Timelock Part 45
Playing dead.
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Archie was getting suspicious. Arwyn was unresponsive and they were all just standing around eyeing him up. Caradog explained that something similar happened to his cousin every now and then and they usually just left him alone until he came to. Finally Dewi entered and Mr Mackworth pointed dismissively to Arwyn, on the floor. The instruction wasn’t at all clear, so the Dewi scanned the room for clues as to what he was supposed to do next. Mr Mackworth lost his temper and shouted.
“This man needs to be attended to. Can you not see? Have you no conscience, man? He could be injured.” Turning to Archie he shook his head. He at least had the decency to lower his voice for his next pronouncement.
“The lower orders do themselves no favours I find. They need spoon feeding at every turn.”
Archie smiled indulgently and issued his own orders.
“Sit him up and go through his pockets.”
Dewi looked at Mr Mackworth who, annoyed that the man needed even more guidance, waved his hand and nodded his head. Dewi and Caradog flipped Arwyn over and started riffling away. The plan was working perfectly. Soon the entire contents of his pockets lay on the floor, and it became very clear, there was no money. Archie, his suspicions having been confirmed shouted “Fanny,” and ran out of the room.
Slowly Arwyn eased himself into the situation, proud of his Oscar worthy performance. He opened his eyes and looked around, blinking, and staring through people. Don’t break character and what’s my motivation, were two thoughts that went through his head. Another was what am I going to do next? Archie’s distant voice, shouting for Fanny told him the shit could well and truly hit the fan any second. If Archie thought he and Fanny were in it together, and he probably would, the consequence could be fatal. He needed to raise his game.
Seeing his stuff all over the floor, he started patting himself down and reached into his inside pocket.
“Where’s my money?”
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He went berserk, accusing them all, including Dewi, of stealing his money. Staggering around the room he shouted about how they were all a gang of thieves. Hearing the commotion, Archie stormed back in. As soon as he did, Arwyn flew across the room, towards him, screaming about wanting his money back. Caradog checked him with a brutal clothesline manoeuvre, and everyone winced as he flipped a full hundred and eighty degrees, ending up face down on the Oriental rug once more.
That wasn’t included in the plan and to be honest, he really could have done without it. However, it did lend an air of authenticity to his performance. Having genuinely blacked out for a few seconds, he didn’t need to feign a recovery this time. The world was spinning and as he staggered to his feet, Caradog gave him a little nudge, sending him face down onto the settee. It couldn’t have been better. He was in the perfect position to recover his cash.
After a brief bit of, furtive rummaging, the money was back in his inside pocket. Of all the plans there had ever been, this had to be the most successful. There was an added frisson of satisfaction that it had been spontaneous and entirely improvised. Would the moon landings have been as exciting if nothing had gone wrong? The danger was where the thrill came from.
If the Americans had known a hundred percent what the lunar surface would be like it would have been no more interesting than getting in your car to go to work. The possibility of them plunging into dust that acted like quicksand meant they were rightly panicking until the landing craft actually touched down. But now he was getting distracted, and a reality check was called for. As far as they knew, Fanny had stolen his money and done a runner. Having been searched once, his pockets were now the safest place to hide the money. He had to stop himself bursting into laughter at his own cleverness.
Being in no hurry to engage with the rest of the room, he lay there face down, recovering his composure, until addressed directly. Even then, he did his best to avoid the situation. Listening to Archie’s shouting he wondered how slowly he could turn round to face him.
Incensed to the point of lunacy, Archie had dropped all his airs and graces. He was in no mood for fancy words when this amount of money was at stake.
“You did this.” He stepped towards Arwyn, but Caradog held him back.
“You and her.” He brushed Caradog aside and joined Mr Mackworth by the fireplace.
“That money was not yours until the device worked. You knew that. You have deceived us.”
Arwyn didn’t like where it was going but it was always a possibility that he would be suspected. If he was ever to join her at the station he would need to convince them he wasn’t in on it. Time to get back into character. He flung himself fully into an impression of outraged hurt feelings.
“She took my money? She took it? You said she liked me. Where is she now?”
Archie and Caradog exchanged puzzled glances, trying to figure out what to make of him. They were both pretty convinced he was in on it, but it was equally believable, he’d been robbed. At that point Enoch decided to chip in.
“She extorted two pounds out of me earlier, she is not to be trusted.”
