Chapter 4
Tuesday April 20th. 10:06 am.
Hartley had been thinking all night, about the relationship which may or my not, exist between his wife and this man called Chandler, but had this feeling of unease with regard to asking her. Even though he was well aware of her philandering, it was always a subject he would prefer to avoid.
The matter had to be approached. He couldn’t just leave it, and hope to discover the truth by chance.
Victoria and Becky were occupied dealing with customers. Nicole had just collected the mail from the post man, and was making her way into the office.
‘Close the door.’ remarked Hartley as she entered.
Nicole frowned wondering why he’d made such a strange request. Usually it was left open, so that if a problem arose in the shop, either Victoria or Becky could walk straight in and ask Hartley’s advice. The only time it was ever closed, was when he was on the phone making a private call.
‘Why,’ questioned Nicole, ‘is there a problem.’
‘Just sit down, I’d like a word.’
She perched herself on one of the visitor’s chairs, situated on the opposite side of the desk, facing her husband.
‘What’s wrong?’ she enquired.
Before asking her the question which was guaranteed to make him feel uncomfortable, Hartley fixed his eyes on his wife, thinking that he’d be able to tell if she was lying, simply by the look on her face.
‘Do you know someone called David Chandler?’
‘Who?’ she replied, frowning.
‘David Chandler.’ he repeated. ‘He’s a wealthy business man.’
‘His name doesn’t ring any bells.’ Her reaction appeared to be genuine. ‘Why, should I?’
‘Well, he seems to know you.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Nicole replied, seemingly in the dark where this man Chandler was concerned, ‘I don’t recollect his name. How should I know him. Is he a client of yours? Has he been to one of your business diners at our house?’
‘He’s the man who’s going to buy the gem that I’m about to take possession of, and he spoke of you, like you were old friends.’
Hartley was deliberately exaggerating. Thinking that, if he indicated that a more intimate friendship could have existed, she might be more honest about any possible relationship she’d had with the man.
‘Like I said, I can’t say that I remember his name. Sorry.’
‘OK,’ he said reluctantly, ‘I suppose that, because I don’t really know him to well, having only spoken to him on the phone. It would only be fair to give you the benefit of the doubt.’
‘Fair enough.’ replied Nicole. ‘But as far as I’m aware, I don’t think I know him.’
Hartley remained quiet and thoughtful.
‘Is that everything?’ continued Nicole, ‘Can I carry on checking the mail now?’
‘Yes, that’s fine.’
Chapter 5
Tuesday April 20th. 9:55 am.
‘Take a left just after these lights.’
‘But that’s a dead end?’
‘Just do it.’
Benny continued as instructed.
And as he turned into what he thought was a concealed back alley, leading nowhere. The same man who’d earlier prevented him from climbing out of his van, with the thick black beard and shades, stood in the middle of what turned out to be the entrance to a garage. From the main road, the sliding doors weren’t visible, as they were set back as an indent, from the rest of the property.
As Benny drove into the dimly lit unit, his captor removed the gun from the back of his head. The garage doors could be heard creaking behind his van, as they were being closed.
Clearly there was no longer a risk of Benny making an escape.
‘Out.’ said his captor with a defining tone of authority.
He gripped the door release, but this time there was understandably no obstruction.
As he pushed the driver’s door open, the brick shithouse was standing at the side of the van, in a typical gangster stance. Arms folded, shoulders pushed back proudly, with his feet about eighteen inches apart. An alpha male pose if ever he’d seen one.
Silently Benny was led into a small office at the back of the warehouse, and told to sit down.
He was left alone for a couple of minutes, as the two men had a mini conference outside.
The only furniture in the room was an old wooden chair that he was sat on. A table, and a couple of small stools.
Apart from the door, the only other possible way of escape, was a small window located at the top of the back wall. And even if he had a ladder, Benny knew full well, that his body wouldn’t fit through it.
‘Is my lad alright?’ was the only thing that kept running through his mind.
‘If you hurt him,’ he thought as he was starting to get angrier than he’d ever been in his life, ‘I swear I’ll kill the fuckin’ lot of you.’
The office door screeched along the floor as the gunman pushed it open and walked in.
‘So long as you do as your told and don’t piss me about,’ remarked his captor, ‘both you and your Keith will be absolutely fine.’
‘What is it that you want from me?’ Benny tried to keep his voice even, so as not to display any signs that he was actually shitting himself, even though inside he was a nervous wreck.
‘From what I gather, and yes I always do my homework so there is no point in trying to fuck me about,’ he was sounding absolutely confident, ‘you’re quite an expert in CCTV systems. That right?’
‘Err, well, I wouldn’t exactly put it like that, but yes, I do know a thing or two about most systems.’
‘Well it’s that expertise that I need from you.’
‘What use is my knowledge?’ Benny sounded none plus, ‘I only set the systems up to record footage in shops, bars and nightclubs, so should any incidents occur, the video can be played back to assess the various situations.’
‘Can you set a system so that it appears to be recording as normal, but when it comes to playing it back, it only shows footage that you’ve deliberately recorded and put on the system earlier?’
‘Err, Yes. But to copy a video onto a hard drive, and ensure that it only plays what you want, will take some time. I’d need to be left alone with the computer. That’s if you don’t want anybody else knowing what’s going on. Plus I’d need the pre-recorded DVD or a pen drive with the recording on it.’
