Lewi's Legacy (23 page)

When Louis got to the house, Victor had his coat on, and asked if he would like to go with him for a walk on the moor with his dog Sally. Fortunately Louis had his walking clothes in the back of the Suzuki, so in a few minutes they were making their way through the gorse. Victor explained it might be better if his parents didn’t overhear what he had to tell him, and Louis agreed. Out of earshot, Victor outlined the work he had done initially for a group of Russian oligarchs, which ended abruptly. Then he did the work in England for Mikhail and then in Paris, shortly after the Russian’s promotion to Ambassador. It was at that point that he enlisted Louis’s daughter, Leah, with her talents to get the task over quicker. He even told Louis how much commission they gained out of their efforts.

Louis told his young friend that all the things that he had talked about were very interesting but what he needed was something tangible in order that he could try and make a move on Mikhail. Victor agreed that it would be very difficult to do that, considering how secretive his employer was. Suddenly however, he stopped walking and stood still for a moment. Louis looked around thinking the worst.

‘We must go back to the cottage Louis, right now.’ Victor said, hurrying back from where they came.

‘What’s wrong, Victor?’ his companion asked.

‘I think I may have just what you want.’ They neared the back door. Just wait there Louis and I’ll get it. ‘Mother!’ he shouted.

He rushed upstairs and in a few moments he was down again with a little piece of black plastic with on one end, an even smaller piece of steel sticking out. He placed it in Louis’s palm.

‘What is this Victor?’ he asked.

It’s a memory stick, Louis. Trust me, it’s the answer. Can you take us to the Ringwood Library and I’ll show you?’ Louis nodded. As they were getting into the little jeep, Victor’s mother reminded him of the doctor’s visit at three. Victor told her they would be back within the hour.

Victor asked the librarian to log him onto one of their computers as a guest and within a few minutes, after plugging the ‘stick’ in the side of the box, the screen pulled up a list of files, one of which was called ‘catalogue’. He clicked on the file name and then a list appeared on the screen. It was a very big list. Victor clicked along the headings: Artefact name, Artist, Date, Estimate, Auction House, Date Sold, Net Proceeds, A/C number. There were quite a few pages contained in the document. Louis asked Victor what ‘A/C number meant, and he said with great mirth, that the number was the thing that could blow Mikhail’s secret plans right out of the water.

He asked Louis if he had any change, and he dug in his pocket and Victor took three pound coins from his hand and went to the desk. In ten minutes he returned with a sheaf of A4 paper and pointed to the exit. As they made their way back to Burley, Victor explained that ‘A/C number’ was the individual numbered bank account in Switzerland generated by each artefact’s sale proceeds, and there were over two hundred of them.

‘Are you telling me Victor, that Mikhail has over two hundred numbered accounts in Switzerland all of them with money in them?’ Louis asked.

‘Yes Louis, and with this list, we know exactly how much is in each of them too! Victor shouted.

23
Difficult decisions

Strasbourg Cathedral

Mark’s brother, Stephen, had rung Louis and was very interested in speaking to him. He was happy to meet on the Saturday morning. Mark had suggested they meet in one of the partnership meeting rooms and he would be visible in his office, catching up with work.

Stephen was in the opposite spectrum to his brother when it came to being relaxed. When Louis had finished outlining the situation with his daughter’s murder, and the difficulty that the police had to close the case, Stephen became interested. But when he showed him the computer listings and explained the heading ‘A/C number’ his eyes were wide open. He did add a very important issue, one that Louis had overlooked completely. He pulled out the grainy photograph that the police in London had circulated showing three men with a girl walking out of the Soho public house.

‘Do you think that your Victor would be able to recognise these men Louis?’ Stephen asked him.

Louis looked with a shudder at the picture, not at the men, but at what looked like his daughter. It was the last photograph of her before she was murdered. It was so shocking for him.

‘I don’t mind telling you, Louis, this is a very tricky case, and if we are to be successful, we have to offer this as evidence to the police as soon as possible.’ He said.

Louis shuddered again, thinking that the perpetrators would then be on to him. He told Stephen his fears for himself and Victor, the latter had already been nearly killed by this evil man. Stephen tried to calm Louis’s fears, saying that he doubted that justice would be served in the UK, quoting Diplomatic Immunity, but to leave it to him to think of the best way to deal with it, and that he would do nothing until he had spoken to Louis first. Stephen promised that he would call Louis the moment he had something to tell him. He also said that if there was a way to get Victor to look at the surveillance picture it would be very good to find out if he recognised anyone on it.

