Murder on the Rocks (The Ralph Chalmers Mysteries Book 7)

by P. J. Thurbin

  Nothing like waiting until last, Ralph thought as he mentally compared it to his students’ habit of turning in their assignments at the eleventh hour. He placed the envelope on a long polished oak table that ran along one side of the room opposite the bookcases. He noticed that Sparini held a black leather briefcase in his left hand and wondered if it was padlocked to his wrist. But then he saw that the Count had placed it alongside Ralph’s envelope on the side table. The game begins, thought Ralph.

  “Good journey over?” Ralph asked as they shook hands before he offered his guest a drink.

  “Pretty decent. I flew into the City Airport as they have a facilities for the Executive Jet Company we use. It saves all that messing about at Heathrow or Stanstead. I have to be in Amsterdam first thing tomorrow so I’ve booked a room here. My secretary took the liberty of using your membership when she made the booking. I hope they checked with you first?”

  Ralph knew that his membership had lapsed many years ago. So Stigart must have made sure that Ralph’s cover was secure or the Club would never have accepted the booking.

  “No problem. I’m staying over as well. Perhaps we and can have an early breakfast together in the morning before you leave.”

  Ralph had made no such arrangements. In fact, he had told Katie that he would catch a taxi back to her place in Chelsea after the meeting. And now there was the added complication that Nick would turn up at eleven and expect him to be ready to leave. But it was too late to worry about that now.

  They chatted on and ordered their dinner as they stood by the fire with their pre-dinner drinks.

  The comfort offered by the surroundings and the gentile atmosphere reminded him of those far off Cambridge days. Good company, drinks in front of a glowing fire and the anticipation of a fine dinner. Later, as they finished their main course, Sparini turned the conversation to the reason for their meeting.

  “So what’s first on the agenda, Ralph? The development ideas that your University want me to consider or your coming to work for us? Frankly I favour the latter. If you’ll let me have the papers, I can give them to my people and they can handle all the details. I’m sure they can come up with some agreement that will satisfy everyone,” he smiled as he topped up their wine glasses.

  Ralph decided to play along. He did not want to make any move that might alarm Roberto.

  “I want to get you on-board as quickly as possible. A bit of work and a lot of play with plenty of time for sailing off Gibraltar and in the Med. We can get you a bigger boat and arrange for you to meet some important people,” he said with a note of enthusiasm which increased as he warmed to his sales pitch.

  Alarm bells began to go off in Ralph’s head. How did Sparini know about Gibraltar? Was it just a lucky guess or had Sparini been checking up on him. He decided to go for the direct approach.

  “How did you know about my sailing in Gib?”

  “It was splashed all over the papers, Ralph. All that business about your rescue attempt. Evidently the police down there even thought you might be involved, and frankly I was surprised that they let you go so quickly. You must have some friends in high places, old man.”

  “Well, I don’t think I was really much of a suspect,” Ralph explained.

  “And of course we’ve been doing a bit of checking up on you as well. We want to make sure that we’re getting the right man.” Sparini laughed. “Let’s have some coffee Ralph while you assure me that our concerns can be easily assuaged. I’ll skip the dessert, if that’s okay. A touch of Port will suffice.” He placed the bottle between them and filled two elegant glasses that he fetched from the tray by the window.

  Ralph sensed that Sparini was probing. It was not the Roberto he had known at Cambridge. No more the easy going wealthy Count who drank his way through University and playing polo at Ham with a bunch of minor royals at weekends. This was a meaner more cautious Roberto.

  “My assistant Maria jotted down a few questions that some of my associates wanted me to ask before we get down to finalising the money side and sorting out a contract, Ralph. I know it all sounds a bit formal, and if it was up to me we could just agree things as gentlemen and get on with it. But these people are cautious, and I suppose quite rightly so. A lot is at stake.”

  Ralph had not missed the mention of Maria’s name. Stigart had told him that she worked for MI6, and that now she seemed to have disappeared. He decided to push his guest.

