‘I have a strong feeling that I will find the missing Jacques when I go to Cape Town and locate their property in Hermanus,’ I said.
‘With all your side of the matter dealt with, I had better tell you the real reason for meeting you here this morning and why Harold isn’t here,’ Sir Montgomery said changing the subject. ‘I am afraid that Harold has got himself into a few problems with his race horses. He, unfortunately, has also got himself in deep with the bookies. I have told him to take a sabbatical and sort the whole thing out. I will only let him back into the office when he can focus on diamonds and not his debts.’
‘You don’t have to tell me all this if you don’t want,’ I suggested to Sir Montgomery. I felt decidedly uncomfortable hearing about his son’s problems.
‘I am only telling you this because it could have some bearing on the problem you are investigating. I want you to know, so you are aware of what is going on.’
‘Does Harold have large debts then?’ I asked.
‘I still don’t know to what extent, but he certainly owes a lot of money and has been pressurising me for a substantial loan; in the region of five hundred thousand pounds.’
‘So I presume you don’t want me to contact him until all his financial problems have been sorted out,’ I said making sure that I didn’t go against his wishes.
‘Yes. I am the only person you must talk to from now on. I will give you my personal telephone numbers, and you must only contact me on those numbers.’
‘Have you any news about Brian’s death?’
‘I have my suspicions, but I would prefer not to tell you anything until I have clarified a few things. What I can tell you is that it was undeniably murder, and I am pretty certain that it is associated with the diamond smuggling,’ Sir Montgomery’s facial expression became a lot more serious as he told me this.
‘Thank you for being so open with me sir,’ I said genuinely grateful for the personal insight Sir Montgomery had given me. ‘I will arrange to travel to see Willem on Monday in Rotterdam. Are you able to arrange for Willem to pick me up at the airport, the same time as he did last time?’
‘I’ll get in touch with Willem and talk to him. He will meet you on Monday.’
‘Thank you for that. I’ll leave you in peace now and get back to my family,’ I got up, shook his hand and left him, still sitting there looking pensive.
My journey back to Putney on the tube gave me a chance to digest what I had been told. The meeting hadn’t gone exactly as envisaged. What a remarkable old man Sir Montgomery Fortiscue was and what a change to the impression I had of him, based on that first meeting with him and Harold. I could now see why he was the director of one of the leading diamond dealers in London. For the old man’s sake, I wanted to solve this problem and my motivation had increased substantially as a result of our meeting.
If my impression of Sir Montgomery had changed, ditto my opinion of his son Harold Fortiscue. I had seen Harold as the supportive son, trying to take the pressure off his father. I now saw him as a major part of the problem, with his father having to put up with his excessive gambling and irresponsibility. Sir Montgomery hadn’t mentioned the total amount that Harold owed, but it must be considerable for him to ask for such a large loan.
Then there was the death of Brian. I had got the impression, from the way Sir Montgomery answered my question that he had strong suspicions as to why his son had been murdered and who had carried out the deed. He wasn’t willing or didn’t deem it necessary to tell me at this stage, so I had no idea if he was on the right track.
Finally, he had certainly changed my view of Willem van Grimbergen. Before our discussion, I was convinced that Willem was playing for the opposition and had been the person who had searched my bag and ransacked my room. I still wasn’t convinced that I was wrong. I would have to be extremely tactful while I checked out my fears when I went to meet Willem the following Monday. If Sir Montgomery was right, then there must be another dangerous adversary in Rotterdam, and, whoever it was, knew me and what I was doing.
I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I suddenly realised that the train had stopped at the terminus, and everybody else had got off. I must have looked really stupid, sitting there on my own lost in my thoughts. By the time I reached my home, my head had cleared, and I was switched on to family mode. This stayed with me until I left for the Docklands airport on Monday morning.
Chapter 11
Willem was waiting for me when I went through into the arrivals area in Rotterdam. He shook my hand with his bear like grip before taking me out to his car.
‘Do you fancy having lunch at the same place, or will we try somewhere else?’ he asked me as we were exiting the car park.
‘It would be preferable to try somewhere else if that is convenient,’ I replied.
‘Let me think,’ Willem stroked his chin with his hand. ‘There is a pleasant place a bit out of town where they have converted an old school into a restaurant. We could try that.’
‘Sounds perfect,’ I replied
We started to weave our way through the heavy traffic and then emerged onto a main road which seemed to lead into the country.
‘We’ve got a problem Vince,’ Willem said, glancing in his rearview view mirror.
‘What’s wrong Willem,’ I said, looking around the car for the problem.
‘When we were in the traffic I got the impression that a silver Mercedes was following us. I thought I was imagining things, and he was just going in the same direction as us. Now we are on a road with less traffic, I can confirm that he is following us.’
‘Can you lose him Willem?’ I asked, trying to spot the car in the wing mirror.
‘I would much rather find out who it is and confront them. Are you game for that?’
