The overnight tragic events resulted in Romford Town centre becoming a Priority 1 Serious Crime Scene and, as such, almost prevented any movement of either transport or shoppers. This followed the complete closure of North Street, one of the main arterial roads into the town centre which commenced at 1.00 a.m. following the police ICP and cordon being set up. The Crime Scene Investigation officers were stretched beyond anything they had ever encountered before. The added problem of two separate incident sites was prohibitive to movement either on foot or by vehicle. The Metropolitan Police forensic team had more than they could have bargained for. With two sites of absolute devastation, the Texas Home Store area containing a total of thirty-four dead bodies including children burnt to smithereens, except one miraculous survivor – the eldest Lafferty son, Padriac, the quiet one, who had managed to crawl out of the embers of his mobile home. He was transferred to Queens Hospital, survival was touch and go.

Spenser and the remaining members of the bunch met at another secret hideout necessitated due to the death of yet another of their number, David Baker. His plan was simple in design yet complicated in execution. He had hatched the plan on his way back from yet another business meeting in London while sitting in the back of the Star Cabs limo driven, as ever, by Mark Taylor. The news he received on Saturday afternoon from Denis Baker, the brother of the unfortunate ‘Doughy’, was, as it turned out, had been selected as victim number two on the list. He was unaware at this juncture that both brothers had met a similar end. That dreaded list found in his office mailbox in the white envelope had on the front, handwritten, his name, and held a printed sheet of paper. He removed it from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, unfolding it to reveal the list; he pondered, beholding the erased names. Looking again intently, concentrating on who would be next. Undoubtedly Lafferty had to be caught and dealt with by them, they could not allow the police to apprehend. For he would sing like a nightingale in Berkley Square. Padriac clearly had somehow got hold of the list of his team and was systematically taking them out. The shock experienced when he glanced down the list was that both Baker siblings’ names were highlighted in red, denoting they had been murdered. Glancing down at the list he noted the names from the top,






Ray Walker – deceased






David Baker – diseased






Denis Baker – deceased






Ian Bell






James Bell






Kevin Wildish






Sean O’Hara






Mark Taylor






Spenser Junkins Military Cross






If he was to continue down the list consequently, Ian Bell, the young brother of James, would be the next member to be targeted. Where will it end?

This was the precise spot, the tree his old Da had shown him and his late brothers. It was where the cash was stashed, his inheritance, although he had no idea how much it may be. He required funds to pay for the wedge outstanding with his uncle and his family who had provided the safe haven of the Hertfordshire Travellers’ camp. A flashlight would have been too risky; yes the tree was located at the far edge of the field quite a long way from the road, but he could not be too careful. He had brought with him just the shovel, pick, and rucksack. The borrowed blue Transit van, he had parked up a side lane so that it was not obvious to passing traffic. It was a quiet country lane. Frequent traffic was, he assessed, low if at all at this hour. As he drove the shovel into the ground using all the strength he could muster. There was a loud clang, as it reverberated, extending up both his arms and almost bounced out of his hands. Pulling with all his might leaned and fell backward pulling with all his strength. C r r r r r a c k, it went, the old rusty lock was broken. Regaining his feet and wiping away the increased sweat, he opened the lid of the soldier’s box. Inside, neatly stacked were wad upon wad of Bank of England fifties, twenties and ten-pound notes. Padriac could hardly contain himself.