The Controller

by Linda Coles

  The shrill of the bell sounded that the class was over and dragged her attention back to what she was supposed to be doing, so she quickly shouted instructions to her students as they hurriedly packed their books back into their bags, no doubt glad that the boredom of English Lit was over for another week.

  “And don’t forget to read the next chapter before our lesson next week, we’ll be discussing it then so it’s important!” she shouted above the din, though suspected all ears at this point were deaf. When the final student had left the room, she stole a glance at her phone and the screensaver of Gemma.

  “It won’t be long now my love, and I’ve got you a lovely bone as a welcome home treat. Soon you’ll be back where you belong, hold on a little while longer.” With a heavy heart, she put her phone away as the next class noisily spilled in through her door.

  At 5.45pm Pam set off towards the park, the money almost burning a hole in her handbag, which was strung over her shoulder satchel-style. She thought that if these dognappers were okay about stealing dogs, they were probably okay about stealing handbags too, particularly those they knew contained £500.

  Pam walked through the park, taking a good look around. She’d listened to their words of warning and not gone to the police. Only June knew about the ransom call, so there were no officers lurking in bushes waiting to pounce, though she really wished there were. If they’d done this to her, they’d undoubtedly done it to others in the past and probably had plans to keep their scam going as long as they could get away with it. The thought made her heart feel heavy. Up ahead, Pam could see the rubbish bin for the drop. She knew exactly where the water fountain bench was, though from where she was, she couldn’t see it yet. The park was quite busy at this hour, which she guessed was part of their plan, to blend in with a dog and go unnoticed.

  Pam checked her watch again as she walked. It was time, so she got the little plastic-covered envelope out ready to make the drop, and with one last glance around, put the whole package into the designated bin then carried on walking. With all her heart she hoped they kept their side of the bargain. On shaky legs she carried on towards the water fountain, not daring to look back in case she saw them and they changed their minds. The last couple of days had taken their toll on her physically and mentally and her whole being felt jaded. She wouldn’t wish the anguish and misery she’d gone through recently on her worst enemy. Then she heard a familiar yap up ahead. Trying to focus her ears, she wasn’t sure if she was imagining it or not but as she got closer to the fountain, there in the distance, tied to the bench, was a familiar golden sight.

  “Gemma! Oh Gemma!” she shouted, tears busting through her tired eyes and rolling down her face as she somehow found the energy to jog over to her little dog. She bent down to make a fuss of her, laughing as Gemma yapped and Pam untied her, both delighted to see one another again.

  “Oh, Gemma, I’ve missed you so much! You’ve no idea quite how much. I’m never leaving you ever again. Thank goodness you’re back!” The words tumbled out as fast as her tears of joy flowed, Gemma yapping and jumping all over her, and Pam enjoying every second of the attention. “Come on, let’s get you home, I’ve got a nice big bone waiting for you, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Yes you would, my love,” she said in that cutesy voice people talked fondly to their pets in. Gathering her leash, a bright smile back on her face and a heavy weight off her shoulders, they both turned back headed for home.

  Had Pam been paying more attention to her surroundings, she would have seen a familiar woman walking by in the other direction, but she went unnoticed, just as the woman had known she would be.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lorna couldn’t understand where Bubbles had vanished to. It seemed she had been there one minute and gone the next, and as time had progressed she’d become increasingly concerned. She’d told the children Bubbles was at the beauty salon and staying overnight and, as they were only four and five years old, that had sufficed. For now. She’d told her husband the truth, that Bubbles had seemed to vanish, but he’d assured her the dog would wander back on her own, and went back to reading his newspaper. Lorna, wasn’t so sure.

