An African Adventure (Vince Hamilton Private Investigator Book 4)

by Patrick Slaney

  'It's safe in a separate account. I want to pay it over to the debtor in the hope that we will be given more time to come up with the money still owed.'

  'I don't envy you sorting this whole mess out, Vince. Clive was very devious when it came to money, and I had great difficulty keeping him on the straight and narrow.'

  'Thanks, Peter; I look forward to hearing from you later.'

  Having talked to Peter, I was feeling a lot more confident. To take the pressure off, I needed to get the bank account details of the payee and lodge the money as soon as possible.

  Chapter 14

  I rejoined Carol in the kitchen so as I could get her input regarding the specification of the property she would like to purchase in Tonbridge.

  'Can I use your internet browser Carol; I need to find an Estate Agent in Tonbridge on Google. We need to get the ball rolling and start looking for a place for you?'

  'The computer is in the room that Clive used as his office. I'll boot it up for you.'

  We walked to the office together.

  'You sit down here Vince, she pointed to the chair in front of the computer, and I will put in the passwords for you.'

  I sat down and she leant across me putting her arms across my shoulders. Her breasts on my back forced me closer to the screen and I felt her warm breath on my neck. It was another of her intimate squeezes and left little to my imagination. She put in the passwords and brought up the Google screen; however, she didn't remove her arms from around me. I decided to ignore her in the hope that she would go away.

  I clicked on the Right Move site as I knew that it would include houses being sold by a range of agents. A screen came up asking me for details of what was required.

  'OK Carol, this is where you get involved. I need to fill in the details of what you are looking for.'

  She moved her head beside mine so as she could look at the form with me. Her cheek was now touching mine and her hair tickling my forehead.

  'What value is your maximum Carol?' This was the first question on the form displayed in front of us.

  'I have no idea Vince, what do you suggest?'

  'Let's start by putting in six hundred thousand pounds.'

  'Is that not too much, can we not get somewhere cheaper?' she replied.

  'You want a four bedroom home so the boys can have a room each and you also need space downstairs as you may want to entertain.'

  'I doubt if I will entertain much, but I do need to think about having my parents to stay. I don't want the boys to lose contact with their grandparents; on the other hand, if there were only four bedrooms I would have to disturb them when we had visitors staying.'

  'Let's say the minimum number of bedrooms required is five then,' I suggested.

  'How about bathrooms Vince?'

  'You definitely require an en suite for your room and it would be nice to have two other bathrooms for when the grandparents stay.'

  'I would like a garage Vince to hold the boys bikes and all the other junk that they generate, such as skateboards.'

  'Anything else that you can think of?'

  'A patch of grass where Nick can play football with his friends, alternatively a public park within walking distance,' Carol suggested.

  Carol moved her arms so as her hands were now across my chest. I was getting warm, in more ways than one, from her closeness.

  'Are you happy that the criteria match your needs?' I asked Carol, turning around to look at her.

  'Let's see what that brings up if you do a search,' she suggested.

  I clicked on SEARCH and a number of properties were presented.

  'That looks like an excellent property Vince,' she pointed to one in the list.

  I opened it up so as we could see more of the details. She pointed her finger at the screen to show me why she liked it. This action had the effect of giving me an even bigger squeeze from her right breast.

  'Why don't you plant your backside down here and have a look at the properties without me being in the way?' I suggested. ‘I’ll stand behind you.’

  'No Vince, I prefer to look at them together so we can discuss them. I will rely totally on your input as I am useless with this type of thing.' My attempt to escape from her clutches had failed and I continued to be held in a sexy squeeze.

  We continued to look at the properties, storing the most interesting ones for future reference. We even applied for further details for two properties that she really liked. She asked me to enter my mobile number on the form so as the agents would phone me rather than her.

  While we were still working through the list, my mobile’s ringtone went off.

  'Mr Hamilton, this is Ward Estate Agents in Tonbridge. You have sent us an email asking to see one of our properties. When can you come and view it?'

  'Hold on I will have to talk to my friend who is the one buying the property.' I put my hand over my phone.

  'When can we go to look at it?'

  'It's up to you Vince; when are you available?'

  'How about Wednesday morning at around 11.30am?'

  'That's perfect with me Vince. Gives us plenty of time to get there from London.'

  I took my hand away and talked to the agent.

  'We could be in Tonbridge at 11.30am next Wednesday if that is suitable.'

  'Yes, that suits me, Mr Hamilton. I will meet you at the house. It is number 12 Sussex Gardens, Tonbridge.'

  'I have that and I will see you on Wednesday morning at the house. Many thanks.'

  I terminated the call.

  'Can we pick another one that we want to see and perhaps we can view it on the same day?' Carol suggested.

  After a few more intimate moments, we picked another house and I telephoned the agent. Fortunately, they were able to see us at 1.30pm on the same day.

  'Those look like two interesting properties Vince,' Carol said. ‘The price of the first one is four hundred and fifty thousand pounds and the other is six hundred thousand pounds so we will get a good comparison.'

