A Good Find by Gary L Beer (chrysanthemum read aloud .TXT) 📕

call. Movement catches his eye along the street as he sees three fellas standing outside the flat of the watchers. Simon does not recognise any of them but recognises the two girls who come out of the flat as the ones who went in a few minutes ago. They talk briefly to the three fellas as they pass them on the path, the three fellas continue into the flat as the girls start to walk in Simon's direction.
Arm in arm they wander slowly along until they are opposite Simon's flat when the brunette with the pageboy haircut takes her phone out of her pocket and pushing a button starts to talk. Her friend sits on the garden wall opposite as the brunette talks and laughs into her phone.
Simon steps back from the window a little so as not to be seen; no way is he going to be able to get out of here with them on the street!


Chapter Nine

“That looks like Barney and a couple of other fellas coming along the street, you want me to let 'em in?” asks Dippa from his vantage point at the window.
“No.” answers Steve; “Sheila and Natalie can go out on the street for a while in case that fellas gonna do a runner.”
“He'll have a job, especially if he wants to take the money with him; that bag weighs quite a bit.” laughs Dippa.
Steve scowls and his face turns red in a flush of anger at Dippa giving it away and reminding him that they had the heavy bag in their possession yesterday.
“Yeah we'll go down there for a while, we don't wanna get done for loitering, how long do you want us to stay out there?” Sheila asks Steve with beaming smile.
“About ten to fifteen minutes would be good, shouldn't think you'd get done for loitering but there may be nosey neighbours, let the others in will you?” Steve asks though it is more of an order.
“See ya in a bit.” Sheila smiles as she stands up and follows Natalie out of the door, noisily they descend the stairs and open the door; “Hiya, they are waiting upstairs, we're gonna enjoy the fresh air for a while.” smiles Natalie as she walks past Barney, Phil and Dave, with Sheila close on her heels. Sheila does not smile as she has to past the three men a lot closer than she likes due to the narrow path. The manly smell, especially of the after shave one of them is wearing, makes her want to throw up. Glad to get past them she grabs hold of Natalie's arm and gives it a gentle squeeze; “What are we going to do out here?” she asks.
“You can phone Amanda as we need to sort out what we are going to do tonight, I would hope that we would have finished here by then.”
“Good idea.” agrees Sheila, taking her phone from her silvered leather handbag she dials a number and stops walking directly opposite Simon's flat; “Hiya.” she says cheerfully into the phone as Natalie makes herself comfortable on a garden wall.

“Come in, come in.” Steve invites as Barney shows himself in the doorway.
“Hi Steve, Dippa.” greets Barney as he walks into the lounge followed by Phil and Dave.
“Grab a seat if you can, I'll take over at the window and Dippa will make you a cup of coffee.” says Steve as he stands up and walks over to the window. Dippa stays seated and looks out of the window pretending not to have heard.
Dave pushes past Phil and sits down on the couch next to Barry, Phil steps smartly across the room and sits in the armchair recently vacated by Steve as Barney walks over to the table and sits down on a hard backed chair.
“Coffees all round, I'll take over here.” Steve orders as he sees Dippa making no effort to move.
Dippa looks up at him pretending to have just heard; “I don't think there's enough clean cups.” he complains as he stands up and starts to walk slowly across the room.
“Maybe you should try cleaning some.” Steve says sarcastically as he looks out of the window. Sheila and Natalie are still opposite the fellas flat and he watches idly as a big 4x4 tries to park in a space big enough to fit a bus. The lady driver shunts backwards and forwards, the vehicle obviously too big for her to handle as she struggles and eventually parks about three hundred centimetres from the kerb and gets out and slams the door. Seeing her parking from a different angle she realises she has parked too far from the kerb and gets back in and starts the engine. Shunting backwards and forwards at least a half dozen times she finally puts on the parking brake and turns the engine off. Jumping out she appears a little happier with her parking; it being about two hundred centimetres from the kerb. She locks the door and walks along the street towards the town straightening her clothes as she walks.
Steve looks away from the window and fixes his gaze on Barney; “When the girls come back you and Dippa can take a little turn out there. Go and stand where they are for a while to let him know there is a few of us keeping an eye on him.”
Barney stands up and walks over to the window, leaning forward he looks along the street and seeing them standing opposite Simon's flat he looks back at Steve; “Bit obvious ain't they?”
“Only to him I hope, we'll let him know just how many there is of us and then we'll go and have a little talk.”
Barney looks at him surprised and shocked at Steve's solution as does everyone in the room as they stare at him with dismay; “You honestly think he is going to even answer the door to you, let alone talk?”
“Yeah, we'll show him that he can't get out without going past us and he can't stay in there forever.” Steve answers confidently.
“What are you going to do then if he don't answer the door?” asks an annoyed Barry.
“Break it down.” answers Steve in a matter of fact voice as if breaking down the door is no more serious than putting sugar in his coffee.
A knocking at the front door distracts them from any more argument and Steve, pushing Barney out of the way looks out of the window; “It's the girls, you and Dippa wanna go take a turn?” Steve orders Barney.
“What about my coffee?” asks an indignant Dippa from the kitchen doorway.
“You can take it with you, don't keep 'em waiting.” orders Steve as he looks back out of the window at the street below.
Dippa feels his anger rise inside him and smiles coldly at Steve's back. With the crazy idea he had about knocking on the door Dippa knows Steve's days are numbered. Holding onto his coffee cup he walks out the door with Barney several steps behind him.
“Are you serious about just knocking on the door?” asks Barry as Barney leaves the room.
“Not really,” answers Steve not taking his gaze from the street; “I expect we'll have to smash our way in, Dave and Curly Pete will have the muscle for that, a couple of bangs and they'll be in.”
“What you got a battering ram on the way then?” asks Barry in a sarcastic voice.
“Yeah I have, you'll like it when you see it.” replies Steve, giving Barry a wry grin he returns his attention back to watching the street.

