One for the Road

by Will Roberts

  “Yes, you’re right, Lewis. He thought he was recognised when he fought in the boxing tournaments on the ship to Pusan,” Adam said.

  “He was a fine amateur boxer when he was young. I saw him box a few times – I think he gave it up because he thought it would spoil his good looks!” Jen added with a laugh. It was the first time she had laughed since they had opened the Korean box.

  “What else have we got for that list, Sian?” Adam asked his sister.

  “Not much more I’m afraid, Adam,” Sian answered.

  “Okay, let’s prepare a list of what we need to find in London, shall we?” Adam said.

  “Okay, list number two!” Sian responded.

  “I think I’ve found something.” Lewis had continued his search on Sian’s desktop computer.

  “I did a Google search for ‘stolen diamonds, 1949’ and it’s come up with this: ‘The Amor Blue diamond’, stolen in London in 1949 and never recovered. Value today, around fifteen million pounds!”

  Everybody was now crowded around the desktop screen, in the middle of which they could see a picture of The ‘Amor’ Blue diamond.

  Jen held the diamond close to the screen.

  “I don’t think there can be any doubt. What we have here is the ‘Amor’ Blue Diamond,” she said.

  “Does it say who the owner was, Lewis?” Adam asked.

  “No, that’s all,” Lewis answered.

  “Make another search, Lewis, ‘Amor Blue Diamond’,” Rachel suggested.

  “You read my mind, Rachel,” Lewis answered as he began typing a new search. But this offered them no further information.

  “I guess we will have to see what we can find out tomorrow at the newspaper offices. Something must have been in the press about this stone being stolen, surely!” Adam stated.

  They continued the list of things to investigate on Monday at the newspaper offices:

  The Amor Blue diamond.

  Jewellery theft.

  Jacky Gee’s disappearance – Was there a body found?

  London and Cardiff

  February 2000

  Adam thought it better to park the car at a tube station outside of London and get the tube into London Central rather than drive the rental car into one of the most congested cities in the world.

  They parked the car and Adam bought three day-tickets for the underground. First, they took the Piccadilly Line to Holborn and quickly found the Lloyds Bank. Inside they spoke to an assistant and gave her the old passbook, explaining that Jen, the passbook holder’s sister, had found the book while looking through some possessions of her parents. Adam also explained that his uncle Joe had disappeared fifty years ago.

  The assistant then said she would investigate the claim and get back to Adam, but that it might take a few a days, she added.

  After taking a receipt and leaving Adam’s mobile number, Adam, Paul, and Lewis left the bank and continued on to Canary Wharf, via the Central Line and the DLR. Their destination, One, Canary Square, was right in front of them as they exited the station and difficult to miss, for the offices of The Daily Mirror were housed in the tallest building in Great Britain.

  The three investigators entered the impressive building and Adam explained to the receptionist that they wanted to review some old back copies of the newspaper. After paying a nominal fee, the three were led by an assistant to a large room full of computers and already occupied by several other users. The assistant asked them what years they wanted to review and then showed them how to access the pages; she then left them on their own.

  “If you need any assistance, just let me know,” she said as she left the room.

  The room was deathly quiet, just like a library, Adam thought, and soon all three were engrossed in their research.

  Adam gave Paul one date from which to start looking and Lewis another. After three hours, however, nothing relevant had been discovered. Adam’s back was aching and he got out of his chair to stretch. He then noticed some vending machines in the corner of the room.

  “Let’s take a break you two,” he whispered to Paul and Lewis. “Let’s get some coffee.”

  “Got it!” Paul said.

  “What you got, son,” Adam asked.

  “The Amor Blue diamond,” Paul continued, “it was stolen from an up-market jeweller, where it had been on display. The police investigated, but nobody was arrested. One suspect, who had visited the jewellers shop at about the same time, was questioned but released without charge: Sir Anthony Wingale.”

  “Wait a minute,” Lewis interrupted. “What date was that?”

  “Let me see, 1st December 1949,” Paul replied.

