Broken

by Oliver T Spedding

  "What should I wear?" I asked.

  "Wear something sexy." Garth said. "That will make Bagdanovic focus on your body and not your face. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a dirty old man and will spend most of the time leering at your legs."

  ***

  As I walked along the pavement towards Mister Bogdanovic's shop I felt as if everyone was looking at me and could see that I was wearing a black wig, had layers of face powder on my face to lighten my complexion, had heavily blackened eyebrows and long artificial eyelashes. My short skirt, high heels and low-cut blouse also embarrassed me. I kept reminding myself that there was an important purpose to what I was doing and if it came off the rewards were be very satisfying.

  I reached the shop with the sign "LOANS" on the window and pressed the buzzer attached to the frame of the door. As I waited for a response I put on my black-rimmed glasses. A hugely overweight middle-aged man appeared in the entrance. He was completely bald with pale blue watery eyes and thick blubbery lips.

  "Yes?" he asked.

  "I'm interested in taking out a loan." I said as the man's eyes wandered over my body as if he was undressing me.

  The man nodded and disappeared from view. A few seconds later the lock on the security door clicked open. I pushed the gate open and walked into the shop. The security gate, which was controlled by a steel spring closed behind me with a loud click. I glanced quickly at the door in the back wall and, even with my glasses on, I could see the key in the lock. A movement to my left attracted my attention and I saw Mister Bogdanovic staring at my legs from the door of his office.

  "Come into my office." he said and as I entered he smiled at me. "I'm Rocky Bogdanovic."

  Mister Bogdanovic moved to the chair behind his desk and sat down. He pointed at the two visitor's chairs.

  "Sit down." he said, still leering at me.

  I sat down and put my small handbag on my lap.

  "So, you want to borrow some money." Bogdanovic said. "How much did you have in mind?"

  "Two thousand Rand." I replied.

  "And how long will it take you to repay it?"

  "Ten days." I said.

  If the man had had eyebrows they probably would have risen halfway up his forehead.

  "As quickly as that?" he asked.

  "Yes." I said. "My sister Anne is in hospital and will be coming out in three day's time. Until she can go back to work a week after that, she won't be able to pay the hospital's bill. I'm going to lend her the two thousand Rand to help her pay the bill when she leaves the hospital and she'll pay me back as soon as she gets back to work. Then I'll come here and pay you back."

  Rocky Bogdanovic nodded.

  "Have you got anything that you can use as surety?" he asked. "Jewellery, coins or furniture?"

  "No." I said. "My furniture is all still on hire-purchase and I don't have any jewellery of value."

  "Okay." Bogdanovic said. "As you don't have anything to use as surety for the loan it means that I'm taking a big risk by lending you two thousand Rand. The interest will therefore have to be twenty per cent for the ten days. Do you understand what that means?"

  I nodded.

  "What's your name?"

  "Maureen Daniels." I said.

  "Where do you live?"

  "In a one-bedroom flat in the Sunset Mansions in Kotze Street in Hillbrow." I said.

  Mister Bogdanovic wrote all this information on a pad on his desk.

  "How old are you." he asked.

  "Seventeen." I said.

  "Give me your identity book" Bogdanovic said holding out his hand.

  I opened my hand bag and scrounged around in it as if I was looking for the book. I looked up at Bogdanovic with an embarrassed expression on my face.

  "I've forgotten it at my flat." I said. "If you do agree to lend me the money I'll bring it with me when I come to collect the money."

  "Okay." he said. "But without the identity book I cannot lend you anything. Do you understand?"

  I nodded.

  "Is there anyone that can vouch for you?" Bogdanovic asked.

  "No." I said. "Both my parents are dead and I don't want my sister to know that I borrowed the money to help her."

  "Where do you work?"

  "At Steers in Randburg as a part-time waitress." I said.

  "You travel to Randburg from Hillbrow every day?"

  "Yes." I said. "Times are tough; as I'm sure you know. I have to take whatever I can."

