Il Fissatore grabbed the messenger bag which had fallen from Knightly’s hands and ran to the door at top speed; he was making a run for it. He threw the door open and ran out.
At the same time, Hollingsworth lunged toward the door as well, but he wasn’t as agile as the other man; before he got there, Violet let out a grunt as she threw out a leg, the dagger still sticking out of her shoulder. Hollingsworth cried with surprise as he lost his balance, falling to the floor. I ran over to Knightly to make sure he was well and truly out; it seemed the Taser’s electric charge had knocked him unconscious.
Meanwhile, Hollingsworth groaned as he got up, and lunged at Violet. She spun around and roundhouse kicked him in the face, making the man collapse to the ground. He too was unconscious.
“Text Williams,” Violet ordered to me, her voice surprisingly steady given that she’d been stabbed in the shoulder and had still managed to subdue a man completely. “Tell him Il Fissatore has escaped.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” a familiar voice said from outside the room. Mrs. Michaels popped her head in, still wearing her Sunday best. Violet and I made our way to her and looked outside; a couple of workers were trying to hold back the small crowd that was now gathering around the area where the man who had run out with the diamond was now lying, unconscious, on the ground. I gaped at Mrs. Michaels.
“Did you do that?” I asked.
“Dear, I keep telling you, I’m old, not useless.”
“I know. I know that. But still…. How?”
Mrs. Michaels opened up her handbag and winked as she showed me what was inside. Whereas normal old ladies kept–I assumed–little packets of tissues and coin purses in their handbags, Mrs. Michaels had a full-on brick in hers. No wonder the man was unconscious.
“I saw you running past at top speed into the office and assumed it was going down, so I waited out the front here just in case I was needed. When I saw this man run past clutching a bag, I assumed he wasn’t up to anything good, so I hit him in the face with the bag as he came past.”
Violet laughed. “And that, Mrs. Michaels, is why I invited you to come along.”
“Madam, I’m calling an ambulance, and the police,” one of the workers said to Violet. “Are you all right?”
“Oh it is fine, it is not the first time I have been stabbed, and it will likely not be the last,” Violet said, waving him away. “Besides, the police are coming, DCI Williams is on his way now.”
“Ok, well, this might not be the first time you’ve been stabbed, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need medical attention,” I complained. “Please do call that ambulance,” I told the man, earning myself a glare from Violet, but even she knew that with blood pouring from the wound, she was going to need professional attention. “And get me some clean towels,” I ordered as I moved Violet toward a nearby chair. Mrs. Michaels picked up the bag of diamonds; I figured it was safe with her. I winced as I looked at the antique-looking chair I sat Violet down on, knowing that the upholstery would likely be ruined by blood in a few minutes.
I did my best to stem the flow of blood from the wound, making sure not to remove the letter opener from Violet’s shoulder until the ambulance arrived. The three security men hired by DeBeers came by just afterwards.
“What’s going on here?”
“Step away from that office!”
“Arrest that woman!”
It was complete chaos. Violet, despite my insistence that she stay seated, stood up, her eyes flashing in anger.
“This woman, as you so crudely refer to me, is the only reason any of you will still have a job tomorrow, so I suggest you treat me with a little bit more respect.”
“It’s Violet Despuis, the detective,” I heard one of the men hiss to the other.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that? What happened here?” the third man asked.
“An attempted theft of the diamond ring whose security you were entrusted with is what occurred,” Violet replied. “Luckily for you, and for everyone involved, I am by far the superior investigator in this room, and I was able to foil the heist with the help of my friends.”
“So where are the diamonds?” one of the men asked.
“My associate has taken them for safekeeping, until the police can retrieve them. No doubt they will be used as evidence in the trials for burglary and for murder.”
“Murder?” one of the men asked.
“Yes, murder. As I said, my detective skills are far superior to yours, and I do not have the patience to explain to you the history of these three men.”
One of the men looked like he was going to protest, but just then DCI Williams walked in, followed by a half dozen other uniformed police.
“Violet! Are you all right?” he asked.
“Obviously I am all right, there are three men here for you to arrest, which is far more important than asking after me,” she scolded at him.
“All right, it’s time for you to sit down and stop annoying people,” I ordered. “You need to relax, decreasing your blood pressure is paramount right now.”
Violet grumbled something I couldn’t quite make out, but the logic of my words crept in and she sat down on the chair once more until the ambulance arrived. I handed her over to the EMTs, who immediately loaded her up in the ambulance.
“I’m going with Violet,” I told DCI Williams, who watched as Hollingsworth, the last of the men, was led away in cuffs. “We have the diamonds, I’ll make sure Violet gets them to you.”
“Tell her thanks from me,” he said. “And that I hope she recovers well. And thank you, as well.”
“Sure, will do. And no problem. It was actually kind of fun,” I replied. It was, really. I mean, other than the four or so hours where I was bored out of my skull, and the part where there was a full-on standoff. And of course, the part where Violet was stabbed.
So really, very little of it was fun. But the adrenaline was pumping, and if I had to do it all over again, I knew I would.
