The Diamond Chain

by Patrick Slaney

  I obtained a brochure listing accommodation in Cape Town from a tourist office and picked out a place called ‘17 on Loader Guest House’. It seemed perfect as it was only about ten minutes’ walk from the harbour, and it was also reasonably priced. The only problem was that I had to park in a multi-storey car park a few streets away. I filled out all the details at reception and was shown to my room.

  Collecting my car from the Waterfront I dropped my bags off at the Guest House before dumping the car in the multistorey car park. It was now time for an attempt to catch up on my sleep, secure in the lodgings I had selected. I was sure that anybody looking for me would not expect me to be staying in an insignificant guest house. My car was also hidden away in a public car park.

  Content, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I went fast asleep.

  Waking at just after three o’clock in the afternoon, I showered, dressed and went for a walk down to the harbour. I hadn’t eaten since the plastic food on the plane, so I went in search of a snack to tide me over until my evening meal. I wandered into the Waterfront and decided to try the beer at the Paulaner Brauhaus micro-brewery. They also served a variety of sandwiches. Suitably fortified, I set off to find the Royal Cape Yacht Club. It was a reasonable assumption that the Belle Diamant would choose to moor at the Club when it finally arrived in Cape Town.

  The whole of the harbour area was protected by a high wall that seemed to go on for ever. A number of large gates were set into the walls at regular intervals, and all these were guarded by security personnel. On asking one of the security guards where the entrance to the Yacht Club was, I was told to keep walking until I reached the Oswald Pirow gate where I could enter the harbour area and walk to the Club.

  I found the gate and had no difficulty in gaining entrance to the harbour. The security guard seemed to have no interest in stopping people on foot, but was there to prevent any undesirable vehicles from entering. I noticed that those entering and leaving by car used a card that they swiped through a sensor, and this dropped the barrier so as they could pass. Since my car would always be parked in the multi-storey car park, I doubted if there would be any need to gain access to the harbour. The important point to remember was that, in an emergency, the harbour wasn’t a place where I could dive into for refuge.

  I turned right after going through the gate and walked alongside the high perimeter wall, keeping the harbour on my left. This was still an area where large ships berthed, and there were a number of large docile freighters moored against the wharf. Ahead of me, I could see tall masts in what I assumed must be the marina attached to the Yacht Club. Suddenly the entire character of the harbour changed, and there was a vast area of pontoons with yachts moored to them. Situated on the shore side of the marina was the impressive Royal Cape Yacht Club.

  On the spur of the moment I decided to go inside and see if I could find the secretary or who ever looked after the booking in of yachts. I wandered around the ground floor until I found a door that said ‘Secretary’ where I knocked.

  ‘Come in,’ a voice replied.

  I opened the door and went inside a very mature looking office. A dapper, bespectacled, middle aged man in a blue blazer, wearing what I assumed was a club tie, was sitting behind a large oak desk.

  ‘Can I help you?’ he asked, looking up at me over his glasses.

  ‘I don’t know if you can. I have a friend who is sailing from Europe to Southern Africa and I am trying to find out what harbour he will be arriving at. Is it possible for you to check whether he has booked a mooring here?’ I put on my most apologetic and pleading voice.

  ‘When is this friend of yours expected to arrive, and what is the boat’s name?’ he fired at me.

  ‘The yacht’s name is Belle Diamant, and my best estimate is in about thirty days’ time. I have worked out his arrival date based on them being able to maintain a speed of 7 knots.’

  ‘That seems reasonable enough. I’ll have a look for you if you wait a minute,’ he swivelled around in his chair and started punching his computer keyboard on the table behind him.

  I had only thought of checking whether they had a reservation as I had walked into the Yacht Club, but this was proving easier than I had expected.

  ‘Name of the skipper?’ he asked me.

  ‘The owner’s name is Caas Teifel,’ I said, spelling it out for him.

  ‘Yes we have a booking for them, and you’re right they expect to be here in about one month’s time,’ he said moving his chair back to his desk and looking at me. ‘Is there anything else that I can help you with?’

  ‘No, you have been extremely helpful, and thank you for your time.’ I stood up, leant over his desk to shake his hand, giving him a beaming smile, and let myself out.

  If all the rest of my detective work was going to be as easy as that, then I would wrap up this investigation successfully in next to no time. I left the harbour area and returned to my room feeling very pleased with myself.

  Chapter 15

  That evening I decided to do my thinking at the Waterfront, and, where better for my brain to work, than at the micro-brewery where I had eaten my lunch. Settled down with a pint of their best brew I started to plan my next step.

  From the information that I had garnered at the yacht club today, it was evident that I had one month before the Belle Diamant was expected in Cape Town, to pick up the diamonds. I, therefore, only had one month to track them down. I wanted to be 100% certain that they were actually put on board the yacht and that it was not simply an expensive and elaborate decoy to put a smoke screen around the delivery chain. I would need to know when they left if I was to calculate when they would arrive back in Europe.

  Clearly my next step must be to try and locate Jacques Fortuin, and the logical place to start my search was the holiday home in Hermanus that Moira had told me about.

