by Hylton Smith
“Thanks, but I could use a break myself, is there a nice tea shop nearby?”
“The closest is just the other side of the traffic lights, to the left as you leave, it’s mainly frequented by students, but they have lovely cream scones.”
That was the clincher, Freda had a distinct weakness for such decadence.
“That’ll do me, thank you.”
“I’ll tell Mr Hajek to expect you if he returns before you do.”
The owner of the tea shop was Polish, and she thought the tailor was Italian by name, but from his accent he sounded French. When she returned to the jeweller’s shop, Milan Hajek introduced himself, and Freda added Czechoslovakia, part of which was about to become the Czech Republic, to the list of nationalities.
“How can I be of service, Madam?”
A promising start, as all the English jewellers had only begun with, ‘Yes?’
“I’m trying to find out where this ring was made.”
“Let me see it. Are you looking to sell it?”
“Not at all, but I would be interested in a valuation.”
“Ah, well that might be more of a matter of opinion.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Well, the origin of the ring is a fact, the value is what someone will pay.”
“Oh yes, I see.”
He looked at the piece over and over again with an eyeglass before he offered any comment.
“May I ask where you got this, Madam?”
“Well, I’m not sure I can tell you that, Mr Hajek.”
“You cannot or you do not want to?”
“Why do you need to know anyway?”
“Because of its rarity and the high probability that it has been stolen. I think it might need to be reported to the police.”
She showed her warrant card.
“I am the police. I just need to know where the ring was made, and if possible by whom.”
“I meant the Czech police, not the British lot, excuse me I did not mean…”
“Just tell me what you know please and we can move on from there.”
“Very well, the ring was made in Germany, but if it is genuine, and I think that it is, I am pretty sure it originally belonged to someone from the nobility in Prague. Many such valuable artefacts were taken by both German and Russian soldiers during the wartime occupation. It should go back to where it belongs. At the very least, you should have it safely deposited with a reputable company. It is worth a hell of a lot of money if I am right about the authenticity.”
“W-What?” muttered Freda, “surely you can’t mean it is really valuable? I think I’d better get back to the station. Now, Mr Hajek, I’m going to need you to come to see us as soon as you can, my superiors need to hear this from you, because they can’t rely solely on my word with respect to what you’ve just said. They may wish to have you there if the Czech police are to be contacted. The less people who know about this the better. Do you understand?”
“This is what I understand! People have been killed for lesser pieces in the collection to which this belongs. I agree that nobody else should know until this is handed to the Czech police, and that includes your officers at the station. I can come as soon as I close the shop.”
“In that case, I’ll stay with you until we can get an unmarked car to take you over there. Can I use your phone?”
“Yes, help yourself.”
Freda’s fingers were trembling as she dialled the number. When Black came to the phone and she summarised the information for him, he simply said, “I knew it, I bloody well knew it would be something like this.”
“What?”
“Nothing Freda, just talking to myself. Right, I’ll get a car over there with backup, now tell your Mr whatever his name is, to close up the shop right now.”
“He doesn’t want to do that, sir.”
“Ask him again nicely, and if he refuses just wait until the backup arrives, they’ll take care of it. Well done Freda.”
*
Newcastle C.I.D.
Black went directly to Moss. They chose to take a brief walk amongst the traffic outside the building.
“If this guy is right, sir, I mean about it being very valuable, and that murders have been committed to acquire others in a collection, we have a strong motive, you know, to go along with the other circumstantial evidence. It could also explain why Laurel and Hardy are in town.”
“Indeed, Inspector. But it also makes it more difficult for us to keep our investigation under wraps. At least it will if we have to speak to the Czech police. Interpol will also be on our doorstep, and more than likely demanding we hand it over to them.”
“Mmm, how do you think we should play it then?”
“In small steps, this jeweller might be wrong, or a crackpot. It would be helpful if we could get this ring verified independently. I know an old university friend in London whose wife works in the auctioneering world, at the very top end of the market. I can make general enquiries about the process of authentication of rare pieces. If it looks tricky, then I suggest we give the problem to Stone and Wentworth.”
“What? That’s conceding defeat isn’t it?”
“Maybe not. If I inform the fountainhead of the police force first, there may be surprise, he may not yet know that MI5 and MI6 have already muscled in on us.
“It wouldn’t be the first time the left hand is told what the right hand is doing, but not when. In fact the spooks trade on it. I’m not talking about the regular side of the Met Inspector, I would make it clear that I want ‘Scotland Yard’ type clearance to discuss the situation with them. After all, we report to the head of police operations, not the intelligence agencies, and definitely not their bosses, the politicians.
“It’s in the constitution. It’s also a gamble, but the alternative of keeping potential evidence supressed risks the careers of too many people. Let’s set them against one another. If the decision goes against us, we can still ‘officially’ assist your friends Laurel and Hardy. If they had wanted to do all the legwork within their own organisation, they’d have hot-footed it off back to London with the file by now.”
Black stroked his chin and nodded ruefully.
*
Newcastle C.I.D. Pathology Department
Constance Carr stood back from her latest autopsy, removed her gloves and washed up.
