Harry sighed long and hard. "Oh, that's a new one!" he muttered.
"And people worship God," Mini continued. "I worship you, Sir. You're great." She began to walk towards the door. "Bye!" she left the room.
"Idiot," Harry mumbled. "This is the first girl I've met who denies being touched by me and then sees me as a God!" He looked as if he was about to burst into tears.
"God is so great, he's put you both together without feeling bad about your brother." Mini continued.
"I just think that both of you should have waited a while," Harry added, eating his fruit salad. "I mean, I know this place is really far from town but you both didn't have to go away that far, at least until you've got that policy money." He paused. "Hungry? Want my fruit salad?" he offered Ronan.
"What are you trying to say?" Ronan asked in a threatening voice.
"See Mini? This is the response I get from an intelligent criminal. He never accepts loss." Harry smiled. "Yesterday, I went to Cape Town," he explained to Ronan and Alice. "I met an estate agent there. The exact same estate agent that Noah and Alice went to meet. Apparently, there, Alice did this act of not feeling well. She wasn't free for those days, and Noah hadn't proposed to her either. Poor Noah actually thought that she wasn't feeling well, so he told her to go back to the hotel and rest. But she wanted a quick marriage, so she went to the Marriage Registrar Office. That's where the younger brother Ronan all ready was, and they both got married."
Noah and Alice were both sitting at the Cape Town Estate Agents office. After a while of talking with the estate agent, Alice let out a small gasp.
"I don't feel very well, Noah," Alice told Noah, putting a hand to her forehead dramatically.
"Really? What's wrong?" Noah asked her.
"I'm feeling a bit sick."
"Oh, I'm so sorry Alice. Will you be all right?"
"No," Alice shook her head.
Noah looked at her sympathetically, and pat her shoulder. "All right then. I'll stay here, and you can go and rest back at the hotel," he reassured.
Alice smiled at him thankfully and departed from the estate agents. However, she had no intention of going back to the hotel. She got in to her car and drove to the Marriage Registar Office, where Ronan was waiting for her. Alice got out of her car and she and Ronan hugged and kissed.
"On the marriage certificate, Noah signed it," Mini said pointedly. "So how did all that work out?"
"Because of Alice. She'd got Noah to sign the certificate all ready. Remember that day, when Alice was talking to Noah about how he felt so down about Ronan drinking and he signed some papers? That's when, at the Marriage Registrar Office, whilst Mr Downes was on the phone, she switched the papers around so that the one that Noah had signed was on the table, and the blank one that Mr Downes gave her, was in her bag. That's why the signatures were both signed in different ink. She did the real signature of herself in front of the registrar, and then she handed over the paper to Ronan, where he pretended to sign the paper but didn't, as Noah's signature was all ready there."
"Erm, I've got some papers that I need your signatures for," Alice pushed on, opening a blue file. Noah nodded briefly, and then signed the papers. A little smirk appeared on her face, because she was glad that Noah was signing the papers without even looking at them. Then, she quickly changed tack when he looked up, and she stared at him with lust instead. Noah turned around, and their eyes met.
Alice and Ronan were at The Marriage Registrar Office with Mr Downes. All Mr Downes ever did was shout down the phone at his wife, and that was exactly what he was doing now. Whilst he was doing this, Alice quickly put the forged marriage contract that was in her bag on the table and put the blank one that Mr Downes gave in her bag. She then signed the paper and then Ronan pretended to sign the paper as Noah's signature was printed on it all ready.
"Then who's Hodgkiss?" Mini asked.
"Hodgkiss is Ronan! That's the name he booked the Cape Town ticket under, to fake his identity!" Harry exclaimed. Harry was sharp tongued. He'd figured out everything. "I got a photograph from the Marriage Bureau of Alice and Ronan." He flashed the photograph in their faces.
Harry and Mini walked into the Registrar of Marriages office.
"Where's Mr Downes?" Harry asked to a lady who was walking past.
"Please take a seat, Mr Downes will be here in five minutes," the lady replied.
"Thank you," Harry said, nodding. Then, he and Mini heard a shouting voice.
