©GeraldineBanksMarch2025
On Friday morning Chief Superintendent Napper drove up the long driveway to the ” House” . He was driving his wife’s car to maintain the status that the Police were not involved, even if he knew Tedi was not in danger , at least from the kidnappers.
It was a pleasant day and the Superintendent was pleased to say that he had some good news. There had been a two or three reports of sightings of a white dog with a small boy and it appeared that they had travelled out of London and had been spotted with some other dogs. The little group had so far evaded capture and seemed to be heading West. Increasingly the Chief Superintendent felt that Tedi was heading home. Even better he had CCTV photographs of the little gang which he felt would reassure Cross.
Napper was intent on getting the kidnappers, he hated kidnappers with a vengeance. One of his most difficult cases was a kidnapping that was never resolved to Napper’s satisfaction. So he was determined to get the person responsible . This was an opportunity to get the main protagonist and he had to persuade Cross to follow his plan. He felt Cross would be reassured that they could proceed with the plan without endangering the little dog.
” So there you are” Napper handed Cross and Letitia the photographs.
” Yes, that’s definately him! ” Cross and Letitia gasped. ” I don’t know the other dogs with him or the little boy”.
“They seem to mainly travel at night, how they got out of London and crossed the Motorway without being killed, I don’t know, but now we’re beginning to get reports from the smaller villages. Some people have reported the dogs sleeping in their outhouses and have given them food and water. The little boy has stayed out of the way when people are around, might be he’s scared someone will catch him. Either way , they’re covering a lot of ground , about twenty miles a day.”
” Is there nothing we can do, put out a search party, posters anything?” Cross asked.
” If you don’t mind, they seem to be doing OK, we can’t say anything yet, I want to get this kidnapper, you said that you were getting a call at 6.00 o’clock tonight , to arrange a rendezvous to hand over the money. “
The Chief Superintendent continued.” You’ll get full backing and I’ll get whoever is behind this. I’m pretty certain the kidnapper will ask for a meeting tonight. We’re going to fill a suitcase full of monopoly money and a little surprise, the techhie people will brief you. You know he hasn’t got the dog, but you can bluff it. Whoever the kidnapper is , they aren’t going to trust their underlings with ” a million smackers”. The Chief Superintendent smiled.
So Cross took the call as agreed at 6.00pm, the technicians were listening in and gathering evidence. They managed to trace the call to a telephone box in Oxford, and the local Police , once they knew the coast was clear , followed through and took finger prints from the phone in the box. It was a long shot but it had to be done.
The kidnapper was oblivious to all this evidence gathering and was pleased with himself for setting up the rendezvous. He would handle this alone, he would have some dinner at a local restaurant and then make his way to the Industrial Estate he had chosen for the money to be handed over and agreed Ten O’clock. He would bring a little white dog which looked like Tedi, it was in the back of his car. In the dark no one would know and anyway if there was any trouble he would use his gun.
Cross was in his car , waiting at the agreed Rendezvous spot in the middle of the Industrial Estate the kidnapper had requested. Cross had been waiting in his car for ten minutes , when the kidnappers car pulled up beside him.
Cross rolled down his window.
” You got the money in small bills in a suitcase.”
” Yes, I have, let me see my dog.”
” Look he’s there in the back, happy as Larry to see you he is.”
” It’s very dark, but yes , I can see his tail wagging, so he’s alright then?” Cross played along.
” He’s fine” The man took out a gun and said to Cross. ” Get out of the car, I’ll check the suitcase on the bonnet, no funny business, you’ve seen the dog”.
” Yes , that’s fine.” Cross wasn’t worried about the weapon, in his youth, he’d looked after many shooting parties, there wasn’t much he didn’t know about guns.
Lettie, however, was in the Chief Superintendent’s car watching on videocam and she was very worried.
” Oh no!” she put her hand to her mouth.
” Be careful everyone, suspect has a gun. Approach with care, but move fast if anything untoward happens. Listen for instructions and act when I give the command.” The Chief Superintendent said over the radio.
” Untoward?” Lettie looked at Napper.
In the meantime Cross had got out of the car with the suitcase in his hands and moved to the front of the car to lay the suitcase on top of the bonnet.
The kidnapper moved beside him but keeping his distance and pointing his gun at him.
“Open it”
” Surely that isn’t necessary, I hardly would have come here by myself without the money.”
” I wasn’t born yesterday mate, you posh ones are all the same, forget it , there’s no honour among thieves. “
” What ? What Century do you think we’re living in” Cross looked at him calmly.
” Open it!”
” Alright” Cross moved his hands towards the two locks on the suitcase.
As he pressed the locks, the case flew open and jets of orange gas spewed into the atmosphere.
” Go!” Napper shouted on the radio.
Meanwhile Cross jumped behind the passenger side of his car, and ran around the back . At the same time covering his face with the mask he had in his pocket. He ran around the back of his car over to the kidnappers car.
The Police came from everywhere, they shouted at the kidnapper to put his weapon down.
The kidnapper’s eyes were streaming and he couldn’t see a thing, the Police shone a beam of light on him and watched as the kidnapper threw the gun on the ground and bent over and began rubbing his eyes. The Police officers grabbed his arms and moved him away from the gas towards a wall of a building and then searched him.
The message came over the radio. ” Suspect detained. Weapon retrieved, cleared of live ammunition and bagged for evidence.”
” Right , lets go and see this fellow.” Napper said to Lettie.
“Is that OK? Well I’d appreciate it, I mean I ….”
” Right come on….” The Chief Superintendent said gruffly, he had cottoned on to the fact that Lettie was fond of Cross.
So as Napper walked up to the officers who had handcuffed the kidnapper, Cross appeared with a little white dog in his arms.
” I’ve no idea who this is ” He said to Lettie.
Lettie looked at him relieved and petted the little dog on the head.
” Are you alright?” she asked, really meaning Cross but looking at the dog.
” He’s fine, fortunately I got him into the fresh air before he breathed in any of the orange gas.”
” And how about you, you OK?” Lettie enquired .
” Oh yes, I think it all went to plan what do you think?”
” Sounded pretty good.”
They both looked over at the man in handcuffs being questioned by Chief Superintendent Napper. They spoke to some of the other officers involved and checked if it was alright for them to return home. The Chief Superintendent would be occupied for quite some time and while Cross and Lettie wanted the go ahead to start the Publicity to find Tedi and his gang. It was agreed they would speak to the Chief Superintendent tomorrow. So they said their goodbyes to the officers and some of the technical staff and headed back to the Palace with the new addition to their brood, James would be delighted and they had already decided he would be called ” Napper”
thenotsomightyom 