  “My friend Katie was meant to meet up for lunch with Maria in London last week, but she never arrived. Katie was worried that something may have happened so she tried to call her at the office in Milan, but when she finally got through, someone there told Katie that Maria’s father had taken ill and she had to fly back to Spain to be with him.”

  Sparini, for the first time, looked a bit flustered. He hesitated for a second before he composed himself and went on.

  “Yes, I do remember something like that. That’s why I don’t like working with women. Always rushing off to some sick bed or other and their work can go to the dogs, for all they care. But let’s get back to you, Ralph. When you were in Gib you talked to a Colonel Stigart and his sons, I believe? They sail the around the Med on the Loch Ewe, I understand.”

  Ralph was stunned. Here he was trying to set Sparini up for Stigart, and now it seemed that Sparini knew all about Ralph’s association with the Colonel. He took a sip of his Port as he tried desperately to think of a response. He decided to take the offensive approach.

  “You seem to know a lot about me, Roberto. I can’t say I’m that happy to think that you are monitoring who I have dinner with. But if you must know, our boats happened to be moored at the same marina and he asked me and my friends to come aboard for supper one night. What’s so special about this Colonel Stigart that makes you think you have the right to have me followed?” Ralph had no intentions of explaining himself to that jumped up little charlatan. He only hoped that if he sounded suitably indignant that Sparini would back off. It soon became apparent that that was not going to happen.

  “Sorry to be a pain, old man, but you see, when I casually mentioned to some of my associates that you knew this Colonel Stigart, they were quite upset. I personally thought nothing of it, but they went berserk. They told me that your Colonel Stigart was involved in the arms and drug smuggling business and has ties to the Basque Nationalists and some of the more militant chaps in Eta. Naturally they were concerned that you might be involved in that murky business yourself.”

  “Exactly what are you saying, Roberto. If that’s the way you feel just say so and I’ll be on my way.” Ralph hoped that his bluff would work. He waited for Sparini to either call it or back down. Sparini did neither. Ralph was struggling to take it all in. Was Stigart the real criminal? Had Stigart set him up? Perhaps Sparini was genuine and was working for Europol and Stigart wanted to find out how close they had got to breaking up his drug smuggling and arms trading operation? None of it made any sense. And why had Stigart turned up out of the blue at Goodwood? He must have known Sparini would be there. Could he have wanted to see if he could use Ralph to get inside information on Sparini’s activities? But he knew Linham was one of the good guys. Surely he would have checked up on Stigart after Ralph went in to talk to him at Kingston. Then it struck him that maybe everyone, Linham included, had been in on all of this and he was just the poor sap that was being used. The cheese in the mouse trap. His thoughts were interrupted as Sparini continued.

  “Look Ralph, before we get down to business, you’ll have to excuse me for a moment. I need to call and make sure my pilot will be ready to take off as soon as I get there in the morning.”

  As he left the room Ralph moved swiftly to the long table and removed the documents from Sparini’s brief case and quickly shoved them behind some books in the bookcase. It took only a minute and as he stood by the fire trying to look nonchalant he realised that he was out of breath. He also realized something else. If it was true that Sparini never let the documents or his br
iefcase out of his sight, why had he left the room without taking it with him? Ralph wondered if it was a setup. Well, if it was, then he would cross that bridge when he had to. For now he just needed to make sure that he had carried out his part of the plan for Colonel Stigart and MI6. Sparini’s documents were now tucked behind a row of books that were on a shelf by the window. A ‘History of the Eight Army in North Africa’ would now make a much more interesting read, he grinned to himself as Sparini walked in.

  “Sorry about that. Where were we? Time to put our cards on the table old man.” Sparini stood with his back to the fire. “It all goes back to when we were at Cambridge. Funny thing but I always suspected that you were recruited by MI6. It wasn’t just you Ralph a lot of us were approached as we were all well connected, bright and young. Your profile was perfect. History PhD, middle class background, and a Cambridge blue for rowing. I think that they made you one of them. It carried on from there with your time at a top consulting firm in London then tucked in to an inconspicuous little University in leafy Surrey as an academic. Just like Smiley in Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy. You always did remind me a bit of Alec Guinness, Ralph,” he laughed and clapped Ralph on the back.