"I'M NOT YOUR DAD'S BLOODY BEGGAR SERVANT, SO YOU'D BETTER TALK TO ME WITH RESPECT!" came a roaring voice. "ARE YOU BLOODY TAKING THE MICKEY OUT OF ME? DO YOU THINK I'M EASILY JUST GOING TO HAND YOU OVER MONEY LIKE THAT?! DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT IN THE OFFICE. THE OFFICE IS MY HOME, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? DON'T TALK ABOUT FATHER'S LIKE THAT. OH, FOR GAWD'S SAKE, IF YOU'RE A WIFE THEN ACT LIKE ONE AND STAY A SENSIBLE ONE!" He dialled off his phone in frustration and bounded into the room where Harry and Mini were. "Talk," he began, calming down a little.
"Look, we want to -" Harry began.
"You want to get married?" Mr Downes shouted. "Everyday, boys and boys, girls and girls, boys and girls, ask me to get them married! I'm not talking to you in an offensive way, but f you want to get married, then bloody give me a ring. There's such things as phones, you know! Talk on a mobile and the other mobile won't be upset, do you understand?! Please don't take this in a bad way, but it's really annoying!" He paused. "Never leave a phone on silent, you can change the bloody ringtone whenever you bloody want! You can even put the phone in your pocket, but my wife never bloody listens to me! After getting an old wan, you can sell it for a new one, but no, my wife does not listen!"
Harry and Mini were sighing, and Mini was about to burst into tears because Mr Downes wouldn't stop shouting. Harry offered Mr Downes some berries, ripe, sweet, and straight from the shop.
"Thank you!" Mr Downes said, snatching the berries off him. "Now, you both just fill in the form and I'll sign it!"
Harry's mouth was full of berries. "I'm ... Harry Rodgers," he scoffed.
"Are you Harry Burnham, a music director?" Mr Downes exclaimed. "Oh, I'm such a big fan of you! I'm only alive because I listen to your music, otherwise I would have died! Oh, Harry, mate!"
Mini was beckoning to Harry to try and make Mr Downes shut up. Harry nodded.
"Look, I'm not Harry Burnham, whoever that is." Harry's tone of voice was foul. "I'm Inspector Harry Rodgers, emphasis on the Rodgers!" He leaned closer. "Inspector Harry Rodgers!" he repeated.
"Inspector?" Mr Downes repeated, looking as if he was about to burst into tears. "Did my wife send you here? Oh, sir, I don't fight with her or anything, I'm a really good husband! Sometimes people do get a bad impression of me and my wife takes it wrongly ..."
"I'm here in reference of a case!" Harry interrupted, breaking Mr Downes off his sentence. "And I want to ask you some questions!"
"Okay," Mr Downes replied vaguely.
"Sweetie," Harry beckoned to Mini. Mini nodded, and handed over a photograph of Alice to Mr Downes.
"Hmm, why has she got sandals on her head?" Mr Downes asked, and then realized that the photograph was upside down. Embarrassed, he turned it back the right way around.
"Do you recognize this lady?" Harry asked him.
"Yes!" Mr Downes exclaimed. "So many days ago, she came here to get married!"
Harry nodded, and then Mini handed over a photograph of Noah. "Did she come with this man?" Harry asked.
"No, no, no, no!" Mr Downes denied. "She didn't come with him, that man looks pretty decent to me, a good person. However, the person that she did get married to was a very angry man! He hit my photographer, and then smashed his camera on to the floor so that we couldn't take any pictures of him! Very bad! Very bad!"
Harry scratched his chin. "What did the man look like?" he asked.
"Well, he had two feet, two eyes, two hands ..." Mr Downes began. "But he only had one nose. He looked like a man, I'm not lying."
Harry a
nd Mini were about to burst out laughing.
"You're going to have to go with us to Dublin. There, one of our departments artists will make a sketch of your description," Harry sighed.
Mr Downes grinned. "I don't have a problem with going, Sir, but there's no point of making a sketch since I managed to get his photograph! Take a look at the photograph and make a sketch, you know what I mean?"
Mini gasped. "You've got a photo of him?!"
