Chapter 10

My flight touched down in London the following morning at 6:45 a.m. The twelve hours that the flight actually took seemed to be twice as long due the misery my injuries produced. It was far too painful to sit in one place all night so I had to keep moving around the aircraft and this obviously precluded any sleep. As a result of my suffering condition, I took a Taxi home and climbed into bed having dodged my wife’s questions.

I woke up from a deep sleep just after 2:00 p.m, having had vivid dreams of being chased by gross black Toyotas in Africa. I showered, got dressed, and just had time to call Harold Fortiscue before I went to pick the kids up from school.

I was surprised when the receptionist announced that Mr Harold Fortiscue was not in the office and that Sir Montgomery had told her that if I phoned I was to be put through to him.

I waited for about a minute until his voice came on the line.

‘Good afternoon Major Hamilton; I am afraid that Harold isn’t in the office. I told the receptionist to put you through to me if you phoned,’ Sir Montgomery said, sounding much more like a business executive than the last time I had talked to him.

‘How are you sir,’ I asked. ‘Is there any news of your other son Brian?’

‘Listen, I can’t talk to you now Major, but I would like to see you tomorrow if that can be arranged. I know that it is a Saturday, but I need to see you urgently.’

‘I have nothing planned so tomorrow would be suitable. Where do you suggest that we meet?’

‘Can you get to the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street by 10:00 a.m tomorrow morning?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I know where the hotel is, and I easily should make it by 10. Will Harold be there?’

‘No, it will just be me. Harold is at the Cheltenham Festival where he has some horses running.’

‘OK, I’ll see you then.’ I scratched my head. The conversation hadn’t gone as I had expected. When I left for South Africa, Sir Montgomery had been all uptight and angry. Now he seemed to be an confident businessman and back in charge, but why wasn’t he meeting me at his office in Hatton Garden? Another thought hit me; could the fact that Harold owned horses have something to do with the investigation?

The following morning I took the tube into central London and was walking in through the doors of the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street at two minutes to ten. I passed through the long reception area, which doubled as a lounge, and was just convincing myself that he wasn’t there when I spotted Sir Montgomery in a corner tucked away out of the main flow of the room.

‘Good morning Sir Montgomery,’ I said as I came up to where he was sitting.

He lifted his head from what he was reading and looked at me.

‘Good morning Major. Thank you for coming in to see me on a Saturday morning,’ he got up and shook my hand a lot more gently than those monsters in South Africa had.

‘I would be happier if you called me Vince sir. I have stopped using the Major bit,’ I explained.

‘OK Vince, take a seat and join me here. I have taken the liberty of ordering some coffee with hot milk, will that do or would you prefer tea?’

‘No, coffee is perfect’

He poured the coffee and allowed me to add my own milk.

From the time that I had arrived he had been in complete control of the situation. I was amazed in the difference between the person I now saw, and the one I had met in that first ill-fated meeting at his office, when he had lost his ‘cool’ completely.

‘Right Vince, I think that the best approach is for you to bring me up to date on what you have been up to, and I will then tell you about developments in London, including the murder inquiry into Brian’s tragic death.’

It took me about forty minutes to tell him all I had been doing and the conclusions I had arrived at. He stopped me a few times and asked me some pertinent questions, but, other than that, he just listened, holding his head in his hands and nodding supportively.

When I had finished, he thought for a moment and then moved his chair slightly towards me, cutting down the distance between us.

‘The first comment I would like to make is that you can totally trust Willem van Grimbergen. Before Willem took over the company his father and I were extremely good friends., You have just told me your suspicions as a result of what went on in Rotterdam when you were there, but from what I know of Willem over an exceedingly long time, I am fairly sure that he was not behind it. I suggest you go to Rotterdam and talk to him openly about your fears. There is probably a simple explanation.’

‘My bag was definitely searched in his offices, and my room was ransacked when he excused himself from dinner,’ I protested.

‘That may be so, but I would still stake my life on the fact that Willem was not involved,’ Sir Montgomery said very forcibly.

‘OK, I will do as you say and go and see Willem again. If he is not responsible, then it would be beneficial to find out who is,’ I suggested.

‘With regard to South Africa, you have done exceptionally well to have found what you feel is the source of the stolen diamonds. I am terribly sorry that they took such drastic action against you and, as a result, I will increase your fee considerably to help compensate you for what you went through.’