“Look at the state of you.” laughs Nicola as Stef enters the kitchen, his clothes and face covered in mud.
“I kicked the bucket over.” replies Stef sheepishly as he makes his way towards the sink.
“You can't wear those clothes, best you have a shower and I'll put you some clean clothes outside the door.”
Nicola is dressed casually in black T-shirt and faded blue jeans; “I've already emptied the cases, I've left a lot of my nice clothes behind; I'm going to need some more especially as we are going to a party.”
“Party? what party?” asks Stef as he scrubs his hands vigorously with a hard scrubbing brush.
“We must be, you've packed your party clothes.”
“That's how I'm gonna get Simon out.”
“What by dressing him up?”
“I'm gonna be the one dressing up, you wanna go sort me out some jeans and the party T-shirt.” Stef finishes with a grin as he dries his hands on a towel.
“Sure.” answers Nicola not too happy with Stef's explanation she obediently goes up the stairs as Stef heads for the shower.

“That's Curly Pete.” Steve tells the three in the room as he gets up from the window and walks across the room; “I'll let him in.” he continues as he runs down the stairs.
“What the hell are you doing?” demands an angry Phil of Barry when Steve leaves the room.
“We'll see what he does first, sounds crazy but if we can get in through that door without attracting too much attention we stand a good chance of getting our money back.”
“Only some of it according to Barney, and you notice Steve ain't mentioned that.”
Barry looks towards the doorway as if Phil will be over heard; “Yeah I know he ain't telling us everything, when we find out we'll take over.” Barry says in a hushed voice as the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs reaches them.
“All right lads?” asks Curly Pete as he walks into the room.
“Yeah fine, where's Steve?” asks Barry.
“He's gone up to see Dippa and Barney then he said something about knocking on the door.”
“You think he will honestly answer the door?”
“No, but I think Steve's hoping he'll talk to him, maybe the fella will see reason.”
Barry gets up from the couch and walks quickly over to the window and looks at Simon's flat; the drawn curtains give nothing away and he looks down at Steve, Barney and Dippa. Dippa's red baseball cap seems to shout his presence, as does Steve in his expensive suit jacket and faded jeans. To Barry's heightened mind they look an unlikely group of friends. This is confirmed when a smartly dressed lady, wearing a crisp bright blue jacket and matching skirt comes out of the door they are standing and sitting in front of. Staring at them along the short path with obvious suspicion she starts to walk slowly towards them. Not aware of the hostile woman behind them Barney and Dippa continue sitting on her wall until Steve sees her approaching and ushers them along the street a few houses along.
Barry frowns at the scene below as movement from the hostile lady's place shows her going back inside and coming back out again pushing a pram out of the door. Pushing it just beyond the doorway she puts the brake on and goes back inside; the pram looks empty from Barry's vantage point and he can see no movement or baby.