66 Hatton Gardens had a shop on the ground floor with displays of diamond jewellery and diamonds in a heavily fortified window. The name ‘Charlton Diamond Traders was emblazoned in large letters over the windows and door. There seemed to be offices over the shop which I presumed were all part of the same premises as there were no other doors into the building. I had a quick look around the back to see if it is possible to access the rear of the building, but drew a blank
I might be arrested if I loitered any longer; it was time to head for home.
Chapter 36
Friday morning I took the flight from the Docklands airport to Rotterdam looking forward to my day out with Willem. My aim for the day was to firm up my plans for bringing this investigation to a satisfactory conclusion.
His cheery face greeted me in the arrivals area,
‘Good morning Vince.’ He took my hand in his vice like grip and shook it.
‘It’s great to see you again Willem and thank you for coming to meet me.’
‘Is it OK if we talk over lunch Vince? We are going to have to eat, and it is more relaxing to talk and eat at the same time.’
‘As usual Willem I am in your hands, so you decide.’
‘It probably would be wise to give the restaurant at the marina a miss this time after what happened on our last visit. I will take us to a place a bit more isolated.’
‘Sounds like a good idea. I have had enough encounters with the enemy recently to last me a lifetime.’
‘There is a good restaurant close to Ouddorp which looks out over the sea, during the day it will be quiet. We will try there.’
‘There seem to be a lot of good restaurants around Rotterdam, Willem; do the Dutch eat out a lot?’
‘Yes we enjoy eating out and socialising, and prefer restaurants to pubs,’ Willem replied as we drove through the flat Dutch countryside.
About twenty minutes later we parked beside an attractive ranch style restaurant set on the dunes about fifty meters from the sea. We were conducted to seats in a balcony area right on the edge of the sandy beach.
I allowed Willem to do the ordering for me as the menu was in Dutch with zero English.
‘Well Vince, I guess that our discussion today is to determine what is the next step in your investigation, and to see what I can do to help?’ Willem zoned in immediately on what we needed to talk about.
‘Yes, I would genuinely appreciate your input Willem. The actions that I take now will either make or break the case. I have put too much time and effort into it, to screw up at the last minute, especially, when I feel that I am getting very close.’
‘What amazes me most is that Caas Teifel is so mixed up in all of this. I have known him for a long time, and we share Belle Diamant and often go sailing together. At the end of the season, we have what we call an owners’ booze cruise with a couple of other male friends of ours.’
‘Well he is certainly deeply involved, and I actually saw him on the deck of the yacht handling the drugs and the diamonds. That was before I was knocked out and thrown in the harbour.’
‘What is actually happening to the yacht at the moment Vince?’
‘The plan that I heard them discuss was to lift the yacht on board a freighter in Cape Town harbour, and then travel on the freighter all the way to Agadir in Morocco. They were then going to put the yacht back in the water and sail to La Rochelle.’
‘How long have you estimated that it will take them to travel to La Rochelle from Cape Town?’
‘You’re probably better at working that out than me Willem, but I reckon about sixteen days to get to Agadir on the freighter and then about another eight days to La Rochelle. What do you think?’
Willem pulled a paper napkin towards him and started making a few calculations.
‘Yes, you are roughly right. Say just over three weeks, and you said that they were leaving last Saturday.’
‘Yes, but I didn’t see them leave. We can’t track them with the satellite as they won’t have the electrics switched on until they start sailing again.’
‘So what is your plan when they arrive in La Rochelle Vince?’
‘At the moment I don’t have a plan. I was rather hoping that, by the end of today, we would have sorted out what the best approach would be.’
We spent the next hour or so while we ate, going over all the facts of the case and trying to predict what their next moves might be. The crucial unknown was the final destination of the diamonds and the drugs once they arrived in La Rochelle, and how they were going to be transported.
‘It is unlikely that they will use a plane to move them. All flights in Europe are extremely tightly controlled Vince,’ Willem said, after a pause to digest what we had just discussed.
‘So do you think they will move them by car?’
‘I obviously don’t know; my best guess is that they will take them by road as there would be far less chance of discovery.’
‘What will be their destination?’ I asked him.
‘They can either take them to London directly via the ferries or the tunnel, or they can go to Rotterdam. My best guess, at this stage, would be that they will take them to Caas Teifel’s diamond business in Rotterdam. He is probably selling them to dealers all over the world and not just to London, so it makes sense to bring them all to Rotterdam.’
‘I agree; they’ll most likely go to Rotterdam.’ I nodded my head in agreement.
‘We clearly both need to go to La Rochelle to see what is going on there, prior to the yacht arriving. If I remember what you said correctly, there are two harbours where they could offload the diamonds, and they are quite far apart.’
‘Yes, I had a look at a map of the area and there is no way that one person could watch both the harbours.’
‘I will get involved and help you there Vince. It is my boat involved in all this, and you can’t do it on your own.’
