by Stan Mason
After she had left, Paula turned her attention to the banker. ‘She’s all right,’ she stated.
Waverley smiled at her. ‘You don’t really know her. She’s completely dominating with her own views that seem to counter everyone else’s ideas of how their lives should be run. She absolutely hated Elizabeth but that’s enough of that. What’s next on the list?’
‘I want you to meet the gang who’s going to rob the bank,’ she told him flatly.
‘You’ve left it pretty late,’ he responded with an element of concern in his voice.
‘Not really,’ she told him. ‘First of all, they have a van to get to the bank and back. Secondly, they’re champing at the bit with nothing else to do. They’re ready and waiting.’
‘They’ll need a small trolley on two wheels,’ he returned quickly. ‘It’ll facilitate matters greatly. But one thing I must insist on. There’s to be no guns.’
‘No guns!’ she echoed in disbelief.
‘This is going to be a smooth process and no one’s going to get hurt. It will be quick and easy... over in a few minutes... without anyone realising what’s happening.’
‘Well you’re the banker. You know what to do at your end,’ she uttered, shrugging her shoulders. ‘I’ll leave all that to you. Do you think anyone will find out about the robbery until Monday morning?’
‘There’s a very good chance that they won’t,’ he went on. ’Not the way I intend to work it,’
’If it’s as smooth, as you suggest it’s going to be, you can stay on until almost five o’clock. It will be less suspicious than if you left just after two.’
‘Hopefully that will be the case. Where am I going to meet this gang?’ he asked, pressing her for the information.
The leader’s called Fred Wilson,’ she said, handing his a slip of paper on which was written the address. ‘It’s in the East End of London.’
‘How do you know about this man?’
‘I was an East Ender once myself... remember. I have contacts there.’
‘I see,’ he uttered solemnly, wondering what else he didn’t know about her.
‘Don’t forget you need to be heavily disguised. I don’t want them recognising you when they rob the bank. It would be a disaster.’
‘Yes,’ he returned. ‘I shall be heavily disguised, don’t you worry. Tell me,’ he asked still perplexed. ‘Why do we need a gang to rob the bank when I’ve already got all the money?’
‘It’s only to protect you. If a gang rob the safe and take all those newspaper cuttings away with them, the bank won’t be able to point the finger at you.’
‘But I’ll be missing. They’ll know that on the Monday morning. They’ll soon put two and two together.’
‘You’re assuming they will but they won’t. You’ll simply be another mystery that the police won’t be able to fathom out. I’ve worked it all out. You’ll be in the clear but missing. I mean they’ll presume the robbers got away with all the money. They’ll never believe that you were involved... not in a million years. And there’s another thing you ought to know. The reason I think that way is because I intend to inform the police about the gang. They’ll soon hunt them down so you’ll be very much in the clear, ... albeit missing.
Waverley thought about her argument and then considered that it made sense. If the gang was caught with all the boxes, he would definitely be in the clear. It didn’t matter that the boxes contained only newspaper cuttings. Everyone would believe that they had hidden the real money somewhere else. As usual, Paula had thought of every little detail.
***
Sam’s father was true to his word. He knew from the start that it was a job for his son but he was never going to reveal it to his niece. It was not the way of East Enders to tell anyone anything. They were generally friendly up to a point, but personal issues and secretive information were matters best kept to themselves. In that way they avoided most of their problems and many of the rumours that went about. When he first heard of the plan as a done deal with the keys and bank codes available, old man Everett’s eyes lit up. He understood from the start all that his niece had told him was true. She would never deceive a member of the family. It was never on the agenda of any East Ender to do such a heinous thing.
