Arthur did not feel like going home, and of course he didn't really have any letters to write. After he had taken Sheila home, he drove back into the centre of Middleford and wandered about on foot for a while along the street where all the best shops were. The things he looked at in the windows were much too expensive for him to buy - hi-fi sets, cameras, tape recorders and watches. He stopped at a photographer's shop and looked at the wedding photographs in the window; there was a girl in one of the photos whose smiling face reminded him of Mary. Arthur felt even more unhappy.
Then he walked past the resaturant where he had once seen Mary and Bruce together. Bruce had ordered a very expensive meal with a lot of wine. Arthur hadn't even had enough money to pay for his omlette. Bruce had lent him a pound and laughed at him.
After that Arthur walked down to the boathouse where he and Mary with Sheila and her brother had once hired a boat. There were no boats there now because it was the middle of winter. After he had looked at the river for a while, he began to feel cold. So he looked for a place where he could have a cup of coffee but every café in Middleford was closed. He made his way back to the place where he had parked his car, got in and drove back to 21 Gladstone Avenue. When he had put his car away, he went into the house and heard Mr Smithers and Mrs Harrison talking excitedly.
Daring bank raid in Middleford
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A gang of men with stockings over their heads made a daring bank raid on the Westland Bank in Middleford High Street at 10 o'clock this morning. Mr Reginald Smithers, 55, a clerk at the bank, described an incident to our reporter. Five men, all carrying guns, had made the staff lie on the floor while they opened the safe and stole jewelery worth 30.000 pounds and 50.000 pounds in used bank notes. |
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- Good evening. Sorry I'm late, Mrs Harrison.
- Hallo, Arthur. That's all right. Your supper's in the oven. Do you know - Mr Smithers had a very nasty experience today, didn't you, Mr Smithers?
- Yes, indeed!
- Well, go on. Tell Arthur all about it.
- About what?
- Well, I'd been at the bank for about an hour when it happened. One of our customes - a lady whose rings we keep in the safe - had just left. I shall never forget it if I live to be a hundred.
- Forget what?
- Well, there were these five men; they had stockings over their heads …
- Do you mean there was a robbery?
- Yes, it was terrible. We'd just received 50.000 pounds for one of the firm whose wages we do …
- Isn't it shocking, Arthur? Poor Mr Smithers. He had to lie on the floor. He had his new suit on too.
- Oh dear! What happened then, Mr Smithers?
- Well, as I was saying, we'd just received this money when some men, five I think there were, rushed in and pointed their guns at us.
- What did they do then?
- They made us lie donw on the floor and took the box the lady's rings were in, and then they took the keys from the manager and opebned the safe.
- Didn't anybody sound the alarm?
- No, it all happened so quickly.
- Did you get a good look at any of the robbers?
- Well, I only saw one of them. As I said he had stocking over his head - but he was tall. He had a moustache and a really expensive gold watch on his wrist. He was the one who took the box the rings were in.
