A BLIND EYE

by John Henderson

  After the general salutations had been dispensed with, the COO invited the Chief to take a seat. Detective Chief Inspector Rose, with a spurious cool nonchalance, sat down and folded his arms in an attempt to convey his superiority and dominance over a mere bank clerk. It was probably unfortunate for the Chief that as he settled himself into the leather chair, his pale pink shirt finally yielded to the inexorable strain from within. Nevertheless, Mr. Slater, being a man of refinement and good taste, chose to remain silent while trying, with difficulty, to ignore the disconcerting sight of a protruding hairy stomach.

  Detective Rose, totally oblivious of his dress malfunction, looked across at the man sitting behind the ornate desk. Paul Slater was a man in his early forties, tall muscular and immaculately dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and a pale blue tie. He sat back from his desk, his elbows resting on the arm rests of his high back seat, his hands together, fingers steepled. ‘I really don’t know why you should want to talk to me. I’ve already told the sergeant downstairs all I know, which isn’t much. Although I may be the Chief Operations Officer for the branch known as George Street Head Office, I’m also responsible for the operation of all our metropolitan branches. I think you will find the staff on the ground floor will be in a far better position to help you than I am.’

  ‘Yes, I quite understand. We’re taking statements now and I’ll be conducting some interviews this evening,’ replied Chief Rose as he mopped the perspiration from his face with a handkerchief and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. ‘However, I believe you have been provided with an internal briefing of the events already.’ The comment was a statement, not a question so the COO didn’t bother to offer a response.

  ‘You say the teller, what’s his name?’ The Chief referred to his notebook. ‘Ah yes, Bentley, Bruce Bentley. You say he didn’t raise the alarm until the robbers had made their getaway?’

  ‘I’m sorry Chief Inspector, but I haven’t said anything about the robbery. However, I’m led to believe that the answer to your question is no, that’s right. According to all accounts, Bentley was unaware if the robbers were armed or not, so he worked on the assumption that they might be. With all due regard to the situation, he probably did the right thing.’ Mr. Slater now had his hands folded on his lap, slowly rocking back and forward on his chair.

  ‘You mean, “no, he didn’t raise the alarm until after they were gone”, or “no, he did raise the alarm before they were gone”?’

  ‘He did not alert anyone of the situation until the robbers had decamped the building,’ replied Mr. Slater with the sudden feeling he may not be dealing with the most intellectual member of the CIB.

  ‘Getting back to the gun. You say Bentley didn’t actually see a gun?’

  ‘Not that I’m aware. Maybe you should speak to Bentley,’ replied Mr. Slater with a shrug of the shoulders.

  ‘I take it the bank has conducted a cash count to determine how much cash was stolen?’

  ‘Of course. We believe they got away with three thousand two hundred pounds in ten pound notes. The bank would ask you not to release that figure to the press as we would prefer to keep it confidential; doesn’t do our image any good.’

  Chief Inspector Rose raised his eyebrows and, as an afterthought, asked, ‘You didn’t happen to witness the robbery?’

  ‘Good lord, no. You don’t think I’d work on the ground floor, do you? The accountant has an office down there but I believe he was in conference on the sixth floor at the time of the robbery. Anyway, Bentley was the only person to have contact with the robbers. No-one else had a clue what was going on until Bentley started yelling the place down and that was after the robbers had left the building. Go talk to him,’ said Mr. Slater testily, his calm demeanour rapidly deteriorating under Chief Rose’s tedious questioning.

  ‘Yes, that might be a good idea. Thanks for your time Mr. Pigeon, you’ve been a big help.’ With that, Chief Rose left the office, nodding to the sweet young secretary as he made his way to the lifts, unaware of the affect he had made on Mr. Slater who was well into his second Glenfiddich before Rose had pressed the “down” button.

  ****

  The accountant, John Grimble, had thoughtfully allocated one of the offices off the banking chamber for police use, and it was in this office Detective Chief Inspector Damien Rose had settled himself comfortably into a high backed leather chair behind a beautifully polished desk. This is more like it, the Chief reflected as he ran his hand over the strikingly grained mahogany table. Why the hell can’t I get stuff like this, and this office only used for interviews when some poor sod wants some money? A knock on the door interrupted the Chief’s daydreaming. ‘Come,’ he responded.

