Chapter Five
Chapter FiveCast your mind back ten years
To the girl who's next to me in school
If I put my hand upon her leg
She hit me with a rule
Though tomorrow won't be long
You're gonna have to play it cool
Fire Brigade, Move
Highest chart position No 3 Feb '68
Wednesday 14th February 1968 : 5am
It feels like he didn't sleep at all last night, this valentines day morning is dark, cold and wet and when he peeps through the downstairs curtain he sees only darkness and his own reflection staring back at him, the light at the bottom of the street is dead and outside looks like a very hostile place to someone who's got enough money on his settee to buy all the property in this little corner of Burley without even having to negotiate a discount.
He's bathed in the kitchen sink, has slept in the clothes that he worked in yesterday, hasn't shaved, has a hangover and a big problem sitting waiting to be solved on his settee. He's now convinced himself that the money is criminal money, its from a bank robbery he's sure of that there is no other explanation, why he should find it in his cafe is not known but maybe the answer is waiting for him right there in the cafe this morning, he's got to go there now before Maureen arrives, assuming that she hasn't been kidnapped of course, Bob smiles at last nights crazy thoughts but still he knows that she could be in danger when the briefcase's owner arrives to claim his prize, what the hell, he is in danger too unless he can lie convincingly to a criminal.
During the long night he has formulated a plan of some sort and even though he hasn't sorted out the fine detail yet the first part involves hiding the briefcase and its contents and saying nothing to nobody, its this first part of the plan that he puts into action now by packing all the money tightly back into the briefcase and closing it, it won't lock now after he forced it last night and in a way this has forced his hand, he can't just hand the briefcase over to anyone and claim that he's never looked inside it, not now, not with a broken clasp.
The briefcase goes downstairs into the cellar and is temporarily laid onto a high shelf near the coal shute, its dark down there and Bob has taken a torch with him so that he can remove the single light bulb without burning his hand, the torch is hidden back upstairs at the back of a cupboard, its not an ingenious plan but at least no-one will be able to accidently spot the bag now, his elderly mother pops in now and again to clean around the place for him and although he knows she can't manage the cellar stairs, he's not taking any chances, not even with his own mother.
Five minutes later he's out of the door and sitting in the cab of the VW Pickup lighting up his first Panatella of the day, today of all days he needs the VW to start first time, its bad enough that it's knackered two stroke engine sounds like a platoon of Somme veterans coughing and hacking their way out of their gassed trenches, but today he has no time to start pushing it down the cobbled streets and no-one around at this time to help him. He sits there with the ignition key turned to "on" and waits and to his amazement the engine splutters into life at the first attempt, he revs the engine hard before it changes its mind and out of the corner of his eye sees a neighbours bedroom light go on, they're not used to Bob's van starting up, they're usually at their factories a long time before Bob leaves the house in a morning.
He parks the VW Pickup in the alley behind the cafe and walks around to the front whilst searching for his keys, he's as jumpy as a puppy, stomach churning in fear and he's dreading opening this door for what he might find, maybe they've already been and turned the cafe upside down looking for the briefcase, maybe they've burnt the place out, maybe Maureen is lying tortured and dead behind the counter with a note for him rammed into her silent screaming mouth. He peers in through the window before putting the key in the lock just in case but can't see anything in the gloom, its a dark February morning outside and the nearest lamp post is too far away to make any difference to his shopfront.
The key won't turn in the lock, he removes it and double checks that he has the right key as best as he can in the poor visibility, its the right key, he tries again, the key goes smoothly in the lock but won't turn, he turns it forward in the lock and he hears the lock slide smoothly into place, he turns it back again and the lock opens, the door wasn't locked last night, or someone has unlocked it during the night.
He pushes the door gently open with his foot and stands outside for a few seconds listening for a movement inside. Hearing nothing he takes one step in and calls out "anyone there" then instantly regrets this as his voice sounds puny and frightened, which is not suprising and he is scared out of his wits at what awaits him inside. Of course the main problem now is that the light switches are behind the counter and he can't see a thing inside the shop and there is no other choice but to bravely step forward and take his chance, groping his way blindly to the right until he finds the counter edge, then making his way slowly, shuffling his feet so as not to tread on anything that may have been left broken, right around the counter he goes until he is behind it and he can feel the griddle to his left, his hands move up the wall then left a bit and there is the light switch, he flicks it on and closes his eyes as the flourescent tubes buzz angrily at another days work, his eyes open and he holds his breath as he turns around to view the mayhem that the intruders have left behind, but sees nothing.
