Part 1
the day dragged on Liz hadn't gone to school even though, secretly she had wanted to, she would have preferred to escape back into normal life the clange of bells the crowds of familiar faces
instead of sitting there trapped inside the house but she had to be there for the visitors who came throughout the day one of who were from the bank
"all of us at Royal & General are deeply shocked"
he was in his thirties wearing a polyester suit with a tie he had the sort of face you forget even while you were looking at it introduced himself as Dan from personnal
"but if theres anything we can do .........."
"what will happen?" Liz asked
"you dont have to worry" Dan said "the bank will take care of everything that's my job you leave everything to me"
________________________________________________________________________________________________
when the day of the funeral arrived Liz found herself dressed in black preparing to leave in a black car that had come from nowhere surrounded by people she had never seen or met
a grave had been dug close to the lane that ran across the cemetery and as the service began a black Rolls-Royce pulled up the back door opened and a man got out Liz watched as he walked forward and stopped
Liz shivered there was something about the man that made her skin crawl and yet he seemed ordinary to look at grey suit, grey hair, grey lips, grey eyes his face expressionless the eyes behind his square spectacles completely empty maybe thats what disturbed Liz
whoever he was seemed to have less life than anyone in the cemetery above or below ground
"that's Mr Pierce" the personnel whispered leaning to her
"he's the chairman of the bank"
Liz looked past Pierce and over to the Roll-Royce two more men had come with him they were wearing identical suits with sunglasses both watching the funeral with the same grim faces Liz looked back and forth at the men and Pierce
had they really known Jeff Ortecho? why had she never met any of them before and why did she find it so difficult to believe that any of them really worked for a bank she turned her attention back to the service
"...........a good man a patriotic man he will missed"
the words struck Liz as odd, a patriotic man? that meant he loved his country but as far as knew Jeff Ortecho barely spent time in it she looked around ans saw Pierce making his way to her
"you must be Liz my name is Alan Pierce your uncle often spoke of you"
"thats funny" Liz said "he never mentioned you"
the chairmans lips twitched briefly "we'll miss him he was a good man"
"what was he good at? he never talked about his work"
suddenly Dan was ther e"you uncle was the overseas finace manager Liz"he said
"he was responsible for our foreign branches you must have known that"
"i know he travelled a lot Liz said :and i know he was very careful about things like seat-belt"
"well sadly he wasnt careful enough" Pierce's eyes focused on Liz'z own
she felt like she was pinned down like an insect under a microscope "i hope we meet again" he said
while tapping a finger on his face "yes.........." then turned and went to his car
as he was getting into the car Liz saw the driver leaning across to open the back door and his jacket fell open revealing not only his shirt underneath he was wearing a leather holster with an automatic pistol strapped inside Liz saw it even as the man realizing what happened
quickly straightened up and pulled his jackey across his cchest Pierce had seen it too he turned back and looked at Liz again she saw some emotion slither across his face then got in the car takingoff
a gun at a funeral? why? why would bank managers carry guns
"lets get out of here" Tess said coming to her side
"cemeteries give me the creeps"
"yes and quite a few creeps have turned up" Liz muttered
as they made their way home turning into their street Liz noticed a removals van parked outsie their house the words STRYKER & SON on its side
"what's that doing........?" Liz began
at the same moment the van shot off the wheels skidding on the road Liz said nothing as Tess unlocked the door and let them in but while she went into the kitchen to make some tea Liz looked quickly ound the house a letter
that had been on the hall table now lay on the floor a door that had been half-open was now closed tiny details but Liz's eyes missed nothing somebody had been in the house she was sure of it
she wasn't certain until she got to the top floor the door to the office which was always, always had been losked was unlocked now Liz opened it and went in. the room was empty Jeff Ortecho was gone and now so had everything else
anything that might have told her about the dead mans work had been taken
"Liz .....!" Tess called
Liz took one last look around the forbidden room wondering about the man who once worked there then closed the door and went back downstairs
________________________________________________________________________________________________
with Hamersmith Bridge just ahead of her Liz left the river and swung her bike through the lights and down the hill towards Brookland School the bike was a Condor Junior Roadracer custom-built for her on her twelveth
birthday it was a teenagers bike
with cut-down Reynolds 531 frame but the wheels were full-sized so she could ride at speed with hardly any rolling resistance she spun past a Mini and cut through the school gates
she double-locked it in the shed and went into yard Brookland was new comprehensive of red brick and glass modern and ugly Liz could have gone to any of the smart privates schools around the area but her uncle had decided to send her here he said it would be more of a challenge
the first lesson of the day was maths when Liz walked into the classroom the teacher Mr Donovan was already chalking up a complicated equation on the board as Liz took her plac near the back wondering how she was going to get through the lesson how could she possibly think of algebra when there were so many
other questions churning through her mind the gun at the fueral, the way Pierce had looked at her, the van with STRYKER & SON written on the side, the empty office, and the biggest question of all the one detail that refused to go away the seat-belt but of course he had
Jeff Ortecho had never been one to give lectures he had always said Liz should make up her own mind about things but he'd this thing about seat-belts the more Lis thought about it the less she believed it a collision going round a corner
sundenly she wished she could see the car at least the wreckage would tell her the truth that the accident had really happened Jeff Ortecho really died that way
"Liz?"
