

“Tim, a word, if you don’t mind. Next week we’ll be spending time in Leeds, where a number of superiors will be looking on. Try to wear something crisp, or at least ironed to go there. I appreciate your brain, but they don’t go past first impressions.”

“Got it, boss. Crisp and neat. Does that mean that I’ll be with you when you talk to them?”

“No. I want you to grill Barry Hanson about his car, and whatever Jacob finds in it. You’ll have one of the girls with you, your choice. I think that young Barry may be distracted by a girl opposite him. I’ll have Ginger with me to take on Terry. If Barry caves and starts blaming Terry, let him have his head. We can always go back and see them again. With the weapons charges pending, and national security at stake, they won’t be going far.”

She went home and changed for a comfortable evening at home, cooking their dinner and just relaxing, which was spoiled by a special report, after the news, about the mass round-up in Leeds, linked to the gun battle in Youlton, and the takedown that morning, filmed by a bystander on their phone. Anton noticed her stiffen.

“Were you there, love?”

“I was. I can see the bosses wanting to have a press conference to try and explain it all. That means that I have to formally charge one of our prisoners with murder, so they can say that it’s all over and there’s no danger to the general public.”

“Was there? Danger, I mean?”

“Oh, dear me, yes. Those families were amassing guns, including a rocket propelled grenade launcher. They had something extremely dangerous to the public in their minds. I don’t know what it was, and I don’t want to know. What I do know was bad enough, and that didn’t happen, thank God!”

On Monday morning, Marilyn picked Tim up, looking dapper in a suit, In the office, she called a meeting.

“Good work, everyone. Today is the start of the final phase. Tim will be talking to Barry Hanson, and I’ll be talking to Terry Wolf. I’ve just looked at the results from the Astra, Tim. I think that there’s enough there to get him talking, including the famed fishing rod bag, which had a nice Purdy in it this time. It also had traces of Alfred Andersons’ blood and brains on the passenger seat carpet, so someone had walked in the splatter. Jacob is sending Keith a full report, so we’ll be up to the minute when we see the prisoners. The rest of you, back to work on other things. We’re off to close the case.”

The ones left behind gave them a cheer as the four left the office. Tim and Helen would take a separate car, in case they finished at a different time. At Leeds, they were directed to the meeting room, where Keith went through the latest information and gave them a heads-up.

“Today, you’ll have a member of the security branch watching over you. If you can get either prisoner to lift the lid on the guns, then they’ll be very happy. The others, in the families, all claim that they know nothing.”

“Do our prisoners know about the gun battle?”

“Not unless they had been in contact with the family.”

Marilyn and Ginger walked into the interview room, where Terry Wolf was sitting with a lawyer beside him. Ginger was holding the file and opened it in front of Marilyn as they sat down. Terry just sat there, impassive.

“Good morning, Mister Wolf. I’m Detective Inspector Houseman and my companion is Detective Sergeant Kidman. We’re from the murder squad, based in York.”

The lawyer looked shocked. Terry sneered.

“Is that supposed to throw me off my balance? I haven’t killed anyone.”

Marilyn put the picture of him looking out the car on the desk.

“Do you deny that this is you?”

“Looks like me. What on earth does a traffic picture prove?”

“This picture was taken by a house owner, in the street where Esme Anderson lived, just before she was murdered. I have a witness that saw you come out of her house, with something in a fishing rod bag, not long after she heard something like a door slamming, or maybe a shotgun blast.”

“Who is this Anderson woman?”

“You knew her, flower, because you had an affair with her, a bit over six months ago. I have a witness who will testify to that.”

“What on earth does that have to do with me being arrested at the airport?”

“Absolutely nothing, flower. That’s a different case, which you will stand trial for when you’re a much older man. By the way, those gun parts would have cost a packet.”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Afraid of your brother Martin, are you. Or perhaps it’s Geoff Hunter who frightens you more. You really don’t have to be afraid of them, any longer, flower. They’re both dead, killed in a shootout with police in Youlton, where they had gone to dig up the guns already there.”

“My brother is dead! That will upset Dad.”

“I’m sure that someone is asking him that, since he was pulled in last week, along with all the Wolf, Hunter and Hanson family members we could find.”

“That’s ridiculous! We may be car thieves, but we’re no master criminals.”

“Don’t make me laugh, flower. It must have rankled you that you were banged up in juvenile while your big brother was planning the raid on York Minster, after the Crown Jewels.”

His face went white, and the lawyer leaned towards him but was brushed off.

Marilyn put the picture of Esme in front of him, a hole in her abdomen.

“Lovely looking girl, wasn’t she? Was it Bill who introduced you? He knew her when she was driving the taxi when her husband was inside. Alfred Anderson, remember him?”

“Should I?”

“He was sitting outside that jewellers while you and your mates were playing robbers, before the cops arrived. He had been told to play with you by your mate Barrys’ big brother, George. He took the rap on the chin and did his five years, while you swanned around in juvenile for a couple. Don’t try to lie any more, flower.”

He was looking at the picture of Esme, tears in his eyes.