  My task for Tuesday was to locate their house, preferably without announcing my arrival or advertising my interest in the place. The best approach would be to look for a house with a new black Mercedes 500 or a new BMW Z4 or perhaps both. When I visited Moira the first time in Johannesburg, she had announced they had recently both got new cars. I didn’t think that there would be too many places in Hermanus exhibiting that level of affluence.

  Finding Jacques Fortuin probably wouldn’t be too much trouble; however, how would I prove that he had the diamonds with him, or, if he didn’t have the diamonds at his house in Hermanus, how on earth would I find out where they were. It probably would be best to concentrate on finding Jacques first and then decide on the next step from there.

  After a good night’s sleep, I set out for Hermanus at around 10:00 a.m, making sure that I had the electronic listening device that Willem and I had picked up in Rotterdam, in the car.

  The previous evening I had tested the unit from my bedroom in the guest house. Pointing it at two old men gossiping in the street outside, I was able to pick up their voices exceptionally clearly. I had no idea what they were talking about, they weren’t speaking in a language I could understand. My test had shown me that the device worked well, and it could prove very useful.

  When I punched Hermanus into my sat nav, it asked me if I wanted to go to the beach. Moira had told me that they were a short walk from the beach, so it seemed a logical place to start. When I got to Hermanus I received an extremely unpleasant surprise; the town extended for at least four kilometres. As I travelled east, the sea was on my right, and a vast range of different sorts of housing estates were on my left. The main road ran the full length of the resort about one hundred meters from the sea. It was possible to turn left off the road at a large number of points into the huge variety of housing estates. How on earth was I going to find the Fortuin’s property?

  I parked beside a couple of shops close to the beach under a tree; this gave me some shade while I pondered the situation. I needed to work out
a plan because at the moment I hadn’t a clue where to start. In my mind, I had pictured Hermanus as a little holiday community with a maximum of around fifty houses. In fact, it was considerably bigger. I clearly needed a map.

  I looked around me, and saw a sign pointing towards a Tourist Information office which seemed a good place to look for a map. I got out of the car and followed the signs, making sure that there wasn’t either of the Fortuin’s cars in the vicinity. It would be extremely inconvenient, to say the least, to bump into the Fortuins by accident.

  My luck was in. The Tourist Office had a detailed map of the area which I would be able to use to plan my search. I took it back to the car to study it, and, the first thing to catch my eye was a large advertisement on the front for Hermanus Property Agents, 362 Main Road, Hermanus. Putting the address into the sat nav I set out to speak to somebody there.

  I walked into, what, at first glance, looked to be a highly professional office. What was even better was that it was air-conditioned. It was nice to get out of the heat of the day, into a bit of cooler air.

  ‘Can I help you?’ the receptionist asked.

  ‘I’d like to talk to somebody about purchasing a property in the area,’ I replied.

  ‘Please take a seat, I will let Mr Viljoen know that you are here, and he will talk to you. He is on the phone at the moment, but he shouldn’t be long. What is your name?’

  ‘It’s Tony Brown,’ I gave her the first name that came into my head. For obvious reasons, I didn’t want to give them my real name.

  I sat down and leafed through a brochure advertising available property in the area while I waited.

  ‘Mr Brown,’ a voice spoke beside me, startling me.

  ‘Oh, yes, that’s me,’ I replied.

  ‘Please come with me, and we can discuss your needs. I’m Laan Viljoen.’

  I followed him into a small office where I squeezed into a chair, and he sat behind a tiny desk with a computer on it.

  ‘Can you tell me a bit about yourself and the type of property you are looking for Mr Brown?’

  ‘I have come from the UK, and I want to see if I can purchase a property in Hermanus. I have been told a lot about the resort from some friends of mine. The property must have at least three bedrooms, be within walking distance of the sea and be a safe and secure lock-up. I want to be able to leave the house for months at a time,’ I said trying to match what I reckoned Jacques Fortuin would have purchased.

  ‘Do you know the area at all or will you be buying blind?’ he asked me.

  ‘I arrived from the UK yesterday. This morning is my first time in Hermanus, so, as you say, I am a blind buyer.’

  ‘How long are you planning to stay while you look for a house?’

  ‘I have planned on two weeks, but I can stay longer if I have to. My main target on this visit is to find an area in Hermanus that I like, and that meets my criteria. I can then return another time to purchase a property.’

  He took out a map of Hermanus from a drawer in the desk and spread it out on top.

  ‘I will show you the areas that I would recommend and also where I would encourage you to stay well away from,’ he said, looking at me rather than at the map.

  ‘That sounds like an excellent plan,’ I said enthusiastically.

  ‘Here, on the east side of Hermanus, is high density housing, and I would advise you to avoid this area.’ He pointed to an area on the map. ‘There is not much land around each property so the houses are extremely close together and security is a problem. You see all these streets marked with a number - 7th. Street, 8th. Street etc.’

  ‘Yes I see exactly where you are referring to. All this area here,’ I traced my finger around the area he had pointed to.