  ‘You wanted to see me, sir?’

  ‘I don’t know. Who are you?’

  ‘Sorry, sir. I’m Bentley. Bruce Bentley. The teller. The teller who was robbed.’

  ‘Ah, yes. Come in. Come in. I’m Detective Chief Inspector Rose and I have some routine questions I would like to ask. Sit,’ said Chief Rose gesturing to a comfortable looking leather chair. ‘Now Bruce, tell me exactly what happened.’

  ‘Well, it was around two-thirty, don’t know exactly but thereabouts. I had taken in a fair few deposits, as you do on a Friday afternoon. Anyway, my next customers were these two gentlemen, quite conspicuous by their dress, might I add, who approached the counter. The taller of the two did all the talking, well, the talking to me that is. I was quite surprised when this bloke posed a purely hypothetical question which, in all honesty, took me aback somewhat and, after giving the question some thought, I honestly couldn’t give a firm answer. You see, usually people come up to the counter and get on with their banking, not ask you some stupid question.’

  ‘Yes, I can appreciate it would be rather off-putting,’ responded the Chief, eager to get on with the details. Before Bentley could continue, Chief Rose’s curiosity got the better of him and he said, ‘Hang on. Just what was this hypothetical question?’

  ‘I’ll probably never forget it. He just asked what I would do if he said he had a gun pointed at me and asked me to hand over all my ten pound notes. Well obviously I couldn’t answer because the circumstances would be entirely different if he said he did have a gun pointed at me. As it was he only said “if I said I had a gun,” he didn’t say that he did have a gun.’

  ‘So, he didn’t have a gun?’

  ‘No. You miss the point. He wouldn’t say if he did or didn’t have a gun. It was a hypothetical question. If he said he did have a gun - which he didn’t,- it wouldn’t have been hypothetical as it would have been a statement of fact.’

  ‘So he did have a gun?

  ‘Well, maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. At no time did he say he had a gun and at no time did he say he didn’t.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I see,’ lied Chief Rose. ‘Let’s forget about the gun for the moment. You said they looked quite conspicuous in their dress?’

  ‘Quite ridiculous really. The tall gentleman wore jeans, lime coloured sports coat and a black hat. I think he had a white shirt on, maybe it was green. Oh yes, he wore a moustache, and I think he may have had dark hair – not too sure on that because of the hat. The short gentleman wore jeans, a white tie and a white hat. Blonde hair.’

  ‘Cripes. How could anyone not see them? Seems like they wanted to be spotted,’ said Chief Rose.

  ‘Yes. And considering there were fifty million people just outside the bank involved in that anti-Vietnam rally, there must be hundreds of witnesses,’ Bruce added.

  ‘Let’s get back to the actual robbery,’ said Chief Rose as he delighted in the novelty of pushing his high backed chair away from the table. His chair at Day Street didn’t have wheels.

  ‘The tall bloke, sorry, gentleman, placed a coin bag on the counter and asked me to fill it with nothing else but ten pound notes. No. I tell a lie. By now both gentlemen were getting quite exasperated and the tall gentleman didn’t ask for the money, he just told me to fill up the bag with tenners. I w
as quite offended when he called me “a stupid boy”.’

  ‘Now why on earth would he do that?’ asked the Chief.

  ‘Probably because he couldn’t understand the position he had placed me and I had tried to clarify the situation.’

  ‘Totally understand. I would have been offended too.’

  ‘Anyway, for a number of reasons, I had decided to do as I was told, none the least being that there were a lot of people in the chamber and a gun battle was the last thing on my mind, not that I knew if he had a gun or not, you understand. So I started bringing out my ten pound notes and putting them on the counter while Mr. Tall placed them in a coin bag. Eventually, when the bag was full, Mr. Tall told me he had enough.’

  ‘Enough what?’

  ‘Money.’

  ‘You mean to say you’d given them enough tenners. He didn’t want any more?’

