Jigsaw Lovers (30 page)

‘Mr Edwards, this matter was brought to my attention a while ago by Mr Smith. It seems he allowed himself to be seduced by a beautiful temptress. A modern-day Jezebel, if you will, You see, Mr Smith is a married man, with two children. He had a lot to lose for one night of passion. The episode was recorded and he was threatened with exposure if he didn’t hand over some money.’

‘A million rand.’

‘Yes. I believe that was the amount.’

‘And did he hand it over?’ Edwards asked innocently.

‘No, of course not. That was why the blackmailers started sending the photographs. An act of revenge against him.’

‘What is the Bank’s position in this matter?’

‘The Bank would never countenance giving in to blackmail demands. We commend Mr Smith for his courage in coming forward and making public the predicament he had managed to get himself into. As such, I and the Bank will stand by him,’ Stephanus declared magnanimously.

Edwards was amazed at the brazen cheek of the man. He was a bombastic liar. Virtually everything he had just said was untrue. Time to establish the facts, and deflate this fraudster.

‘I was told that Smith was having an affair with this woman for at least three months.’ He stated it quietly.

‘Really? You must have been misinformed.’ Stephanus looked him in the eye, defying Edwards by force of will to contradict him. It was a technique he had used often on his staff; but Edwards wasn’t a member of his staff, and was far more experienced in dealing with real charlatans than Stephanus could ever imagine.

‘I have a video of Smith handing over a million rand in cash to this woman, in his office. It also shows them having sex on his desk. Would you like to see it?’ He was still speaking quietly. He noticed that Stephanus wasn’t quite so ready with a reply, and before he could say anything he added his final damning piece of information.

‘I also have photographs of you and Smith talking in a bar near here, and a recording of your conversation in which you decide to make it look like blackmail to your superiors. “The Bank would rather write the money off, than face the public embarrassment …” was how you reasoned. Am I right, or are you going to lie to me again?’

Stephanus was going red in the face. The veins in his neck were visible. ‘How dare you come in here and make such unfounded accusations. I’ll sue you and your newspaper for every cent you’ve got.’

Edwards was about to reply when there was a knock at the door. With no answer being given it was opened and in walked two men closely followed by Stephanus’s very flustered secretary.

‘I’m sorry, sir,’ she babbled. ‘I told them you were busy but they just barged past.’

‘Johannes Stephanus?’ one of the men asked.

‘Yes. What right do you have coming in …’

‘My name is Simon Sebukwe.’ he interrupted. ‘I’m from Head Office. I’ve been instructed to take over from you. Here’s my authorisation.’ He handed him a piece of paper.

‘I don’t understand. There must be some mistake.’

Sebukwe ignored him. ‘This is Detective Inspector Naidoo of the Fraud Section.’

Naidoo stepped forward, also holding a piece of paper. ‘This is a warrant for your arrest and that of your assistant manager John Smith, on charges of conspiracy to defraud the Bank of one million rand.’

As Naidoo was reading Stephanus his rights, he stood, clutched at his chest and fell to the floor.

John Smith was taken into custody.

‘That’s one hell of a story,’ Somerset commented as Edwards finished. ‘We’ll lead with it on this week’s front page.’

‘There’s one thing I don’t understand.’ Jeanne spoke for the first time since Edwards had begun his story.

‘This must be a first; Little Miss Logic not understanding something. What is the world coming to? Will day still follow night?’ Somerset couldn’t resist teasing her, on the odd occasion when she showed the slightest doubt.

‘If you’ve quite finished poking fun at me … . My point is, if this whole story wasn’t about blackmail, which it seems it wasn’t, as there were no demands or threats, etc, then what was the purpose behind it?’

‘Good point. What is the motive behind setting this man Smith up, and then exposing him for no apparent gain?’ mused Somerset.

‘Whoever it was gained a million,’ said Edwards.

‘But from what little we’ve seen, this must have cost far more than that to implement. It seems like it’s been going on for months.’

‘Also, he handed over the money before any of the photographs started arriving. So money isn’t an issue,’ concluded Jeanne.

‘That means it’s an attack on Smith and through him the Bank, as his actions will reflect badly on his employers,’ said Somerset.

‘Do you think it’s worth me trying to follow up and find out who it might be?’ Edwards asked.

‘Whoever it is has resources, and from what we’ve seen so far, I well imagine that they’ve covered their tracks quite thoroughly. However, I suppose you’d better have a look, just in case they missed something, but don’t spend too much time on it.’

‘There is another interesting aspect,’ began Jeanne. ‘The person or people behind this haven’t actually done anything wrong.’

‘By what warped sense of logic do you come to that conclusion?’

‘Everything that Smith did, he did willingly. He didn’t have to go to bed with her or continue the affair. He came up with the idea as to how to lend her the money, and he and Stephanus devised the cover-up plan. By the way, how did the Bank’s Head Office find out about that?’

‘They also received copies of the videos that we got,’ answered Edwards.

‘Naturally, it was wrong to intrude on their privacy and take all those photographs, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t a case of blackmail. Smith was exposed for his personal weaknesses, as was Stephanus who was motivated by his own self-interest.’

‘If you consider it in that light, you’re probably correct. Apart from the privacy issue, they haven’t even broken any laws.’

‘What about the money? Benefiting from the proceeds of a crime?’ asked Edwards.

‘Yes, I imagine it will be something like that. Find out from the legal people and include it in your article.’

‘There’s just one other thing. It’s such a pity we’re only concerned with the corruption and business ethics of the situation. There are some fantastic pictures here. It would be great fun to write the story from the sleazy side,’ chuckled Edwards.

