The Golden Keel / The Vivero Letter. Desmond Bagley

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СКАЧАТЬ thought I detected a note of regret. They chatted for a few minutes and then she picked up her shoes. ‘I must go,’ she said.

      Walker said, ‘But you’ve only just got here.’

      ‘No, I have an appointment in twenty minutes.’ She rose and went to the companionway and I escorted her on deck.

      She said, ‘I can understand Coertze, and now I can understand Walker; but I cannot understand you, Mr Halloran. Why are you doing this? You are a successful man, you have made a name in an honourable profession. Why should you do this?’

      I sighed and said, ‘I had a reason in the beginning; maybe I still have it – I don’t know. But having come this far I must go on.’

      She nodded, then said, ‘There is a café on the waterfront called the Three Fishes. Meet me there at nine tomorrow morning. Come alone; don’t bring Coertze or Walker. I never liked Coertze, and now I don’t think I like Walker any more. I would prefer not to talk to them.’

      ‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll be there.’

      She jumped lightly on to the jetty and swayed a little as she put her shoes on. I watched her go away, hearing the sharp click of her heels long after the darkness had swallowed her. Then I went below.

      Walker said, ‘Where did she come from? How did she know we were here?’

      ‘The gaff has been blown with a loud trumpeting noise,’ I said. ‘She knows all – or practically all – and she’s putting the screws on.’

      Walker’s jaw dropped. ‘She knows about the gold?’

      ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘But I’m not going to talk about it till Coertze comes. No point in going over it twice.’

      Walker protested, but swallowed his impatience when I made it clear that I wasn’t going to talk, and sat wriggling on the settee. After half an hour we heard Coertze come on board.

      He was affable – full of someone else’s cooking for a change, and he’d had a few drinks. ‘Man,’ he said, ‘these Italians can cook.’

      ‘Francesca was here,’ I said.

      He looked at me, startled. ‘The Count’s daughter?’

      ‘Yes.’

      Walker said, ‘I want to know how she found us.’

      ‘What did the stuck-up bitch want?’ asked Coertze.

      I raised my eyebrows at that. Apparently the dislike between these two was mutual. ‘She wants a cut of the treasure,’ I said bluntly.

      Coertze swore. ‘How the hell did she get to know about it?’

      ‘Alberto wrote a letter before he was killed.’

      Coertze and Walker exchanged looks, and after a pregnant silence, Coertze said, ‘So Alberto was going to give us away, after all.’

      I said, ‘He did give you away.’

      ‘Then why is the gold still there?’ demanded Coertze.

      ‘The letter was incomplete,’ I said. ‘It didn’t say exactly where the gold is.’

      Coertze sighed windily. ‘Well, there’s not too much damage done.’

      I fretted at his stupidity. ‘How do you suppose we’re going to get it out with half of Italy watching us?’ I asked. ‘She’s been on to you all the time – she’s watched you every time you’ve been in Italy and she’s been laughing at you. And she knows there’s something big under way now.’

      ‘That bitch would laugh at me,’ said Coertze viciously. ‘She always treated me like dirt. I suppose the Count has been laughing like hell, too.’

      I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. ‘She says the Count knows nothing about it. Tell me about him.’

      ‘The Count? Oh, he’s an old no-good now. He didn’t get his estates back after the war – I don’t know why – and he’s as poor as a church mouse. He lives in a poky flat in Milan with hardly enough room to swing a cat.’

      ‘Who supports him?’

      Coertze shrugged. ‘I dunno. Maybe she does – she can afford it. She married a Roman count; I heard he was stinking rich, so I suppose she passes on some of the housekeeping money to the old boy.’

      ‘Why don’t you like her?’

      ‘Oh, she’s one of these stuck-up society bitches – I never did like that kind. We get plenty in Houghton, but they’re worse here. She wouldn’t give me the time of day. Not like her old man. I get on well with him.’

      I thought perhaps that on one of his visits to Italy Coertze had made a pass at her and been well and truly slapped down. A pass from Coertze would be clumsy and graceless, like being propositioned by a gorilla.

      I said, ‘Was she around often during the times you were in Italy?’

      He thought about that, and said, ‘Sometimes. She turned up at least once on every trip.’

      ‘That’s all she’d need. To locate you, I mean. She seems to have a circle of pretty useful friends and apparently they’re not the crowd you’d think a girl like that would mix with. She picked up Metcalfe’s signals to the Mediterranean ports and interpreted them correctly, so it looks as though she has brains as well as beauty.’

      Coertze snorted. ‘Beauty! She’s a skinny bitch.’

      She had got under his skin. I said, ‘That may be, but she’s got us cold. We can’t do a damn’ thing while she’s on our necks. To say nothing of Metcalfe, who’ll be on to us next. Funny that he hasn’t shown his hand in Rapallo yet.’

      ‘I tell you he’s scared off,’ growled Coertze.

      I let that pass. ‘Anyway, we can’t do any heavy thinking about it until we find out exactly what she wants. I’m seeing her tomorrow morning, so perhaps I’ll be able to tell you more after that.’

      ‘I’ll come with you,’ said Coertze instantly.

      ‘She wants to see me, not you,’ I said. ‘That was something she specified.’

      ‘The bloody little bitch,’ exploded Coertze.

      ‘And for God’s sake, think up another word; I’m tired of that one,’ I said irritably.

      He glowered at me. ‘You falling for her?’

      I said wearily, ‘I don’t know the woman – I’ve seen her for just fifteen minutes. I’ll be better able to tell you about that tomorrow, too.’

      ‘Did she say anything about me?’ asked Walker.

      ‘No,’ I lied. There wasn’t any point in having both of them irritated at her СКАЧАТЬ