  Bentley shrugged his shoulders. ‘Yes, that’s right. He just said he didn’t want any more. I had a lot more he could’ve taken, but he didn’t want them.’

  ‘And they just walked off?’

  ‘Yes. I’m not sure who was holding the cash when they did. I seem to think it was the short guy, er, gentleman, but I suppose it could have been Mr. Tall. After all, he was the one I handed the cash bag over to. As I said, he was the one who seemed to be in charge so maybe he held onto the bag, although they both held bags on their way out. I did see the little bloke collide with a lady further down the banking chamber while on their way to the front door. She was leaving at the same time. She really gave him heaps for being so rude, which he was, of course. The lady seemed okay though. She’s one of our customers, and real friendly too. Comes in once or twice a week to do her banking. I can’t recall her name, but such a nice lady and treated so badly by that gangster.’

  ‘Well, thanks, Mr. Bentley. You’ve been very helpful with our investigation. I have your details should I need any further information or clarification. That okay with you?’ asked Chief Rose, unsure if there were more questions needing to be asked.

  ‘Yes, no problems. I’m pleased to have been able to help,’ replied Bruce.

  On Bentley’s departure, Chief Rose reflected on what he had learnt. He wasn’t quite sure if Bentley should be considered a hostile witness because, after persistent questioning, he was still unaware of whether a gun was involved or not.

  ****

  Next to be interviewed was Charles Milner, a fifty something employed by the bank as a security guard. It was clear the bank’s resolve to deter prospective robbers was not a consideration when they employed old Charlie. He may have been fit once, but it seemed Charlie now had a penchant for the odd nip of gin and no longer did he appear to have a great deal of respect for his physical condition. As a consequence, Charlie was walking a tight rope having been warned by management on at least two occasions for conduct the bank considered prejudicial to its interests. Still, everyone who worked on the ground floor liked Charlie and they would be sorry to see him leave.

  Charlie, having decided to become a security guard after nearly thirty years in the army, never gave a second though to the possibility that he may be confronted with a situation requiring some sort of physical exertion. From what he had been led to believe, the job of a security guard was solely to be seen, and that was sufficient deterrent to prevent any improper activity. As a consequence, the situation Charlie now found himself was, to Charlie at least, quite galling.

  ‘Ah, you must be Charles Milner, the security guard,’ Chief Rose said as Charlie entered the office. This bit of successful detective work may have been attributed in no small way to Charlie’s neat grey uniform prominently embroidered in several locations with the words “Security Guard”, a peaked cap, and the gun on his hip.

  ‘Why yes, yes I am. Pleased to meet you, Detective Chief Inspector.’

  ‘I won’t take up too much of your time, Charlie. There are just a few questions I would like to ask so please, take a seat,’ said Chief Rose, offering a chair with his hand.

  Charlie sat and said, ‘Now, how can I help you?’

  Chief Rose adopted the superior position by sitting back in his chair, his arms folded. ‘Now Charlie, at what point were you alerted to the fact that something was amiss in the banking chamber?’

  ‘Sorry, I’m not sure. Probably not until Bruce, I mean Mr. Bentley, alerted everyone that there had been a robbery.’

  ‘You mean you didn’t actually see anything relating to the robbery, nothing suspicious?’

  ‘No, not really. You see, there was all this yelling and chanting and whistle blowing from a mob of anti-Vietnam protesters outside the door in George Street, so I went to have a look, break the monotony, you see. It can get pretty boring sitting on your bum all day, and you’re not allowed to read a book or do anything like that.’ Chief Rose closed his eyes and slowly shook his head.

  ‘What did you do after Mr. Bentley finally got around to letting everyone know there had been a robbery?’

  ‘I immediately closed the main doors. That’s the standard procedure when you get robbed, not that we’re robbed very often. Come to think of it, I can’t remember having been robbed before.’

  ‘Yes, thank heavens. The robbers have been identified as wearing bright clothing and hats. Did you see any such persons leaving the bank prior to Mr. Bentley’s alert?’

