The de Vere Deception (David Thorne Mysteries Book 1) (9 page)

            Kelly gave Roberts a puzzled look. “Hollister? Why is he—?”

            Roberts said, “Never mind. I’ll fill you in later."

Thorne returned to the May Fair by a circuitous route and waited in a far corner of the lobby for the two men to appear. Fifteen minutes later he assumed he had shaken them, and  met Freddie for an early lunch in the dining room. Thorne had heard horror stories about English food, but had been pleasantly surprised at the quality of food at the May Fair. In his opinion it was as good as he found in the finest restaurants in the States.

            Freddie said, “Gil called and will meet you at the manor house in Stratford in a few days.  When would you be ready to travel up to Stratford?”

            “The alterations should be ready to pick up at Harrods on Monday.”

            “All right, I’ll be doing business here in London until then. In the meantime I’ll show you the sights of the city, if you like.”

            Thorne said, “I’m tired, but I suppose I should stay up until later tonight and get my internal clock started on England time.”

            “Good. Gil will send us a car and driver down from Stratford in a few days. In the meantime, you can visit the sights—or come with me on my visits to my publishers and distributers. We can have an early dinner this evening and I’ll have you back to the hotel and in your warm bed before nightfall.”

Thorne nodded his agreement. He felt it best not to mention he had been followed when he left Harrods. He would have to be on guard. The two men who were shadowing him could know he was staying at the May Fair

Roberts flipped open his cell phone as he and Kelly stood at a counter eating fish and chips. “Thorne gave us the slip when he came out of Harrods, but we’re in the process of following him now. He’s with Hollister and they’re just now leaving the hotel in a taxi. What do you want us to . . .?”

He was silent as he listened before closing his cell phone. “Okay, if you say so.”

Kelly asked, “What was all that about?”

Roberts didn’t respond to Kelly’s question. Instead he dialed another number on his cell phone. “Danny? Vic Roberts here. I have a job for you and one of your men. Are you available?”

Roberts gave instruction where he wanted to meet and closed his cell phone.

Kelly asked again, “And . . . ?”

“He wants us back in Stratford. We need to hire men here in London to take care of Thorne and Hollister on the road on their way back to Stratford.”

The following Monday Roberts and Kelly sat in the back seat of a non-descript gray Vauxhall parked across from Harrods The driver finished smoking a cigarette and tossed it through the open window. In the passenger’s seat, Danny Graham, a young man barely out of his teens, was counting a stack of pound notes.

He replaced the rubber band around the stack and put it in his pocket. “All right, Vic, what do you want me and Horst to do to these blokes?”

Chapter 16

When Thorne picked up his clothing at Harrods, the gray Vauxhall was parked and waiting. As Horst Weigard started the engine and waited to follow the Bentley, Danny Graham said, “Hold back about three cars on the way up to Stratford, Horst. We’ll get them after they get out of the heavy traffic.’

Thorne loaded the packages into the Bentley limo Bada had sent down to take them to Stratford, and joined Freddie in the backseat. Freddie turned his attention to the driver. “Charles, we’re in no hurry. Take your time up to Stratford.”

            Turning to Thorne, he said, “I know we’ve inundated you with information for the past two weeks, but I have more information on additional subjects that may, or may not, be helpful to you. I suppose I could start by telling you the history of the Bada and Moldar families and Kilshire castle.

            “In 1895, William Moldar, a descendent of Richard Moldar, the builder of Kilshire castle, established a trading company with Gupta Bada, an Indian exporter in Calcutta. The company exported copra, the meat of the coconut, from the Far East to England.

            “William Moldar’s daughter, Regina, met Gupta’s son Sanjit on a Moldar family trip to India. They were immediately attracted to each other, were married, and moved to England where Sanjit managed the partnership’s business there. The following year, their son, Adrian Bada, was born.

            “Adrian was educated at Oxford and would eventually merge the Bada and Moldar families into one. He became a Member of Parliament and later distinguished himself by serving in the government’s cabinet. Adrian eventually took control of the Moldar fortune, rose to the head of Bada, Limited, and expanded the company into a multi-national entity after WWII. Upon Adrian’s death in 1969, his son Stephen became president of the company.

