An African Adventure (Vince Hamilton Private Investigator Book 4)

by Patrick Slaney

  'It wasn’t too bad, and I recovered quickly. Did you talk to Inspector Cooper as I suggested?'

  'Yes, he was very helpful and set up my meeting at the prison with Clive.'

  'I got on very well with the man, and I enjoyed working with him,’ I added. ‘Anyhow, enough about him how is Clive?'

  'He's surviving, but honestly Vince; I really couldn't care less about him. He has destroyed our lives by his stupidity, and he deserves to rot in prison for what he has done. The boys and I don't need him in our lives. I discovered that I had zero love for him. You have done more for me in the last few weeks than he has done for the past few years.'

  'Don't be too hard on him Carol. You and the boys are all he has. Did he tell you how long his sentence is likely to be?'

  'The Inspector said that even with a reduction in his conviction for having helped the police, he will be put away for fifteen years. I can't wait for him that long Vince.'

  She started to cry and the perkiness she had been showing when I arrived, vanished. I put my arm around her, and she put her head on my shoulder and snuggled up to me.'

  'I don't know what to do Vince. I would be lost without you. The boys were full of praise for you especially Nick. He is convinced that it was you who was instrumental in rescuing him. Julian and Alex also told me that you worked your magic with the headmaster of their school and sorted that out for me. They think that you are a Superdad and their Knight in shining armour.'

  'By the way, how is Nick?' I asked. I wanted to change the direction of the conversation.

  'He recovered remarkably quickly from his ordeal and is back to his normal self.'

  'I'm scared Vince of what is going to happen. I don't want to lose everything.' She increased the clingingness of her hold.

  I took her shoulders and manoeuvred her away from me so as I could escape. If I hadn't, we would have been there for the rest of the day, and I was getting aroused.

  'Let's go to the kitchen table and make a plan Carol. I have a meeting at Hampstead police station at 2.00pm, so we need to have a clear course of action worked out by then.'

  She placed the coffee things on the tray and followed me to the kitchen.

  'Have you got a sheet of paper or an old exercise book?'

  She went to a cupboard in the corner of the kitchen and came back with a few blank sheets of A4 size paper.

  'Let me write down a few things to get us going:

  List for Carol:

  1. Overall plan is to relocate the entire family to Tonbridge area as soon as possible

  2. Transfer the St John's Wood house to Carol's name.

  3. Sell the St John's Wood house.

  4. Sell the business, if possible, or give it away to remove debt.

  5. Establish the amount still owed on the company loan.

  6. Set up a bank account in Carol's name.

  7. Close all other bank accounts associated with Clive and inform bank of situation.

  8. Work out how much money Carol has available and transfer to new account.

  9. Produce an Income and Expense forecast cutting back expenses where possible.

  'I don't have a clue how to start doing all that. Can you help me?' Carol pleaded. She had a vacant expression on her face.

  'We will ask Peter Taylor, the accountant Clive has been using for his business accounts, to handle everything associated with the business. I will try to help you with your personal affairs.'

  'Thank you, I feel more confident now.' She leant forward and kissed me on the cheek.

  'Did you find out what that bank account you found the chequebook for, was all about?'

  'Yes, he told me that he opened the account so as, the money he received from the loan, could be kept separate from all his other cash.'

  'That makes sense; did he tell you how much the loan was for and the residual amount he still has in the account from that loan?'

  'Yes, and it is quite mind boggling. He borrowed four million pounds from Luigi Bandarella, and he has only two point three million left. He currently has to repay one point seven million pounds sterling, plus the interest on that. Under the agreement, he must make payments of two hundred thousand pounds per month until the loan is cleared.'

  I was writing all this down as she gave me the details.

  'Did he also tell you how much he is currently behind in his payments?'

  'By the end of this month, he will be in deficit by eight hundred thousand pounds. That is why Luigi made Clive work for the mob in Australia.'

  'We have one thing going for us that may buy us a bit of time. There is still two point three million pounds in the special loan account. We can pay that back immediately which should take some of the pressure off.'

  'Who do we pay it to?' Carol asked.

  'At this point in time, I have no idea. I will ask Clive's accountant if he knows; he may have bank account details that have been used to make previous payments. I would say that it is highly likely that somebody will be in touch with you as they won't just write-off such a large sum of money. They may even make threats against you.'

  'If they do that I will be terrified and may panic and do something stupid.' She looked unstable.

  'If they do get hold of you, all you have to do is ask them to contact me. Don't get involved yourself. I'll handle it.'

  'What happens if they threaten my children again or even kidnap one of them?'

  'Luigi Bandarella, their big chief, was wiped out in Australia, so I think you will find that they will be careful. It might be wise for Nick to stay in the house when he is at home and for you to pick him up every day from school.'

  'I'll do that. You're sure he will be safe.'

  'I am seeing the Chief Inspector when I leave here. I will ask his opinion, but I think he will say the same as me. Just be careful and don’t leave things to chance.'

  'Is there anything else at the moment Vince?' Carol asked me.

  'I am free tomorrow so I will try and make an arrangement to see Peter Taylor. I will also make an appointment to meet with Julian Curtis to find out if anybody is interested in buying Clive's business. He said that he would get his son Frank onto the job.'