  Ralph started to say something but stopped himself. Perhaps if he gave Roberto enough rope, he’d hang himself.

  “We know that you’ve been investigating Stigart. You were seen at his place down in Sussex. Maria told us all about your involvement in MI6. Pass the Port old chap, and I’ll tell you where we stand.”

  Ralph was even more taken aback. The one thing he had not imagined was that Sparini would take him for belonging to the very organisation that he was representing, albeit under cover.

  “You don’t have to say anything, Ralph. This is just between old pals. But I reckon that you’re at a pretty low level in the organization. Join us and you’ll have enough money to live the high life. You and Katie too, if you’re interested. All you’d have to do in exchange is keep us informed when and where MI6 are trying to penetrate our activities.”

  Ralph felt his temper rising. Sparini was the same low life he always knew him to be. And now there he was making assumptions about him and his loyalties and morals. And now he had admitted that he knew Maria was part of MI6. Ralph hated it when anyone tried to manipulate him or trivialize his values. He lost control.

  “Look, Sparini. I don’t appreciate what you just said. As it happens, I’m not part of MI6 or any other government organization, but even if I was I sure as Hell wouldn’t turncoat on them and come over to your side. I always thought you were a nasty piece of work, I just didn’t realize how low you’d sunk. You don’t care a fig who gets killed or for any decent cause. You never had a conscience and never will have. And I think that you killed Maria Campio once you found out she was with MI6 and getting close to exposing your activities. The only reason I agreed to this farce of a meeting was to expose you for the crook you are; you and your corrupt organization. Drug smuggling, arms. A dirty business run by an equally dirty character.”

  Ralph had let it all out, and now he realised that he had said far too much. But he felt better now that the pretending was over. He had the documents so he had fulfilled his part of the bargain. The rest was up to Stigart.

  For once Sparini was quiet. He had moved to the side of the room and as he turned Ralph, could see that he held a revolver.

  “Such a pity, Ralph. I thought we were friends, but obviously I was mistaken. And don’t even think about trying to jump me. This thing has a silencer fitted, and at this range there is no way that I could miss.”

  “So you did kill Maria. You bastard. I expect you had a hand in the murder of the French Commissioner in Gibraltar as well. What else I can only imagine.” Ralph shook with rage as he spit out his wrath.

  “Now you seem to know it all, Ralph. It’s a pity it won’t do you any good. By the way, your Colonel Stigart is a key part of our organisation. The thing with Maria was unfortunate, but I’m afraid these things happen.”

  “And the Frenchman you murdered, was that just another unfortunate by product?”

  “I’m afraid he was not at all cooperative when we asked him to slow down the decommissioning talks. In fact, he went so far as to try to trap us into revealing our contacts within Eta. We offered him a little, shall we say reward if he would help us, but I’m afraid he refused and then tried to make a run for it. Naturally he had to be stopped. It was not what we had planned.”

  As Sparini talked on, Ralph inched slowly towards the door. His first impulse had been to lunge at his adversary, but he realized it was too big a gamble. If Stigart really worked for MI6, then he had done a helluva good job to pull the wool over Sparini’s eyes. On the other hand, if he was part of Sparini’s network, then that was indeed worrying. If he was, then things looked pretty bleak for him and probably for Katie as well. The thought that they might harm her got his heart racing. He faced his tormentor.

  “It may sound like a cliché Roberto, but you know you’ll never get away with this. There’s only one way out of this room and that’s past reception. There are a lot of people out there.”

  “I can see you’re a novice at this, Ralph. I will simply put this gun in my pocket and you and I will walk out like two old friends who have had a splendid dinner and are a bit the worse for wear. One move on your part to raise the alarm and I’ll shoot you. And when you drop to the floor everyone will just think that you’ve had too much to drink. In the confusion I will slip away leaving you writhing around like a stuck pig. By the time anyone works out what really happened I’ll be long gone. Naturally I’d prefer that it didn’t end that way, old friend.”

