Goodwill To All Men

KAREN hit the ground hard. Her shock at the rough landing was worsened by the sight of her favourite handbag disappearing down the road in the fist of a scruffy youth who was zigzagging his way through the crowd.

She stumbled as she tried to get to her feet and felt a strong hand under her elbow.

“Are you okay?” her rescuer asked, helping her to a bench.

“I’ll be back in a mo.” And he chased off after her assailant.

Karen rubbed her bruised knee and considered her misfortune. So much for getting the Christmas shopping done early. She’d expected the town would be quieter if she did it now, but with all the sales on it didn’t seem to have made any difference.

And now all her money and cards were gone. She thought of the wedge of notes she’d withdrawn from the cashpoint only ten minutes earlier. That was most of

her budget.

Her friends at the office laughed at her for using cash, but Karen had always found that actually handing over paper money made you more aware of how much you were spending. Now her prudence had cost her dearly.

She was jolted out of her miserable ponderings by a weight landing heavily on the other end of the bench. Karen looked over to see the man who had helped her. His face was red and he was panting loudly, seemingly unable to speak. He thrust Karen’s bag into her hands then dropped his head as he tried to catch his breath.

“Oh! Oh, thank you!” Karen hastily checked the bag to find all the contents intact. The lovely crisp notes were in her purse where she’d put them. She could have wept with joy.

“I…couldn’t…sorry…” the man was trying to speak now, but it was clearly too soon. Karen put a hand on his arm. “Just wait a minute,” she said. “Get your breath. I can’t believe you got my bag back.”

THE man gasped a few more times then sat up and turned to face Karen. He had the most beautiful green eyes she’d ever seen. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t hold onto him. But I got your bag, at least. Are you hurt?” Karen looked down at her knee. “Only a little. I’ll be fine. Did I say thank you?” The man laughed. “Only about ten times. Really, it was nothing. My name’s Simon, by the way.” “Karen.” “Well, Karen, I think you should put something on that knee. Where were you headed?”

“Shopping, but I think those plans are scuppered for today. I’ll just go home and put my feet up.”

She rose to leave, but fell back to the bench, her face contorted in pain.

“I don’t think you’re going anywhere on your own,” Simon said. “Looks like you’ve sprained something. Let me.”

He hailed a taxi, then lifted her into his strong arms. “This isn’t my usual pick-up method,” he whispered as he helped her into the cab.

WHERE had the last two months gone? Karen carefully placed the last piece of tinsel on the tree in her small flat and stood back to study the overall effect.

She’d expected her parents to be disappointed that she’d decided to spend Christmas away from them this year but her mum had sounded positively thrilled.

“Ooh, don’t you worry about us, love,” she’d said. “About time you had a nice man.” Karen had laughed. “It’s early days, Mum.” “Maybe,” her mum mused, “but everything starts somewhere, doesn’t it?” And Karen had to agree. Now it was only a week until her first grown-up Christmas in her own home and she had Simon to share it with.

She almost felt like she should track down that mugger and thank him. But there was no time for that. She still had Simon’s present to buy and it had to be really special.

The streets were just as crowded as they’d been all those weeks ago and Karen held tightly onto her bag as she made her way to the posh arcade where she hoped to buy Simon’s gift.

She’d seen a beautiful pair of green enamelled cufflinks a few days earlier but the shop had been closed and now she was hoping that they hadn’t been sold. They were exactly the colour of his eyes and she knew she’d never see another pair like them.

She hurried to the window and found to her relief that they were still there, but before she could enter the shop she saw a reflection in the window that took her breath away.

Karen knew she was not mistaken. In a doorway opposite was the young man who’d mugged her. He was even wearing the same clothes. He was talking animatedly to another man and they were laughing together. The other man was Simon.

Karen hurried home, the cufflinks forgotten. She double-locked her front door, then collapsed onto her sofa and let the tears that had been welling spill onto her cheeks.

How could she have been so stupid? It was the oldest trick in the book. Do someone a favour, gain their trust, then swoop in for an even bigger kill. That’s why they called it a con – a confidence trick.

Oh, he’d been good, she had to give him that. She’d never suspected a thing.

Simon had certainly gained her confidence, and a lot more besides, and it had all been a set-up from the start. She wondered what it was he’d hoped to swindle her out of. Surely he knew she didn’t have much. But that was beside the point. The two men had plotted together, targeted her and would probably have got away with it if she hadn’t been outside that shop today.

She supposed she should consider herself fortunate to have found them out, but she felt like the least lucky person on the planet. KAREN knew she would have to face Simon sometime, she just didn’t want it to be now. She’d considered calling the police but didn’t really have any evidence and anyway, she felt too foolish. So she’d spent the weekend ignoring the phone and the hammering on her door. But she knew she couldn’t stay indoors forever.

She left for work earlier than usual on Monday, just in case, but the minute she stepped outside he was there.

“Karen! What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Get away from me! I’ve got nothing to say to you.” Simon looked stunned. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

The anger and upset of the last few days bubbled over and Karen turned to him, her face twisted with rage.

“Look, Simon, or whatever your real name is, I know what you did. Very clever. But I’ve found you out and you’ll get nothing from me. So you might as well push off and leave me alone.”

“Found me out? Found what out?” “The con! I know about the con! I saw you with that bloke on Saturday, the one who took my bag.” The colour drained from Simon’s face. “Oh.” “Oh? That’s all you can say? Not ‘Sorry, Karen, for making a complete fool out of you?’ No, of course not, because you never did care about me, did you? You’re just a criminal.” “He’s my little brother.” “So it’s a family business, is it? How very cosy.”

“You don’t understand. He lost his way and he’s been in trouble before. It would’ve been prison this time. So I sort of followed him around, tried to keep an eye on him, put right what he did. That’s how I saw him take your bag. But he’s clean now, he’s in a programme and everything. I was going to tell you. It just

never seemed the right time.” “And you expect me to believe that?” Simon hesitated. “I’m sorry I lied to you, Karen, but there was no malice in it. I’d understand if you never want to see me again. But I’m telling you the truth now and, anyway, you can check. Paul knows about you and he’s very sorry. He wanted to apologise himself. That’s what we were talking about. He’s said you can come to one of his meetings. Please, Karen.” HE LOOKED at her with his jade green eyes and she thought again of the cufflinks she’d been going to buy. She felt a glimmer of hope beneath the anger and the misery. Although it was possible he was telling the truth, she was too hurt to simply take his word for it. But it was nearly Christmas after all, the season of goodwill to all men and all that. It wouldn’t do any harm to check out his story and, if it were true, there may still be a future for them after all.

Karen picked up the pieces of her shattered confidence and dusted them off.

“You’ll have to give me some time,” she said.

“If that’s what it takes to get you back,” Simon replied, “then I’ve got all the time in the world.”