  'I'll make us a quick lunch if we are finished. Will a ham and cheese omelette do?'

  'That will be perfect.'

  'Give me ten minutes and it will be ready. Tea or coffee with it, Vince?'

  'I would prefer tea if that is possible.'

  'Tea coming up.'

  'I'm just going to the toilet. I won't be long,' I said.

  I was thanking my good fortune that I had a meeting with the Inspector for that afternoon. It gave me an excuse for fleeing Carol’s clutches as soon as lunch was over. During lunch, Carol gave me a blow by blow account of what had happened in Melbourne. It had been tiring, but she had enjoyed it. She informed me that she had no intention of ever going back there. Clive would have to get on without her.

  She gave me a warm hug and kiss in the hallway as I made my escape to go and meet the Inspector. It lingered slightly longer than it should have but was enjoyable. I could get used to the affection she poured on me, especially as I wasn't getting any at the moment from my wife.

  I was kept waiting the usual twenty minutes before I was told to go to the Inspectors office. Reggie hadn't turned up for some reason, but that wasn't a disaster as I had only invited him to keep him in the loop and introduce him to the Inspector.

  'How are you Vince; it is great to see you.' He indicated the chair that I should sit in.

  'How was Bulgaria?' he continued.

  'Do you want the shortened version or the full one?'

  'You had better give me the longer version as I haven't heard any of the details of this particular story before and, for once, I have the time.'

  'OK, here goes….'

  I spent the next fifteen minutes giving the Inspector a detailed account of our trip to Bulgaria, including how we had been lucky to escape the clutches of the mob.

  He waited
until I had finished before he asked me some questions.

  'I think that you mentioned that you saw eight expensive motorbikes being loaded on the ferry that was going to Batumi in Georgia.'

  'Yes, that's right; they obviously had another seven bikes stored at the warehouse from previous deliveries by the white van. I took the decision not to follow them on the ferry as I felt it was too dangerous.'

  'From what you were told later by the big boss of the operation, that was an excellent decision. I assume that you had no idea that the gangsters were on to you.'

  'No, we hadn’t seen any suspicious characters. The head man emphasised that they would have made sure that we didn’t reach Batumi if we had ventured onto that ferry. By now we would be food for the crabs on the bottom of the Black Sea.'

  'I gather from your comments that there is no hope of getting the Bulgarian police to arrest these Georgian gangsters. They seem to be immune from the law, and an integral part of the corrupt society.'

  'Inspector, there is absolutely no way that you could get the local police to help you. I was told that the authorities are taking steps to remedy the situation, but it could take years to correct the unruly culture,' I explained.

  'I have to agree with you Vince,' the Inspector replied after a thoughtful pause. ‘Our only hope is to stop the thefts at this end and stop the bikes leaving the country.'

  'I assume that terminates my involvement with tracking the motorbikes,’ I said. ‘Can I now focus on the luxury cars and the containers as Julian Curtis is getting pretty agitated?'

  'That would seem a sensible approach Vince and thanks for getting me that information on the motorbikes. Will you send me your Invoice for your fees and your expenses and I will get it signed off.'

  'I'll get it to you by the end of this week.'

  'OK, it's my turn now to bring you up to date on the luxury car situation,' the Inspector leant forward placing his elbows on his desk, changing his pose from listening to speaking. 'Are you still interested in helping me on this case?'

  'It is not a matter of helping you. It is part of the deal that I have done with Julian Curtis. I said that I would do investigative work for him if he got his son Frank to sell Clive's luxury car business, so I am committed.'

  'I had forgotten about that arrangement, Vince. So I am helping you rather than you helping me.' He smiled.

  'It is something like that Inspector.' I returned his smile. 'Anyway, go ahead and tell me what is happening.'

  'I'll take it from the beginning as things have been changing day by day. I am also not too sure what you have been told before. When the cars are stolen from the street, they are taken straight to a Container storage facility in Harringay. Once they arrive at the depot, they are placed in a container. The container is stored amongst a pile of more than three hundred that are on the site, so, to all intent and purposes, it vanishes.'

  'That's ingenious,' I interrupted. 'Unless you know they are there, you would never find them.'

  'It explains why we couldn't locate them up to now,' the Inspector added. ‘I should mention that all the containers that they are using are sky blue in colour so once you know about them, they are easy to spot.’

  'So where do they go from the Container company's yard,' I asked.

  'They are taken to the London Container Terminal at Tilbury Docks where they are loaded on a ship to be taken to Rotterdam.'

  'How do you know where they are going? Have you put tracking devices on them?' I asked. The situation was getting very familiar as we had used transponders on stolen vehicles before, with great success.'

  'Yes, we have managed to place GPS devices on each of the containers so as we can track them. We also have the unique identity numbers for the containers so we can find out what ships they are loaded on in Rotterdam. Every container being used worldwide has its own unique identity number.'

  'Where are they at the moment?' I inquired.

  'Eight of them are on their way to Rotterdam; however, I need your help, Vince?'

  'What on earth can I do to help?'

