Next in Line (William Warwick, #5)(32)

‘Why don’t I grab the bags as they’re being taken out of the car boot?’ asked Lamont.

‘Can’t risk it. We’ll have to be more subtle than that. The chauffeur will probably carry the bags into her apartment block, and don’t forget the porter will be standing by the door. And I’ve checked, he’s six foot two, and has a broken nose, so I don’t think so.’

‘So how do I get my hands on the two cases?’

‘Mrs Faulkner will probably return to the flat around midnight, after spending the evening at Tramp. She will be accompanied by what she imagines to be her latest conquest, a plant called Sebastian, who will in fact be our man. You will be waiting outside in your car until he comes out in the early hours with the suitcases, which he’ll hand over in exchange for this.’ Booth Watson pushed a thick brown envelope across the desk.

‘What do I do with the suitcases?’

‘Bring them straight back here to my chambers.’

‘But it might be three or four o’clock in the morning,’ said Lamont.

‘I don’t give a damn what time it is. Just get them here as quickly as you can. Your payment will be strictly cash on delivery.’

Lamont picked up the package and rose to leave, assuming the meeting was over.

‘And don’t think about looking inside those suitcases,’ Booth Watson warned him. ‘Or even consider short-changing the man who hands them over, because three of us know exactly how much is in that envelope, and one of them is Miles Faulkner.’

? ? ?

‘I think I’ve worked out what BW is up to,’ said Sir Julian, once his daughter and Clare had settled.

‘Which is more than I have,’ said Grace.

‘First, you have to ask yourself why Faulkner would be willing to go along with our proposal that if he pleads guilty all he will get in return is two years knocked off a sixteen-year sentence. Have either of you worked that one out?’

Clare raised a hand like a swot at the front of the class. Sir Julian nodded.

‘Booth Watson knows if the case comes to court, the judge might ask him a question that would not only get him disbarred, but could cause him to end up in jail himself.’

‘And what is that question?’

‘When did you first realize that Mr Miles Faulkner was still alive?’

‘He’d bluff and prevaricate,’ said Sir Julian, ‘and claim he didn’t know until after Faulkner had been arrested, and he was as surprised as any of us.’

‘BW’s well capable of ditching Faulkner,’ said Grace, ‘if it means saving his own skin.’

‘But how will he explain what he was doing at Faulkner’s home outside Barcelona on the day he was arrested?’ asked Claire.

‘Representing the interests of his client, Mrs Faulkner, by making an inventory of her late husband’s possessions,’ suggested Sir Julian.

‘But what if the court requested to see Booth Watson’s diary as evidence?’ came back Clare.

‘You can be sure that BW keeps at least two diaries,’ said Sir Julian. ‘But if you’re so clever, perhaps you can tell me how Booth Watson is going to get Faulkner to sign an agreement that ensures his client spends the next fourteen years in jail?’

‘That’s been puzzling both of us,’ admitted Clare. ‘I’d certainly like to be a fly on the wall when BW next visits Faulkner in prison.’

‘There’s another question that’s even more intriguing,’ said Grace. ‘Why does Booth Watson want Faulkner to spend the next fourteen years in jail?’

‘Because he knows where the bodies are buried, would be my guess,’ said Sir Julian.

‘The bodies?’

‘Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Manet, Picasso, Hockney …’





CHAPTER 13





BOOTH WATSON KNEW IT WOULD be a question of careful timing if he hoped to pull it off. He’d have to keep one eye on the clock to make sure it was 10.56 before he made his move.

He entered the lawyer’s glass domain at one minute past ten, sat down opposite his client and smiled, before placing his Gladstone bag on the floor next to his chair.

‘Good morning, Miles. Shall we start with the good news?’ He bent down, took out the first contract and pushed it across the table for his client to consider. ‘I’m confident this agreement will ensure that Christina won’t cause you any trouble in future. But you should still go over it carefully, and don’t hesitate to query anything you’re not sure about.’

Faulkner put his glasses on and began to read the document line by line. The occasional nod or smile, while Booth Watson kept his eye on the clock. But he couldn’t make the minute hand move any faster.

When Faulkner turned to the last page, a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face.

‘I couldn’t have asked for much more,’ he said. ‘That’s assuming Lamont has been fully briefed on what’s expected of him when our toyboy reappears with the suitcases?’

‘The moment they’ve been handed over to Lamont, he’ll bring them straight to my chambers.’

‘What if Lamont decides not to show up? He could then live the rest of his life in luxury, while I’d have to spend a fortune trying to track him down.’