Hope Never Dies

damages.

CHAPTER 1

DAY 1

The restaurant was located in the redeveloped part of the city and fitted in well with the up-market aura of the area. Once, it buzzed with the teeming activity of busy city docks, with steam locomotives and the wagons that discharged and loaded all manner of goods and cargo from around the world. Cranes, rising into the sky, oversaw the ships, berthed in the docks, aiding and abetting all this frenzied activity. All the time, the voices of hundreds men could be heard, who relied on the docks for their meagre living. All this happened many years ago and the transformation, after years of dereliction once the docks had closed, was most remarkable.

Sitting at the window table, looking out over the Quays, the modern name for the docks, were two people engaged in deep conversation and on the face of it, looked to be two of the most incompatible companions imaginable, yet companions they were.

Ned White was a very average guy in his middle 50’s, five feet eight inches tall and touching 13 stone in weight. However, his hair, still fair and his still youthful looks belied his true age and he was always quietly pleased when people mistook him for being younger. Maybe this was something to do with his deep blue eyes and tanned skin resulting from his walking and cycling activities. Today, he was dressed in a lilac shirt and black trousers, the lilac shirt because he knew it to be his companion’s favourite colour.

Ned was an aficionado of Beatles’ music having grown up in their generation and their influence on him over the ensuing years was profound. He stared again at her for the umpteenth time over lunch, still not quite believing that after all this time; she would still want to see him. "Something in the way she looked" said George once.

His dining companion, known to her friends as Kim was a very beautiful Chinese girl in her mid 20’s, with long black hair, sparkling eyes and perfectly formed lips that, when smiling, would touch the hearts of anyone. She was almost a tall as Ned but with a slim figure, that Ned would describe as perfect. Her birth name was Chen Mei-Zing, and like many Chinese in the West, she wanted to adopt a Western name. She chose the name Kim as she found it to be very popular in England, and that it had a similarity to Chinese and Korean names.

To Ned, she looked very alluring and sexy in her white t-shirt and tight jeans. He did not know too much about her background, as he had found her to be a private person but he had it in the forefront of his mind that he would talk to her about it when the time was right. He knew that she had studied at the local university and had an honours degree in law. She was now practicing with a firm of solicitors in the city and was studying further for her master’s degree.

Ned had travelled up this morning by train and met Kim at the restaurant. He was very early which was usual when meeting Kim. She was always pleased when Ned came to see her. He lived at the opposite end of the country and his job, as a business consultant allowed him to travel to the north less frequently than he wished. Kim would always take the day off whenever he came. They talked incessantly when they met, as though they were just continuing conversations from the last time they saw each other. Topics ranged from their activities over the previous month, their hopes and aspirations for the future, and current affairs. One of their endearing features with each other was that they were very comfortable in each other’s company and conversation came easily to both of them.

Come on she said, time is running short if we are to cram in everything that we’ve planned today.

The plan included a visit to the shopping centre followed by a pop concert in the evening

Where’s your bag? she asked

It’s in the cloakroom. They insisted

Ned went to pay the bill and to collect his bag. Funny, he thought, the bag seems heavier. Humming Carry that weight, he found her at the entrance. He brushed the weight and the song from his mind, caught up with Kim, made their way into the street and walked the short distance to Kim’s apartment.

*

Back in the restaurant, another man in his 50’s by the name of Neil Haslam paid his bill and asked for his bag. He clutched it intently as he walked back to his car. Haslam’s physique was rotund. He was around four stones overweight, caused through his drinking, mainly beer, eating the wrong type of food and lack of exercise as he drove nearly everywhere. He had a roundish face to match his body, with brown eyes and a long nose. He was follickly challenged with the remains of his hair now adorning only the sides of his head, making him look smaller than his five feet nine inch frame. He was dressed casually in a fawn polo shirt and dark brown chino trousers.

Once in the car he waited for the phone call that he was dreading.

*

Back in Kim’s apartment, she and Ned hugged each other, so pleased that they were finally together. Kim was not one for public displays of affection and emotion and preferred Ned to be at arms-length until they reached the apartment. Ned often sang, I want to hold your hand to her without much success. It was not that big an issue to him and the fact that she was by his side was really compensation enough. Ned loved Kim’s apartment, the living room was so spacious and uncluttered. Two settees, a dining room suite, a coffee table and a table with a television on it were all that was there, and in Ned’s opinion, all that was needed to be there. The kitchen was part of the room and again well-equipped. Two bedrooms complete with en-suite bathrooms completed the apartment and it was always spotlessly clean. The view overlooking the former docks was always spectacular all of the year, the water making the scene so tranquil and peaceful, and a true haven in the heart of this metropolis.

After an initial intense personal relationship in the past, it had now developed into a platonic one, both believing that their friendship would strengthen this way. Kim more than Ned thought this way and he agreed with her, as he usually did in circumstances such as these. However, it never stopped Ned from hoping that he would once again be able to tempt Kim back under the duvet. For her part, she knew someday that she and Ned would become lovers again but Neil always suggested it at the wrong times, and worse still, make sexual remarks at the worst possible time for her. He looked longingly at her and suggested to her that they go to the bedroom for what he called naughties. It was their private word for sex at the time when they had aroused each other in the past. She smiled that knowing smile at him and told him that they ought to be leaving for the centre as it was getting late.

And besides, she told him haven’t you still to unpack?

I could do with a freshener before trudging around all afternoon.

He picked up his bag and went to what he thought of as his room. He opened the bag and gasped with astonishment.

