The Diamond Chain

by Patrick Slaney

  I had phoned the hotel telling them that I had been involved in an accident, and they could pack up my things and let the room out. I also told them that I would settle anything I owed them the following week. There was no way I was going back to the same hotel. Brett and his cronies might be watching out for me.

  Giving Moira Fortuin the name of the hotel that I had been staying in had been a mistake. It was now a strong possibility that she was in league with Brett Polline so they would know where I was staying.

  I had also managed to send a message through to my wife in London, letting her know that I was OK and would contact her again when I got a chance.

  I said my sad farewells to the Pretorius family and Andre drove me into Pretoria to the Avis office. I informed them that they needed to recover a severely damaged car from the entrance to Andre’s farm. Andre had decided that it might reduce the number of awkward questions if he moved the wrecked car down to the road. They didn’t seem too surprised by my news, and, in fact, intimated that they had one such case every week. Much to my amazement there was also no problem in getting another car, and I was on the road again in no time.

  Motoring down the N1 highway towards Johannesburg I saw a sign for a hotel called the Mercure, so I diverted into Midrand and booked myself in for at least one night. Later that evening I travelled into Sandton, collected my bag and settled up what I owed the Holiday Inn. I was extremely careful where I parked my car, and I scouted out the area before hobbling to the reception desk to sort everything out.

  In the safety of my room back at the Mercure Hotel, I decided I had better sort a few things out in my mind, and also determine what my next step should be. Was I personally equipped to deal with the assignment, both physically and emotionally?

  Chapter 9

  I was still taking the painkillers given to me after the accident, and they had the added benefit of helping me sleep. The painkillers blocked the ache and they also stopped my thoughts from going around and around in my head. The overall effect was that I slept the sleep of the dead that night.

  The following morning I needed a clear head to work out my next step in the investigation, so I didn’t take any tablets.

  It didn’t take a genius to work out that the illegal source of diamonds was the mine at Mookgopong and that either Brett Polline or Vic Morrell was involved. In fact, the most likely scenario was that they were both involved as one couldn’t operate without the other.

  My visit to the mine had convinced me that the screening process would have to be bypassed to get diamonds out. I had been extremely surprised when Vic’s instructions to the security personnel were all that was required to let me bypass the screening process when I had finished my mine tour. Brett and Vic were all powerful at the mine, and the security staff obeyed them even if they knew it to be wrong.

  I now had something concrete to write down in my notebook.

  Source of diamonds - Mookgopong Mine in Limpopo.

  People involved - Brett Polline (Manager of the Mine) and Vic Morrell (Head of Security at the Mine)

  They had tried to get rid of me so they must think that I am suspicious and in some way onto them.

  Question: Why had they given me such an extensive tour and shown me the security process in such detail, if they were stealing diamonds and they knew that I was an investigator.

  Answer: They had fooled the police, so they were confident of being able to fool me. Killing me was purely an insurance policy.

  Next point: Jacques Fortuin had vanished after his last visit to the Mookgopong mine. There were two possibilities as to what had happened:

  1. He had found out that diamonds were being stolen, and they had killed him; just the same as they tried to kill me. They suspected that he knew.

  2. OR - He was part of the chain - the person who transported the stolen diamonds to wherever they were shipped from. He hadn’t been abducted - he was hiding away somewhere until the latest batch of stolen diamonds was shipped.

  Point 2 is probably the best bet as the police had found no trace of his car or him. If Point 2 is correct then the pickup process for the diamonds must be currently taking place.

  Next point: Visit to Moira Fortuin:

  1. The entire property had a particularly strong security wall around it which looked very new.

  2. Both she and her husband had expensive new cars - Hers a BMW X4 that was in the driveway.

  3. Husband’s business down - still a lot of money around.

  Writing down the details helped clear my mind. I felt that I was starting to get a much better feel for the diamond chain and who might be involved. I now knew where the diamonds were coming from, but I still didn’t know where they were being stored and how they would be transported from South Africa to London.

  I was up against dangerous adversaries who were prepared to kill to protect their illicit trade in diamonds. After my ‘accident’ north of Pretoria, I needed to regain my strength before tackling them again. I must fly back home to recover.

  I was also beginning to think that it was more than a one man job, and, before I returned to South Africa, I should recruit a helper.

  I phoned British Airways and managed to get a booking for the following night which left me a day to waste in Johannesburg. The safest and most beneficial option was to pay another visit to Moira Fortuin, bringing her up to date on my suspicions. If she was in league with Brett Polline, there might be an element of danger involved, but I would take the risk. It was essential that I ask her a few more questions.

  When I phoned she agreed to see me the following morning, so I had nothing more to do for the day. With all my thinking done, I took some pain killers and retired to bed for the rest of the day, putting a ‘Do Not Disturb’ notice on the door handle of my room. Around 7:00 p.m, I telephoned room service and had them send me up some food. I slept for the remainder of the time.