  'I remember that you have a business acquaintance in Rotterdam, and I was wondering if he could find out what ship or ships the containers are being loaded onto.'

  'Yes, I know Willem van Grimbergen very well, and he has helped me on cases before. He is a distinct possibility to get the information we need. I will phone and ask him.'

  'Go ahead, you can use my office. I'll go and get us a couple of coffees. You don't take sugar if I remember rightly.'

  'Just a little milk thanks.'

  I contacted Willem on his office phone as it was still office hours in Holland.

  The lady who answered put me through to him.

  'Vince, how great to hear from you,' he greeted me. 'Knowing you; there is some task that you need me to carry out for you. You only phone me when you require my services.'

  'How did you guess Willem? Before I ask you the business question, is everything OK with you and with Helga.' Helga was his wife.

  'Yes, we are fine, and she is very well, and how are you?'

  'I am good and still trying to give up the investigating, unsuccessfully I might add.'

  'Well, what do you need me for?'

  I quickly explained to him about the twenty-foot containers containing the luxury cars and explained that we needed to find out the names and ports-of-call of the ships the eight containers were loaded on.

  'I think that I can help you there Vince. I have a good friend who runs his own shipping agency. He should be able to get the necessary information for me. Give me all the shipping details of the containers and leave it with me for a few hours. I will come back to you.'

  'Willem you are a star. Thank you very much, and I will look forward to hearing from you.'

  'Go well Vince. I will get back to you soon.'

  He terminated the call.

  I was just finished talking to him when the Inspector struggled in through the door, clutching two mugs of coffee.

  'Well Vince, how did it go?'

  'Willem took the details and said that he would come back to me with the information.' I was pleased that I was able to help the Inspector.

  'Are you available to fly off to a destination, as yet unknown?' the Inspector asked me.

  'Within reason I am, and if I can't go, I have Reggie Talbot on standby to back me up.'

  'I thought that you said you were bringing him with you today. I wanted to be able to put a face to the name when you refer to him.'

  'I had arranged to meet him outside the police station just before two, but he didn't turn up.'

  As if on cue the Inspector's phone rang, and I heard him say - 'Bring him on down.'

  'Speak of the devil Vince, he has just arrived, and he is on his way to my office.'

  There was a knock on the door, and Reggie was shown in.

  'Sorry I am late Vince; there was an incident on the underground and the train stopped in the tunnel for over half-an-hour between two stations.'

  'Not to worry Reg. Let me introduce you to Detective Chief Inspector Baird.'

  He shook the Inspector's hand and sat down beside me.

  'There is a lot to explain to you Reg and I will tell you all about it on our way back to Putney,' I explained. 'I have suggested to the Inspector that you may be doing some of the travelling for me, so he wanted to meet you to put a face to the name. Your timely arrival has solved that problem.'

  'I gather that you are another military man Reggie. I don't know whether Vince mentioned it, but I also was in the Army before I joined the police force over twenty years ago.'

  'Yes, he did mention that you had been in the Guards.'

  'I had just finished my discussion with the Inspector so was getting ready to leave,' I explained. 'Now you two have met we can terminate this meeting.'

  'You'll get back to me when Willem contacts you, won't you?' The Inspector inquired.

  'I'll phone you on your mobile later, or, as soon as I hear anything,' I r
eplied.

  We shook hands and left the Inspector in his office. I knew my way to the exit as I had been here so often. We were soon on the street heading towards the station.

  Chapter 13

  'I didn't realise that your pal, the Inspector, is so old.' Reggie commented when we were sitting beside each other on the District Line tube train heading for Wimbledon.

  'He is in his late fifties and was due to retire, but they persuaded him to stay on for another year, against his wishes I should add. He works very long hours and is under a lot of pressure.'

  'How did you get to know him?'

  'During my first case the eldest son of my client was murdered. Chief Detective Inspector Baird was the police officer in charge of the case, so I got to know him quite well. With our similar military backgrounds, we make a good team.'

  'I think I remember you telling me that he saved your life, or his men did.'

  'That's right; his sub aqua team fished me out of the Thames at Henley.'

  'What did you discuss at your meeting that I arrived late for?' Reggie asked.

  'Basically, he told me they have discovered that the stolen luxury cars are being taken to a container depot in Harringay. There they are being placed in twenty-foot containers. These are then taken to the London Container Terminal at Tilbury where they are loaded on a ship to take them to Rotterdam. The Inspector’s men have managed to put tracking devices on each of the containers so, on a minute to minute basis; he knows exactly where they are.'

  'How many containers are being monitored at the moment?' Reggie asked me.

  'There are eight in the current batch.'

  'So what will be my role in all of this?'

  'Nothing at the moment Reg, but my plan is to send you to one of the ports the ship calls at to report on what happens there. My pal Willem, who lives in Rotterdam, is finding out where each of the containers we are following is heading for. I should receive the final destinations and arrival dates from him this evening.'

  ‘What’s your best guess as to where they could be going?' Reggie inquired.

  'The glib answer to your question is somewhere in the world. In other words, I have no idea.' I didn't think that it was anywhere in Europe or the Middle East, but after that, I couldn't even make an accurate guess.