  “On 7th January 1950, Sir Anthony Wingale was murdered outside his apartment in Mayfair,” Lewis added.

  Adam was busy writing down all this information in his notebook.

  “This is what we wanted. Print a copy of those, you two,” Adam instructed.

  “Keep looking, but I need some coffee. Do you two want some?” Adam asked.

  “Yes, please,” they answered together.

  Adam then crossed the room to the vending machines and soon returned with three cups of cappuccino and three Mars bars.

  “There you go!” he said, as he handed the steaming coffee and chocolate bars to his son and nephew.

  They continued their search for another few hours, fishing up another article, this one about the ‘Mystery of The Amor Blue Diamond Disappearance’, but which didn’t give them any more information.

  Lewis found an item, from February 1950, where a body had been found on the banks of the Thames in a badly decomposed condition. Nobody had been able to identify the body. All the authorities could determine was that he was Caucasian, of slightly more than average height and with a bullet hole in his back.

  “I’ll bet that was Jackie Gee,” Adam whispered. “Print a copy, Lewis, will you?”

  “Sure thing, Adam,” Lewis replied.

  It was getting late and Adam was about to call it a day when something caught his eye:

  ‘Actress stabs boyfriend, Gangland boss, Archie McNichol. Actress Maria Fuentes, of Soho, London, of Spanish descent, has been arrested for the manslaughter of Archie McNichol. Ms Fuentes, who was sporting a black eye and bruised cheek, admitted to the killing but said she could take no more of McNichol’s abuse. McNichol, whose nickname was ’psycho’, attacked this girlfriend once too often it would seem. Ms Fuentes plunged a kitchen knife into his neck.’

  “Well, Adam, it looks like we’ve found Joe’s girlfriend,” Lewis said as he peered at the screen over Adam’s shoulder.

  “Yes, Lewis, and the thugs who chased him from his apartment all the way to the Korean War,” Adam replied.

  “So it looks like we can fill those gaps now,” Lewis added.

  “I think we can. Now we have a story to tell your gran.”

  They left the Canary Wharf building and made their way to the rental car, via the same train stations they had used to get into the city of London, and then the long drive back to Wales. During the drive, most of the conversation was about their discoveries at Canary Wharf, until both the boys fell asleep.

  Adam drove directly to Helen’s house. It was close to midnight and Paul and Lewis were still asleep when they arrived. Adam apologised to Helen and explained briefly what they had discovered in London. Helen was understanding and not angry. Adam gave her a peck on the cheek. Helen was taken by surprise at this unexpected show of affection.

  “What was that for?” she asked.

  “Uh, I don’t know really. I just wanted to kiss you,” Adam answered, feeling a little awkward.

  “Okay,” Helen said, as she turned to go into the house.

  Adam had also turned to go to the car but retraced his steps.

  “Helen, why don’t we go for dinner on Friday?” Adam asked his ex-wife.

  “I’ll get back to you on that,” she said with a smile. “After all, it’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?”

  “Okay,” said Ada
m, “I look forward to hearing your answer.”

  Adam and Lewis drove the relatively short distance from Helen’s house to Adam’s flat. Lewis was going to sleep in Paul’s bed that night and tomorrow they would travel to his home in York, where they would be able to tell his grandmother why her brother had decided he needed to disappear.

  “Goodnight, Adam,” Lewis said as he made his way to the bedroom.

  “Goodnight, Lewis,” Adam replied.

  Adam made a cup of coffee and sat down at the dining room table in front of his laptop, with the notebook and the copies of the newspaper printouts.

  “Are you not going to bed, Adam?” Lewis asked.

  “Not yet, Lewis! I’m just going to try and make sense of exactly what we found today,” Adam answered.

  “Then if you don’t mind, I’ll join you. This has been the most exciting thing I have been involved with in my whole eighteen years!” Lewis asked.

  “Of course, Lewis! Get yourself a cup of coffee. This could take a while!” Adam welcomed the company and the sharp mind that Lewis certainly possessed.

