The de Vere Deception (David Thorne Mysteries Book 1)

by Loy Ray Clemons

  He took off his boots and jacket, loosened his tie, and slipped off his shoulder holster. He called the front desk, asking to be called at five o’clock, before collapsing on the bed and drifting off to sleep.

  Chapter 66

  Forestal had continued monitoring the movements of Thorne’s Land Rover on the GPS receiver screen as it went back across the bridge in the direction of Place de la Concorde. Thorne’s Land Rover turned west on Voie George Pompidou and the Volvo followed at a safe distance, The Land Rover turned north on Av Marceau and headed in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe. At the circular roadway at the Arc, the Land Rover turned back east on the Champs-Elysées.

  Forestal said, “He’s going in circles. Get closer to him, he won’t recognize the Volvo. We’re in a bit of a quandary here, D’Autry. If Thorne’s going to meet someone, we have no idea where he’s going to meet them; when he’s going to meet them; or where he’s going to spend the night.”

  He looked down at the map on the screen of the receiver. “Fortunately, we have the transmitter secreted in the laptop’s briefcase. He’s not going to get rid of the laptop or the case.

  When he comes to ground, I’ll need you to shadow him. He’s never seen you before and you can call me back with his location. I should tell you our target is meeting a fence to dispose of some goods.”

  D’Autry negotiated a right turn and quickly responded, “I did not sign on for this. I understood I was to drive for you—nothing else. No—un ombre. No shadowing.”

  “How much extra would you want?”

  “When Mr. Kelly called me, he said I would be needed to drive around Paris, then drive to Zurich. At that point, I was to be out of it. There was never mention of—courir le barriére—that is, chasing a fence, or anything else except—shadow—a car. I am to drive—that is it. He said it would be a two day job. We agreed on ten-thousand Euros, half up front, the other half in Zurich.”

  Forestal was becoming impatient “How much, D’Autry?”.

  “Where is Kelly? I thought Kelly was to be involved in this.”

  “We’ve yet to hear from him. I can’t get him on his cell phone.” Forestal was louder now. “How much do you want?”

  D’Autry pursed her lips in thought. “I want another five-thousand—that is, if you want me involved in something other than just driving—and I want all the money now.” Forestal reached into a briefcase, counted out the amount, and handed her another sheaf of notes that she stuffed into her jacket pocket.

  The Volvo stayed back within a few hundred feet and Forestal continued to monitor Thorne’s Land Rover on the GPS receiver screen. As they approached the Le Claridge Hotel on Champs-Elysées Forestal saw Thorne emerge from the Land Rover and go inside. He said hurriedly, “Pull up and stop. I’ll drive around the block. Hurry inside and follow him to the front desk, stand next to him, and listen as the receptionist gives him his room number. If you can’t find the room number, follow him upstairs, but be discrete.”

  D’Autry followed Thorne inside and stood next to Thorne as he registered. After he left to go to his room, she asked the receptionist for directions to a restaurant. She returned to the curb and slipped in on the passenger’s side. “He’s in room number 312 and his name is David Riley.”

  Forestal assessed their situation and said, “We know where he’s staying, but how about the meeting with the fence? Where and when will the meeting take place? ”He turned back to D’Autry. “I think he’s smart enough to meet the fence in the lobby first. He’ll feel safer in a public place and have a look at who he’s dealing with, maybe even do the transaction in a corner of the lobby—even though that’s doubtful.”

  “How large and crowded is the lobby? Are there any private rooms or seating areas where you can monitor his movements?”

  She replied, “The lobby is large.” There are trente—thirty—people milling around and waiting. There were a few seating areas in a corner that would be good for me to use. I could see him from the corner.”

  “Good. Here’s what we’ll do.”

  Chapter 67

  The ring of the telephone roused Thorne from sleep. He stretched, looked at his watch, and went to the bathroom. After he had showered and shaved, he slipped his sports jacket on over his shoulder holster and went downstairs.