Nothing except his perfectly normal cafe, tables cleared and cleaned ready for their 6am opening, ashtrays neatly stacked on table number three, sauce bottles could do with a wipe down but they too are gathered together on table three next to the door.
Nothing disturbed, nothing broken, no warning messages painted on the wall, no note stabbed to the counter top with one of his steak knives, nothing out of the ordinary at all, his cafe is ready for the mornings business.
This can't be right, he must have missed something, the front door was definitely unlocked, someone must have been in here through the night, and there is at least one person in Leeds at the moment with every reason to want to frighten him into handing over a certain briefcase, its no coincidence that his cafe has been broken into last night.
Or was it, with the lights on inside the cafe Bob can now see the door properly, it doesn't look as though anyone has tampered with the mortice lock and he crouches down, removes the Panatella from the corner of his mouth, squints a bit and then looks closer at the door and its cheap lock before agreeing with himself that it doesn't look tampered with.
"Morning"
"Jesus Christ", Bob springs to his feet in suprise, "Jesus you give me a bloody fright then" and in the time it takes to spit the words out Bob wonders if this is the stranger who wants his briefcase back but then visibly sighs his relief when a police officer steps out of the darkness.
"Sorry if I gave you a fright sir, are you opening up ?"
"Err yeah, just opened actually" Bob tries to smile in a relaxed way but on second thoughts thinks that the smile looks a bit false and trys to remove it from his face, but its stuck there so he grins like an idiot at the policeman who is hovering around the door but having a good look around all the same.
"Am I too early then"
"Pardon"
"Too early for a cuppa tea then am I"
Bob invites the beat officer in, takes a deep drag on his cigar to steady his nerves and as he's not sure how the geyser works he lights up one of the gas rings next to the griddles and finds a kettle under the counter to boil up some water in. Bob is still very confused but admittedly relieved that he hasn't found his cafe trashed and bodies all over the place, but still the questions mount up, who left the briefcase and who was in the cafe last night ?
The policeman comments that its going to be another poor day, Bob smiles that fixed grin again while he scrounges around behind the counter for a teapot and the caddy with the tealeaves in and agress that yes, it'll be another poor day but thinks to himself what the hell do you expect you daft bastard its only February. He's just pouring the tea out at the table when Maureen walks in, Bob is not sure whether she is more suprised to see him than he is to see her and he almost blurts out that she's not been kidnapped then ?
Bob thinks Maureen looks a bit worried and he feels that she wants to tell him something and she waits until the police officer has finished his tea, picked up his helmet and gloves and wished them a good morning before she quietly asks Bob if he noticed anything unusual about the cafe when he arrived this morning.
Bob thinks yes I bloody well found it unlocked but he's not sure what Maureen is getting at so he says that everything was ok, Maureen looks relieved, smiles and goes to turn the radio on, Bob asks why she asked and Maureen can't stand it any longer and comes straight out with her confession, she's afraid that she might have left the cafe unlocked last night and she hasn't slept all night worrying about it and she wanted to come down at 10 o'clock last night to check the door but her mother wouldn't let her, what with strangers roaming the streets at that time of a night and the pubs turning out and all, so she's worried all night long and sat up in bed most of the night not being able to sleep and all, and was the door alright when he arrived this morning ?
And then Bob holds his hand up to stop her getting any more upset than she already is and he suprises even himself by telling her that no, the door was locked perfectly fine Maureen, it was perfectly fine, but he couldn't sleep either last night which is why he's sat here waiting for her to turn up so he could have his breakfast and get off to finish Mrs Azids heating, so if she wouldn't mind he'd like a full English and a big pot of tea as soon as shes ready please, and he slumps down in a chair at the back of the cafe and feels a huge millstone lift from his shoulders .
So it was bloody daft Maureen who left the door unlocked, he should give her a bollocking for that but in truth he could kiss her right now, it still doesn't answer the briefcase questions but so far he's still got the cafe, Maureen hasn't been kidnapped and no messages about a briefcase, or is there ?
"Maureen love" Bob almost daren't ask this next question, "No-one wanted me yesterday did they, no messages or anything"
And Maureen turns from the griddles whilst still fastening her overall and confirms that no, there were no messages to pass on.
"You didn't see any strangers then, anyone unusual, no-one who'd lost anything"
And Maureen turns again and looks a little puzzled at the question and confirms that no, there was just the usual crowd, some new builders have started to call first thing and an old chap lost some spectacles last week but he didn't think he lost them in here, it still answers none of Bobs questions but for the first time in twelve hours he feels elated, with Maureens back turned to him he has a great big grin on his face and £43,220 in his cellar that no-one apparently wants.
posted by Gary @ 7:17 AM
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