Chapter 8

“Jimmy, the assayer has informed us that the gold-seeming crankshaft is indeed solid gold, but it is 22 carat, not pure 24 carat, but pretty good all the same. Value is variable by the day, as the rate for gold buying never stands still for long, but your guess of around a million and a half is not far off what the assayer thinks is its intrinsic value. He recommends keeping it as gold, and not converting it to cash, as he expects gold to continue to appreciate in value for years to come. Whoever it was that stashed that gold away, it was a good long-term investment. We should keep it intact for the same reason.”

“Well, sir,” I offered, “As we have an investor willing to sustain the expansion of our business for a very reasonable return, I am in favour of keeping the gold as an appreciating asset. Do we have to hang on to it on our premises, or can we stash it in a bank vault?”

Emerson told me, “The assayer says that vaulted gold is the best bet, and recommends Everbank as the depository. That is only his opinion. Another assayer may have a different view. I should think that more local banks may be extremely willing to store our gold in their vaults. Holding gold in their vaults must be good for their own reputation as a reliable repository. I’ll check with the Chairman, but I would favour holding it locally if it makes financial sense.”

“You’re in charge, sir; your decision. I have enough decision-making on my plate already.”

“Of course; you are keeping an eye on the transfer of Copies stock from the warehouse to the hangars and adding it to the website’s database. How is that procedure going?”

“Fairly well, sir. We have found a fair amount of duplication between warehouses, so we are amalgamating everything into one sequence as we move it to the hangars we are designating as warehouses. It will take at least two hangars to complete that process; might even need a third. Making more categories tends to spread the stock more, but makes it simpler to identify exactly what customers may ask for. I am trying to aim for simplicity and efficient operation. Once everything is digitised and on the new database, I anticipate a higher rate of sales and better profits on these sales.”

“Publicity?” Emerson wanted to know.

“Not too soon, I would advise, Mr Emerson; but when we get our website online – that means operational - with the searchable database for products and spares, we can blast all the media outlets with a press release about our new website and the immense range of products that you can find on it. We can push the vision of Copies as the best general source of parts, through its spares expertise, and promote the rest of the Group for its engineering excellence.

We can offer a tour of our warehouse hangars for all the journalists and TV people that want to see it. That will mean Frank Davis and/or Bob Yeats fronting the tour. I would suggest we take the opportunity to emphasize we have a competent security team looking after our Group location for the future. That could help us in two ways: one, it shows how efficient our new operation is, and we can mention our additional vacant hangars that might be available for other businesses to occupy and also as an extra obtain the benefit of our security team.”

Emerson raised his eyebrows.

“Hadn’t we best leave the renting out of the other accomodation to our own real estate team who can put buildings on the market? They will be selling our existing property once we vacate it.”

“Naturally, sir, but we can give them a head start by publicising the availability of work and office space. Anyone who asks about such accommodation can be referred to our team to start negotiations.”

Emerson was mollified by this explanation, and the discussion tapered off.

By the time I and Marjory got home, Sharl was desperate to speak to us.

“Priscilla rang me an hour ago. The two women want to go with our plan, so we can get it started as soon as we like.”

“Lovely,” I agreed. “After dinner, we can review all the specific phone calls we intend to make, and when we should make them; but can we eat first? I am famished.”

Sharl grinned. “You’ll like what we have for today’s dinner: grilled venison steaks with roast potatoes and honey-glazed carrots. Mushroom soup for starters.”

Marjory exclaimed, “Sounds delicious; I am all for it!”

After dinner and clearing up, the family sat down to go over their proposed phone calls to the police. Marjory had a query.

“Might it be better if all the calls came from concerned women? A concerned man would be less likely to report the sound, in my humble opinion. No offense to you as a man, my love. You are unique; a one-off.”

I grimaced but said nothing, acknowledging the truth of her view; and leaving it to the women to express their views. They tended to concur with Marjory. Sharl ended with, “Four calls, then, or does anyone think more are needed, or is that overkill?”

I suggested, “Speaking for male cops, I would stick with three or four in such a short period. They would normally expect the odd call over a longer period, about an abuser, and eventually get around to looking into it. A small batch in a short time would get them off their butts to at least investigate the reports right away.”

Cherry offered, “That sounds about right, to me. Let’s stick to four: a preliminary one, to see if the cops make a visit, and then a later flurry if they don’t appear and take him away. Make them feel guilty for not pursuing the earlier complaint further.”

“Good point,” Marjory agreed. “Who goes first?”

