Doubled in Diamonds, page 13
The walls were faced with white tiles. Down one wall was a long row of stone basins fed by taps from a pipe that ran back to the far corner where there was a boiler affair that looked as though it could have driven the Queen Mary. The floor was red quarry tile with drain holes every few yards in a gully down the middle. Over the gully was a low table made of about four long slabs of marble and supported on equally spaced brick plinths. There were a lot of cobwebs in the corners of the ceilings and on the wall opposite the one with the basins, two long slits of window, high up, heavily barred, and giving a fine view of a healthy growth of nettles and docks.
In the room were Suma and Lian, and Arthur Fairlawn and Ryder Billings. Billings gave me a heavy, imperious nod and it was clear that he did not expect me to show any surprise at his presence.
Fairlawn flashed me a smile, said, ‘Good trip, old man?’ didn’t wait for an answer and jerked a finger at the chairs which Horace and I were to sit on. Both Suma and Lian gave little oriental inclinations of the head and little half smiles of welcome, and I wouldn’t have known which was which except for the fact that Suma still had sticking plaster on her left thumb.
On the table in front of Horace’s chair was his small equipment case. He put a hand on it caressingly, and smiled at the two sisters.
Suma said, ‘I brought it from your room.’
‘Thank you, dear lady.’
So, after a few suitable murmurs from everyone, the trade delegates from either side took their places. Ryder Billings was flanked by Hasler and Fairlawn. On the opposite side of the table were Horace, myself, and then Suma and Lian, two very neat figures in blue suits.
Before him on the table, Billings had a slim leather suitcase on which his big white hands rested gently as though it were some bird which might take wing. I kept feeling that in a moment he was going to open it and read the will. In fact I had a lot of feelings but the chief one was that of all the people there Horace and myself were the only ones who were not classed as parties of the first or second part. We were merely selling our services in a negotiation of great delicacy. And that meant – you have to face these things – that once the negotiations were complete we might for security reasons become expendable. It was a seat I’d sat in before, but I was worried about Horace. He was a nice old gent about to do an honest job of work and I felt responsible for him.
It was at this point that Billings – who had been making a little speech about the discomfort of our quarters, the need for secrecy, and everyone would understand that a rendezvous like this was better to remain unidentifiable, for some, in the interests of the security of all, and so on and so on, like some Minister of State explaining policy to his departmental chiefs, and all the time his big Nero head needing no fillet of laurel to make it clear that he wore the purple and the gods help anyone who tried anything funny – said:
‘So, now, let us get the business details straight.’ He tapped the case firmly. ‘Here are the diamonds and Suma and myself are agreed to accept the valuation put on them by Mr Goodenough. Correct?’
He looked at Suma and she just inclined her head, and very demurely she did it. But if he were a Roman Emperor who had temporarily swopped his toga for a Savile Row charcoal grey, two-button, lounge suit, she was a Chinese princess in a Dior number who still knew as much as he did about royal commands, plus all the old Manchu recipes for poison cups.
‘The valuation agreed,’ said Billings, ‘then drugs to the equivalent value, that is to say the value as shipped at Hong Kong, will be delivered to me at a time and place to be notified within the next week, the delivery not to be later than two weeks from today. Correct?’
‘Correct,’ said Suma.
‘No one,’ I said, ‘ever mentioned anything about drugs to me.’
‘You know now,’ said Lian, and there was a little edge in her voice.
‘What kind of drugs?’
‘Opium and heroin. But this hardly concerns you, Mr Carver.’
This was Billings giving me a ponderous brush off.
‘True,’ I said, making it sound apologetic.
Billings said, ‘After the valuation here, we will have this case sealed, your seal and my seal, and it will be handed over at the delivery point, examined, and the deal so completed.’
‘That is agreeable,’ said Suma.
