If you haven’t already, you might want to read part 1 before reading this post.
Before continuing, I think I’d better clarify that all the diamonds in question were totally legal and above board. Only my aunt would have known why she chose to sell them this way. It would very likely have been because, let’s face it, your average person knows nothing about the diamond trade! How do you explain how you, a working class lady, came to own a large quantity of loose diamonds? Where would you go to sell them? I don’t think the diamond merchant gave too much thought as to how my aunt would exchange them for cash, when the time came. She chose to sell them privately. Makes sense, I suppose, given her lack of knowledge.
Part 2
With my dad’s words “Don’t get involved” imprinted on my mind, I arrived at work the next day. I mentioned the fact that my aunt had some diamonds that she wanted to sell. Most of the girls were not interested. They probably assumed they would be far too expensive, but one girl said she would ask her husband if she could have one.
This particular girl (Shirley) had invited me to her home and fixed me up with a chap called Pete. We had dated for several weeks and although he was a very kind, sensitive man, who lavished me with attention and gifts, he was a lot older than me, and more worldly wise. We ended it because we were worlds apart. I was cute enough to realize that the little stops he made on our journeys out were a bit ‘cloak and dagger’. I had realized that the very plush car and expensive clothes were very likely not bought from the wage of a ‘nine to five’ job. He was a classy man though, not a cheap thug, or a ‘hands on’ criminal, but I was never cut out to be a moll :O) Shirley’s husband, on the other hand was not classy, and I wasn’t keen on him. I soon discovered that they were not friends of Pete, and I was much later to realize that they used me to gain favour with him, in the hopes of moving up the criminal ladder. It didn’t work and I was well out of it all.
Shirley arrived at work the next day and said that her husband was going to buy her a diamond. The girls were in awe of this. At this point, I had no idea that her husband was a criminal. At just nineteen, I was naive enough not to have worked that one out. I did as my dad had advised, and gave her my aunts phone number. No more was said on the subject.
The next day, Shirley didn’t arrive at work, but she was often late, or took days off. Nothing unusual there. However, later that day, one of the ‘big’ bosses came in and said that there was a phone call for me in his office. This was unusual! The ‘big’ bosses never entered the lowly offices.
I picked up the phone and what I heard stunned me. It was the C.I.D (Criminal Investigations Department). I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A gang? Masked men? Guns? This doesn’t happen in real life. Only in the movies.
It seemed like I had no sooner hung up the telephone than the C.I.D had arrived and been allocated my boss’s office to interview me, and get my statement. I must say, they moved very quickly.
It transpired that my aunt had arranged for Shirley and her husband to come and choose a diamond. He had told her that he had a large amount of cash to spend and requested that she get several of her best and more valuable diamonds out of the bank. My aunt, being gullible and, lets face it very silly, agreed. They were to come that evening.
Around lunchtime, there was a knock on the door. Some workmen asked if they could come through her house to get to the back in order to work on something. My aunt said “Of course you can dear” and let them through. What followed must have been unbelievably frightening for her.
The men burst in, grabbed my aunt and forced her on to her bed at gunpoint. She had two tiny dogs, who were barking. I don’t know what they did to the dogs but I know, from the court transcript, that my aunt kept crying out “Don’t hurt my dogs, please” They were not happy at the amount of diamonds, and kept shouting for my aunt to tell them where the rest were. Finally, after a lot of shouting and waving the gun about, they accepted that there were no more diamonds and left with their haul.
Thankfully, my aunt hadn’t been totally stupid. She hadn’t got all of her diamonds out of the bank. Even more thankfully, she hadn’t been physically hurt either.
The C.I.D. left with my statement, along with Shirley’s address details from the company files, and said they would be in touch. I returned to work, although not a lot more work was done by any of the girls that day.
Now I waited.
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