Fredcat's Tails
ATM problems
Fredcat knew the local bank manager, Mr. Brightown, quite well. Mr. Brightown was a friendly chap, who always stopped and gave our famous friend a pat or two as he passed by. This particular morning Fredcat noticed that Mr. Brightown seemed to be wearing a distracted air, causing our friend to wonder if all was well in the banking world.
Cash Savings
Actually all wasn't at all well. Mr. Brightown was having a bit of a problem concerning cash dispensing equipment at his bank branch and everything seemed to be going awry - one of those marvelous cash machines which dispenses cash to bank customers was faulty and there was no apparent reason for it.
As Mr. Brightown petted our famous friend he mused aloud and told him of the problem, little realizing that Fredcat was able to understand him (not everyone was party to the fact that human speech was one of Fredcat's abilities). The new deputy manager, Mr. Bran, had told Mr. Brightown that their ATM was showing signs of being error-prone and the bank, therefore, needed to find a backup until the fault could be rectified.
Now ATMs are costly machines - even to hire for a short period of time - and Mr. Brightown thought that the bank could ill afford a replacement, especially as the existing one was not very old. But the errors were occurring with increasing frequency and customers were complaining - which was certainly not good for business!
Fredcat was very interested in this and confided in one of his associates, Ginger. Ginger was staying with Fredcat, on an extended holiday from England, and together they took a shortcut to the local bank and watched for a while. A few customers used the ATM quite happily and then Mr. Bran popped out of the bank and made some adjustment to the machine before going back inside.
The next customer was in a hurry and became very agitated trying to obtain cash and eventually had to go inside the bank for his money, emerging less than pleased and storming off in a huff. Mr. Bran came out again and after a bit more fiddling at the ATM went back inside. The machine then seemed to work properly.
Hmmm! thought our doughty heroes. That's odd .... but nothing further amiss happened and so they trotted back home for the next meal (for, for both cats, it is always time for the next meal). The next day Mr. Brightown again passed by and Fredcat made it his business to be ready to receive his stroke and to listen once again to the musings of the bank manager. "Well, Fredcat", he said, "We have decided to install a new machine after all, but that will severely cut into the company's seasonal bonuses this year." And he laughed, "Mrs. Brightown was really looking forward to spending my share of the bonus this year".
Three days later the new machine arrived in a very large blue van, and was quickly installed. Fredcat and Ginger watched this from a vantage point. Then minutes later another van, white this time, drew up and left a second replacement ATM. What a fine collection of ATMs!, thought Fredcat. Some ten minutes after that Mr. Bran hurried out and pointed out one of the machines to a colleague.
Some twenty minutes later, the white van drew up again, collected the ATM, and quickly drove off. But ..... it did not remove the ATM left by the white van but, instead, took the ATM that had been left earlier in the day by the blue van. What is going on? thought Fredcat. Has there been a muddle?
It all became clear the next day, when Mr. Brightown was nowhere to be seen. Despite waiting for almost half the morning, the two felines did not see or hear of him. They wandered down to the bank and discovered quite a fuss going on within its sturdy walls. Filtering through said sturdy walls, Mr. Brightown's voice could very clearly be heard. Popping inside, the famous one saw Mr. Brightown surrounded by some grim looking people - people who were clearly unimpressed by his inability to explain matters.
The problem appeared to be that when the white van had collected the ATM from outside the bank it had mistakenly taken the wrong ATM! The ATM delivered by the original blue van had just been filled with cash - which had been removed by the gents from the white van along with the ATM, of course. A real switch!
Questions were being asked of Mr. Brightown. Questions to which he did not appear to have good answers. Why did you order two new ATMs? Why did the van delivering the latest ATM take away the first ATM delivered - when it had just been filled with cash? Where is the missing ATM and where is the cash?
Fredcat knew quite well what had happened, as do you, dear reader. Order an ATM, wait for delivery, and let the bank fill it up with cash. Less than innocently, deliver a second, empty(!) ATM, apologise for the mistake and take an ATM away - xINSTEAD OF TAKING THE EMPTY ONE, REMOVE THE FULL ONE. Cash for all concerned in the scam. Problems for Mr. Brightown - and no bonus to be spent by his wife.
But how is this deduction going to help poor Mr. Brightown? Fredcat smiled to himself. He smelled a rat. The new deputy manager, Mr. Bran, appeared to be central to the problem for Fredcat deduced that Mr. Brightown was not going to steal the cash from one of his own cash machines - he had, after all, been contemplating how his wife was going to spend the seasonal bonus, not contemplating himself spending months inside a prison cell!
The only other person with enough responsibility to carry out the scam was clearly the deputy manager, Mr. Bran. He, however, was doing an excellent job of "acting the innocent". No need to panic, no need for him to run. He had told the police that it was the manager who had authorized the purchase of the new ATM and who clearly had set up the delivery of the second ATM. He, innocent Mr. Bran, had only just started working at the branch and did not really know what was going on. Indeed, he bemoaned the fact that he would probably have to shoulder the burdensome managerial responsibilities created by this episode and act as the new stand-in manager for a while. (Things were looking good for him, thought Mr. Bran).
But Mr. Bran had reckoned without our famous friend. That evening, Fredcat and Ginger followed Mr. Bran back to his home and watched and waited. Sure enough, later on a car pulled up outside his house and two men went inside carrying a large, heavy bag between them. It did not take our heroes long to find a way inside - they are past masters at that sort of thing!
Ginger calls the police
Inside, as expected, they found Mr. Bran and his two accomplices drinking a toast to a successful coup. They were laughing at the way that Mr. Bran had persuaded Mr. Brightown that the original ATM was faulty by fiddling with the machine's mechanism during the day; sometimes making it faulty, sometimes making it work correctly! Hmmmmm ...... On the table, unguarded, was Mr. Bran's cell phone. While Fredcat watched, Ginger quickly and quietly dialed 911, the emergency call number (perhaps all nations will adopt this emergency number one day, thought Fredcat. That would be a good idea!)
Within minutes, the police had arrived, and there were red faces all around, especially when it was discovered that the cell phone used belonged to Mr. Bran. Why had he called? Was he not an employee at a bank where a robbery occurred earlier that very day? May we come in please, Sir, and talk to these two gentlemen who appear to be in somewhat of a hurry to leave? And, my oh my, where did all this money come from, Sir? A veritable barrage of questions ensued, to which Mr. Bran seemed unable to find answers on the spur of the moment.
Mr. B. listened to this tale with growing impatience. "What rubbish", he spluttered. "You two have been out all evening, having completely forgotten the time, you have a terrible story to tell us, and all the while your mistress Cathie has been calling and calling for you. Have you been carousing again? I think you both had better be off to bed before you get into any more mischief. And you can forget supper!"
Fredcat drew himself up to his full height and quietly replied, "I bet you will thank us when you go to get cash from the ATM tomorrow and find that Mr. Brightown is still working there".....
Hmmm! What do you think, pensive reader?