Chapter 44

I was now heading for Rotterdam in a van with Hertz plastered over the outside of it. It had taken Willem ten hours when he came in the opposite direction in his Mercedes, so I reckoned it would take me roughly the same amount of time. I looked at my watch and saw that it was now 4:30 a.m. I would have a few hours with very little traffic to deal with and by the time that I got to Paris the rush hour should be nearly over.

I stuck strictly to the speed limit until I was through La Rochelle and on the main road to Paris when I started to speed up. The last thing that I needed was to be pulled over for a traffic offence. My friend Caas had a head start on me. After the incident at the marina, I had to go and get the van, and that had delayed me. It was likely that Caas would stick to the speed limits as he wouldn’t want to be stopped by the police. He probably would not be too far ahead of me.

As I drove I considered my situation. My first thought was - Why on earth had Willem driven into the marina so recklessly when he knew that the boat had arrived, and Caas and his crew would be armed? The only possible answer I could come up with was that he might have thought that I was in trouble, and he had to get to me quickly.

My next thought was - ‘How long before the police found out where he was staying - that I was with him - and I was driving a Hertz van’? It might be wise to call Inspector Baird as soon as possible and get his advice. I was beginning to think that it might not be a good idea to travel the whole way to Rotterdam in the van. The police easily could spot a Mercedes van with a large Hertz sign on the side of it.

Four hours later I pulled into a motorway service area to get some breakfast and to phone the Inspector. The UK was one hour behind, so it was only 7:30 a.m in London, but I reckoned that he was probably an early riser and wouldn’t mind me calling him.

‘Baird. Is that you Vince, I have been expecting you.’

‘Yes Inspector, I am phoning you from a service area on my way to Paris.’

‘So the diamonds have arrived, and they are on the move.’

‘Yes, the yacht arrived this morning, but Willem, my friend from Holland was shot, and I had to leave the scene very sharpish in case I got delayed by the police. Caas Teifel left immediately the car was loaded with the contraband, so I am following him to Rotterdam. The rest of the crew went off somewhere in a mini bus.’

‘When you say contraband Vince, do you mean the diamonds?’ the Inspector asked me.

‘There were diamonds, plus a large number of packages that looked like drugs. They loaded everything into the car that Caas Teifel took off in.’

‘This gets more serious by the minute Vince. If there are drugs as part of the shipment, I will have to take immediate action and get the drugs squad involved. They have contacts in the Dutch police in Rotterdam who will track this guy Caas Teifel once he crosses the Dutch border.’

‘They won’t arrest him will they Inspector?’ I asked him, seeing all my plans going up in smoke.

‘Not unless you want them to Vince?’

‘No, I certainly don’t want him picked up. We need to track where they go in the UK.’ I was horrified at the thought that the Dutch police would step in and arrest Caas and take the diamonds and drugs.

‘With the drugs squad involved I will have more resources available to me. Keeping an eye on the Casino Royale, plus the various individuals who are involved, is going to require a lot of men.’

‘What do you think that I should do now? Is there any point in me following the car to Rotterdam when I don’t know for certain what route they have taken and how far ahead they are?’

‘Vince, I think that you should dump the Hertz van as soon as possible and travel by train to Calais or Le Havre and take a ferry back to the UK. You are going to be their prime suspect for the shooting of Willem, and there will soon be an extensive manhunt looking for you.’

‘I am looking at my map, and I see that I am quite close to Orly airport. There is bound to be a Hertz office at the airport where I can dump the van. There will also be plenty of trains or buses from there into Paris.’

‘Don’t worry about what goes on in Rotterdam. We know where the boat Casino Royale is moored on a marina there. It will be easy to see them putting the diamonds and drugs on board. We can then track them back to the Thames.’

‘That sounds like a good plan Inspector. I will phone you as soon as I get to the UK to work out the next step.’

‘You stay safe Vince, and stay away from the French police until this thing dies down and you know that Willem has been able to sort everything out with them.’

‘Thanks Inspector. I will be in touch.’

I terminated the call and put my phone away. I would take his advice and get rid of the van as soon as possible. I would leave the van in the Hertz car park at Orly with the keys in it and take a train to Paris.

My plan worked better than I expected, and I was at the Calais ferry port by the middle of the afternoon. There was a ferry leaving at 4:15 p.m, which I boarded as a foot passenger, and it was with considerable relief that I saw the gap between the coast of France and my beer increasing. Arriving ninety minutes later I took the shuttle bus to Dover Priory station and caught a train for London. The fact that there was a time difference of one hour between France and England meant that it was only 5:15 p.m, so I had gained an hour.

I tried phoning Willem’s mobile but there was no answer, I then phoned the Inspector again to bring him up to date.

‘Hello Vince. Are you back?’

‘Yes Inspector, I am on the train to London and everything went remarkably smoothly. I am very relieved I can tell you after the trauma of last night.’

‘Well I have good news for you as well Vince. The Dutch police have just contacted me and confirmed that they have tracked the car driven by Caas Teifel and the goods have been put on board the Casino Royale, but the boat has not left yet. They are keeping it under observation until the boat departs’

‘Do you think that they will make the voyage this evening Inspector?’

‘I think that if they were coming this evening that they would have left by now. The locks on the Thames are only manned until 7:00 p.m, so they would have to moor up somewhere on the Thames until the morning, which I think is unlikely. My guess is that, weather permitting; they will leave Rotterdam early tomorrow morning.’

‘Do you know what the weather forecast is like for tomorrow?’

‘Yes, I checked with the Met Office and the outlook is extremely good.’

‘OK Inspector, I won’t delay you any longer, and I’ll speak to you tomorrow.’

‘If there is any change in the situation Vince I will phone you.’

‘Thanks Inspector.’

Perhaps everything would still work out alright. I was starting to relax again having been like a coiled spring since the events of last night. It was hard to believe that the incident in the marina happened only 12 hours ago.