Facets of Death

by Michael Stanley

  WEDNESDAY

  Chapter 44

  Director Gobey’s request had presented the deputy commissioner with something of a problem. It was a reasonable and, in fact, necessary request to interview Debswana’s senior management. They needed to find out if there was any possibility that the backup plan had leaked out of Debswana’s head office in Gaborone. However, the matter was sensitive. There could be no suggestion that any of the men who captained Debswana were suspects. The situation needed to be handled carefully and tactfully. The deputy commissioner had addressed the dilemma by passing it on to his superior, the commissioner of police.

  That had led to all three of them—Gobey, the deputy commissioner, and the commissioner—meeting at 9:45 the next morning outside Debswana’s corporate headquarters. There was no question of demanding that the directors present themselves at the CID; the policemen needed to go to them.

  They were welcomed at reception by an attractive, smartly dressed young woman, who showed them into the boardroom. The commissioner’s eyebrows lifted when he recognised the man sitting at the head of the table.

  “I didn’t expect him to be here,” he muttered.

  The chairman waved them to three vacant seats next to each other and introduced himself. He was a large white man with a salt-and-pepper beard and penetrating grey eyes.

  “Thank you for coming, gentlemen. I’m the chairman of the De Beers group of companies, which, as I’m sure you know, is a fifty percent owner with your government of the Debswana company.”

  He turned to the commissioner. “Commissioner, I know you, of course. Perhaps you’d introduce the other two.”

  The commissioner did so, and then the chairman spent a minute or so introducing the men around the table. “Now, perhaps you will fill us in on just where you are with the case, and how close you are to making arrests and recovering our property.”

  The commissioner cleared his throat. “We can certainly do that. I just want to clarify that the purpose of this meeting is to help us trace who is behind the operation and—”

  “You’re not suggesting it was one of us?” one of the directors interrupted.

  “No, certainly not. I’m suggesting that you may be able to help us, if you’re willing to do so.”

  The chairman raised a hand. “Of course, we’ll help in any way we can. I have some suggestions about that. But first, the update.”

  The commissioner looked put out. “Very well.” He nodded to the deputy commissioner, who went through what they’d discovered, deliberately emphasising the importance of the leaking of the backup plan. He hoped they could move on to the questions quickly. This was not the normal way the CID made inquiries.

  At the end, the chairman leant back in his seat and stroked his beard. “In summary, Deputy Commissioner, you have deduced the rather obvious fact that this was planned and set up in advance. That somebody who knew about Jwaneng’s backup plan engineered a situation that could be used to exploit it. But you have no idea who that could be, nor how the box containing the diamonds was identified, nor where the stones are now. Not a lot of progress, is it?”

  “Sir, it has been only two days.” It was Gobey who responded. “I think we’ve discovered a lot in that short time. I realise you’re concerned about the loss of the diamonds, but—”

  “No, Director Gobey, you are quite wrong,” interrupted the chairman. “The retail value of diamonds is around fifteen thousand dollars per carat, so a hundred thousand carats would be worth one and a half billion dollars.” Gobey sat back, stunned by the number. “But that’s retail for high-quality cut-and-polished stones. We’re talking raw stones here. Jwaneng is a rich mine, and seventy percent of its stones are gem quality, but they need sorting, polishing, cutting, and then to be sold by our central selling organisation. That’s a lot of value-add.” The chairman shrugged. “I wouldn’t value the raw carats at more than, say, a hundred dollars a carat.”

  That was ten million dollars and still sounded like a lot of money to Gobey, but the chairman hadn’t finished. “So, from a financial point of view, this theft isn’t very significant to us at all. There will be a hiccup in our production this month, but we’ll use stockpiled diamonds to make up the difference. After a few months, it will all have smoothed out. There’ll be no significant impact on our bottom line.” He paused. “But that’s not the point. If these men get away with this, Botswana—”

  “They won’t get away with it,” the commissioner interjected. “We will bring them all to swift justice.”

  The chairman held up his hand, clearly unimpressed. “Please hear me out. I said ‘if.’ This is a reputational risk for us, Commissioner. Others will try the same thing. Botswana’s reputation as a safe country will suffer.” He was now addressing his comments to the commissioner with an unwavering stare. “Your reputation will suffer. Do I make myself quite clear?”

  The deputy commissioner had had enough. “Gentlemen, we all want the same thing. I assure you that catching the culprits is the top priority of the Botswana police. But we need your full cooperation. I trust we can rely on that?”

  No one around the table spoke. They were all looking at the chairman. “Of course,” he said after a moment.

  “Good. Then I’ll ask Director Gobey to proceed.”

  Gobey leant forward. “The key to this plot is the backup plan. We need to find out who knew about it and whether that knowledge could have escaped from this room.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to ask the people at the mine? Or the security company?” one of the directors chipped in. “Instead of wasting our time?”

  Gobey nodded. “We have. We’re following up every possibility. I’m sure you agree that we need to do that.” He glanced at his notes and turned to the man who’d interrupted him.

  “Mr. Delaney, were you aware of the Jwaneng backup plan?”