“Me, I think,” said Sharl. “I can be sneaking out for alcohol, while my husband is out with his pals; but I feel for any woman being hurt.”

“Good approach,” said Jimmy. “Write it all down, so you know your script, but have an occasional extra in case you are asked stupid questions.”

“The cops might ask silly questions?” asked Flora.

“Yes. Anything to get you to tell them something about you. You have to avoid straight answers. If they ask you, do you live nearby? Say ‘Not very close.’ If they ask you, ‘Can you wait there while we send a car to investigate, so you can point out the house’, you say, ‘Sorry, but I am already late, so I have to leave.’ It may sound like excuses, but genuine callers often give excuses like that. The trick is to analyse the question and decide how NOT to give anything away in your response.”

For another hour or more, the girls would write down and try out their spiel, and I would act the part of the policeman at the end of the phone, and ask pointed questions of them. Occasionally they would say something that I wanted them to avoid, and I would mention the error so that they would avoid that response at the actual occasion.

“Another important point: you do not use the same phone for each call. The police can have the phone company tell them the phone number that the call came from, if they are suspicious. I will buy several one-time phones purely for this sole use, then we can dump them; never use them again.”

“Won’t that be expensive?” Lily asked in concern.

“Only if you want an untraceable phone. Cheap prepaid phones can be bought at Walmart then we drop them in a dumpster or two when we are finished with them. Always remember not to use a phone that has your own number or that of our house.”

Marjory intervened cautiously, “Jimmy, what about the Copies stock? Could that include such phones?”

I struck my forehead with the heel of my hand and groaned.

“Now why didn’t I think of that? Stupid me. I will check it out first chance I get.”

Marjory admitted, “I may be wrong, but if you are buying and clearing all the leftover stock of a closed business, I assumed that would include the business phones lying around – the mobile ones, anyway, for which the staff would have no further legitimate use.”

“Makes sense, Marjory, so we’ll check that out first. If we have some, a pack of ten should be going cheap, especially for a member of staff!”

His enquiry next day had Copies staff checking the various warehouses – much as they did in the past – and coming back with the answer: there were twenty-two mobile phones available, and he could have ten of them for twenty dollars, physical condition as found but guaranteed to be working phones.

I closed that deal and had the whole lot delivered to Copies Reception for me to select ten that I wanted. I aimed for a range of producers, to add to any confusion that a detective would face, if he went that far with such a simple question only related to witnesses. Nothing deters an investigation more than confusion, so the more the better.

Once I had a look at them, some had more minutes on them than others, but all were usable for their own purposes. If anyone ever tried to track the numbers down, it would lead them to several defunct businesses, with no information on what happened to the phone equipment after the business closed. The staff may have walked off with them as a memento of their employment, much as soldiers after a war were inclined to go home with a seized weapon, completely against all official orders.

Having the phones they wanted now in their possession, the women settled on where they would drive to, for making the calls. Each would choose a different location, but all within a mile of the target house. Sharl had one important matter to clarify with me.

“How will we communicate with the women at the house without leaving a phone trail?”

“Simple,” said Marjory. “Get Priscilla to phone them about another appointment, saying she has a number of slots she could use. She wants them to phone her at a time convenient to them, and fix on the day and time they will be able to go to the salon; and if they haven’t transport, she can arrange for a taxi to pick them up. She will say her only currently available slots are in the evenings. Do you think they would know what she will mean about the timings?”

Sharl was adamant.

“Priscilla and I were clear about this. She told the women that they would have to phone her about when they would be alone at their house in the evening, and a taxi would collect them and take them to a spot where ‘friends’ would pick them up and take them to a safe and anonymous refuge.”

I queried, “So we can start tomorrow evening with the first complaint, and follow it up by several during the next day? I want to be near that house for a couple of hours after the first complaint call goes in, so that I can see if and how the police deal with it.”

Flora mentioned, “A man sitting in a car on his own might appear suspicious to neighbours, but a man and his girl making out in the car would be regarded as normal, wouldn’t it? Can I volunteer?”

I smiled broadly at her for her brilliant suggestion.

“Bang on the mark, Flora. A man on his own in a parked car is indeed suspicious. I think you should join me on that spying task. One of us can always have an eye on the target house, even if we are making out as you suggest. No actual sex, though, as that would distract us from our task. That plan okay with the rest of you girls?”

There were a few wry smiles, but no actual objections. Sharl declared, “Flora got in there first, so she wins the prize.”