Liz looked up and realized everyone was staring at her Mr Donovan had just asked her something she quickly svanned the blackboard taking in the figures
"yes sir" she said "x equals seven and y is fifteen"
the maths teacher sighed "yes Liz you're absolutely right but actually i was just asking you to open the window"
somehow she managed to get through the day but by the final bell her mind was made up while everyone else streamed out she made her way to the secretary's office and burrowed a copy of the yellow pages
"what are you lookind for?" the secretary asked Jane Bedfordshire was a young women in her twenties and had always had a soft spot for Liz
"Breakers yard....." Liz flicked through the pages "if a car got smashed up near Foxlaw Street they'd take it somewhere near wouldn't they?"
"i suppose so"
"here......" Liz had found the yards listed under 'Car Dismantlers' but there were dozens of them fighting for attention over four pages
"is this for a school project?" the secretary knew Liz had lost a relative but not how
"sort of....." Liz was reading the adresses but they told her nothing
"this one's quite near Foxlaw Street" Miss Bedfordshire pointed at the corner page
"Wait!" Liz tugged the book towards her and looked at the entry underneath the one the secretary had chosen
J.B STRYKER it said Liz recognized the name J.B Stryker she thought back to the van she had seen outside her house on the day on the funeral STRYKER & SON of course it might be a coincidence but it was still somewhere to start she closed the book
"see ya later Miss Bedfordshire"
"be careful how you go" the secretary watched Liz leave wondering why she had said that maybe it was just her eyes dark and serious but there was something dangerous there then the telephone rang and she forgot her as she went back to work
the day dragged on Liz hadn't gone to school even though, secretly she had wanted to, she would have preferred to escape back into normal life the clange of bells the crowds of familiar faces
instead of sitting there trapped inside the house but she had to be there for the visitors who came throughout the day one of who were from the bank
"all of us at Royal & General are deeply shocked"
he was in his thirties wearing a polyester suit with a tie he had the sort of face you forget even while you were looking at it introduced himself as Dan from personnal
"but if theres anything we can do .........."
"what will happen?" Liz asked
"you dont have to worry" Dan said "the bank will take care of everything that's my job you leave everything to me"
________________________________________________________________________________________________
when the day of the funeral arrived Liz found herself dressed in black preparing to leave in a black car that had come from nowhere surrounded by people she had never seen or met
a grave had been dug close to the lane that ran across the cemetery and as the service began a black Rolls-Royce pulled up the back door opened and a man got out Liz watched as he walked forward and stopped
Liz shivered there was something about the man that made her skin crawl and yet he seemed ordinary to look at grey suit, grey hair, grey lips, grey eyes his face expressionless the eyes behind his square spectacles completely empty maybe thats what disturbed Liz
whoever he was seemed to have less life than anyone in the cemetery above or below ground
"that's Mr Pierce" the personnel whispered leaning to her
"he's the chairman of the bank"
Liz looked past Pierce and over to the Roll-Royce two more men had come with him they were wearing identical suits with sunglasses both watching the funeral with the same grim faces Liz looked back and forth at the men and Pierce
had they really known Jeff Ortecho? why had she never met any of them before and why did she find it so difficult to believe that any of them really worked for a bank she turned her attention back to the service
"...........a good man a patriotic man he will missed"
the words struck Liz as odd, a patriotic man? that meant he loved his country but as far as knew Jeff Ortecho barely spent time in it she looked around ans saw Pierce making his way to her
"you must be Liz my name is Alan Pierce your uncle often spoke of you"
"thats funny" Liz said "he never mentioned you"
the chairmans lips twitched briefly "we'll miss him he was a good man"
"what was he good at? he never talked about his work"
suddenly Dan was ther e"you uncle was the overseas finace manager Liz"he said
"he was responsible for our foreign branches you must have known that"
"i know he travelled a lot Liz said :and i know he was very careful about things like seat-belt"
"well sadly he wasnt careful enough" Pierce's eyes focused on Liz'z own
she felt like she was pinned down like an insect under a microscope "i hope we meet again" he said
while tapping a finger on his face "yes.........." then turned and went to his car
as he was getting into the car Liz saw the driver leaning across to open the back door and his jacket fell open revealing not only his shirt underneath he was wearing a leather holster with an automatic pistol strapped inside Liz saw it even as the man realizing what happened
