The Pearl Thief

by Fiona McIntosh

‘Perfectly understandable. Your parents will find it difficult not to like her, you know. Besides, she’s like an older, female version of you – there’s no denying the family resemblance. Tell them what you’ve learned. They won’t be delighted initially because it means change is coming to your life – to their lives too – but it’s good change. I guess you’ll have to decide what you want to be called now that you know your real name.’

  ‘I like Petr more than Hersh … or Henry.’

  ‘Well, take your time. And don’t rush your parents. Their fear is because they love you.’ He gave the boy his card. ‘Here’s how to reach me … any time, don’t hesitate.’

  He nodded. ‘When can I meet my sister?’

  Edward paused. ‘When I find her,’ he confessed.

  29

  YORK, ENGLAND

  Katerina rang Daniel again. Now there need be no guilt; she’d kept her promise.

  She wasted no time on pleasantries. ‘Answer me this: can we find him again using me as bait?’

  ‘Surely we can.’

  ‘Where would we do this?’

  Daniel didn’t hesitate. ‘Your London flat.’

  She hadn’t expected that. Somewhere so personal – intimate, even. She’d anticipated a hotel lobby, a restaurant, maybe, even an outdoor café in one of the city’s parks. ‘Why?’ Her voice sounded leaden and she’d wanted to come across with more verve.

  ‘It’s quiet. Contained. Top floor. It has a fire escape. What’s more, it’s familiar territory to you, not to him, so that puts you in a position of power. It has a side alley that backs onto the garden. The people in that bottom flat are presently away.’

  ‘How can you know this?’ She couldn’t help her astonishment.

  ‘Katerina,’ he began with a tone of injury.

  ‘Don’t bother,’ she said, waving away whatever he was about to say. ‘Why is the side alley or fire escape relevant, anyway?’

  Now he just didn’t reply.

  ‘Best I don’t ask that question either, I’m gathering.’

  ‘My guess is that Mayek intends to come to you, anyway. He thinks he’s in control so while he will plan carefully, he’s not feeling particularly vulnerable at this stage.’

  His logic was solid. ‘Bloomsbury, then. Do you know if he’s still spying on me?’

  ‘He’s not outside the flat, but I suspect that’s because you haven’t been there.’ Daniel didn’t mask the accusation in his tone. ‘Our presumption is that when you return, so will he.’

  ‘Then he’s obviously being more watchful than you give him credit for if he can respond that swiftly. Be warned, the man I knew was horribly cunning. It amuses him to watch suffering.’

  ‘Thank you for the warning. Where exactly have you been?’

  ‘In Yorkshire. Daniel, I want to be alone with him.’

  ‘Yorkshire … must be freezing.’

  ‘Daniel!’

  ‘I know what you desire and you will be alone with him, initially. But we shall only be moments behind.’

  A worrying thought arrived. ‘Do you think he carries a gun?’

  ‘No. My men have already bumped into him to check.’ Katerina gave a sound of disbelief. ‘We’re thorough.’

  ‘All right, but he has pointed a gun at me in the past … and fired it to kill.’ She let that reminder sit for a couple of heartbeats. ‘So if he threatens me with a knife, then you’ll what – rush him?’

  Now the spy chuckled at her attempt at jargon. ‘Something like that.’

  Katerina bristled. ‘Daniel, he’s coming to do me harm, isn’t he?’

  ‘He is. But I suspect he’ll attempt something …’ He thought about it and settled for an odd word. ‘Elegant.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ She inserted more coins into the telephone.

  ‘He can’t risk screaming, a scene, any sort of noise that might attract attention.’

  ‘So he’ll strangle me?’

  Daniel cleared his throat. ‘He may attempt to,’ he qualified, adding, ‘skin on skin.’

  She wished he hadn’t.

  Staring at the chipped paint of the red telephone box she was shivering in, she tried not to succumb to feeling momentarily dizzy at the thought of Ruda Mayek’s hands on her again.

  ‘But I will not allow him to get that close to hurt you again.’