‘Thanks Willem, I would appreciate your help. Inspector Baird of the London police has offered a man to help me; do you think that I should take him up on his offer?’
‘You haven’t told Inspector Baird about the drugs because you were afraid of what he might do, so you shouldn’t take his man with you. If he saw that were drugs as part of the shipment then he might have to inform the French police, and we certainly don’t want that.’
‘OK, I will decline his present offer, but I will get the police involved when the circus gets to London.’
‘At least there have been no murders in Rotterdam, as far as we know, so I am confident that things will go quietly this time as well,’ Willem added.
‘So when have you time to visit La Rochelle with me Willem?’
‘Let’s go back to my office and see if we can book flights for Monday or Tuesday of next week. I think it would be advisable to get there as soon as possible.’
‘I am available any day next week as I have nothing planned, so early next week would be suitable.’
I insisted on paying the lunch tab this time as he had treated me all the previous occasions. We then drove back to his offices in Rotterdam.
‘What ever happened to the threat that was made against you and your family when you were seen talking to me?’ I asked him as we were travelling back to the office.
‘I think I told you at the time that I sent my wife and the two children to stay with my parents in Delft. After that, there was nothing. The fact that Caas Teifel left Rotterdam and was out of the country, probably helped. I am sure he was behind the whole thing. The school holidays are about to start so I will get them to move away from Rotterdam while I am involved chasing down the diamonds with you.’
‘That’s a good point. My kids will be on holiday soon as well, and I will recommend to my wife that she takes them off to her parents for a while. The people we are dealing with wouldn’t
think twice about threatening our families.’
‘You should certainly do that Vince, and maybe you also should stay away from your home for a while. They probably have ear marked where you live.’
‘There are plenty of boarding houses around the London area, and I will just keep moving to a new one every day.’
He parked in the parking garage underneath his offices, and we went in to plan our trip to La Rochelle. On checking the tracking system for the Belle Diamant, we found that the transponder was still off as we had expected.
Very conveniently we were able to get flights from our respective starting points for the coming Monday, arriving in La Rochelle in the middle of the afternoon. I couldn’t book a return flight until the Wednesday as they didn’t operate on a Tuesday, but Willem was able to book a flight for the Tuesday afternoon. I thought of flying back with him to Amsterdam and going from there to London, but decided that an extra day in La Rochelle wouldn’t go amiss.
He then dropped me off at the airport, and I travelled back to London to spend the weekend with my family.
Chapter 37
Monday, just after midday, I caught a Ryanair flight from Luton to La Rochelle, arriving just a few minutes before Willem was due to arrive.
Going through into the arrivals area, I hired a car for the two days that we would be there. I shouldn’t be up against the same dangers in France as I had in South Africa, so there was no need for a robust and fast vehicle. I probably was safe from attack until the yacht arrived here with the diamonds.
Willem’s flight from Amsterdam touched down on time, and we went to pick up the hire car from the car park. I tossed him the keys as he was more used to driving on the right and better able to negotiate the traffic of La Rochelle. Our first target was the larger of the two marinas on the opposite side of La Rochelle to the airport. On our way, we passed a hotel called The Hotel Altica La Rochelle where we decided to try and get ourselves two rooms so as we could dump our bags before continuing our explorations.
The hotel was perfectly adequate, and they were able to accommodate us. I booked in for two nights and Willem for one.
Our accommodation sorted out we went looking for the marina and were totally amazed when we drove out of quite a narrow road and saw the immense marina in front of us. I had read on the plane coming down here that the marina held approximately 3,500 boats, and I could well believe that number as the place was packed with all shapes and sizes of boats. The majority of them were yachts.
We dumped the car and explored on foot.
Unlike Cape Town, where the marina was an addition to an ancient harbour, this marina was purpose built and modern. There was only one entrance from the channel that joined La Rochelle to the Bay of Biscay. It was guarded by two small lighthouses. There was remarkably little cover and nowhere to observe from. From the lighthouses and the adjacent breakwater there was a good view of the channel that went up to the main harbour of La Rochelle. That harbour was the only other location in La Rochelle suitable for a yacht with a keel.
‘What do you think Willem? Which harbour do you think that they would choose to offload the diamonds and drugs at?’ I asked as we sized up the area.
‘I would have thought that the most suitable spot is here Vince. It is purely a marina where boats are stored, and I imagine a lot of these only go out once or twice a year. It is also most unlikely that there will be many people around once it gets dark. Of more relevance is the fact that there is also easy access for cars to get quite close to the boats.’
‘It’s very open though Willem, so everything is highly visible and it will be difficult for us to stay out of sight. We had better come back after dark and see what lights are left on at night.’
‘That’s a good idea. Let’s drive into La Rochelle now and take a look at the other harbour,’ I said, setting off to walk back to the car.
About half an hour later we had parked the car and were walking towards the old harbour.
