Arbitrage

by Colette Kebell

‘What about you, Amelia.’

  ‘As Ryan said, we begin a new career. It is certainly more exciting than spending my days dealing with divorces and buying and selling real estate. We have lots of things to catch up on, Ryan and I; we have been separated for far too many years. And I’ll start writing novels, that’s what I’ve always wanted, but haven’t yet had the courage. I also have a personal matter that still requires addressing, but much of the money will go to charity.’

  The rest of the group did not ask, although each of them had a suspicion of what Amelia would do afterwards.

  CHAPTER 47

  The last thing Price remembered was that he was returning home after work. He had entered the witness protection programme, and Interpol transferred him, along with his family, to Naples in Florida. They found him a job as a clerk in a travel agency, a new identity, and an apartment with a decent view of the Gulf of Mexico. His eyes were still clouded, but he knew he was not at home. He was lying on a table and any attempt to move failed. His sight slowly returned, and he understood he had been tied to a table, completely naked. It was a room engulfed in semi-darkness, a filament light bulb faintly illuminated the room. He looked around and panicked.

  On the table beside him, equally bound was Bruno Mortcombe, also naked. White and motionless, but what terrified Price were the many wounds on Mortcombe’s chest and arms. His face was swollen from beatings. He saw his chest rise, a sign that his father-in-law was not yet dead. Not yet, but almost. Mortcombe had disappeared months before, soon after Price had been arrested. Nobody knew where he went, despite several international arrest warrants. It seemed he had failed to escape the Russians.

  Sokolov’s inlaid axe was resting on a small trolley nearby, still stained with blood. At the base of the table upon which Mortcombe lay, a little dog, definitely a mongrel, was licking the blood that had fallen to the ground and had not yet clotted.

  The door opened and three thugs entered.

  The first one to speak was a giant with a red beard and biceps the size of basketballs, covered with tattoos.

  ‘We want our money back. If you cooperate, your deaths shall be quick, otherwise you and this traitor will suffer like dogs. We will cut you piece by piece until you have given us the information we seek. Sokolov went to pee, he will return in a few minutes.’

  Price did not know where he was and had no idea what had happened to the money. He wanted to shout that he didn’t know anything about the money, that he had been the victim of a scam, but a knot in his throat wouldn’t allow it. He no longer had any money and doubted whether Mortcombe had three hundred million. Even by selling houses and draining bank accounts, they wouldn’t even come close.

  He began to weep.

  CHAPTER 48

  It was a cold and rainy morning, and Anders Nilsson worked as a bartender at Julian’s in Windsor. He had started working there a few weeks before, and the place was busier than usual. Domino had just finished breakfast and was posing as a regular customer. She was sitting on a coffee table next to a certain Roger Denton, local entrepreneur and greedy person.

  They had got out of prison a month before, earlier than expected due to good behaviour, and they were following a reintegration programme. Not that it was working. After the conmen were arrested in Brighton, Interpol and the local police had focused their attention on the Russian mafia. Having found no conclusive evidence on the gang, they had been arrested for attempted fraud and had been sentenced to three years in prison, then discounted to only one, to serve in the homeland galleys of Her Majesty the Queen.

  The Brighton con had been a disaster and had in fact dried up their finances; the biggest surprise came during the investigation when they discovered that their accounts had been emptied also. And so they were back to square one, doing short cons, just to get back on their feet.

  Anders approached Domino carrying the bill.

  ‘I think I forgot my purse at home,’ said the woman, desperately looking in her handbag. ‘I don’t live far away. If you could wait, I could come back in about ten minutes with cash.’

  ‘Really, I couldn’t,’ said Anders.

  Domino was red in the face with embarrassment. ‘Look, I have a proposal? This brooch belonged to my grandmother, it’s an object that I’m very fond of. I don’t know how valuable it might be, but my grandmother always said that one day it would help me get out of trouble. I think it’s valuable. Why don’t you keep it while I go home? I swear I will return in about ten minutes.’

  ‘I don’t know, I should ask the owner …’

  ‘Please,’ implored Domino.

  ‘OK, OK but please don’t rip me off. I’ve only just been given the job here.’

  ‘Don’t worry.’

  Domino stood in a rush from her table and headed for the exit. Anders was back behind the counter when he heard someone calling him. They were two smartly dressed gentlemen, tailored clothes for sure.

  ‘Would you mind showing me that brooch for a moment?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Anders approaching the table.

  Marcus Splinter looked at the brooch for a few moments and then thundered, trying to be heard by their target, Roger Denton. ‘Like I said, Hank, it’s a Faberge brooch. See the punching here on the side? And then this aquamarine is a pretty stone, and the diamonds appear to be of excellent quality. Your client left a pledge of ten thousand pounds,’ said Splinter, returning the brooch to Anders.

  Domino returned a few minutes later and paid cash for breakfast, upon the return of the valuable brooch. Roger Denton followed her out of the bar, trying to gain the bargain of the century; he would offer her a thousand pounds in cash for that gem and if she did not want to sell, he would offer much more, there was an ATM machine just in front of the bar.

  ‘So, going to jail taught you nothing!’ said Amelia. The woman was sitting nearby, but due to the hat she was wearing, the big sunglasses and her hair having been dyed black she was unrecognisable.

