Officially Dead by Richard Prescot

Colin Fenton and his wife, Julie Fenton ran their company called C.J.F. Software Solution. Colin looked after the
company’s finances while Julie was a software developer. At the beginning of the story, Colin Fenton was in Brentwood.
In the evening, he went into a bar where he met a perfect double of himself. The double was John Bentley. He was with
his wife, Linda Bentley. They worked in a jewellery shop. John invited Colin to sit with them and they soon got into a nice
conversation. The meeting with Colin Fenton gave an idea to Linda about a robbery plan. She wanted her husband to rob
the jewellery shop and use Colin to create an alibi. But John refused it. He had been in prison and he didn’t want to go
there again.

Back to Bath, Colin had his usual life again. However, their company had a financial problem; so, the business would not
survive unless there were some large orders coming. The company was developing some important new software for a
big insurance company named Jackman’s but unfortunately the contract was not signed yet.

One day when Colin was at his office, he received a small envelope with his name on it. It was from Linda Bentley. Linda
invited him to have dinner at their house. He went to the pub where Linda had been waiting for him. For his surprise, John
did not join them because he was in Liverpool in a football match. After a few drinks, they left the pub and Linda drove
them back to her house. There, Linda offered £10,000 for one evening’s easy work. Colin was surprised, he had a financial
problem but he didn’t want an “easy work” to get money. The next morning, Linda drove Colin back to his hotel. Then,
Colin asked again about Linda’s offering. Linda then explains about what Colin had to do.

A few weeks after their meeting, Colin called Linda and agreed to help, he would be John’s alibi. Colin wanted everything
to run well without harming somebody. The date for the robbery was arranged for 10th January. Having finished arranging
the robbery plan with Linda Bentley, now it was the time for Colin to deal his wife. Julie did not have to know about the
robbery plan so Colin made a fake meeting out of town.

On 10th January, Colin left his house to Manchester. There, he went into a small road where the Bentleys had been waiting
for him. Linda then took out a thick envelope with money from her bag and handed it to Colin. After the meeting, Colin
drove back to Manchester. But on his way there, he had an accident. His car crashed into a huge tree by the side of the
road. He was trapped in the driver’s seat, the steering-wheel pressing into his chest. Another man witnessed the accident.
The man looked inside the wrecked car; Colin was trying to speak. He asked the man to tell sorry to Julie.

Meanwhile, John and Linda Bentley were waiting nervously in Brentwood. They did not know that Colin had had an
accident and died. Then two police officers came and inform Linda about “her husband’s death.” Colin’s death made them
change the plan into a better one. Everybody thought that John Bentley was dead, not Colin Fenton. For a time, John had
to stay hidden. When everything was quiet again, John would do the robbery.

Back to Bath, Julie Fenton was working when she had a phone call from Jackman’s asking where Colin was. He did not
appear for their meeting. At first, Julie got angry but eventually she got worried. On the next morning, she called the local
police station and made a report of a missing person. She also made an advertisement in the national newspaper.
Surprisingly, the man who tried to save her husband, Mark Ashwood, read the advertisement and decided to investigate.
So, he went to Linda Bentley’s house to tell her about “her death husband’s last wish.” When he was there, he was shocked
because he saw a man’s face who exactly like the face of the man, he had seen die. Moreover, the man had called out
“Linda” not “Julie.” Mark then called Julie saying he had some information about her husband. Julie agreed to meet him
the next day. When they finally met, Mark told her about the accident. He also told her about his visit to Linda Bentley’s
house. He ended by saying that Colin Fenton had died in that car accident and his death was being used by another person.

The day of the robbery then came. Linda drove a van to reach Sandwell’s, the jewellery shop. At one thirty-five, they
arrived there. John went out the van and told Linda to comeback in exactly half an hour. He then unlocked the door and
he had twenty seconds to lock the door again by entering the correct code on the keypad of the shop’s security system.
There, he managed to take some precious stones and jewelleries. John took off his coat and threw it over the camera.
After that, he met his wife outside, Linda had parked the van just outside.

A few days after the robbery, Linda Bentley was making preparations to leave the house. But before leaving, she had to
get the money that she earned from robbing the jewellery shop. Then she went back to her house, gave the keys to the
owner of the house, and picked up John at the cheap hotel. At first, she did not notice that there was a car following her
but when she arrived at the hotel, she began to worry. On their way to Devour, Linda told John about the car following
them. Linda then stopped the van and John started shooting the car. The windscreen of Mark’s car shattered and Julie
screamed, falling to one side. There was blood on her coat. Mark jumped out of the car and attacked John. Mark and John
started to fight. Unfortunately, Linda came from the van, grabbed her husband’s gun, and shot Mark on the back of his
head with it. Linda and John quickly got into the van and drove on to Dover. A few hours later, they led to the French
countryside on a train going south, towards Spain and freedom.

Mark woke several hours later in a hospital bed. He was worried about Julie so he called a nurse. The nurse told him that
Julie would be fine. When they were feeling better, Mark explained the whole story about Colin Fenton, John and Linda
Bentley to the police officer who visited them. But it was too late to catch the Bentleys since they had already escaped to
Spain. The London Police reported the crime to Interpol, the international police organization. Finally, after seven years
of Colin Fenton’s disappearance, Julie read a newspaper and cried. Mark sees the headline and it said ‘’British Couple
Arrested for Jewellery Robbery after Seven Year’’.