4. The Letter

GEOFFREY AND MAVIS
AND THE CREDIT CRUNCH
by गोफ्फ्रेय्स्मुम

(थिस स्टोरी इस एन्तिरे फिक्टिशुस)

4.

The letter

The following morning Geoffrey had begun to see sense. What on earth did it have to do with him that a Banker had been strangled. It was a weird coincidence but coincidence it was all the same. He and Mavis were enjoying a breakfast of black pudding and mushrooms when the postman arrived.

“There,” said Mavis, “a letter from the bank and that'll be the formal demand from Mr Chargingbull. So he won't be dead then.”

Geoffrey let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't keen to get the Formal demand but he was keen to know that Mr Chargingbull was alive.

“That's strange” said Mavis scowling at the letter she'd just opened. “This letter is the same as the last letter we got from the bank. It says we have to go and re-negotiate our banking facilities.”

“But we've already done that” said Geoffrey. “We already know our accounts are shut and they want their money back.”

“That's not what it says here” Mavis told him. “This letter still has our old facility in place and it says we've got a meeting tomorrow morning with a Mr Lewis Soderbread.

“How strange,” said Geoffrrey, “I wonder what happened to Mr Chargingbull? You don't think he was the banker who was.....”

“No of course I don't. He probably just moved on to a bigger bank where he could get a better bonus.”

“You're probably right Mother. This town is a bit small for a man with such a demanding wife. To be honest it has been worrying me that a man like that was working in a town like this. I really don't think he would have met any of his aspirations here.”

“No, she'd almost certainly have left him” Mavis agreed.

“And then he'd have lost it all. The house, the Aston Martin, the dog.”

“He had a lot of commitments that young man” said Mavis sadly.

Aye, they don't have it easy these young bankers,” said Geoffrey. Then they went off to work at the toffee factory and they'd put the whole issue right out of their heads until they were eating their cheese and chutney sandwich at lunchtime. Geoffrey picked up the local paper and there, on the front page, was a picture of Mr Chargingbull, with the headline, “Murdered banker named as Mr Chargingbull'. The article said Mr Chargingbull was murdered at around 5.30am two days ago. The young banker who apparently had a chronic addition to alcohol, was sitting in his kitchen having breakfast of fresh orange juice and coffee with Tia Maria when an intruder appears to have marched in and murdered the him in cold blood. His wife, Tracey-Cleopatra, said he didn't have an enemy in the world.

“Oh my goodness Mavis, it all fits in to place. The time, the smells, it's all there. It must have been me!”

“Well it does seem a bit strange” Mavis admitted “but how could you have done it? You don't even know where Mr Chargingbull lives. And even if you did, you'd have to be superman to get there, murder the man at 5.30 and be back in bed having a nightmare by 7.30.”

“You say that Mavis, but what if he lives round the corner? And what do we know about how long it takes to strangle someone? I could have done it in minutes.”

“No, you're being silly now Geoffrey. We all know you wouldn't hurt a fly.”

“Ordinarily I couldn't Mavis but you should have seen me the other night, I was like a man possessed. When I started thinking about losing our business and that might mean we lost our home and our staff might lose their homes and that would mean Irene's poor children didn't have a roof over their heads. Oh Mavis, when I thought of all that I just turned into a regular killing machine!”

“Yes but only in your dream Fudge” she assured him. “It's just not possible you could really have killed him.”

“Well who did then?”

“Who knows” said Mavis, “maybe Mr Soderbread can shed some light on it at the meeting."

To be continued.........

Copyright N Barton 2008