Benny’s mind was starting to work overtime.
‘Why not just disable the system completely?’ he suggested, ‘it wouldn’t record anything, and you could go in and do what the hell you want. That way there wouldn’t be any footage at all.’
‘I want some footage recorded though.’ his captor replied. ‘I need somebody else in the frame for the robbery.’
‘What is this robbery, and how are you going to get someone to appear to steal something, without realising what’s going on. They’d have to be stupid.’
‘The robbery is of no concern to you, and I’ll make sure you’ve got the video when you need it.’
Clearly this man had most, if not everything under control.
‘What about my son,’ said Benny ‘is he alright?’
‘He’s fine. No harm will come to him as long as you play ball.’
Even though he didn’t trust these men, he didn’t have any choice but to what they wanted, and hope that they would be true to their word.
‘Is there any specific paperwork you need, in order to go and service a particular store’s system?’
‘Most customers have a regular service once a month,’ said Benny, and even though he was being distracted by a work related conversation, he still couldn’t relax, not knowing exactly what was going on with his son, ‘but occasionally, when there’s a blip with the settings, I might need to go and take a look. And more often than not I can rectify the problem.’
‘Like I said,’ his captor sounded a touch frustrated by Benny’s answer, ‘do you need specific paperwork to go and take a look at a specific shops system?’
‘Yes. Usually the client will rewind a video to check on staff or customers, and should he find a problem with the recording, he will give our office a ring. Then they’ll send me or another engineer out to take a look. Our company secretary will make out a worksheet. So that when whatever work is necessary is completed, the client will sign it, and we’ll get paid accordingly.’
‘Can you not call at a client’s premises on speck, without a worksheet?’
‘No way,’ Benny was definite with his answer.
‘Because CCTV is a security measure, all paperwork must be kept in order. Every job logged. So that should anything untoward happen, like say for example a robbery.’ putting a great deal of emphasis on his last word. ‘The Police will have a recording, and a paper trail to help with their investigations. And hopefully, if they’re lucky, locate and capture the thieves.’
‘But if a certain outlet requires attention,’ questioned his captor, ‘you would be the person to go over and fix whatever the problem is, if that client is on your usual roster. Yes.’
‘More often than not, yes, unless I’m out on another job.’
Benny’s captor left the room, quickly, and without uttering another word. The door still making that horrible screeching sound, as it was scraping along the floor.
He must have been sat there for some five minutes. During which time he could see the brick shithouse and the gunman talking between themselves. Occasionally the ringleader would appear to be speaking to someone on his mobile.
‘Sorted.’ His captor uttered as he re-entered the room.
Benny glanced over as the thug walked in behind his boss, just like a lapdog doing exactly as his owner told him. The leader had a grin on his face like he’d just come up on the lottery.
‘Lazarus here will go back with you to your next appointment.’ It was clear that he wasn’t worried about using the other guys name for some reason.
‘You will continue your day as though nothing’s happened. It’s up to you how you play this, but sometime tomorrow afternoon Grangers Jewellers system will need to be looked at. You, and make sure it is you, will go and fix it so that it doesn’t record anything. Copy the video, which I’ll make sure you get in plenty of time, onto the hard drive, so that the system will only replay what’s on that disk. And as long as you do that, then your beloved Keith will be released, safe and unharmed.’
‘When will you let him go?’
‘The minute we’ve got what we want, and are clean away. After all, we can’t let him go too soon, or you could inform the authorities about what’s going on, and we don’t want that now, do we.’
Lazarus, the brick shithouse, was a hell of a size. He must have been six five and at least eighteen stone. The beard and shades were clearly his idea of a disguise, and if he had a shave and removed the glasses, Benny wasn’t sure he’d be able to identify him.
‘Van.’ remarked Lazarus. Regarding him, and waving the index finger of his right hand to signal that that’s where he wanted Benny to head for.
After receiving a nod to get into the drivers seat, Benny plonked himself behind the steering wheel.
Lazarus walked round and climbed into the passenger seat.
‘Where should you be right now?’
Benny glanced at his watch.
‘M & S.’
‘Well, what the fuck are you waiting for?’
As Benny started the engine, the garage doors began to slide open, creaking just like before.
It was only about a seven minute drive to his destination. But the fact that his son was still being held captive, played heavily on his mind. Here he was, sat in his works van, with what he thought was a brainless idiot called Lazarus, who did everything just as and when he was instructed to. He had no option but to comply with everything he’d been told to do. Benny was starting to get agitated.
‘What the fuck is going on?’
‘Could you not rob the place, without involving anybody else?’
Suddenly Lazarus’ tone changed, revealing a devilishly evil sound.
‘Look. I’ve killed before,’ his accent was bona fide, bow bells, cockney, as he growled and bragged about his wicked achievements, ‘and yes, more than once. According to the Police I’m already dead. They think I’ve been cremated twice. So if I was you, and you want to see your son - alive - again, I’d just do as you are fuckin’ told.’
Benny pulled up outside the M & S store, where he was supposed to be servicing their CCTV system. But before he could switch the ignition off, he was suddenly left in the van on his own. Lazarus had quickly got out, and somehow disappeared. He was nowhere to be seen.