The Pearl Thief

by Fiona McIntosh

  As he tipped his head back to give a long, satisfied yawn, he heard a soft tap at the window. In astonishment at seeing a face pressed against the glass, he recognised Daniel Horowitz. He frowned as Katerina’s friend put a finger to his lips and thumbed towards the door.

  Feeling a tug of vexation in his mind, Edward wondered what drama was about to unfold for him now.

  25

  Edward opened the back door to Horowitz, who wasted no time with pleasantries.

  ‘We must speak.’

  ‘My office is —’

  ‘Now!’ Horowitz urged, his voice low. Edward frowned as the man glanced through the door and upstairs. ‘Is she upstairs?’

  The frown deepened as Edward tried not to show his hackles were up. ‘My dog? Yes, this is Pansy, but Violet is usually still fast asleep at this time,’ he offered innocently. ‘Is Mossad spying on the three of us?’

  ‘Mr Summerbee, her life depends on my spying on you and I’m not talking about your dog.’

  ‘What the hell?’

  ‘Sssh. Don’t let her know. Pretend you’re organising the rubbish bins.’

  Edward shook his head in mock despair. ‘I’m lost. I have no idea what you’re talking about, Horowitz.’ He laughed aloud when the intruder deliberately clattered the lid of the bin. ‘Oh, that’s convincing, well done,’ Edward said. ‘I was told you’d left for Paris?’

  ‘I want her to think I’m there.’

  Edward shook his head in exasperation. ‘I’m putting the kettle on. You’d better come in.’

  ‘No. I’ll tell you from here.’

  He sighed at the cold that was already roaming around the room. ‘You do know the war ended nearly twenty years ago, Mr Horowitz.’

  ‘Only for some of us, Mr Summerbee.’

  Edward gave Horowitz a baleful look as he turned on the faucet to fill the kettle. ‘All right, I’ll bite, but come inside or stand outside and speak through the window. I am not giving all my paid warmth to a cold spring night.’

  His guest reluctantly stepped across the threshold and was immediately advanced upon by Pansy, who sniffed his shoes.

  ‘Right, tell me,’ Edward said.

  ‘Is there any danger of Katerina walking in on us?’

  ‘No chance at all.’

  ‘Are you sleeping with her?’

  ‘Heavens, man! What business is it of yours?’ Edward slammed the kettle onto the gas stove and struck a match to ignite the flame. The smell of sulphur from the match and then the fuggy odour of gas both dissipated quickly in the frigid air. ‘Close that door.’

  Horowitz obeyed. ‘Answer me.’

  Edward regarded his visitor as a tired father, home from a long day’s work, might regard the naughty child that the mother had warned Just wait until your father gets home. He did not want to be having this hostile conversation, especially now that he could see, as hard as Horowitz tried to act nonchalant, that he was as captivated by Katerina as he was.

  ‘No! I am not sleeping with Miss Kassowicz but if I were, I wouldn’t feel obliged to keep you apprised of the fact!’ He deliberately looked away from the grinding jaw of Horowitz that pumped with anger. Instead he focused on the tea caddy and ladled three teaspoons of tea leaves into the pot, becoming horribly aware that he was in his pyjamas and perhaps looking vaguely ridiculous at not quite six in the evening.

  ‘Not even nearly professional,’ the intruder finally choked out.

  ‘Actually, Horowitz, not even nearly a client. The reverse, in fact. And before you start lecturing me, you know full well what an extraordinary situation this is. I can assure you I want nothing to do with a war criminal, and if I can confirm that this item is indeed stolen, then I’ll wash my hands of the client. If I confirm that the person behind this temporary gift to the British Museum is the same Mayek who was involved in the atrocities against Katerina and her family, then I will help her to hunt him down and bring the full weight of the law against him.’

  He watched Horowitz’s lips thin. He seemed torn. ‘She set out to get your help any way she could. I noted she followed you into the Café Royal.’

  He folded his arms, leaned a hip against the sink and then remembered the pyjamas and adjusted his stance to tighten the satin belt of his paisley dressing-gown. Heaven help him with the impression he was giving. ‘I doubt she’d stoop to the level you’re suggesting, Mr Horowitz. Sad of you to think of her in that way.’