  "Do you have a cell phone?"

  "Yes." I said and gave him the number of the 'phone that I had just bought.

  "Okay." Bogdanovic said. "I know that I'm taking a bit of a chance here but you seem like an honest person to me. But I'll have to keep your identity book until you've repaid the loan. You know the terms of the loan, so when do you want the money?"

  "In two day's time." I said.

  "Okay. Come back here the day after tomorrow with your identity document and I'll lend you the money." Bogdanovic said.

  I stood up and Bogdanovic hurried round his desk. As I walked to the door of the office I felt his hand on my back.

  "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be working as a waitress." he said. "I'll see if I can find you a better job. Would you like that?"

  I walked out of the office without saying anything, my skin crawling from his touch. I glanced quickly at the door to the back of the shop to assure myself that I had seen the key in the lock. It was definitely there. The lock on the security door clicked and I pulled it open.

  "Be here in two days time at ten o'clock." Bogdanovic said. "I might even have a job offer for you by then."

  I nodded and stepped out onto the pavement.

  ***

  "What a horrible man!" I said as I walked into the lounge and sat down on the couch next to Garth. "You were quite right about him being a dirty old man. He leered at me the whole time I was there. If he's ever asked to describe me, the only things he'll only be able to describe in detail are my legs. He never stopped looking at them."

  "What about the key?" Garth asked impatiently. "Was it in the door?"

  "Yes." I said. "I saw it in the door as soon as I walked into the shop. And just to make sure, I purposely looked again on the way out."

  "And the interview?" Garth asked.

  "It went just as you said it would." I replied. "Bogdanovic took down all the information that I gave him and then he told me to come back the day after tomorrow. But, what's worrying me, Garth, is that he's bound to send someone to check on the address that I gave him. What do you think he'll do when he finds out that I don't live there?"

  "I think it will make him all the more determined to see you in two day's time." Garth said. "He'll probably want to try and intimidate you and force you to either work for him or have sex with him. But, before you get frightened, remember that he won't even get a chance to accuse you of anything. The fact that you gave him a wrong address means nothing. If everything goes according to plan I'll have knocked him out within minutes of you walking into the office. And by the time he comes round we'll be long gone."

  "Of course!" I said. "I hadn't thought of that."

  "I'm going to come into the shop about thirty seconds after you've gone in." Garth said. "I don't want him sitting at his desk where he'll see me crossing the entrance hall to the back door. He's got to have his back to me."

  "What I can do is drop my open handbag when I'm in the middle of the office and Bogdanovic's still behind me." I said. "I'll make sure that some of the contents of the bag fall out. Then, while Bogdanovic's helping me pick up the things and leering at my legs, you'll be able to close the glass door with the "CLOSED" notice on it, cross to the back door and lock it, and still get to the office before we've picked up everything."

  "That's a good idea!" Garth said. "It'll work perfectly. And then I can knock him out and he'll never know what happened."

  ***

  "Your Honour." James Foster said looking up at Judge Bester. "Miss Bedford is looking a littl
e tired. Perhaps this would be a good time for her to step down from the witness stand and for Garth Gilmore to continue with his testimony."

  The judge nodded.

  CHAPTER 12

  "Garth." Paul Greave said once I'd sat down in the chair on the witness stand. "Cindy Bedford has been telling the court about your plans to rob Mister Bogdanovic. Please tell the court about Cindy's second visit to the money lender."

  ***

  As I walked behind Cindy towards Mister Bogdanovic's shop I realised just how sexy she looked in her short skirt and high heel shoes. No wonder Bogdanovic couldn't take his eyes off her. I even experienced a strange feeling of jealousy as I thought of the two of them picking up the contents of Cindy's handbag off the floor of the office while he looked up her dress.

  I stopped ten metres from the shop and watched Cindy reach the entrance and press the buzzer. I was wearing my ski mask rolled up to just above my eyebrows and the rucksack was slung onto my back. The rubber truncheon was tucked in under my belt and hidden by my dark blue windbreaker.

