Here Espinoza was on thinner ice, since he couldn’t easily create a connection between the two deaths without risking the truth. He was saved by a ‘ping’ from Hendricks’ laptop.
“It’s Dewar. Hmm, this looks bloody complicated. Apparently Lord Dudley asked for two phones to be traced by a company called EzeTracker in England. One was supposed to be in Polokwane at the time of the death up there, then it was traced to Phalaborwa and then to Delmas. A second phone was traced to Delmas and now they’ve both moved to a different location. He thinks it’s an apartment building in Diepkloof. That’s a half hour south-west of here,” he added.
It took all of Espinoza’s mental fortitude to remain calm. Diepkloof. That’s Nwosu’s precinct and where he lives. Bingo! He said, “Can you send someone there to check?”
The other man looked exasperated. “Look, Espinoza. I’m in the middle of a double murder investigation. This phone tracking is obviously not relevant to my enquiry. Just tell me what you know about this gang killing.”
Espinoza realised he’d sold the gang story too well and Hendricks was desperate to believe it. The man didn’t think laterally.
“You’re right of course.” He replied. “It’s unlikely that it’s connected to your two murders. But there could possibly be a link to my enquiry because of the English connection. Since I’ve come all the way down here I have to exhaust every possibility. I can go on my own if you don’t have the resources.”
Hendricks still looked uninterested, but he was thinking fast. He had no leads at all in the murder enquiry and Espinoza hadn’t told him anything of value. But he obviously knows something and he’s looking for a deal. If I humour him in this Dudley affair, he’ll be obliged to help me and it might make a difference.
“You can’t go on your own, you have no jurisdiction.” He looked at his watch. “I’ll take you myself. It’ll be a waste of time but you can check it out then we can get back to my murder investigation. OK?”
The Spaniard smiled to himself. “Good, thanks. I’ll be entirely at your disposal when we return.”
Hendricks took a pistol and holster from his drawer and fastened it on. “I’m not allowed to arm you, but it’s probably a wild goose chase. Let’s go.”
Espinoza followed him out the door, hoping he wouldn’t live to regret that statement.
London, England
Dudley, Esther and Slater were sitting in a room near the reception of the hotel. She served them coffee and croissants from a tray on a sideboard.
“I have received an email message on my mobile phone from Ms Stewart,” Dudley announced with a beaming smile. He put on his spectacles and read from the tiny screen. “She informs us that she is attempting to raise funds ‘from various sources’ to make us a reasonable offer. We can expect a confirmation by Monday, which I think you’ll agree is extremely promising. I can only assume that she is speaking with her sister, since that is the closest and most available source of substantial wealth and they’re probably in the same house together. What do you think of that?”
“If my partner comes over this afternoon we’d better have a better story than that to tell. This business isn’t justifying an investment of half a million dollars at the minute.” The man looked confident and professional in his business suit but his nervous tone confounded the image.
“I believe we are about to receive some very good news. Following further arrangements I have put in place I am expecting a call in just a short while. I suggest being patient until we receive further news. In the meanwhile we can discuss the details of the payment procedure once again.” Dudley gave a smug smile and sipped his coffee.
Esther and Slater looked at him in astonishment. Last night they had lost the boy and now it seemed he had been found again. They both sat back in their chairs, breathing a deep sigh of relief.
Vereeniging, Gauteng, South Africa
According to the brochure, the Vaal Riviera Hotel is exactly one hour’s drive from Johannesburg. But the south bound highway of the N3 was under repair and it took Coetzee almost two hours to get there. It was after midday before they were installed in their rooms. The hotel was a four star establishment, comfortable and old fashioned. He had booked a double room for Karen and Abbi and two singles for Leo and himself.
The hotel had a floating bar/lounge and dining room on a motorised barge that sailed from one side of the river to the other. It was a beautiful day so they went for a coffee outside on the deserted deck.
