Nothing Ventured(68)

“But—” began William.

“However, I will read the court transcripts, and if I can see even a smidgen of doubt, I’ll visit Rainsford in Pentonville and listen to his side of the story. But I have to warn you, William, that the DPP will not agree to a retrial unless there is fresh evidence to suggest a miscarriage of justice may have taken place. It’s rare, but not unknown. So I’m glad to know that Beth has agreed to move on, if I consider her father’s case not worth challenging.”

“Thank you, Father. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

“If you visit Mr. Rainsford,” said Grace, “can I come with you?”

“For what purpose, may I ask?”

“Because if you consider he might be innocent, and if new evidence were to come to light, and if—”

“If, if, if. Where is all this leading?”

“If you decide to take on the case, and it comes before the high court, you’ll need a junior.”





24


“I’ll be in touch Ross,” said the commander, when he heard a knock on the door. The three of them walked in and took their seats around the table in Hawksby’s office for the Monday morning meeting. They all knew there was an elephant in the room, but the commander was determined to carry on as if it was business as usual.

“I’ve just heard that Kevin Carter has been seen back in Barnstaple,” began Lamont, “and according to the local police, his house is up for sale.”

“So Carter must have finally found out the truth,” said William, “and it looks as if Faulkner has even covered his expenses.”

“Perhaps it’s time we had another chat with Lieutenant Monti,” suggested Hawksby. “He must have had the professor’s findings so we should start making preparations to arrest Carter.”

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure,” said Lamont, “than to go down to Barnstaple and arrest the bastard myself.”

“And possibly also the man behind the whole scam,” said William.

“Even better.”

“Perhaps Monti even knows who that is,” said Hawksby. “I’ll call him now and put him on speaker phone so we can all hear what he has to say. If either of you have a point to make, don’t interrupt me. Write your thoughts down and pass them across.” He didn’t wait for a response as he looked up the number and began to dial.

An unfamiliar ringing tone followed, and it was some time before the call was answered.

“Good morning, my name is Commander Hawksby—”

“Sorry, no speak English.”

A long silence followed, but there was no purring sound to indicate he’d been cut off.

“Good morning. Captain Loretti speaking. How may I help you?”

“Good morning, captain, this is Commander Hawksby calling from Scotland Yard. I was hoping to have a word with Lieutenant Monti concerning a case we are both working on.”

“Lieutenant Monti is no longer with us, sir. But I can tell you the matter you are referring to has been satisfactorily resolved.”

“Resolved? But we agreed to wait until Monti had received a report from the professor at the Museum of Ancient Artifacts in Florence, when we would announce simultaneously that the Spanish cob coins were fakes, and the whole salvage operation was a scam.”

“That is not my understanding of the situation,” said the captain. “The professor from Florence verified an example of the coins as genuine, and as a result the Italian Naval Office has officially declared them treasure trove. It was well reported in the Italian press. And the good news, commander, is that Lieutenant Monti pulled off a bit of a coup for this department.”

“What form did this coup take?” asked Hawksby, trying to remain calm.

“Following several days of tough negotiations, the Italian Naval Office agreed on a valuation of the rest of the coins that was well below the amount proposed by Mr. Carter’s representative.”

“How much?” spat out Hawksby.

“Six hundred thousand pounds, of which the Italian government only had to pay out three hundred thousand. So Lieutenant Monti’s skillful negotiations saved the government some fifty thousand pounds.”

“One coin?” whispered William, breaking the commander’s orders.

“Lieutenant Monti sent only one coin to be examined by the professor?” asked Hawksby.

“Yes,” said the captain. “The remainder were kept under lock and key in Rome. Monti considered it would be pointless and unnecessarily risky to send the entire casket to Florence.” Lamont scribbled a few words on a scrap of paper and passed it to Hawksby.

“You said Lieutenant Monti is no longer with you…”

“That is correct, commander. He recently took early retirement.”

“But when I last spoke to him, he mentioned the possibility of promotion.”

“Yes, it was all very sudden,” said Captain Loretti. “It seems his mother is suffering from cancer, and he felt that as her only child he ought to resign and return home to look after her. Quite a sacrifice, because, you’re correct, he was just about to be promoted to captain and made head of the department.”

Where is he? wrote William.

“Is there any way I can get in touch with him?” asked Hawksby.