‘Why don’t you do both? It seems a shame to waste all those nice photos.’

‘You men are all the same. Don’t tell me you’re going the tits-and-bums route. I thought you had principles,’ said Jeanne shaking her head.

‘Don’t be silly. We’re journalists. But don’t worry, I won’t run with it. We can sell it to our friends in the gutter press. They’ll love all the lurid details.’

Constance knocked on the door of Ian Hamilton’s study, just after midday.

‘Come in,’ he called.

‘The
Herald
has just been delivered, Ian. You said to bring it to you the moment it arrived.’ She handed it to him.

‘Thanks, Constance. We won’t be in for lunch or dinner, so when you’ve finished whatever you have to do, take the rest of the day off.’

‘Thank you very much. I will go and see my children.’

‘How are they doing at school?’ Hamilton asked.

‘Sipho is top of his class in mathematics and computer studies,’ she said proudly.

‘That’s good. Tell him if he’s still top at Christmas, I’ll give him a new MacBook as a present.’

‘That’s very kind of you, Ian. I’m sure he will work hard.’

‘He’d better. He’s got to be top. There’s no prize for second place.’

Constance thanked him again and left.

Hamilton unfolded the newspaper.

‘Look at this, James. A most satisfying headline, don’t you think.’ He held it up. ‘“Manager Dies, Assistant Arrested in Bank Fraud.” It seems Stephanus had a heart attack as they were arresting him. “The doctor later revealed that Johannes Stephanus suffered a massive heart attack, which killed him instantly.”’

‘That’s something we didn’t foresee. An unexpected bonus. It adds quite a nice finishing touch, in that Smith is now completely alone. Stephanus was the only one on his side,’ commented James.

Hamilton was reading through the article. ‘Smith’s in jail, pending a hearing, since he can’t raise the twenty thousand rand bail money.’

‘What else does it say?’

‘They concentrate on the conspiracy to defraud and cover up by the two of them, rather than the sex, which is mentioned in passing.’

‘That’s what we hoped for though, so that it would reflect badly on the Bank as an institution, rather than just two of its employees,’ said James.

‘Don’t get me wrong. I’m quite happy with it. They also speculate as to the motives for setting Smith up in the first place; a disgruntled customer or employee. Not bad. They say investigations are in hand to try and find who may be behind it and recover the missing million. Some chance.’

‘They won’t be able to trace anything. We used five different messenger services for the deliveries and each time we paid cash. They never picked up from the same premises twice. Diana’s long gone and is holidaying in California at the moment. The chances of anyone recognising her are remote. Her flat was all but demolished within twenty-four hours of her departure, and besides Smith never followed up on that after his first visit with the new owners. Not that he would have got very far. The estate agent that sold it is a subsidiary of ours. We have all the records of the transaction.’ James was confident in his planning.

‘I’m sure we’ve covered everything. When we pay the million back next week, everyone will lose interest in trying to find us. It will be the last thing they expect.’

‘The Bank staff will probably speculate for years to come as to the reasons behind what happened.’

‘How long do you anticipate it taking to finish Smith off?’ inquired Hamilton.

‘I would say three to six months, maybe a little longer.’

‘Good. I can’t wait for the final episode. In the meantime, I think we deserve some champagne.’

The other newspapers concentrated on the sex scandal side of the story, which they described in graphic detail. There were witty headlines, such as ‘The Bonk Manager’. One rival bank ran an advertisement trying to attract new customers, using the slogan, ‘Tired of being screwed by your present bank?’

The story was picked up by the television and radio stations, and reporters invaded the Bank, using all manner of methods to obtain interviews and opinions from Smith’s former colleagues, who were only too happy to oblige. Most of these were not favourable and only added to the derogatory image that was being built up of a depraved man.

Smith was portrayed as some kind of sex fiend, who was willing to put his own sexual gratification before the happiness and well-being of his loving wife and children, innocent victims, who had now left him and were suing for divorce.

Many papers published the photographs uncensored. It was a sensational story, made more so by the fact that most readers had, at some stage, had disagreements with their bank manager and therefore were able to relate to and enjoy seeing the tables being turned.

The Bank was seen as being involved in the cover-up. Its main high street rivals reported a significant increase in applications from people who wished to transfer their accounts away from the Bank. Their reasons ranged from moral outrage, to concern that the Bank would even consider writing off such a sum in order to avoid public embarrassment. At the end of the day it was, after all, their money with which the Bank was being so free.

Upon being released on bail, Smith returned to his house in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. He had no idea as to the identity of the person who had paid his bail. He assumed it was a well-wisher, and the thought that somebody cared about him raised his spirits for the first time in a week. Prison had not been a pleasant experience.

His mood soon returned to one of despondency when he went through the front door. The house felt strange. Catherine had taken all of her possessions and those of the children. There was a pile of letters on the side table. Catherine’s lawyers had written notifying him of her intention to sue for the house and custody of the children.

He opened various letters from the Bank. The first notified him that in view of his conduct and the detrimental effect this had on the Bank’s reputation, he was being summarily dismissed. All his pension rights would be forfeited. The next two letters were from the Bank’s motor vehicle finance, and their credit card divisions. Both terminated his credit facilities and contained the statutory demands for immediate repayment of the outstanding balances. There was a letter from the home loans division, also requesting the immediate repayment of his outstanding mortgage bond. He discovered that his current and savings accounts had been closed, and the small credit balances from these were being held pending the outcome of the enquiry into the missing money.

There were also a number of letters containing hate mail and threats because of the despicable way he had treated his family. Some, believing him to be a kindred spirit, invited him to come and join various sexually perverted groups.