Caas Teifel, the Rotterdam part of the chain and a dangerous killer should also have been arrested by now.
Your son Harold has been arrested. We are hoping he will try to repair the damage he has done by exposing everything he knows to the police. In return for his information, they will ask the judge to reduce his sentence.
Edward Crawford, who was also heavily involved in the whole thing, has already been arrested or will be really soon.
Your son Harold and Caas Teifel were present at the murder of Phillip Fortuin in South Africa, and one of them pulled the trigger. Once there is a confession of that murder from either of them, we can get Dale Fortuin released from the maximum security prison near Johannesburg.
Willem van Grimbergen has been a tremendous help and, as you are already aware, he was wounded in La Rochelle. I am glad to say that he is alive and recovering well. He will soon be home with his family.
I think that covers everybody that was involved.’
‘When I asked you to take this job on Vince I was unaware that it was going to be as complicated and as dangerous. I am now just extremely grateful that you stuck with it, despite the personal injuries that you have suffered.’
‘It’s been an enormous challenge, however, with Inspector Baird’s help it has all come out right in the end,’ I said, very appreciative of Sir Montgomery’s comments.
‘Sorry, you didn’t mention Jacques and Moira Fortuin in your list Vince. What’s going to happen to them?’
‘I haven’t decided yet what to do about them. I will have to check with the Inspector before deciding. In some ways, they have suffered enough losing their son Phillip, but it may be a better idea to give the South African Police the facts and let them decide what to do.’
‘Anyway, thanks Vince for coming to talk to me this morning. It’s a great weight off my mind, and I can now get on and run my diamond business in the knowledge that I am competing on the same playing field as everybody else. I am afraid that I have little sympathy for Harold, and he will have to learn his lesson the hard way. He never listened to me or his brother.’
‘Thanks sir and I’ll phone you if I get any more information.’
I shook his hand and left.
I phoned Inspector Baird to let him know that I was already in Baker Street and that he wouldn’t need to send a driver to pick me up at the safe house. I then got some lunch and was at Hampstead Police station by 1:30 p.m.
Announcing myself to the sergeant at the desk, I was told to go straight on down to the Inspector’s office where he was waiting for me. This was a step up for me as I had always had to wait on my previous visits.
I knocked on his door.
‘Come in Vince and take a seat, I’ll be with you in a minute.’ He finished off what he was doing and then turned to face me.
‘Just to bring you up to date on how things are going Vince. Our friend Ronald Pendleton is pleading innocence as we thought he might. He is claiming that Edward Crawford asked to borrow his boat and he hadn’t any idea what was on board. He is also claiming that his men must have decided to throw you in the river, and he never gave them an order.’
‘I don’t believe it. When he was talking to me during my imprisonment, he said that he was only telling me what he was up to because he was getting rid of me as soon as it got dark.’
‘Don’t worry Vince; he’ll change his tune as we gradually put the squeeze on him.’
‘What about Caas Teifel and Edward Crawford Inspector?’
‘Both were taken into custody last night. The Dutch police picked up Caas Teifel yesterday evening at his offices in Rotterdam, plus some of the diamonds and a quantity of the drugs. My assistant picked up Edward Crawford at Charlton’s training ground last night, which gave all the players something to talk about.’
‘So that only leaves the South African end to sort out now,’ I said, very grateful that I could now get my life back to normal with the threat removed.
‘Let’s get back to how we are going to handle Mr Harold Fortiscue, Vince.’ The Inspector had been sitting back in his swivel chair in a relaxed pose; he now leant forward with his arms on his desk, much more alert.
‘If we can get Harold on our side Inspector it will make everything a lot easier,’ I suggested.
‘I intend to make use of the fact that his background and upbringing is totally different to the others involved in the case,’ the Inspector explained. ‘He is an idiot for running up such vast gambling debts, but I suppose that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and always had what he wanted.’
‘And, to make it worse, his father bailed him out on a number of occasions,’ I added.
‘That is a crucial part of his problem Vince; even as a forty year old man, he expected his father to bail him out. It is only very recently that his father said ‘No’ to his ‘spoilt brat’ requests. Ronald Pendleton had his man where he wanted him, and he threatened him to get him to agree with his requests.’
‘So you think that he will tell us all we need to know.’
‘Yes Vince; I am certain if we pull the right strings, he will talk. I propose offering him leniency of sentence in exchange for information.’
There was a knock on the Inspector’s door, and a police constable stuck his head around the door.
‘He’s in the interview room waiting for you Inspector.’
‘Thanks Geoff, we will be there now now.’
‘Let’s go Vince. You had better let me do the talking until we have him on our side of the fence.’
We went down the corridor to the area where the prisoners were held and entered the same interview room where I had talked to John Power.
Harold didn’t get up as we entered the room, but sat slumped over the table. We sat down opposite him.
The Inspector did the formal introductions for the benefit of the taped record they were making of the interview.
‘Mr Fortiscue, may I call you Harold, so as we can keep this as informal as possible.’