  I saw Cindy push open the security gate of the shop and quickly stick the thick the piece of thick mirror tape over the cavity of the lock before Mister Bogdanovic appeared at the front door. The gate closed behind her. I counted to thirty while pretending to fasten my shoelace and then walked to the shop entrance and pushed the security gate inwards. It opened silently. I entered the shop, took the "CLOSED" sign out of my pocket, unfolded it and stuck it on the outside of the glass door with the pieces of Prestik that I'd stuck on each corner. I could hear Bogdanovic and Cindy talking in the office. I closed the door quietly and moved as silently as I could across the entrance area towards the door into the back of the shop. As I passed the office door I glanced in. Both Cindy and Bogdanovic were squatting with their backs to me as they picked up the contents of Cindy's handbag that she'd dropped. I reached the door and turned the key. I pulled my ski mask down over my face and pulled out the rubber truncheon. I moved to the entrance to the office. Both Cindy and Bogdanovic still had their backs to me. I stepped up behind the money lender, raised the truncheon and brought it down hard on the man's bald head. As the man slumped forward onto the floor I saw a large gash on his head where the truncheon had struck him. Dark red blood began pouring from the wound. Cindy stood up, clutching her handbag, her eyes wide with fear.

  "Did you get everything that was in your bag?" I whispered.

  Cindy nodded, too scared to speak.

  I looked at the big safe. The thick steel door was slightly ajar. I hurried closer and hauled it open. I stared at the stacks of one hundred Rand notes and the glittering jewellery. Cindy came up and stood next to me. I pulled the rucksack off my back and opened it. We began to stuff the banknotes and the jewellery inside.

  "Wow!" Cindy whispered excitedly. "There's an absolute fortune in here!"

  I was putting the last of the contents of the safe into the rucksack when I heard a noise outside the office. I put the rucksack down and hurried to the doorway of the office. The handle of the door to the back of the shop was moving up and down vigorously as someone behind the barrier tried to open it. I turned to Cindy.

  "Get out of the shop!" I whispered. "Leave the rucksack and go home! Those two goons are going to break down the door at any moment."

  Cindy hurried away. A loud bang came from behind the door to the back of the shop and I saw the wood near the bottom bulge outwards. I hurried back into the office, grabbed the last of the jewellery and stuffed it into the rucksack. I closed it and slung it onto my back. With my handkerchief I quickly wiped the door of the safe where I'd grabbed it to open it. I heard a loud splintering sound from the entrance area. I moved to the office doorway just as the bottom half of the door to the back of the shop collapsed outwards and one of Bogdanovic's thugs pushed his way through, crouching low. I felt the hatred of him well up in my chest as I remembered the beating he'd given me.

  Realising that I wouldn't be able to get away without the two thugs chasing after me, I rushed up to the still crouching man and hit him as hard as I could on the side of his head with the truncheon. I saw his skull dent inwards as the weapon bit into it. He collapsed onto the floor. The second thug must have realised what had happened and instead of also trying to get through the hole in the door he thrust his hand through the opening and reached up for the key in the lock. Before I could react the hand turned the key and at the same time the handle moved downwards. The broken door opened and the second thug stared at me. He was holding a snooker cue in his hand like a long club.

  The man raised the snooker cue above his head and rushed at me, almost tripping over the unconscious man on the floor. I knew that if I moved backwards as he expected me to do I would be an easy target for him as he would be out of range of the truncheon but I would still be within the range of the cue. Instead, I rushed closer to him as he glanced down to avoid the prone man at his feet. I rammed the end of the truncheon viciously into his solar plexus. The air exploded out of the man's lungs and he dropped the snooker cue. He clutched at his midriff as he bent forward desperately trying to get air into his lungs. I stepped back and swung the truncheon down as hard as I could on the back of his neck. I heard the vertebrae of his spinal column crack. He fell to the ground like a limp rag doll.

