Chapter 22
Monday, April 26th. 2: 55 pm.
Even though Nicole had forewarned Benny that Inspector Cunningham wanted to have another word with him, she still needed to speak to Alf, and find out whether or not he’d managed to get hold of Chan Lee again.
There were a couple of customers having a leisurely browse round the store. And even though Becky had left early, apparently her eldest son had an asthma review appointment with their local nurse. This still left Victoria and Hartley in the shop, and as they weren’t exactly rushed off their feet, would be able to cope quite comfortably.
‘Am I alright just nipping out for a while,’ Nicole asked, ‘I just want to go to the newsagents to see if the latest Cosmopolitan is out yet. There was an advert in last months that mentioned a new Stella McCartney line in skirts would be coming out, and I can’t wait to see them.’
‘Won’t it wait till later in the week?’ suggested Hartley. Clearly not very happy, considering she’s already had some time away from the shop earlier. ‘You never know, we might get busy. Monday can be very unpredictable.’
‘I’ll be quick.’ She didn’t want to appear desperate even though she did want to talk to Alf. ‘It’s only round the corner so I shouldn’t be more than fifteen, twenty minutes.’
Knowing that he couldn’t really do much to stop her, Hartley just nodded.
Nicole made a quick exit, and as soon as she’d got about twenty yards away, lifted her phone out and dialled Alf’s number.
‘Hi, I was expecting you.’
‘Have you spoken to Chan Lee?’
‘Yes.’
‘And.’
‘He still wants the meeting to be at Euston station because it’s a very public place. It sounds like he distrusts us as much as we do him.’ remarked Alf.
‘Can you blame him?’ Nicole laughed. ‘Go on.’
‘There’s a small AMT Coffee shop located in-between Boots and the Left Luggage facility,’ Alf continued, ‘and if we can get a table somewhere near the back; preferably in a corner so we won’t be overlooked, it should be fine. There’s very often yuppies and business men with their laptops, working away whilst drinking coffee. If you take yours and he has his, you’ll both be able to see the transfer going through. And you will know the second the twenty million quid is in your account. How does that grab you?’
‘It sounds OK,’ Nicole sounded a touch apprehensive. ‘But I can’t help thinking that he’s bound to have something up his sleeve. What happens if he has his cronies with him, and they take the Appleford off you before the money is transferred?’
‘I’ve thought of that,’ said Alf, ‘I’ll give the gem to Benny. He’ll be hanging around somewhere else in the station, out of sight. And as soon as the transfer has been completed, I’ll give him a ring and he can bring it to the café.’
‘Yes that sounds a bit better.’
There was a momentary silence, and then Nicole continued.
‘I still don’t trust him. Do we have anything to fall back on if things go up shit creek?’
‘How can it Nicole?’ Alf was coming across like he was sure nothing could spoil the exchange. ‘The money will already be in your account before he gets hold of the gem. You’ll actually see the zero’s mounting up. Plus, once the money has left his Bank, there’s no way he can stop it. The only way he could get it back, is if you sent it to him. And somehow or other I can’t see that happening.’
‘I suppose we’ll just have to take our chance.’ said a suspicious Nicole. ‘There’s not a great deal we can do about it, if we want the rock off our hands.’
‘So should I ring him and tell him it’s on.’
‘Yes. And the minute you find out when it’s going down, let me know immediately.’
‘No problem.’
As soon as the call was ended Nicole made her way straight back to the shop, forgetting all about the magazine she’d so called gone out to look for.
The second she pressed the buzzer Nicole could see through the window that Inspector Cunningham and turned up again.
‘Oh fuck. What’s he doing here?’ she thought.
Victoria opened the door.
‘There’s been a development.’ she said, not looking exactly happy.
‘What?’ replied Nicole?
‘I’ll let the Inspector explain.’
As they walked over towards Inspector Cunningham and Hartley. The Inspector was looking rather smug, but her husband was frowning, and looking confused.
‘What’s happened?’ asked Nicole.
‘It’s one of the blokes from the CCTV footage and the mug shots.’ Hartley replied.
‘I’ll take it from here if you don’t mind.’ interrupted the Inspector, before anybody else could say anything.
‘I did tell you. That in my opinion, the photos and CCTV shots were a good likeness of the men who I believe robbed you. Well I’m now sure that I was right.’
He paused for a second to see if there was any reaction from Nicole.
There wasn’t so he continued.
‘Because, one of them, a criminal by the name of Lazarus, was found shot dead late last night.’
‘What about the other one,’ questioned Nicole, ‘do you know who he is, and if he’s still around?’
‘As far as we know there haven’t been any sightings of him,’ Cunningham replied, ‘not officially anyway. But I’ve come back to see if any of you have remembered anything else.’
There was a moment’s silence.
‘Would you please take a closer look at these mug shots?’ The Inspector continued. ‘The man circled is the one we found murdered.’
‘Murdered?’ said Nicole, raising her voice a semi tone. ‘That sounds rather sinister.’
She needed to somehow or other distance herself from any thought of involvement.
‘It is.’ stated Cunningham. ‘Robbery and murder are very serious crimes. And we need to find this other man as soon as possible.’
‘Do you know his name?’ queried Hartley.
‘Alfred Cunliffe, also know as shifty to his colleagues.’
Nicole squirmed.
With the Police knowing Alf’s name, it would be just a matter or time before his photograph would be splattered all over the media.
Something has to be done.
But what?
‘So I take it,’ said Nicole, ‘that he’s well known to the Police.’
‘Oh yes, he’s been in custody a number of times,’ replied Cunningham, ‘and not just at Police stations, he’s also done quite a bit of prison time.’
‘Is he classed as dangerous?’ asked Hartley.
‘Definitely.’ confirmed the Inspector. ‘We don’t know as yet whether he was responsible for the shooting of his mate Lazarus, but we can’t take any chances. His mug shot and a description have been circulated through all the usual channels first thing this morning, and he is classified as ‘armed and dangerous’. So if any of you come across him, you notify the authorities immediately, but don’t try and approach him. If he did murder his associate, then he won’t think twice about killing a stranger.’
‘Do you think he’ll come here, to the shop?’ questioned Victoria. ‘After all, he knows that we’ve all seen his face, and could recognise him in … what’s it called …an identity parade?’
‘We can’t be certain,’ replied the Inspector, ‘but I’d be surprised. If he’s any sense he’ll be keeping a low profile, and probably looking to get out of the area, maybe even out of the country.’
‘Is there anything we should do?’ asked Hartley.
‘Just remain vigilant. And don’t take any chances. Like I said, I can’t see him trying to get himself in more trouble than he’s already in, by harming any of you. He’ll be more interested in saving his own neck. But for the sake of it I will repeat myself and say, just remain vigilant.’
Nicole needed to get hold of Alf ASAP to inform him of these developments, but she would have to wait until later in the evening. Otherwise, if she got overheard by Hartley, she’d drop herself right in the proverbial shit.