  'I think that you have chosen well,' I gave her a congratulatory peck on the cheek. 'Let's hope they are as good on the ground as they look in the photographs.' She tightened her arms around me, pressing her cheek onto mine. It would have been so easy to take it further as my blood was warming up and I was starting to have naughty thoughts!

  She moved back when she heard Nick calling for her. I said a silent prayer for Nick!

  'I'm in here with Uncle Vince,' she called out.

  'What are you doing Mum?' He asked as he came into the study.

  I was tempted to reply, 'sexually assaulting Uncle Vince'!

  'We are looking at available houses in Tonbridge where Brian and Alex's school is. We are going to see two of them on Wednesday.'

  'Can I go and see them with you.' He looked pleadingly at us.

  'Definitely not; you have to go to school.'

  'Ah, Mum; please.'

  'No Nick; you have been off school today because you said that you were sick. You miraculously felt better about half-an-hour after school started.'

  'I'm still a little bit sick.' He put on a sad face.

  I looked at my watch. It was 2.15pm and I needed to get going if I was to be at Victoria's school in time to pick her up.

  'I have to go, Carol, otherwise I am going to be late for Victoria and she gets very upset if I am not waiting for her when she comes out of school.'

  'Thank you for coming to sort those things out, Vince. Will I see you tomorrow after you have had your meeting with Julian Curtis?'

  'Yes, I should be finished with him around 11.00am and I will come straight here.'

  'Nick go and wait for me in the kitchen.' She who must be obeyed had spoken and he left us.

  I shut down the computer and stood up.

  She came towards me and put her arms around me and gave me a lingering kiss full on my lips. She took me by surprise and I had no defence. Mind you I didn't particularly want to put up a barrier. In fact, I moved up my arms and
held her.

  She tilted her head back a bit but still held on to me.

  'Vince, I really appreciate what you are doing for me. I couldn't have done it all on my own. I wish that we had become a unit when we both finished school instead of going off in our own different directions.'

  She put her head on my shoulder and started to sob. I held her tighter and patted her back as I was feeling a lot of emotion and I didn't want to see her crying. Her closeness was still having an effect on me.

  'I'll support you through all of this so there is no need to worry,’ I said to her. ‘You'll soon be looking back on this period of your life wondering what all the fuss was about.'

  'Will you sleep here tomorrow night Vince, we can then get an early start on Wednesday?'

  'I don't think that would be the wisest thing to do Carol. I will come over early on Wednesday morning. It's the safer option.'

  She looked very disappointed that I hadn't taken the bait. It didn’t tax my imagination too far to work out what her plan was.

  I gave her one last kiss, broke our embrace, escaped the house, and headed for the train station.

  The rest of the afternoon went as previously arranged and I performed my fatherly duties with an A grade rating. I even cooked the dinner and had it ready by the time that my wife got back from the boutique.

  The following morning I was at the InterContinental Hotel at the pre-arranged time and Julian Curtis was waiting for me.

  'Would you like coffee and croissants again Vince?' He asked me.

  'I'll just have some coffee thanks,' I replied.

  'I have already ordered so you can just leave the croissants if you don’t want one.'

  'What do you want to talk about first Julian, the car thefts or the sale of the Newsome business?' I started the conversation.

  'Let's begin with the theft of the cars as that is closest to my heart.'

  'Well, since I last saw you, things have progressed. We now know where the cars are being stored immediately after they have stolen them. We have also found out how they are getting them out of the country.'

  'The Inspector told me that they are using twenty-foot containers; is that correct?' Julian inquired.

  'Yes, and they are using those containers to move the cars to the part of the world where they are selling them.'

  'Do you know the exact location they are going to?' Julian interrupted.

  'Of the batch of eight that are being shipped at the moment, three containers are going to Mombasa in Kenya, and the other five are going to East London in South Africa. We have the details of the agent who is handling the shipment from the African end. In addition to the paper trail, all the containers are sky-blue in colour and are being individually tracked.'

  'Where are they at the moment?'

  'They are on their way from Tilbury Docks in London to Rotterdam where they will be transferred to a larger ship for the run down into Africa.'

  'Well done Vince; this sound's fantastic. When are the police going to move in and recover the cars?'

  'I know that you want your cars back, but they are going to use the cars as bait to catch the thieves. A colleague of mine, plus a police officer from Inspector Baird's team, will go to Mombasa to handle the business there. I plan on going to South Africa to look at that end. I want to find out as much as I can about a man called Hansie Joubert who is the big boss of the operation.'

  'I am impressed Vince. I didn't expect such good news.'

  'OK, to get on to more mundane matters, is there any progress on the sale of Clive's business?' I asked.

  'Kevin and I have talked to various contacts of ours and there are some people who may be interested. The main attraction is the site and the superb frontage it has on a popular street.'

  'So do you think that it can be sold?'

  'Well, Vince, from my initial enquiries I believe that we should get something for it. Have you sorted out the massive loans that are hanging over the business?'

  'I have passed all the relevant information to Clive's accountant and he is close to getting things finalised. I should have a full set of accounts, including a statement of the assets and liabilities, in the next day or so.'

