Nothing Ventured(59)
Carter gave the captain a mock salute. Grant picked up the empty holdall and they made their way across the deck. William slipped back under the tarpaulin, but could not make out what they were saying until they passed the lifeboat.
“I hope they can be trusted.”
“They’re being paid well enough, and if…”
William didn’t move a muscle, deciding to wait until he was sure they must be back in their cabins.
00:00 GMT
The superintendent crossed his legs. He badly needed a pee, but he wasn’t going to be the first to admit it. Lamont continued to stare hopefully down the long drive that led up to the house as he listened attentively for the sound of an engine.
For the past three hours Jackie had been repeatedly checking her watch, becoming more anxious by the minute.
02:00 CET
William raised the tarpaulin half an inch, and peered in every direction. No sign of anyone. He checked his watch, before crawling out of the swaying lifeboat and lowering himself uneasily over the side, nearly losing his grip. He landed head first on the slippery deck.
He tried to steady himself and stand up, but he was so weak and giddy that he had to grasp the ship’s rail. Finally he gave in, leaned over the side, and was violently sick. When he looked up, he noticed that the ship was now circling the bobbing buoy.
It was some time before he had recovered enough to clamber back down the spiral staircase and collapse on his bunk, where he lay still, willing himself not to be sick again.
He decided not to wake Monti, as there was little point in his spending the next two hours in that lifeboat, when nothing was going to happen before first light. William still didn’t sleep.
01:07 GMT
Lamont could hear the sound of a car coming from behind him. Moments later a green Jaguar drove past and proceeded along the driveway, lights full on. It came to a halt outside the house.
The driver climbed out, opened the front door, and disappeared inside. Moments later the hall lights came on.
Lamont cursed several times, before he broke radio silence and issued an order he’d been dreading.
“Operation Blue Period aborted. Return to base.”
Perhaps it was a good thing he couldn’t hear the chorus of groans and expletives emanating from the two buses in which his loyal foot soldiers had remained silent for more than five hours. Several of them jumped off the bus and began to pee in unison.
06:09 CET
“Why didn’t you wake me at four?” demanded Monti. He glared down at William, who was the same color as his soaking sheet, and still sweating. William placed a finger to his lips and indicated that they should go up on deck.
Squawking gulls hovered above them as William pointed to the flashing marker buoy bobbing up and down in the waves, before he explained to Monti why he hadn’t bothered to wake him.
“Good thinking,” said Monti.
They looked up at the bridge, where the captain was steering the vessel in ever-decreasing circles around the buoy. There was no sign of Carter or Grant, but William doubted they were asleep.
For the next forty minutes Monti and William carried out whatever orders the chief deckhand gave them, but their eyes continually returned to the entrance of the private quarters as they waited for the main actors to make their entrance.
Just after seven, Carter, accompanied by two divers in wetsuits, walked out onto the deck. The divers put on their masks and flippers, sat on the rail, and adjusted their breathing apparatus. They then fell backward into the water and disappeared below the waves.
05:20 GMT
Superintendent Wall drove Lamont and Jackie back into Guildford, and dropped them off in the town center. “I feel sure you’ll be able to find your way to the station,” he said, before driving off.
“You can hardly blame him,” said Jackie twenty minutes later, as they stood on a cold, gray platform waiting for the first train to Waterloo.
“By the time we get back to the Yard,” said Lamont, “we’ll probably find that Chief Inspector Warwick is the new head of the Art and Antiques squad, and I’ve been demoted to detective sergeant and have to call him sir.”
“Which means I’ll be back on the beat doing traffic duty,” said Jackie.
08:30 CET
The two divers reappeared on the surface four times during the next hour, and on each occasion gave a thumbs-down sign, before returning to their task. After a couple more hours they clambered back on board looking exhausted, and lay flat on the deck recovering. William suspected that they had never been more than a few feet below the surface.
Carter and Grant looked suitably disappointed, and the crew were already beginning to lose interest in their efforts. But William knew they were only witnessing the first act in this pantomime, and that the curtain was about to rise again following the interval.
Once the divers had recovered, they returned to their task. Three more thumbs-down signs were clear for all to see during the next couple of hours. It was Monti who noticed that the marker buoy and its flashing light were no longer to be seen. “They must have located the casket,” he whispered.
“But they’re not ready to admit it yet,” said William.
The divers disappeared below the waves once again, but this time when they resurfaced one of them was waving frantically while the other gave a thumbs-up sign. The crew ran over to the starboard side and began cheering, although William noticed that the captain remained remarkably calm. But, then, he’d already read the second act.