Chapter 16

“Sounds great, the way you put it, George. I will defer to your superior knowledge. Let Georgie know what you come up with, from the university, and we can take it from there.”

George put in his bid for the flat he wanted, and it was swiftly accepted by the seller; then I got my commission on the sale, placed to my account at the agency. Once a month, my commissions were paid into my personal bank account.

I heard nothing more from the SRO. Presumably they had prepared the boxes of documents and sent them down to Kew. There, they were probably filed away carefully and then forgotten about until someone might ask to view one or more documents. It was unlikely that anyone would ever query the way they had arrived at the PRO, for what did that matter to an archivist? These public records were where they were intended to go, and that was the end of it.

On the other hand, having the device on display in the estate agency had an unintended result. One of our antique dealers came into the agency to see where his own selected object would be on view, and he took a fancy to the device, telling Georgie, “I could sell that as a decorative display item for a shop window, or as a talking point for an upmarket home. What price have you put on it?”

Georgie explained that it was there as a temporary measure until the owner found a suitable venue for its permanent storage and use. The man was not put off, saying, “Please tell him I would be prepared to put in a bid of five hundred pounds for it.” Georgie was surprised at this high figure, but said that she would pass that on to the owner, not even saying whether the owner was a man or a woman.

As I had not heard back from George by this time, I thanked Georgie and suggested she pass the news on to the physicist that we had a cash offer for the device, and it would be advisable for the university to offer a higher amount, if they wanted to secure it for their teaching aids collection. She chuckled at my words, and agreed to do this.

This seemed to spur the university on, for George came back two days later with a bid of eight hundred pounds; a satisfactory amount to my mind. I left it to Georgie to conduct the sale through the agency, describing the owner as an individual who wished to remain anonymous. I did not want my name to be on record as the seller. He would also have to arrange for its collection from Gourock and delivery at Glasgow.

Phyllis asked me about the device, as she had heard from the dealer that he had put in an offer to the other Mrs McIntyre. “Surely an electrical device like that can’t be classified as an antique, Bob?”

“True enough, but as you know many antiques are bought to become a display piece or talking point in a home. A model or a working device fulfills the same need, so don’t be afraid of overstepping the mark by buying a modern model item. Glasgow shipyards used to make half hull models to see how a particular hull shape would look, and now such half hull models are desirable pieces, just as much as old guns or swords are collectibles. Customers are customers, Phyllis. They don’t differentiate between your one category and another, or exclude anything. They just buy what they like to have. If they want an item and you have it for sale, then take their money, I say.”

“I hadn’t run across that market segment before, Bob, but I like the argument. I suppose it must be similar to these special Tonka toys that were found in my attic; there’s a market for anything rare. I’ll widen my buying practice accordingly.”

A day after that, Sandy revealed her findings about the accounting company that employed Alice. “Bob darling, Alice has got herself into a murky world of shuffling money around to make it cease being criminal proceeds and become clean money.” “Ah, so Alice was right in that? How did you find out?”

“I used my business contacts to ask around for advice on turning risky cash into clean cash. I was surprised at how many knew what to do to avoid the law relating to criminal moneys. I must be somewhat naive in that I did not know this before.” “Your honesty is what endears you to your clients, Sandy; don’t despise it. What did your contacts tell you?”

“There is always some firm of accountants that can finagle your ill-gotten cash into money that is white as snow. Mostly it is a matter of channelling the cash into some new instant investment company, known in the trade as a ‘shell’ company, that then ploughs it in, as their own cash, into reliable companies, and hey presto!, the cash has become shares in that respectable business. The directors of the shell company are probably the same as the directors of the accountancy firm, so there is no query as to the true source of the funds. They will be listed as coming from a named individual residing in another country, a person who does not actually exist.”

“I see,” I commented. “So we can tell the Customs and Excise people and they will sort out the company?” Sandy snorted her derision at my naivety “If only it was that easy! At what point are you illegally converting dirty money into genuinely clean cash? There are stages to go through in the process, and it is not always easy to say at what point the company has done something illegal. That is what these companies rely on: the vagueness of the law involved. Movement of money from one country to another is one simple aspect. Criminal cash can be used to buy expensive items like a luxury car or a large house in a second country; the item is then sold off and the resulting cash is legitimate money able to be brought back to the UK.” My mind jumped to the estate agency group. Could it be being used to launder criminal cash? I shivered at the thought. Sandy noticed my reaction and told me, “I will go over this with Georgie and check if there is any sign of a large house being purchased for cash and swiftly resold.” I relaxed a little, saying, “I don’t want Georgie to be even on the edges of such dealings, my love.”

