I wanted to get out the back and have a look at the target from the rear but it was getting late and I was tired. The last thing I needed was to get caught somewhere I shouldn’t be. Anyway I need to meet Charlie’s friend. For all I know the Palma branch may be a better first bet — but I doubt it.
Chapter 50
Saturday August 2 nd 2008
Charlie’s friend turned out to be a bit more than ok. He is a little star. His name is David MacDonald and is one of your died in the wool ex-pats who hates everything Spanish but won’t go home because of the weather.
I met him at a small cafe ten minutes from my hotel. He looks like he could do with a good feed. He’s six feet four or so but probably weighs in at less than thirteen stone — painfully thin was a phrase created just for him.
We clicked from the start. He’s big into music and we hit common ground in seconds. Him a fan of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, me a fan of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark — go figure — I thought I was the only one. Fifteen minutes into the conversation he takes out a plastic folder and drops it on the table. I go to reach for it and he places his hand on it.
‘Ten percent or five grand.’
I give my ‘what the fuck’ look and he smiles.
‘The contents of the box — ten percent or five thousand — whatever is the greater.’
He had me sussed — wasn’t hard. I nodded and he pushed the folder towards me. If the box turns out to have no cash I would have to worry about his five thousand later.
I opened up the wallet and pulled out a number of sheets. I realised why he had ushered me into a seat with a wall behind me. The sheets were copies of the blueprints to two buildings. Mallorca Security, Inca and Mallorca Security, Palma.
He had me well, well sussed.
I scanned them and realised things were not looking sweet.
I had expected the offices to be light weight affairs. The sheets in front of me told me that the buildings were serious about their purpose. They really were banks and banks were a completely different game. I may have been good at safes in my time but cracking a bank took a team and money — I had neither.
I sipped my coffee and flicked through the sheets.
‘Not easy,’ said David.
I nodded.
He reached under the table, pulled up an envelope and flicked it onto the table. I grabbed it and opened it. Inside was a blurry picture of a girl sitting at a restaurant table and scribbled below a number and a name. Her name was Maria.
‘She works in the Inca branch. I think she has money problems.’
It was all he had to say about her. She was pretty although the photo wasn’t good enough to make out any real detail. I took another slug of coffee. Between the plans and the girl there might just be another way to do this.
We chatted about nothing for a while and parted. I had some planning to do.
At one o’clock I was standing across from the Mallorca Security building watching the comings and goings.
The notice on the office said it was closed from half past one to five thirty — siesta time. At just after one thirty Maria emerged, locked up and headed away from me. I crossed the road and tried to keep her in sight. There was no need to play the super spy role, as she had no reason to suspect someone was watching her.
She nearly had me lost in the maze of back streets that make up the centre of the town but, at last, she stopped at a front door, took out a set of keys and then she was gone. I did a walk by. There were six flats in the block. I checked the names and there was a M Lopez Tavez. None of the rest had an M for first name. She was on the second floor.
I spent the afternoon wandering. There was nothing else to do. I hung around for an hour to see if Maria emerged but this was a non-commercial area and there were no cafes or shops to hide in. All I was doing was making myself look suspicious so I left.
At just before five I was back at Maria’s door. Fifteen minutes later she emerged and I followed her back to Mallorca Security. Maria took out keys and opened up. I crossed the street and watched her through the window as she entered a code into an alarm box.
I could try and lift her keys but, from what I had seen on the blueprints, this wouldn’t get me half way to where I needed to be. Anyway without the alarm code I was stuffed — given the set up it would most definitely be linked to the police — or worse.
There was no one else in the shop so I entered. I was conscious of the CCTV camera but if I was going to get Dupree I needed to take a few risks. I approached the counter and Maria smiled at me. Not half pretty.
I enquired after a security box and she responded in perfect English before handing me a small A5 flyer. It detailed the prices and the security precautions. I signed up for a box at twenty Euros a week.
To my left there was a door and I knew, from the blueprints, that both the safe and the security boxes sat behind it. On the wall next to the door was a keypad. Maria told me that when I visited I simply punch in the key number from my receipt and that would let me in to the room. She took me in to have a look.
This was way beyond the credit union set up back in Glasgow.
She entered a number on the door keypad and the door clicked. She pushed it open and we entered a room with three curtained booths. Beyond this was a second door and another keypad. She tapped in another code and led me through the door.
There was yet another door on my left and I knew that led to the safe. On my right was a bank of boxes of varying sizes. I chose one of the smaller boxes, sitting on the second row up from the ground near the far wall.
Each box had a keypad and a small handle. I was required to choose my own five digit code and set the box. I looked at my receipt and noted that my account number had five digits. Maybe the 13214 from Spencer’s original sheet was both the account number and the access code — it would certainly be an easy way to remember it. Stupid but easy.
Maria stood in the room as I extracted my box. She escorted me back to the room with the booths, and told me to press the red button when I was ready to go back into the box room. She left me alone.
I took the box in to the nearest cubicle and dropped in a five euro note, closed it and pressed the red button. Maria appeared and escorted me into the box room and watched me replace the box. There was no opportunity to check out the other boxes.
Back in the main office I smiled at her.
I left and waited until she closed up at eight o’clock. No one else came to help. She seemed to run the late shift on her own. I followed her back to her flat and then I headed back to my hotel.
Chapter 51
Sunday August 3 ^rd 2008
Today was a dead day. The shop was closed and Maria was nowhere to be seen. In frustration I drove to Palma to look at the other Mallorca Security shop.
If anything it looks a harder nut to crack. It sits in the shadow of Palma ’s cathedral or as it’s known ‘La Seo’; a building that had its foundation stone laid in 1229, was not finished until 1601 and was still undergoing alterations as late as 1904. I have known a few builders like that in my time.
The Mallorca Security building lies on the Paseo de Born — a street dominated by a central walkway. The store is wedged between a fashion boutique and a bank. I tried to get round to the rear but as far as I could tell there seems to be no back entrance.
The day was proving to be a washout and, even though I had only been on the island three days, I was getting nervous. My flight was on Friday and come hell or high water I had to be on it.