by Daniel Hurst
It was strange after all the fighting I have done today, but as he loomed over me with that crazed expression on his face, I felt a sense of calm at what was about to happen. I guess they call it giving up. Maybe if Mum and I had given up sooner, then things might have worked out better. But we are both as stubborn as each other, and now it seems that the two of us fought to the bitter end.
But James didn’t kill me. Instead, he allowed me to crawl into this corner while he turned back to the safe and kicked it several times. He’s angry because the code he told me to input was incorrect, so after three attempts, it ended up deactivating the safe for ten minutes until he could try again. He’s been waiting for that time to pass so he can have another go, but I’m not sure what he’s hoping to achieve. It’s impossible to guess that code. I should know because I have tried to guess it enough times myself ever since I found out the safe existed.
I hoped to break into it and see how much money Mum really had stashed away in there and maybe even take a chunk of it myself. After all, she couldn’t stop me going travelling if she came home to find out I’d already gone, could she? But it was no good. I tried as many different combinations as I could while she was at work, and none of them opened it. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Common sequences I found online. None of the eight digits I pressed released the lock and gave me access. But good luck to James. He’s experiencing that same feeling of failure right now.
I hear the two beeps that signal when the ten-minute auto lock has expired and watch James as he types in another code only to be unsuccessful again. While I don’t feel bad for him, I know what it feels like to be frustrated. He obviously had a plan for how his life was going to work out, and it’s gone wrong. Welcome to the club. At least I’m not alone in being utterly miserable.
‘Fuck this!’ James cries, standing up and giving the safe one last kick before checking the time and shaking his head.
He looks at me sitting in the corner, and I wonder what he is going to do now, but in the end, he just walks out of the room.
Is he leaving?
I daren’t move just in case he comes back, but maybe this is finally over. Then I hear the sound of the front door opening, and I guess this is it. He’s given up. He’s walking out of the flat.
I’m safe!
The door slams shut, and I slowly exhale, but I can’t relax for too long. I need to find my phone and call the police. Maybe they can catch James before he gets too far. After what that psycho has put me through, he deserves to be punished.
I get to my feet and head for the bedroom door, praying that James hasn’t taken my phone and that it will be lying somewhere in the flat. But as I reach the doorway, I freeze.
James is walking back into the room.
‘What are you doing?’ I ask him, immediately stepping back and retreating to the corner again. But James ignores me and instead returns to the safe, where he consults his mobile phone before entering yet another combination of digits.
I expect his latest attempt to be just as futile as his previous ones.
But I’m wrong. I hear the lock releasing, and the safe door pops open.
He’s in.
‘Yes!’ James cries, and he turns to me with a smile on his face that I know is supposed to tell me that he has won.
I guess my mum finally gave up the code. Did she do it to save me? Or did she do it to save herself? I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. The safe is open now, and everything in there is going to be gone in a minute’s time.
‘Holy shit!’ James cries, and at first, I’m not sure why, until he starts pulling out all the money.
Why is there so much of it?
‘Your mum has been saving hard!’ he says to me, shaking his head. ‘There must be over fifty grand here. Maybe more!’
I watch as he stuffs the money into his rucksack, and I’m just as shocked as he is at the amount of money in there.
Is this why Mum took so long to give up the code? Is this why she was risking my life?
Where the hell did she get all this money?
James takes out a watch from the safe and examines it before tossing it into his bag as well. I don’t recognise that item of jewellery, nor do I recognise what seems to be a gold ring that comes out after it. James shrugs and stuffs the ring into his pocket before double-checking the safe is empty, then stands up and slings his bulky rucksack over his shoulder.
‘Well, I have to say this has been worth it,’ James says, smiling as he feels the weight in his bag. ‘Your mother is a bit of a badass. But she’s not the only one.’
He winks at me, and I guess this is what it looks like to be a winner. I spent my whole life trying to get my mum to give me some of her money, and this guy got it all in less than an hour. That would sting if I wasn’t already feeling bad enough.
‘I guess I’ll be going, then,’ James says, taking one last look around the room. ‘But before I do…’
He reaches back into his bag again, and I dread to think what it is that he might pull out of there. In the end, it’s almost a relief to see that it is just more cable ties.
Stepping towards me and grabbing my left wrist, I fight only a little as he secures me to the radiator. I’m done struggling now. I just want him to be gone.
‘That should hold you a little longer than the bedpost,’ he says with a smirk, making one final check on the strength of the tie before heading for the door.
‘Don’t bother trying to call the police. You’ll need your phone for that,’ he tells me, tapping his rucksack to let me know that my mobile is in there too. Then he heads for the door.
‘Wait!’ I call after him, and he pauses.
‘Is my mum okay?’
He takes a moment to think about it before shrugging his shoulders. ‘I’m sure she’s fine,’ he replies. ‘My partner isn’t as dangerous as me.’