  ‘I would also stay well away from the western end of the town as these properties are a lot older and also have very little land around them,’ he drew a circle around the western area.

  ‘That narrows it down a lot doesn’t it, but it still leaves about 2 kilometres of Hermanus to look at?’ I added.

  ‘You’re right, but it is a bit simpler than that because you need to be at least five hundred meters back from the main road to get peace and quiet and to make sure that your property is secure. You see up here all along Jose Burman Drive and Fernkloof Drive,’ again he used a pen to mark the area on the map that he was talking about.

  ‘Are there properties in that area that meet my criteria?’ I asked him.

  ‘Some do, and some don’t, but the price you pay will reflect the state of the property. For instance, if you select a property and it needs a higher wall, then the chances are you will buy it for a lower price. That will leave you with the money to build one,’ he explained.

  ‘That all makes sense. Mr Viljoen you have been most helpful. What I am going to do now is to spend some time looking around Hermanus based on the information that you have given me. I will come back to you when I have found an area I like,’ I said as I stood up and shook his hand.

  ‘It’s been a pleasure Mr Brown. Good luck in your house hunting and we’ll find you the right property when you have decided where you want to buy.’

  I left the office feeling a lot more confident than when I had gone in. I now had a much smaller area to search. I brought my army training into play as I superimposed a grid on the areas of the map that I wanted to search, and drew up a schedule of when I would search each grid. The biggest drawback I had was that if neither of the Fortuins were in residence, I had no way of identifying their house. I needed a blinding flash of inspiration or just downright good luck.

  Chapter 16

  I spent the rest of the day driving around Hermanus getting a good feel for the place.

  Later in the afternoon a police car passed me, and as it passed, it slowed down to get a good look at me. About half an hour later, when I was in another area, not many streets away, the police car appeared again and drew up level with me. He wound down his window and called out.

  ‘Are you lost or what are you doing?’

  ‘I am thinking of buying a property in Hermanus, and I am just looking at each area,’ I shouted back.

  ‘It would be a better idea to go and see one of the Property Agents in the town,’ he suggested.

  ‘I have already done that,’ I said. ‘A Mr Viljoen at Hermanus Property told me the areas that I should look at, and that is what I am doing at the moment.’

  ‘The people around here don’t like suspicious cars hanging around, and a resident reported you to us. I suggest that you leave now and return another day.’

  ‘OK officer, I’ll leave now,’ I politely replied. ‘Sorry to have caused you trouble.’

  He wound up his window and drove off. I did the same. Clearly I must be a lot more careful in future as I didn’t want it advertised that I was suspiciously wandering around the streets of Hermanus. I returned to Cape Town, parked the car in the multi-storey car park and retreated to the guest house.

  The first thing I heard when I woke up on Wednesday morning was the rain beating against my window. Looking out I saw that it was a wet and windy Western Cape day. My experience with the police car the previous day, had shown me the necessity of conducting my search on foot, but that would not be possible in this teaming rain. The last thing I needed was to arouse the suspicions of the police again. The next time they might take some action that would complicate my life considerably.

  Thursday turned out to be an ideal day for my investigation. It was overcast, but at least not raining. The weather was better, but my searching proved fruitless, as did my efforts on Friday. By Friday evening, I was extremely frustrated having still not found the Fortuins’ house. My methodology was clearly at fault, and my strategy of looking for the cars wasn’t producing results.

  That evening I repaired to the Waterfront to my favourite thinking spot,
the Paulaner Brauhaus, where I ordered a pint of their best brew. I had brought my trusted notebook with me, and I opened it to a new page and got my brain into gear.

  I wrote down:

  Search Criteria:

  The house is in Hermanus somewhere

  Cars not visible - so need a different approach

  New approach - look for a house protected in a similar way to the one in Johannesburg

  Features of the house in Johannesburg:

  3 Meter high perimeter wall

  CCTV

  Massive gates with smaller access door set in the right hand gate

  Electric fence on top of the wall

  It was a reasonable assumption, to think that if the diamonds were being held in the house in Hermanus, Jacques would have protected the house in the same way as he had the Johannesburg property. With a bit of luck, he might even have used the same contractors, even though Cape Town was 1,500 kilometres from Johannesburg. My assumption that I would find the cars had been extremely ambitious, and perhaps my latest list of criteria was equally ridiculous, but I needed to try a different approach.

  Saturday I set out for Hermanus with renewed enthusiasm, and my camera. My plan was to take masses of photographs of the properties in my search area. I would be able to scan through the photos in the quiet of my room, picking out the ones that were the best fit.

  Parking my car, I set off at a brisk pace, stopping to take frequent photographs as I went. The advantage of my new approach was that I was able to photograph two or three properties at the one time, which considerably increased the speed I progressed at. I was also only looking for external features, so I didn’t have to peer over the walls looking for cars. This also reduced the level of suspicion I was likely to create. I was exceedingly grateful when the whole day passed without any further visits from the police. It was also a sunny day, so I was getting good sharp photographs.