[African Diamonds 01.0] The Angolan Clan

by Christopher Lowery

  The message was so unexpected that she didn’t listen to the number properly the first time. She played it again and wrote it down. When she dialled it, the screen on the handset came up with Laurent Bonneville. It hadn’t occurred to her to check the phone for his number. The line rang a few times then the same voice replied.

  “Oui, allo. Ici Laurent.”

  “Laurent, this is Jenny Bishop, how do you do?”

  “Jenny! I’m so glad to finally get hold of you. I’m sorry, but I had a terrible day on Friday, and I had no time to call the bank and I didn’t know where you’d be yesterday. Did you go to Geneva for the annual meeting? Where are you now? Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to say how sad I am about Charlie. He was a marvellous man, please accept all my condolences.”

  “Thank you, Laurent. I’m in Marbella, we got back from Geneva last night. We were worried when we didn’t hear from you and I just remembered to check the messages. Are you still in Paris?”

  “I’m in Paris, but I’ll be leaving this evening for Monaco, after I finish my business here. Were the others there, Raffael and Nick? Did you have a good meeting?”

  “There was nobody there but Adam, Leticia and I. We weren’t able to do anything.”

  There was a pause at the other end of the line. “I’m getting really confused, Jenny. I suppose Adam was there to complete the diamond sale, but you say that you couldn’t get anything done? Why weren’t the others there? And why was Leticia there, I don’t understand?”

  Jenny realised that the Frenchman had no idea what she was talking about. This was going to be very difficult on the telephone. “Listen, Laurent, there have been a lot of developments. I’m not sure that I can explain it very well on the phone, it’s a long and complicated story.”

  There was another pause, then he said, “Jenny, I’ll call you back. I’m going to check the flights and see if I can come down there before returning home. It sounds as if we need to meet, and the sooner the better. I’ll call you within the hour.”

  “I’ll be here. It’s pouring with rain, so I don’t expect I’ll be going anywhere.”

  “OK. A tout de suite, Jenny. Au revoir.”

  Jenny immediately called Leticia. “Finally, it looks as if we’ll get some answers.”

  “I think Laurent will need a lot of answers also. It’s hard to know where to start.”

  “I’ll start by calling Adam, he’ll be relieved to hear the news. I’ll call you when I’ve heard back from Laurent. Is everything fine at home?”

  “Apart from the weather. Emilio is very upset with the rain, he thinks it’s me who brought it from Geneva.”

  Jenny called Adam’s mobile. He told her he was in Oxford in a rented car on his way to see a customer. She explained the situation to him.

  “That’s great news. I’ve just got these two visits to make, then I’m heading back to Heathrow. Call me as soon as you know something, I’ll answer even if I’m driving.”

  “Take care on the roads, if the weather is like it is here, you’d better drive carefully.” She put the receiver down and went to make another cup of coffee.

  Laurent called back less than an hour later. “I can get a flight down to Malaga at six thirty, getting in at eight forty-five. I only have carry-on baggage, so I could get to Marbella by nine thirty or so. Would that be acceptable?”

  “That’ll be fine, you can stay here at York House tonight. Juan can pick you up.”

  “It’ll be simpler and faster if I just get a cab at the airport. Don’t worry, I know the way.”

  “That’s great. I look forward to meeting you at last.”

  “And me you, Jenny. Will Adam and Leticia be there? It sounds as if there’s a lot to explain, and Adam and I need to settle the delivery and payment of the diamonds.”

  “I hope that they can manage to come. I’ll get onto it now, to make sure.” Jenny said nothing about Nick. It was better to explain things face to face, not on the telephone.

  “Good, I hope I’ll see you all tonight. A ce soir, Jenny.”

  “See you later, Laurent, have a good flight.”

  She rang Adam first, and brought him up to date. “What do you think?”

  “I already called the airline. I could get down to Malaga by eight thirty.”

  “That means you’d be at the house by about nine fifteen. That’s just before Laurent.”

