by Colin Forbes
`Paula:Tweed continued, 'show Warner those newspaper clippings we obtained from Peg-Leg Pete.'
She arranged them in sequence on the desk in front of Warner.
MURDEROUS BANK ROBBERY
Last night three men were murdered when raiders attacked Klempner's, a subsidiary of the great Kreditanstalt in Vienna. The Director and his two assistants, still on the premises at midnight, were shot dead by two masked men. £800,000 of gold bullion was then loaded onto waiting lorries which then vanished. The police have as yet no clue as to the identity of the murderers.
Paula next produced a photograph of the complete sheet from which the report had been extracted.
`Note the date,' Tweed said, '6 November 1912.'
Paula then produced the second extract from the Clarion.
THE MAIN CHANCE BANK ESTABLISHED TODAY
Ezra Main and Pitt Chance have founded a new powerful and important bank, the Main Chance. The Banking Authority has confirmed this new addition has more than adequate resources to conduct national and international business.
`Now look at the date,' Tweed demanded as Paula spread the second sheet. '12 December 1912. Just about a month after the bullion raid. The "adequate assets".'
`I didn't know.' Warner held his head in his hands. `And I'm sure Bella never knew.'
`Earlier,' Tweed drummed on, 'on my instructions Paula went to the Land Registry in Gladworth. She obtained a copy of the plans of Hengistbury, different from the ones we were shown for searching the manor. The ones she obtained show a vast labyrinth of cellars under the manor. May we visit them now? It's the brown button, so-called for emergencies, in the lift, I suspect …'
The three of them were inside the lift when Warner pressed the brown button. They descended. When the doors opened again they walked out into a complex of stone-walled cellars. Warner stopped before a massive steel door, consulted a small black notebook he had discovered inside one of Bella's secret drawers. Operating the combination, he stood back as the door swung open.
They walked inside a large steel chamber with strong shelves. They had entered an Aladdin's cave. All around them gold bars were piled up to the ceiling. A strong wheeled trolley stood at the far end.
`What the hell am I going to do with all this?' Warner asked wearily. 'I don't want it. The bank is, incredibly, solvent on the cash deposits alone.'
`Klempner's was a subsidiary of the Kreditanstalt in Vienna,' Tweed said as though talking to himself.
`When it — the Kreditanstalt — crashed, bankrupt, few people know that was what triggered Wall Street's Black Monday, followed by the slump. So this gold no longer belongs to anyone. Surely it could be sold, a few bars at a time to bullion collectors. That's not advice. If necessary, I'll deny I ever said it. I'm sure that the bank will flourish in your hands.'
Now Lavinia is gone,' Warner said, 'I'm appointing Crystal as Chief Accountant. Maybe it's the shock of Leo's death, but she has suddenly grown up.'
`And she'll be a great ally for you,' said Paula. `We must be off now,' announced Tweed.
Epilogue
At Park Crescent the whole team, which had assembled earlier, had rushed off home to put on evening dress. Except for Paula.
Tweed had told them he was taking them to dinner at Mungano's, the most expensive restaurant in town. Paula opened a clothes cupboard.
`I've got a new outfit, protectively covered, in here. They will appreciate your gesture.'
`It's what all of you deserve.'
`You're sitting there like a statue looking so incredibly thoughtful. Why?'
`I'm really wondering whether I got this case right.' `What? I don't understand.'
`A phrase someone uttered keeps singing through my mind.'
`What phrase?' she asked, perching on his desk.
`You remember they were playing roulette in the library? And Marshal got furious, lifted the wheel off the table, threw it out onto the terrace.'
`Yes.'
`Do you recall what Warner Chance then said?' `No, I don't. What did he say?'
"Winner takes all."'