  ‘He couldn’t hurt me any more if he tried. To be truthful, I’m more fearful of not confronting him. It will set me free to look upon him again and show my contempt.’

  ‘And killing him?’

  ‘I will, but not in the way you presume.’

  She could picture his sigh of relief although she didn’t hear it. He was ever the professional. ‘You have nothing but my admiration for your courage. Realise this, though. You’re remembering a big, hale, younger man. The Mayek I’ve seen is not well. He’s weakened by whatever illness is attacking him. But listen to me, Katerina. When I tell you to leave, you do just that – not a second longer. Whatever you have to say to him, you must get it out of your system and then you are going to leave that flat in Bloomsbury and not look back. No ifs, no buts, no questions or demands of me or my men. Once you turn your back on Mayek, he is our prisoner to deal with. Agreed?’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘Good. What time am I meeting your train?’

  The train had left York and soon she would be back in London. That was the sum of her present: not twenty years of compressed anxiety but now just under three hours in which to make what were arguably the most critical decisions of her life. The solitude of another empty carriage would give her the space she needed to sort through her crowded thoughts, which were queuing impatiently to be heard, like a line of picketing workers. Placards in her mind stood out: trapping Mayek, having time to confront him, keeping the people she loved safe. And there was a fourth that seemed to be picked out in flashing neon lighting. A single word. Edward. It felt wrong that this thought seemed to be demanding – and achieving – equal weight in a mind already burdened with pressing problems. But there it was and she had been denying it since it had arrived.

  As angry as he had made her, she wanted to see him again … not just again but often; perhaps always. She could see now that he wasn’t the root of the anger; it was the law that was protecting Mayek, not Edward. Getting him to break the law would have only corroborated what she had already known in her heart, her gut, her soul – that Ruda Mayek was roaming her life again. And now Daniel had confirmed it. Edward’s knowledge was not an obstacle to Mayek but a gateway … perhaps … to a different life.

  So now the loudest of the dissenters – an image of Ruda Mayek – stepped firmly in front of the others, although it was Daniel’s voice she heard in her mind:

  Do you remember how much you hated him in that forest? Touch that memory now! Remember how if you could have reached one of those guns you’d not have hesitated to pull the trigger on him? Remember how you thought of nothing but delivering a violent death to him when you were so young – still yet to be kissed, and he took that from you? He thieved your most precious of properties … your purity that was yours alone to give … and not just that but your innocence of life. And then he stole still more that was yours – all those lives that belonged and were golden to you.

  She closed her fists in her lap, glad she still wore her gloves, and focused on her breathing, slowing it down. Katerina let the voice speak again.

  Finally, he took your heritage, claimed it as his; perhaps his wife wore it for him … perhaps it became a gift for a cherished daughter, the wife of a beloved son?

  There was no mirth in the slow smile that stole across her as the idea bloomed. Was she really going to do this? Would she panic at the moment of confrontation?

  The notion of how to hurt Mayek had begun to circle in her mind when Otto had defended Edward. ‘Would you give up your most precious secret?’ Otto had demanded. The notion had stirred, then coagulated and firmed over the afternoon. Slow and evil, it came together, feel
ing to her like the time Ruda had showed her what viper venom could do to blood. She’d never been scared of snakes in the forest; she’d seen them time and again and known them to be timid rather than aggressive. But Rudy’s demonstration had frightened her as a child; the image of the blood losing its scarlet viscosity to become lumpish and purple had never lost its chilling effect.

  That’s how it felt now as her dark idea clotted and darkened but she’d need to be fearless when the moment came and the real serpent was there to test her. And that sense of purpose had given her the courage to lie to her friend.

  ‘What time am I meeting your train?’ Daniel had asked.

  ‘I’ve decided to come back tomorrow morning,’ she’d said, not even blinking as the fib slipped out.

  ‘I thought —’

  ‘I know. But I think I’ll spend today in York. I’m quite tired, actually, Daniel. I’ll stay overnight and catch the first train in the morning.’

  ‘But I can hear that you’re calling me from a railway station.’