Priscilla was to be advised tomorrow to immediately contact the women as planned, and I and Flora would leave to be in place by the time the complaint call was made by Sharl, from a spot half a mile from them.

A normal day at the business was followed by the planned complaint call. Priscilla had confirmed all was in readiness, so Flora and I set off after dinner to get in place for the surveilance. It was not yet dark, so that we didn’t have to be close to be in position to observe proceedings. Sharl waited at home for a few minutes, then set off for her own position where she would make her call. She got out of her car and walked around a little before instigating her call. The conversation went much as expected, with Sharl acting the part of a concerned member of the public who really did not want to be involved.

“I was concerned for that girl or woman, whoever it was. I hope you can help her, but I have to go now.”

She rang off and drove to a dumpster she had noted on the way over. She stopped and tossed the phone into its cavernous maw, before getting back in her car and driving off.

I and Flora were having fun running our hands over each other where the car sat, a couple hundred yards from the target house. Her breasts were becoming more sensitive as her pregnancy progressed, so her response was notable. About twenty minutes after Sharl’s call, just as their activities were getiing steamier, a police cruiser rolled up and stopped on the curb by the target house. Two cops got out and ambled slowly towards the house. As they came up the driveway, one angled round the side to reconnoiter the back yard, then returned with a shrug to support his partner, who now knocked loudly on the front door.

As the watching pair paused to watch, the door opened and a man appeared there. He adopted a belligerant stance when he saw it was policemen.

They were too far away to hear anything, but Jimmy could imagine the conversation.

“Yes?”

“We have had a report of a woman crying out in pain, sir. I wonder if you can help clarify the situation.”

“Nothing to do with me, officer.”

“The sound was described as emanating from this household, sir.”

“No-one in this household in pain, I assure you, so you can look at the nearby houses instead. I wouldn’t trust any of them as far as I could throw them.”

“Thank you, sir. You wouldn’t mind if we came in and had a look around?”

“I certainly would! I know my rights, and you can’t come in without my say-so.”

“It was just a friendly request sir, not a demand. If you can help us out later, please phone this number.” He handed a card to the man.

Flora was giggling.

“What?” I asked Flora.

“You were speaking aloud, filling in for each of the speakers over there. I imagine you were fairly accurate in what you spoke for each of them.”

“I guess so. It was pretty obvious.”

“Oh. Watch what is happening now.”

The policemen seemed to accept what they were told and moved off to speak to the neighbours. The man at the door watched them to make sure that was what they were doing, then stepped back inside and closed the door.

Jimmy told Flora, “I think it is time we left, Flora. Stage one appears to have gone off as anticipated.”

He started the engine and they left for home. When they got there, Sharl was ready to meet them.

“Well? My call went through without any bother. They were surprised but didn’t ask embarrassing questions. What happened at the house? Anything?”

Flora allowed Jimmy to reply.

“Two cops eventually turned up and asked questions of the man at the door, but he wouldn’t let them in and they left to check the next door neighbours. I reckon they won’t get far with that ploy either.”

Sharl nodded. “Phase two then? Tomorrow?”

“Yes. One call early evening, one two minutes later, and the third one minute after that, so it will appear they all heard the same thing. You had better agree on what sort of cries you hear, so that you talk about the same sounds, but in varying words as individuals.”

When I was at work next day, the man in charge of stores at Copies phoned to tell me that my request for mobile phones had shown them that an immediate digital database was essential for them to know what they have.

He told me, “It will save us much staff time, not having to go searching in different warehouses. I was glad to hear that this was already started. I didn’t even know we had any mobile phones in stock when you asked, never mind how many!”

I told him, “I am glad to know that my request has spurred your staff to greater efforts. In future, I’d rather be able to consult the database on my own, and just place the order there and then, instead of having to bother you folks. Tell your staff that their work is going to be mightily appreciated when they have finished sorting out everything.”

“I’ll do that, Mr Hargreaves. Were your phones satisfactory, or have you not tested them yet?”

“An interesting question. I have asked my family to try them out today, to see if their calls get through without difficulty. However, I am expecting all these phones to be fine; up to the well-known Copies standards.”

“Yes, sir. I am sure they will be. Please let us know if there is any problem.”

“I will. Thanks for phoning.”

I later got a summons from the Chairman to come to the Boardroom.

“Come in, Jimmy,” he ordered when I appeared at the door. “Have a seat.”

“What can I do for you, sir?”

“Nothing of particular concern. I simply wanted an update on how my daughters are coping with all the changes to their life.”