‘You might as well,’ he mumbled at the table top, still keeping his head down.
‘Harold, I want you to listen extremely carefully. I am going to make you an offer, but I am only going to make it once. If you don’t take it up, then I will simply take your case to another level.’
‘Should I not have been allowed a legal representative at this interview?’ Harold asked, still mumbling into the table.
‘If you go along with my suggestion you won’t need one, and, if you don’t, you will certainly need one.’
Harold raised his head off the table.
‘What do you mean I won’t need one,’ he said in a stronger and clearer voice.
‘Well just hear me out and then you can decide.’ The Inspector was showing immense patience.
It took about ten minutes for the Inspector to explain to him that he knew all about Harold’s gambling problems, and how his debts had given Ronald Pendleton leverage over him. He was also aware of his relationship with Caas Teifel and all that involved. He told Harold that he was known to be a leading member of a smuggling ring that brought stolen diamonds from South Africa and sold them through Charlton Traders in direct opposition to his father.
‘And, what’s more, Harold; there have been a number of murders where your name has come up. What about your brother Brian?’
‘I didn’t murder him,’ Harold said starting to sob.
The Inspector didn’t reply, letting him suffer in silence.
‘I don’t believe you did Harold, but, as I have said before, you certainly know who did.’
‘What do you want me to do Inspector,’ Harold said very quietly, but now obviously interested in what the Inspector was offering.
‘Tell us everything you know and in return we will look for a reduced sentence for y
ou. That’s all I can offer you, but it is better than being locked away for murder for a lifetime.’
‘OK, I’ll do it Inspector.’
The Inspector called over the officer who was on the door and asked him to organize three cups of tea. I thought to myself; slim reward for agreeing to co-operate!
Chapter 50
At last, I was on the last leg of my journey around the diamond chain. I now should be able to gather any missing bits that were needed to complete the jigsaw.
‘I am going to ask you questions, and I want you to answer as thoroughly as you can to them Harold.’ The Inspector got the ball rolling.
‘I have asked Major Hamilton to sit in on the interview as he is a lot more aware of the finer details than I am. He may also ask you a question or two to clarify points. Do you understand Harold?’
‘Yes Inspector. I will tell you all I know,’ Harold replied, now looking far more alert and interested in what was going on.
I then had to sit through one and a half hours of interrogation of Harold Fortiscue, which wasn’t something that I would like to do every day. The mental effort required stretched my ability to concentrate.
The Inspector did most of the questioning, but on occasions I jumped in where I felt the Inspector wasn’t getting the information that I needed.
[A short summary of the interview with Harold Fortiscue follows.]
The Inspector was the first to speak:
‘OK let’s begin - When did Ronald Pendleton first start putting the squeeze on you?’
‘It was about eighteen months’ ago. My father told me that he wasn’t going to bail me out anymore and that I must sort out my own financial mess.’
‘How much did you owe Ronald Pendleton at that stage?
‘I can’t remember exactly, but around four hundred thousand pounds. But I also owed the stables where I kept my horses another fifty thousand pounds.’
‘They can’t have been happy about that - What did they do?’
‘They slapped a court order on me.’
‘What did Pendleton do then?’
‘He sent John Power to see me - ordering me to pay up or else.’
‘What was the ‘else’ he talked about?’
‘He made physical threats - said that I would be permanently maimed.’
‘You weren’t able to pay him off, so what did he do next?’
‘I was called to a meeting with Ronald Pendleton where he explained that, since I couldn’t pay up, he wanted me to assist in smuggling diamonds into the country for Edward Crawford and his company Charlton Diamond Traders.’
‘Did you know Edward Crawford before this time?’
‘Yes of course, our wives are sisters, and we have been on holiday together. It turned out that it was Edward who suggested that I was brought on board as I had the contacts they needed.’
‘Did you not think that you would be damaging your father’s business?’
‘Of course I did Inspector, but what choice did I have. Anyway I wanted to get back at my father for refusing to pay my gambling debts and stabling charges.’
‘What about the murder of your brother Brian?’ the Inspector continued.
‘I was indirectly responsible for his death I am sorry to say, and for the rest of my life I will have to live with it. I got drunk one night and went back to my brother’s flat to sober up before going home to my wife. Under the influence of drink, I told him of my involvement with Ronald Pendleton and the diamond smuggling.’
‘What did he do with that information?’
‘He phoned up Ronald Pendleton and asked to see him.’
‘And is that when he was killed?’ I asked.
‘Yes, he told me that he was going to see Ronald Pendleton and the next thing that I knew he had been murdered.’
‘Should you not have gone to the police at that stage?’ the Inspector resumed the questioning.
‘Ronald Pendleton called me in to see him and told me that I had to give a fabricated story to the police that blamed John Power for the killing.’
‘You do realise that makes you an accessory to a murder which is extremely serious?’
‘Of course I do Inspector, that is why I am talking to you now and telling you what I know.’