“Relax, I am already on to it, Bob. I’ll go over it with Georgie tonight and will tell her what to look out for. If she sees anything suspicious, she just has to notify the facts to the police and let them discuss it with Customs and Excise.”

I pressed her, “But what do we do about Alice’s bosses, if they are a bunch of rogues assisting other criminals?”

“That is more complicated, my love. Someone has to collect evidence of them actually accepting large amounts of cash, knowing it is from a criminal source; not easy, as I am sure you realise. The knowing bit is the clincher, and it is difficult to prove.”

“Can we set up a scene like we did with that jewellery theft, catching the person in the act?” “How do you propose we do that, Bob? Remember, that future camera thingy does things that are impossible for this time. How could you offer an impossible picture as evidence?”

“Then how can we use the time machine to collect evidence, if we cannot use the evidence in court?” Sandy placed her forefinger tip to her lip as she thought. Then she brightened. “We can blackmail one of the perpetrators by showing him what will look like film (with sound) of him accepting cash and admitting it is for money-laundering? Even the idea that we could set up a film camera in his premises, without him knowing, will stagger him.”

“Provided we can accurately position the time machine in the office he uses for the transaction,” I clarified, adding, “Alice may be able to do that for us. The machine is not as accurate as I would like it to be, but if the room is large enough, we can aim for the centre of the room and hope for the best.” “Okay...” Sandy murmured. “You do realise that this means her going into a room she is not ever meant to be inside?”

“I know. She can wander in and if there is anyone around, she can mutter, ‘Sorry, I took a wrong turning ... too busy thinking to myself... ‘ and if the room is empty, she can take a quick gander around and note where there is large clear space for me arriving. We will need an exact location for their building, but the large scale Ordnance Survey maps should do for that. I can land outside the building and check how close to target the machine gets me, and make the necessary adjustment before going inside to set up the camera trap.”

“Okay, we can go with that as a start. I’ll brief Alice on what we want her to do; there is no need to tell her what we will do later with the knowledge she gains for us. That weird information would disturb her too much.”

Over the next several weeks, we garnered data on the company, its staff and directors, and how they apparently operated. Alice was able to ‘innocently’ accidentally walk into banned rooms and discover which ones were being used for the criminal activities of the directors. Once she had found us the best room to use for spying on them, I did my first check of the accuracy of the Ordnance Survey positioning. I arrived outside the suburban Glasgow offices, in the street below, late at night when few people were around to see me arrive. My own calculations based on the difference between O.S. locations and the actuality, showed me that the O.S. location was off by seven or eight feet to the east side, and eleven feet off to the north. That enabled me to work out what amendments we had to make for the input of my arrival location inside the building.

Next, I had to get there, inside, at dead of night, armed with a torch, and decide on a location for the camera of the future to be positioned where we could get a recording of someone making an illegal transaction. This had to be done with a degree of guesswork, as we did not know when such transactions took place, where and with whom. I could not work with a known transaction and record it retrospectively. Alice helped by watching for the arrival of people who avoided the normal employees and went straight to meet one or more directors. Over a couple of weeks, Alice was able to show us a pattern of time and place, and so I was then able to decide on the positioning of the camera to ‘film’ it and record the sound of the transaction being discussed. This was tricky, as in this case it was a room in everyday use, with no certainty of when a criminal activity would be displayed. This meant that the camera had to be placed where it would be unnoticed for days on end, not seen as anything unusual in the office.

I thought long and hard about this problem, and eventually came up with a potential answer: a freestanding calendar with a small hole through which the camera lens could see the room. We had to make sure our time span did not reach a change of month, when someone would think to flip over the page to the next month and hide the camera’s view. Once we had the concept clarified, the ladies insisted in making the hole in the calendar for the thin camera to see though. Apparently I was not trusted to do the job properly. Once prepared, the calendar needed to have the ‘camera’ fixed under the calendar’s freestanding structure so that it would not move, or fall out of position for all the time that it stayed in the room. It seems they utilised a type of parcel tape to fix it into position and at the same time provided a weight to hold the total item on site and facing in the right direction. I was given instructions on how to place it so that it could see everything it needed to, and at the same time look an innocent bit of office paraphernalia.

