Chapter 35
Thursday, April 29th. 4:22 pm.
Nicole decided to drop the cash off back at the house where Alf was staying. The last thing she wanted was for Hartley to find a suitcase full of cash. There would be questions asked in the house.
When she arrived, Alf was standing at the window, looking like he was on sentry duty.
‘What the hell you doing there,’ Nicole laughed as she walked through the front door. ‘You look like you’re a look out on a bank job.’
‘I’m keeping an eye out, just in case that blackmailer turns up again.’ Alf replied.
‘Well I’m just leaving this case here for a while. I’ll be back to collect it later. But make sure you don’t get spotted peeping from behind those curtains.’
‘What’s in it?’
‘Never you mind. You’ll find out soon enough.’
Nicole was keeping her cards held close to her chest. She only wanted people to know, what she wanted them to know, and nothing more.
As she left, Nicole spotted Alf return to the window, so she turned and shooed him away with her hands.
He didn’t take any notice. His remained at his sentry post.
As quickly as she could, without breaking the speed limit, she drove straight home. Nicole needed to collect a number of items.
Thursday, April 29th. 4:35 pm.
Nicole had only driven about two miles, when her mobile sounded.
It was Alf.
‘Yes. What is it, I’ve only just left. Do you not realise I’m driving.’
‘You’d better get back here.’
‘Why, is he back again?’
‘No, but Benny is.’
‘What’s he doing there, shouldn’t he be at work.’
‘He’s got some news that we both think you should hear face to face, not over the phone.’
‘Is it so urgent? Can it not wait for a couple of hours?’
Benny snatched Alf’s mobile off him.
‘No it can’t wait. Now get the fuck over here - now. Before it’s too late.’
He hung up.
Realising that Benny was coming across as being terrified; Nicole immediately turned the car round and headed back.
Thursday, April 29th. 4:48 pm.
‘What took you so long?’ remarked Benny not looking at all calm.
‘Come on then,’ said Nicole, ‘what’s with all the rush.’
‘I know who one of the blackmailer’s is.’ replied Benny.
‘Who is it then?’
‘Clive Woodbridge.’
‘Who?’ Nicole replied, not being exactly up to date with who Benny’s work colleagues were.
‘Clive Woodbridge. My boss.’
‘Are you sure?’ frowned Nicole, ‘Isn’t he supposed to be an upstanding business man. How would he get hold of information to blackmail us with?’
‘I don’t know,’ remarked Benny, ‘but somehow or other he has.’
‘Shit.’ said Benny as he started to head for the front door.
‘Where the fuck are you going now?’ Alf voice was raised.
He didn’t answer. Benny just kept heading for his van, like a man on a mission.
Nicole and Alf followed, not having a clue what had sparked off this sudden impulse to look in his van.
Benny unlocked the door, and jumped in.
Nicole and Alf looked on as he started looking round and fiddling on the top of the dashboard.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ questioned Nicole.
‘That’s how he knows what we’re up to.’
Benny lifted the so called imitation dash cam up, and found wires going through to the inside of the dashboard.
‘This was supposed to be a deterrent to stop would be thieves. It was never connected to a hard drive. It was only there for show. Many a time when I’ve been annoyed, I’ve used it for target practice and thrown it at the window.’
‘So how long has it been there? As a working devise I mean.’ queried Alf.
Benny had to think for a few moments. Then said.
‘Middle of last week. I had a lot of paperwork to catch up on, and Woodbridge said that whilst I was going to be in the office all afternoon, he would get the van serviced.’
‘Did it not dawn on you that he would probably have had to book it in first? You can’t just turn up and expect the garage to jump.’ Alf remarked.
‘I never gave it a second thought.’ replied Benny, shaking his head. ‘He must have taken the van back to his house and rigged it there. It wouldn’t take more than an hour to set up.’
‘So how would he get the information from that dash cam?’ asked Nicole?
Benny started fiddling underneath the dashboard again.
‘Got ya.’ he said in a louder than normal whisper, as he started to pull out a small dark grey box with wires attached, located directly in front of the steering wheel.
‘A hard drive.’ Benny paused.
