by Stan Mason
‘I know,’ he interrupted quickly. ‘The white one goes to Michael in the loading bay. The pink one I return to you with the customer’s signature. And there are three suggestions with what I can do with the third one but I’m too much of a gentleman.’
‘You’re a real bastard, aren’t you?’ she reproached him for mocking her.
‘Only when I want to be,’ he returned. ‘It’s probably the one thing I’m really good at. Is there anything else?’
‘When you come back here I want to see you!’
‘What for?’
‘You’ll find out when you get here!’
‘Well I hope I can prove that the chemistry’s right between us and your judgement of me is wrong.’
‘Friggin’ hell!’ muttered Sally, shaking her head from side
to side. ‘They never said people like you were part of this job.’ She pressed a button on the printer and a printed sheet of paper began to emerge from the equipment. Concentration, while other people discussed their private amorous passions, were not her strong point!
Chapter Eleven
There was a great deal of flurry at the Sovereign Bank early next morning. Charles reached his office at the normal time to discover that every member of staff had been order to attend one hour earlier as a result of a robbery at one of the bank’s main branches in Plymouth. Tom Cushing was absent having been given the task of assisting the Chief Inspector’s Office whose role it was to gather information for the police and senior bank management for their enquiries. Erica Wild had been sent on an errand which was associated with the offence although her part in it was of a temporary nature.
Charles fully expected to be criticised for his erratic attendance over the past few days but he was surprised to find the office empty and his team despatched elsewhere. Yet despite the feeling of dislocation, his attention became absorbed by the urgent memo on his desk from David Fulton, the General Manager.
“I wish to inform you that a robbery took place at our main Plymouth branch early this morning. Three people were shot... one of them fatally. It has been suggested that you’ve had first-hand experience in this field. You are instructed to establish a briefing legend for the staff of the Plymouth branch to deal with the psychological aspects associated with the robbery. Do not confer with the Chief Inspector’s staff. You are to work independently of any of their activities. On a matter of lesser importance, may we speak about Miss Rhona Paphos and Scintillant. when you have a moment. The company seems to have vanished into space.
D.Fulton (General Manager)”
Charles read the message twice to male certain he understood it clearly. Fulton had always puzzled him. What did he mean ‘establish a briefing legend?’ It was gobbledygook. Why couldn’t he have just written ‘they need help to adjust to the trauma of the robbery?’ First-hand experience in the field! Well that much was true to say the least. His mind went back to the days when he worked on the day desk at a medium-sized branch of the bank in the West Midlands. Black Wednesday they termed it in the annals of the history of the bank. It was Black Wednesday all right! Early one September afternoon, six masked men entered the branch brandishing revolvers and shotguns. Three of them forced the customers in the banking hall to lie face downwards on the floor with their hands over their heads. At the same time, the other three moved towards the counter to menace the cashiers. It happened so quickly there was no time for any of the bank tellers to take action to protect themselves or to press the alarm. One of the bandits told the cashiers to remove all the notes from their tills and place them on the counter, warning them of the consequences if they tried to resist. Three men then forced the door which led to the area behind the counter and descended into the vaults with the manager with the intention of emptying the main safe. While they were downstairs, one man guarded the front door to keep an eye on the customers on the floor while the other two were preoccupied with filling sacks with the money on the counter. One of the staff dared to move an inch. They had all been well-trained to accede to the demands of armed robbers, especially as the bank was insured in respect of any money stolen. The branch manual stated clearly that no member of staff was permitted to take any risk which might cause danger to life and limb. It was an instruction written in stone! However, desperate moments create desperate people and sometime anger and frustration and injustice become motives which defy logic. One bank employee became so enraged in principle that it became too much for him to bear. In his mind, most people had to strive hard to make ends meet yet these bandits believed that they could simply walk in and take their hard-earned savings from the by force. He felt that he couldn’t stand by idly and watch it happen... it was necessary to react! At that point, when the three men were downstairs in the vault, and the others were engaged in stuffing the money into sacks they had brought, he decided to become the hero of the day. He leaned forward with determination which overcame fear and pressed the alarm button firmly. The klaxon could be hear to how like a wailing banshee over a wide area causing the bandits to react violently and predictably. The two men filling the sacks looked at the staff to find out which one had been the culprit whose actions had short-circuited the robbery. In the absence of any evidence, one of them raised his shotgun and fired at a nervous-looking bank clerk whose misfortune was that he seemed guilty. On hearing the shot, the men in the vault raced upstairs and started firing their weapons at the bank staff indiscriminately, killing six bank employees in the debacle that followed. On that particular day, six families discovered their lives had been shattered without proper cause. If the robbers had been left to their own devices, without the alarm being set off, they would have simply taken the money and left. No one would have been hurt. Charles cringed when he thought about the incident. It was painful to think about the person who expected to be the hero that day for he had been that man! He had been the guilty one! The lesson was branded into his brain. The road to Hell was paved with good intentions. Too bad it had claimed six lives. Yet, he thought with chagrin, As his General Manager had told him, he had experience in the field. He knew how everyone had felt during the robbery as well as after the killing. He was also aware of how the situation should be handled. It had been a devastating experience! There was no worse confrontation in life than to have to stare down the blackness of the inside of a gun barrel knowing that the man with his finger on the trigger could end one’s life in an instant if he chose to do so. A few seconds seemed to last a whole lifetime. It was the loneliest place in the world to be! The task that Roach had been given was to erase the fear and trauma likely to embed itself permanently into the sub-conscious minds of the remaining staff at the Plymouth branch. A person didn’t suffer such a traumatic experience and simply forget about it afterwards. It remained lodged in the mind. The shock continued for some time... sometimes a life time because the after effects were very difficult to expunge. What did one have to do after a bank raid in which colleagues were injured or killed? The first step was to outline a questionnaire asking for full details of the bandits and the action they had taken. Instead of trying to hide the images, it was far better for the staff to face them... to get everything out into the open. They could build a picture of the enemy to enable them to release their aggression against them instead of hiding all the horror under the carpet of their minds. Each member of staff would receive a form to fill in personally. The very act of answering the questions would relieve a great deal of pain and after-shock. In his experience, it always helped to share one’s troubles with another person. As he began to devise the form, Erica Wild entered the office. .