Kim, come here. Quick!

She rushed into the room thinking that something nasty had happened to him. After all, she did consider him oldish even if he did not and she was always concerned for his health as he had had some illness during the past year. Both of them stared into the bag not believing what they saw.

Where did you get this? she asked

I’ve no idea

For instead of staring at a change of clothes and toiletries, they were staring at an incredible amount of money.

CHAPTER 2

Haslam received his call soon after he returned to his car and it was exactly on time.

Have you got the money?

Yes

All of it?

Yes

Good. Follow these instructions very carefully. Remember if you fail to, the evidence will be everywhere

This was just what he dreaded. He listened meticulously and once the call had ended, he set off. He was to go to a street just away from the city centre and he had no more than twenty minutes to make it. The street was very nondescript and one he had not been to before even though he was born and bred in the city. It was a mixture of high-rise buildings, some old and seemingly derelict, others modernised comprising of apartments and offices. The whole area appeared to be deserted, which, undoubtedly, as to why it was chosen. He followed the instructions carefully. He parked next to the grey Astra that was already there and transferred the bag to the rear seat of the car. He moved into the driver’s seat and saw the mobile phone. Two minutes later, it rang.

More instructions some of which he thought were incredulous but did not feel he could query them. Just get on with it, he thought. As specifically instructed, he undressed and when naked, he got out of the car facing the front of it. The voice at the end of the phone barked further instructions, the first one being to get back in the car, for which he was relieved. He got dressed in the clothes that were provided, lying on the passenger seat. He was now to exchange the money from his bag to the one on the rear floor. He picked them both up and transferred them to the front seat. He undid the new bag first and now, his own.

Bollocks, he thought, what’s all this. No money but clothes and toiletries.

I’ve a problem shouted Haslam down the phone. My bag’s been swapped

That’s too bad. Now you’ve pissed me around, you know the consequences

No! Wait!

The phone did not go dead. Thank heavens, he thought

I’ll get it. Give me one day.

All right. The price now goes up by £25,000 to £225,000. I will ring you at 2 pm tomorrow. Last chance The phone went dead.

Haslam sat in the strange car for a few minutes trying to fathom out where he had lost the bag. The bag had been with him ever since he had packed it personally this morning. Except? He remembered. The restaurant. They insisted it was placed in the cloakroom.

He quickly returned to his own car and back to the restaurant. The waitress, who was called Angela, was still on duty. He approached her in a most aggressive manner, which scared her. In response to Haslam’s anxious and almost paranoid questioning she told him that she thought that there had been a similar bag in the cloakroom when his was there. In fact, Angela had an instant recall. She noticed the middle-aged man enter the restaurant with an overnight bag although she did not pay any particular attention to either the man or the bag. Only when Kim entered the restaurant some minutes later that she watched very carefully.

Kim had been to the restaurant a number of times before and Angela fancied her from the moment she laid eyes on her. It took a further two visits for Kim to notice her. Kim had actually spotted the blonde waitress on the previous visit, when she noticed the way the waitress’s deep blue eyes looked at her. Kim’s senses knew when someone was fancying her and to Kim, this waitress was a blonde bombshell. Kim’s left hand rested on Angela’s arm and neither moved for what seemed like an eternity. Angela simply told Kim that she finished in less than an hour. Kim waited for her and they went back to Kim’s apartment that was just along the waterside from the restaurant. From Angela’s point of view, it was a magical couple of hours with them kissing, undressing each other and exploring each other’s bodies intimately, very intimately.

They had met on one subsequent occasion for an evening where they brought each other once again to total mutual satisfaction.

Angela hoped that she might sometime be able to enjoy a deeper relationship with her newfound beautiful lover. She would never do anything that would harm Kim. In spite of the man’s threatening and aggressive attitude, she told him that she did not know whom the bag belonged to and could certainly provide no address.

He went outside and had to think all over again as he got nowhere in the restaurant. All he knew was that his money was in the hands of a couple whom he could not trace.

CHAPTER 3

Kim and Ned sat quietly in the apartment for some time thinking about what to with the money. They should hand it to the police, but somehow both seemed reluctant to. They had counted the money to exactly £200,000.

John’s singing occupied Ned’s mind, The best things in life are free, but you can keep them for the birds and bees, I want money. That’s what I want. Give me money

Ned shook himself back to reality and said to Kim, We can’t keep it. You are a respected solicitor and your career will be in ruins if you are found out

Who says anyone is going to find out? Let’s leave it a day or so and I can make some discreet enquiries in the office if the money has been handed in to the police. If not, then we’re ok and nothing to worry about. Just think what sort of a holiday we can have with it

As ever, Chinese logic prevails Besides he did not want to hand it in. Let’s go

*

Haslam, whilst sitting in his car outside the restaurant, remembered the couple. How could he forget the stunning beauty that manifested itself in the girl? He was sitting next to them and, having nothing better to so, listened to snippets of their conversation. Think back to what they were saying, he told himself. He went through and sifted all the relevant information. One piece of the conversation came to mind. They were going to the Trafford Centre this afternoon. A long shot but really his only hope.

He was there within thirty minutes but didn’t realise that it was so big. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack but he had no alternative to keep looking. It shouldn’t be hard, he thought, to find an old git with a gorgeous Chinese bird, that combination was not that common. He went to where he thought was the very centre and hung around there in a nearby cafe.

*

Meanwhile, in the restaurant, the waitress, Angela was in thinking mode. She had regularly daydreamt of Kim in the hope that there would soon be another close encounter and she