            “Stephen was very successful in the management of Bada, Limited, and stabilized Adrian’s expansion. He serving mostly as a caretaker for the variety of businesses acquired. When he retired, Gil Bada took over as CEO.”

            Freddie paused and pressed the intercom button on the back seat console. “Charles, we should be coming up to a lay-by with a convenience facility just past the Oxford turnoff at Bicester. Could you please stop there?”

            The three men left the limo and walked up a footpath to the men’s restroom. Thorne dropped back and let the others lead the way. As he did, he dropped a piece of paper and casually bent over to pick it up, and glanced back up the road. The gray Vauxhall sedan had stopped and was parked at the entrance to the lay-by. The driver had his face covered as he looked at a map, and the passenger in the car had his hand up partially blocking his face.

            When Thorne returned to the limo from the rest room, he raised both arms above his head and stretched. In the process, he glanced around casually, and noticed the driver of the Vauxhall, and his passenger, had remained in the car while Thorne and the others were in the restroom.

            The Vauxhall followed when the Bentley pulled out onto the roadway.

            Five minutes later the Vauxhall, with Weigard driving, pulled alongside the limo. Graham turned around from the passenger’s seat and pointed a handgun out the open window of the Vauxhall. He squeezed of four quick shots, two missing the limo to the rear, one went over the top on the limo, and the last ricocheted off the roof just above the rear window. Weigard jerked the front end of the Vauxhall sharply to the left, crashing into the front fender of the limo.

            Charles fought to maintain control of the Bentley and slid onto the gravel shoulder, stopping just short of plunging down a deep ravine. He turned around and asked, “Are you all right?”

            Freddie looked in Thorne’s direction and back to Charles. “Yes, we’re all right. Why do you think he did that? Who are those guys?”

            Charles shrugged and said, “I have no idea. Maybe some kind of nut or he could have been a—”

            Freddie looked again at Thorne. “What do you think, David?”

            Thorne watched the Vauxhall weaving from lane to lane as it sped off erratically into the distance. “I have no idea, maybe he was upset about something. He must have been really upset to pull a gun on us. Looks like he’s having problems up there.”

            Suddenly, the tire that had collided with the Bentley shot off from the Vauxhall, and the car swerved and began to roll. It rolled to the shoulder two times and crashed into a concrete culvert, slid sideways and ended up on its roof in the roadway.

            Charles pulled the limo back slowly onto the roadway as red taillights up ahead stopped traffic. After a short interval, an ambulance and police vehicle sped by on the shoulder of the crowded roadway and stopped at the overturned vehicle. The bumper-to-bumper traffic crawled along and ten minutes later the limo passed the overturned Vauxhall blocking one lane of traffic. Two blanket-covered bodies lay off to one side of the wreck.

            Charles rolled down a window and asked a policeman directing traffic, “What happened?”

            The policeman said, “Evidently the car lost a front wheel and rolled. Move along, please.”

            Charles turned around and asked Freddie, “Do you think we should stop?”

            Freddie turned to Thorne and back to Charles. He shrugged, “I don’t know what we could do. I think we should move on.”

            The limo continued down the parkway and after a lapse of silence, Freddie said, “That was horrible. What were they trying to do?”

            Charles said, “As I said, maybe they were just nuts, or as Mr. Thorne said, they were upset about something—who knows what. Some people resent limousines.”

            Freddie was silent before continuing his story. “To get back to what I was saying, I’ve also studied the origin of the Moldar family. Thomas Moldar’s’ father, Geoffrey, was an obscure figure and seaman. Little else was known about him.

            “Thomas, known as Black Tom because of his long black hair and beard, endeared himself to King Henry VII and later his son, Henry VIII, by his fealty to the Crown with gifts of gold taken from the Spanish by acts of piracy upon the high seas.”

