Video-Task 23
It was exactly twelve forty-five when Sebastian entered the busy restaurant. He saw her immediately. She was sitting at a small table near the window, drinking a vodka martini. The long blonde hair, the dark blue Calvin Klein suit, the Vogue sunglasses, and the Gucci shoulder bag — it must be her, Samantha Novak, his contact inside the Confederation. She was beautiful — this was no surprise to him — but she was also younger than he expected.
He took the other chair. He knew what to say. “Samantha?” he asked. And she replied: “Yes… Sebastian!”
But the identification was not yet complete. They ordered their meal, and started eating in silence. After a while, he spoke. He remembered his line — he knew what to say: “What are you thinking about, darling?”
The girl stopped eating and looked at him — tenderly, it seemed, in spite of the sunglasses. “I was thinking, my dear, that silence must be a sign…”
And Sebastian finished the sentence: “…of love?”
Yes, now he was sure. Now he could relax. The only problem was… Why did she have to be so beautiful? He tried to think about their business, about the job that they had to do together that evening, at the ambassador’s dinner party.
It began to rain while they were having lunch. Samantha took off her glasses, and looked at him with a pair of incredible cobalt-blue eyes. Lovely, but… cold, he thought. Sebastian gave her the ring — it was actually a miniature video camera — and she put it on.
It got colder that evening, and it was snowing when they got to the hotel. They checked in at the desk, and went upstairs to get dressed for the dinner party.
Samantha had a little surprise for Sebastian: a beautiful blue silk Armani tie. “Here,” she said. “Put this on.”
“I can’t stand wearing ties,” said Sebastian. “Do I really have to wear one?”
“But Sebastian, dear,” said Samantha. “It’s going to be a very smart occasion. And — don’t forget — the microphone is in this tie. And here’s your new shirt, with the radio transmitter.”
An hour later, they went down to the dining room, to meet the other guests. It was going to be an interesting evening, they were sure of that.
Leonard Goodbright is a police Inspector at New Scotland Yard. He’s a very busy man with many criminal cases to follow, and as a result he has very little time to dedicate to his family. Last Saturday, the 20th of February, was his wedding anniversary, and he wanted to give his wife Sally a nice surprise, so he decided to take her to Interlaken for the weekend.
On the day before their anniversary, Leonard had to investigate a robbery at a local newsagent’s. The video from the hidden camera in the shop showed a blonde woman and a bald man in fancy dress stealing from the cash register. The robbers had escaped with almost a thousand pounds in cash, and twenty-two cartons of cigarettes. It was a very difficult case, and Leonard decided not to think about it until after his holiday in Switzerland.
When he got home, he gave his wife the surprise tickets. Sally was very pleased and they left that evening.
It was snowing in Interlaken, so on Saturday evening they decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. They were dressed very smartly for dinner as it was a special occasion. They sat at a table next to a couple who were eating their meal in silence, and smoking between every course. The couple looked vaguely familiar to Leonard, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen them before.
Leonard ordered champagne after the dessert. While they were waiting for it, he presented his wife with a gift – it was an eternity ring to celebrate thirty years of marriage. Sally was enormously happy and she put it on immediately.
After they had drunk the champagne, Sally went to the bathroom. Leonard noticed that the blonde woman from the next table got up and went to the bathroom too. At the same time, the man went into the lobby to smoke another cigarette. Where had Leonard seen him before?
After a few minutes, he saw his wife running towards him shouting: “That woman. She’s taken my ring! I only took it off for a moment to wash my hands, and she snatched it”.
Aha! That’s where he’d seen them! They were the two robbers from the newsagent’s video! Leonard ran out through the lobby and into the car park — just in time to catch them before they got into their car. Well! What an incredible coincidence!