  Delaney nodded.

  “The details of it?”

  “Yes. I’m a member of Debswana Exco, and it was discussed there.”

  “Were there any documents about it in your possession before or after the meeting?”

  The man shook his head. “Debswana is very strict on security. Minutes are not distributed. There are central records that can be consulted by the directors if they need to.”

  Gobey hesitated. “Is it possible that you mentioned it to someone? Your secretary, perhaps? Or your wife?”

  “Are you suggesting I leaked strictly confidential company information? That’s outrageous!”

  This time there was no hesitation on Gobey’s part. “I’m not suggesting anything. I’m doing my job, and right now, my job is investigating a triple murder.”

  The deputy commissioner gave a small smile. He was glad that these men were being reminded that there was more at stake here than their batch of raw diamonds, which they didn’t even care much about. Lives had been lost.

  “Please just answer the director’s question, John,” the chairman chided. “Time is moving on.”

  For the next half hour, Gobey asked each of the directors whether they’d known about the plan and its details, and whether there was any possible way that information could have leaked from them to anyone else. After the initial exchange, the men around the table answered without argument.

  At last, Gobey had worked his way around the table. He turned to the chairman.

  “Yes, Director Gobey,” he said before Gobey asked, “I knew about the plan. I wasn’t convinced it was a good one, but I like our people to make their own decisions. And no, I told no one about it, nor did I discuss it with colleagues other than the ones in this room.” He paused. “Well, I hope that was useful to you.”

  His tone made it clear that he thought the exercise had been a waste of time. The deputy commissioner tended to agree. They’d learnt nothing, and if anyone present did know something or had leaked the plan, he’d lied about it.

>   There was a knock on the door, and the young lady from reception walked in and addressed the chairman. “Excuse me, sir, the deputy commissioner’s office phoned. They want him to contact them. They said it was very urgent.”

  Chapter 45

  Neo puzzled over Kubu’s voice message. Kubu really is strange, he thought. But he’s not stupid. He’d been right about the airlines suspecting foul play because of the number of pieces of luggage that had gone missing from a single starting airport—in this case, Seretse Khama airport in Gaborone.

  But now it seemed Kubu wanted to know about suitcases that had not gone missing. Neo shook his head. But unable to think of any reason not to do as Kubu requested, he phoned British Airways and was soon talking to the agent he’d spoken to before. The man was clearly getting a little tired of the issue.

  “So now you want to know if any suitcases missed the flight but then actually didn’t miss the flight?”

  “Umm, yes. At least the computer would say they missed the flight, but the passengers didn’t report them missing.”

  “Detective, is this supposed to be a joke? Our computers are one hundred percent reliable. All bags are scanned going onto the aircraft. It’s imperative for security. And I’ve never heard of a passenger forgetting to report that he’d lost his bag!”

  Neo squirmed, but then had an idea. “But what if a passenger picked up the wrong bag and took it home? And it was his bag that had actually gone missing? Then the wrong bag would be reported lost, wouldn’t it?” He held his breath.

  “Wait.”

  The minutes ticked by, and Neo wondered if he’d been cut off. Perhaps the man had lost patience altogether. But then at last the agent came back on the line, and his tone had changed.

  “I checked the flight record. There were seven bags that missed that flight from Johannesburg according to the computer record. But they were never reported lost, and no one’s said they took the wrong bag. But of course, seven bags were reported lost although they had apparently made the flight. How did you know about this?”

  “Oh, we’ve been thinking it through and making connections. That’s what detectives do, you know.” Before the man could ask any more questions, Neo thanked him and hung up.

  He was feeling much more confident as he phoned Air France. But he still had no idea what Kubu was driving at.

  Chapter 46

  When the deputy commissioner returned to the Debswana meeting, he looked around the table.

  “I have news. I’ve received important information you should all hear. The South African police contacted us half an hour ago. Last night, they attempted to stop an SUV crossing illegally into South Africa through the border fence. The men in the vehicle opened fire on them with automatic weapons, and the shooting continued until all the occupants of the vehicle were dead.

  “The SA police then discovered that the back of the vehicle was packed with animal hides. They remembered our alert and realised that the vehicle matched the description we’d supplied. Also, its number plate was consistent with what one of our men remembered. So, they pulled the skins out and found a box underneath. They believe it’s the raw diamonds, but the box was still locked so they didn’t try to open it. We’ll go over there to investigate right away. But it looks promising that the robbers have paid for their crimes and that your property has been recovered.”

  The chairman’s face broke into a smile. “That’s absolutely excellent news, Deputy Commissioner! I’m delighted.”

  The deputy commissioner held up a hand. “Of course, even if this is correct, we still need to find out how they got the information about the backup plan and so on. We must get to the bottom of this. No one must slip through the cracks.”

  The chairman nodded.

  The commissioner rose to his feet. “Gentlemen, please excuse us. We need to get to work on all this right away. Thank you for your time.” He took a moment to shake hands with the chairman, and then he left the meeting room, followed by the other two.