In the end, it was a case of ‘try it and see’, for Alice could not tell us when any transaction would be made, only that it was usually done in this room. I made my arrival at dead of night, with a five second snap-back if either a light was on or anyone was present. That short time would allow me to stay still, not observed, yet I could make my judgment of the practicality of the venture.

I arrived; found myself in darkness, and flashed my torch around to see the available surfaces: ledges, cabinets and other wall-backing spots. I had just about nailed my choice when I was pulled back home again. Sandy was there to check that all was fine, and when I assured her it was, she handed me the calendar with its camera within. I reset the time for a minute and a half, to allow me to move to the chosen site, place the calendar, then step back to view it for its natural positioning.

I was slung back to the same spot and switched the torch on again, pointing at the floor to diffuse the illumination, and looked again at my chosen position for viewing the room. It looked fine, so I walked there, placed it carefully on top of a tall cabinet, and secured the calendar base to the surface with clear Sellotape, a tape found in almost all offices these days, so perfectly normal. Everything had to appear normal. The night stayed quiet as I used the torch to check the floor for evidence of my presence. There was nothing that I could see, except for a short strip of sellotape that had landed on the carpet. I picked it up and shoved it into my pocket. My time here was just about up, I guessed, and a moment later I was jerked back to the present in the old vestibule of our home.

I told Sandy that all seemed to be well. It was now down to the machine, set to start recording sight and sound when anyone moved in the room. We were bound to get unwanted shots of a daily cleaner going about her work, or even a fly or a moth fluttering in the office, but it was more about the senior personnel going about their unlawful business that we wanted. I just hoped the little machine had enough capability – I am told that with computers it is called ‘memory’ – to record what we sought. I returned to the room two nights later to retrieve the spy camera, take it home and check it for incriminating evidence. It was there, during the second day; clear and visible, with adequate sound level.

Two of the executives welcomed a man who they knew, by their behaviour towards him. He was carrying a suitcase. “Hi, John. What do you have for us this time?” John said, “This suitcase is full of cash that we need to get invested in some legitimate enterprise. What do you suggest this time?”

One of the two executives smiled. “You fancy buying into television? There are three TV companies that are doing particularly well: Rediffusion, Granada, and Scottish Television and they should continue to perform well. If we push a load of money into their shares through our own broker who happily accepts cash and will invest it for a client of ours, we can sell them officially in a few months as being in your name, and the proceeds can then go into a more established company like Rolls-Royce, and you will end up with a good record of selling the TV shares at a profit and buying into Rolls-Royce: a perfectly normal and legal set of transactions. If you want to be even more secure, we could cycle the funds through another company or two, until the trail is completely established as standard practice.”

“Sounds good,” agreed John. “Let’s go with that TV plan; keep it simple, I always say.”

I picked up this fascinating piece of intelligence after I recovered the camera the next night. I was careful to leave behind on its earlier spot another calendar identical to the one I was removing, so that there would be no apparent difference inside the office space.

I was very quickly back home with the camera inside the calendar; and only Sandy’s insistence that we wait, allowed me to suspend my anxiousness until the next day. When we viewed the recordings we managed to skip through the cleaner’s activities and eventually found the incriminating discussion.

“My God! That is perfect,” I exclaimed. “We have got two of them conspiring with a criminal.” Sandy was more somber. “Yes, that is, once we work out how to present the recording to the authorities without revealing the future technology that we used to get it.”

“Oh, yes. This is not like that theft that we solved, where we just showed the recording and she confessed. What can we do to make the recording appropriate to this date?”

She explained, “The sound aspect is fairly straightforward: we play the sound in front of a tape recorder microphone, and make a tape of the sound track. The picture is a major problem though. How can we make it like a cine film?” Sandy paused and now told me, “There is another problem we have to solve. This camera must run on a battery, and that won’t last forever. There must be a way of recharging the battery, but I sure as hell don’t know a thing about it.”

“Oh. Yes, I see what you mean. Damn! We need an expert to advise us on this.” “How about that professor of physics that is trying to get his university to buy the device from that house? He should know about battery charging.”

“That’s a possibility,” I granted. “But will he do that without querying where the camera thingy came from?”

Sandy shrugged. “We can tell him it is an advanced prototype of an American device that we got hold of for testing in a normal human environment. Any problem we encounter with it, we have to try to solve it without having to report back to the manufacturer. It is only if we can’t sort it out ourselves that we report it back as a fault in the device.”

I was impressed with her thought. “That sounds like something we could try out. Let’s speak to him about it, even if only in general terms to begin with. However, there is still the question of our evidence in that discussion we recorded.”