Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation

by Patricki Slaney

  'I take it that it wouldn't be you who would pay for my services.'

  'Unfortunately not Vince, but I would cover any expenses incurred in doing work for me and would return the favour if you need any help in your investigations.'

  'Then who would pay me for work I might do on the case?'

  'There is a group of luxury car dealers who want to see the activity of these thieves terminated, and they are the ones who would pay you.'

  'That sounds like an excellent deal to me and, after all, I do owe you my life after your police divers pulled me out of the Thames.'

  'I'll phone you to let you know of any developments with our wounded Italian friend when I talk to him tomorrow. We can talk next week about how you can help me on the luxury car thefts.'

  'I'll keep you up to date on my availability based on what happens in the South of France as I explained earlier. I will have to travel to Cannes at short notice if they steal another motor yacht.'

  'I fully understand that Vince. I'll talk to you later.'

  We shook hands, and I left the pub to go home. I was now extremely confused and not certain of what investigations I was involved in and what my priorities were. I had enough on my plate with the contract I had with the Cannes owners group without getting involved in the Inspector's cases, but I felt that I should put myself out for him as he had been so supportive in my investigations.

  When I arrived home, I telephoned Willem in Holland.

  'Hi Vince; I have been thinking about you since our conversation last night. How did it go?'

  'You were one hundred percent correct in the information that you gave me. Having talked to you, I rushed into the auction house, and I waited with the security officer to see if the burglars would return. Right on cue they broke in again. A man came down a rope ladder into the room carrying a duplicate necklace. He opened the safe, and we then jumped on him. My Glock came in particularly handy, and we captured the safe cracker and his accomplice who was on the roof. I shot both of them, but not fatally. We also got hold of the fake necklace. The boss of the auction house is naturally extremely pleased.'

  'Well done Vince; the army comes to the rescue again.'

  'I'm just thankful that I phoned you last night as I would have looked a fool if the switch had been made and the necklace had vanished.'

  'All I did was tell you about a switch that occurred in Amsterdam some years ago.'

  ‘I still am extremely grateful. To get back to the boats, can you please now tell me what is happening in Cannes?'

  'All the motor yachts belonging to the owners in our group have now placed tracking devices on board, and they are showing on my computer. One owner has emailed me to let me know that he is going to the Balearic Islands this weekend and will be away for two weeks. Two others have told me that they are taking their boats to Monaco for some function, so that leaves five boats still in Cannes.'

  'There is not much that we can do now Willem except wait. At some stage, one of the boats will probably be stolen, but we have no idea when. We'll just have to be patient.'

  'I'll keep monitoring them and let you know if any of the boats move Vince.'

  'Good night Willem and thanks.'

  I terminated the call and went to have dinner with my family.

  After we had finished eating, I suddenly remembered that I hadn't contacted Nick Knowles all week. Other events had pushed him from my mind. Rather than phone him I sent him a text message informing him that all the boats now had trackers installed and were being monitored at our end. He texted back, saying that all was quiet, and he would check all the boats on the list later that evening.

  I then took the opportunity of an early night as I had a lot of catching up to do on my sleep.

  Chapter 8

  My mobile started ringing at some ungodly hour of the night and woke me up. I fumbled for the phone and managed to answer it.

  'Major Hamilton, it is Nick Knowles here.'

  I immediately feared the worst.

  'What's wrong Nick?'

  'Another motor yacht has been stolen. I went to check on the crews at 3.00am, and one of the boats is not on its mooring.'

  'Are you sure that the owners haven't taken it out.'

  'I am certain. It was there when I checked earlier in the evening, and the owner wasn’t on board.'

  'Where is the crew?'

  'I can't find them; they must have been taken with the boat.'

  'How many crew were on board?'

  'I am pretty sure that there were only two.'

  'I will come out tomorrow on the first available flight, but, at this stage, I don't have an arrival time. You must report the theft to the police and to the Capitainerie as soon as it opens in the morning. Can you also please phone the owner as I won't have time? What is the name of the motor yacht?'

  'It's called Splendiferous, and is owned by a guy from the South of England called Peter Brown.'

  'Thanks for phoning Nick. I'll get back to you as soon as I hear anything.'

  I climbed out of bed and went downstairs to call Willem, checking the time on the way. It was 2.56am, and England was one hour behind Cannes.

  There was a muttered noise on the other end of the phone when it was answered.

  'Hi Willem, I am sorry to phone you in the middle of the night, but another boat has been stolen in Cannes.'

  'Is it one of the boats with a monitoring device fitted?'

  'Yes, it's one of our owner group's boats, and it is called Splendiferous.'

  'I'll go downstairs to my computer and have a look at the pictures from the satellite. I'll phone you back when I have found something.' The phone went dead.

  I made myself a cup of coffee and waited for his reply.

  I answered my mobile as soon as it rang.

  'Bingo Vince, I have it blipping away at me, and it is heading west at around twenty knots.'

  'Have you any idea where it is heading Willem?'