  They stayed up until three o’clock in the morning surfing the Internet until they were finally sure that they had all the answers and all gaps filled. The only uncertainty was concerning ‘The Amor Blue Diamond’, but Adam was pretty sure where it had ‘probably’ come from.

  At nine o’clock, they got up. Adam made some bacon sandwiches and more coffee for them both and then they started the journey to York. Lewis slept most of the way to York, Adam driving the whole journey with just a single stop for them both to use the toilets and to get more coffee.

  They arrived in the middle of the afternoon and, after a lunch of cold meat and salad, Adam and Lewis began to explain to Jen and Sian why Joe had decided to join the army and fight in the Korean War.

  There were, Adam explained, two groups of people that were looking for Joe back in December 1949, it appeared. The first was a vicious gangland boss called Archie McNichol, whose girlfriend, Maria Fuentes, was a theatre actress, the girl that Joe had met in The Buccaneer the night of the jewellery robbery. Joe had noticed the bruising on Maria’s body the night they met, but Maria had refused to talk about it. McNichol’s nickname was ‘Psycho’ because of his violent nature and he was feared by the other gangland bosses throughout the East End and even by his own men. It was this man’s henchmen who had knocked the door off its hinges at Joe’s lodgings and chased Joe across London a few days after the jewellery robbery. Maria had killed ‘Psycho’ McNichol with a kitchen knife, possibly when he questioned her about Joe, or it could be that she’d had enough of McNichol’s violence towards her and could take no more.

  The other party that were looking for Joe and Jackie was Anthony Wingale, Sir Anthony Wingale that is. It was he and his hired gun that had chased Joe and Jackie after they left the Black Swan.

  “But why shoot Jackie Gee?” Jen asked Adam. “Jackie wouldn’t harm a fly, as I remember.”

  “I think this was a big mistake,” Adam answered. “It was never Wingale’s intention to kill either Joe or Jackie. It would seem that his hired gun got carried away. Wingale was angry with his accomplice, and was heard by Joe to say, ‘Now we’ll never find the jewels!’”

  “What about the diamond?” Sian asked.

  “It was Wingale who stole the diamond from the jeweller’s shop where it was on display and, for safekeeping, hid it amongst his wife’s jewellery, hardly expecting Jackie Gee to creep through an unlocked window in his apartment,” Adam replied.

  “Where better to hide a tree than in a forest!” Sian put in.

  “We also discovered that Wingale was close to bankruptcy. He was one for the horses and the dogs, it seems. One of those suspected of his murder was a bookie from White City. We can only surmise that when Joe took his beloved Jaguar to his Irish friend to sell, he found the diamond in the footwell of the passenger seat. It must have fallen from Jackie’s booty bag when he was inspecting the jewels after the theft,” Lewis continued.

  “That would explain why the Wingales didn’t report the theft to the police,” Sian added.

  “That’s right, Mum. They were more concerned about recovering ‘the Amor Blue Diamond’ and didn’t want to incriminate themselves in the actual diamond theft.”

  Adam then took out the printed copies they had taken at the newspaper office and showed them to his mother and sister.

  “It would appear that Jackie died from the gunshot wound he received from Wingales hired gun. A badly decomposed body was found on the banks of the Thames some months later,” Adam added.

  “But how do we know it was Jackie?” Jen asked.

  “Well, we can’t be sure it was, Mum, but it fits his general description – oh, and the body had a bullet wound in its back!”

  Seoul and Changwon, South Korea

  April 2000

  It had been many years since Adam’s mother had taken a flight in an airplane. Adam remembered many family holidays on the Costa Brava in Spain, in Brittany and on one occasion Florida, but that was before he and his sisters were married and when his father was still alive. But since her husband’s death, Jen had rarely travelled abroad, preferring holidays consisting of two weeks in a caravan in one of the seaside towns on the east coast of England or on a Saga coach tour with a group of widows that she was friendly with.