  Now, as she walked through the park searching for Bubbles again, calling her name, Lorna felt sick to her stomach that something had happened to her. The park was quite busy at nearly 6pm, the early summer sun still warm as she walked, and she let her mind wander along with her eyes. She noticed someone on the swings, it was a young woman, just sitting there, but the odd thing was, she had no child with her. Why would a grown woman be hanging around at the swings without a little one in tow? She put the thought to the back of her head and carried on, up the concrete pathway, on her usual circuit, a circuit she would normally walk with Bubbles. Birds sang in the trees as she walked, a light breeze blowing her wispy blonde hair into her face and she pushed it away. Further on she saw an older woman put something in the rubbish bin as she passed by then watched her move on, towards the water fountain, wondering where she’d seen her before. She looked familiar and seemed a little anxious but Lorna had nothing apart from intuition to base that feeling on. Maybe she was a regular dog walker too, and she had seen her in the park perhaps, though if that was the case, where was her dog now? Lorna carried on her search, calling and checking in the larger shrubs and bushes as she went until she reached the perimeter of the park, then turned back to go home, without Bubbles. She felt sad and deflated. What was she going to tell the children if Bubbles didn’t come back tomorrow, she couldn’t be at the beauty salon forever. Visions of Bubbles jumped into her mind and raced around in no particular order: the day they first brought her home, the day she’d been sick and spent the night at the vet, the first time they’d taken her to the beach at Brighton and she’d been delighted with the waves, and how she snored softly when she lay in front of the open fire in the lounge in winter. What the hell was she going to do? She made her way back down the park pathway and that’s when she noticed, by the water fountain, the older woman again, the one she thought had seemed anxious earlier, but this time she did have a dog with her, a Springer Spaniel. What struck her as odd now was how much of a fuss the woman was making of it, like she was greeting a long lost friend again, talking animatedly to it, the little dog yapping with delight. At least someone was happy this evening, she thought, and picked up her pace towards home, passing the swings again, the woman sitting there earlier now gone. And so it seemed was Bubbles.

  Chapter Twelve

  “This cow can afford it, so let’s ask for a whole lot more.”

  “Come on Niles, let’s not get greedy here, we’re doing all right as we are, aren’t we? Isn’t double enough?”

  Vic was generally the voice of reason and when Niles and Vic were having a disagreement, Pete kept out of it. While Pete was with the rest of the group, he knew his place, and that was back to being Pete instead of The Controller, the bottom of the pecking order. Both Niles and Vic had a volatile side, he’d seen what happened when Niles got angry, he still had the scar to prove it from where he split his top lip after thumping him in the mouth last year. And Vic was no different, though she kept her fists to herself. But when the two of them riled each other up, it was best to keep your head down and let them mouth it out between them. Like now. Pete had given Niles the address of the pretty blonde as well as the phone number to place the ransom call, but because she lived in a fancy area, he figured she could pay double.

  “Nah, I’m asking for £4000 this time, make up for the little old lady that Dufus over there snagged us,” he said, pointing at Pete with a stumpy middle finger. “Not a lot of use was she? £500 smackers is sod all worth it. Whatever the figure we ask, it’s the same amount of risk, so the minimum is now a grand. Bear that in mind now would you when you find the targets.” Niles had a smoker’s mouth, fine lines across his top lip, spittle gathered in the corners. Pete had the good sense to nod his agreement as a reply and went back to his laptop. Whatever.

  “Right then, a grand it
is, but I’m warning you Niles, getting greedy could backfire and we’ll either end up having to dispose of a damn dog or having to leave here if things get too hot too quickly.” Vic the voice of reason again. They’d not long moved into the area anyway, their last patch over at West Ham hadn’t proved itself as a lucrative area at all, all tight arses Niles had said, and he was probably right. And Vic didn’t like hanging around on her own as lookout either so they’d split and found Caterham and the surrounding well-to-do ‘burbs.

  “Yeah I got that, Vic, I hear you. Let’s leave it at that. I’ll make the call tonight and she can get the dough in the morning. We’ll do the drop at lunchtime, no need to wait with this one, lazy cow doesn’t work for a living anyway, she’ll be home poncing around all day.” It wasn’t lost on Pete that Niles had never worked a full day in his entire life. But he stayed quiet, why risk it?