            Freddie was becoming immersed in his story and appeared to have forgotten about the incident with the Vauxhall. “King Henry VIII was grateful and gave Black Tom immunity—as a pirate—or privateer. A privateer was just another term for  pirate—a sea thief—but in many cases, was hired by a king to attack and loot other countries’ ships. King Henry was pleased with the bounty Black Tom returned to England, and ignored the protests of the Spanish Crown.

            “King Henry’s gift to Black Tom was a large tract of land bordering on the east bank of the River Avon. The king hoped this would encourage Tom to continue providing the Crown with gold—and it did. Eventually Black Tom left the sea and became a merchant, businessman and gentleman farmer. He was given the title the first Earl of Hofley by King Henry and continued to prosper—and contribute to the Crown.

            “King Henry VIII died and Elizabeth eventually ascended to the throne after that confusing business with Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, and Mary. Black Tom died a short time thereafter, and his son Richard took control of the Moldar fortune. Richard Moldar eventually became the richest man in Western England.”

Thorne’s mind flashed back to the incident on the road with the Vauxhall. He knew it wasn’t just chance encounter with a disgruntled driver. He recognized it as another attempt on his life—but, were they after Freddie, too?

Chapter 17

As the Bentley proceeded to Stratford, Freddie continued with the story of how Kilshire castle came into being. “Richard Moldar, the 2
^nd
Earl of Hofley, continued in the tradition of his father by currying favor with the Crown. His contributions to the Queen Elizabeth had been formally accepted, but unfortunately, he lacked the grace, wit, and courtliness that was required to be a favorite—or even a semi-favorite—of Queen Elizabeth when she ascended to the throne. His final attempt for acceptance by his queen was his construction of Kilshire Castle for her on the East Bank of the River Avon.

            “In 1575, Queen Elizabeth visited Kenilworth Castle, six miles south of Coventry and fifteen miles north of the then small village of Stratford-upon-Avon with Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. Dudley, the favorite of the Queen at the time, had transformed Kenilworth for her visit and she spent an unprecedented thirty days of relaxation there with him.

            “In private, Richard Moldar was depressed and confused at the slight given him by his queen. He did not offer gold to the queen directly, but he assumed the queen was told of his generous gifts by her ministers. As the wealthiest man in the West, Moldar could well afford to build a castle the equal—or superior to Kenilworth. His decision was to do so—and it would be built for his queen.

            “In the same year, he traveled to London to seek out the most famous architect of the day, Robert Smythson. Smythson said he was too busy, and referred Moldar to Richard Llewellyn, an architect, engineer, metallurgist and castle expert from Wales.

            “Llewellyn was considered by many to be one of the preeminent Master Builders in Europe at the time, and an authority on medieval castles. Llewellyn was also from Wales and Queen Elizabeth was sympathetic to Wales. This was another strong reason for Moldar using him as the castle’s master builder.

            “Llewellyn was an innovative engineer as well as a builder, and had developed defense systems utilizing iron as a major component. When building a fortress, Llewellyn insisted a forge and foundry be built on the property where he could manufacture his metals on-site. Moldar was sure Llewellyn, with his knowledge of the newer types of defense-oriented construction could produce a superior castle, a bastion where the queen could feel secure and comfortable.

            “The elaborate design was that of a fortress. Moldar wanted the castle built in less than five years, a task unheard of at the time. He insisted on the time-line and said money was no object.

            “By using hundreds—at times thousands—of workmen laboring night and day around the clock, Kilshire Castle was finished in less than five years and was reputed to be the most expensive building ever built in England. To achieve his time-line, he had hired hundreds of stonemasons, iron wrights and smiths, carpenters, cabinetmakers; earth works engineers, weavers, craftsmen, and artisans of all kinds from all over England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. With the permission of the Crown, he moved other tradesmen and workers, along with their families, from as far away as Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome.

            “Much of his funds to build the castle—and to bribe officials—came from the gold privateers and pirates taken from Spanish Galleons returning from the New World. He had his own private smelter in Liverpool where he melted down the Spanish gold and contributed it to the Crown.