  Damn him! ‘I’ve taken the precaution of buying the ticket today, so there’s no queuing or running late tomorrow.’ Though her excuse was lame, she sounded confident and then added a yawn. ‘Excuse me. I’m weary. I’ve been driving long distances, doing a lot of walking and thinking on the moors. It wears one out if you’re not used to it.’

  ‘So the morning train gets in at 10:38,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a printed timetable.’

  ‘Well, that’s the one I shall be on,’ she lied, refusing to feel guilty that it was today’s first train she was about to board.

  ‘I’ll see you then. Be safe, Katerina.’

  As frightened as she was, she was going to do this alone; most would call her a lunatic but she needed time with Mayek – not long, just enough that no one else would be privy to their conversation. She didn’t trust Daniel to let her have that privacy; everyone was so understandably worried about Mayek not getting within an inch of her that she would likely never have the opportunity to do what she now felt was essential if she was ever to break the spell he had over her.

  Katerina knew it was being bull-headed; she accepted the danger and the terrifying reality that she may not come out of this confrontation unscathed – or even alive – and still her moment with him felt more important.

  So she’d let Daniel think she was going along with his plan, but she was using their conversations to discover everything he knew about Mayek. Now she’d learned he was frail and that he likely wouldn’t use an obvious weapon. So she needed to be fast on her feet – no heels, then – and to keep her distance, despite the flat being small. Leave doors and windows open so he would be scared of any noise, maybe have water freshly boiled, a kitchen knife hidden, something heavy in case she needed to defend herself and bludgeon some pain his way. Her intention was to confront him and then run for it. Daniel and his henchmen could hunt Mayek freely then and do whatever they wanted with him.

  She allowed her loose idea to roll around in her mind, and as the steam train gathered momentum, so did her plan.

  She was going to return to her flat and look busy, as though packing it up to leave London. That activity, she hoped, would speed his action; give him a deadline to confront her. She was avoiding the obvious: that he likely meant to finish what he’d begun in the forest. He planned to murder her.

  The first-class carriage became suddenly claustrophobic, like a coffin might feel if you’d been buried alive … like when you were the only soul still breathing but you were buried beneath the earth anyway.

  She leant in against the fear, felt it as a heavy load … like a car she was helping to push, and the satisfaction of feeling the wheels beginning to move.

  By the time the train slowed its way into King’s Cross, she no longer permitted herself to worry about how she would get away from his clutches; maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe this was the end of her journey. But she hoped she would be looking upon a man so ruined by what she had to share that she would be able to leave him behind to his own trauma. And then Daniel and his spies could have him – and if she lived through this, she would never think about Ruda Mayek again.

  The phone buzzed on his desk. ‘Yes?’

  ‘It’s a Mr Daniel Horowitz, sir. I’m sorry to interrupt but he says it’s urgent.’

  ‘That’s all right, Miss Bailey. Put him through,’ Edward said. He waited for the inevitable click. ‘Daniel, what news?’

  ‘I’ve spoken with her.’

  It annoyed him in that heartbeat at how excited he felt to hear that she’d been found, and he found himself lost in thoughts of her.

  ‘Did you hear what I said, Edward?’

  ‘Yes … yes, sorry, I’m very pleased to hear it,’ he said. ‘And I’ve found Petr.’

  ‘Peter?’

  ‘Petr Kassowicz – her brother.’

  ‘You’re joking!’

  He liked that he’d shocked the spy. ‘No jest. I met him yesterday at Hampstead, where he lives with his foster parents. Apparently, Samuel Kassowicz got him out on the Kindertransport in 1939, but he’s never known his true name … until now.’

  ‘Bloody hell!’

  ‘Indeed. Anyway, time enough for all that. Tell me where you found her.’

  ‘She found me. Telephoned me a few minutes ago. She’s been in Yorkshire, as you’d guessed.’ He explained what Katerina had shared.

  ‘So she met the good doctor. How did she sound?’

  ‘Committed.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  It was Daniel’s turn to explain.

  ‘Wriggling bait on a hook?’ Edward spluttered.