  In the morning I was feeling a lot better and was able to set off for my meeting with Moira. I left early so as I could have a good look at the area where she lived. I was particularly interested in the high wall that surrounded the house. My recollections had been right. The wall around the property was close to three meters tall, much higher than any other house in the area and looked newly constructed. There was an electric fence on the top of the wall and also CCTV cameras strategically placed to cover all the angles where an intruder might try to gain entrance. The gates had also been tailor made for the property as they were massive. A smaller door was set into the right hand gate for pedestrian access.

  At exactly 10:0 a.m I pushed the button on the intercom. As on my last visit my call was answered promptly. The CCTV cameras obviously worked well!

  ‘Hi Vince, just push the small gate when you hear a click and come in.’

  Moira was waiting for me in exactly the same spot as the last time I had visited her. She instructed me to enter the house through the veranda door. Obviously the front door of the house was seldom used, or there was something there that she didn’t want me to see. As I walked slowly up to the house, I noticed, what they call a ‘garden boy’ in this part of the world, working in one corner of the property.

  ‘Are you injured Vince,’ she asked me noticing that I was struggling to walk.

  ‘I was involved in a car accident I am afraid, and I hurt my legs quite badly,’ I replied.

  ‘Oh yes, of course you were. Sorry I forgot,’ she added in a sympathetic voice.

  How did she know I had been in a car crash? I certainly hadn’t told her; she must have heard from her pal Brett Polline at the mine. I was getting more and more convinced that Jacques Fortuin, Moira’s husband was missing but perhaps only by design.

  We sat down in the same area of the lounge as before.

  ‘I have organized for Maggie to bring us coffee if that is alright with you,’ Moira said as we s
at down. ‘Now tell me all about your trip to the mine.’

  ‘They were extremely helpful, and I must thank you for organizing the visit for me. I learnt a lot, and they seem to have a security system that is top of the range. The diamonds are definitely not coming from that mine,’ I lied, maintaining a serious face.

  ‘What happened afterwards when you had your accident,’ she asked, sitting forward in her chair and putting on a worried expression.

  ‘I can’t remember what exactly happened. The last thing that I remember is looking at the magnificent sunset. I must have driven off the road, because, the next thing I remember is waking up in the ditch with the car on its side.’ Knowing that the story would get back to Brett Polline I wanted to try and convince her that I didn’t know that I had been side swiped by a Toyota, or had any recollection of the driver..

  ‘How dreadful! What happened then, were you rescued’

  It was essential that I now concocted a story that would protect Andre and Rosie Pretorius. I didn’t want them to be subjected to any retribution.

  ‘Luckily a car came along, carrying two strong men, and they helped me extricate myself from the car and took me to safety. They also organized that the accident was reported to the Hire Car Company, so as they could pick up the car.’

  ‘I believe that it happened on a back road. Why were you not travelling on the N1 as it is a lot safer?’ she asked.

  ‘Before I left the mine Brett Polline told me that there was a terrible accident blocking the N1 and that I should take the R516 back to Pretoria,’ I explained.

  ‘Not many cars use the 516 now, so you were exceptionally lucky that a car found you and rescued you,’ Moira said, sitting back in her chair.

  I decided that I should try a different approach to try and get some information that might be of use to me.

  ‘You have a lovely place here Moira,’ I said, looking around the room. Do you spend the whole year in Jo’burg or do you holiday elsewhere in South Africa or even overseas.’

  ‘This is where we spend most of the year as Jacques runs his business from his office at the back of the house. We also have a holiday place in the Western Cape, close to Cape Town, and we try to get there as often as we can during the summer months.’

  ‘It must get terribly hot in Johannesburg during the summer, and of course, being five thousand feet above sea level, it must be exceptionally dry and dusty,’ I said, trying to keep what was now a particularly interesting conversation going.

  ‘Cape Town also gets extremely hot, but there are the sea breezes there. Our place is in Hermanus, about 100 meters from the sea, and it is glorious in summer,’ she replied, enthusiastically.

  ‘Have you had your summer retreat long,’ I asked innocently.

  ‘No, Jacques bought it about two years ago. Before that we used to rent a place on the south coast near Durban.’

  ‘Some of my friends in the army bought places in the Western Cape when they retired from the services. I have always said to my wife that we must go and visit them sometime as they rave about the area.’

  ‘What do you plan on doing now as the next stage of your investigation,’ she asked me.

  ‘Well, I have booked to go back to London tonight as I am not fit enough to continue my search in South Africa. In any case, I have discovered nothing, so I am wasting my time here.’ I was being as negative as possible in the certainty that whatever I said would be passed on to Limpopo.

  ‘Well, if you decide to come back to South Africa don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I will help in whatever way I can.’

  ‘You have already been tremendously helpful to me Moira, and I genuinely appreciate the amount of time that you have given me,’ I said standing up and moving towards the veranda door.

  ‘You know how to let yourself out so I won’t bother coming with you. I’ll see you next time you come to Johannesburg.’

  ‘Thank you Moira. I hope they find Jacques alive and well. He will probably just turn up some day.’