  I was gasping for breath from the effort and the tension in my body and had to lean against the wall to steady myself. Gradually I calmed down. I looked over my shoulder at the open doors of the shop but nobody was in sight. I turned and walked to the glass door as I pulled off my ski mask and stuffed it into my jacket pocket. I removed the "CLOSED" sign from the door and put it into my shirt pocket. I stepped out of the entrance area and I closed the door. I carefully wiped the handle with my handkerchief. I pulled the security door open and removed the thick mirror tape. I put it into my pocket, stepped out onto the pavement and pulled the gate closed behind me. Surreptitiously I rubbed the bars of the gate with the sleeve of my jacket where I'd held them as I pulled it closed. I turned and walked away as casually as I could. Nobody took any notice of me.

  ***

  I walked into the house and closed the door behind me. Cindy hurried to me from where she'd been sitting on the couch in the lounge. She put her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

  "I've been so worried, Garth." she said. "I couldn't help thinking that those two thugs would overpower you and kill you. Are you okay? You didn't get hurt?"

  "No." I said as I walked into the lounge and slung the rucksack off my back. I put it down on the couch.

  "What happened after I left?" Cindy asked.

  "Fortunately those two thugs couldn't get through the doorway together." I said. "So I was able to take them out one at a time by hitting them with the truncheon."

  "I hope you didn't kill them." Cindy said. "Will they be okay?"

  "Yes." I said. "One of them may have problems though. I had to hit him on the back of his neck and I think that I may have damaged his spine."

  "And Mister Bogdanovic?"

  "He was still unconscious when I left." I said. "The important thing though, is that we got away with it."

  "What are we going to do with the money and the jewellery?" Cindy asked. "Do you want to count it now?"

  "I think that we'd better hide it as quickly as we can." I said. "We can count it later when the heat's off."

  "Where are you going to hide it?" Cindy asked.

  "I think that the best place to hide it would be in a safety deposit locker." I said. "At first I thought of Park Station but apparently they don't have storage lockers any more. The only other place that I can think of is the Gold Reef City casino. You can pay cash to rent a locker there and you don't have to give them any details. We can rent one for three weeks so that, even if the police do come here, they won't find anything to link us to the robbery. You'd better also give me the cell phone that you bought so that I can throw it away. It'll just be a matter of time before Bogdanovic 'phones that number to try and trace you."r />
  "Can't we count the money first?" Cindy asked. "I'd love to know how much we got."

  "No." I said. "I'm going to the casino right now. The sooner it's hidden the better. We can't take any chances."

  "Do you really think that the police will link us to the robbery?" Cindy asked. "We didn't leave any clues. What makes you think that they'll come here?"

  "It's just a feeling I have." I said. "We mustn't take even the slightest chance. There's too much at stake."

  I pulled the truncheon out from under my belt and put it into the rucksack. I put Cindy's cheap cell phone in my pocket and left the house.

  During the walk to the casino I carefully wiped the cell phone with my handkerchief to get rid of any fingerprints and, when I was sure nobody was watching me, I switched it off and dropped it down one of the street drains. As it was switched off the police would never be able to trace it.

  At the casino I hired a storage locker and paid for three weeks rental in cash. I had thought that the staff would be suspicious of someone renting a locker for so long but they didn't say a thing. I stuffed the rucksack into the steel container, locked it and pocketed the key. I left the complex and walked home.

  ***

  The robbery at Mister Bogdanovic's shop was in all the local newspapers and also on the television evening news. The money lender and his two employees had all been hospitalised but one of the employees had suffered serious spinal damage was likely to be paralysed from the neck down. The police were investigating the crime and important leads were being followed up. According to the police this was the third robbery in Rosettenville in the last six months.

  My hunch about the police coming to visit us proved to be right. One afternoon, two weeks after the Bogdanovic robbery Captain Williams and Warrant Offices Cilliers showed up at the house. Fortunately Cindy was out looking for work. I was worried that if the police questioned her she would break down and confess to what we'd done. I invited the two policemen into the house and we sat in the lounge.