Banker's Draft

by Clive Mullis

  Gerald just smiled, because he knew he didn’t exist.

  Cornwallis felt a chill go down his back. Although he knew Gerald’s story, here in the Collider it brought it home to him in no uncertain way. There on the screen in front of them — was not Gerald.

  He had an urge to ask the guide and see how he dealt with it, but they were here to look for Kintersbury and Dumchuck, so he would have to leave that pleasure for another time. Gerald shoved his head through yet another door, and this time came back with a grin on his face. He twitched his head in the door’s direction, indicating that they had found who they were looking for.

  The guide started to look perplexed. He kept looking at the screen and then looking at the crowd of tourists. He scratched his head and then began to count. Cornwallis smiled as he saw him. He nudged Gerald, thankful that his arm didn’t go through him, and cocked his head towards the guide. They didn’t need to panic, instead Cornwallis looked to the store room where the others were peeping out and beckoned them over. The time had come to act, and there would be now something else for the guide to comment on — the arrest of two felons.

  MacGillicudy, Frankie, Rose and Isabella poured out of the storeroom to the consternation of everyone in the Collider, and then hurried across the room. The guide watched bemused, not sure what to do, as this had never happened before. MacGillicudy pulled out his warrant card and held it aloft.

  ‘Police,’ he yelled, above the hum of concern. ‘Please all stay calm and stay exactly where you are.’

  The conversations became an excited buzz, much like a swarm of wasps when an idiot with a stick decided to poke the nest. The buzz then settled down as they all waited to see the next instalment in their exciting day.

  ‘Your key please, Frankie,’ ordered Cornwallis, as the hush descended.

  Frankie stepped up and shook his shoulders before bracing himself to kick out. Rose got in first and turned the handle, it clicked and the door swung open.

  ‘You have a habit of not checking, haven’t you?’ she said sweetly.

  Cornwallis coughed and had the decency to look a little contrite, while Frankie just shrugged his shoulders. They quickly regained their composure and piled through the door.

  The room was just a smaller version of the main Collider chamber, a big screen dominating the far wall with a bank of controls in front. There a man in a white coat pulled levers behind a protective shield, which stopped him viewing the screen to give the customers total privacy. Standing next to him, and looking up at the screen, were Kintersbury and Dumchuck, both wearing a look of consternation as they saw everyone come through. Gerald caught hold of Isabella and held her back to guard the door, the only door into the room.

  ‘What’s this?’ demanded the man on the desk, his head whipping around at the sound of the door coming fully open. ‘This is a private viewing.’

  ‘It was,’ replied Cornwallis easily. ‘But now it’s on general release.’ He looked up at the screen and saw himself staring back, and like a mirror, so were everyone else — apart from Gerald. ‘Did you see this in your viewing?’ he asked Kintersbury, taking a step towards him. ‘Did you know we were coming through? Did you see that you were about to get arrested?

  Kintersbury took the momentary look of confusion off his face and replaced it with a knowing grin. ‘Actually, yes, we’ve just seen what happens, Mr Cornwallis, and you are going to be very disappointed.’

  ‘And pray tell, why is that?’

  Kintersbury’s grin widened. ‘Because in a few seconds time you will wish you hadn’t stepped foot inside this building. We are not on our own you know.’

  ‘Cornwallis,’ warned Gerald. ‘He may be right. Sum o’ them tourist out there are starting to look a little mean.’

  ‘How many?’ enquired Frankie, coming over to look.

  ‘Six,’ replied Gerald. ‘Oh dear, it looks like they may be armed.’

  Kintersbury could hardly contain himself with the excitement that foreknowledge had brought. ‘Give up now, Cornwallis, and you may actually survive all this.’

  Cornwallis looked hard at Kintersbury. ‘Is that what you saw then, me giving up?’

  Kintersbury shook his head. ‘Actually, no, you died.’

  Rose’s hands went straight to her mouth and she gasped.

  ‘You too, Miss Morant, in fact none of you will come out of this room alive,’ added Kintersbury, gleefully rubbing his hands. ‘Oh, this is wonderful.’

  ‘Er, Pelegrew.’ Dumchuck spoke up for the first time. ‘That gentleman there,’ and he pointed towards Gerald. ‘I don’t remember seeing him on the screen.’