‘I’m with you, providing they don’t start shooting,’ I said giving a nervous smile.
‘The best place to lead him to is the restaurant down by the marina that we went to with Helga the last time you were here. There is more space down there to try and trick whoever it is, and I know the area well. You will be in no danger as I will simply use you as the decoy,’ Willem said. His face was alive with excitement.
We parked the car near the restaurant, in the car park for the marina. This meant that we had to walk, in the full view of the person who was following us, to the restaurant. Neither of us looked around, but we just continued talking and moving slowly towards the restaurant. I now could see why Willem had chosen this spot. If our friend driving the silver Mercedes wanted to spy on us or shoot us, he would have to leave his car and come quite close to the restaurant. I heard another car enter the car park, but it stayed well away from where we were walking.
Going through the entrance door of the restaurant I glanced back and confirmed to Willem that a tall thin man, with a trimmed beard and wearing sunglasses, had got out of the Mercedes and was coming towards the entrance of the restaurant.
‘Ok, it is time for action Vince. You go and sit down at that table beside the window over there that overlooks the marina. If he wants to keep an eye on you, he will have to go down the side of the restaurant. I am going to go to the toilet, and I will join you in a little while.’ With that he was off towards the toilets, in fact, he ducked through the door to the kitchens and was gone.
I dutifully did what he had instructed, pretending to look intensely at the menus while seated at the table facing out over the marina. Out of the corner of my eye I could just see the tall man moving closer to where I was sitting. He then disappeared between two buildings. There was a flurry of activity, and, the next thing that I saw, was the tall man being frog marched by Willem back towards the car park.
I made my excuses to the restaurant manager as I hurried outside to join Willem, catching up with him just as he was about to take the man into an alleyway between two wooden buildings.
Willem was shouting at the man he had just caught; however, since he was shouting in Dutch, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. The tall man now looked extremely frightened as Willem had him in a vice like grip and was causing him a lot of pain. There was nothing I could do to contribute as there wasn’t space between the two buildings for the two of us and I would have got in the way.
Willem gradually tightened his grip on the man inflicting more and more pain. I could see that he was getting results even if I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Finally, Willem released his grip and pushed the man away from him. He fled back to his Mercedes and sped out of the car park.
‘That seemed to work out well Willem. Are you going to tell me what you squeezed out of him?’ I asked a highly elated Willem van Grimbergen.
‘Let’s go into the restaurant, and I will tell you all about it over lunch. I don’t think that we will be seeing that gentlemen for a while.’
The manager welcomed us back into the restaurant with a quizzical look, ushering us back to the same table near the window.
We ordered a stiff drink first and then our lunch, cleared the menus out of the way, and Willem leaned towards me.
‘That man I sent packing Vince, is the husband of the young lady that works on my reception desk. He also happens to work for Caas Teifel, the diamond agent that I share the yacht Belle Diamant with.’
‘Did he say why he was following us?’
‘He said that he was tracking us for his boss who wanted to know where we were going and what we were discussing,’ Willem replied. Then he suddenly remembered something. ‘I nearly forgot; when I surprised him, he dropped something that he was carrying. I must slip out and see if it is still there.’
Willem jumped up from the table and hurried outside. He returned carrying a black electronic gadget with what looked like a small satellite dish on the top.
‘What on earth is that?’ I asked as he put the device down on the table.
‘That my friend is an exceptionally sensitive electronic listening device. If we hadn’t spotted him, he could have listened to our conversation, and relayed all sorts of interesting things to his boss.’
‘So he wasn’t out to harm us, he just wanted to listen to us,’ I said, trying to clarify what had happened.
‘Yes that’s what he was up to. He wasn’t physically equipped to tackle us, so it was a piece of cake to subdue him and scare him to death,’ Willem smiled.
‘Did he tell you how he knew my arrival time at the airport and that you would be meeting me?’
‘Very simple, his wife told him. Being on our reception desk she knew what was going on all the time. I was always asking her to do various jobs for me. She is a very capable girl, but she, unfortunately, has to go after this incident. In fact, she may have already left. Her husband will probably have contacted her to tell her that the game is up. I will call the office and tell my partner what happened here, just in case she’s still there.’
He picked up his mobile and dialled what I presume was his partner. Again the conversation was in Dutch, so I had no idea what they discussed.
Willem closed his mobile and put it back on the table, explaining to me what had happened back at his office.
‘Well Vince, as I expected, she has already left. My partner has just told me that she rushed into his office, asking for permission to go and pick up one of her children whom she said had fallen at school and had to be collected. He is amazed to learn that the real reason is that she was a spy for my ‘former’ friend Caas Teifel and that her cover has been blown.’
The food arrived, and there was a lull in our conversation. I decided, once the waiter had finished serving and we were on our own again, to broach the subject of the suspicious events that had happened on my last visit.
‘Willem, the last time I was in Rotterdam two strange things happened which I am afraid I blamed you for. The first occurred in your office. During the time that I was in the Diamond Centre, my bag was moved and searched while it was sitting beside the cabinet in your office.’