‘What about the murder of Phillip Fortuin in the Western Cape last year?’ I asked since we were on murders.
‘That was a nasty incident and totally unnecessary.’
‘What happened Harold? Did you shoot him?’ I continued the questioning.
‘No it was Caas Teifel. I found that one of the bags containing the diamonds had been damaged, and I stupidly mentioned the fact to Caas Teifel. It was obvious that Phillip had seen the diamonds and knew what we were up to. Caas decided not to take any chance of him talking and shot him. That was after he had got Dale out of the way by asking him to go into the nearest town and buy some beer.’
‘But how was Dale blamed for the murder?’
‘Well it was their gun - both Dale’s and Phillip’s finger prints were on the stock. It was easy for the two of us to blame him when we called the police.
‘Were the police not suspicious?’
‘No Vince, they swallowed our story hook line and sinker.’
The Inspector took up the questioning again.
‘So what you are telling us Harold is that your brother Brian was shot by person or persons unknown who worked for Ronald Pendleton and Phillip Fortuin was shot by Caas Teifel.’
‘Yes that’s what happened, and John Power was also shot on the instructions of Ronald Pendleton. He knew far too much, and you had released him, so he was no longer safe and out of the way in prison.’
‘Where does Edward Crawford fit into all this?’
‘My brother in law needed a lot of money and Ronald Pendleton backed him in his business and in purchasing Charlton Football Club. His company was used as a cover to bring most of the smuggled diamonds to the market place.’
‘So he wasn’t involved in any of the murders Harold?’
‘No he was purely a front for the diamonds - He also was able to obtain the drugs for Pendleton through his contacts in Africa.’
‘What was the involvement of Jacques and Moira Fortuin?’ the Inspector asked.
‘They had all the South African contacts and were the link with the mine in Limpopo. They knew what was going on and protected the South African end of the chain.’
‘When did you also begin to ship drugs back from South Africa as well?’
‘Last year, it was Ronald Pendleton who arranged with Eddie Crawford, to have the drugs shipped to Cape Town, and then delivered to the Fortuins. He did the same this year.’
‘Do you know if Caas Teifel kept any of the diamonds and the drugs in Holland or were they all trans-shipped to London?’
‘Caas only kept diamonds. The drugs were all Ronald Pendleton’s and the entire shipment came to London.’
‘Did you all make a lot of money out of this operation?’
‘Yes we all got paid exceptionally well, and it kept me afloat for the last year or so. It also took the pressure off as Ronald Pendleton stopped chasing me for money that I didn’t have.’
‘OK Harold, I think that is all, and you can go back to your cell now. You certainly did get yourself in deep didn’t you,’ the Inspector commented as he wound up the interview.
There had been no new revelations; however, it was encouraging that nothing he said contradicted any of the assumptions that I had made.
The Inspector waved to the officer on guard at the door to let him know that we were finished. Harold was taken back to his cell.
‘I think Vince that our little chat with Mr Fortiscue has given us enough ammunition to solve both our cases. Mr Pendleton is the man that I
am after for the murders. He also seems to be the brains behind the diamond and drugs smuggling. Together with your testimony I have enough to put him away for a very long time.’
‘Thanks Inspector, I greatly appreciate being in on that. It has helped me fill in any gaps in my case.’
‘I will now contact the Dutch police and the South African police to see if we can’t get Dale Fortuin released,’ the Inspector continued. ‘I think it might be a good idea for you to go and visit the mining company Limpopo Resources at their head office in Johannesburg and expose the thefts at their diamond mine. While you are there, you can visit Dale Fortuin and give him the god news.’
‘Yes I have three more tasks to undertake Inspector before I switch the case off. The first is to meet with my employer Sir Montgomery Fortiscue and give him a final report. The second is to go and see Limpopo Resources and Dale Fortuin, and the final most pleasant task will be to go and see Willem in Rotterdam and tell him the outcome.’
‘Well done Vince. For an ex-army man, you haven’t done at all badly.’ The Inspector smiled as he shook my hand.
This time I wasn’t hurt by the remark.
‘When I set out to unravel the diamond chain Inspector, I never expected it to have such diverse and dangerous links. I will now be able to return to my normal family life.’
I left the Inspector and went out into the fresh air. Finding a seat on the edge of Hampstead Heath, I sat down and phoned Sir Montgomery. He suggested that I go to his office and talk to him there.
At his offices in Hatton Garden, I was shown into the boardroom to wait for Sir Montgomery. I hadn’t been back in this room, which was representative of a different and older century, since that first meeting when Sir Montgomery and Harold had that terrible argument. It was a decidedly different meeting that faced me now and a result that I couldn’t have anticipated at that first meeting. Harold was now behind bars. I felt that the portraits of the past family board members were now smiling down from their place of eminence on the walls.
Sir Montgomery entered the room with his secretary following close behind carrying a tray with two cups on it and a pot of tea. She poured us each a cup and then left us.
The Diamond Chain Page 28