  “Right,” Niles announced as he looked at his watch. “It’s 10 o’clock now so I’ll ring her now, then who’s coming down the pub for a swift one. This money is burning a hole in my underpants.”

  “Yes, okay, let’s do this then go, you coming, Pete?”

  “Yeah, I’m coming,” he said half-heartedly, not really wanting to but feeling like he should. If he wanted to keep in with these two, he’d better make an effort, because what else would he be doing?

  “Then we’ll meet you down there then Niles, I’ll get the first round in,” said Vic, and the two of them set off for the pub, leaving Niles to make the next ransom call. Pete had given him a post-it note, the words ‘white poodle’ and the number, no name, so he dialled it. He waited, and waited some more, listening to it ring out at the other end. He was just about to hang up when it was finally answered. Probably had gone to bed already, he mused.

  “Hello?” A woman’s tired voice. Niles got straight down to business.

  “Listen carefully if you want the poodle back.” He heard the now familiar gasp on the other end of the line when the person realised what was going on and the fact someone else was holding their beloved pet – for money. Her faint voice made him smile, the fact that he could wave his power over desperate people and they would follow his instructions perfectly amazed him; he loved the feeling it gave him. While he was only on the lower rungs of his chosen profession at the moment, he imagined what it would be like when the stakes were much higher, like children, women, things more precious to others than their stupid damn dogs.

  He gave her the exact instructions, same as always, emphasising that if the police were told or involved in any way, the poodle would be gone – for good. She assured him that she would do exactly what was being asked of her, and the police would not be involved, she just wanted Bubbles back safe and sound. Satisfied, he hung up.

  “Bubbles? What a rank name, silly cow,” he mused out loud. Grabbing the house keys, he headed to the door, thinking. Tomorrow would be a decent payday, the gig a far more lucrative one than collecting scrap metal, but for now there was a pint waiting with his name on it and he set off to join the others.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was nearly 11pm when Ruth logged on to The Daisy Chain to moderate posts and comments, but she never minded the lateness. Being single and living alone meant every moment of the day or night was her own, to choose to do with what she pleased, and apart from work, it didn’t matter when things got done. She’d devised the site some time ago and it was proving popular with the locals and growing in numbers daily. She was encouraged that she and the members were doing some good in the community. The first post caught her attention, Pam’s dog had been found and Gemma was home safe and well from her adventure, whatever that had been.

  “Thank god for that,” she said.

  From @Jaybaby – Good news, Gemma has been found #luckydoggy

  @Belfort -Splendid news, any idea of the events, where she’s been all this time?

  @Jaybaby – nothing from me, saw Pam earlier tonight in the park with her. #Delighted

  @Belfort – I guess it will remain a mystery, wonder where they go and why?

  @Jaybaby – likewise, but at least she’s home and well. Mystery solved. Time to go, ciao.

  Ruth smiled at Gemma being home. Knowing exactly who @Belfort was, she couldn’t help but grimace at his mock Italian sign off. Men found him funny, women found him repulsive and ‘ciao’ did not sound sexy coming from that man’s mouth. Ruth scrolled down some more and was sad to see another dog was missing, this time a white poodle by the name of Bubbles. She read the post which stated she’d been lost from the park yesterday, hadn’t come back when called and was a much loved family pet, the little ones missing her terribly. The picture that was posted showed the white poodle, tongue hanging out looking the epitome of a happy little dog.