  'No, it would be impossible to give you an exact location at this stage. I reckon that your best bet is to get to Montpellier as soon as you can. From there, you can go east to Marseille or west to Sete and beyond.'

  'So you reckon that there is no point in going to Cannes?'

  'No, you should definitely go after the boat and see where they are bringing it. My guess is that they will hide it somewhere at the first available opportunity.'

  'I agree. I will try and get a flight to Montpellier. Can you please keep in touch and let me know immediately if the boat goes west or south and is heading away from Montpellier?'

  I had a quick look on the internet and found that there was an Easy Jet flight from London Gatwick to Montpellier, which was scheduled to leave at 06.50 hours. If I moved quickly, I would be able to catch that flight.

  It was a rush, but I was able to get a seat on the flight. The Taxi driver from the local minicab company was extremely thankful for the business and put his foot down to ensure that I made the flight.

  As I was waiting to board, I took the opportunity to text Nick in Cannes to let him know that I wouldn't be going to Cannes, but I was elsewhere chasing the boat. I told him that I would be in touch as soon as I knew what was going on.

  I leant back in my seat as the plane took off and thought about what lay ahead. I had managed to grab hold of my remote listening device which had proved so useful in South Africa, but hadn't brought my Glock with me as I wouldn't be able to get it through security and carry it aboard the airplane. I had shoved a few things into a small bag but wasn't equipped for a long stay.

  The first thing that I did when I arrived in Montpellier at 9.45am was to phone Willem as I had been out of touch for a few hours.

  'Good news for you Vince.' Willem sounded excited. 'The Splendiferous seems to have stopped in Sete. I suggest that you hire a car and get over there as soon as you can.'

  'How far is it from Montpellier to Sete Willem? Is it far?'

  'As far as I can make out it is around twenty-five to thirty kilome
tres, so it's quite close.'

  'I'll go and hire a car and head for Sete then. If it starts to move further west, please let me know, it may only be a refuelling stop.'

  'Based on my previous experience, of chasing after criminals, when I had been forced off the road in South Africa, I hired the biggest and solidest car that they had available. I was ready for any sort of altercation.'

  I punched Sete Centre into the Sat Nav device and headed off to find the boat. It was now 10.25am, so I hadn't wasted much time, but I still wouldn't get to Sete until about an hour after the Splendiferous had arrived there.

  I followed a sign that said Centre de Ville. I reckoned that the tourist office would be close to the centre, and I needed to obtain a map of the town. The road I was on criss crossed a number of waterways which totally confused me as it was difficult to keep my sense of direction. I decided to dump the car at the first car park I encountered and walk from there.

  I came to the station where there was a car, and I left the car. I followed the sign to the Office de Tourisme, which was situated close to the town hall beside another waterway. A helpful tourist official gave me a map of the port and pointed to a board where there was a stack of information leaflets written in English. I found one entitled The Port of Sete.

  Equipped with my map and leaflet I set off to find a restaurant where I could get some breakfast. It had been such a rush from my home to Gatwick airport and onto the plane to Montpellier that I had only managed to grab a cup of coffee, and I was starving. I didn’t eat ion the plane as I refused to pay the exorbitant amount the budget airlines charged for their food offerings. I would rather go hungry.

  With a white coffee and two croissants in front of me, I studied my two documents. The map showed that there was a large harbour area which opened into the Mediterranean. It was about two kilometres long and about one kilometre wide. The map showed a lot of berths for large ships and also indicated that a number of ferries used the port. It was a massive harbour, and I would need to hire a boat if I wanted try and find Splendiferous. It could be anywhere.

  There was a network of canals crisscrossing the city, and they opened into the harbour. The opposite side of the town to the Mediterranean opened into a large inland sea called the Etang de Thau and the only way into this lake was through the canal system. There were a lot of road and rail bridges over the canals, so presumably, these would have to be raised or opened in some way before a boat could enter the Etang. There was a bay on the Sete side of the Etang, and it looked as if there were a number of boatyards along the shore.

  I started to go through the leaflet that I had picked up at the tourist office. I wanted to see if there was any more information that might be of use to me. I found a section covering the opening times of the bridges. There were three times of the day that boats could pass from the sea side of Sete to the Etang, and the morning time was around 10.00am.

  My mobile rang, and the screen showed that it was Willem.

  'Hi Willem; I have reached Sete and am sitting having a coffee and deciding what my next step is.'

  'Have you spotted the motor yacht yet?'

  'No and I haven't a clue where to start looking for it as this place is vast and extremely spread out.'

  'I may be able to help you there Vince. It looks as if the boat is now moored in an inner harbour on the shores of an Etang.'

  'So they must have reached Sete in time to get the boat through the bridges when they opened at 10.00am.'

  'Does that make it any easier for you Vince?'

  'Yes Willem, it would have been a nightmare trying to find it in the outer harbour, but I can now concentrate my search amongst the boatyards on the edge of the Etang.'

  'Good hunting Vince. I will contact you if anything changes at my end.'

  'Thanks for phoning Willem, I will give you an update later.' I ended the call and got out my trusty notebook to make a plan.