‘Ah, Mr. Roach,’ she greeted saucily, bringing a pile of work which she deposited on his desk. ‘And how are we today? Feeling a lot better I hope. We were getting worried about you. I was going to send you a map with two arrows with a caption which read: ‘You are here and we are here!’ just in case you lost your way.’
‘I thought you’d thin
k up something like that,’ he retorted before becoming serious. ‘The whole world seems to have turned upside down today.’
‘We’ve all be here for an hour already. Dreadful news! We heard that the Securities Clerk had been shot and the Accountant was critically ill.’
Charles shook his head in despair. ‘Bastards!’ he swore angrily. ‘They ought to hang them if they catch them! We’re the victims yet no one considers the long-term effect on us. It gets recorded as another incident.’ A rage of anger surged through his mind as it reverted to the robbery that had taken place some years earlier. He recalled an urgent message to report to Head Office of the bank in London to face the Chief Executive for his actions. At any other time, a summons of that nature would have been an honour but he knew on this occasion that he was going to be roasted.
‘Don’t you read the branch manuals or are they beyond your comprehension?’ began the eminent senior man. ‘Weren’t you trained not to react when a robbery was taking place? Don’t you bother to follow the bank’s rules? Do you know that your refusal to obey them cost the lives of six people? Six people! Perhaps it should be left to you to visit their families and explain what you did! Because of your foolishness to ignore bank policy, I’m the one who has to write to them. If I could dismiss you from the bank it would give me my greatest pleasure but I can’t. You need to recognise hat we can’t have staff flouting the rules and placing the lives of themselves and their colleagues in jeopardy. In this bank we work as a team and you’re part of it. Personally, I don’t think I could live with myself if I were responsible for six deaths but no doubt you’ll survive.’
The onslaught had been so brutal that the Chief Executive must have realised that he had been too harsh. To compensate, Charles found himself to be promoted two years later to the rank of manager. His indiscretion, as far as the bank was concerned, had been erased but it still remained in his mind and would stay there for the rest of his life. It had taught him one important lesson at least. He would never reprimand anyone in such an austere manner because of the damage it did to the esteem of the individual. The words of the senior executive had never been forgotten.
Eric Wild’s voice brought him back to reality. ‘Tom Cushing’s out on a special assignment. He might be back today but no one can be certain. I tell you it’s mayhem!’
‘David Fulton’s on my back,’ he declared wearily. ‘I never seem to be able to get away from the man. He’s asked me to counsel the staff at the Plymouth branch but he also wants me to talk to him about the Paphos woman. Has anything happened since I was last here?’
She shook her head firmly. ‘No... nothing on that case. I thought you were going to send him a report.
The banker’s face twisted as though in anguish. ‘The report!’ he muttered miserably. ‘I’m afraid my mind wasn’t on the job. I forgot to send it. Oh, hell! He’ll have my guts for garters! Can you get me a contact number for Miss Paphos? I need to speak with her.’
‘At your command. General!’ she replied without hesitation, saluting him smartly before wheeling around and heading for the doorway. ‘I’ll have it for you in a jiffy!’
Charles left the office and took the lift to the General Manager’s office. ‘You wanted to see me about Miss Paphos and Scintillant,’ he began as he faced Fulton.
Fulton pointed to a chair and the junior manager sat down to face him. ‘What do you think of Miss Paphos?’ he asked quietly, shrugging off any discussion relating to the robbery as though it had never happened.
‘She’s a very beautiful woman,’ returned Charles shrugging his shoulders. ‘And very smart too.’
‘Yes... she’s quite stunning, isn’t she? She invited me to a villa she owns in Calpe near Benidorm in Spain.’
‘She never mentioned anything about a villa to me,’ confessed the junior man.
‘No... I don’t suppose she did. Trouble is it depends on the loan being approved. What did you make of her application?’