  ‘She’s desperate.’

  ‘Then you clearly don’t know her as well as I.’

  ‘You’ve known her one day!’

  ‘That’s my point, sir.’ It was one of those touché moments but Edward took no pleasure in scoring against his opponent, who looked instantly wounded. ‘Mr Horowitz —’

  ‘Daniel.’ The fight had gone out of him.

  ‘Daniel, you seem to think I know where Katerina is.’

  ‘I thought she was here with you.’ He sounded worried.

  ‘No.’ He could see that his guest wanted to ask if he was sure about this but refrained. ‘Did you follow us last night?’

  ‘My colleagues did.’

  ‘I see. Then they didn’t follow her back out of my home an hour or so later, presumably. She left rather angrily, I’m afraid. We …’ He didn’t think Horowitz needed to know the intimate details. ‘We said goodnight on bad terms because I won’t give her the details of who I’m acting for.’

  ‘Even though her life is in danger.’

  ‘Well, I didn’t know that yesterday, although she had told me her tragic story, for which I have immense sympathy and would like to help in every way that the law permits me to. However, as I explained to Katerina, all I have is the name of an overseas law firm. I have no knowledge of the man she’s described. And don’t you think talking about life and death is a fraction dramatic?’

  The kettle began a breathy whistle threatening to become piercing within moments. Edward switched off the stove, hearing the satisfying pop as the gas flame extinguished and the kettle wheezed down from its shriek. He poured the water into the pot and placed a tea-cosy on top. All he needed to be doing was humming a daft tune to complete the picture of domesticity.

  ‘Mr Summerbee … Edward … I believe the reason the Pearls have emerged is in order to draw out Katerina. I happen to know the man behind all of her pain, and indeed mine, is not dead. I have been hunting him for the best part of my life. Until the day she saw those Pearls, either he knew she was still alive and wanted to finish what he started two decades ago – I’m sure you know the story by now. Or he has been cautious, using the offer to the museum as a way of testing the waters. Either way, I can assure you that Ruda Mayek is now well aware of her existence and I am now well aware of his.’

  ‘You’ve seen him?’ Edward’s voice had a fresh, fearful quality to it.

  Daniel nodded.

  ‘Then let me assure you that I will put my whole life behind guarding hers,’ he said, not meaning to stab a finger towards Daniel but there it was, midair, slightly crooked and pointing accusingly. ‘I’ll be back.’ He tried to stride away with an air of superiority but his leather mules forced him to shuffle and he groaned inwardly at the slide and slap of the soles of his slippers on the lino.

  He took a few minutes to change back into some day clothes before returning to the parlour. ‘I’m going to have some tea before it goes tepid. Do you want some?’

  ‘Got anything stronger?’

  ‘Sherry?’ At Daniel’s scathing look, Edward grinned. ‘How about a Scotch?’

  His guest nodded.

  Within a few minutes they faced each other at the kitchen table, Edward hoping – despite the floral cup before him – that he looked more rakish in front of the serious-faced spy, who sipped and savoured the liquor for a moment or two.

  ‘You’d have preferred the sherry,’ Edward offered into the silence.

  He watched the man’s countenance relax slightly at the soft jest. ‘Thank you, this is superb.’

  �
��Glenmorangie. You can’t go wrong, laddie, with the spirit from the Men o’ Tain.’ His suddenly acquired Scottish accent did not appear to amuse Daniel. Edward cleared his throat with a swallow of his tea. ‘All right, the floor is yours, Daniel.’ He gestured with one hand for Daniel to proceed and watched him over the rim of his cup. ‘What’s our next step?’

  Daniel was unsure how to feel about Edward Summerbee. He seemed to be a man of layers. He’d already seen a couple of the faces that Edward could wear: the slick professional in his offices, the polite stalwart who kept his emotions in check until the right person came along to prise them out – Daniel had felt only heat when he watched Edward’s controlled aggravation appear at being ambushed in his offices – and now here he sat with the benign version: self-effacing and humorous.