‘The bastard. Woodbridge had put a hard drive recording unit in. And, when I’ve been in the office doing paperwork, he’s come out, removed the drive. Copied it and probably wiped it clean, and put it back to see what else he can discover.’
‘Can you check to see what’s on it? Whether it has been wiped clean or not.’ asked Nicole.
‘Yes. Come on.’ Benny replied, as he disconnected the hard drive from the front of the van.
The three of them rushed inside. Benny set up his laptop, and plugged the unit into one of the USB slots on the side.
It started to play.
They all watched as the recording showed the three of them. Jumping into the van after they’d been to Euston Station and had the dealings with Chan Lee. You could hear them bragging about what they’d just accomplished. The murders of Chan Lee and his associate. The twenty million they’d managed to steal. The Appleford diamond. And Nicole, giving Benny the address where Alf was staying, and giving him directions on how to get there.
‘There’s enough proof there to put the three of us away for life.’ said a disconcerted Nicole.
‘There’s only one thing for it,’ she continued, ‘he’s got to go. And soon. We can’t have him holding information like that for a second longer than we have to.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ remarked Benny, ‘aren’t we forgetting something. There’s still that second caller. Who the fuck is he, and how did he get the same information. Are they both in it together? We’d better be careful here. We could kill Woodbridge, and leave the other guy free to carry on blackmailing us.’
Silence resounded round the room while they pondered their dilemma.
They heard the letterbox lid clang.
Without giving a second thought, they all jumped up and ran to the front door.
Nicole opened it to see if the person who’d delivered the letter that was lying on the floor just inside, was still in sight.
Not a chance.
Whoever it was had got their timing right, and scarpered, before he could be spotted.
It had Alf’s name on the envelope, written in the same box style as before.
Benny opened it, and read it out loud.
Alf. Just a little reminder that I know where you are staying, and that you should let your friends know that I want my five million pounds sometime on Saturday. I’ll ring at five o’clock tomorrow afternoon to make arrangements for the exchange. My information for five million pound. Signed. C. U. Soon.
‘This is from, what’s his name, Woodside?’ said Alf.
‘Don’t you mean Woodbridge.’ corrected Benny.
‘Yes Woodbridge. But we still need to know…’
He was cut short when Benny said with his voice raised.
‘George. The bastard.’
‘And who the fuckin’ hell is George?’ asked Nicole.
‘He’s a work colleague, and he’s been acting a bit strange this last week. Asking probing questions. He’s our other blackmailer. I’d swear to it.’
‘And how would he get hold of that hard drive?’ queried Nicole, ‘but more importantly, how would he know that it even existed?’
‘If he’s spotted Woodbridge acting suspiciously inside my van,’ said Benny, ‘he could have spied his chance and gone to take a look for himself.’
‘And when he’s found that hard drive,’ continued Alf, realising what Benny was implying, ‘he’s made a copy for himself, and is blackmailing us the same way that your boss is.’
‘So he’s got to go as well.’ confirmed Nicole.
Benny glanced down at his watch, it was five thirty two.
‘We’ve got just short of twenty four hours before Woodbridge is due to ring,’ Benny stated, ‘and I suggest that we try to get Woodbridge and George together in the same place, and dispose of them both at the same time.’
‘But where?’ asked Alf.
‘Here.’ replied Nicole.
‘Isn’t that a bit close to home Nicole,’ remarked Benny, ‘after all, this house does actually belong to you.’
‘That won’t matter,’ she continued, ‘there’s only us three know that we’ve been using it. And according to our records this house is supposed to be empty. So we do the deed. Then I ring the Police and report a break-in at one of our rental properties.’
‘I don’t know about that,’ remarked Alf, ‘wouldn’t it be a bit too coincidental for two blokes that work together. To break into the same house. At the same time. And both get killed, with the same gun.’
‘Let’s not worry about that now.’ said Nicole, ‘Benny, when Woodbridge rings, see if you can arrange for him to come here for his money. And if you can get hold of that George bloke, tell him to be here as well. Just make sure that they don’t arrive at the same time, or that would fuck the whole thing up.’