Code of Silence by Colin Dillon

Author:Colin Dillon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2016-03-26T04:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

An undercover officer’s cover is blown

The commission hadn’t finished with me. Towards the end of May 1988 I received a phone call from Ralph Devlin asking me to come in to discuss further evidence about the SP betting industry. The next morning as I stepped out of the lift on the second floor I found myself face to face with Harry Burgess. It was the first time I had seen Burgess since the bubble burst. I was shocked by his appearance. He looked to be a broken man, haggard and worn with drooping shoulders. ‘Hello, Harry,’ I said. ‘How are you?’

Burgess gave me a cold stare and replied tersely, ‘Life goes on.’ The lift door closed and that was the last time that I ever saw him.

I was annoyed that Devlin had called me in knowing there was a strong possibility that Burgess and I might bump into each other. Such a meeting under the circumstances was hardly going to be pleasant. When I made it clear that I wasn’t impressed, Devlin replied facetiously, ‘It makes life interesting, doesn’t it?’

To him it seemed like a joke, but to me it was deadly serious. I was still receiving anonymous phone calls. Some of the callers said nothing but others were abusive and threatening. My guess was that most of these calls were from corrupt police still in the force or their mates and sympathisers. I had reported the fact that I was receiving threatening phone calls and my report had been ignored. It was one more thing that my family and I would just have to learn to live with.

One day I arrived for work to discover that one of my desk drawers was unlocked, though I always took care to leave them locked. There were no signs of forced entry. This particular drawer contained my service revolver and personal papers.

I mentioned the incident later to a colleague whom I trusted. He told me that he had gone to my desk looking for a set of car keys the day before and had found both my desk drawers locked. Obviously someone was playing games, but I couldn’t help feeling that there was a sinister side to it. I remembered the bottle of Chivas Regal Harry Burgess had put in my locker when we worked together at the Licensing Branch. Was this a practical joke or a warning?

I told another sergeant what had happened. The sergeant told me with a grin it would be virtually impossible to open such a drawer without forcing it and then in the blink of an eye he opened it with me watching. I didn’t consider it prudent to push the matter any further but from that day on I kept my firearm and other personal items somewhere safer.

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