  His mind flicked to Katerina and her relationship with the man he sat in front of. The master spy could tell instantly that Edward was covering the full truth of what had occurred between them. Daniel suppressed the claw of desperate envy that Edward had enjoyed any intimacy with Katerina by swallowing another slug of the excellent Scotch.

  Edward was waiting for him to speak and Daniel was more than aware that he was in the presence of a sharp listener.

  He was concise. He remained cool and emotionless as he told his story. He gave Edward all of it; this was no time for hedging or withholding truths – her life was at stake. A month ago that wouldn’t have mattered to him, but now … she made his life feel the polar opposite of what he’d been living. He gave the solicitor everything except his desire for Katerina.

  Edward spoke into the silence. ‘I realise this is difficult for you, Daniel. What you need to know is that I haven’t stolen her from you.’ It was surgical, as though he’d known all along. Daniel felt the whisky burning in the pit of his belly, or was that his fury? ‘I wasn’t meant to meet Katerina,’ Edward continued conversationally. ‘I certainly didn’t expect to see her again after the meeting at Lincoln’s Inn, as I thought I’d been perfectly clear. I’d hoped our paths would not cross again. But she forced it, as you know, because you followed her; the choices were hers, not mine. We both know this is a woman in trouble. I could have been any one of those solicitors at Lincoln’s Inn or indeed across London.’ He shrugged. ‘I dropped my guard and she hers. We … Look …’ He raked a hand through his already dishevelled hair.

  ‘You misread me,’ Daniel interjected.

  ‘No, I don’t believe I do. You see, I don’t think any of us choose who we fall in love with. Most of us tend to accept that it’s an emotion, or a feeling, right? But I personally don’t subscribe to that. I think it’s a physiological response to a drug we don’t control – just like we don’t control adrenaline when we’re in a state of fear. It is released into our system without conscious permission and I think if we looked hard enough, we’d find a love drug in our bodies that is only released by the brain when it decides this is your perfect match.’

  ‘A philosopher.’ Daniel grimaced and the sarcasm felt vicious when he landed the blow.

  But Edward, wearing his solicitor’s smile, was not offended. ‘Not at all. Just trying to make sense myself of how I could live the last couple of decades as an island, allowing plenty of women to visit, but always shoving them off the beach soon after. And then along comes one I haven’t purposefully pursued and I end up helplessly hooked as though I’ve been snagged like a woollen jumper on a tree branch. And just like that unlooped thread, it stops you in your tracks and you stare at it with a sort of resignation that it’s done now. Katerina feels as natural to me as the sun rising each morning. I didn’t choose this. It’s done now … I can’t undo it.’

  ‘You admit you’re in love with her, knowing her for a few moments?’

  ‘I don’t know what I’m admitting. I feel rather foolish being so open. I am helplessly trapped by her and her trauma, though, and I’ve been discovering information today that could change how she feels about this mission of vengeance she’s on.’

  ‘Mr Summerbee —’ He wanted to hate him, but in describing his experience of Katerina, Edward had essentially described Daniel’s. They were both her accidental victims; both snagged on her branch.

  ‘You can’t drink my Scotch and not call me Edward – please.’

  ‘Let me set aside my personal feelings.’

  ‘Are you sure that you can?’

  ‘I am.’ He began to explain his story, even though he had learned that Katerina had briefed Edward. Couldn’t he have been a portly, ageing, married, soon-to-be grandfather? No, he had to be so excellent to look at as well as charming, well groomed … and, worst of all, he was clearly fascinating company for the one woman who found most men lacking. He even had a rakish cleft in his chin, for pity’s sake! Daniel searched for flaws, settling on the widening arch of Summerbee’s hairline at either side of his forehead. Daniel discovered that the more he shared of his backstory, the gentler Summerbee’s gaze landed on him. Despite that, he could see all humour draining from the solicitor’s expression. His eyes no longer crinkled at their edges and that generous mouth had flattened to reflect his growing unease.

  Daniel stopped talking abruptly once he’d explained how he’d seen the man he believed to be Mayek watching Katerina’s London flat.

  ‘Good heavens, man! In London? So you lied to her about leaving for Paris because you suspected he might be here?’ Edward finished the thought that had arrived.