  'From my point of view, I want to get two people fighting for the business. If there is only one person interested, then we will get nothing for it. By Friday of this week, I should have some more information.'

  'Let's hope we can offload it as soon as possible,’ I said. ‘Without Clive there to drive the business it is going to die a death relatively quickly.

  We both stood up and shook hands.

  'I'll see you again soon Vince. Let me know if there are any further developments on the shipment of the containers.'

  'I will; I'll phone you if anything changes.'

  We went our separate ways once we reached the exit of the hotel.

  I was heading for Green Park tube station to catch the train to go and see Carol when my mobile rang.

  'Hi, Vince Hamilton here,' I answered.

  'It's Peter Taylor, Vince; is there any possibility of meeting me at the showrooms. I have some things that I would like to discuss with you.'

  'I am already on my way to catch the tube to St John's Wood so I can meet you in about fifteen minutes if that suits.'

  'That's perfect. I'm here already at the showrooms, so just go to Clive's office when you arrive.'

  'Will do; see you in a few minutes.'

  I headed down into the station, found the northbound platform, and in five minutes I was in St John's Wood.

  As usual, when I visited Clive Newsome's showrooms, the salesman got all excited when he saw a potential customer coming in. His face changed to one of disappointment when he realised that it was me and I wasn’t buying anything. I waved to the receptionist as I went up the stairs to Clive's office. Peter was sitting in front of his laptop with a look of concentration on his face.

  'Good morning Vince,' he said to me as he stood up to shake my hand. He sat down again in front of his computer.

  'Hi, Peter.' I took a seat opposite him.

  'I have found out some interesting facts and I think I have traced the bank account the money was being paid into.'

  'Was it paid to the Maserati agent?' I inquired enthusiastically.

  'You're very far off the mark Vince. Believe it or not, a few large payments were made by Clive to an Italian restaurant in Chelsea.'

  'You can't be serious?' Surely, if large sums of money were being paid to a restaurant, somebody would have noticed and said something.

  'I remember at the time asking Clive about the payments and he told me that he was investing in an Italian restaurant in Chelsea. Although it was strange, I thought nothing more about it.'

  'Did he like Italian food,' I asked, smiling at him.

  'He likes everything Italian. When he visited the various car firms in Italy, I believe that he also had a liking for the Italian women. He used to boast about his conquests when he got back to the showroom.'

  It was a casual throw away comment by Peter, but it struck me right to the core. He wasn't to know that I knew Carol so well. I wonder if she knew about his amorous Italian adventures.

  'What is the name of the Italian restaurant?'

  'It is called Coritos and the owner is a man called Alessandro Mariello.'

  'Do you fancy having lunch in an Italian restaurant in Chelsea?' I suggested with a smile.

  'I'm game if you are,' he replied.

  'Let's go and have a look then,' I suggested. 'Can you Google it and get the address?'

  It turned out that it was quite close to Knightsbridge tube station so we took the underground rather than a taxi.

  'What are we going to do when we get there Vince?' Peter inquired.

  'Hopefully, the owner will be there and we can ask him to clarify the payments. We will simply say that we are from a firm of auditors and we are certifying the accounts for Clive's business.'

  'If we take that approach we can also ask if th
ere are any outstanding payments he is expecting,' Peter suggested.

  'Let's see how far we can go before he clams up and gets scared.'

  We arrived at the restaurant and waited in a queue to be seated. It was obviously a favourite lunch time spot.

  We were shown to a table at the back of the restaurant by a tall and elegant lady. She apologised for the fact that all the better tables had gone and she suggested, rather snootily, that it might have been better to book.

  'Is Alessandro Mariello here?' I asked the lady who had shown us to our table.

  'He is not here at the moment, but he is expected shortly,' she replied.

  'I'd like to see him when he gets here. Can you pass on that information to him?'

  'Yes Sir, I will tell him as soon as he gets in.'

  She gave us a menu each.

  'Look at the prices,' Peter exclaimed.

  I skimmed my eyes down the price column. Nothing on it was less than fifteen pounds. The main courses were around the thirty-pound mark.

  'Don't worry Peter; I will put it down to expenses. Just have what you want.' I reckoned we wouldn't get out of the restaurant without having spent one hundred pounds plus.

  We were just starting our main courses when a very Mediterranean-looking man came over to our table. He looked to be in his early fifties but he was wearing well.

  'My name is Alessandro Mariello and my Manager told me that you would like to talk to me.' He had a strong Italian accent.

  ‘We came along for lunch hoping that you would be able to give us some information. Can you join us at our table please?' I was as polite and as non-threatening as I could manage.

  'It is a very busy time of the day for me and I have only just got here. Can I suggest that we leave it until you have finished your meal?'

  'That's fine; as long as we get a few minutes with you that's all we will need.'

  'I'll see you later then.' He returned to the front of the restaurant and took control making everybody increase their speed and improve the service.

  We were just finishing our coffee, about forty minutes later, when he came over to us and sat down beside Peter.

  ‘Did you enjoy your meal?’

  'Yes, it was delicious.’