  “The problem is that I’d have to leave at five in the morning to get connections back to Miami by Monday evening. Your opinion?”

  “Well, I don’t want you to get stressed out before your father’s funeral, but you’ll probably be happier if you can get back to Miami having met with Laurent. At least you’ll know you can get your transactions completed.”

  “Fair enough. You’re right, as usual. I’ll get the flights organised and see you later.”

  Jenny repeated her offer of Juan’s services, but he told her not to bother. He’d take a taxi.

  “See you this evening then. We can’t go on meeting like this, you know. People will talk,” she joked.

  “A girl in every port, that’s me. See you tonight.”

  Leticia was reassured by the developments. “Can I bring Emilio over and stay the night? He won’t be happy if I leave him alone again so soon.”

  “Come over sooner, early evening. Bring some cartoon DVDs with you and we’ll have some fun, despite the rain. I’m sure he’ll love it.”

  Jenny spent the rest of the morning tidying the house, sorting out her travel bag and other mundane chores. She realised that if she decided to stay in the house they’d have to get another housekeeper. Leticia was now co-owner of the property and too hooked on shopping.

  Braving the teeming rain, she took an umbrella and went down to the gate to open the mail box. It was cold outside. The rain was heavier and the storm clouds that filled the sky made the day dark and depressing, a total contrast with the days before her trip to Geneva. She ran back to the house with the few items of mail, glad to be out of the cold and wet.

  In the kitchen, she put some cat food into a deep dish so that it wouldn’t get blown away and placed it outside in the most protected corner of the terrace. Fuente would be disappointed if he arrived in the rain and had to go hungry.

  She heated up some chicken soup and drank a dishful of it, putting on the light so she could read the few pieces of mail. There was nothing of importance except for a bank statement from the Banco de Iberia and some utilities bills. A large envelope contained a cruise brochure from a company called Silver Sailings. Maybe I should try that sometime, she thought, remembering how much her parents-in-law had enjoyed their cruises. Then the events of the last week finally caught up with her and her eyes started to close. She lay down on one of the couches in the living room and fell fast asleep.

  Jenny woke with a start. She’d had a vivid, frightening dream that was still clear in her mind.

  She was playing tennis inside a huge circular room. Her opponent was a masked man wearing a blue raincoat, with a dark blue handkerchief poking out of the breast pocket, and old fashioned, plus four style, skiing trousers. They were both holding racquets made from hard-backed green ledgers, with long silver keys as handles. The net was made from plastic file covers, alternate squares of red and green, so that it looked like a patchwork quilt.

  It was a sweltering day and even though they were inside, the sun was beating down unmercifully. There was a crowd of spectators, holding umbrellas to ward off the hot sun.

  The man was about to serve. He threw up a wad of thousand dollar bills and smashed his racquet into them. The notes disintegrated and confetti flew though the air, covering the court and the players. A vicar, sitting in the umpire’s chair, called “Game, set and match.”

  A woman wearing a veil and wedding dress ran out onto the court and threw diamonds to the crowd, who caught them in their upturned umbrellas. The man in the raincoat removed his mask and kissed the woman. He turned to bow to Jenny. It was Kurt Vogel!

  Jenny w
ent to get the bank statements given to her by Eric Schneider for the Angolan Clan account and the statements she’d received from Mme. Aeschiman for the IDD accounts and the file she’d taken from the office. She sat down at the kitchen table with a pencil and started ticking the items off. After fifteen minutes she found what she was looking for.

  From September 30th, the last day that Charlie had checked the books, up to 15th March, there were seven receipts in the IDD account. These were no doubt from Laurent’s last diamond sales. The total amount was nine hundred and seventy thousand dollars.

  There were corresponding entries on the Excel sheets showing transfers of the same seven amounts, minus the IDD profit, to the Angolan Clan account.

  There were seven corresponding debit entries on the IDD bank statements.

  But there were no corresponding entries for funds received on the bank statements for the Angolan Clan account. The money had never arrived there, it had disappeared.

