Thompson’s Lost Plimsole

Part 40

Derek Dray and Lenny Price had travelled down to London from Hallifield and were now alighting from the train at Kings Cross Station. Each of the men carried two heavy suitcases stuffed with the proceeds of the bank raid. Lenny had spent that evening carefully packing the cases, wrapping each item and distributing the weight evenly between cases. Once outside the station, Lenny turned to Derek and advised him that he would need to use the phone to let his contacts know that they had arrived. The plan was to visit two establishments in Hatton Garden, disposing of two cases at each location. Derek stood guarding the cases as Lenny made the calls. Lenny finished his phone calls and the men then hailed a taxicab. The cab drew up outside a drab looking jewellery shop.  Derek quizzed Lenny. “Are you sure this is the place?”, “Oh yeah”, Lenny replied, “Don’t let looks deceive you, I’ve dealt with these boys dozens of times, honest as the day’s long, for fences, and very good payers, always a fair price.” Lenny and Derek looked through the unwashed shop window and could see a figure moving about at the back of the shop. There was a public house opposite the shop, so Lenny turned to Derek and bade him take his cases and wait in the pub. “He’ll only deal with me; he gets nervous if he has to deal with more than one at a time”. Derek was unsure about this arrangement; he’d travelled down on behalf of his brother and the rest of the boys, just to make sure that Lenny didn’t get in any bother with these southern types. Lenny assured him that he’d only be half an hour at most, and if his associate was taking longer to assess the value of the goods, then he’d join him in the pub for a beer and a bite to eat. Lenny raised a hand to wave at the person in the shop and then placed his hand on the shop door handle. “It’ll be fine, Derek”, he said, “It’s not like I’m gonna do a runner. If you sit in one of the window seats in the pub, you can see me in the shop”.  Derek was still reluctant to let the other two suitcases out of his sight, but he’d worked with Lenny on many occasions and he’d always played fair. Derek picked up his two cases and crossed the road as Lenny entered the shop. Derek ordered two pints and a plate of sandwiches, and took a seat where he could clearly see the shop opposite. After a few minutes, Derek saw what appeared to be Lenny moving round the shop counter, and disappearing into a back room. Derek drank his pint, finished off the sandwiches and waited, and waited, and waited. Nearly an hour had passed and no sign of Lenny. Now Derek was starting to get agitated, why was it taking so long? Derek had noticed at least two other individuals enter the shop and then leave a short time later. He downed the second beer, picked up the cases and marched over to the shop. Once inside, Derek was confronted by an old man. “Can I help you , Sir?”, he asked. Derek replied angrily, “Where’s the bloke that came in here earlier?”. “Which gentleman were you referring to, Sir?”. “The one with the two large suitcases”. Derek snapped back. “He left, Sir, about an hour ago, he said that someone had threatened him and was following him. Asked if he could leave by the back entrance”.

Derek snapped the locks on one of the cases and removed the padding covering what he thought would be jewellery, gold, and other valuable items.  What he found, were carefully wrapped rocks and stones. The second case contained much the same. “The dirty, rotten, cheating bastard!”. Derek was incandescent with rage. “When I get my hands on him, I’ll kill the double crossing swine!”  But Lenny had a good hour on him, and his plan had worked like a dream so far. The Dray twins thought that they were big time gangsters, but to Lenny, they were just a pair of thugs. Yes, Lenny had fenced small amounts of stolen property for them in the past, but he had been the one to suggest the bank raid, and it was his meticulous planning that had got them this far without being caught. Lenny had played the long game, and now he was on a train to Southampton. By this evening, he would be on a boat to the continent and a new life, far away from the Dray twins and the grubby backstreets of Hallifield.

Advertisement