‘Well Vince, I can tell you for certain that I didn’t touch it; however, we now have a possible culprit. The receptionist would have had plenty of opportunity to go into my office and look through it. In fact, that afternoon I can remember that I was involved putting an order together for the US in another part of the building,’ he explained. ‘What was the second strange thing that happened?’
‘At the meal that night with your wife in this restaurant, you excused yourself saying that there was a paperwork problem on a diamond shipment, and you would have to regenerate the paperwork. When I got back to my hotel room it had been ransacked, and I naturally assumed the paperwork problem was just a fabrication, and you had visited my room.’
‘Thanks very much Vince. That certainly wasn’t me. I did have to go back to the office and regenerate the paperwork before the flight arrived the following morning. The culprit was most likely our friend who tried to spy on us today,’ Willem suggested.
‘But how on earth did they know where I was staying?’
Willem scratched his chin thinking about my question.
‘Again the answer is probably quite simple. Do you remember when you arrived you hadn’t booked a hotel, and I asked the receptionist to book you into the Hilton?’
‘Yes I remember now; so she would have known where I was staying and also the fact that I was going out to dinner with you and your wife. She would have passed that information on to her husband, and he would have searched the room, knowing that I was unlikely to come back until after ten.’ I smiled at the simplicity of what had happened and how easy it had been to blame Willem and his wife.
He grinned at me. ‘Can I get out of gaol now Vince?’
I had an equally prominent grin on my face, glad to have Willem back as a trusted friend, ‘I think that can be arranged.’
We finished our meal and headed back to his office where I spent the afternoon updating him on what had transpired in South Africa. He was devastated to hear about the accident and my injuries, but delighted to hear that I may have found the source of the illegal diamonds.
‘I had better book a bed for you now before it gets too late. This time I will reserve a room for you in the ‘Hotel One’ which is a bit more obscure than the Hilton and the other leading hotels, but it is still extremely comfortable,’ Willem said going over to his desk and picking up the phone.
Once he was back at the table, we continued our discussions about the South African end of the chain. I explained that I would have to go back there in the not too distant future to try and locate Jacques Fortuin and the diamonds.
‘Would you like me to accompany you the next time that you go to South Africa?’ Willem suddenly asked me.
‘After today and the way you handled that guy who was spying on us, I can’t think of anybody else I would rather have with me,’ I was genuinely pleased with his offer as the odds were stacked against me in South Africa.
With two of us on the job, we will have a greater chance of success, rather than you operating on your own. From what you told me, there are some really nasty people involved, who are out to get you. I am willing to travel with you if you want.’
‘Willem you can definitely come and help me. I will welcome you with open arms.’
‘Well, let’s leave it like that for the time being and we can discuss plans over dinner this evening. My wife is otherwise engaged tonight so there will only be the two of us. I’ll drop you off at your hotel now and pick you up later.’
‘While you were phoning the hotel to make the booking I had a look at the listening device that the guy dropped.’ I was looking at the device as I was talking to him.
‘If you have no particular need for it, I would like to take it with me to South Africa on my next trip. It could prov
e to be extremely useful,’
‘I won’t have any need for it Vince, so you are welcome to use it. Remember to take some spare batteries for it as our friend didn’t leave the charger.’ Willem smiled.
Chapter 12
There was one thing that I meant to mention to Willem while we were having lunch. On casting my eyes over the marina, I had noticed that there was a space where his boat Belle Diamant was usually moored.
On my last visit to Rotterdam, he had mentioned that his partner in the boat, Caas Teifel, was about to go off on a long sea voyage. It had now been established that Caas Teifel was probably behind the inspection of my bag, the ransacking of my hotel room and the spy whom Willem had confronted. Had we also possibly discovered a method for transporting the diamonds from South Africa to Europe?
I brought the subject up over dinner that evening.
‘Willem, I noticed that your yacht, Belle Diamant was not on its mooring today. Does that mean Caas Teifel has gone off on his long voyage that you were talking about?’
‘Yes the boat has left Rotterdam, but Caas Teifel has not gone on the first leg of the voyage. He told me that a professional skipper and crew are to take it as far as La Rochelle. He will join the yacht there.’
‘Do you know where he will go after La Rochelle,’ I said, excited that I might be getting closer to a possible scenario that I had fabricated in my head.
‘No, but if you are interested I can probably get a plot on it via satellite. Why do you want to know?’ Willem asked me, now looking a lot more interested.
‘Well we have linked Caas Teifel to your devious receptionist and her husband. They were both spying on us on behalf of Caas Teifel, which hooks him into my diamond smuggling investigation.’
‘Keep going,’ Willem prompted.
‘We need to establish how the diamonds are being brought to Europe and how they are bypassing all the existing international controls. Is it not a possibility that the diamonds are being transported by an ocean going yacht called Belle Diamant?’
The Diamond Chain Page 7