  D’Autry returned to the front desk at four o’clock and registered for a room, telling the receptionist she’d be meeting someone later and would wait in the lobby until they arrived.

  She positioned herself in a chair where she could see the elevators and the front desk, and opened a magazine as she waited for Thorne.

  At five-forty, Thorne emerged from the elevator and went to the front desk. He asked the receptionist a question before going up the stairs to the mezzanine and sat at a table.

  D’Autry changed chairs where she also had a view of him out of the corner of her eye. From behind her magazine, she dialed her cell phone and called Forestal. “He is here. He is at a table up on the mezzanine. He’s looking at front desk like he is waiting for someone.”

  “Fine. When his contact shows up, get on the elevator with them and make sure they go to his room on the third floor and not to his contact’s room on another floor. Then call me and confirm where they are.”

  Thorne sat at a table on the mezzanine reading a newspaper and glancing up from time to time to see if Henri Delain had arrived at the front desk. He glanced at his wrist watch. Five-fifty.

  Five minutes later two men approached the front desk. One was a small slender black man in his thirties. He wore a stylish dark blue chalk-stripe double-breasted suit with a white shirt and pink tie. Undoubtedly this was Delain. The other man was taller and heavier, and carried two large black briefcases. He was wearing a fur-collared overcoat and a Glen plaid cloth hat.

  Thorne recognized him immediately. It was Leopold Darver from Antwerp.

  Thorne leaned back in his chair and pushed it back a little further to keep out of their line of sight. He wanted a few minutes to think.

  How had Darver come back into the picture? It had to be mere coincidence. Evidently, it was well-known among smaller dealers—small-time fences like Delain—Darver was a major player in Europe at moving large diamonds. It had to be that. There was no other explanation. The mention of a rare and historical gold necklace had piqued his interest. Perhaps Darver had assumed it was the same people he had spoken with in Stratford—Hollister, Forestal and the other partner. The nameless man Darver had met only once at the castle.

  Thorne went down the stairs to meet them, keeping his hands in his pockets. Behind his glasses, his eyes moved from man to man. Neither had ever seen him as David Thorne and most surely not as David Riley.

  “Mr. Delain, I’m David Riley,” Thorne said without offering his hand.

  Delain spoke softly and held out a soft brown hand in greeting. “Mr. Riley, I’m pleased to meet you. This is Mr. Sansome. He deals in this type of thing and has agreed to associate with me.” Thorne ignored the outstretched hand and Darver’s phony name. Darver stared at him and said nothing.

  Without smiling, Thorne said, “Perhaps we should retire to my room upstairs.” After catching the eyes of the two waiting bellmen, Thorne led the two men to the elevator.

  Just before the elevator door closed, D’Autry rushed into the elevator and apologized. She started to press a button and stopped. “Oh, I guess we have the same floor.” During the ride up to the third floor, she busied herself with a map, and no one spoke as Darver cast admiring glances in her direction. When the elevator door opened, she stepped out first and stopped, letting them pass as she continued to study the map. She followed them down the main corridor, fumbling in her purse for her card key. Thorne and the others stopped at room number 312 and waited as she continued walking down the main corridor.

  D’Autry turned right at the end onto a secondary hallway and waited. She heard the door close and waited a few minutes before starting back to the elevator. When she looked back into the m
ain corridor, she saw the two bellmen had arrived and were standing across from room 312. She ducked back into the hallway and waited another five minutes before checking again. When she checked again, they were still there. She realized they wouldn’t be leaving.

  Halfway down the small hallway was a door she took to be a linen closet. She opened the door and found a good-sized closet with towels and linen stacked on the shelves. She ripped a sheet into long wide strips and placed them on the shelf where they would be easily accessible. She closed the linen closet door and walked back down the main corridor, stopping when she reached the two bellmen.

  Speaking in French, she said, “Pardon me, but are you two busy?”

  “Yes ma’am,” the shorter one said. “We have to stay here.”