  ‘Amelia!’ said Anders, flabbergasted.

  ‘Look, our Miss Mortcombe is alive and well,’ said Splinter composedly. ‘You left us in deep trouble after cleaning us out.’

  ‘Shall we kill her here or outside?’ hissed Hank, ‘As far as the authorities are concerned she is already dead, that shouldn’t be too much hassle.’

  ‘Calm down, let’s hear what she has to say first,’ said Splinter.

  ‘I’m here to make amends, especially to Anders’ she said, rising from the table and then standing in front of them, ‘Do you mind if I sit down?’

  ‘We like to hear a good story,’ said Hank.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re alive!’ said Anders picking up a chair and sitting right at her side.

  ‘I wanted to apologise to you, Anders, first of all. I didn’t know you were part of all this when I fell in love with you. Yes, I’m not afraid to say it out loud. For us, you were just a group of con artists we needed for our own scam.’

  ‘Hang on a second,’ said Domino, who had returned and now sat between Splinter and Hank. ‘We chose you, not the other way around.’

  ‘That is not entirely true,’ said Amelia. ‘Corrigan, the Interpol inspector, pointed us in your direction. We paid a journalist for a series of articles on me and the bank; it was just a matter of ensuring you picked up the right newspapers. Failing that, we had alternatives but we didn’t needed them in the end.’

  ‘Corrigan was in your pocket all along?’

  Amelia carried on explaining that Logan was her natural father, not Bruno Mortcombe; she told them about the years Logan had to spend in jail, innocent. She explained how Corrigan was the one who arrested Logan and how he felt guilty for having contributed in ruining his life. He wanted to make amends. She also explained how she eventually met her own father, thanks to Albert Romanov.

  ‘The one from the letter,’ interjected Anders.

  ‘Exactly him. He was like an uncle to me, and although in the end he went rogue, he still has a place in my heart.’
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br />   ‘It doesn’t make sense,’ said Splinter. ‘We decided to switch target from you to Robert Price.’

  ‘Not entirely true. At that point, you’d already approached Logan, so we knew we were in the game. We placed a couple of actors when I had lunch with Price, to spread some well devised rumours. We knew most of you anyway, thanks to Corrigan.’

  ‘She is good,’ said Hank, ‘maybe we should ask to join us?’

  They all laughed, which helped releasing the tension that was building up.

  ‘I didn’t know at that point you were involved, Anders.’

  ‘When did you learn that?’

  ‘On the way to Scotland. Logan got suspicious and asked me to send him a photo of you, he eventually checked with Corrigan, which confirmed who you really were. The fact is, at that point I didn’t care. I was too involved with you and I would have left everything if you’d said the word. I was prepared to disappear forever with you.’

  ‘Funnily enough,’ said Anders, ‘I had the same feeling when we were at the train station. I was ready to run away with you and leave everything and everybody behind. If only you’d said the word … You know, I’ am also in love with you. Since I came back …’

  ‘Get a room!’ said Domino. ‘But only after Ms Mortcombe here explains how in hell they managed to con us.’

  ‘Conning is what you do best, so we let you run your game and we tagged along. There had been a few hiccups. For example, we didn’t expect the shootout in Scotland, nor that a hired gun would try to kill me. That was a lucky escape which played to our advantage.’

  ‘I trust Mr Logan is still alive?’ asked Splinter.

  ‘Alive and kicking. Corrigan shot him with blanks. I drove him away in the ambulance.’

  Hank shook his head. ‘I cannot believe we fell for that. We’ve used that trick ourselves, once, the only difference that the police raiding the office was real. I bet your friend Corrigan had something to do with it.’

  ‘And you would win that bet,’ said Amelia. She went on explaining how Konrad hacked into their computers and transferred the money away at the right time.

  ‘So, was it revenge or did you do it for money?’ asked Domino.

  ‘For us, revenge, and we wanted to put right a wrong. We didn’t think it would turn out badly for you and I’m here to make amends. A good amount of what we took went to charity. I hope this will be enough to compensate you for the trouble we gave you.’ And then, turning toward Anders, she said, ‘And for saving my life.’ Amelia put an envelope on the table and Splinter opened it. He looked at the cheque for a few seconds and then passed it on to Hank.

  ‘What’s the catch?’ asked Splinter.

  ‘No tricks. Like I said, you saved my life, and you did a good job, all things considered. I wanted to even the score.’

  ‘And we leave it like that?’ said Splinter.

  ‘With you, yes. As for Anders, well, he could drop me off at the airport if he feels like it. I have a private jet that leaves in a few hours to the south of France. He can even come along if he wants.’

  Anders was stunned, he didn’t know if it was because Amelia was still alive, because he really loved her, or just because he had been caught by surprise, but speech failed him.

  ‘What are you waiting for, you dumbass,’ said Splinter, ‘take off that apron and bugger off!’

  ‘Yes, yes …’ Anders managed to mumble, unable to take his eyes off Amelia.

  ‘What about your share?’ asked Hank, looking at the cheque.

  ‘Spend it! I already have everything I want,’ said Anders as he took Amelia’s hand.

  THE END