Chapter 33

I woke up a few hours later with a splitting headache and took two of my strong pain killers. After a further half an hour in bed, the pills started to have their effect, and I got up to prepare for the new day. Showered and dressed, I went down to meet Mrs Cronje and have a late breakfast; ready for her inquisition.

‘Good morning Mr Hamilton, you were in extremely late last night.’

‘I hope I didn’t disturb you when I came in?’

She turned around to look at me and suddenly straightened up from what she was doing. She had spotted my damaged head.

‘What on earth happened to you and how did you get that lump on your head? She exclaimed.

‘A man, who had been thrown out of a nightclub, hit me over the head with a whiskey bottle,’ I explained to her. The story sounded plausible, so I was hoping that she would swallow it.

‘You poor soul. What did they do to the bloke who hit you?’

‘He was grabbed by the bouncers and handed over to the police.’

‘Are you OK? It looks really nasty, and I see that it was bleeding. You probably should go and see a doctor.’

‘I took some strong pain killers that I had in my bag, so I should be alright.’

‘Don’t do anything strenuous today and take it easy,’ she advised.

‘Well actually I have some bad news for you. I am afraid that my time in Cape Town has come to an end, and I will be leaving today.’

‘Will you be coming back in the near future?’

‘No, I doubt if I will this time. The job I was doing is complete, and there will be no need to return. I will pack up after breakfast and get on the road.’

Are you flying out of Cape Town airport today then?’

‘No, I thought that I would travel up the garden route and stay around Port Elizabeth for a few days. I then might travel to Durban. It’s time that I saw an area of South Africa that I haven’t seen before.’

‘That’s a good idea, and the weather is settled at the moment so you should be able to see the views. I’ll be sorry to see you go.’

‘Thank you very much for all you have done for me here. It’s been like a home from home for me.’

‘Do you still have the ladder in my shed?’

‘No I gave the ladder to someone, and you can keep the other tools. I won’t be able to carry them with me.’

‘I’ll see you before you go then.’

She went off to the kitchen to organise my breakfast. I was slightly later than normal and the girl who served the breakfasts had gone home.

After breakfast, I decided that I had better phone Willem in Rotterdam, to bring him up to date on my latest adventure. I also phoned my wife to let her know I was on my way home,

‘Good morning Vince. How are things in Cape Town this morning,’ his cheery voice came on the line.

‘Other than having a particularly large lump on my head and a severe headache, everything is OK,’ I answered.

‘Sorry Vince my English is not good enough to know what a lump on the head is.’

‘Well, to put it another way, I was hit over the head near the marina last night and thrown into the water.’

‘What!’ he exclaimed. ‘You obviously survived, but what actually happened?’

I spent a few minutes explaining to him what had happened and how lucky I had been to be wearing the life jacket under my anorak.

‘Just to clarify something Vince; you say that you are fairly sure that they were loading drugs on board the yacht as well as the diamonds?’

‘Yes that is exactly what I am saying. In fact, the majority of what they put on board was packets of drugs, and there were only two packets of diamonds.’

‘No wonder that they didn’t want people watching what they were doing. Fancy my old pal Caas Teifel being so heavily involved.’

‘He is not just involved Willem, he seems to be in charge down here.’

‘What are your plans now Vince?’

‘Well, I have decided not to fly out of Cape Town, just in case they are watching out for me. Instead, I will drive up the coast to Port Elizabeth and will try and get a flight from there to Johannesburg. I can then catch the British Airways plane to London.’

‘Yes I agree; you need to get out of there immediately, although, they probably think that you drowned in the harbour last night. They will assume that until they don’t find the body, and then they will undoubtedly come looking for you again.’

‘They will be loading the yacht onto the freighter today so they won’t have time to look for me, and they are expected to leave tomorrow. I should be safe.’

‘Phone me Vince when you get back. We can meet up and go over all that you have found out and what our strategy should be at the European end.’

‘I haven’t worked out yet what I am going to tell Inspector Baird or old man Fortiscue. I will have to tell them something, but I don’t want to reveal the drugs until I have a plan. I’ll phone you when I get home.’

‘Go carefully Vince, and keep your eyes on the lookout for trouble.’

‘I will Willem. Don’t worry.’

I pressed the red button and terminated the conversation.

I then phoned Daphne at her work number to tell her that I would be home in the next few days.

Laurie Scott was next on my list, and I gave him a call to make sure that he would be in. I needed to drop off the gun and the boat keys. He was at home and would be waiting for me.

I finished my packing, and it took two trips to the car to transfer all my stuff. It was a warm day with plenty of sun, so I spread my wet clothes out in the back of the 4 x 4 in the hope that they would dry.

I punched in Laurie’s address into the sat nav and headed for Tokei.

When Laurie found out that I had only used the Glock once, he generously informed me that I didn’t need to pay anything, on the understanding that I took his old friend Inspector Baird back a bottle of KWV 3 year old Brandy. He suggested that I should buy the brandy in the duty free area at Johannesburg airport.

Having returned Laurie’s items, I punched in Port Elizabeth airport and left Cape Town behind me. It had been an extremely eventful time, but I was glad to be leaving. The estimate on the Tom Tom showed me arriving in Port Elizabeth at around 8:00 p.m so I would be far too late to catch a flight to Jo’burg today. I decided to find somewhere to stay in Plettenberg Bay, a resort that I would pass through on my way, and then drive to Port Elizabeth in the morning.

When I finally arrived at the airport the following morning, I found that I had to wait a further day to get a seat on a British Airways flight to London from Johannesburg. I decided to spend the extra time in Port Elizabeth rather than travel to Johannesburg and wait there. Port Elizabeth turned out to be a good choice as it was organized for visitors and wasn’t as cold as Cape Town. I was also able to relax since there was nobody around who knew me, even if I still looked as if I had come a poor second in a fight.

The following afternoon I dumped my rental car with Hertz at the airport and caught the 4.00 p.m. South African airways flight to Johannesburg. Shortly after arriving there I was seated on my flight to London, having just remembered to buy the bottle of brandy for Inspector Baird in the duty free as part of my deal with Laurie Scott.

I hoped that I wouldn’t have to come back to South Africa for a long time. My memories were not good ones, and I didn’t feel safe.

The one sadness that I had was I hadn’t been able to go and visit Dale Fortuin in the prison again to cheer him up. By exposing those responsible at the European end, I hoped to be able to prove his innocence. I would have to rely on Inspector Baird, to sort that one out. Caas Teifel and Harold Fortiscue had been present when Phillip had been shot, and both these gentlemen were based in Europe and would be caught when the net tightened.