  ‘Of course he was,’ replied Kintersbury dismissively. ‘The Collider never lies.’

  Frankie quickly pulled Isabella out of the way and together he and Gerald barred the door.

  ‘No,’ countered Dumchuck with a little more certainty. ‘I’m sure he wasn’t, in fact I know he wasn’t.’

  ‘Then you weren’t looking properly, Abraham.’

  MacGillicudy pulled out two pairs of handcuffs and handed one over to Cornwallis. ‘I don’t know about you, Jack, but I have no intention of dying just yet, I’ve only just been promoted.’

  A commotion began at the door, and Cornwallis fought the temptation to look around, instead he stared up at the screen. Frankie had already suffered from a knife wound to the chest and the six men were rushing through the door. One of them grabbed Isabella, while two others ran towards Rose. Cornwallis couldn’t look at it anymore and spun around to confront the knife that headed towards his ribs. When he turned, he found no knife coming towards him, in fact, Gerald and Frankie were not only holding their own, but had already downed two of the tourists.

  He turned back around and grinned at Kintersbury, who now had a look of utter confusion on his face. ‘You should have listened to Dumchuck, Gerald is an anomaly, he ain’t really there.’

  Rose watched the screen too and saw the way Isabella and she had been grabbed, not altogether very gentlemanly. It made her feel violated, even though nothing had actually happened. It was though she could see things through a different pair of eyes, but a part of her knew that she looked at things that were actually happening somewhere else, in some other universe, at some point in time. She looked at a reality, and she willed herself to fight back as the men grabbed her. Mesmerised, she just couldn’t take her eyes away from the screen as she saw herself fight off the men. She could also see how Cornwallis had turned, just as the knife had entered his ribs. He staggered, clutched at the knife, and then fell to his knees, a hand held out towards the other Rose. Having fought off her attackers, she rushed over to him and took him in her arms. Then she saw a man throw a knife at her, hitting her in the back, and she slumped forward on top of Cornwallis. She gave a long shudder, and then both of them went still.

  Frankie had knocked out another of the tourists, and Gerald had his hands around the throat of yet another. Rose finally managed to drag her eyes away from the screen and back to the events in her reality; she then stepped determinedly towards Kintersbury, wanting to exact her revenge for the other Rose, for the other Cornwallis, for the other all of them, to do to Kintersbury what he and his men were doing to her and her friends.

  Cornwallis stepped in front of Rose just as she reached Kintersbury. ‘No, Rose, don’t do it.’

  ‘But, Jack, didn’t you see what happened up there?’ she said, angrily pointing towards the screen.

  ‘I did, Rose, but that is not how it ends: this is how it ends.’

  ‘But, the screen shows what happens — at least somewhere.’

  ‘Everything happens somewhere, but not here. In some places we aren’t even born, some places we don’t even exist, have never existed and won’t exist. Here is the only reality that we know. The dangers of the Collider are just this; looking at something other than what is, does not mean that it will in reality happen.’

  ‘But the Collider shows the other universes.’

  ‘But not here. I
f the operator plays with his toggle, we go to some other place at some other time. There are infinite places anyone can go, but here, now, is the only place that matters to us. This is all we will ever know.’ Her eyes were wide and frightened and she panted as her heart raced. Cornwallis reached out and held her arms; he pulled her forward, forcing her to look at him. ‘That…’ and he indicated the screen with his head, ‘… did not happen here. They…were not us. It…did not happen.’

  Gerald downed the last of the attackers and peace finally descended. There followed a round of applause from the genuine tourists who thought that their money had been well spent, considering all the entertainment they were getting. The big screen showed the other reality, and the guide desperately tried to explain it all in a way that did not become detrimental to the income of the Collider. He knew now that Gerald had caused it all, because he still did not show on the screen, but he couldn’t explain how.

  The operator now decided that discretion would be the better part of valour and pushed back his chair and ran for the door. Bugger his boss’s instructions to stay whatever happened, he intended to make sure that whatever happened didn’t happen to him. Frankie and Gerald smiled as they stepped out of the way to let him pass.