I hopped into the back of the ambulance, the EMTs pulled the doors closed behind me, and we sped off, sirens blaring, to the nearest hospital.
Chapter 23
I had never been to Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, on the south side of the Thames before. I had seen the inside of more of London’s Accident and Emergency wards than I ever thought I would when I moved here. Violet was seen almost immediately, and after applying local anesthetic the doctor removed the letter opener and stemmed the bleeding, thanks to the help of numerous stitches. The whole thing took a few hours, since it took a very long time to stop the bleeding from such a large wound after the letter opener was removed, and by the time Violet was finally given the all-clear to go home–along with a sling to stop her from moving her left arm for a few weeks while the wound healed–it was nearly three in the morning.
“Thank you for coming to the hospital with me,” Violet said as we left the Accident and Emergency ward. She began to take off the sling, but I put my hand on it.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing?”
“I am not wearing this, it is impeding with the necessary use of my arm.”
“You know what else will impede the use of that arm? You bleeding to death when that wound re-opens because you wouldn’t listen to the doctor. You’re keeping it on.”
“I am not wearing this for three weeks.”
“Fine, but you’re at least wearing it for a few days until the skin has a little bit of time to heal.”
“You are such a doctor.”
“That’s right, I am, so listen to what I say when you get stabbed in the shoulder.”
As we drove home, I couldn’t wait to pass out in my bed–well, Violet’s guest bed–and go to sleep.
“We will go see Mrs. Michaels in the morning,” Violet told me. “I suspect she will be waiting for us for morning tea.”
“As long as it’s not before ten,” I replied as the cab pulled up to the curb. The two of us made our way inside, and true to fo
rm, I fell asleep pretty much straight away.
Waking up at nine, I made my way down to the study and found myself pleasantly surprised at the fact that Violet was still wearing her sling. I got dressed and had a hot shower to wake myself up, then we went across the street to Mrs. Michaels’ house.
“Come in!” she shouted when I rang the bell, and Violet and I opened the unlocked front door and made our way upstairs.
As soon as we made our way up to Mrs. Michaels’ living room I burst out laughing. Our hostess was wearing the same pastel purple velour tracksuit she wore to Violet’s place the other day, but this time, she had accessories, in the form of all the jewellery that was taken from the hotel safe the night before. The light glistened off all the stones, including the huge diamond ring which Mrs. Michaels proudly sported on her ring finger.
“Welcome, ladies, welcome!” she said, her voice as bright as the jewels. “I’m so glad you could make it! Please, have a seat, I’ll bring the tea out in just a moment.”
I stood where I was, enjoying the scene for just a moment. It was like someone had dumped Mrs. Michaels in glitter. She returned a moment later with a platter of tea, liberally decorated with a few loose stones, and I laughed as Violet and I sat down and each accepted a cup.
“You do realize that you will need to return these jewels,” Violet told Mrs. Michaels when we’d sat down. “After all, the police will require them as evidence.”
“What, oh these little things? Why, they’re just part of my collection. I’ve had these for years!” Mrs. Michaels replied with a cheeky grin.
“I am serious, I need to give these to DCI Williams.”
“Oh I know dear, but just let me have a bit more fun with them for just a couple of hours. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the spoils of a good heist.”
“Ah, but this was not a good heist. At least, it would have been, if not for the fact that I knew they were going to be there.”
“Yeah, about that,” I interrupted. “You knew that it was Knightly and Hollingsworth, didn’t you?”
“I did,” Violet admitted. “Insofar as one can be certain of anything with absolutely no proof, at any rate.”
“But how?” I asked. “How did you know who the three men were?”
“First, there was the fact that there could not have been very many people in the world who knew of the algorithm. As soon as it became obvious that the algorithm was the key to finding the identity of the killer, and that our killer was one of the Terrible Trio, our suspect pool became very limited. Yes, one of the others could have told someone indiscreetly about it, but did you notice the painting hanging on the wall of Professor Knightly’s office?”
“Yeah, that thing with the lilies.”
Violet cracked a small smile. “That ‘thing with the lilies’, as you so eloquently put it, is a Monet painting that was sold anonymously two months ago for three million pounds. Our professor was investing in art worth far in excess of what his annual salary would allow.”
“Maybe it was a print?” I shrugged, but Violet shook her head.
“I knew at once it was not. It is the real deal. Art is not only a good investment, but also an excellent manner to launder the stolen diamonds. I am certain that he told his friends and coworkers that it was a forgery, that he simply enjoyed the art for what it was, but he was lying. It is in fact the real McCoy, as you say in English. Also, I thought it suspicious that Knightly gave us no details about the algorithm project at the time. Normally, when speaking about one’s passion, one does so liberally, giving out too much information rather than too little.”
“Ok, but what about Hollingsworth? Was it the earrings?” I asked.
“No, not the earrings. As you will remember, the earrings he gave Amelia Waters were made of sapphire, not diamond. The Terrible Trio only ever stole diamonds. But do you remember the two small stones you found in Amelia’s jacket?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Well, they were not simple pebbles. They were, in fact, uncut diamonds.”