"Yes, yes!" Mr Downes exclaimed. "Whenever someone does some crazy stuff with us, we just go to the CCTV and grab a photo from there!" He opened up the file and handed it over to them.
Mini looked as if she was about to faint. It was a CCTV photograph of Alice - with Ronan. "Sir, this is Ronan!" she piped up. "But Alice told us that she got married to Noah!"
"Ronan is crazy," Harry murmured. "He's that flower I was talking about at the funeral."
"Oh, that's nothing! My wife made me shrink from six foot to five foot!" Mr Downes laughed.
"Thank you, Mr Downes. Take care of your wife." Harry and Mini got up on their feet and shook hands with Mr Downes.
"You're welcome!" Mr Downes said a little too enthusiastically.
Ronan took his sunglasses off and Alice swallowed.
"How much money do you want?" Ronan asked.
Harry took his hat off, staring at them both with great interest. "What made you think that I'll want money from this?"
Ronan chuckled. "Don't insult my intelligence, Officer Harry Rodgers. If you didn't want money then I would have been locked up in prison by now."
Harry grinned. "He's right! You are right!" he exclaimed. "Fifteen percent money plus ten percent service tax and I'll forgive you!" Mini gasped. "How much longer will I be eating this fruit?" Harry smiled.
"Done." Ronan confirmed. "And in exchange for that money you'll clean out all you're data or whatever other shit you've got against us, so that we can get our policy money as soon as possible."
Harry fumbled in his pockets. "I've held my statement to the insurance company that you're both clean. And here is the copy for that. By Monday, you'll get your sanction letter." He handed over the piece of paper.
Ronan took it from him whilst Mini just watched them all, gobsmacked.
"Now, all I'm gonna wait for is your phone call," Harry said. "Bye."
Ronan and Alice nodded, pleased. "Thanks Harry." He looked at Mini. "Ma'am," he nodded. He and Alice got up from their seats hand in hand, and departed.
Harry and Mini stood up too, as Harry continued to munch through his fruit salad.
"Sir, I could never have even thought that you'd manage to get fifteen percent of the one hundred million dollars. You've never managed to get much money from your cases before," Mini said to her boss.
Harry stared at Mini.
"It means you're gonna get fifteen million dollars, plus that tax!" She looked at him in awe.
"Oh, don't you sweat, Mini. You'll get your cut. I'll give you seven cents as a tip."
Mini was really stupid. "Thank you, Sir!" she exclaimed.
Harry put his bowl of fruit salad in her hand. "Mention not," he grinned.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
WHEN CHANTELLE CAME IN ...
Ronan looked at the paper slip happily in the morning. He had the one hundred million dollars, and he was over the moon. Then, he saw Chantelle walk into the house. Within a split second, he stuffed the piece of paper into his suit pocket and ran over to the bathroom, pretending to have a shower.
Chantelle walked further into the house, her handbag neatly placed on her arm. When she realized that Ronan was in the shower, she glanced over to see his suit on the sofa, with a piece of paper neatly stuffed in the pocket. Ronan wiped down the glass of the shower to see what Chantelle was doing.
"A sanction letter ... Alice?" she read. "How did Ronan get hold of this?"
Then, Ronan turned off the shower. Chantelle, quick as a mouse, quickly slot the sanction letter back into the suit's pocket. She grabbed her handbag and ran out of the house.
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
Chantelle drove her car and parked. Ronan parked his car a few places in front of her. He knew that Chantelle was there, but didn't let it on because he was about to do something.
He walked out of his car and leaned against it, waving at someone at the other side of the road. Alice.
Alice waved back, and walked over to Ronan. They hugged each other tight. Chantelle could not believe what she was seeing.
"Did you see her?" Ronan whispered in Alice's ear.
"You bet," Alice replied.
They pulled away from each other's arms and laughed. The pair of them got back in the car, and Chantelle followed them in her own car. Chantelle saw Alice walking in to the National Bank of South Africa, and realized suddenly what was going on.
Alice strode into the bank and sat down at the reception. She handed over some papers to the receptionist, ready to collect her money.
"It's okay," the receptionist nodded, scanning through the pages.
"Thank you," Alice smiled.
