Rough Cut (24 page)

   At one point, Carter found a supply of graphite, the essential raw material for making synthetic diamonds and got quite excited about it until Jeremy informed him that graphite was an essential ingredient in the manufacture of brake linings and that, amongst other things, his company was developing a new high performance braking system.

   When they had finished searching the development room, and had found nothing more incriminating than the stock of graphite, they routinely examined the rest of the factory. As they entered each area, Carter looked at Conrad who, after briefly scanning the space, shook his head.

   An hour after they had begun the search, they called it off and as they were about to leave the factory, Jeremy looked at Harris.

   “Satisfied?” he asked.

   Harris looked at Carter who nodded reluctantly.

   “Yes, thank you, sir,” said Harris, “I’m sorry to have troubled you. It seems our information was incorrect.”

   “Yes it does rather, doesn’t it? And I can assure you that you will be sorry for this. I wouldn’t be surprised to find you directing traffic next week. What the hell were you expecting to find in there, anyway? Gold bullion from a bank robbery? Or perhaps a clutch of white slaves?”

   “I’m afraid it’s not for me to say,” replied Harris, refusing to respond to Jeremy’s sarcastic gibes.

   Jeremy reset the alarm system before pushing the big main door of the factory shut and locking it. Then he followed Harris, Carter and the rest of the group through the gate and closed it, snapping the large padlock shut, before getting into the back seat of the police car in which he had arrived. He glared angrily at Harris before pulling the car door shut. Harris signalled to the driver and the car drove off.  Carter watched and shook his head before speaking to Conrad who was standing close to him.

   “There’s something we’re missing here,” he said and Conrad nodded his agreement, “And I don’t trust that guy, he’s much too sure of himself. I think we should keep an eye on him, stake out his house, see what he does. Could be he’s just a staging post, a middle man.”

   Harris watched Jeremy drive off before walking towards Carter, clearly furious about the embarrassment he had just been subjected to.

   “Anything else I can do for you,” he asked, barely restraining his anger.

   “Not right now, thank you,” said Carter.

   “In that case, I’ll give you a ride back to the station so you can pick up your car. Although, given what has just taken place here, maybe I should let you catch a bus!”

   Carter smiled weakly as he and Conrad got into Harris’s car. He knew he deserved the taunt and he probably would have reacted in the same way if the roles had been reversed; he had made a bad call and he knew it. Whether or not Harris would still be willing to help him after what had happened at the factory was doubtful but he was still convinced that he had the solution to the case within his grasp, that Jeremy Baines was in some way involved.

CHAPTER 17

It was early evening as the ferry inched slowly across the inky black sea towards the dock. The woman in the raincoat watched the ship and pushed herself as far back into the doorway as she could. There was no reason why anyone would recognise her, even if they saw her, but she still tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible as she waited for the person she was there to meet. The rain was a little heavier now; even in her doorway, she had to wrap her raincoat tightly round herself and raise the collar to protect herself from the large drops of water.

   Before long cars were rolling out of the ferry, their crossing from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Hull on the East Yorkshire coast completed. One by one the cars passed through the customs shed and drove past the woman until one of them pulled out of the line and stopped a few yards away from her. Its headlights flashed twice. She ran towards the car and got into the passenger seat.

   Inside, Dimitri was beaming from ear to ear. “Anna! Hi!” he said, greeting her warmly, ”Your English weather, it gets worse!” he laughed heartily, his broken Russian accent impossible to hide, “One day, I will make this trip and it will not be raining. But maybe I will be old man by then.” Dimitri laughed again as he pulled back into the line of cars.  

   Anna laughed too, but she was more tense and the tension found its way into her voice, “It’s good to see you again, Dimitri. You’re always so bloody cheerful. You cheer me up.”

   “What is not to be cheerful about?” asked Dimitri, “You make lot of money, I make lot of money and nobody get hurt. What could be better, my friend?”

     Dimitri put the car into gear and they drove out through the gates and away from the docks.

