The Duchess of Platform Four
Eve smiled out from the photocopied poster. ‘Missing! Have you seen…’
She isn’t a missing cat.
Suz hadn’t known her name, she’d just had her filed in her brain as the smiley girl from ‘Glorious Coffee’. Suz was slightly ashamed that she’d never found out the girl’s name. She reluctantly pulled the sellotaped poster off the platform pillar knowing full well that a new one would appear in a day or two.
If I disappeared would anyone care enough to keep putting up posters for me?
The station manager at Cardiff Central had allowed the posters to stay for the first two weeks after they’d appeared but then, but then they’d begun to multiply rapidly, especially around Platforms 1 and 2 where the coffee concession was. Then an order had come from on high to take them down. Every time Suz took one down it chipped a little slither from her heart.
“I hope you’re okay lovely girl.” she tore down the poster.
Suzie looked down, sighed and ticketed it off the sheet on her clipboard.
Usually she’d follow the same route but today was different. Today had a little spice. There had been a spate of thefts around Cardiff Central. At first it was thought that an opportunistic thief (or thieves) had a kind of pattern that no one could quite work out. If they hit ‘Glorious Coffee’ on Platform One when one of the staff wasn’t looking then the Spar on the concourse got hit next.
The guilty party would know just when a cash drop was happening, there would be some kind of disturbance - some cans being knocked over or a fight breaking out - the member of staff would be distracted and the cash would be taken.
They operated in three. One main female thief and two accomplices who changed from theft to theft. Suz had made sure she’d been around when the CCTV camera footage had been checked and the main thief had been careful to slide into the blind spots on the few occasions that they’d been caught on camera. The thief had been wearing a green parka and hoodie, obscuring her face. At first it wasn’t possible to tell the thief’s gender, but after watching the footage of all the thefts Suz knew. She’d seen the thief around and knew the way she moved.
The thief was the Duchess of platform four.
Suz spent a lot of time watching people, it was her job and the Duchess didn’t move like anyone else in Cardiff central. They slopped around looking at their screens while the Duchess sashayed through the station like a cat. Suz had first clocked the Duchess one Wednesday morning when the forecourt was being patrolled by five young, bored police officers.
The Duchess had walked in with an air of haughty indifference, seen the officers and without missing a beat had walked straight back out.
I’m on your trail Duchess.
Suz had laughed and felt happy for the first time in months. On her usual route Suz checked the door handles and checked them off her checklist. The Duchess had been circling recently but hadn’t dipped in and the station manager’s were patting themselves on the back for whatever incentive they’d introduced which they thought had stopped the thefts.
They haven’t stopped, they’ve just paused.
Fuck the checklist, fuck it.
The Summer Friendlies - a replacement for the cancelled Six Nations - was about to cannonball into Cardiff and the city and its central train station would be awash with booze and valley commandos. The shops in the station would be rammed and the one store which made the biggest killing was Marks and Spencers. By the time of kick off they’d be lucky to have one can of pre-mixed Gin and Tonic on their shelves, which meant muchos cash.
The Duchess is going to knock off Marks and Sparks and I’m gonna catch her, and I’m gonna love it. Suz felt happy for the first time in months because she had a purpose.
#
The day of the first Summer Friendlies in Cardiff, and it began like any match day did by being deceptively quiet. Suz had her trusty clipboard except today it had extra sheets, today it hand many extra sheets. It felt bulky and important. Every other word was bold if it wasn’t in a bullet point. The really important information was bold and a bullet point.
Fuck the checklist, fuck it.
Suz propped it up against a wall and left it. She felt a high from going off message. When she got into the forecourt it had started to get busy and she wandered around checking out the groups of people. Suz did a circle round by the lift which went to platform zero at the far end of the forecourt by Marks and Spencer. She was looking out for trouble and for the Duchess and her group. Usually a cash drop would be done before the evening return commuter rush but today it would happen more frequently. The big cash drop would be ten minutes before the match started as the crowds thinned out, and that was when the Duchess and her accomplices would make their move.
Suz stopped by the turnstiles, waiting.
It’s more likely that one of her crew will come through the main turnstiles and she’ll…
And there she was, hoodie up, head down. Mingling in with the crowds and fishing in her pocket for her ticket or phone.
She’s doing a good job of not showing her face to the cameras, but I’ve got my eye on you!
The Duchess fed her ticket into the machine and eased through the turnstiles.
Suz prided herself on being able to observe people without them knowing it.
It came from years as a Security professional. Then the Duchess looked up directly at Suz. Her gaze felt like a punch in the stomach.
Oh my God, she’s got the greenest cat eyes I’ve ever seen.
People passed in front of the Duchess and when they cleared she wasn’t there.
Fuck.
Then Suz remembered one of The Duchesses' bolt holes. The second corridor at the back entrance which led to the lifts for the valley lines. Suz weaved her way through the supporters and dodged the passengers wheeling huge suitcases across the forecourt.
The second corridor was starting to get busy but she could see the Duchess in the distance who ducked to her right.
She’s taking the lift up to the platform and she’s going to double back and head back outside the main turnstiles. I know she is.
Suz turned back and headed back to the main forecourt before weaving her way through the crowds towards Marks and Spencers. She stopped in time to see the Duchess emerge from the turnstiles again. Suz didn’t know if she’d been clocked again but the Duchess ducked into the crowd and vanished again.
Suz looked around and turned to her right.
The side exit.
It hadn’t been used in months but that had to be it. The tape which had been crossed over it now fluttered in the faint breeze where the door had been praised open.
Bollocks.
Suz squeezed through the gap into the warm June day.
Is that her over there? Going back into the station right at the top? She tried to double back but the gap had closed behind her.
Fuck bollocks!
Suz dodged her way through the crowds leaving the station to catch up with the Duchess, but then stopped dead.
There’s a fire escape, just by Marks and Sparks. Sign fell off months ago, Health and Safety nightmare! She might not know about it!
Suz turned around, pushed at the dirt covered fire escape, walked up a corridor and found herself in a stock room. She pushed a door open and found it at the entrance of the shop. The manager was cashing up two of the tills, and there with her back to Suz was the Duchess.
Two men approached the manager with a big box and started yelling at her. The manager looked startled, put the cash down and took the box. The Duchess picked up the cash. With a surge of triumph Suz put her hand on the Duchess’ shoulder. She spun round and did something that Suz wasn’t expecting. The Duchess burst into tears, her shoulders slumped as though she had a puncture.
“You’re coming with me.” Suz said weakly because she didn’t know what else to say. The two men quickly scarpered, but Suz had who she wanted.
“You can’t! You can’t! You don’t know what he’s like!”
He? Who?
The Duchess had an Eastern European accent. Czech? Polish?
She’s playing you
Suz tightened her grip and hardened her expression and heart.
“You should have thought about that before…”
“What do you think happened to her?” The Duchess pointed at Eve smiling in black and white.
“Do you think she just disappeared into thin air?”
“I…”
“No, no, it’s him! He did it and if you hand me in I’ll be like her and no one will hear about me ever again.”
She’s playing you.
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
Of course it doesn’t! She’s playing you you daft bitch!
The Duchess began to cry again. She certainly wasn’t the ice maiden that Suz had expected. She looked at Suz with wide eyes.
“If you hand me in it will be the end of me.
God help me I believe you.
“Okay.”
She’s playing you!
“Come with me. I’m not going to hand you in.” She took the Duchess hand and squeezed. The Duchess wiped the tears and snot away from her face with her free hand.
“What are we going to do?” The Duchess asked.
“We’ll work something out. What’s your name?”
“Lelia.”
“That’s a pretty name.”
They walked out of Cardiff Central together