For the Love of God and the Arab Rising

  Chapter Twenty Three: The Aftermath. The investigation into McGowan’s crew is well under way and continues to throw up more questions than it will ever answer. The police quickly incarcerated and legally charged each member of McGowan’s gang of thugs; but not his white collared business partner Tom Brule. Detective Inspector Peter Bramley and Ray Mead were dead; as an old friend of mine once said: ‘what goes around comes around’ and so they got their just deserve. Search warrants were issued to go over McGowan’s properties and lockups, also every member of his crew. The fact that McGowan is a career criminal is no surprise, but the fact that he was in partnership with upstanding citizens such as well-known Freemasons is without doubt a story that no newspaper could let pass by and would have any journalist worth his salt frothing at the mouth with the prospect of running such a story. Or so I thought. It turned out that the front page stories were there, and mug shots of McGowan and his crew were there also, with extensive details of their past criminal activities, present crimes and conjecture on how long their sentences were likely to be: but there was no mention of Tom Brule or his close friend Detective Inspector Bramley. They were both involved and Catriona was right, her gut feeling for Tom Brule was right all along. He is my old boss; but he is nothing but a double crossing and dangerous gangster, with that smarmy smooth exterior we knew so well. To be honest, what can I do about it; I’m exhausted and have no fight left in me. Their influence and power within the system far outweighs any circumstantial evidence that may implicate them as accomplices rather than the legal veneer of integrity and democratic process that they portray to support. If McGovan does not give evidence against Tom Brule, which I do not believe he has or will do; Brule is free man. And in this case, Brule must have some sort of hold over McGovan that I do not understand in any way. I am sure of it. The evidence gathered across his properties is damning: four hundred thousand in cash sterling and five tons of class A Cocaine worth $50 million wholesale; but on the street it would make $350 million! Also enough small arms weapons to wage a small war were discovered hidden within one of McGowan’s lockups. The charges were stacking up; prosecutors say McGovern is looking at 35 years behind bars as a minimum for smuggling and supplying class ‘A’ drugs, racketeering, and murder. The fancy cars and houses will eventually be sold by the government as criminal gains reclaimed. His wife and business partners who escaped the investigation will be severely damaged by the process; which to me, to be honest, is bloody marvellous; may they squirm with the pain of loss for property and money is permanently etched into their criminal minds.

  The case will probably take 6 months to get to court, but who cares; at least they are locked up and out of my way. I feel safe at last and that’s all that counts. It must have taken three weeks for the police to finish taking statements; the constant questioning of your integrity and honesty driving you into the same piece of ground as the criminals themselves. But finally, when all was said and done, I was released without charge and able to get on with my life. Catriona played on my mind terribly and on some days my mood was very black indeed. It has to be said that the police counselling service was exceptional and I was diagnosed as having depression, with a tendency to extreme mood swings. As if I didn’t know that anyway. The specialist recommended Lithium, a classic mood stabilizer. But weekly therapeutic drug monitoring was the order of the day to ensure lithium levels remained in the therapeutic range of 0.6 to 1.2. It is a toxic substance and you feel like vomiting most of the time, the nausea was awful. It took at least 3 weeks for the side effects to subside and I still believe the symptoms only subsided because I was moaning so much that the doctor lowered the dose. As long as I took my medication and kept talking to people my life was on the up; and Jeff was doing a good job of keeping my mind off things too.