The second marina was totally different to the one we had just seen. The main harbour was dominated by three, 14th and 15th. Century towers that stood tall at the entrance. On the right, just past the entrance to the main harbour, there was an inner harbour which had lock gates to control the level of the water, enabling boats to stay afloat after the tide went out. The only time when a yacht could motor into this inner harbour would be when the tide was right, and the gates were open. The main harbour had no lock gates to control the water level and was unsuitable to hold a yacht the size of Belle Diamant.
‘We must get the tide tables for the dates when the yacht arrives. That will give us the window when the Belle Diamant can get through the lock gates into the inner harbour,’ Willem suggested.
‘A skipper, wanting to enter, would be able to work out when the lock gates are going to be open from his tide tables. There is nothing to stop them stooging around or anchoring outside in the deeper water until the right time. They can then go straight in,’ I said, looking at the set up.
We walked over to a notice board on the quay beside the lock gates to check if there is any information displayed of the opening times. We were in luck. There was.
‘I see the gates are open this evening between 8:30 p.m and 12:30 a.m. They are obviously open two hours either side of high tide, which is shown for this evening as being at 10:30 p.m.’ Willem said as he pointed to the notice.
‘And, in two weeks’ time, which is when we will be here waiting for the Belle Diamant, high tide is in the middle of the afternoon around 3:15 p.m, so it would be perfect for them as they wouldn’t have to come down that difficult channel between the towers in the dark,’ I said, pointing to the channel that they would have to use to access this inner harbour. ‘There is also a high tide just over twelve hours later at 3:48 a.m when of course it will be dark.’
‘Let’s go and grab a beer at one of the restaurants that are dotted around the edge of the harbour,’ Willem suggested.
‘I must say that La Rochelle is a wonderful spot Willem, and still looks like it hasn’t been brought into the 21st. Century. It’s such a well-protected harbour here. I read that the Germans used it as a submarine base during the war. It was perfect for their sorties into the Atlantic, but still remarkably sheltered, and the crews could enjoy the town while they were recovering from their sorties.’
‘I can see why Caas Teifel chose it as his landing place for offloading the diamonds,’ Willem added.
‘With the two of us keeping watch it should be easy enough to keep an eye out for them, and, provided we are here on time, we are bound to see them arrive.’
We went off and had a beer; in fact we enjoyed the ambiance so much that we had a few beers. We rounded off an excellent evening with a sea food meal in a restaurant, in the shadow of the towers.
In the morning, Willem checked out of the hotel, and we then went and spent the rest of the time he had available before his flight, at the Port des Minimes marina. This was by far the larger of the two we had visited. We had forgotten to review the lighting the previous evening, but I volunteered to return in the evening and check it out. We walked all over the site of the marina, including all the access roads and the surrounding area. We picked out the best vantage points, where we could see any yacht arrive, and yet still have some cover.
All the outer walls of the marina had been constructed in rough boulders, so there was very little cover. The area was so large that it would be extremely hard to get close enough to get a good view while still remaining hidden from prying eyes
‘You know Willem, the best idea might be to hire a van and to hide in that as there genuinely isn’t any cover,’ I said scratching my head and looking around the marina from the wall at the far end of the marina to the entrance.
‘I like that idea Vince and it might be the only way if you have to keep watch during the day; however, at night you ca
n move about more and still stay out of sight.’
“Perhaps then we will only need to use the van during the day. I notice that there are a number of other vans parked here so a van wouldn’t stand out.’
I was looking at the car park where there was an assortment of vans parked by people working on the boats and repairing the pontoons.
‘At night we could leave the van somewhere nearby and use our feet to get close. It is now critical that I see what the lighting is like, to make sure that it is not too bright for what we have planned.’
‘Let me know what you think Vince after you see it tonight. We can then make a final decision. I must go now otherwise I will miss my flight.’
He drove me to the airport, and I then took the car. After dropping him off for his flight, I decided to return to the old port, have a beer and think about what opportunities were available to us.
That night, after I had eaten, I returned to the Port des Minimes to see what lighting was used on the marina. In the centre, there was a tall pylon, which I hadn’t noticed during the day, and on the top of that there were three flood lights, one of which was blown and not working. The pontoons and jetties were illuminated by lights that were just above ground level, and a lot of these weren’t working. I reckoned that there were enough dark areas to allow movement while staying out of sight, especially near the breakwater that overlooked the channel. If necessary, I could climb on board a yacht and conceal myself as I had in Cape Town.
There was an element of risk attached, but, if I kept my wits about me, I should be OK. I reminded myself that I must try and get hold of a gun before I returned as I might just need it if things went horrible wrong.
The following day I still had a morning to kill before my flight back to Luton, so I spent most of it driving around and investigating the various routes out of La Rochelle. I wanted to know what route a driver would take if they wanted to drive towards Paris and the Belgium border on their way to Rotterdam.
The Diamond Chain Page 21