‘I’ve almost finished a report on the interview I had with her, It was necessary to turn her down although I didn’t tell her that.’
The General Manager’s face showed his disappointment. ‘For what reason?’
‘I wasn’t satisfied with the Certificate of Deposit she offered as collateral.’
’What was wrong with it?’
’I don’t believe it was authentic.’
’Did you check it out with the American bank?’
’Of course but I used other sources to check it out. And it saved you a great deal of embarrassment.’
‘What other sources?’ What are you talking about?’
‘I can’t tell you that, sir,’ replied Roach uncomfortably. The senior officer would never understand that Jennifer had spoken to him for the next world. ‘It’s confidential but you can take my word for it. I turned down the application and saved your reputation as well as the bank’s money.’
Fulton stared at him arrogantly. ‘I know you’ve had a bad time lately with the bereavement and your life’s been turned upside down, but I want to know what source you used to check out that Certificate of Deposit!’
Charles sat in the silence that prevailed without speaking.. It was patently clear that the General Manager insisted on an answer. ‘My wife told me,’ he uttered after clearing his throat.
‘Your wife!’ echoed the senior man raising his eyebrows in disbelief. ‘You mean...’ he tailed off into infinity.
‘I didn’t want to tell you, sir, but she communicates with me. She told me that Miss Paphos was perpetrating a fraud and, in fact, the woman admitted it to me herself when I challenged her about it.’
‘Rhona Paphos admitted it was a fraud? I don’t believe it!’
‘It’s true! When I challenged her at the end of the interview she admitted it was a fraud.’
‘You’re certain of that, are you... because your wife told you?’
‘That’s right. You see she communicates with me in my middle ear.’
The General Manager was exceedingly distressed at the revelation. ‘If she was operating a fraud, why didn’t you report it to the police? After all, you had the Certificate of Deposit. If it wasn’t genuine, they would have charged her with deceit.’
‘I was protecting both you and the bank, Mr. Fulton. We don’t want a scandal. It would be the worse for your reputation if she revealed the offer she made to you with the holiday to her villa as a bribe. I considered it best to get rid of her. Let some other bank deal with the problem. We have enough on our plate.’
Fulton stared at his subordinate for a while with a doleful expression on his face. ‘Shame!’ he muttered almost to himself, swiftly dismissing the whole affair from his mind. ‘Still that’s the way things happen I suppose. Coming back to you, Roach. I think you should take some more compassionate leave before you continued your return to your duties. If you think your wife’s communicating with you, you ought to take a holiday.’
The junior manager got to his feet and nodded. ‘You may be right,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘The trouble is that my wife always gives me the correct information. It’s too valuable just to let go.’ He walked out of the office leaving Fulton staring vaguely at his departing figure.
When Charles returned to his own office, he found a business card on his desk which had been left by Erica Wild which had been given to her by Rhona Paphos. He picked it up and stared at it thoughtfully for a while. If he contacted the woman, it would open a channel which might cause him regret. Then he thought about her mother, the medium, and decided that it might be a good idea to arrange a séance. He lifted the telephone receiver hesitantly and dialled her number.
‘Rhona Paphos please,’ he said as someone answered. There was a click and he heard her voice at the other end of the line. ‘Hello, Rhona,’ he greeted cheerily. ‘It’s Charles Roach, Sovereign Bank. How are you?’
You know you promised me a favour... well I’d like to take it up. Is it possible for your mother to arrange a séance for me?’
‘Strange,’ she replied warmly. ‘I thought about ringing you this morning but I wasn’t sure it was the right time to do so.’
‘The right time,’ he repeated. ‘The right time for what?’
‘I’ve been thinking about you a lot since we me. I want to make you a... .proposition.’
He laughed at the way she had hesitated on the last word. ‘A proposition. Sounds interesting. What do you have in mind?’
‘It’s not something we can talk about over the telephone. How about meeting me for lunch today. Do you know the Penventon Hotel in Redruth?’
‘Very well. I’ve dined there.’
‘I’ll book a table and meet you there at one o’clock.’
‘I’ll be there,’ he confirmed. ‘I’ll be there.’ He replaced the receiver with his head buzzing like a band-saw. What kind of proposition was she talking about? He hoped it had nothing to do with borrowing money from the bank. That channel was closed to her at present. But what else could it be?
As a result of the activities relating to the bank robbery,. The morning passed by very quickly. At twelve-forty he left the office and purchased a small bouquet of flowers from a local florist in Redruth. Rhona Paphos arrived at the Penventon Hotel at exactly one o’clock. She eased herself out of a taxi, looking as beautiful as ever, dressed in an immaculate grey suit, with her sleek black hair brushed upwards from the neck. Charles walked towards her, handing her the flowers, and they entered the hotel together moving to the restaurant where the Head Waiter showed them to their table.
‘It’s very kind of you to buy these for me,’ she told him gratefully, sniffing gently at the blooms. Very thoughtful. Would you mind closing your eyes for a moment, please.’ She waited until he had done so and then fired her question. ‘Without opening your eyes, can you tell me the colour of my eyes?’