  Almost a million dollars had gone. And so had Kurt Vogel!

  Jenny thought about Vogel and Gloria, about Jolidon and the diamonds, about Patrice and the BIP, the break-in at the hotel, about the missing partners and about Ron and Charlie and the money. She remembered what Chief Inspector Espinoza had said and she began to feel very frightened.

  EIGHTY-TWO

  Sunday, 27th April, 2008

  Marbella, Spain

  At five fifteen, Jenny heard the sound of a car horn. Through the pouring rain she could see Leticia’s Vitara outside the gates. She pointed the remote control towards the gate. Nothing happened. She went to the security camera control unit in the hall but the screen was blank and when she pressed the release button the gates remained stubbornly closed. Finally, she grabbed her umbrella and ran down to the gateside to turn the emergency switch and the gates rolled back. When the car was through she turned the switch to close them again. Then, thinking of Adam and Laurent, she opened the small gate and left it ajar. Leticia parked as close to the house as possible and they ran up the stairs with Emilio.

  The main door was at the side of the house, facing the waterfall and a large pond, full of water-plants and surrounded by flower beds and shrubs lovingly planted and tended by Juan. The waterfall was now rushing down so strongly it was threatening to cause the pond to overflow and flood the entrance area and the staircase but there was nothing they could do about it, except to hope that the rain would ease.

  “What’s wrong with the gates? My control wouldn’t work at all.”

  “It must be the storm. The system seems to be bust. Never mind, come in from the rain.”

  Leticia left their raincoats and overnight bag in the hall. She and her son were both warmly dressed in trousers and woollen jumpers against the cool temperature.

  “What is it, Jenny, has something happened?” Despite the other woman’s calm demeanour, Leticia sensed that something was wrong.

  “It’s nothing to worry about, I’ll tell you later. Let’s have some fun with Emilio now.” Jenny picked the little boy up and he kissed her fondly. “Holá, Jenny.”

  “Holá, Emilio, qué tal?” She almost wished he was her own child. Anyway, he’s my nephew, or something like that.

  They went downstairs to the games room where there was a large television screen, and watched cartoons for an hour or so. Then the three of them tried to play Chopsticks, all together on the piano. This was funnier than the cartoons.

  Afterwards they sat in the kitchen and Leticia made tea. She heated up the remains of Jenny’s soup for her son’s supper, with a glass of fruit juice and a couple of slices of nutty bread that she’d brought with her. She wanted him to be in bed early this evening, the excitement of being reunited with her had exhausted him.

  Jenny was reflecting that the house was much too large to be comfortable. Since she had arrived they had spent most of their time in the kitchen. They were all happiest there and the other rooms seemed to be such a long way away. For a moment she was nostalgic for her semi-detached in Ipswich, where she could light an open fire and sit right in front of it, warm and cosy in the small living room. She would watch TV, with a snack on a tray on her knee, then go straight up the stairs to bed. No wasted space, just enough to be comfortable.

  Leticia interrupted her reverie. “I must go for some shopping. There is almost nothing left in the fridge.” She laughed. “We must be very poor.”

  “We can’t shop on a Sunday, so that’s for tomorrow. Now come over here for a moment, I’ve got something to show you.” Jenny spread out the papers on the kitchen table. They sat on the bench seat with Emilio and she pointed out the fraudulent entries. The younger woman was startled. She had never had money before and had little knowledge of fraud or criminality.

  She sat back on the bench seat, her hands to her face. “So, now we see why he was packing up. He can pay for a very long holiday with all that money.”

  “It’s not so funny, Leticia. Remember, this is our money now and that’s a lot to lose to a crooked Swiss accountant.”

  “You’re right. And Charlie didn’t find it out, because of his heart attack. And Vogel wasn’t skiing, he was hiding from them. Then Charlie never went back to the office after Ron… Anyway, he didn’t like the cold weather, he liked more to play golf in Spain.” She shivered. “I wonder where he is now, Vogel. We should get Chief Inspector Espinoza to go after him.”