  As they walked, Gobey commented, “Pity all the robbers were killed. I’d have liked to get my hands on them.”

  The deputy commissioner sympathised, but he was already thinking ahead. “We’ll head straight out there with an armoured car, complete the formalities, and bring the box back to Debswana. They can open it and check the diamonds, and then the pressure is off. We can take our time to track down exactly what happened, and who was behind this.” The commissioner nodded, smiling.

  The deputy commissioner was smiling too. All three of them would come out of this well, even if it had been the South Africans who’d killed the robbers. Promotions might well be a possibility. He knew the commissioner was eying a job in the government. And that would leave his job available.

  He headed back to his office in high spirits.

  Chapter 47

  It fell to Director Gobey to lead the team to bring back the diamonds from South Africa. While he arranged the vehicles and uniformed police to escort himself and Sergeant Neo, the deputy commissioner smoothed out the legal niceties with Pretoria.

  Gobey planned to leave as soon as everything was in place and head south to Zeerust, about an hour and a half away. It was police from Motswedi, a small rural town well off the beaten track and not far from the border, who had stopped the SUV and killed the robbers. However, the diamonds and the SUV had been taken from there to the much larger and more secure facility in Zeerust.

  It took quite a while to complete the formalities and to receive the necessary faxed authorisations. Gobey used the time to leave instructions for Mabaku and Dow to continue their investigations through the afternoon, then to return to Gaborone that evening. He expected everyone to attend a meeting at eight the following morning. Recovering the diamonds and the death of the robbers was good, but there was still much more to be done.

  Finally, the deputy commissioner sent the required authorisations to the CID, and they could get underway. Sergeant Neo drove one of the police cars with Gobey in front and two constables in the back. A driver with two more constables followed in an armoured personnel carrier borrowed from the defence force.

  After negotiating the traffic in Tlokwane, delays at the border, and the unfenced roads through the villages of northwestern South Africa, they arrived at the Zeerust police station at three in the afternoon. Gobey looked at the rather ordinary building—a typical small-town police station—and wondered what Motswedi was like if this was the larger and more secure facility.

  Gobey and Neo were taken to Colonel Piet Venter, an Afrikaner policeman who had built a career in the ultraconservative rural towns of the old Transvaal.

  “Good afternoon, my friends. Sit, sit,” he said in heavily accented English. “Can I get you a coffee, perhaps, or a tea?”

  “Thank you, Colonel,” Gobey replied. “But we need to get back as soon as possible. We’ve brought all the paperwork.” He passed the file across to Venter.

  Venter nodded, opened the file, and started reading the faxed documents carefully.

  “Ja, this is just for the box, Director Gobey. We think these skelms are all South African, and it turns out the SUV was stolen in Johannesburg a few weeks ago. So, we’ll keep the bodies and the SUV—what’s left of it—but you will be informed of everything we find, and we’ll get you fingerprints and so on as soon as possible. That okay?”

  Gobey nodded. “But the SUV has Botswana number plates.”

  Venter laughed. “Ja, but they’re fake. Dead easy to buy them.”

  He started to read again, but then suddenly lifted his head. “It’s a bit of a strange story, you know. Of course, we alerted all the police stations around here when we got your APB. But that wasn’t why the Motswedi guys were out on patrol last night. They said they were looking for smugglers. Smuggling what, hey?” He shook his head. “You sure you won’t have that coffee? It’s Nescafé.”

  Gobey was
intrigued. He wondered where the colonel’s story was heading. He changed his mind and accepted the coffee.

  Venter stood up and went to the door. “Paulina!” he shouted. “Koffee vir die mense asseblief. Maar gou-gou!”

  When he returned, Gobey had a question. “I thought they were smuggling animal skins?”

  Venter nodded. “Ja, but what for? We have lots of animal skins this side. Why take the risk?”

  “But it was just a cover.”

  “Ja, I know that, my friend. But why were our guys looking for smugglers in the first place, hey?”

  “Did you ask them?”

  Venter shrugged. “They said there were rumours. Where did those come from?”

  Gobey had no answer for that. In due course, Paulina brought their cups of coffee, which he and Neo sipped while Venter continued to plough through the documents.

  At last Venter closed the file and climbed to his feet. “Well, it’s all in order. Let’s get it done then, hey?”

  With a sigh of relief, Gobey gulped down the rest of his coffee and stood up. Neo followed his example.

  “Please follow me.”

  The colonel led them back to reception and into a side corridor. At the end was a heavy, steel strong-room door. He fiddled with a bunch of keys until he found the right one and pulled the door open. They were accosted by an unpleasant smell as they went in, and Gobey wondered what was causing it.

  They found themselves in a small room with weapons in racks around the walls and a large table in the middle containing an assortment of presumably valuable or sensitive items. Among them was a metal box that Gobey immediately realised was the Debswana diamond transport box.

  “It was wrapped up in sacking when it got here,” Venter informed them. “Jislaaik, but my men got a fright when they unwrapped it.” He gave a snort of laughter. “Come, take a look.” He led the two men around to the other side of the box and pointed.