Leo was still waiting to call his mother. He wanted to hear what Coetzee had to say. Especially what part he played in Blethin’s demise. To get his own version right before he called her, and that might depend on what he heard from the South African. He sat waiting nervously for him to begin.
“I reckon I owe you all an explanation.” Coetzee looked uncomfortable. “Where should I start?”
“How about the beginning?” said Karen and Abby in unison.
“Right.” He took a cheroot from the pack and laid it on the table without lighting it. Then he told them the story of the Voice and Nwosu and Lambert and Blethin, and Leo. He didn’t tell them about poor Jacob Masuku and his wife. He realised that some things were best forgotten.
Diepkloof, Gauteng, South Africa
Hendricks’ unmarked Peugeot pulled up in front of the apartment building in Diepkloof at twelve thirty pm. As they got out of the car a black Mercedes with darkened windows and Zimbabwean plates drove away from the kerb, narrowly missing Espinoza.
“Fucking tourists! Their country is bankrupt and falling apart and they’re driving around my country in fancy Mercedes spending money they’ve stolen from their own people and from foreign aid. It’s disgusting.” Espinoza nodded his agreement as Hendricks spat into the gutter in anger.
There were three entrances to the building and the information from DI Dewar hadn’t identified which one it was. Espinoza didn’t want to reveal that he knew the address, it would look suspicious. Fortunately it was the only apartment building on the street. They chose the first entrance and went into a shabby hall with post boxes on the wall. “What was the name you heard?”
“Nwosu. Jonathon Nwosu.” Espinoza held his breath in case the policeman recognised the name.
“Nobody here called Nwosu.” The name meant nothing to Hendricks. “We’ll try next door.”
Nwosu’s apartment was on the top floor of the third entrance. They climbed the four flights, ignoring the various noises and smells they passed on the way. There was no one in the stairwell and they arrived at the apartment without seeing a soul.
Hendricks pressed the bell. There was no response and he pressed it again and knocked with his knuckles. Still no response. Espinoza turned the metal handle and the door swung open.
“Wait.” Hendricks took his pistol from the holster and released the safety catch. They walked into a small hall with three closed doors around them. The first opened onto an untidy bedroom with a travel bag lying on the unmade bed.
“Look.” Espinoza pointed at a policemen’s jacket hanging over a chair back. There was a cap and an empty holster on the seat.
“Fucking Hell!” Hendricks looked in amazement. “He’s a cop. A sergeant, no less!” He started to reassess the possible connection between Espinoza’s visit and Dewar’s message. A shower room with an adjacent lavatory opened off the bedroom. Toilet items were strewn on the shelf in front of the mirror.
The room on the right was a small kitchen. Two coffee mugs stood on a bench. The mugs were almost full. Espinoza felt one, it was still warm. Hendricks cocked the pistol and opened the third door.
It was a comfortably furnished room with a dining corner by the window. Lying on his back by the dining table, his upper body in a pool of blood was Sergeant Nwosu. His pistol was lying on the floor beside him. He was in his shirt sleeves, his freshly plastered right arm stretched out and a bullet hole in his temple.
London, England
Dudley was itemising the fictitious additional costs
of the operation when his mobile rang. It was his contact in Harare. The others watched expectantly as a broad smile came to his face. “That’s good news. Where is the boy now?” He listened again. “I see. And the policeman and the other man? What about your two missing agents? Very well, please let me know when the boy is safely in Beitbridge. Thank you for your intervention.”
“Well?” Slater asked eagerly.
“Please wait for one moment while I make another call.” Dudley went out of the room and called EzeTracker. “Simon, my dear boy. Could you possibly ask for a very quick update on our friends in SA?”
A moment later Pickford came back on the line. “Both phones are on the Western Bypass. It’s a ring road that takes you west of Johannesburg to get to the N1 northbound. Is that accurate enough, Master?”
“It is more than enough Simon, thank you. I do apologise for having troubled you again. Have a wonderful day.”
He came back into the room and closed the door, his smile even broader than before. “I now have independent confirmation that Leo Stewart is on his way to Beitbridge with appropriate security. We are once again in charge of the operation.”
