The Truth Will Out by Jane Isaac

failed to convert to convictions through lack of evidence, absence of witnesses, or traced witnesses withdrawing statements. With half of Hampton Town Hall on Jimmy’s payroll, Chilli appeared almost Teflon coated.
    Putting Chilli Franks behind bars placed a severe dent in Jimmy’s operations and was one of the biggest investigations of James Lavery’s career in Homicide and Organised Crime. Helen remembered the case well from her childhood - Chilli had blinded a man by throwing acid in his face. Her father worked around the clock in close conjunction with witness protection, to secure witnesses and gather enough evidence to make the case solid. He called Chilli Franks ‘rotten to the core’ and his elation was obvious when ‘the most dangerous man he had ever put away’ was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment.
    By the time Chilli was released, almost ten years ago, Helen’s dad had passed away and she was a rookie herself. She remembered how beat constables were briefed to keep a close eye on his movements, particularly when Jimmy took Chilli back into his operation as a ‘driver’. But, although pulled back into the world he’d left, Chilli appeared a shadow of his former self, a calmer individual who kept a low profile. Months passed and police interest waned, intelligence taking them elsewhere.
    A couple of years later, Jimmy died of a heart attack and bequeathed Black Cats to Chilli. Again, Chilli was under the eye of the police, scrutinising his every move. But he took the reins quietly, went out of his way to ward off police attention. She recalled the first time they’d crossed paths. As soon as he heard her surname his eyes darkened, a muscle flexed in his cheek. He said nothing, but he didn’t need to, his face spoke a thousand words.
    As she rose through the ranks, Helen had watched him expand his operations to include a couple of nail bars and a hairdressing salon. Occasionally he attracted police attention, moments when Black Cats was linked to drugs supply, selling alcohol to minors, prostitution. Each time they were unable to build a case against him. But he always gave her the same wolf-like stare as though something was bubbling beneath the surface.
    Helen wasn’t fooled. Chilli’s record may have been clear since his prison stretch, but that was only because he employed the best lawyers in the business. You needed a gold plated warrant to get near Black Cats these days.
    “Look,” Dean continued, “it may suit him for people to suspect his involvement in order to gain respect in his line of business. But there’s no intelligence to suggest his personal involvement.”
    “Presumably you’ll share your intelligence?” Helen asked. She’d worked with specialist units in the past and they were notoriously cagey with their information. Everyone had their own agenda - they wanted the source, those that smuggled the weapons in. She was more interested in locating the killers of the two boys.
    “As much as we can.”
    “I thought we were working together on this?” She shot a glance at Jenkins who pressed his lips together and frowned. How was she supposed to come up with answers if she wasn’t given all the necessary information?
    “Helen,” Jenkins interjected.
    Dean lifted his hand to Jenkins in a conciliatory manner, and nodded. “The spread of too much information at the moment may jeopardise the operation of my guys working in the field and put them in danger.”
    “Only if it is leaked.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Are you suggesting that somebody in here would do that?”
    “I’m not suggesting anything. Just that, at the moment, the decision has been made at the highest level to keep the information close, until we have completed our mission. It won’t be for too much longer.”
    “In the meantime, how are we supposed to progress these two murder enquiries?” she asked.
    “I hear you had another shooting last night?” Dean said, changing the subject.
    “Yes, a