Writing for Fun
Captured - Bob Wendelkin
April 2014
The Detective Inspector made his way to the witness box and after taking the oath started to give his evidence. He described how he had pursued the accused, then started to say how he arrested him.
'When I arrested him the first thing I said was to tell him his rights and warned him that anything he said may be taken down and may be used in evidence,' said the DI.
At this point there was a disturbance from the prisoner in the Dock. The accused stood up and shouted across the court to the Judge. 'My Lady, that is a complete lie; the DI didn't say anything of the kind. What he actually said was Alfie your nicked.'
His retort brought a great deal of laughter to the court. Even the Judge had a grin on her face as she banged her gavel and called for silence in the court.
The case continued the Prosecution and the Defence barristers presented their cases and no doubt picked up a nice fee for their effort. For Alfie the verdict was preordained as was the sentence because he had a string of offences dating back many years. He was sentenced to 12 years for the theft of jewels from a high street shop in the best part of London.
All his life he seemed to have been on the run almost from the age of seven when he ran away from the Children's Home. He had been placed in a home after his father had died as a result of being beaten with the cat o' nine tails. When he was drafted into the Army he only stayed for a short time before he deserted. Somehow he had to make a living the best way he could, although he was highly intelligent with an IQ of 160 he wasn't well educated, inevitably his life of crime would lead to a long term in prison.
He protested his innocence and said that he had been set up by the police. May be he had, maybe he hadn't, we don't know, all we know was that he had annoyed some of the police and they may have decided to get rid of him for a time.
However, Alfie had other ideas about being incarcerated. He had arranged with one of his friends to help him escape. Between them they had organised that in the court's lavatory his friend would secure two 'I' bolts on the outside of the door and wall of one of the cubicles. He would also hide a pad lock that could be used to secure the lavatory door.
On the way to the prison van after he had been sentenced Alfie complained that he desperately needed to go to the lavatory. The guards, not wishing to have the trouble of having the van cleaned if Alfie had an accident, escorted him to the Gents.
Two guards took him to the lavatory which was empty and it was at this point that Alfie asked the guards to either remove his handcuffs or point his doings at the porcelain for him. Faced with this choice the guards removed one of his cuffs.
Over the years because of the company he kept Alfie found that some knowledge of the Martial Arts was useful for his safety. He applied these arts and forced the two guards into the cubicle. Then he used the pad lock to secure the door using the 'I' bolts his friend had so thoughtfully provided. As he left he put an OUT OF ORDER notice on the door.
Keeping his one cuffed hand in his pocket Alfie nonchalantly made his way out of the court house to make his escape. His friend had also hidden some money and a passport with the pad lock, so here was Alfie with his freedom and money. Should he try to complete his escape or go and see one of his lady friends in Soho, he was sorely tempted.
He decided that freedom was more attractive at that moment so mingling with the crowd he went to the nearest underground station and bought a ticket for Heathrow.
His journey to the Airport was uneventful and he made his way to the Terminal for Aer Lingus.
Alfie knew that the essential thing about being on the run is to fit in with the surroundings and appear that you have every right to be there. He checked that the next flight to Dublin was in about three hours. He went to the booking office and bought his ticket on that flight. Alfie bought himself a book and some chocolate from W H Smith. Then to hide until his flight was called, it occurred to him that he might copy the fate of the Prison Guards that he had locked away. He decided to secrete himself in a cubicle in one of the Gents toilets. Alfie went to an upper floor where it seemed that there were fewer people around and then into the Gents.
Later the evening papers were on general circulation. On the front page there was a picture of Alfie and his story of how he had locked up the Prison Officers and then escaped. The story went on to speculate about what he was doing and what he was likely to do. In the meantime all this was unknown to Alfie as he sat in his cubicle reading his book, eating his chocolate and working to remove the handcuffs.
The girl who had sold him his Dublin ticket had just finished her shift and on her way out of the Airport she bought an Evening newspaper. Looking at the picture on the front page she recognised the photo of Alfie. She had a date that evening with a new boy friend and she wondered about the photo; if she was mistaken she could go on her date or if she was right she should tell the police. She had another good look and she felt certain that Alfie was her passenger. Oh well, she thought there are plenty of boys so she made her way to the Security Office to report her belief that she had seen Alfie.
The curmudgeonly security officer, with only a few weeks off retirement, showed some scepticism that this young girl could recognise Alfie but to cover himself decided to inform the Airport Police.
Some minutes later one of the Airport Police came to the security office where he questioned the girl. He thought that she was a good witness and decided to inform Scotland Yard. He told them that a possible passenger on the Dublin Flight could be their Alfie.
About half hour later the DI, who knew Alfie, arrived at the Security Office. He questioned the girl and although he felt uncertain that Alfie would have made his attempt to flee the country so soon after absconding from the court. Decided that as the flight on which he had booked would be taking off in about an hour and half thought they wouldn't have long to wait to see if it was him.
They made their way to the departure lounge and secreted themselves away so that he wouldn't see the police waiting for him should he appear. One policeman went into the aircraft to grab him if he boarded the plane. Then there was the call over the Tannoy asking the passengers to come to the lounge.
'Well if he's here he should be with us in a few minutes. We'll keep ourselves hidden just in case,' said the DI.
They watched as the passengers began to file into the departure lounge ready for their flight, then they saw him. He was one of the last to appear and he strolled quite casually around the lounge but they could see his eyes were checking the faces of the people to make sure that they were not the police. Then it was his turn to board the plane.
He went through ticket control and started down the passenger tunnel when the on board policeman showed himself. Alfie on seeing him immediately turned and started to run back along the tunnel towards the entrance. The DI had followed him into the tunnel tried to stop him but Alfie was rushing too fast and barged him to one side. He forced his way past the rest of the passengers to make his way out of the lounge.
The ticket girl who had first identified Alfie had gone to the lounge to see the fun if it was Alfie. At that moment Alfie rushed passed her, in an instant without thinking she stuck out her umbrella and poor old Alfie went flying and crashed to the floor.
Alfie looked up, saw it was the young ticket clerk, and asked jokingly, 'Could I have a refund on my ticket as I don't think I'll need it for quite a few years.'
The DI had recovered and was in hot pursuit grabbed Alfie as he lay on the floor.
Bending over Alfie and putting handcuffs on him the DI said, 'Alfie for want of a better word you're nicked.'