  With the money from Joe’s old bank account, which she had received just a few weeks before, she had arranged for the whole family to travel to South Korea to see where her brother had been laid to rest and to lay flowers on his grave.

  But this was for another day.

  April was the month when the battle for the Imjin River was celebrated. Adam suggested to his mother that she wait until next year to visit South Korea, which would be the fiftieth year since this famous battle, and no doubt would be a special celebration.

  “But Adam, I might not be here next year,” she replied.

  Jen was seventy-five years old but was in relatively good health. She had a few minor ailments but nothing serious, and she had no difficulty walking.

  Helen had accepted Adam’s invitation to dinner and Adam had made a reservation for the two of them at the most exclusive restaurant in Cardiff. The evening was extremely enjoyable for both of them and they each accepted their own foibles and imperfections that had led to the divorce; both agreed these had been trivial and petty and, in short, they decided to ‘try again’. That same night Adam stayed at Helen’s house and the following week moved back on a permanent basis. Of course, no one was happier than Paul.

  They had flown into Incheon Airport, Seoul, and Adam and Sian had each rented a car at the airport. The plan was to stay a few a days in Seoul and then take a leisurely drive through South Korea to Changwon in order to visit Joe’s grave.

  Today they were at the bottom of ‘The Hill’, hill 235, and Adam, Helen, Sian, Rachel, Jack, Lewis and Paul and all seven had decided to walk to the top. Jen, they decided, should travel in a jeep driven by a young South Korean soldier despite her objections; she wanted to walk to the top with her family.

  During the walk, they passed several elderly former soldiers proudly wearing their berets and displaying their medals on their chests, determination etched on their faces as they strode purposefully to the summit.

  When they reached the top, it seemed that nothing had changed in almost fifty years; there were still slit trenches, now occupied by young South Korean soldiers, overlooking the Imjin River, which sparkled in the morning sunlight; beyond that lay the ‘Demilitarised Zone’ separating the communist north from the capitalist south.

  The atmosphere was solemn and was picked up by the boys, Paul, Jack, and Lewis, who stood together in quiet reverence, understanding what had happened here forty-nine years ago – Adam had, by now, told them the story of the Battle of Imjin River.

  There were many groups assembled on the summit. Some were British dignitaries and businessmen; others were obviously army veterans, including Amer
ican, Korean, British and others. Adam could see in front of him a man, wearing the distinctive beret of The Gloucestershire Regiment, looking out over the river to the north. He walked towards him and as he approached Adam inadvertently disturbed the man’s silent reverie; the old soldier turned to see who was approaching and as he did so Adam could see he was openly crying. His skin was creased with wrinkles, his brow deeply furrowed and his eyes had a faraway look. The man wore a black blazer with two medals on the left breast pocket, the same two medals that Joe had left in the ornate Korean box, The Korean War medal and The United Nations Service Medal for Korea.

  “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Adam said, feeling awkward at interrupting the man’s silent meditation.

  “No, no, young man, it’s perfectly alright,” the old soldier said as he pulled an immaculate white handkerchief from the breast pocket of his blazer and gently wiped his eyes.

  “I have been coming here for fifty years and it never gets any easier,” he continued, “so many of my friends lost here for this bloody hill, and I was already on a ship to Japan when this battle took place. I was shot in the leg just south of here in the first hill assault by the Glosters,” he stated, slapping his left thigh.

  Adam felt goose pimples form on the back of his neck.

  It couldn’t be, could it? he thought to himself.

  The old soldier then fell silent again, until Adam asked him a question.

  “I was wondering sir if you might remember my uncle? He fought here with the Glosters,” Adam asked.

  “I picked up your Welsh accent, young man, you are not referring to Sergeant Taffy Howells, are you?” he said.

  “Actually, he was my uncle’s platoon leader. No, my uncle was Joe… sorry, Jackie Gee,” Adam continued.

  The old soldier looked at Adam quizzically for a moment and then answered.

  “Are you joking? Jackie Gee was your uncle?”

  “Yes, sir, he was,” Adam answered.