‘I greatly appreciate that sir, but money isn’t the main motive behind finding out who is responsible in South Africa. I now have a personal score to settle with two rugby players from Limpopo,’ I smiled at the thought.

‘With regard to Jacques and Moira Fortuin, you may well be right in your assumptions, and I can’t advise you otherwise as I don’t know them on a personal basis. My relationship with Jacques has always been on a strictly business footing.’

‘I have a strong feeling that I will find the missing Jacques when I go to Cape Town and locate their property in Hermanus,’ I said.

‘With all your side of the matter dealt with, I had better tell you the real reason for meeting you here this morning and why Harold isn’t here,’ Sir Montgomery said changing the subject. ‘I am afraid that Harold has got himself into a few problems with his race horses. He, unfortunately, has also got himself in deep with the bookies. I have told him to take a sabbatical and sort the whole thing out. I will only let him back into the office when he can focus on diamonds and not his debts.’

‘You don’t have to tell me all this if you don’t want,’ I suggested to Sir Montgomery. I felt decidedly uncomfortable hearing about his son’s problems.

‘I am only telling you this because it could have some bearing on the problem you are investigating. I want you to know, so you are aware of what is going on.’

‘Does Harold have large debts then?’ I asked.

‘I still don’t know to what extent, but he certainly owes a lot of money and has been pressurising me for a substantial loan; in the region of five hundred thousand pounds.’

‘So I presume you don’t want me to contact him until all his financial problems have been sorted out,’ I said making sure that I didn’t go against his wishes.

‘Yes. I am the only person you must talk to from now on. I will give you my personal telephone numbers, and you must only contact me on those numbers.’

‘Have you any news about Brian’s death?’

‘I have my suspicions, but I would prefer not to tell you anything until I have clarified a few things. What I can tell you is that it was undeniably murder, and I am pretty certain that it is associated with the diamond smuggling,’ Sir Montgomery’s facial expression became a lot more serious as he told me this.

‘Thank you for being so open with me sir,’ I said genuinely grateful for the personal insight Sir Montgomery had given me. ‘I will arrange to travel to see Willem on Monday in Rotterdam. Are you able to arrange for Willem to pick me up at the airport, the same time as he did last time?’

‘I’ll get in touch with Willem and talk to him. He will meet you on Monday.’

‘Thank you for that. I’ll leave you in peace now and get back to my family,’ I got up, shook his hand and left him, still sitting there looking pensive.

My journey back to Putney on the tube gave me a chance to digest what I had been told. The meeting hadn’t gone exactly as envisaged. What a remarkable old man Sir Montgomery Fortiscue was and what a change to the impression I had of him, based on that first meeting with him and Harold. I could now see why he was the director of one of the leading diamond dealers in London. For the old man’s sake, I wanted to solve this problem and my motivation had increased substantially as a result of our meeting.

If my impression of Sir Montgomery had changed, ditto my opinion of his son Harold Fortiscue. I had seen Harold as the supportive son, trying to take the pressure off his father. I now saw him as a major part of the problem, with his father having to put up with his excessive gambling and irresponsibility. Sir Montgomery hadn’t mentioned the total amount that Harold owed, but it must be considerable for him to ask for such a large loan.

Then there was the death of Brian. I had got the impression, from the way Sir Montgomery answered my question that he had strong suspicions as to why his son had been murdered and who had carried out the deed. He wasn’t willing or didn’t deem it necessary to tell me at this stage, so I had no idea if he was on the right track.

Finally, he had certainly changed my view of Willem van Grimbergen. Before our discussion, I was convinced that Willem was playing for the opposition and had been the person who had searched my bag and ransacked my room. I still wasn’t convinced that I was wrong. I would have to be extremely tactful while I checked out my fears when I went to meet Willem the following Monday. If Sir Montgomery was right, then there must be another dangerous adversary in Rotterdam, and, whoever it was, knew me and what I was doing.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I suddenly realised that the train had stopped at the terminus, and everybody else had got off. I must have looked really stupid, sitting there on my own lost in my thoughts. By the time I reached my home, my head had cleared, and I was switched on to family mode. This stayed with me until I left for the Docklands airport on Monday morning.