Esther and Slater exchanged relieved glances. “Thank God. When was this? And what about Coetzee and Nwosu?”
“It was earlier this morning and apparently there was some collateral damage. Coetzee was not at the scene, but Nwosu was. Unfortunately he didn’t survive the event, which of course fortuitously removes another witness without any intervention on our part. I confess that I don’t understand what has been happening recently but the essential point is that we once again have Leo Stewart in our custody.”
“But where is Coetzee?”
“It’s really quite irrelevant now. The boy is out of his control and will very soon be in an inaccessible and inhospitable place. In the event he is still alive, there is nothing Mr Coetzee can do. He has no idea who or where we are and is now completely removed from this transaction. Our path to Ms Stewart is now clear.”
“So you’ll be sending the payment instructions today?”
“This evening, yes. If you don’t object I prefer to receive confirmation of their arrival in Beitbridge, there have been rather too many false starts as it is. I’ll return to my apartment with Esther and we’ll prepare the message immediately. It will be sent as soon as I have the necessary confirmation from my contact. I apologise for the confusion of the last few days and if possible I’ll discover more information for you, but I hope you’ll agree that we are once again in control.”
For the first time, Slater looked relieved and at ease. “Well done, Arthur. I’ll call my partner. Coming over here will be a waste of time now.” He went out of the room to make the call.
“Are you sure of this news, Arthur? We can’t afford another fiasco, it would cost us a lot, both financially and possibly in other ways.”
“Quite sure, my dear. My explanation was deliberately oversimplified and modest in the extreme. What actually occurred was that we traced both phones to an apartment in Diepkloof, which I knew, of course, to be Nwosu’s home. I arranged for another agent to call at the apartment and retrieve the boy. Apparently the sergeant tried to prevent them taking him away and had to be subdued. I have just had final confirmation that both phones are on their way to Beitbridge, which probably means that Coetzee had previously been neutralised and Nwosu had recuperated his own phone. That was the guarantee I required to prove that Leo has been retaken. It seems that for once we have managed to kill two birds with one stone.”
“And the two missing agents? I heard you asking.”
“They have still not been located. Nwosu threatened the agent and was shot before he could interrogate him about them, but that, fortunately is not our problem”
Esther came over and kissed him on the cheek. “Well done, Arthur. You are the most resourceful man I have ever met.”
Dudley flushed a bright red. The combination of the kiss and her heady perfume were almost more than he could cope with. The moment meant more to him than he cared to admit. His embarrassment was deflected by the door opening again.
“My partner will wait for further news before taking the flight. If we get confirmation tonight there’ll be no need to come.” Slater had ignored the sight of Esther moving quickly away from Lord Dudley’s chair, he couldn’t imagine that there might be the slightest cause for jealousy. “I’m assuming,” he continued, “that once in Beitbridge there’s no possibility of losing the boy?”
“I can assure you that once Leo Stewart is across the border in Zimbabwe, no power in the world can remove him if we do not want that to occur.”
“Then you don’t need me here either. I told you I wanted to leave today.” He looked at his watch and stood up. “If I go now I’ll just make my flight.” He called to the concierge to bring his suitcase. “I’ll be in touch this evening for further news. Well done and good luck.”
He shook hands with them both, resisting the impulse to kiss Esther, and walked out to take a taxi to Paddington to catch the Heathrow Express.
Vereeniging, Gauteng, South Africa
Including fielding a barrage of questions from Karen, Leo and even Abby, it took Coetzee an hour and a half to tell his story. He was not a loquacious man and didn’t enjoy speaking for so long but he knew they all deserved the full story, no short cuts or prevarications. He finished by saying, “Thanks to Leo’s brainwave, I knew if I gave the phones to Jamie, the heat would be off us. If the Voice is still looking for us he’ll be following Nwosu. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, but Nwosu is a butcher and he deserves whatever happens to him.” He picked up the cheroot from the table, put it between his lips then put it back again, unlit.