Without delay, he told his son about it and the information was passed on to Fred Wilson who called the gang together immediately. They met at the Everett house on Thursday afternoon to discuss the robbery, however there was not much that any of them could say. Paula had contacted her uncle to tell the gang to rob the bank on Friday morning at two o’clock in the afternoon. That would give Waverley time to deposit the remaining money into his account at the Swiss Bank and get back to ensure that the robbery was successful. She stressed very firmly that if they didn’t rob the bank at that time, the deal was off. All that would happen was that the bank would discover all the money had been replaced by newspaper cuttings but Waverley would not be available for questioning. He would have left to go by train to Manchester Airport waiting to fly to somewhere in the Caribbean as Adam Maloney. However if the gang was successful, everything would be tied up neatly.
After a while, Wilson sat polishing his gun thoughtfully, Brad was reading a magazine relating to guns and ammunition, while Sam fell asleep on the old settee.
‘I wonder how Will’s holding up,’ advanced Wilson after a while.
Brad stared at him glumly. ‘Best to shut him out of your mind. Forget him, that’s my advice.’
‘How can I?’ bleated the bandit. ‘I was the one who got him into it. And the poor bugger’s deaf.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ exclaimed Brad, putting down the magazine.
‘I really don’t know where we go from here.’
‘Well we’ve got this bank robbery tomorrow,’ came the response. ‘You heard what Sam’s father said. It’s a done deal. We can get the keys and the bank safe codes. What could be better than that? Sam’s father said that the information came from his niece. Do you think we can trust her?’
‘She’s family. She wouldn’t tell him about it unless it was kosher.,’ returned Brad. ‘I think we could be on a winner here at last.’
‘You know,’ uttered Wilson. ‘If that bank has enough money in its safe, we could all get away from the East End. We could go abroad to live.’
‘And if it all goes wrong, we could take a holiday at the monarch’s pleasure. We could be sent to a decent jail, if they ever had one.’
‘We’ve got to be at the bank at two o’clock tomorrow,’ recounted Wilson seriously. ‘That’s an odd time. Two o’clock on a Friday afternoon. I wonder why?’
‘No idea but that’s what we’ve been told,’ returned the other man. ‘I hope the person who’s going to give us the bank keys is waiting there for us. I don’t want to be hanging around.’
‘There’s one thing I suggest we do,’ continued Brad with a new idea. ‘Each time we’ve robbed a bank, someone presses the alarm bell. This time, as soon as we go in, we need to get all the cashier’s in the banking hall so that no one can get near to the alarm. We don’t need the money from their cash registers. It’s chicken feed! Let’s get all the cashiers into the banking hall.’
‘Good idea, Brad, and that’s what we’ll do. By the way,’ he went on. ‘We’re going to receive a visit from someone who’s going to set the whole thing up for us. He’ll tell us exactly what we’re supposed to do.’
‘What percentage of the haul does he want for himself?’
‘That’s just it!‘ returned Wilson quietly. ‘He doesn’t want anything.’
‘Come on!’ snapped Brad sharply. ‘No one does nothing for nothing!’
‘It’s true. He doesn’t want anything. Doing it for revenge against the bank so he says.’
‘If you believe that you’ll believe anything. I’ll tell you
one thing,‘ stated Brad firmly. ‘If this is some kind of a wind-up, I’ll shoot the bastard!’
‘We can only listen to what he has to say,’ said the gang leader solemnly.
‘Did he say which bank it was?’ came the next question.
‘Only that it was a big one,’ replied Wilson even more solemnly.
‘One of the big ones, eh! I reckon we won’t get away with it.’
‘Everett’s niece said it was a done deal.’
‘What does she know about robbing a bank,’ snarled Brad beginning to lose his temper as his confidence took a nose-dive. ‘What does she know about done deals?’
‘All I know is that he’s coming to talk to us about it.’
Brad shrugged his shoulders aimlessly. He was less than satisfied disbelieving that anyone would arrange for a large robbery to take place and not want any of the proceeds for themselves. There was something exceedingly fishy about it. He could smell it like a bad odour.
Sam came to life as he woke up and stared at Brad bleakly ‘I can’t smell any bad fish,’ he uttered, feeling as though his mouth was filled with cotton-wool.’
