Chapter 26

The two hour flight on South African Airways gave me a chance to sort out a few of the thoughts that were racing around in my head. If I had my doubts that Harold Fortiscue was involved, those doubts were now banished from my mind. Every direction I took in this investigation I encountered him. Caas Teifel’s name also kept appearing in not too favourable a light.

This whole situation with Dale and Phillip Fortuin happened just over a year ago so that confirmed that there must have been a shipment of stolen diamonds sent to Europe in 2005.

I knew the source of the diamonds was the Mookgopong mine in Limpopo. A year ago the diamonds were transferred to the Cape by a small plane flown by Phillip Fortuin. This time, I suspected, they had gone in Jacques Fortuin’s car, probably because things had gone so horribly wrong a year ago.

These were cold blooded killers, who would stop at nothing in the protection of their smuggling operation. There also must be substantial money involved, for so many people to be associated with the chain. Each link in the chain, I suspected, took out a large whack of money.

The other thought to hit me was that there must be more dealers involved other than Edward Crawford. It was most unlikely that he could shift the large quantity of stolen diamonds that must be making their way to Europe. With the Rotterdam dealer Caas Teifel involved, they could be sold to dealers all around the world. Perhaps Willem, with his contacts, could clarify the situation for me.

I felt intimidated by the whole scenario. Here was I, a ‘trainee’ private investigator, up against a well-organized international diamond smuggling ring spread over at least two continents. In the army, we had a saying that ‘whoever holds the information holds the key to the battle and will be the victor’. Despite my inexperience I felt that I was still well ahead in the information stakes.

Harold Fortiscue was part of the enemy in this exercise, and he knew I was involved in trying to discover how the diamond chain worked and who was involved. My advantages lay in the fact that he didn’t know where I was or what I had found out. In South Africa, the only people who could identify me were the two gorillas from the mine and Moira Fortuin. The others didn’t know me, unless Caas Teifel had seen me in Rotterdam when I visited Willem for the first time.

The other piece of information that I had, and which they were unaware of, was that I knew the method they were using to ship the diamonds back to Europe. All in all, I reckoned that I had enough information to enable me to stay one step ahead of them. My primary objective now was to be one hundred percent sure that the diamonds were put on board the Belle Diamant before it left Cape Town to return to Europe. Once they were on board the yacht I could track them back to whatever port they landed at using the satellite tracking device fitted to the yacht.

In the meantime, if I used my electronic listening device to good effect, then I might not have to get too close to any of the people involved to gather the information I needed. I had changed the batteries in the device when I was in the UK and had brought plenty of replacements with me, so I should have plenty of listening time available to me.

By the time the plane touched down, I felt a lot more confident, and was ready to bring the South African sector of this investigation to a satisfactory conclusion. This confidence almost got me into trouble and could have been the end before the beginning. I collected my luggage off the carousal and was striding out into the arrivals area, when I spotted Moira Fortuin talking to her husband Jacques. He looked as if he had just arrived on a flight and was being picked up. There was another man with them who seemed also to have just arrived. Having recovered from my shock, I took a sharp left turn and vanished in behind a large family who were fortunately in the right place to hide me. Keeping my head down, I moved slowly away from the Fortuin’s until I was safely behind a pillar. I kept an eye on the exit door and soon saw the three of them go through the door, leaving me safe in the arrivals area.

Wow that was close! Luckily they had been talking in a close knit group when I had emerged through the sliding doors and hadn’t been looking around them. If I had come out through the doors before them, then the waiting Moira would have identified me. There weren’t many people around, it being a weekend, and she would have been looking closely at the people coming through, trying to find her husband. Recovering my luggage had delayed me, and, presumably, Jacques Fortuin wasn’t carrying any luggage, so he was out before me.

Shaken, I moved with exceptional care to the car rental desk, signed up for my car, and drove to the guest house. I dumped my bags before parking the car in the multistorey car park.

My intention had been to relax and recover from the journey, but I decided that it might be a better idea if I took my listening device out to Camps Bay and tried to find out whom their male guest was.

I remembered the way this time and managed to find my spot below the house without the aid of the friendly Tom Tom voice. Checking that there were no dogs around, I went up the path to the corner where I had hidden before. Unfortunately, it was raining, and my shoes and trousers were soaked through by the time I reached my hiding place. One advantage of the rain was that I doubted if the dog owners would be out walking their animals at this hour of the evening. I was unlikely to be troubled by cold nosed dogs.

I kept the sound turned up and pointed the device at the back rooms of the house where I saw activity.

‘Is that room alright for you Caas?’ a voice I took to be Moira Fortuin asked.

‘It’s perfect and has a marvellous view over the bay,’ the man replying had a strong accent, which I would bet on as being Dutch.

‘If you get a pair of binoculars you might even spot your yacht arriving,’ another male voice said, probably, I guessed, Jacques Fortuin.

In an instant, they had confirmed for me that this was Caas Teifel. I had wrongly assumed that he was on the Belle Diamant, based on information given to my Willem. Obviously I was mistaken as here he was in Cape Town while his yacht was still at sea.

Soaked to the skin I decided that there was no further useful information to be gained by staying here, and certainly none worth getting pneumonia for. I packed up and headed back to the car and the guest house.

As soon as I had showered and changed into some dry clothes I phoned Willem in Holland.

‘Hello, Willem van Grimbergen here.’

‘Hi Willem, it is Vince phoning you from Cape Town.’

‘I didn’t think that you would be there yet, and I didn’t expect to hear from you until Monday or even later in the week.’

‘There is an interesting development that I wanted to tell you about. I have just been over at the Fortuins’ house in Camps Bay, and you would never guess who is staying there.’

‘You’re right Vince I could never guess. Who is it?’

‘Your boat partner, Caas Teifel.’

‘I don’t believe it. He is supposed to be on the yacht in the southern Atlantic.’

‘Well he is not on the yacht; he is here in South Africa. I presume that his professional skipper must be sailing the boat.’

‘So where has he been hiding, because, as far as I know, he has not been in Rotterdam?’

‘He could have been anywhere Willem, but anyway, it is probably not relevant. Another interesting fact emerged when I talked to Dale Fortuin in the prison this morning. Caas Teifel was in the Cape last year, together with Harold Fortiscue, when Phillip Fortuin was murdered. So Caas Teifel must be a leading player in this whole mystery. He is not just a bit player simply involved in the shipping of the diamonds from Cape Town to Europe.’

‘Just make sure Vince that you stay out of their way as they sound extremely dangerous.’

‘I’ll phone you if I get any more information.’

‘Thanks Vince, keep me up to date.’

He signed off, and I suddenly realised I had forgotten to ask him where the yacht was. I would call him again in the morning after he got to the office and was close to his computer with the plotting system on it.

It was now quite late, so time I paid the Waterfront a visit to get something to eat. I kept my eyes open wide to make sure that I didn’t bump into the Fortuins and Mr Teifel. It would be just like them, to treat him to a meal at the Waterfront.