My mouth dropped open. “Really?”
Mrs. Michael laughed gently. “But of course, dear. Everyone always assumes that diamonds come out of the ground shiny and bright, but in fact, they’re rather unimpressive until they’ve been polished. To an untrained eye, they just look like, well, pebbles.”
“Well that’s disappointing,” I said. “Why didn’t you say anything at the time?”
Violet shrugged. “What was there to say? To be totally honest, I did not factor in that you would not immediately recognize the diamonds. I at first suspected Amelia might have been involved in the thefts as well, but I soon came to a different conclusion–someone close to her had been involved in the thefts, and used her in order to get close to her, and find out about her schedule before killing her and making it look like a suicide. And so that left Oliver Hollingsworth.”
“And the third man was the one who actually killed her, right? Because the other two men had really good alibis.”
“Précisement, and that is what made their plan so ingenious. There were three men, but two were known to the victim. The third, Il Fissatore, did not know any of the Oxford students. He had no link to them, no reason to want any of them dead. He was the perfect killer. And in fact, if we had not determined the algorithm’s role in the whole affair, it is likely that the case would have gone completely unsolved.”
“Who is this Il Fissatore anyway?”
“An Italian fellow, his name means ‘The Fixer’,” Mrs. Michaels replied. “He’s one of the most experienced robbers currently active, and a real jack-of-all-trades. He’s never been caught, and never even been identified. In fact, some people even doubted he existed. He’s known for striking without leaving any evidence for the police to find. It’s rumored that he started off with the Pink Panther gang, but I have my doubts; they were mainly Eastern European, those fellows.”
“He was the one who planned the robberies, Hollingsworth was the one who found the information about the targets to hit, and Knightly provided the algorithm for them to be able to enter the safe without problem,” Violet said.
“Wow,” I said, shaking my head. “Why would they do it though? I mean, Hollingsworth is one of the richest men in England, right?”
“Yes, but no amount of money can make up for a good surge of adrenaline,” Violet said. “Hollingsworth was into horse racing, which is where he met Amelia, but I suspect that he simply found life boring. He needed something more exciting, and he found it in the thefts. As for Knightly, I suspect that it was the money which attracted him. I would imagine that Knightly ran into Hollingsworth, who knew Il Fissatore, and that is how the three of them got together. We will know for certain when we have their confessions. And on that note, I am afraid, Mrs. Michaels, that I am going to have to ask for the jewellery.”
“Oh, you’re no fun,” Mrs. Michaels said, looking longingly at the diamonds. “I do miss it, you know.”
“Perhaps I am not the best person to be admitting your longing for theft to,” Violet warned.
“Ah, but you are, dear. You see, if I tell you, I can’t really do anything, can I? Knowing that the great Violet Despuis would come after me is enough to know I wouldn’t get away with it, no matter how much I’d like to tell myself otherwise. Now, let me go get you the bag these all came in.”
I picked up one of the diamonds off the tray and looked at it closely. It glimmered so nicely in the light, but I couldn’t help but think how sad it was that three promising young students had been killed in the attempted theft of a piece of shining rock.
“All of the diamonds, please,” Violet chastised when Mrs. Michaels had refilled the bag, and she sighed, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a gorgeous bracelet.
“I just wanted a little souvenir, nothing wrong with that,” she replied, earning herself a look from Violet, and I laughed.
“Fine, then I will pretend I did not see you slip a solitary loose stone underneath your teacup,” Viole
t replied. “That will have to do as a souvenir.”
“I knew there was a reason I liked having you as a neighbor,” Mrs. Michaels winked. “Please let me know what happens with the confessions, I love being the first to have gossip back in the old circles.”
Violet and I left, and I realized with a start that it was Friday! Jake had asked me to clear my weekend, and I wondered if that meant we were going out tonight. I sent him a quick text.
We doing anything tonight?
Making my way back to Violet’s, I went back to sleep for a few hours, waking up to a reply from Jake.
No, but I recommend getting up early tomorrow. I’ll be there to pick you up at six.
I like pretending 6am isn’t a time that exists, but for you, I’ll make an exception I replied before making my way back downstairs, to where Biscuit was begging Violet for food as she cooked up an omelette.
“Traitor,” I muttered to the cat, giving him a pet as I walked past him.
“Would you like some?” she asked.
“Depends, have you poisoned it?” I replied.
“It has been days since that happened, let it go,” she replied, and I laughed.
“In that case, yes please.”
“I received a call from DCI Williams,” Violet said. “Hollingsworth and Knightly admitted to everything, including Il Fissatore killing the three students. All three men will be going to jail for a very long time.”
I smiled, and Violet continued. “Detective Inspector Carlson is fuming mad, apparently. He claims it vastly unfair that DCI Williams happened to capture the criminals which were supposed to be his.”
“Oh well, he’ll get over it,” I said as Violet put an omelette on my plate. I took a bite and didn’t immediately pass out. So far, so good!
Epilogue
At five thirty the next morning I swore as my alarm went off, and I sent Jake a quick text.
Strangled in Soho Page 14