  “Oh, that is too bad. I wonder if one of you could help me. My window is stuck and it is unbearably hot in my room. I cannot seem to get it up, perhaps . . .”

  The short man looked at his partner. “I suppose it would be all right if I just popped in and helped you, ma’am.” To the other bellman he said, “I will be back in a wink.”

  As they disappeared around the corner to the secondary hallway, she drew a small automatic pistol from her jacket pocket. Placing her fingers to her lips for silence, she showed the gun to the surprised bellman. She pointed to the door of the linen closet and indicated for him to go in.

  Inside, she handed him a long cloth strip from the sheet and instructed him to sit on the floor and tie his feet. She then told him to tie a slip knot in a strip and face the wall with his arms behind him. She wrapped the loop around his hands and pulled it up tight, adding a few knots to secure it. Then she wadded up a few strips and stuffed them into his mouth.

  She returned to the other bellman. “I’m afraid I’ll need both of you. It’s stuck tight.”

  He looked at the door across from him. “All right, but I have to come right back.”

  Once around the corner she repeated the same procedure, with the second bellman and returned to the main corridor. On her way back to the elevator, she opened her cell phone and called Forestal. “We are all clear. There are three of them in room 312.”

  “Good, come back downstairs and meet me outside the loading dock behind the kitchen.”

  D’Autry went out the rear door of the kitchen and found the Volvo and Forestal. She asked, “Now, what?”

  Forestal said, “I’ll go through the kitchen while you wait here. I’ll get the goods and return in less than fifteen minutes. Then we’ll be on our way to Zurich. I can’t reach Kelly on his cell phone, so I have to assume he’ll return to London on his own.”

  Chapter 68

  Once inside the room, Thorne sat on the edge of the window seat and motioned for the two men to sit on the small loveseat against the opposite wall. After they were seated, Darver immediately took control of the conversation. “I think we need to see the goods to determine if we’re interested. I assume you have them here?”

  Thorne paused and stared at Darver.

  Darver exchanged glances with Delain, waited, and said, “I have to be in Berlin this evening. If we could please proceed.”

  Thorne said, “May I see the money, please?”

  Darver opened the briefcases and turned it so Thorne could see the money. “Five-million in British pounds. Now, if we could see the goods.”

  Thorne went to the chair where he’d placed the packet and set the briefcase on the floor. He reached down inside the crease, removed the packet, and placed it on a desk.

  Darver removed a loupe from his coat pocket and pulled a chair up to the desk. He examined the scroll work on the outside of the packet before opening the flaps on the packet.

  When the last flap fell away Darver was momentarily stunned. Delain had moved behind him and froze as he stared at the necklace. Darver turned to look at Delain as the small man inched forward, his slender hand reaching out to touch the necklace. Darver put the loupe to his eye, bending forward as he examined the various stones. His attention returned to the large pink diamond, and he looked at it for a long time. He cleared his throat and fingered the packet. “This is an interesting piece.”

  Delain was mesmerized by the necklace. “Five-million?” he said, an incredulous look in his eyes. “Five million?” he repeated, as if he were in a daze.

  Darver gave Delain a reproachful look. “That’s what he said, right?”

  Darver turned to Thorne and repeated, “You’re asking five-million pounds, right?”

  Thorne didn’t answer. The previous experience at the park in the afternoon flashed before his eyes. He saw the old man and woman, the young overweight girl, the man in the suit, and the young boy giving back the coins to the old woman. The young boy had Thorne’s face. He looked at the necklace spread out on its velvet pad.

  Darver was impatient. “We’re not going to negotiate this. I repeat, five million, right? How many times do I have to ask you?”

  Thorne turned slowly to Darver. “No,” he said. “It’s not mine to sell.”

  Delain spun around. “What do you mean? You never told me it was not yours!”

  “What’s this?” growled Darver. He turned to Delain. “What’s going on here?”