“Why did you need to destroy the baby, Terry. Did you know that it was yours?”

He looked shocked.

“Surely it was Alfs’, he was out of prison.”

“It was yours, flower, the DNA proves it. Your father will be upset when he finds out that you killed his niece, your own cousin.”

“What do you mean. She was just a girl who was at school with Martin.”

“That part’s true, flower. The thing is that her mother is your fathers’ sister. The paperwork is clear on that.”

The lawyer was starting to pack his papers into a file, now that what he had been employed for had been consigned to another day. Marilyn now put another picture on the table. It showed the Astra, with Terry and Barry plain to see.

“What’s this?”

“This, flower, is you and your mate going to the house in Youlton on the day that Alfred Anderson was killed. The Astra wasn’t stolen, as you may have thought. It was taken to Thirsk by our CSI to be looked at. Among other interesting things in it are traces of Andersons’ blood and brains in the passenger side carpet. You must have trodden in it when you were looking through the house for his uncut diamond. You didn’t find it after you killed your cousin, and you thought that he would have taken it with him when he fled.”

“I heard that he suicided.”

“From whom? It certainly wasn’t suicide. No. You made the mistake of closing your eyes when you pulled the triggers. When the second shot happened, his head wasn’t there any longer. Oh, you had wiped the gun before you shot him, and then pressed his hands onto the stock and triggers, but that’s what made us know that he’d been murdered. One other thing, when you wiped it down, you missed the barrel, which still had Esmes’ prints on it from when she was clutching the gun before you pulled the triggers. I’m sure that when we check all of your clothes, we’ll find residue on what you’d been wearing on both days. You’re too cocky to have thrown anything out.”

“It all seemed too easy. We were told that we had protection.”

“For the reason you’ve been collecting guns, you mean. The four guys that were with your brother, on the night he was killed, have all been identified as Russian Mafia. Let me take a wild guess. There’s talk that the new King and Queen are going to visit York next year. The suggestions that I’ve seen, in the newspapers, are the Minster, the Jorvik Center, and a possible planting of a commemorative tree in St. Nicks Reserve. An assassination would trump a few Crown Jewels. I’ve been told that your family is very competitive, but that’s well over the top.”

“That’s what I told Martin, but he had already been paid big money to set it up.”

“It was Barry with you on both days, wasn’t it. He isn’t the sort of lad who would let just anyone drive his car, even if the front plate spent most of its days on a Mister Whippy van.”

“He didn’t kill anyone, detective. He was in the car when Esme died and was looking through the garage when I shot Alf. God knows, I didn’t want to do it, but Martin had told me that we needed that diamond to show our commitment. Bill had found that the other one had been hocked.”

“He was telling you a porky, flower. Bernard Tapping had kept it, not ten feet from where we found Alfs.”

“You seem to have all the answers.”

“Even the ones where you got Henry Hunter to put the note in Alfs’ taxi, in an attempt to muddy the waters and frame young Gerry. You didn’t think that we would wonder about a key that suddenly appeared at a crime scene, well after CSI had gone over the place. Your big brother, Martin was part of a very well-planned robbery, but it doesn’t look as if the brain gene has carried on in the family. By the way, we found the knife that George used in that robbery, back in ’20. When he’s finished his time for assault, he’ll be facing a double murder charge, just as you will be, soon. Terance Wolf, I am arresting you for the murders of Esme and Alfred Anderson. Ginger, read him his rights.”

She looked at the lawyer.

“You have a leg in if you want to move up in the world. It is a losing brief, but it will put you in the newspapers.”

He laughed.

“I’m not that stupid, DI Houseman. I have someone in the office who will jump at the chance to defend a double murderer. He can have it. I’ve heard enough to stay well clear of it. I’ll also walk away from the unlawful arrest that I had been engaged to defend. It’s all too deep for me.”

He stood and left, without shaking hands with his client. Marilyn waited until Ginger had completed the details, then the door opened, and two uniformed officers came to take Terry away. She gathered up the pictures and put them back into the file. Keith was waiting outside and shook her hand.

“Another one for you and your team. Marilyn. We’ve been passing notes to Tim as you were getting things from Wolf. I believe that he is close to a full admission from Hanson, with a lot more about the future crime. He has all the brains and brutality of his big brother. I can tell you that the security guys are almost creaming themselves from what they’ve heard.”

“TMI. Keith. Any chance of a cuppa for Ginger and me?”

“Head for the meeting room. There will be a gathering later on. Nottage is up there getting the urn hot.”

“You need to treat that girl better, Keith. She’s better than a skivvy. Come on, Ginger, I need to make room for a cup of tea.”

The meeting was as expected, without the security officers who were busy letting their own branches know what had been planned, and by who. Tim was basking in the glow of the praise being heaped on him and Helen, having pulled open the top of a can of worms.

When all was said and done, the Chief Super took them to a restaurant for lunch, and then the four of them drove back to York, to carry on their jobs trying to solve the crimes presented to them while working on the final processes of this one.

Marianne Gregory © 2026