You’d have thought they really were at a conference table doing a trade for machine parts against rice, instead of stolen industrials against opium at Hong Kong prices which meant that if Horace valued at a million then Billings was going to get a cargo which, delivered in France, would be worth three times, maybe more, than that. You had to hand it to him. Why should he sell for cash? And poppy juice was like water in China so why should they waste any of their foreign currency which was gold to them? Both sides here were on to a good thing. Both were happy. And it is nice for people to be happy – but not the people the Narcotic Squads all over the world have to deal with.
I sat there, looking very businesslike, because all the others were, and just for once I didn’t hate Sutcliffe too much for pulling me into this. And I made myself a promise – that if I had to break a leg I’d see that the Tung girls didn’t get their diamonds and Billings didn’t get his Chinese cargo.
I came out of an unaccustomed spin of honest indignation to hear Billings saying:
‘When this transaction is over, both parties satisfied, and the various participants dispersed, Suma and I have agreed that any subsequent breach of security by any member here present shall be a matter of mutual concern and action.’ He smiled and his head turned a little towards me, ‘The Chinese Republic does not want to have to make official denials of any kind about illegal drug trading. So there will be no indiscretions.’ His head moved again, his eyes resting for a moment on Horace, and then he looked briefly to either side of him, passing the injunction to Hasler and Fairlawn.
And after that Horace got down to it. The case was opened and the valuation began. But don’t run away with the idea that the moment the contents of the case were spilled on to the table it turned the place into Ali Baba’s cave. There was no sudden sparkle of light to hurt the eyes. The case held about two hundred envelopes, each about the size of a cigarette package. Most of them had trade names on them, different names, and on the face each one carried a typed code indication.
The only equipment Horace had was a small pair of diamond scales for weighing the bulk carat value of each package, and one of those eye-piece things that jewellers use when you’re trying to sell your mother’s gold ring because there’s a horse in the two-thirty that you must get a monkey on.
He had a pencil, too, and a pad and, as he went carefully through the envelopes, tipping tiny little piles of what looked like coffee sugar onto a glass tray in front of him, he made a note on his pad for each envelope. It was boring work and took a long time.
After about an hour Hasler disappeared and came back with a tray of coffee. Horace didn’t take any. Neither did Fairlawn. He just sat across the table from Horace and kept his eye on him the whole time, to make sure I suppose that he didn’t slip the odd packet into his pocket.
I went over to the far window with my coffee. Billings came up behind me and offered me a cigarette from a silver case.
I took one and said, ‘Congratulations on the deal,’
‘I am pleased with it,’ he said.
‘You should be. You’ll make at least three times the value of the diamonds out of it.’
‘Why not? I have a lot of people still to pay off.’
I said, ‘Going to distribute yourself?’
He shook his head. ‘I shall break it down into lots and sell to various agents in France. You are happy with the Tung girls?’
‘No complaints.’
‘Sometime, when something else comes up, maybe I can have first claim on your services? You impress me.’
It was damned condescending but it was sincere.
‘I should have thought that this little killing would have satisfied you for the rest of your life.’
He smiled gravely and shook his head. ‘I would be a fool to say that I didn’t care about money. But I care also for action, for arranging and organizing.’
I said, ‘You could always try the Bank of England or the Crown Jewels.’
He smiled, but I knew that it was only half a joke to him. Big men always nurse big dreams.
‘If I ever do, Carver,’ he said, ‘I’ll put you on the pay roll. And by the way, I owe you an apology.’
‘What for?’
‘The way you were handled in the Ascanti Club. If I’d known what kind of man you were I would never have been so crude. And if I’d known that you were eventually going to be working for Suma I would certainly never have had Bertina brought here.’
‘You deprived me of some pleasant company.’
‘But not for long. I want you to take her away from here with you.’
‘What?’
‘Oh, it’s all right,’ he said quickly. ‘I know that Suma has some more work for you to do, but she has no objection. Frankly I don’t want her in this house. I can’t keep her locked up in a room all the time. She’s a nice enough girl, and was never really involved in this affair directly. The less she knows the better.’