  Just then the door opened and a waiter looked in.

  “Any more drinks, sir? I’m afraid the main bar is closing, but I can send the night porter in if you are staying on?”

  Ralph noticed through the door that Nick was sitting by the reception desk reading a magazine.

  “No thanks. We’re fine thank you. We’re just leaving now,” said Sparini as he moved between Ralph and the door.

  “Thank you, sirs. Goodnight.” With that the door closed before Ralph could attract Nick’s attention.

  “Look Ralph I’m a reasonable chap. The last thing I want is a messy shoot out. It’s not my scene. And I still like to think that we might be friends. Just give me fifteen minutes head start. That’s enough time for me to be well on my way to the City Airport where my pilot is ready and waiting to take off at short notice. In return I’ll leave my briefcase with you and your lords and masters at MI6 will think you’re a hero. There’s enough in there to keep them busy chasing some of the smaller fry in our organisation for a long time. You get the credit and I get away.” He laughed as he took a step towards Ralph. “Do we have a deal?” He held out his hand. “It’s your best option, and if you want a sweetener, as they say, then I give you my word as a gentleman that I will keep away from you and Katie in the future.”

  If there was one thing Ralph was certain about it was that Roberto Sparini was no gentleman. But glancing at the bookcase where the documents were safely hidden, he decided to play along.

  “Okay. You can have a head start on the police. But after 15 minutes you had better be a long way from here.”

  “Good man, Ralph. Wise move,” he grinned.

  “Well I’d like to thank you for a wonderful evening, Ralph. It’s been so nice to chat about old times,” he smiled. And now I’ll bid you goodnight. If our paths should cross again I hope we can pick up our friendship and be best of pals again.”

  With that Sparini walked briskly to the door at the opposite end of the room from the one they had entered by. In a second he had gone. Ralph felt his muscles relax. He realized that for the past 5 minutes he had been poised and ready for action. He gave a sigh of relief and went to the bookcase to retrieve the documents. As promised, Sparini had left his briefcase on the table. The silver chain still dangled over the edge. Just then the door opened and Nick’s large frame all but bl
ocked the bright light from the corridor.

  “I heard a noise, sir. Where’s Count Sparini?” Ralph’s first thoughts were that he had promised to wait 15 minutes before he sounded the alarm. Damn the man and his blasted arrogance, he cursed under his breath when he realized that he had been suckered into thinking he should abide by some old school honour business by someone who was a murderer and worse.

  “He’s made a run for it.” It sounded like some feeble remark from a B movie even to Ralph’s ears, but he had underestimated the professionals. Nick spun around and shouted into his hands free mobile for someone to ‘get Colonel Stigart here on the double’. Ralph quickly grabbed the papers that he had stashed behind the books and shoved them into the envelope along with the phoney University developmental plans. As they went out into the foyer, two men who seemed to be working with Nick appeared from nowhere and ran out into the street. The roads were even busier than when Ralph had arrived. A car pulled in out of the flow of traffic and he could see Nick giving the driver instructions. As the car drove off Nick ran back inside.

  “Sorry about that, sir. We had the place covered, but he managed to give us the slip. I’ve radioed ahead and our boys will be watching out on all the bridges over the Thames.”

  Ralph told Nick that Sparini had probably escaped through the back entrance of the Club and would be heading for the City Airport. Nick quickly relayed the information on. It all happened so quickly that Ralph felt as though he was in some sort of dream. Nick brought him back to reality.

  “That’s all being taken care of, sir. If you’re ready, then I can take you to Chelsea now. I’m sure it’s been quite a night.”

  As they drove along the Thames Embankment, Ralph asked Nick how long he had worked for Colonel Stigart.

  “Well as you know, sir, I just follow orders.” He said no more and Ralph left it at that. As the car pulled into the cobbled entrance to the mews and came to a halt, Nick turned to Ralph. “Would you like me to take care of those papers, sir?