  ‘Correct. Well, that she was being followed, certainly. But suspicion was all I had. Even in retirement you don’t lose what I call spy sense, and I had the feeling in Paris that she was being watched. I noted that in the gardens – where I first made contact with Katerina – a man was observing her.’

  ‘Hardly surprising. She’s a striking woman in anyone’s estimation.’

  ‘Agreed. Nor was his presence unusual. I saw him later too, strolling by whilst we shared a coffee at a café in those same gardens. Again, it was hardly worth more than a mental note at that point, but it was noted nonetheless.’ He gave a tight, brief smile. ‘Habit.’

  ‘And now he’s in London,’ Edward said. ‘Wait a minute! Maybe he has changed sufficiently as he’s aged. There was an odd man making Katerina feel awkward in a teashop yesterday afternoon, I’m told. Could that —?’

  Daniel waved a hand to stop him. ‘That was George. An old friend and fellow practitioner from MI5.’

  Edward looked at him, stunned.

  ‘Katerina has known Mayek since her birth and he left a deep impression upon her. I doubt she would ever mistake him, unless his disguise was so professional as to render him unrecognisable, including his distinctive eyes. No, all I could do was my utmost to control the situation by keeping us close to her so Mayek could not make any approach.’

  ‘Why would you ever leave her in the first place?’ Summerbee sounded vaguely exasperated.

  ‘Because she wasn’t listening to me. She regarded me as an obstacle to you. I realised I could achieve more and take better care of her if I was out of sight. She barely batted an eyelid at my departure. She had her prize. You.’

  ‘Don’t be absurd.’

  ‘I don’t mean it like that. You were her only link to Ruda Mayek and I needed her to make that link work. If removing myself made it easier – and clearly it did – it was a reasonable gamble. Nevertheless, I was certain we were being followed by then, so I took a precaution and had George follow Katerina from the moment I left her. I couldn’t take a chance.’

  ‘But surely she’s gone back to where she was staying?’ Edward admonished him.

  Daniel made a bitter expression. ‘No, she didn’t go back to her London digs last night. And George being taken off surveillance was my fault. I figured she’d come home when I was watching the flat so she’d be safe when she returned, but then the fellow I was keeping her safe from left too, and I learned a few minutes later that she’d gone home with you anyway. I figured she was staying the night when George reported that you were both se
emingly getting cosy over a meal in the parlour. I told him to head home himself.’

  ‘You got it wrong, Daniel.’ Edward sighed. ‘The stars aligned against you. But why wouldn’t she go back to her flat?’

  ‘Perhaps it’s a blessing she didn’t, as he’s keeping such a close eye on her.’

  ‘A hotel?’

  ‘Maybe.’ Daniel shrugged. ‘I’m hoping she’ll call me.’

  ‘I doubt she’ll call me but I do need to reach her. How do you know for sure that someone is following her – I mean, from Paris and around London?’

  Daniel snorted. ‘Mayek needs some spy training. One of his early lessons would be the advice to change hats and clothes, not to wear or carry anything distinctive if he’s going to tail someone – this is rudimentary stuff. To blend in and be so ordinary as to become invisible in the crowd. The man in Paris had a slight limp he couldn’t hide well. We might have encountered him twice in the same location that one afternoon but then I was sure I spotted that limp on the Underground when we were first coming to Lincoln’s Inn. So I tested it. I brought us a very long way around and Katerina had an idea something was odd, but of course she doesn’t know London well and had none of the clues to piece together what might be going on, so I managed to pass off our route with an excuse.’

  ‘And he was following?’

  ‘I don’t think he followed so much as knew where we were headed. Because he’d brought the Pearls into the open it probably felt as obvious to him as it did to me that the only way to backtrack to him was to follow the line from the museum. You were the next logical piece of the jigsaw. I pretended to take a photo of her as she stood at the old bookshop but really I just wanted to look in the reflection, and right enough, there he was behind us, appearing casual but watching us intently.’

  ‘What do you think is Mayek’s plan with all of this? He dodged the war trials and has obviously been living in comfortable obscurity. Why now? Why would he risk everything to hunt down the teenager he once knew?’