‘She must know enough already to interest the police.’
‘Quite. And I respect and trust her loyalty towards me. But one must always remember that accidents can happen. If, unhappily, things did go wrong, then the less she knows the less she can be forced to tell. You will appreciate that I am thinking of her as much as myself.’
I didn’t openly dispute that. He was the big father figure, wanting to do his best for the innocent girl who had got herself all mixed up.
He went on, ‘In the next few days, I’m going to have potential buyers coming here. I have their security to consider. I don’t want Bertina around. She might see these men, hear things… all this adds up to a risk I don’t want to take.’
I said, ‘And what’s Bertina’s reaction?’
‘She quite understands. Your work won’t take you long and then she can go back to London. But I don’t want her in London until this crucial period is over.’
Neither did I. The moment Bertina showed up at the London Airport Customs counter then Barnes would grab her. And that was the last thing I wanted. I wanted room and time to manoeuvre so that I could find a way out for Bertina.
‘Fair enough,’ I said.
‘Good. In an affair of this kind the only factors that count are loyalty and as complete security as one can possibly arrange for the safety of all concerned.’
I suppose I should have said Amen. Instead I was thinking of the reception I’d had from Bertina. She might be obediently doing what Billings wanted – but clearly she didn’t regard it as any pleasure. And, anyway, somewhere trickling up my spine was a faint current of uneasiness.
Maybe, he sensed it. He put out a heavy hand and gave me an avuncular pat on the shoulder, and one of his comforting senatorial smiles. And that was that.
* * *
The newspapers at the time of the robbery had talked about a two-and-a-half-million-pound job. No doubt the insurance companies had faced, and were still arguing about, claims that totalled somewhere around that amount. Everyone should have deep sympathy with insurance companies, for the whole frail world is against them. A live coal pops out on to a piece of drugget worth a couple of quid, and dad is after the insurance company for the price of a new Hamadan. You scrape your mudguard against the garage door and, if you’ve got any sensible kind of human frailty at all, you try to work the insurance company for a complete re-spray job.
Horace’s valuation was a few hundred over a million pounds.
It didn’t seem to worry Billings at all. He accepted it in the manner of a man who has already had his own private valuation done and knows that he is not being cheated. The diamonds were packed back into the suitcase and the Peking and Ascanti Club seals were put on it.
Horace and I were taken back into the main hall by Hasler. The others disappeared into some other part of the house.
Hasler took his duties seriously. Bertina was not in the hall, but the table of drinks was. Reluctantly Hasler allowed us time for refreshment after labour. He then led us into a smaller hall and up a flight of stairs to a thick oak door. Beyond it was a stone-flagged corridor with doors opening off it. Horace and I had adjoining bedrooms.
Before Hasler left me in mine, he said, ‘Goodenough will be going off early in the morning on his own. You and Miss Brown follow later.’
He went back along the corridor. I gave him a few minutes to get clear and then I went back to the big oak door. It was locked. Coming back I went into Horace’s room. It was a small room, exactly the same as mine, with a bed, a chair and a washbasin. We had been provided with pyjamas, electric razor and the various odds and ends we would need for the night. Horace was lying on his bed smoking and staring at the ceiling.
I said, ‘Well?’
He said, ‘Just over a million. Never believe what the papers say.’
I said, ‘We’re not going to get much social life here.’
‘There never is. Cagey. They always are. You do your job, get paid and get out – fast. Frankly I’m surprised we’re staying overnight.’
‘Maybe Hasler likes having us.’
He turned his head to me, screwed up his eyes as though he were contemplating beginning a portrait, admiring my fine bone structure. ‘I’ve heard of him. In my book, he’s strictly from the dark side of the moon.’
‘Poet as well as painter.’
He went back to contemplating the ceiling. ‘Just at the moment,’ he said musingly. ‘I’m trying to decide where to go when I leave here. Rome for a few months, I think.’
‘Plenty of scope for water colours there.’