Then he walks away, leaving me alone in the flat.
37
JAMES
I close the door to the flat behind me and head for the staircase, checking the time on my phone as I go. It’s 18:50. The train will be due in any minute. I’ll be expected to go straight to the rendezvous point and wait there. But I’m not going to do that because that would result in me sharing what I have in this rucksack, and that was never part of my plan going into today.
Instead, I’m going to take it all for myself.
I make it to the bottom of the staircase before sending a text confirming that I was able to access the safe and that I am on the way now. Then I leave the flats and step out onto the street, trying to keep myself calm despite now being in possession of a life-changing sum of money.
I was told that there was around £20,000 in that safe, and I would have classed that as a good day’s work if I’d been able to get it all. But then I opened the door and saw that there was so much more than that. I haven’t had time to count it all out yet, but I estimate there could be at least three times that amount just in pure cash now lying in the bottom of my bag. Not only that, but there was what looked to be an expensive watch too, as well as a gold ring, so depending on their value, I could be looking at the best part of £100K.
I haven’t done too bad for a guy who got out of prison a month ago.
I hurry down the street, lugging my heavy rucksack as I go, but the heavier the better in this case. I’m tempted to call a taxi to take me to the station, but I know it would be wiser not to. The police will probably be called to the flat when Amanda gets home, and then they’ll be interested in knowing if any young males were spotted with a black rucksack in this area around this time. The last thing I need is some taxi driver telling the police that he dropped me off at the station—then they might be able to catch up with me before I leave the country. I’ll just make the ten-minute walk to the station instead. I can still make the two trains I need to take tonight even after this delay. That should also give enough time for my partner to leave the station and make his way to the pub on the seafront where we are due t
o meet up for a debrief.
The pub in question is called the Mermaid and Anchor, and it’s where we met to go over this plan way back at the beginning, so it only felt right for it to be the location where we would meet to toast the success of it upon completion. But I won’t be showing up at that pub.
I’ll be long gone by then.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and take it out as I turn onto the next street. It’s another message from my partner on the train.
“Just arriving at the station. See you soon.”
I smirk at the words as I put my phone away again. He has no idea what I am about to do to him. But I’m not going to feel bad for double-crossing him. After all, I was the one who met Louise and found out about the safe in the first place. He might have helped me come up with the idea of how to get the money out of it, but without me, there would have been no plan to make. So why should I share this loot with him? He thinks he’s so clever with his sharp suits and his sales patter, but I know he is no different from me. He’s just a guy trying to get ahead, and I’m confident he would have screwed me over at the first opportunity. But now I’m the one getting ahead, and he’s the one who has been screwed.
That will serve him right for cheating in all those poker games we played.
I cross the street and keep my head down as I pass a dog walker on the pavement before turning the next corner and seeing the train station come into view up ahead. I check the time again on my phone, and as I do, I feel the ring in my pocket beside my device.
Taking it out, I have a closer look at it as I continue to the station. It certainly looks like it could be worth a few quid, but I guess I won’t know until I take it into a pawnshop and see what I can get for it. Then I notice the small engraving on the underside of the ring, and I pause for a second to read it.
Charles & Mary Montague 23.05.70
I have no idea who they are. Amanda’s parents, perhaps. Maybe this is a family heirloom. The thought of that makes me even more excited about the prospect of it being valuable.
I put the ring back into my pocket and focus on the task at hand, which is getting onto my train without being seen by my partner at the station. I’m cutting it close by catching a train at a similar time to when his arrives in, and I hadn’t expected it to be as fine as this, but I should still be okay. I had expected Amanda to give up the code much earlier than she did, and then I could have been making my escape while my partner was still miles from Brighton. He never could have caught me then. But I can still make it.
In ten minutes, I’ll be sitting on a train to London while he is on his way to that pub on the seafront. But by the time he realises that I’ve betrayed him, I’ll be long gone.
38
STRANGER
I tuck my mobile phone back into the inside pocket of my suit jacket and brush a little speck of dust off the shoulder. I’m feeling slick right now, and it’s not just because of my attire. It’s taken longer than anticipated, but finally the safe is open and we have the money. As the train makes its arrival into Brighton, I feel like toasting to a job well done, and I won’t have to wait long. I’ll be meeting James in less than half an hour in a pub on the seafront for a celebratory pint, and together we’ll watch the sun go down on the south coast before I take the money for myself and leave him high and dry.
While the mood is high on my side of the table, it’s distinctly low on the other. Amanda is leaning on the table with her head in her hands, looking well beaten, which of course she is. She proved a slightly more formidable opponent than I anticipated, and I respect her for that, but in the end, she was no match for me.
‘Don’t worry. Your daughter is fine, and you can always make more money,’ I tell her, deciding not to revel in my win too much and instead show a little respect to my fallen foe. ‘By the sounds of it, you have many talents, so I’m sure you won’t be short of work.’