  “You remember that Mme. Aeschiman was having a baby at the time? I bet she would have seen this swindle if she’d still been at the bank.”

  Leticia said, “Jenny, never mind the police thinks nobody broke into our rooms, I’m sure it’s true. I don’t believe Adam just lost the key. Somebody stole it and they must be looking for the other one, and now there’s a crook in IDD. I’m beginning to be afraid now, we have to do something. But what?”

  “You’re right. We should call Chief Inspector Espinoza and we should do it now. I thought of it yesterday and then forgot about it. Where’s his card?”

  Leticia found the card amongst the photographs in her purse. She picked up the kitchen phone and listened for the dial tone. “It’s not working.” She replaced it on the stand, picked it up and tried again, shaking it. “The phone’s not working, the dial tone isn’t there.”

  Jenny tried. It was dead. “It’s the weather. I bet there’s a telegraph pole down somewhere. Or maybe it’s the electric circuit in the garden. That’s probably what’s wrong with the gate system,” She got her mobile. “What’s the number?”

  “I’ll use mine, it’s a Spanish one. No need to make international dialling, and it’s easier for me in Spanish.” Leticia rang the policeman’s office number. A recorded voice advised her that Espinoza was away on police business until Monday. She left a message asking him to call her or Jenny back as soon as possible.

  “I’ll try his mobile number.” This time it told her that the phone was either off or out of coverage. She left the same message.

  Leticia thought for a moment. “I don’t know if Francisco’s back from London, but we could call José Luis. What do you think?”

  “He’s seventy years old and it’s a Sunday night. It wouldn’t be fair to call him. Anyway, what could he do? We have to wait for Espinoza, he can do something.”

  “And we can’t expect Juan to come out to check the phone and electricity in this awful weather. We’ll have to wait for the morning,” Leticia added.

  Jenny said nothing, just nodded her head. More coincidences, she thought. First the camera and the gate didn’t work and now the phone. Everything happens for a purpose. But she didn’t know what purpose, and Jenny didn’t like not knowing things.

  “I think Emilio should sleep now, it’s almost eight thirty.” Leticia said, stroking her son’s face. The little boy was yawning, his eyes were getting drowsy. “I’ll put him in the spare bedroom along the corridor. No need to put him upstairs until we go up. I won’t bathe him tonight, he’s too tired after all the excitement and the games.” She took her child along to th
e visitor’s bedroom, washed him and cleaned his teeth in the adjoining bathroom.

  Jenny watched her as she prepared her son for bed, folding up the little items of clothing and laying them on the bedside chair. She dressed him in the blue pyjamas that she had brought with her, then turned back the crisp white sheets and dimmed the light. The little boy climbed up onto the bed and lay on his back, smiling up at his mother. Leticia looked at Jenny and saw the longing in the other woman’s expression, the unsatisfied need to share her love and affection. “I forgot his teddy bear,” she said. “Why don’t you tuck Emilio in, while I go quickly to get it from my bag?”

  Jenny bent down, gently arranged the sheets around the child, then sat on the side of the bed. He reached up and pulled her face down, so that he could give her a goodnight kiss. “Buenas noches, Jenny.” His breath was pure and clean, his skin smelled of lavender soap.

  “Good night Emilio. Sweet dreams.” He smiled, not understanding, but happy to be there with her. Leticia came back into the room and put her arm around Jenny’s waist, sitting with her on the side of the bed. Emilio immediately fell into a deep sleep. They sat watching him, the sound of his soft, regular breathing hardly distinguishable against the steady drumming sound of the rain outside.

  Looking at his innocent little face, Jenny wondered how the night was going to end. Was he safe? Were any of them safe? She had never been surrounded by so many unknowns. She took Leticia’s hand and they went back into the kitchen. Maybe we’ve bitten off more than we can chew. Where’s Chief Inspector Espinoza? Why didn’t I call him sooner?