Brad rose from his seat and went to the door. ‘I’m going to get a six pack. We seem to have run out of beer..’
As he reached the door, there was a loud knock from outside. He opened the door and stared at the caller. ‘Cor!’ he uttered. ‘You look just like Winston Churchill!’
Waverley wore a long black overcoat, a wide trilby hat, a thick moustache, a goatee beard, padded cheeks and a pair of large dark glasses.
‘I thought Winston Churchill was dead,’ cut in Wilson, trying to hide the gun that he was cleaning.
‘Well he died a long time ago,’ commented Waverley in a deep voice that was totally unrecognisable from his own which leant heavily on a thick Irish accent.
‘Then what’s he doing here if he’s still Winston Churchill?’ asked Sam, still affected by sleep.
‘Shut up!’ shouted Brad, staring hard at the strange figure in front of him. ‘What do you want?’
‘I think you’re expecting me,’ related Waverly sternly.
‘What for?’ came the next question.
‘If I said bank, would that be of any help?’
‘Yeh, we’re expecting you,’ declared Brad with a dull tone in his voice. ‘You’d better come in.’
Waverley entered the lounge and sat on a small uncomfortable wooden chair.
‘You do look a bit like Winston Churchill if you lost the moustache and the beard, ‘ remarked Sam inanely.
‘Shut up, Sam!’ repeated Brad acutely.
‘Okay!’ began Waverley. ‘I hold the keys and the codes to the bank safe.’
‘Are we talking about the main safe?’ asked Wilson, stopping the man in his flow.
‘Yes, it’s the main safe. I’ll explain it all in detail if you’re willing to take on the job.’
‘Oh we’re ready to take it on,’ said Wilson eagerly. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.
‘Yes, we’re willing. Mr. Churchill,’ added Sam just as eagerly.
‘Fine,’ said the banker. ‘Now let me be quite clear about this. No one’s to get hurt! Is that understood? You’ll go into the bank with no ski-masks, no guns, pistols, rifles or machine-guns. You’ll just appear to be ordinary customers. Got it so far?’
‘Are you serious?’ snapped Wilson sharply. ‘Are you saying we rob the bank without guns?’
‘That’s the only way to handle this robbery. Are you all in agreement... no guns?
The three bank robbers nodded their assent albeit rather reluctantly because they could not envisage doing the job without weapons.
‘The three of your walk into the banking hall, one at a time, not altogether, and the first one goes down the stairs at the end of the banking hall to the safe.’
‘Won’t anyone see him?’ asked Brad with uncertainty in his voice.
‘I don’t think so,’ came the reply. ‘The cashiers will be too busy. Shortly a second man follows him. If anyone’s on the stairs, knock him out with your fists but it’s highly unlikely anyone will be there. The third man comes into the banking hall a few seconds later with a small trolley on two wheels which has a pile of cardboard boxes on it. He takes it to the end of the banking hall.‘
‘What if someone in the bank stops him?’ enquired Brad, with concern.
‘He just says: “Stationery delivery ordered yesterday but the cashiers should be too busy to take any notice at that time of day... much too busy to notice. He takes I to the end of the banking hall and leaves it by the life. He then goes into the lift and presses the button to take it down. The trolley used by the bank will be in it. The first and second men will meet someone waiting by the safe who will undo the locks with both keys and insert the bank codes. The two men then put all the money from the safe on the trolley and the third man takes it up on the lift. The first and second man go back up the stairs and walk out of the bank. The third man pushes the cardboard boxes off the small trolley and places the boxes of money taken from the safe onto it. He then wheels it out through the banking hall. If any of the cashiers say anything all he has to say is: ‘Thank you!” and continue. The van will be waiting outside by then and the money in large plastic boxes will be taken off the trolley and put in the back. You throw the trolley inside the van and away you go at a low speed.‘
‘I don’t like the idea of having to wheel the trolley out of the bank by the front entrance,’ commented Wilson unhappily.