  Very content with my morning’s work I let myself out and returned to the hotel in Midrand.

  Chapter 10

  My flight touched down in London the following morning at 6:45 a.m. The twelve hours that the flight actually took seemed to be twice as long due the misery my injuries produced. It was far too painful to sit in one place all night so I had to keep moving around the aircraft and this obviously precluded any sleep. As a result of my suffering condition, I took a Taxi home and climbed into bed having dodged my wife’s questions.

  I woke up from a deep sleep just after 2:00 p.m, having had vivid dreams of being chased by gross black Toyotas in Africa. I showered, got dressed, and just had time to call Harold Fortiscue before I went to pick the kids up from school.

  I was surprised when the receptionist announced that Mr Harold Fortiscue was not in the office and that Sir Montgomery had told her that if I phoned I was to be put through to him.

  I waited for about a minute until his voice came on the line.

  ‘Good afternoon Major Hamilton; I am afraid that Harold isn’t in the office. I told the receptionist to put you through to me if you phoned,’ Sir Montgomery said, sounding much more like a business executive than the last time I had talked to him.

  ‘How are you sir,’ I asked. ‘Is there any news of your other son Brian?’

  ‘Listen, I can’t talk to you now Major, but I would like to see you tomorrow if that can be arranged. I know that it is a Saturday, but I need to see you urgently.’

  ‘I have nothing planned so tomorrow would be suitable. Where do you suggest that we meet?’

  ‘Can you get to the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street by 10:00 a.m tomorrow morning?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, I know where the hotel is, and I easily should make it by 10. Will Harold be there?’

  ‘No, it will just be me. Harold is at the Cheltenham Festival where he has some horses running.’

  ‘OK, I’ll see you then.’ I scratched my head. The conversation hadn’t gone as I had expected. When I left for South Africa, Sir Montgomery had been all uptight and angry. Now he seemed to be an confident businessman and back in charge, but why wasn’t he meeting me at his office in Hatton Garden? Another thought hit me; could the fact that Harold owned horses have something to do with the investigation?

  The following morning I took the tube into central London and was walking in through the doors of the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street at two minutes to ten. I passed through the long reception area, which doubled as a lounge, and was just convincing myself that he wasn’t there when I spotted Sir Montgomery in a corner tucked away out of the main flow of the room.

  ‘Good morning Sir Montgomery,’ I said as I came up to where he was sitting.

  He lifted his head from what he was reading and looked at me.

  ‘Good morning Major. Thank you for coming in to see me on a Saturday morning,’ he got up and shook my hand a lot more gently than those monsters in South Africa had.

  ‘I would be happier if you called me Vince sir. I have stopped using the Major bit,’ I explained.

  ‘OK Vince, take a seat and join me here. I have taken the liberty of ordering some coffee with hot milk, will that do or would you prefer tea?’

  ‘No, coffee is perfect’

  He poured the coffee and allowed me to add my own milk.

  From the time that I had arrived he had been in complete control of the situation. I was amazed in the difference between the person I now saw, and the one I had met in that first ill-fated meeting at his office, when he had lost his ‘cool’ completely.

  ‘Right Vince, I think that the best approach is for you to bring me up to date on what you have been up to, and I will then tell you about developments in London, including the murder inquiry into Brian’s tragic death.’

&n
bsp; It took me about forty minutes to tell him all I had been doing and the conclusions I had arrived at. He stopped me a few times and asked me some pertinent questions, but, other than that, he just listened, holding his head in his hands and nodding supportively.

  When I had finished, he thought for a moment and then moved his chair slightly towards me, cutting down the distance between us.

  ‘The first comment I would like to make is that you can totally trust Willem van Grimbergen. Before Willem took over the company his father and I were extremely good friends., You have just told me your suspicions as a result of what went on in Rotterdam when you were there, but from what I know of Willem over an exceedingly long time, I am fairly sure that he was not behind it. I suggest you go to Rotterdam and talk to him openly about your fears. There is probably a simple explanation.’

  ‘My bag was definitely searched in his offices, and my room was ransacked when he excused himself from dinner,’ I protested.

  ‘That may be so, but I would still stake my life on the fact that Willem was not involved,’ Sir Montgomery said very forcibly.

  ‘OK, I will do as you say and go and see Willem again. If he is not responsible, then it would be beneficial to find out who is,’ I suggested.

  ‘With regard to South Africa, you have done exceptionally well to have found what you feel is the source of the stolen diamonds. I am terribly sorry that they took such drastic action against you and, as a result, I will increase your fee considerably to help compensate you for what you went through.’

  ‘I greatly appreciate that sir, but money isn’t the main motive behind finding out who is responsible in South Africa. I now have a personal score to settle with two rugby players from Limpopo,’ I smiled at the thought.

  ‘With regard to Jacques and Moira Fortuin, you may well be right in your assumptions, and I can’t advise you otherwise as I don’t know them on a personal basis. My relationship with Jacques has always been on a strictly business footing.’