  I made a list:

  1. Contact Peter Brown the owner of Splendiferous and let him know what is happening.

  2. Get his permission to use the boat to find out where they are ultimately being taken.

  3. Contact Nick and tell him where I was.

  4. Try and locate the boat in one of the boatyards bordering the Etang.

  5. Listen in to conversations if I found the boat.

  6. Take a decision as to what to do next as I didn't have my Glock with me.

  My first step was to retrieve my car from the station car park. I then drove to the area of Sete where the boatyards were. I stopped in a quiet street overlooking the Etang and telephoned Peter Brown.

  'Good morning Peter, it's Vince Hamilton here.'

  'Hi Vince, I hope that you have good news for me.'

  'I presume that Nick Knowles phoned you this morning about the theft of Splendiferous.'

  'Yes he did, and I have also been talking to the police. I plan on flying down to Cannes this afternoon to complete the necessary paperwork. Where are you?'

  'I am in Sete, a port close to Montpellier. The boat was tracked here last night, and I managed to get a flight from Gatwick to Montpellier first thing this morning. I was fortunate that there was a flight at 6.50am. I reached Sete by 11.00am.'

  'Have you seen the boat yet?'

  'No, but I have a rough idea where it is.'

  'Will you get the police involved Vince so as I can get my boat back?'

  'I would prefer not to if you are willing to go along with my plan? Have you heard anything from the crew?'

  'Yes they phoned me this morning from Marseille. They were transferred into one of the inflatables when the boat stopped outside the port of Marseille and were able to make it into the harbour. They are safe and well.'

  'That's an immense relief; at least their safe.'

  'You had better tell me your plan. I will then take a decision based on what I think of it,' Peter Brown said.

  'Rescuing your boat won't help us in getting the other two boats back as it is unlikely that they will still be here. Chances are the boats are having their appearance altered in Sete and are then being taken to a customer elsewhere. I would like to track the boat when it leaves Sete so as we can find out where the other two vessels were taken to.'

  'What you are saying makes sense, but it's an enormous risk. I won't take a decision until you have checked if the other two boats are, in fact, at the same place. Why don't you locate Splendiferous, see what they are doing to it, and then phone me back?'

  'I'll call you this evening and give you an update.'

  I finished that call and then phoned Nick Knowles in Cannes to let him know that I definitely wouldn't be going there. I didn't tell him that I had located the boat just in case he talked to somebody who might compromise my strategy.

  The boatyards were located in what looked like a small industrial estate on a headland sticking into the inland sea. The road ran along the edge of the Etang with the boatyards being situated between the road and the waters' edge. I managed to narrow down the possibilities to a stretch about half a kilometre in length. As the fences and gates were high, and I wouldn't be able to see anything from the road, I parked the car and decided to conduct my search on foot.

  The large entrance gate on the first boatyard that I came to was open, and I was able to have a look around inside. The area was full of expensive looking catamarans, but no motor yachts. The next gate was firmly locked, and it was impossible to look through the fencing as it had been recently sheeted with steel panels. I looked at another five premises with no luck. Splendiferous must be in the boatyard that I couldn't see into. The tracking device being monitored by Willem was indicating that it unquestionably was in this area. I would have to come back after dark and see if I could gain access.

  I returned into the town and booked myself into a hotel called the Hotel L'Orgue Bleue that looked out on the Royal Canal. I found a small Bistro along the road facing the Canal and had some lunch. Suitably refreshed I went back to the hotel to catch up on my s
leep as I intended to spend most of tonight searching for the boat.

  Chapter 9

  Waking up in the late afternoon, I decided that I should touch base with Willem to bring him up to date on the situation that was facing me in Sete. Conducting a search for the boat could be dangerous, so somebody needed to know the latest information in case things went wrong. Willem was as good a person as any to be kept informed. If I were incapacitated for some reason, and wasn’t able to get back to him, he would know what to do.

  'Hi Vince; nice to hear from you. How are things in Sete?

  'So far everything is going better than I expected. Also, I think that I have found the location where the Splendiferous is being kept.'

  'That's great, and what is your next step?'

  'I had a brief look around the area this morning and will return to the boatyard area this evening after it gets dark. I want to see if I can gain access to the yard where I think she is being worked on. There is no access from the road as the gate is securely locked, but I should be able to gain access via the water.'

  'For goodness sake be careful Vince, you don't want to get a bang on the head like you did in Cape Town and end up going for another swim.'

  'That's the reason I am phoning you Willem. I will give you the telephone number of my hotel, and I would be obliged if you would call them first thing in the morning, but only if I haven't contacted you to confirm that I am safe. If I haven't phoned by then, you will know that something has happened to me.'

  'That seems a reasonable plan Vince. What time do you expect to be back?'

  'I expect to be back by 6.00am tomorrow morning at the latest, but I'll definitely phone you as soon as I get back to the hotel.'

  'Just be extremely careful as you are on your own, and there may be lots of nasty Italian men protecting the boat.'

  'I will Willem; I'll talk to you later.'

  I terminated the call to Willem comforted by the fact that I had a reliable lifeline in place.