  MacGillicudy took a step towards Dumchuck, slapping on the bracelets before the banker could even move. ‘You are being arrested for murder, kidnapping, and I believe theft of a substantial amount of money. Anything else you can think of, Jack?’

  ‘Not at the moment, Jethro, though I’m sure we will find something.’

  ‘It’s finished, Pelegrew,’ sighed Dumchuck, looking over towards Kintersbury. ‘And quite frankly I’m glad. This has all been such a strain. Mrs Dumchuck has been wondering why I’ve been so tense.’

  ‘Abraham, this is far from finished. We are men of power with powerful friends; nobody will convict us as there is very little evidence for anything.’

  ‘I think there is, Kintersbury,’ replied Cornwallis. ‘You thought you would get away with it, but you haven’t. You stole all the money that the bank received from the Assembly, didn’t you? You put it into Gornstock Trust and Holdings and then bankrupted the business. I know now that you intended to get it out of the country, but you didn’t. You see, the Bagman intercepted the ship and he has it safe. All the gold you stole is still sitting in that ship, it’s going nowhere, Kintersbury, and neither are you.’

  ‘You have to prove it, and you won’t be able to. You’re dealing with a banker and the Treasury Secretary here, you know. Don’t you think we would have found a way to hide everything? The ship means nothing, so go ahead, that was just small change.’

  ‘That won’t be my problem. Somebody else will go through all the books, somebody who knows far more than me; and quite probably, far more than you too.’

  Cornwallis let go of Rose and advanced towards Kintersbury to slap the handcuffs on, when suddenly the screen flickered and the picture broke up. It went blank for a few seconds, then another picture came up, and this one showed everyone alive and well — only…

  Rose stared at it, even more confused now. Kintersbury cast a look over his shoulder and saw the new image. He winced; he just couldn’t understand it at all. As Cornwallis stepped forward, Kintersbury sprinted away, and he moved pretty quickly, but he could only move towards the screen. He stopped in front of it and turned, and then pulled a knife from his pocket and started waving it menacingly in front of him.

  ‘No closer,’ he growled. ‘This is not over yet.’

  ‘I think it is,’ replied Cornwallis patiently.

  ‘You’re wrong. I checked the Collider, it confirmed everything.’

  ‘We have your mistress too, you know that. Your Miss Lena is under lock and key and has told us all about it.’

  Kintersbury turned and looked up at the Collider screen, and saw himself looking back; but his clothes were different, and so too were everybody else’s. Cornwallis wore some sort of uniform with a flat type of hat, and so too did Rose and Frankie. MacGillicudy wore a kind of suit and stood there with his hands in his pockets. Isabella wore a short skirt that showed quite a lot of thigh. All of them stared at Kintersbury, both on screen and off.

  He backed away from them until he could hardly go any further; the screen being right behind him; then in through the door came Fluffy.

  ‘Where d’you come from?’ asked Frankie, looking down.

  ‘Come wiv yer, didn’t I. I were under the cart as youse told me I couldn’t come. So when youse went down that pipe thingy, I came too. So here I is. That’s the one I’s scratched,’ he said, indicating Kintersbury. ‘Still sees the marks, see, did ‘im good and proper, like.’ He sauntered over and jumped up on the desk in front of the screen.

  Rose looked at herself on screen in that strange uniform and wondered what it all meant. She peered closer and saw the words “Police” on a thick padded waistcoat and she sort of felt better inside as it confirmed that she was still on the side of the law. She stepped closer to Kintersbury just as Cornwallis did too. Fluffy meowed and then spat, and then arched his back just as Kintersbury began to wave the knife again. The cat took exception to the knife whistling just past his head, so with a growl, jumped off, and sank his teeth into Kintersbury’s leg.

  Kintersbury kicked out, and the cat went flying across the room. But the action left him unbalanced and he stumbled backwards towards the screen. He threw out his arm to counter the imbalance, but he just wind-milled and continued to fall. Cornwallis suddenly realised what was going to happen, and leapt forward.