Back in my room, I flicked on the light and went to the window. Four feet away the light from my room illuminated a blank brick wall. Maximum security. It was a big house undoubtedly, and probably deep in the country. And Billings had things well organised. His buyers were on their way. Once he had the drugs it wouldn’t take him more than two or three days to get rid of them.
I turned away from the window and dropped onto the bed. I smoked and stared at the ceiling, and I began to muse. It was an exercise I took often. Cheap hotel rooms were the best place for it.
Even down in the basement during the valuation it had been plain to me from various little looks and movements that Fairlawn and Lian were great and good friends. Fairlawn could never go back to England again. He’d probably got his new life all set up and waited only for his money. But wherever he went it would break up his friendship with Lian. But I didn’t suppose that either of them were the kind to suffer long from heartbreak. Billings was all right. He could go back to London and nobody would have a thing on him… I smiled to myself. There would have been a great deal more than heartbreak among them down below if they could have known about concealed Carver… Loyalty and maximum security for everyone concerned. Now, there was a brace of Christian principles that would bear some thinking about… I did, very hard.
But ten minutes later I was interrupted by the sound of the heavy door at the end of the corridor opening, Then I heard voices in Horace’s room.
A few moments later Suma came into my room. I rolled to a sitting position on the bed and she sat on the chair opposite me.
I saw at once that she was in her Manchu princess mood.
She said, ‘I have paid Horace.’
‘Good.’
She fished out the gold holder I had given her, and I lit a cigarette for her.
She gave a little smile of thanks, but didn’t hold it for long. Her mind clearly was full of business. So was mine, but as she crossed one leg over the other, my interest faded for a moment. I didn’t like this drug business, but the movement of nicely shaped legs brings an automatic response. Even so, as far as I was concerned, I just wanted to keep our relations from now on strictly business ones – and I hoped it wasn’t going to be too difficult.
‘Mr Billings has spoken to you about this girl Bertina?’
‘Yes.’
I got the little brief smile again.
‘I thought you liked her.’
‘So I do,’ I said guardedly.
‘It is only for a few days. Until we can deliver the drugs to Mr Billings.’ She smiled and this time held it much longer and put out a hand and touched my knee. ‘And you need not think that I shall be jealous. You and me – that was very nice. But we do not make up any fairy stories about it. When we have work to do – then it is just work.’ Her hand left my knee, I had a nice sense of relief which I was careful not to show, but I knew that I had just been handed my romantic cards and that suited me. Some things just have to be done for the sake of the nation, but even with people like me there are limits.
‘Let’s stick to the work, then.’
‘That is why I am here. You listen carefully.’
‘Very carefully.’
Concisely she laid it all out for me. It was all very neat, and I saw at once that – given goodwill on Bertina’s part – then she would be no trouble.
When Suma had finished she stood up and I went to the door with her.
Holding it half open, I said, ‘Do you stay here tonight?’
‘No. I leave now. But as I said, I shall see you in a few days.’
‘And Lian?’
‘She has things to do.’
‘No business of mine, eh?’
‘It is good only to know what you have to know.’
‘Well, I know something about Lian. She’s got a big thing going for this Arthur Fairlawn.’
Suma smiled. ‘Lian is like that sometimes. But it means nothing. While it lasts, it lasts. When it is over then she does not give it one thought. In our work, our lives, how could it be otherwise? You should know that.’
‘None better.’
She smiled again and her little hand touched my sleeve. Just for a moment her lips came up and brushed against mine and then she was out of the room, From the doorway I watched her go down the corridor. Hasler was waiting at the door. He opened it for her and they went out together. I heard a key go in the door. I stood there, wondering for a moment or two about Lian. Just how good a character judge was Suma, I asked myself? If it came to that, just how good a character judge was I? I didn’t know, but I did know that if you had doubts about anyone then the only thing to do was to take precautions. Just at this moment the voltage in the current trickling up my spine had been stepped up and I knew that I wasn’t going to take any chances.
