So when he received an urgent call from his bank, Will wasn’t surprised. They informed him that someone had tried to access his account and take out money. Thankfully it had been caught in time by the bank’s security system. They just needed to check a few security questions. The young lady asked for his mother’s maiden name and for the first and third number of his pin number.
“Sorry, my system’s being a bit slow. As you may be aware, we had a large IT crash earlier, but everything is under control now. Yes. It’s back. I apologise I didn’t quite get those last details. Can I have the second and last numbers of your pin? Yes, that’s fine, Mr Gleeson. Everything is secure now. No need to worry. Thank you for your understanding.”
Will put down his mobile. Unscrupulous people were obviously taking advantage of the situation. It was lucky the bank had caught things in time.
He could have lost the £6,000 it had taken him nearly a year to save by working overtime when it was available and an extra part-time job as a member of the security team at the local football club. It was a job he enjoyed although he wasn’t particularly a big football fan, but he liked the challenges of the work. The money was to buy a second-hand car for his son, who lived with his mother.
Will promised he would buy him one if he did well at his exams. Buying a decent car would cost £5,000, and because his son was a young driver, the insurance would be an extra £1,000.
Will identified Kevin O’Connor from the police identity parade as being the man he recalled seeing as the driver of the Black Ford Kuga 4x4 who had knocked down and killed the two young girls on Pickstone High Street just a few days earlier.
He gave the police a full statement and with no previous convictions or as far as the police could find no blemishes to his character; he would be an outstanding witness for them. The fact he told them about the training course the football club had sent him on, and his eye for detail only added to his credibility and the police were confident of getting a guilty verdict.
The mood at Trentbridge police station was high. They had been after Kevin O’Connor for years, but he had always managed to elude them. The only time he had ended up in court was when the local Trading Standards office had managed to prove he had undertaken shoddy building work and ripped off elderly pensioners for tens of thousands of pounds.
Will Gleeson was having a bad day. A very bad day. It was 9 p.m. and he was just about to leave work and head for the off licence and buy himself a large bottle of whiskey.
He was locking the back door of the factory where he worked as a security guard, to walk over to his car, when he was suddenly approached by two men.
“Hello, Mr Gleeson. We’ve come to talk to you about the witness statement you gave to the police recently.”
Initially, for a few brief seconds, Will thought they were police officers. But having the chance to look them up and down he realised they were both too young to be plain-clothed officers. Their appearance seemed more likely to be of the criminal fraternity. He noticed the tattoos and designer clothes.
The older man moved close and growled, “We want you to forget what you saw. Tell them you’ve had second thoughts and can’t be sure. Tell them you can’t be certain it was the right man you picked out.”
“I’ll do no such thing.”
“Things could get really nasty if you stick to your story. You know what I’m saying. We may have come to visit you at your place of work, but we know where you live and wouldn’t want to see any harm come to you, like your house burning down.”
“Listen, you piece of shit. I’m not scared of you and threats won’t deter me from giving evidence. If you really want me to forget, then it’s going to cost you. I need six grand, take it or leave it. Come back with the cash, and I’ll have a sudden memory loss, but your threats will only help my memory. Got it?”
What Will Gleeson was telling them obviously threw the two men. They backed away and as they did, all the younger one could say was, “We’ll be back.”
Will Gleeson didn’t really want to go back on his statement, but recent events had put him in a bad situation. The previous day his TSB bank account had been hacked after he received a phone call from a young lady who told him she was from their fraud prevention department.
Then that morning when he went to pay for petrol on his way to work, his debit card was declined. He found out his bank account had been emptied and the entire balance of six thousand two hundred and eighty-two pounds had been taken, leaving him twenty-seven pence in credit.
He had been on the phone to them for over an hour trying to find out what had happened. But his bank had refused to reimburse him as they said he had given out his pin number and other details. He then phoned the police but they had told him there was nothing they could do. So they were not exactly his favourite people.
He replayed the phone call in his mind. The female fraudster had been very good. He’d given her the first and third numbers of his pin. Then she had told him there had been a hiccup. “Sorry, my systems being a bit slow. We had a large IT failure earlier, but everything is under control now. Yes.
