The Perfect Murder: Spine-chilling short stories for long summer nights

‘Now duck!’

With Jay’s call, Dave Cole pressed the device in his hand, detonating the explosives. Shards of glass splintered everywhere. A roaring crack of noise sounded as the steel shutters blasted off and out, whizzing across the bank at lethal speed. A fireball of heat and smoke shot out, and greys, yellows and reds flashed in front of Jay’s eyes.

The blast over, Jay leapt forward, waving his gun around.

‘Stay where you are! Stay where you are!’ He ran back to where the bomb blast had been, expertly smashing the remaining glass out of the way, enabling him to jump up over the counter.

He pointed his gun at the two women who cowered in the corner. He could see one of them had been hurt. Blood poured from the top of her head where a three inch piece of steel was embedded into her skull. He flinched, suddenly aware of the stifling heat. Bile rose up from his stomach as a wave of nausea hit him.

‘Move it! Move it!’ Dave yelled at his son from behind as he saw him standing there. ‘Put the money in the bag. Quick!’

Snapping out of his trance, Jay sprang into action, clearing the drawers of the money as his dad proceeded to speak to the teller.

10.36 a.m.

‘Go to the safe.’ Dave drew up the unharmed woman from the floor with the tip of his gun, leading her towards it. He looked up at the clock, watching the second hand tick around.

‘Move it!’

The woman shakily got to her feet, anxiety showing in her eyes as she looked at her colleague lying in a pool of blood on the floor.

‘Keep your eyes straight. Now put the combination in.’

‘I … I don’t know it.’

Dave prodded her in the back with the end of the gun.

‘Don’t play the blonde darlin’. Put in the combination. We don’t want your daughter coming home to a body bag.’

The woman swivelled round, hatred and fear on her face as she looked at Dave.

‘I know all about you Sheila. I do my homework babe. So open it for your daughter.’

Sheila shakily pressed the digits into the safe. The first click sounded out, signalling the opening of the first set of locks. She paused only momentarily but enough for Dave to spot it.

‘Don’t even think about it.’ Dave wasn’t stupid. Far from it. He knew exactly what he was doing when it came to bank jobs. And he knew exactly what this woman was thinking. The digit nine, if pressed twice sent an emergency SOS message through to the police, but more to the point, if the digit was pressed twice, it locked down all the safes making it impossible to open them even with the codes.

‘What is it with you lot? You work here, it ain’t your money, so stop looking after it as if it was your pussy.’

‘You’ll go down for this.’

Dave gritted his teeth. He grabbed the woman’s hair, only just resisting the temptation to smash her head against the steel door.

He took a glance to the side to look at his son standing near the old man. He’d doubted Jay, but he seemed to be handling it. Making him proud. He’d always seen his son as a waste of space; wrapped up in cotton wool by his mother until he’d turned into an embarrassment. An embarrassment to the Cole name.

Jay hadn’t been brought up the way he had. With the belt, with the metal cable; locked in the coal cupboard for hours on end when he’d cried, having to stay there without food until his stomach had burnt with pain. There were no cuddles and kisses, no bedtime stories and no telling each other, I love you. But that was an upbringing, that was how to make a man out of a boy.

It’d made him who he was today and he thanked his father for it. Thanked him. Not hated him. Not felt his whole body clenched with anger and bitterness when he thought about the dark, cold nights he’d spent alone as a kid when his dad had gone on the lash. No, that’s what his wife had wanted him to do. She’d wanted him to be angry at his father and he almost had been. Almost. But then she’d left with a note simply saying that it had all been too much and she couldn’t be with him. Bitch.

‘I said, fucking move it!’ The anger swelled up inside Dave. He turned his attention back to the woman, smashing his fist against the door and showing he meant business.

‘Hurry up!’

10.40 a.m.

With one final digit, the door clicked open.

‘Now!’ Dave yelled at Jay who hurried to where his dad was standing, bringing three empty bags with him.

They ran into the safe, pulling open the miniature drawers. Jewellery, money, gold and diamonds. The bags filled up quickly.

‘Now let’s get out of here son.’

Jay and Dave Cole ran out, leaping back across the counter, pulling the over-sized bags with them. They nodded to Mike, the third man in their crew who took a bag, running together to make their exit through the door of the frosted safe deposit bank.

Hauling the door open, they froze as panic hit the pit of their stomachs. They stared at the row of police cars, blue lights flashing and armed response pointing guns in their direction.

‘Get back! Get back! Fuck … Fuck!’ Dave hollered as his cousin, Mike, began firing out bullets from the sub-machine gun under his arm.

Grabbing hold of Mike, Dave pulled him backwards by his shirt into the bank. He yelled at the top of his voice.

‘What the hell are you doing? Did I tell you to fire? Did I fucking tell you to?’

Mike pushed Dave off him, charged with anger. ‘What are they doing here? You said it’d be fine. You said we had time.’

‘Shut up! Shut the fuck up. How do I know what they’re doing here?’

Dave rubbed his head. ‘Let me think. Let me bleedin’ think.’

‘Think! We’re fucked Dave. I ain’t serving no more time.’

Dave grabbed Mike by his shirt again, all control going out of the window. He screamed as he shook his cousin.

‘Are you stupid? Don’t call me by my frigging name in front of anyone! Never, call me by my name! Why don’t you broadcast where I live while you’re at it?’

He let go, walking across to where most of the customers lay terrified on the floor. He had to think. Think. There were too many police to attempt a shoot-out. Shit. Shit. He wasn’t even going to start to worry about how and why the police had arrived so soon. All he needed to think about was how the hell they were going to get out.

‘Give me the plans.’ Dave gestured to Mike who pulled out the detailed map, spreading it out on the side.

The tannoy of the police outside boomed through the bank.

‘We are armed. I advise you to put your weapons down and come out. Come out with your hands up.’

Jay looked at his dad hesitantly. His eyes as afraid as they’d always been, since the day his mother had walked out.

‘Maybe …’

Dave Cole turned on his son, beating him back with his body. ‘Don’t even say it. Don’t fucking say it.’