quickly straightened up and pulled his jackey across his cchest Pierce had seen it too he turned back and looked at Liz again she saw some emotion slither across his face then got in the car takingoff
a gun at a funeral? why? why would bank managers carry guns
"lets get out of here" Tess said coming to her side
"cemeteries give me the creeps"
"yes and quite a few creeps have turned up" Liz muttered
as they made their way home turning into their street Liz noticed a removals van parked outsie their house the words STRYKER & SON on its side
"what's that doing........?" Liz began
at the same moment the van shot off the wheels skidding on the road Liz said nothing as Tess unlocked the door and let them in but while she went into the kitchen to make some tea Liz looked quickly ound the house a letter
that had been on the hall table now lay on the floor a door that had been half-open was now closed tiny details but Liz's eyes missed nothing somebody had been in the house she was sure of it
she wasn't certain until she got to the top floor the door to the office which was always, always had been losked was unlocked now Liz opened it and went in. the room was empty Jeff Ortecho was gone and now so had everything else
anything that might have told her about the dead mans work had been taken
"Liz .....!" Tess called
Liz took one last look around the forbidden room wondering about the man who once worked there then closed the door and went back downstairs
________________________________________________________________________________________________
with Hamersmith Bridge just ahead of her Liz left the river and swung her bike through the lights and down the hill towards Brookland School the bike was a Condor Junior Roadracer custom-built for her on her twelveth
birthday it was a teenagers bike
with cut-down Reynolds 531 frame but the wheels were full-sized so she could ride at speed with hardly any rolling resistance she spun past a Mini and cut through the school gates
she double-locked it in the shed and went into yard Brookland was new comprehensive of red brick and glass modern and ugly Liz could have gone to any of the smart privates schools around the area but her uncle had decided to send her here he said it would be more of a challenge
the first lesson of the day was maths when Liz walked into the classroom the teacher Mr Donovan was already chalking up a complicated equation on the board as Liz took her plac near the back wondering how she was going to get through the lesson how could she possibly think of algebra when there were so many
other questions churning through her mind the gun at the fueral, the way Pierce had looked at her, the van with STRYKER & SON written on the side, the empty office, and the biggest question of all the one detail that refused to go away the seat-belt but of course he had
Jeff Ortecho had never been one to give lectures he had always said Liz should make up her own mind about things but he'd this thing about seat-belts the more Lis thought about it the less she believed it a collision going round a corner
sundenly she wished she could see the car at least the wreckage would tell her the truth that the accident had really happened Jeff Ortecho really died that way
"Liz?"
Liz looked up and realized everyone was staring at her Mr Donovan had just asked her something she quickly svanned the blackboard taking in the figures
"yes sir" she said "x equals seven and y is fifteen"
the maths teacher sighed "yes Liz you're absolutely right but actually i was just asking you to open the window"
somehow she managed to get through the day but by the final bell her mind was made up while everyone else streamed out she made her way to the secretary's office and burrowed a copy of the yellow pages
"what are you lookind for?" the secretary asked Jane Bedfordshire was a young women in her twenties and had always had a soft spot for Liz
"Breakers yard....." Liz flicked through the pages "if a car got smashed up near Foxlaw Street they'd take it somewhere near wouldn't they?"
"i suppose so"
"here......" Liz had found the yards listed under 'Car Dismantlers' but there were dozens of them fighting for attention over four pages
"is this for a school project?" the secretary knew Liz had lost a relative but not how
"sort of....." Liz was reading the adresses but they told her nothing
"this one's quite near Foxlaw Street" Miss Bedfordshire pointed at the corner page
"Wait!" Liz tugged the book towards her and looked at the entry underneath the one the secretary had chosen
J.B STRYKER it said Liz recognized the name J.B Stryker she thought back to the van she had seen outside her house on the day on the funeral STRYKER & SON of course it might be a coincidence but it was still somewhere to start she closed the book
"see ya later Miss Bedfordshire"
"be careful how you go" the secretary watched Liz leave wondering why she had said that maybe it was just her eyes dark and serious but there was something dangerous there then the telephone rang and she forgot her as she went back to work