   “Only bad thing is long journey I have to make to bring diamonds to you. I could have give them to you in Moscow,” he said as they drove along the road.

   “But then I would have had to get them out of Russia. And if I’d been caught with them at the airport, I could have ended up in a Siberian prison camp.”

   “Siberia not so bad!” They both laughed at this before Dimitri asked, “Where you are parked?”

   “Not far. Quite near your hotel actually,” answered Anna before taking a deep breath. She looked straight ahead as she continued. “Dimitri, I’ve decided to close the operation down.”

   The silence that followed Anna’s revelation was leaden. Dimitri looked shocked and amazed, so much so that he turned his head to look at her, taking his eyes off the road.

   “No? But for why? Isn’t it good for all of us?”

   “Dimitri! Watch the road!” shouted Anna, concerned that he would crash the car.

   Dimitri pulled in to the side of the road and switched off the engine. He looked at Anna sitting beside him and she looked back at him.

   “What is it?” he asked, “What is problem?”

   “Things have been going wrong and people
have
got hurt,” said Anna, a serious look on her face. “And now the police are getting too close. Jeremy’s factory was searched by the police today. We must stop before we get caught.”

   Dimitri slammed his hands against the steering wheel angrily. Then, a few moments later, he looked at Anna and he was smiling again, “What the hell! We already make lot of money. So why worry? We live well for rest of our lives, no?”

   “You know the money wasn’t for me,” said Anna, quietly and reflectively.

   “Of course not! Always the Robin of the Hood, eh? Always, you are wanting to help others. Taking from rich and giving to poor,” replied Dimitri, shaking his head. Anna looked at him and smiled as he continued, “So what I do now with these?” he asked, taking a black pouch from his pocket and holding it up, “I take big risk to get these out of factory, you know. But without you arranging distribution they are worthless.”

   Anna opened the car door. Where the car had stopped, there was a waste paper bin fixed to the railings between the road and the bank of the Humber estuary. She took the pouch, got out of the car and dropped it into the bin. Back in the car, she looked at Dimitri and smiled.

   “Problem solved!” she said. “And now there’s no evidence that either of us have done anything we shouldn’t have.”

   At first Dimitri looked aghast and then, after a few moments, he smiled back.

   “OK, we have drink now?” he said and started the car as Anna nodded her approval.

   The two of them drove to a pub where they were soon sitting together enjoying a drink. Dimitri talked animatedly and every now and then, he laughed good humouredly. The Russian’s good humour was infectious, something Anna had always liked in him.

   When, after a couple of drinks, they left the pub, the two hugged and kissed each other on the cheek several times until, at last, Dimitri said, “OK. Enough. It has been good doing business with you, Anna. I see you at Fair in Moscow next year. And I hope your charities can survive without all money you have been giving them since we work out this little plan.”

   “Goodbye, Dimitri. And who knows, by the time I see you next year, I just might have worked out a new way of getting the stones to market.”

   Dimitri and Anna parted company and went their different ways, Anna to return to her car and Dimitri to register at his hotel, which was only a few yards away.

   Partially hidden in a doorway across the road, Carter heard their last exchange and watched them go. He made a mental note of Dimitri’s name and of the name of the hotel he was staying at before stepping out of the doorway. He took his hand out of his pocket and held in front of him the black pouch which Anna had thrown into the waste paper bin. Then he put it back into his pocket and set off briskly towards the car where Conrad was waiting for him.

   “Let’s go see the Inspector,” said Carter with some satisfaction as he got into the car.

_________________________

   A couple of hours later, Carter and Conrad were sitting in an interview room at police headquarters waiting for Harris to see them. They had not parted on the best of terms and it was more than half an hour after they arrived that the door opened and Harris walked into the room with Grimshaw.

   “What can I do for you, gentlemen?” he asked. It was Saturday evening and the impatience in his voice was not lost on Carter.

   “We came to tell you that we’ve solved the case,” Carter said confidently.

   “Really?” Harris showed little interest in what Carter had to say. “And did the butler do it?” Harris didn’t laugh at his own feeble joke, but his sergeant dutifully did.

