OFFICIALLY DEAD

This story is about a couple of thieves; Linda and John Bentley it happened in Brentwood, a
small town in Essex. Colin and Julie Fenton had a small company C.J.F Software Solutions; it
developed computer programs and sold them to a member of large business. Colin was in charge
of the Company´s finances and the organization of training courses and Julie was a software
developer. That night Collin was in Brentwood in a restaurant that had a pub behind. He went there
to have a drink but to his surprise there, he met a man who was unbelievable alike to him. It was
John Bentley, both were very surprised but Jonh´s wife, Linda at once saw beyond the way they
were so identical, but she saw that Colin could help them in their next robbery; she thought he could
be a good alibi for her husband and tried to convince both men and she did it. So, when Colin was
leaving in order to do his alibi they were going to rob, but they changed passports and driving
licenses. She had given Colin £10,000.00; the money that he unluckily needed to solve the financial
problems of the company. It was cold and the road was icy and it was very busy. The date of the
th
robbery was arranged for the 10 of January. So John had to see Frankie again, he was the man
who was going to fence the jewellery. As the road was slow he soon took a quiet country road. It
was just after an hour that Colin had left that he had the accident he was driving quite fast when he
wanted to turn the steering wheel and the car spun up out of control and crashed into a big tree by
the side of the road. A blue Volvo was driving behind him and saw the accident, he stopped jumped
out of the car and went to the wreck to see if he could help when a truck coming stopped too, Mark
Ashwood had a mobile and dialed 911, Police and ambulance came at once but Colin died when he
was put on a stretch, but he had asked Mark to say Julie, his wife, he was sorry and that he wanted
her to know the truth. So Mark wanted to get Julie´s address and the police officer gave him the
address but it was Linda´s.
The funeral was in Brentwood but for John Bentley, not for Colin Fenton of course. At last
Mark Ashwood met Julie and gave her Colin´s last massage, he helped her and they became very
close friends, he spent much time with her.
By the time they were going to meet Linda, she was ready to leave putting a big suitcase on
the van and decided to follow her. She went to a small , cheap and dirty hotel to fetch John and
drove south the River Thames towards Dover, there they would get the ferry to France but Linda
notice that they were being followed and turned off into a narrow lane, in a very sharp bent Linda
stopped blocking the road and shot Mark´s car and hurt Julie at the same time John came aiming a
gun, Although Mark tried to leave the place he couldn´t Mark opened the door against John and
heard the gun fire but didn´t know where the bullets went, the two men fell struggling , Mark felt a
pain in his side, it was Linda kicking him and she hit him in the neck, Mark fell unconscious. The
Bentleys escaped on the ferry for Calais and took the train south to Spain.
When Mark woke up in a hospital he felt badly and remembered that Julie had been shot
and asked a nurse, she told him that the bullet had gone through her shoulder close to her neck,
although she had lost a lot of blood, she was going to be all right.
A few days later a police officer came to see them and they told him about the attack, Mark
explained the whole story about Colin Fenton , John Bentley at last was connected with the robbery
al Sandwell´s. The police discovered that it had been an inside robbery. Having discovered that the
robber was John Bentley and that he was alive, Colin Fenton was officially dead.
Mark continued visiting Julie, she asked him to look after the financial records. He suggested some
changes in the way of working of the company and she thought they were wonderful. A year later
they realized they were in love, she sold her house and went to live with him, she was happier than
she had ever been for years.
Seven years after Colin´s disappearance, the paper published John and Linda Bentley´s
photographs Linda said that the man that had been cremated was their friend Colin Fenton. Too
many things had happened in their lives, but in the end, Colin was officially dead.-