“Let me see if I’ve got this right, Inspector. I found the ring amongst the hessian and rotted fabrics and you were overjoyed. Because I had an overload of other work, I hadn’t logged it in as potential evidence. You jumped to the conclusion it belonged to the unidentified person whose remains we’re still testing. Then you ask me to leave it unlogged until you get Freda to check it out for some kind of connection to whatever is brewing in that devious brain of yours. I said I’d intended it to be logged in my own time and just hadn’t got around to it. You were happy once more. Now you’re here to ask me to log it in immediately and pass it to you for inclusion into your file, without giving me a chance to do tests on it. You’ve never asked me to do any kind of evaluation of the ring, and I gave it to Freda on the strict understanding it was not to be taken out of the pouch. Is that an accurate summary?”
“Well, yeah, but…”
“Let me finish. It is of course your prerogative to direct my work to some degree, targeting the priorities and so on, however, if I find something which in my opinion is relevant I’m supposed to bring it to your attention. Once we are agreed that it is potential evidence, there is a requirement to log it with an official report. This isn’t optional, I was always going to do this, but I have detoured from procedure by conceding to your request to let Freda take it out of the building, without a written request from you, signed by your boss. Now you’ve changed to reverse gear without telling me why. Don’t I deserve some kind of explanation, D.I. Black?”
“It’s a very delicate situation, Connie. You’ve heard about the people on the top floor?”
&n
bsp; “My career qualifies as a delicate situation, if I even bend the rules, never mind break them. I’ve only heard rumours about the two people occupying the attic. And you aren’t going to enlighten me are you?”
“All I can say at present is that they are not from the Met, but they are authorised to look at the files. Come on, Connie, just think about it and leave certain things unsaid for now, then you legitimately don’t know. I’ll put my request to release the ring in writing and date it retrospectively, so that you’re clear of that irregularity. But please don’t press me yet on why I want you to log the ring right now. Moss and I have to check it out further, and then ask you to look at it before we have to hand it over to the attic people. Logging it now will straighten it all out procedure-wise, well, from your side I mean.”
“Mmm, you need to give it back to me with your predated release request, and the form filled in that you have actually returned it today, to be officially logged as relevant evidence, and then a second request to pass it back to you whenever you decide that is necessary.”
“Jesus Christ, we – neither you nor I, can categorically state that this ring belonged to the deceased. It could even be completely disconnected, the landslip bringing it closer to the skeleton than it was originally. Come to think of it, you can’t say for certain that the hessian and rotten fabrics belonged with the remains for the same reason. You might have to put that in your report. Yeah, that’s a neat way of handling all of this - ‘is it or isn’t it stuff’ - and the variation in logging times. Do we have a compromise?”
“This will cost you big time if it goes wrong you know. If you give me the documentation I’ve asked for, I’ll log it today, with an appended explanation that it is indeed premature to conclude that it is definitely a possession of the deceased. When do you think you can tell me to try and find out if it is? You know, so that whatever it is that you know already, can then be officially shared with me.”
“You should think about a switch to C.I.D. sometime, Connie, you’d make a good detective, and you already have that poker face.”
“Get out before I blow the whistle on you!”
Chapter 13
High Spen 1945
Theo Devlin didn’t look up when Albert came to the tent he’d set aside for his second questioning of the airmen, this time on a strictly individual basis. He hadn’t allowed Gunther to speak with him since the revelation about the shouting match. He sat there for another few minutes hoping to detect uneasiness, or nervous shuffling about of his subject. Eventually Albert coughed. Devlin lifted his head and gazed past him to the guard at the entrance.
“Could you get me a brew, sergeant?” he barked in English, “no, wait a second, do you want anything Albert?”
“Only water please.”
“Oh, so you can understand some English then.”
Albert smiled awkwardly and said almost apologetically,
“A few words, since I am here, not more.”
“Good, then I will return to your mother tongue.”
The eyes told Devlin that his adversary had probably understood the words brew and mother tongue.
‘So, Gunther told me there was an argument in one of the tents last night. Do you recall that?’
‘Yes, but not which tent.’
‘Why was that?’
‘It was far away.’
‘From your tent?’
‘Yes, I don’t think any of us know which tent was the one responsible for the noise.’
‘Of course, so you were all in your tent at that time then, good. Couldn’t you recognise any of the voices? I mean you have been living alongside these colleagues for months.’
‘No, I couldn’t hear very clearly and there were others shouting for them to keep quiet. Can I ask what this is about, when we are all ready to go home?’
‘That’s a fair question, and has a very simple answer. I am late in getting here to High Spen, as I should have been here some weeks ago. We have to make proper records for our government and yours. I could have signed the papers by now if it wasn’t for the missing man, Karl. I know we could have just let it pass if it was a simple escape, but he didn’t take his disc, and now it is only right that we find him and give it back.
‘But everything has just got more complicated with Karl’s disc going missing, then reappearing in Gunther’s bag, and now his is missing. It’s a bit of a mess. Being a pilot, you should know that there always has to be reconciliation of those booked on the travel list and the passengers who actually turn up. And the paperwork, including passports, have to match. In this case, we are talking discs, not passports. Can you see my problem?’
