Take Bob to the bank

Bob is quite normal, you muse, scratching at his beard. Overweight, ageing, with high cholesterol and diabetes, but there's nothing weird about him. That comes as a relief. All you want to do is escape a wedding falling into chaos, where everyone seems to have a dirty secret or insane intention.

The problem is the bank itself. As Bob, you could get into the vault - perhaps. But banks have cameras. If you try and swap with any employee, you're going to be caught on footage. There's a lot of risk involved. You'd have to somehow convince an employee to step away from the cameras. It might be possible in the safety deposit room, but then you'd have to return to the computer to find out which number is owned by the Van Lewens. The only person that would know that information immediately would be the manager, and, as it's a weekend, you can't imagine they'd be at work.

You walk up to Bob's car, and pull out his credit card. It's an old model, and while 'he' has left his car keys in this room, your lock-picking skills again make themselves useful. You slide into the driver's seat, grunting from Bob's weight, and look at yourself in the rear view mirror. Beads of sweat have formed on your balding scalp.

"You're getting slow, old man," you remark to your own reflection, before pulling open the compartment under the wheel. In a moment you've hotwired the car, and are fleeing the chaos behind you.

*****

"Yes sir, can I help you?" The bank's greeter, a smartly dressed young man, looks at you expectantly. You smile, and let your distinguished voice set his mind at ease.

"Not today, thank you. I'm just weighing up a financial transaction."

"Well, if I can be of any assistance, let me know." The young man walks away. The bank is cool, calm and virtually empty. A couple of tellers are helping customers: a businessman is talking finance, an expectant mother is patiently counting out receipts, an Asian man approaching middle age is arguing about a cheque that seems to have bounced. In the corner, the customer assistant for the vault is sat at the desk, waiting to see if anyone requires service. The bank's cameras record all, and security guards are posted throughout.

You walk over to a stack of leaflets, picking one up along with an impossibly small pen, and take a seat, pretending to fill it out. You look around while you do so, assessing your options.

The direct route is to access Bob's account at the bank, and request a safety deposit box. That would get you into the right room, and then you'd have to see if you could swap into an employee without raising suspicion. Bank security is tight, though, and there might be a better alternative.

On the wall opposite your seat is a picture of a smiling, well-turned out woman, probably in her late 30s or early 40s. She's wearing heavy makeup, deliberately designed to give her a professional, confident look. She's in a sharp suit, with black hair cut into a voluminous long bob. The plaque underneath reads: K. Wendel, manager.

This brings a thought to your mind. The moment Alexandra recovers, the wedding is going to be plunged into chaos. The first thing people are going to try and do is locate the Scarlet Bloom. It's a fake, but that doesn't seem to be common knowledge - Alexandra hadn't even told Carma - and there were security guards looking after it. The security company is going to inform the bank, who will be forced to check on the real Bloom. That means an emergency procedure is going to begin, and the manager, wherever she is, is going to be called in, along with the local sheriff, to check the Bloom is safe.

That could be far simpler, you decide. You walk over to the young greeter, and politely ask to borrow a phone directory. He looks at you for a moment, but then complies: Robert Foxworth is too old for the internet, and something as old school as a phone directory is exactly the kind of thing he might ask for. A few moments of flicking through, and you find what you're looking for. There's only one 'Wendel' listed in the directory, and the address is provided.

You'll have to move quickly: you're only a couple of minutes from the Bloom being reported stolen, the security guards determining its missing, and the emergency protocol springing in to action. Either you can go ahead with your original plan to use Robert to get into the vault, or you can take the slightly longer, but possibly safer, route: either head to the police station and replace the local sheriff, or head to the manager's house and try your luck there.