   “No. As a matter of fact, it was the wife.”

   Harris pulled out one of the chairs and sat down opposite Carter. “Whose wife? And what exactly did she do?”

   “Do you think we could get a drink?” asked Carter, feeling that he had said enough to justify better treatment from Harris, maybe even an apology. “Conrad and I had to stand in the rain for hours to get the information we’re about to share with you.”

   Harris looked hard at Carter. “Very well,” he said, “we can go to my office. I keep a bottle of scotch there, for emergencies.”

   Harris’s office was only marginally more comfortable than the interview room but at least he was true to his word. He served up the whisky in two glasses, which he passed to Carter and Conrad. He himself had to make do with a plastic cup while Grimshaw missed out altogether.

   “Thanks,” said Carter as he swallowed the small tot he had been given and held out the glass waiting for another. Conrad followed suit and Harris poured them both a second measure.

   “So, what have you found out? I hope you don’t want to search that factory again?” Harris warned.

   “No. There’s nothing to be found there. The diamonds aren’t being made there. They’ve been coming in from abroad, via Belgium.”

   Dramatically, and savouring the moment, Carter pulled the pouch from his pocket and emptied it onto Harris’s desk. The pile of diamonds glittered under the bright light of the desk lamp and Harris leaned forward, his excitement apparent from his changed demeanour. Slowly, using his pen to separate them, he began to count the tiny sparkling stones.

   “I’ve already done that,” Carter said, smiling. “There are fifty seven..”

   “Hmm.” Harris stroked his chin. “And coming in from Belgium, you say?”

   “Through Belgium,” Carter corrected. “ My guess is that they’re coming from Russia; we know the Russians have the technology to make them, they’ve been doing it for years, although not to this standard. I think what we’ve probably got here is someone cheating on his employer.”

   “Can you prove it?” asked Harris.

   “Possibly, if you can catch Dimitri before he shuffles off home.”

   “Dimitri?” Harris’s ears pricked up at the mention of a name.

   “He’s the guy who’s been bringing the diamonds in from Russia. He’s staying in a small hotel in Hull, The Regency. Do you think you can arrange for him to be picked up?”

   “Of course, but I’m not sure what we can charge him with. There’s no proof that he’s done anything.”

   “You have my testimony, and the diamonds,” said Carter, unable to hide his exasperation; what would it take to move this man to action? He leaned forward as he continued. “If you don’t pick him up tonight he’ll be on his way back to Russia on the first boat in the morning.”

   “What about his contact? ‘The wife’, I think you said. What did you mean by that?”

   “The Baines woman of course. His contact is Baines’s wife. When we didn’t find anything at the factory, I decided to watch the Baines house; see if our poking around at the factory would make him do something stupid, maybe make a mistake. Then, when Anna Baines left the house, it occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t him after all. What if
she
was robin@bainesautomotive, and not him? What if it was his wife all along? We followed her to Hull, where she met Dimitri. And he gave her those.” Carter pointed at the diamonds. “But if we want to get her for fraud, and possibly for having something to do with Rob Darrington’s murder, we need to get Dimitri as well so that we can prove that the diamonds were obtained illegally and that they were both involved in a scam of massive proportions.” Carter hoped that Harris understood.

   “Very well. I’ll arrange for this Dimitri fellow to be picked up. And then I suggest we visit Mr and Mrs Baines.” Harris could not hide his distaste for another run in with Jeremy. “Even if the diamonds aren’t man made, we should be able to make a smuggling charge stick.”

   “Good.” Carter was relieved and drew a deep breath before getting up. “Thank you,” he said sincerely, offering his hand to Harris who gave him a half embarrassed smile and took the hand.

_________________________

   Jeremy was sitting in the lounge holding a brandy glass and classical music was playing softly in the background when the doorbell rang. Jeremy looked towards the door and moments later, Anna came in looking very serious. Trailing behind her were Carter, Conrad, Harris, Grimshaw and a female police officer in uniform. They all crowded into the room, and then Harris stepped forward from the group.