‘No, not really. It just seems ridiculous, Karl will be found, you have his disc, and when Gunther’s is located he can come home as well.’
‘I hadn’t thought about it like that, you’re right, so why did you lie about being in the tent with Gunther, Torsten and Herman. Only Herman can’t confirm that because he was asleep, but the others can. Do you see my problem now?’
Albert was beginning to sweat and yet it was still very cold.
‘Yes, yes that was correct, I forgot, it wasn’t important. Going home was important, just one more terrible night sleeping here.’
‘So, if you weren’t in the tent, where were you?’
‘I needed the latrine.’
‘But the latrine was considerably closer to where the argument was taking place. Anyway, why didn’t you just piss outside your own tent? As you say the only thing which was important was leaving today. Pissing outside your tent would only really be unhygienic if you were all staying, instead of leaving the next day. That would actually make more sense than someone exchanging Gunther’s disc. He’d already cleaned it so that it was ready for inspection by either myself or the German authorities. So you see, I want to avoid your people in Germany having the same mystery to solve as I do now.’
Devlin smiled and thanked the returning sergeant for his tea. Albert stared at the glass of water. Devlin resumed in English.
“Now drink your water Albert, and clear your throat. It’s me that needs to piss now, but I won’t take very long.”
He stood over the German, hesitated and then yelled in his ear.
“And you’d better be ready to tell me the fucking truth when I come back, or I’ll find enough irregularities to keep you here for years.”
He then pressed his face right into Albert’s and whispered, “I’ve already got a list as long as my arm of poor bastards like you who lied to me, and you’ll be visiting them soon in the south of the country if you don’t start telling the truth. You won’t like what they have to say about life down there.”
Devlin returned, stood in front of his prey, and only then zipped himself up, saying, “That’s me done if you have nothing further to add.”
“Ok, ok, ok. I took Karl’s disc without Gunther’s knowledge.”
“Why?”
“Because I was asked to do it.”
“By whom?”
“I can’t say. I’m no traitor.”
Devlin’s eyes lit up then took on a steely determination, and his nostrils flared as he had scent of the kill. He picked up in German once more.
‘In that case it’s you who will take the rap. Get your things packed, we need to catch the first train to London.’
‘No, wait, all I can say is his name, not more.’
‘I think you should know by now that I’ll be the judge of whether you’ve told me enough for a reprieve.’
‘Otto Steinmann. He said it was important that Karl was captured, very important in fact.’
‘Now come on Albert, important that we capture one of your own? In that case you must know why he had to escape, and from what you’re implying, it wasn’t from the British.’
‘He has done something wrong but I don’t know what it is.’
‘So why did you have to take his disc to Otto and then steal Gunther’s, while you put Karl’s back?’
‘Otto took all the information from Karl’s disc and then told me we had to exchange it for Gunther’s. That’s what the argument was about. It was me who was shouting at Otto. He said I could do it while Gunther slept. He wouldn’t say exactly why I had to do something so stupid, but he has Gunther’s disc, or at least I gave it to him. And when I did, he said the problem was solved. That’s all I know.’
‘It seems like Otto isn’t just a fly boy then, he is working as an undercover agent for someone.’
‘I was beginning to think that myself because he said he could make trouble for me back in Germany if I refused to cooperate. Can you keep me for a short time until he is convinced that I have told you nothing, then send me home?’
Devlin was now in a quandary. If he let Otto know that he was on to him from speaking with Albert, he might lose the entire game. He thought it better to authorise another search for Gunther’s disc, issuing a further threat to all of the prisoners, that they would be shipped to a secure unit in the south, pending charges of withholding vital information after the surrender had been officially signed.
He addressed the group in their own language as he wanted no conferring about English words.
‘This blunder of yours could possibly go all the way to the top of your new governing body in Germany. Why should you all need to suffer for something like this? All I want is Gunther’s disc, ask yourselves – why should this be a big deal? It’s not lost, one of you has it. Oh well, we must begin a new search, and I’m afraid that includes probing your bodies.’
One of the group held up his hand. Devlin nodded in his direction and then spoke softly.
‘And what is your name?’
‘Sepp.’
‘Go ahead Sepp.’
Devlin kept his eyes away from Otto, and having asked Sepp’s name, tried to reinforce the impression that he couldn’t remember anyone else’s, other than those of Karl and Gunther.
‘It might be nothing, but last night, well into the middle of the night, I had to go to the latrine and I saw the outline of someone in the dark, they didn’t seem to be using the latrine itself, but throwing something into it, downstream.’
‘Well now, that’s more like it,’ said Devlin, ‘if we can find it you can all go home, except the person who threw it away. I’m sorry to have to say that as it was a German who threw it away, it’s only fair that you Germans retrieve it. I can’t ask our people to trawl through your shit to find one of your discs, especially as it was one of you that threw away. Ok, then get started, and I don’t mean in your own time, I mean now, right now.’