Amanda doesn’t look up at me, which is a shame because I almost miss that glare of hers. It was quite endearing, in a way.
I feel the brakes engaging on the train and look out of the window to see the edge of the platform at Brighton Station come into view.
Here we are.
The end of the line.
I get up from my seat and brush out the creases in my suit, finding that I’m actually starting to enjoy wearing it now after a little early scepticism. Perhaps I’ll use some of my earnings today on a couple of new outfits. Being a wealthy con man certainly beats being a broke one.
‘I just want you to know this wasn’t personal,’ I say to Amanda as I stand in the aisle and look down at the broken woman. ‘You’ve got a good spirit in you. Don’t lose that. And good luck with your book.’
As my parting gift, I take out Amanda’s mobile from my jacket pocket and place it down on the table in front of her. I don’t need to take it.
I’ve taken more than enough from her today.
With the goodbyes over, I turn and make my way down the carriage as the train comes to a stop, and when the doors slide open, it feels good to step out into the fresh air of a warm summer’s evening. But I don’t linger too long on the platform, aware that Amanda could still cause me problems right now if she were to raise the alarm with any of the staff at this station. I doubt she will because I can still see her sitting at her table with her phone to her ear as I make my way past the window of the train along the platform, but there’s no point hanging around and inviting trouble.
I make my way through the ticket barrier and exit the station, joining the plucky commuters who make this journey from London to Brighton every single weekday evening after a day’s work. But while they are now heading for the streets that surround this station for a brief reprieve before coming back in the morning to do the exact same thing again, I am looking forward to tomorrow being a special day. That’s because by this time in twenty-four hours, I’ll be watching the sun set over the Mediterranean, having swapped the south coast of England for that of France. The plan is for James and me to take the 8 a.m. Eurostar to Paris from London in the morning and head deeper into Europe from there. But I am planning on taking the money and giving him the slip as soon as we are out of the country before heading south to Nice. There I will enjoy the fruits of my labour for as long as the money will last me. With all the fun I’m planning on having with it down on the Riviera, it probably won’t last long.
It’s always been part of my plan to lose James and claim all the money for myself. I don’t owe him anything. I’m the brains who has put this whole operation together, whereas he just got lucky by falling into bed with a young woman whose mum had a bit of cash saved away. Anybody could have done what he did, but very few people could have concocted the scheme that I have come up with, which is why I feel no guilt about betraying my partner.
I nod at the taxi driver standing beside his car on the rank, and he immediately takes the hint and gets in behind the wheel of his vehicle.
‘The Mermaid and Anchor, please,’ I tell him as I take my seat in the back of the cab and pull the door closed behind me.
As the car pulls out of the train station car park, I take my phone from my jacket pocket to let James know I will be with him shortly. I expect he is there already. He may even be on his second pint by now. But I wouldn’t begrudge him starting without me. He’s earned that drink just as much as I have. From the messages he was sending me while I was on that train, it sounded as if Louise was just as much of a nuisance as Amanda was as we went about our work. But just like her mother, she wasn’t enough to stop us getting what we wanted.
‘Nice night for a pint,’ the taxi driver says as he drives me along the Promenade towards the pub.
‘You’re right,’ I reply, smiling as I look out over the pebble beach and the calm blue waters that make this town so popular with tourists. ‘It certainly is.’
39
AMANDA
There was no answer from Louise’s mobile as I sat in my seat and watched that man walk into the cr
owd after we arrived at the station, but I wanted to make sure he was gone before I made my own way out. I don’t care about catching him. I just want to get back to the flat and see my daughter. The fact she isn’t picking up her phone is a cause for concern, and now the man has gone, it’s time for me to get back to the flat as quickly as I can.
The taxi driver responsible for getting me back home on this last leg of my journey obviously took the hint that I wasn’t in the mood for conversation when I entered his cab, because he hasn’t said a single word to me since we set off. It’s only a short journey, and I usually walk it, but I don’t have the luxury of taking my time tonight, nor do I have the patience to listen to the driver tell me about how busy he has been today. I just thrust a five-pound note into his hand, told him my address, and ordered him to get me home as quickly as he could.
He probably thinks I’ve had a bad day at the office and if only that were the truth. I remember so many nights coming home from work feeling fed up, frustrated, and even angry with what I had been through in my job, but those times almost seem like the glory days when I look back on them. The sorrow I felt back then certainly pales in comparison to how I feel after today. I’ve not only lost everything I have worked for, and everything I gained after being assaulted in Charles’s apartment, but that ring is out in the world again, and I have no idea what is going to happen with it. Will the men who have stolen it figure out that it is connected to a murder? Will the police catch them, find the ring, and learn that it was my safe that it was stolen from? Will I ultimately end up losing a lot more than just my savings?