  Everything happened, but it seemed to happen in slow motion, but so quickly at the same time. Kintersbury fell into the screen, and as he touched it, it sort of sparked. It then dragged him in, further and further, and Cornwallis watched in fascination as the two images in front of him sort of merged into one. He leapt forward to grab hold, but it seemed like something held him back. Try as he might he just couldn’t break away from whatever anchored him. Kintersbury screamed, and then came a sort of sucking sound, and then suddenly Kintersbury had disappeared.

  Everyone stared at the screen, and those on the screen stared back, their expressions were exactly the same. They were horrified.

  ‘Well,’ said Gerald, breaking the silence that followed. ‘I’ve been there, got the shirt with the logo on, even. So I can tell yer this; ‘e ain’t coming back!’

  CHAPTER 16

  ‘Well?’ asked Rose, as Cornwallis walked through the door.

  He smiled at them and walked over to take his seat. Frankie picked up a beer and knocked off the top, then handed it over to him before relaxing back into his chair. MacGillicudy had only just arrived after having dealt with everything at the Yard and perched on Mrs Gridlington’s desk, swinging a leg impatiently.

  When they all got back to Scooters Yard with Dumchuck and the six accomplices, Cornwallis had been nabbed by the Bagman; that had been some hours ago and he had spent all that time incarcerated with the man. Gerald had waited for a while, but eventually he’d had enough and decided to go back to the Brews and find out the story later. Isabella too had waited, but her exhaustion took hold and she had retired to her room downstairs to sleep. Rose and Frankie found time to go to the Stoat and pick up some celebratory crates of beer, and for Rose to freshen up and grab a few other things. Fluffy went off somewhere, probably after something, and no one had any idea when or whether they were likely to see him again; however, the cat did indicate that he might well be relocating to the neighbourhood.

  ‘Well, indeed,’ replied Cornwallis impishly. ‘Well, well, well indeed.’ He tipped up the beer and took a long pull. He smiled again and then regarded them all, each in turn, finally fixing on MacGillicudy. ‘I take it due process is still taking place?’

  MacGillicudy nodded. ‘All banged up and no place to go. Bough is enjoying himself immensely and has even notified the press. Your name is going to be plastered across the front pages of all the papers tomorrow.’ Frankie gave him a hurt look.
‘You too, Frankie, and Rose,’ he added with a smile. ‘I will just have to content myself with a pat on the back from Bough.’

  ‘Oh, that’s a shame. You’ve done just as much as the rest of us,’ sympathised Rose.

  ‘I’m a feeler, Rose, and feelers do what feelers do.’

  ‘Well, you’re one feeler who did an awful lot.’

  ‘That goes without saying,’ interjected Cornwallis. ‘We couldn’t have done it without you; and you had the pleasure of seeing Grinde take a walk down the road.’

  MacGillicudy’s grin broadened at the thought. ‘Gods, yes, now that is a bonus.’

  Frankie grabbed another beer. ‘Bugger Grinde, Jack, come on, what happened?’

  ‘I’d rather not have to bugger Grinde, thank you,’ replied Cornwallis with distaste. ‘But I can tell you what it was all about.’

  ‘Go on then,’ they all urged.

  ‘Now, where shall I start?’

  It took a while, but eventually Cornwallis told the story.

  ‘Glenda Pilchard was the architect of it all, and it began when her hatred for her life became too much to bear. Her clientele were all influential men, and then she got the idea that if she used some of them, she could start a new life somewhere else, and leave her present one far behind. But she overreached herself when she decided to get her own back on the city.

  ‘Kintersbury and Dumchuck were clients of hers. The foremost banker in Gornstock, and a member of the Assembly who had responsibility in the treasury department, and they were too good an opportunity to waste. She began to squeeze them, until eventually with promises of untold wealth they became willing accomplices.

  ‘She persuaded Kintersbury to enter the drugs trade, and with the profits from that, he bought Gornstock Trust and Holdings. His ship had been bringing all the drugs in for a while now and had cornered the market; they put Maxwell in charge of all the drug smuggling and forced most of the other traffickers out of business. All the profits from the drugs went through Goup, who sent it on in a roundabout route to Kintersbury, who then used the firm to extort money from any place they could. It started with buying up debts from the bank, and they did that with the help of Dumchuck. They would then use strong arm tactics to get the debtors’ money into the firm’s accounts. That went well until Glenda got the idea that she could use the bank as well.