The money was rapidly printed and packed.
The next thing Ronan saw was Alice walking outside of the bank with two security guards, helping her carry the many briefcases of money. Ronan grinned at her broadly.
The security guards packed the briefcases into their boot, and Chantelle watched from her car, gobsmacked. She still couldn't get her head around what was happening.
Alice sat back in the car and everything was locked and secure. She took out her compact mirror and began to apply some lipstick.
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
THE DONATION AGREEMENT
"Hello?" Harry answered his phone.
"Where should I get your money delivered?" Ronan said at the other end of the line, whilst Alice continued to apply her lipstick.
"At the King's Cross, there's a society place. Tomorrow, you can donate my share there," Harry replied, as Mini tapped away on her phone. She looked up, unable to believe what Harry was saying.
"Donate it to a charity?" Ronan repeated, laughing.
"It's my money," Harry replied calmly. "I can do whatever I want with it."
Ronan grinned. "Good luck," he shrugged, and dialled off the phone whilst Alice giggled lightly.
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
THE ROOFTOP OF THE ROYAL PARKING
"So weird," she commented, and they continued to drive. Chantelle followed them. Ronan drove right into the Royal Parking. Chantelle continued to follow them. Ronan purposefully drov round endless twists and bends in the parking, and then drove all the way to the rooftop of the Royal Parking. Chantelle followed the pair of them - and when Ronan parked, she parked too, and got out of her car.
When Alice and Ronan saw her get out of her car, they drove in front of her. Ronan gave her a thumbs down, the look on his face threatening. Alice smirked too. Chantelle didn't know what was going on. Alice and Ronan drove out of the Royal Parking, leaving Chantelle alone on the rooftop, confused and not knowing what to do.
That's when Frank the contract killer strode on to the rooftop in his red truck.
Chantelle's eyes went wide in shock. "Frank?" she gasped. She rolled over on to her car and Frank hit it. The car flew into the air and dropped back down with a massive shatter on to Frank's car, and then bounced off with a thump on to the ground. Chantelle began to run for all she was worth, and Frank slowed down since Chantelle's car had smashed his window. That didn't stop him though. He revved up the engine again, and Chantelle was at a dead end. There was nowhere else that she could run. She held on to the barrier for her dear life, praying that this wasn't the end.
Somebody was running up on a higher building, seeing that Chantelle was in trouble. He was wearing a red shirt with blue jeans and a white jacket.
It was Noah.
Noah began to run, faster and faster, and saw Frank's truck driving towards Chantelle. Noah jumped for his life, and caught hold o
f a crane wire, and then slid down it. A whole load of heavy steel and aluminium and titranium construction materials fell smash in front of Frank's car, and Noah landed right at the front of Frank's car. Frank came to an abrupt stop.
"Run, Chantelle!" Noah shouted. "Run!"
Chantelle nodded, and began to run back in to the Royal Parking. Frank was now incredibly angry and Noah was still on top of his car. Frank spun the car around in an attempt to reverse it and began to drive, harder and faster, the revving of his engine deafening. He drove faster and faster to the inside of the Royal Parking where Chantelle was running. Bending around countless twists and corners, Noah tried his best to hold on to the truck. He began to smash the front window of Frank's truck with his foot, so that the glass would shatter completely. He finally did it and jumped inside the truck, fighting for the steering wheel. Frank began to struggle, and then Noah started hitting Frank with all of the force that he had. Bothered, Frank got himself back up whilst they both continued to fight over the steering wheel. Frank flashed a night out of hic pocket and made to stab Noah but Noah began to defend himself, grabbing Frank's hand in an attempt to push the knife away from himself. There was a loud and deafening scream as Frank struggled in pain, his shirt soaked with blood and he was clutching himself as Noah had just stabbed him. The car began to lose control as it went down a hilly part, and Chantelle had to roll over in order not to get run over by it. She got back up on her feet and ran - but she was now at another dead end, and the truck was still driving towards her. She gasped, tears streaming down her cheeks, but Noah grabbed hold of the brakes and pushed them down. The car came to an abrupt halt, and Frank lay dead on the steering wheel.
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