When Louis rang Victor, he was about to take Sally out for a walk, but hadn’t had his lunch yet. Louis asked whether he could take him to lunch at the tea rooms on Pound Lane. He would be there in an hour, and to bring Sally with him. That swung it for Louis, and he congratulated himself on his quick-thinking. The owner of the tea rooms of course knew Victor and Sally so she set out a meal for three. She even knew what Sally liked to eat. Louis tried in vain to force down the last piece of apple crumble and hated not giving back an empty dish. After the café owner had cleared away, Louis placed the photograph in front of Victor and asked him if he recognised anyone on it.

Without any hesitation, he named the first two people as Leah and Mikhail, and said that the other two men were the same thugs that had kidnapped him on the moor.

‘How would you feel if I was to ask you to identify the picture again, but this time to the people who are investigating Leah’s murder, Victor?’ Louis asked already realising the gravity of his question.

‘To do that, I would need to be sure of my protection. I don’t want to put me, my family and you in the real danger that we would attract. Don’t you agree Louis?’ Victor answered in a whisper, and Louis nodded in agreement.

Stephen rang again quite early on Monday morning to say that he had a barrister friend who practices at The Inner temple in London, who very much would like to meet Louis, and if possible Victor too. Not only that, he wanted to help him in other ways, knowing how delicate a matter it was. Stephen was overjoyed when Louis told him that Victor recognised all the people in the photograph without any hesitation. That made his caller very excited. Before he rang off however, he told the lawyer that Victor was concerned about security and for that matter so was he. Louis made it clear that without assurances there was no way they would meet his barrister friend. Stephen promised that when he called Louis back, he would have everything in place that would satisfy the both of them.

About three hours later the lawyer came back, to say that the barrister was willing to send a driver to pick them both up, at Louis’s hotel and Victor’s home to take them to the Inner Temple, then after their meeting the driver would take them home safely again. Louis agreed to call Stephen back the next day when he had spoken to Victor.

He knew that to ask Victor to go to London and meet a stranger would be a big request, and there was the consideration of his parents. The only person the he knew that could help was of course Edmund. It was a good move, Edmund agreed to accompany Louis on his mission to Burley. Louis just managed to get a signal for his mobile, in the New Forest village, and although Stephen was in a meeting, he had left word to interrupt him if it was Louis, and get him to the phone without delay. He told Louis that he had placed a temporary time on the visit to the barrister and he was now able to confirm it with him. He told Louis that they would be picked up between seven and eight in the morning on the following Wednesday week.

‘Sounds like you are going to see someone pretty important.’ Edmund said.

‘I think that young Victor is a very brave chap, considering what he has been through.’ Louis said gravely. Edmund nodded his agreement. ‘Have you got a current passport, Eddie?’ He said that he had. ‘Would you like to fly to Strasbourg with me tomorrow? I would like very much to show you something over there.’

‘They flew the next day from Gatwick and Louis told Edmund that they would be probably flying back the next day, but he promised him that it would be worth it. Edmund could at last relax because Zowie was having her holiday too, staying with her friend at Burley.

During the flight Louis recounted the story of his great grandfather Lewi, his amazing escape from the Nazis in the Second World War. How, at over sixty years old having being sheltered at a farm by a young widow he had had a child with her, and not long after, as the Germans were retreating, they murdered her and her older son. He told him that the woman picking them up from Strasbourg airport was the same daughter Leah.

They slid though the gates of the house. Edmund was speechless, as they approached the mansion. They all laughed as Louis recalled that on his first sight of it, he called it the giant birthday cake. As they disembarked from the limousine, Louis asked his aunt whether they had found out anything about the ring, and she nodded with a smile. As the three of them climbed the marble staircase to the huge front doors, one of them opened and Ethan appeared. He held his arms out to hug his nephew, Louis and shook his friend’s hand as Louis introduced him to Ethan. As they walked into the dining room Louis told Ethan that Edmund had been born in the same town on the same year, but until now had never met, yet they had become great friends after a gap of over sixty years.

