Buried in the Past (23 page)

‘What did you think about the rumour that Frankie was involved with Callaghan?’ Mironova asked.

‘I heard that, and told Frankie about it. We laughed so much I thought she was going to wet herself. We both knew that Callaghan was queer. He used to visit a boy who lived in the same apartment block and that’s how rumours start.’

‘Tell me about the diamonds. How did you get hold of them? They would have been somewhere secure, I’d have thought.’

‘Not from me,’ Ray smiled, and Nash realized with some surprise that it was almost the first time he’d seen him look cheerful. ‘I stole them,’ Ray confessed. ‘The lock-up had a safe in the corner, one that was cemented into the floor. I was good with safes, so I simply broke in and took the diamonds.’

‘What did you intend to do with them?’

‘First of all, we wanted to deny Max the use of them. We knew their history, the misery and bloodshed they had already caused to thousands, possibly millions of people. Frankie was passionate about it, and when I heard the rumour that Max had got hold of them, I was sure the men who had brought them to this country had been murdered. That, more than anything, convinced me she was right. After I got the stones, Frankie was going to come back to Yorkshire so that Margaret could look after her, as she was nearly ready for the baby to be born. She brought the diamonds with her. Our long-term aim was to contact one of the human rights
organizations
and explain how we’d come by them, in the hope that they could be sold and the money used to help some of the original victims. Whose was the body, by the way? The fake Max, I mean?’ Ray asked.

‘We believe the man was a South African private investigator who specialized in tracing stolen diamonds. There has always been a big trade in them in South Africa, so much so that there used to be a specific offence, called illicit diamond buying, for anyone caught in possession of them. The private detective’s name was Karl Reikert, and he was reported missing soon after Max’s “murder”, so
that tallies. They only had to invite Reikert to Max’s place and his fingerprints would be easily matched. Who would question it?’

Nash looked at Ray. ‘You’ve had a long day. I think we should leave you to spend some time with your family.’

Perry’s eyes glistened with tears. ‘Family – that’s a word I thought I’d never use again, Inspector. Thank you.’

Tina asked, ‘How many people have they killed in order to get their hands on those diamonds?’

‘We can’t be certain, but we believe there were two couriers who brought the stones from Holland, the fake Max, Callaghan and his bodyguard, who your father was convicted of killing, and the three victims of the fire at the clinic where Max had his plastic surgery done. Then we believe your mother, Frankie, died in their company too, but whether that was murder, we can’t be sure. More recently, we know they killed Graham Nattrass, Trevor Thornton plus his minder and an underworld informant called Freddie Perkins.’

‘Dear Heaven, so much evil,’ Evangeline muttered.

‘What I don’t understand is why they waited all this time to get hold of the diamonds if they were so desperate?’ Tina asked.

‘That’s a good question, and there’s no simple answer to it. In fact, we believe there are a number of contributory reasons. One is that, with Ray out of circulation, Max had control all to himself. He entered the highly lucrative drugs trade, which Ray had always been dead against, and so he wasn’t short of money.

‘Added to that, they’d no idea how to get hold of the diamonds. The only people with any knowledge were Frankie, who was dead, and Ray, who was serving a life sentence. They’d been desperate to get Ray locked up because they feared that he was the one person who would be able to see through the “Phil Miller” fraud, and in doing that they’d put the stones out of reach until such time as he was released.’

Nash paused before continuing, ‘Above all, they needed the money desperately now. Although they’d made a huge fortune from their various illicit activities, they’d invested it all, and borrowed more to put into a scheme that at first seemed highly lucrative. It was run by an American investment counsellor, and when the financial meltdown happened recently, it was found to be what’s
known as a “Ponzi scheme”. The man behind the scheme was in the news afterwards; he was the one who made off with billions of pounds of investors’ money. Phil and Corinna are broke, all their property has been re-mortgaged up to the hilt and with prices on the slide, they’re having trouble keeping up with the repayments. Added to all that, we understand there are what’s euphemistically known as “collectors” after them, regarding some of the money they owe to some disreputable lenders. Also, diamonds have appreciated in value enormously over the years. I think the collection we’ve taken possession of is worth somewhere around fifteen million today.’

‘I don’t know how you managed to work all that out,’ Evangeline told him.

Nash gestured to Mironova and Pearce. ‘They’re the ones who did most of the work. I’m very lucky. I’ve a brilliant team, and they contributed just as much, if not more. Unfortunately, whatever we do, we can’t put right all the evil things that were done, just get a little bit of justice for those who have suffered.’ Nash frowned. ‘I believe there are superstitions that say those blood diamonds are cursed. When you think of the number of people who have died because of them, that’s easy to believe. Any pleasure at solving this case vanishes when I think of the victims we know of – and the untold number of whom we’re unaware. All for the sake of some glittering bits of carbon.’

Depth of Despair

Chosen

Minds That Hate

Altered Egos

Back-Slash

Identity Crisis