‘Well there is no back entrance and to place the large plastic boxes containing the banknotes would not only take longer if you tried to do it any other way but it would be just as noticeable when you left the bank. Wheeling a trolley out is the quickest and simplest way of execution but do it unhurriedly. Take your time wheeling it out of the bank and then you won’t draw attention to yourself. Do you want me to repeat those instructions?’
‘What if the man with the keys and codes isn’t there?’ asked Sam.
‘If you time the raid at exactly two o’clock, he’ll be there waiting at the safe door. Don’t you worry about that.’
‘What if someone stops us on the way out?’ asked Brad becoming the Devil’s Advocate.
‘Just press on with the trolley. The other two will be at the front door. Theycan manhandle anyone who gets in the way. However, to all intents and purposes, the action should be so quick and unexpected that you are very likely to face no resistance whatsoever.’
‘Okay,’ cut in Wilson. ‘We’re up for the job. Which bank is it?’
‘The branch of the Prescot bank near Threadneedle Street. Do you know it?
‘Yeh, I know it,’ uttered Wilson. ‘That’s a big bank.’
‘We were told that you didn’t want a cut of the proceeds. Is that true?’ pressed Brad suspiciously.
‘That’s true,’ confirmed Waverley. ‘For me, this is solely a matter of revenge,’
‘Do you know how much is in the safe?’ asked Sam inquisitively.
‘I understand there are five large plastic boxes each containing somewhere in the region of two hundred-and-fifty grand each.’
‘Phew!’ remarked Wilson, trying to catch his breath as he attempted to work out the total sum.
‘It’s well over a million quid,’ intervened Brad with a rough calculation.
Sam almost began shaking with excitement. ‘A million quid!‘ he repeated in disbelief. ‘That’s enough for me to get out of this crummy joint!’
Waverley stood up and went to the door. ‘Well that’s all I have to tell you. Be there at two o’clock sharp tomorrow... and no guns! Is everyone au fait with the details?’
Sam’s eyebrows went up. ‘He speak French as well,’ he commented. ‘I’m still wondering how Winston Churchill can still be alive
after all this time.’
Wilson removed his cap and swiped Sam around the head with it in anger.
Waverley left the house just in time for the Arabic gum used to attach his moustache to his upper lip began to weaken. He closed his eyes at the thought that within a few minutes it would have fallen off to reveal part of his face. However his task had been completed and he made his way home making certain that no one from the East End was following him. He was certain that his identity was secure. He would face the gang on the following afternoon and not one of them would recognise him!
Chapter Thirteen
On Friday, Waverley recognised that it would be the last time he would steal from the bank. It made little difference what he thought because after this robbery he would have taken all the money from the safe,... in terms of real money the safe would be empty. He went through the same procedure as he had done during the past four days taking substantial sums of money from the safe. By this time he had manage to resolve his problem concerning the briefcase whereby he placed a large towel over the top shelf of the trolley under which he hid it from sight. He was now quite callous in attitude regarding stealing the money. He recalled the dialogue in an old Western film where one of renegades said: The first time you kill a man it’s hard... real hard! After that, killing’s easy.’ It was the same with a regular theft. Once a robber got over the first hurdle, it all became easy. He stared at the pile of large plastic boxes filled with newspaper cuttings glumly.
‘Dammit!’ he muttered to himself. ‘There’s no more money left. I’ve taken it all. Paula, so you’d better have arranged for this robbery fast. We haven’t any more time!’
He placed his briefcase filled with the last money to be taken from the safe on to the trolley and pushed it to the lift. Then his heart missed a beat as Johnson appeared without warning.
‘Don’t forget!’ he said firmly. ‘We’ll rehearse closing the safe on Monday.’
‘Yes, Monday,’ returned Waverley, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be there. ‘We’ll do it then.’