Edmund had never eaten Jewish food before, but the banquet that was laid out before him looked, and was, delicious. After the meal they went to the library displaying several walls of beautifully bound books separated by mahogany panels. The room was dominated by a beautiful French table highly polished, empty but for an envelope and a small white gold edged box. As they sat around the big oval table Ethan passed Louis the small box and he opened it to reveal the ring. He took it out and handed it to his friend, whose jaw dropped as he scrutinised the mounting.

‘So Ethan, what is the story?’ Louis asked casually.

‘The ring has a history my boy; yes it has an amazing history.’ Ethan answered.

He told them that his close friend John Goldman had flown over from New York especially to look at the ring. John was the most important jewellery expert in the world, and most museums sought his advice when they needed it. The ring was designed by Faberge, for the Russian Royal household, probably for a member of the inner circle, and by the size of it, as an engagement ring from a man to a woman. He was still investigating the inscription inside which read ‘The eye that never closes – sees all my love to you A.’ all in Cyrillic.

He told them that the centre stone which they thought was a blue sapphire was in fact a very large blue diamond cut by a master. Ethan passed Louis the unsealed envelope. Inside was the certificate of authentication as well as a covering letter signed by John himself as the head of the company.

‘Did John give you an idea of its value?’ Edmund asked.

‘His words were that he could not value something that was unique. It could only be, what someone would be willing to pay for it Edmund.’ Ethan answered.

Leah picked up the box and envelope and formally handed it to Louis. ‘This is from my father to you Louis, with my blessing.’ She told him that Ethan had made an appointment with his contact at the Rothschild’s Bank in London, and they would keep it safe for him. Louis shook his head in disbelief, but Leah put her arm on his and said that he had found it, so he must have it. It was Lewi Levi’s last bequest.

The next day on the flight back to Heathrow, Louis sat with his small briefcase in his hand and Edmund just looked and smiled at him. Also, during the flight, Louis showed his friend a tiny envelope that he had pulled from his jacket pocket. Edmund peered at the writing on it. Louis explained that it was a famous Greek saying, ‘know thyself’. He explained who gave it to him, and how he was convinced that it helped his father find his new life, many years ago.

‘Do you know, Louis, there are things in this world, that still defy explanation, don’t you agree?’ Edmund asked.

Soon they were walking through the glass doors of the Rothschild bank asking the receptionist for the securities manager. The welcome was most refreshing. He spoke of Ethan in glowing terms and thanked them for considering that bank for their needs. He wasted no time in leading them into a lift, which Edmund noticed went down four levels from the ground, and they came out to a concrete room, obviously a vault. They went through two sets of steel doors and entered a small room lined with very small doors.

The manager placed his hand inside one of the open compartments and withdrew a drawer about six inches square and two foot long. He then placed the empty box on a small table and they looked inside it. Louis emptied the contents of his brief case onto the table, the small ring box and the white envelope. The banker asked Louis if he wanted the letter to be sealed and he nodded. The manager then walked off to the far corner, pulled out a small square machine and brought it over. Louis sealed the envelope with its self sealing strip and gave it to the official, who slid the envelope in a narrow gap in the machine, and after a buzzing noise he waited a few seconds and gave it back to him. Louis and Edmund looked at the result. An old fashioned red wax seal had been put on the back of the envelope imprinted with the emblem of the bank. At each side of the seal were two sets of faint vertical dotted lines. The manager signed across the left hand side and he passed it to Louis who signed the other side.

Louis opened the little box and showed it to Edmund for a last look and put it inside the waiting box along with the newly sealed envelope. The bank official stepped forward and handed Louis a small key, took the box and slid it snugly into its little square cave. The solid steel door was shut and the manager placed his key into the left hand keyhole, followed by Louis locking the other side.

Back in the manager’s office, he told them that all the charges had been paid for by Ethan, and then ordered some coffee. Louis was so impressed that he mentioned that he was going to benefit from a probate settlement in the near future and wondered if they would handle the proceeds for him, to which the manager duly agreed and gave him his card. He smiled when he read it ‘Gabriel Cohen, Securities Manager’. Of course, he said to himself.

The two friends walked down St Swithin’s lane, and Louis asked if he would like a late lunch before the train home, and Edmund nodded. They got into a taxi and Louis told the driver to go to Claridges.