Selmira had, now, been in Birmingham for a week and realised that she would have to reserve her room for a further few weeks. There was still enough cash to pay, but was pleased and surprised when the hotel receptionist gave her a discount for her extended stay.
At last, the solicitor contacted Selmira to say that the sale had been completed by a Mr. Tonie Buckingham and everything had gone quite smoothly. After deducting their fees, the balance of two hundred and three thousand pounds had been deposited into her Natwest bank account.
Not wanting to waste any time, Selmira, now, had to be extremely careful as she prepared to withdraw the money. She already knew where the Natwest Bank’s Birmingham branch was and had phoned to request a cash withdrawal of twenty thousand pounds for the following day.
Selmira was feeling quite nervous the first time she approached the bank. She was wearing her older, more conservative clothes, long, black wig and had removed her blue contact lenses.
She knew as soon as she entered the bank, that CCTV cameras would record her every movement and did everything possible to try and appear calm and in control, although it did prove quite difficult.
She presented her debit card to the cashier, saying, “I phoned in advance regarding a large cash withdrawal.”
After examining the card, the male cashier said, “Ah, yes, we do have a record of the withdrawal. Which denominations of currency would you prefer?”
Thinking about the bulk required for twenty thousand pounds, she answered, “Hundreds, if possible, please.”
Smiling, he said, “I’m sorry, miss. The maximum sterling denomination is fifty pounds. Will that be okay?”
Feeling foolish at her lack of knowledge about available denominations, she blushed and said, “Sorry. Fifties will be fine, thanks.”
“Certainly.” He retrieved four bundles of notes from somewhere below desk level and passed them through to her. “Would you like me to count them out, Madam?”
Seeing that the notes were in four bundles of five thousand pounds each, Selmira thought that it would be a waste of time and probably attract some unwanted attention, She declined, saying, “No, that’s fine, thankyou.”
Depositing the notes in her shoulder bag, Selmira headed for the door, hoping that nobody had noticed the large value of currency now lying in her bag. As she walked along the road, Selmira did feel a little conspicuous and was relieved when she found a suitable, large department store where she could remove the wig and insert the blue contact lenses while in the ladies toilets.
Next, she made her way to one of her new banks. She took out two of the bundles of notes and handed them over, together with her debit card to the cashier. “I would like to deposit this into my account, please.” Selmira suspected that not many people would pay ten thousand pounds, in cash, into their account at one time. Without showing any sign of surprise, the cashier slipped the notes out of the wrapper and fed them into an automatic counting machine. Satisfied that the total was ten thousand pounds, the cashier asked Selmira to enter her PIN and press the Enter button. This done, she removed her card, accepted the receipt, thanked the cashier and left the bank.
She did enjoy walking through the busy streets, carefully holding tightly to her shoulder bag as she headed for the next nearest bank. Once there, she deposited the remaining ten thousand pounds. It did make her feel good to know that these very large amounts were now, safely in her new accounts in the name of Sarah Armstrong.
Over the next two or three weeks, she would repeat this process until all the money had been transferred to her four new accounts, with just over fifty thousand pounds in each of the accounts.
It was all going quite well, until, one day when Selmira had just collected another twenty thousand pounds from Natwest Bank, a quite tall yet slimly-built balding man collided with her in the street. As she felt him make a grab for her bag, she, instinctively, turned towards him, raised her knee and quickly rammed him sharply in the groin. His howl of pain probably attracted the attention of the many passers-by, but Selmira felt absolutely no guilt, just embarrassment at being seen by so many people. In obvious pain, the cursing man quickly released hold of her bag long enough for Selmira to wrench it away and escape. Realising that she was outside a department store, Selmira ran through the open doors and quickly merged with the throng of customers. Sensing her anxiety, some people turned to look at her as she moved swiftly through the crowded aisles. As her heart rate became more settled, she decided to spend at least half to three quarters of an hour looking through the store, hoping that this would be long enough to lose her, hopefully crippled, attacker. Selmira smiled to herself, surprised at her own strength. She hoped that she had managed to damage his privates permanently, although she realised that this was not very likely. Still, it had prevented the man from snatching her bag and money.
The store had several exits, yet Selmira was uncertain which one to choose. Luckily, as she left the store, a taxi had just dropped off a passenger. Selmira made it obvious that, when the present fare had paid, she would like to hire his cab. The driver gave her a look of annoyance at her urgency to use his cab. She directed him to one of her own banks, desperate to pay in the twenty thousand pounds secreted in the shoulder bag. For today, it would all be paid into just one account, rather than risk any possible further attempt to steal her money.
Just as Selmira was about to enter the bank, she realised that she was still wearing the long, black wig. Breathing heavily and her heart pounding from her near-mistake, Selmira cursed and turned away from the bank, looking for a department store. As soon as she found one, she headed for the ladies toilets. Thankfully, there was nobody else present. Quickly, Selmira removed her wig and placed it inside the bag. After tidying and combing her brown hair, she inserted her contact lenses to change her eye colour back, again, to blue.
Feeling a little calmer now, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. “Must colour my hair, again. My roots are beginning to look darker than I want.”
Her heart rate now returning to normal, Selmira left the department store, heading, once again, towards the bank. She was feeling more nervous than ever, now and blamed it on the unknown assailant who had attempted to steal her bag and money.
The cashiers at the banks were getting more used to Sarah Armstrong and, within minutes, she had deposited all twenty thousand pounds safely into her bank account. Selmira felt relieved that she had thought to pay the whole amount into one bank rather than risk splitting it between the four accounts. As long as she did not have more than eighty five thousand pounds in one bank, she would be covered in the extremely unlikely event of the bank folding.
Feeling hungry after her close shave with a criminal trying to steal her money, Selmira decided to find a good restaurant to satisfy her appetite. For some reason, she fancied a good pizza and had no difficulty in finding an Italian restaurant close to the canal at King Edward Road.
By the time she had managed to have a Calamari starter followed by quite a large pizza, and an ice-cream dessert, she felt much better and quite satisfied, the events of the afternoon pushed to the back of her mind, although not completely forgotten.
Chapter Seventeen: Birmingham Canals
On her way back to the hotel, Selmira decided to walk along the canal path. Using her city map she could see that it was not too far. It was a lovely, summer day and she felt quite uplifted as she took her time for the walk. She was fascinated to realise that horses would, in the past, have been walking along these tow paths, pulling their heavy loads in the canal craft. After living on a houseboat for a few years, Selmira had a fascination and appreciation of the ancient waterways and the wide variety of crafts moving slowly along them.