  “That’s strange, another one missing. And from the park near Pam.” She studied the time of the post, the description of what had happened and the picture of the missing poodle, trying to think of something useful that could help, but nothing came. Moderating the last of the day’s posts and comments and finding nothing untoward, she closed the page down and sat thoughtful for a minute, chewing her bottom lip as she did so, something she’d done since she was a child, and something she found helped her think. Two dogs missing, same place, one returned. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but she bet herself the poodle would probably be back home either tomorrow or the day after, and when it did, it posed another question – what was happening?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lorna stood looking at the phone like it had been dropped in the hallway from outer space. In all her wildest dreams she’d never expected a ransom call for Bubbles, though in a perverse way she was pleased she had because that meant Bubbles was safe and well. One thing she did know from watching too many movies was that the culprits never harmed what they were holding hostage, the goods needed to be returned in one piece to get the money or it was no good, so in an odd way she was pleased to get the call. Bubbles would soon be home. When it had sunk in, she slowly made her way out to the kitchen at the back of the house, and sat in the window seat that overlooked the garden. Though she couldn’t see anything out there in the dark, she could envision where everything in her garden was: the lovers’ seat, the little stone fountain on the patio and the potting shed almost covered with Jasmine towards the back. She’d spent many hours tending to her garden, Bubbles enjoying the company and watching what Lorna was doing, and she missed her, like a good friend had left. Now she had another problem to deal with – getting the £4000 for tomorrow without her husband finding out, and then making the drop and getting her dog back – all on her own. She ran through the instructions in her head again to make sure she had everything they asked for, and while she thought she ought to tell the police, she wasn’t going to jeopardise Bubbles.

  “Let’s get Bubbles back first and then I can decide what to do,” she said out loud into the darkness. The kitchen light suddenly flicking on made her squint and jump at the same time. Her husband was standing in the doorway.

  “Are you okay Lorna? Who was on the phone?”

  She hated lying but right at that moment couldn’t think about telling the truth.

  “Wrong number, thought we were a taxi company and wouldn’t take no for an answer,” was the best she could come up with. She watched his face and he seemed to be satisfied with that, nodding in understanding. “You go up to bed, I’m not really that tired just yet for some reason, I think I’ll make some Chamomile tea. You go back up, I’ll be up soon,” and she smiled as brightly as she could until he nodded again and turned to leave her sitting alone in the corner window seat. She turned her thoughts back to the problem at hand, how she’d raise the money, and the only solution she could come up with was she’d have to get the cash out on her credit cards. Then deal with explaining the expense later. When Bubbles was safely back, she was sure he’d understand.

  The following day Lorna was at the cashpoint machine as soon as she’d dropped the little ones off at playgroup for the
morning. She was grateful there was such a place because she’d already snapped at them both a couple of times. It hadn’t gone unnoticed, it was totally out of character for her and she had ended up apologising to them both after tears had been spilled. Her mother was picking them up from playgroup and taking them back to her place for ice cream so Lorna could do what she needed to do without worrying about them at the same time. Her mother had been delighted, as most grandmothers are at the prospect of spoiling her grandchildren rotten, and was bringing them back after their afternoon nap. The machine spat out a bundle of £50 notes, all nice new crisp ones, and Lorna wondered at how little £2000 actually looked when it was in your hand. She slipped another credit card in and withdrew the same amount. Following the instructions, she put the money into an envelope then put the whole thing into her bag before heading home. She felt like a criminal, and a liar for fibbing to her husband last night. The kids still thought the dog was at the beauty parlour and her husband just thought the dog would wander back on her own. Thank goodness for a stressful job and a full mind that made him distracted sometimes. She made her way back to the house to busy herself until it was time for the drop at lunchtime.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Vic sat watching from her vantage point on the swings. She’d been there for over an hour, checking nobody else was setting up a lookout, nobody that resembled the police. It wouldn’t be the first time that it had happened, and that had been a very sad day for the dog, the stupid owner having done exactly what they’d warned him not to, and his actions had had consequences. Lorna was obviously a bit brighter, or a bit more desperate. Vic watched as the blonde woman walked up the path towards the designated rubbish bin, looked around furtively, and dropped the envelope wrapped up in a Sainsbury’s bag into the bin. The furtive glance made her smile. What was this, some bloody movie or something with the FBI watching? Nevertheless, she let Lorna walk on before she walked over to the bin and took the package to check it, and with £4000 tucked neatly in her jacket pocket, she texted Niles the drop had been done.