  ‘More like an irresistible lure that is full of cunning and ready to trap our prey.’

  Edward stood, stabbing the air with a crooked finger. ‘Over my dead body,’ he said. ‘No.’

  ‘It’s her idea.’

  ‘Horowitz, this is the man who raped her and slaughtered her family in front of her …’

  ‘I’m more than aware of his sadistic tendencies,’ came the calm reply.

  ‘And still you’d tie her up like a goat for slaughter and invite him to dinner.’

  ‘He will never get the chance to touch her, Edward. I will make him have to kill me before he can get close enough to Katerina to do anything to her.’

  Tension was like a kite flying around them now, caught in the updraught of the heated conversation.

  ‘Where is she now, for heaven’s sake?’

  ‘Still in York. She’ll take the train down tomorrow and I’ll meet that train and shadow her every move. Listen to me, Summerbee. I don’t think we should even pretend to understand what is motivating Katerina right now. She is going to do this with or without help – but at least this way I can throw a ring of protection around her. Let me tell you what she wants to do.’ Daniel explained the plan.

  Edward frowned. ‘Is anybody at her flat now? Watching, I mean?’

  ‘No, but there will be by the time Katerina arrives.’

  ‘And where will you be?’

  ‘I can’t risk him recognising me as he’s seen me in her company, so I will approach over backyards if I have to and use the fire escape, enter her floor, and then I’ll go up onto the landing that accesses the loft of the house. He won’t know I’m there but I’ll know he is. I will have three other men watching and they’ll come up to the flat too, seconds after he enters her building.’

  As Edward took a breath to ask a question, Daniel pressed on doggedly. ‘I shall have Katerina arrive by taxi, or maybe even on foot from the direction of the museum to remain plausible. I’ll brief her not to look around or to act suspicious of anyone; just to be lost in her thoughts as she normally appears. I imagine he’ll knock at the door … and we’ll encourage her to play along, not to make him in any way wary that she might be expecting him. In fact, I’ll suggest she act terrified or resigned – he’d enjoy either. All she has to do is stay out of his reach for thirty seconds.’

  ‘You make it soun
d simple.’

  ‘It never is. But if we keep the situation as predictable as possible, my men know what they’re doing; as I said, she wants time alone with him but I don’t trust him within arm’s reach of her – she can speak to him when he’s trussed up and I feel she’s safe.’

  ‘You lied to her?’

  ‘For her safety. She’ll still have her time with him but I have to know she’s safe and out of reach within moments of his arrival.’

  ‘So I have to trust you even though you lied to her?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What should I be doing?’

  ‘Sit tight and by the phone. I’ll have someone ring you the moment she’s safely out of the flat.’

  ‘How about you have Katerina ring me?’ Edward said. ‘Then I can breathe easier.’

  ‘That’s a promise. I will be picking her up at King’s Cross just after ten tomorrow morning. I can’t tell you when this is all going to happen. It could be in the afternoon, through the night, the next day or in the next few days.’

  ‘Right,’ he said, frowning. ‘Yes, I suppose he’s hardly following our agenda.’

  ‘He may want to watch her for a few days. Katerina might have to be patient and we can’t have you in the frame. Stay accessible. Home or office – we’ll reach you.’

  30

  LONDON

  Katerina had taken the Underground to Oxford Circus. She would walk the rest of the way to the flat in Bloomsbury because she wasn’t in the mood to run into any of her colleagues from the British Museum and needed to pick her streets to zigzag there. Of course, it would have been easier to go straight to Tottenham Court Road or Holborn but the risk of being spotted was real. There would be too much explaining to do, although her guilt over leaving her friend Catherine without a word added to what felt like a tangle of worms in her belly. She would make it up to her as soon as this was done. Go for dinner, maybe make up a foursome with Edward and Daniel; oh, it was pleasant to daydream like this. What was she thinking! Focus, Katerina … you could be walking into a trap. And still she pressed on, feeling she had no choice now but to see this plan through to its conclusion – whatever that was to be.