  Thorne stood and went over to the desk. He folded the flaps back on the packet. “It has to be returned.”

  Delain’s high-pitched voice was intense now. “Returned? Returned to who?”

  “I have to return it to its rightful owner. It wasn’t mine to begin with.”

  Darver arose quickly and stood in the center of the room, dumfounded. “I don’t think I understand . . .”

  There was conversation out in the hallway and footsteps retreating. A knock on the door was followed by a faint voice. “Mr. Riley, this is the manager. May I see you? It should only take a minute.”

  Thorne was relieved. He knew Darver and Delain weren’t going to accept the necklace not being for sale. The manager and the two bellmen had arrived just in time. He went to the door and opened it. The door pushed in, shoving Thorne to one side.

  “Move over to the other side of the room, Thorne.”

  Darver stared at the man standing in the doorway. “You? I suspected you might be involved in this. Maybe you can tell me what’s going on here?”

  Chapter 69

  Forestal closed the door behind him. In his right hand was a snub-nosed .38 Service Revolver. “Well, this is a surprise, I must say, Mr. Darver.”

  Henri Delain was confused. He asked, “Who is this, Leo?”

  Darver said sarcastically, “This was one of the people who promised me this piece previously, but obviously he couldn’t deliver.” He turned his attention back to Forestal. “So, I suppose you sent this man here today to do—to do—what? I have no idea. Perhaps you can clear things up for us, Mr.—Mr.—I still don’t know your name?”

  Forestal ignored the question, motioned to Darver and Delain with his revolver and barked an order, “Both of you, over by the loveseat. You—Thorne—back to the wall next to them.”

  Forestal ran his hands over Darver’s and Delain’s coats and found nothing. He opened Thorne‘s coat, took the Glock from the holster, and tossed it on the bed.

  “All of you, face that wall and put your hands on top of your heads,” he ordered and went to the desk. His eyes widened as he looked at the necklace and the giant pink diamond. He asked, “How much is he asking?”

  Henri Delain’s voice wavered. “Five-million pounds.”

  Forestal laughed. “Five-million pounds? The Hope Diamond is valued at well over one-hundred million at around 45 carats. I should say this necklace would be valued at least twenty to thirty million pounds, and would fetch at least forty million at auction—probably much more.”

  He asked, “What about it, Mr. Darver? That pink is record size, and worth at least twenty million—right?” Darver started to turn away from the wall. Forestal snapped, “Keep your face to the wall.”

  Darver turned back to face the wall and said, “So, i
f you’re not in this with him—whoever he is—I’ll deal with you. He’s so confused he doesn’t even know who it belongs to. This Boy Scout says he has to return it to its rightful owner.” Forestal sneered at Thorne and glanced at the large black briefcase on the floor next to the loveseat.

  Forestal said to Darver, “I assume you have the money in that.”

  Darver said, “We’re good for another five million pounds if you want to deal. “I can get it, but not until I get back to Berlin tomorrow. Ten million pounds is a lot of money, but I’m sure I can set up other partners. I’m also sure I have a buyer once it’s appraised.”

  He asked, “By the way, where are your partners? Are they still in on the deal?”

  Forestal didn’t answer and went back to examining the necklace. He had what he came for and turned to Thorne. “All right, this has been taken care of. Now the documents. Where are the documents? Are they in that suitcase?”

  Thorne gave him a puzzled look. “What documents? What are you talking about?”

  Forestal turned to Darver. “The documents were also part of the sale also, were they not? Delain exchanged looks with Darver and Thorne and said, “We never spoke about documents.” He looked at Thorne. “What is he talking about?”

  Thorne realized now Forestal had thought he hadn’t only found the necklace, but also the de Vere documents. He said, “I don’t have the documents. They haven’t been found.”

  Forestal stammered, “We—I thought you had— I thought— I need to make a call.”

  He flipped open his cell phone and with the other hand pointed the gun at the three against the wall. He said, “All of you, keep looking at the wall. Don’t turn around.”