“Why on earth did you get mixed up in this dreadful business?” Karen had sat in shocked silence as she listened to her ex-husband’s confession. Although he had kept the story simple she knew the trouble he could get into and was already in. “You’ve spent your life protecting your country, saving lives, becoming a national hero and a shining example to people of all ages. Then you suddenly go off and kidnap an innocent young boy whom you don’t even know and get involved in death and destruction on a massive scale. What’s wrong with you, Marius?”
“Karen, the truth is, it’s really your fault.” Before she could respond, he went on, “For the last two years I’ve been totally lost. After you left me I walked out of the army, the only place where I’ve ever felt safe and useful. I set up a business which turned out to be a money pit and cost me my pension pot because I was too incompetent to manage it properly. I screwed up that business and now I’ve screwed up my life. I used to be clean living and fit and now I’m smoking, drinking and eating crap food because I can’t be bothered to cook or go to a proper restaurant.
“Then, to cap it all, I joined up with a psychopathic killer and a bunch of crooks because I’m broke and thought I could make some money to get started again and look at the result. There’s innocent people dead, my family were put in harm’s way and a young kid who could be my son almost ended up in Zimbabwe. How smart was that?”
Coetzee took the cheroot and snapped it in two. Threw the pieces over the side of the barge. “The bottom line is I’m a total fucking disaster on my own. I need someone beside me to keep me in order. I need a boss, Karen. I had one in the army and I had you at home and now I have no one.”
Leo was looking at Karen. Tears started to run down her face as he finished speaking. He turned to Coetzee and saw the same thing. Coetzee was crying now. Tears of love, he realised. They’re still in love.
He took Abby’s hand. “Let’s go for a walk. See what we can find along the river.” They walked down the stairs from the restaurant deck leaving Coetzee and Karen sitting at the table, saying nothing, just looking at each other.
FIFTY-EIGHT
Diepkloof, Gauteng, South Africa
“She says that’s the policeman who went upstairs with Mr Lambert, Sergeant Bongani. She’s sure of it.” The desk cler
k at the Hotel Packard was looking at a photo of Nwosu’s dead face. Hendricks had emailed it to an officer in central Johannesburg who had gone straight to the hotel to interrogate the woman. He and Espinoza were still at the apartment as the pathologist confirmed the death from a bullet wound when they received the call. Two officers were also there searching the apartment and another was questioning the other occupants of the building, without success. No guns had been found, neither the murder weapon nor Nwosu’s police issue pistol.
Hendricks gave instructions for the clerk to officially identify the body when it was taken to the morgue and closed the phone. “That’s one crime solved since you got here, Pedro. We might never have put two and two together, certainly not so quickly. The PR people will make a big deal out of this. It makes great headlines when we actually get something right.” He made no mention of Espinoza’s supposed European connection. It would only complicate matters. Keep it simple and close the case, he said to himself.
The pathologist announced that the death had occurred less than an hour ago and the other injuries to the body were older and not directly connected with the murder. Both men tried to imagine what recent events had occurred to inflict such harm to the dead policeman. An accident treatment form from the Newtown Private Clinic was found in the pocket of Nwosu’s jacket and the nurse who answered their call confirmed that he had been there earlier that morning. The clinic had no further information to impart. His appointment had been made by telephone and he arrived and left with a young man after his wrist was plastered, having told them nothing about that or his other injuries. Hendricks had sent an officer to check, but there seemed to be nothing to learn there.
There were several photos in the apartment of a young black man, hardly more than a boy, some showing him with Nwosu in very explicit poses. Some had messages written on the back and were signed by ‘Jamie’. Nwosu was clearly a homosexual and Jamie had been his partner.
Emma’s instincts were correct, reflected Espinoza. Now, Nwosu was dead and Jamie was missing. The policeman’s laptop was taken away to be forensically examined. Hendricks hoped they’d find more information about the boyfriend from its contents.
The African Diamond Trilogy Box Set Page 97