  ‘Well, yes. Just before Mr. Bentley shouted out that he’d been robbed, these two blokes, one short and one tall, walked out of the bank. The tall bloke was wearing jeans, a black sports coat and a white hat. He was also carrying a coin bag that appeared to be quite full. But then again, so did the smaller bloke. He wore this bright green coat with blue jeans and looked like a real ponce.’

  ‘Did you see which way they went?’

  ‘Yes. The tall bloke turned left out of the bank, so I s’pose he was headed off towards Circular Quay. The other bloke turned right and headed along George Street. I didn’t see how far they went ’cause at the time there was no reason to watch them. Like I mean to say, it wasn’t like they’d just robbed a bank.’

  ‘Could they have joined the rally march once they left the bank?’

  ‘Well, yes I s’pose so. Just because they turned in different directions when they got outside doesn’t mean they had to keep on going in their separate directions, does it? Like, it was a pretty long parade so they could have joined in, or they could have continued their separate ways along George Street. As I said, I had no reason to keep an eye on them, and even if I did, I would’ve only been able to watch one of them.’

  God give me strength, why me? Chief Rose thought. ‘Yes, of course,’ he said in a condescending manner. Charlie was either oblivious to the nuance of the Chief’s comment, or chose to ignore it. ‘Anyway, thanks for your time Charlie. Sorry to have detained you for so long.’ After Charlie had departed, Chief Rose rested his elbows on the table and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, a drop of sweat falling from his chin to pool on the mahogany table. Chief Rose had seen better days.

  CHAPTER 14

  It was seven-thirty in the evening of the robbery. Simon, Georgie, Noel and Sue occupied a booth in Cahill’s Clipper Room Restaurant on Market Street, Simon and Georgie opting for the chicken maryland, Noel and Sue the Vienna schnitzel.

  ‘Everything seemed to go according to plan,’ said Simon expecting someone at the table to make some snide remark.

  Sue looked at Simon and pulled a face that reflected her obvious disagreement with the statement. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I suppose it was successful in the end, but only by sheer good luck. It wouldn’t have come close to being successful if we had relied only on good management and if Lady Luck hadn’t intervened when she did. And don’t forget, we still don’t know if the robbery was a success. If you recall, the whole aim of the exercise was to make Rose look like a complete imbecile.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll concede things got a little out of hand, but that was beyond our control and couldn’t have been anticipated. Anyway, y
ou haven’t explained what happened after Georgie dropped the cash into the briefcase,’ said Simon, anxious to turn the discussion away from any appropriation of blame for the hiccups encountered, especially as he considered himself completely blameless.

  ‘Well, it was just sheer luck I was able to get back downstairs and even more luck to get the money into the safe deposit box,’ said Sue as she unfolded a serviette and placed it neatly across her lap.

  ‘Yes, I thought you’d be pushing it,’ said Georgie. ‘When I put the money in the briefcase, I had the idea you wouldn’t have much time to lodge it in the safe deposit box before the alarm was raised. I suppose I left you stranded, but as soon as I gave you the cash, I took off out the door and into George Street. The last thing I wanted to do was hang around in the banking chamber. I saw the security guard standing on the front steps watching the demonstration go by, so everything in the chamber must have been okay at that stage.’ The conversation ceased as the waitress, dressed in a black dress uniform arrived and started to distribute the meals around the table. Georgie waited until the waitress had left and then said, ‘Anyway Sue, you were saying?’

  ‘After you made the drop, I went back downstairs and had just reached the safe deposit counter when an alarm sounded and all hell broke loose. It was quite evident the people down there didn’t know what was happening, but the officials ordered everyone out. I was passing through into the safe room along with a bank official, he had the other key to the box, when he stopped and ordered me out. Fortunately he was the same official I had spoken to earlier and he recognised me. I explained that it was imperative that I gain access to the box before the weekend, and that it would only take a second. He relented, ran to the box and unlocked his key then withdrew to the door and waited after telling me to make it snappy. I did. After that I just went upstairs to the banking chamber, and sat around until the police arrived. As I had not been in the chamber at the time of the robbery, a sergeant told me to go home.’