“And you are very close to leaving this world for good. How will they get in? You haven’t released the front door.”
He saw the uncertainty and fear return and added, “You’re not bullshitting a group of committee members now, Latimer. This is as real as it gets — your life or mine.”
“They’ll use the emergency fire escape — it’s at the rear of the building and runs all the way up to the roof garden. Once they’re up there they’ll be able to access the penthouse through the French doors in my bedroom, which I unlocked earlier.”
“Well it looks like there’s going to be some blood spilt then. That should go nicely with these cream carpets.”
“Oh, God.” Latimer buried his head in his hands.
“Is there anything you can do to call them off?” Dillon was listening intently for any unwelcome noises from above.
“It’ll be too late, and anyway, they’ll be here by now. Why did you risk coming here like this? You’re a bloody fool and you’ll be outnumbered ten to one at least. Getting past them is going to be impossible.”
“I’ve been in much tighter situations than this, Julian. And to be honest, ten to one are pretty good odds. But I’m forgetting something. You’re the one that does the talking and who likes taking the money, just as long as you don’t have to get your hands dirty.”
Latimer was still sitting with his head in his hands.
“I strongly suggest you stay exactly where you are, keep your eyes closed and pray to whatever God it is you believe in that you don’t catch a stray bullet when the shooting starts. I hope you’ve got the number of a firm of good cleaners, because you’re going to need them, old son. Anyway, what’s a few dead bodies between friends?” Dillon added.
He gazed contemptuously across the room.
“Are you so naive to think that there isn’t a physical side? There’s always the physical side where there’s vast amounts of illicit money — if not from you, then from someone else, like Trevelyan, who you had to go to for expertise and muscle. He’s only got to whisper the right words and there’s always extreme violence. You’re a weak lily-livered, conceited, self-obsessed arsehole Latimer. Damn everybody else. Well, your free-loading ticket has just expired, old son. If they’re out there, you are almost certainly one of the frontline targets. You’d better tell me how to get out of here, and quickly.”
Latimer shook his head in despair.
“There’s only the fire escape and they are sure to have it covered. As I said before, it runs up from the street at the back of the building.”
“Okay, we’ll try it. And you’re going first.”
“You must be mad. I’m not going anywhere. If you’re right, then Trevelyan will have given instructions to have me killed as well. The minute they set eyes on me they’ll simply shoot me.”
“And you’re not scared of me shooting you? Because I won’t hesitate.”
“Oh, I have no doubt that you would kill me. But I’m more scared of them, you see? I never wanted you dead and definitely not here in my home. By the way, the gun you took from me is empty; I couldn’t shoot anyone.”
“Don’t fret, I could tell it was empty by the weight of it. The problem is that you’ve spent your entire life bluffing and double bluffing. And you do it very well. I reckon we’ve got a bit of time still. If we sit it out long enough, you never know, they might even get bored of waiting and leave. So you can fill in time by telling me what those names and addresses are all about.”
“I thought we’d covered that. It’ll not be you who has to stand in front of that ruffian Trevelyan after they’ve got you.”
Dillon smiled ruefully.
“You do realise that Trevelyan won’t believe a single word you say to him after this. He knows that you’re a hustler and a conman, and also knows that to be a truly brilliant conman you have to firstly con yourself into believing. Your usefulness expired a long time ago, Julian. You may have produced the goods back in 1983 and for that he took you into his fold. But you are simply a liability to him now and as sure as sugar is sweet, he will put a bullet in your head rather than run the risk of you talking. At least you’ll get half a chance of staying alive with me. At least, we should try.”
“No. You might as well kill me right here and now.”
Dillon’s instinct told him to put a bullet in Latimer’s thick skull and save the tax payer a whole lot of money trying to bring him to trial. But he knew better than to rush these situations.
“Okay. Then I’ll tell you what I think. It’s all very simple and obvious, really. Each name and address represents a safe house where stolen goods can be covertly deposited prior to redistribution at a later date. I think that each location is different in size and level of security. Lyme Regis, I would say, is of the highest level of security. Some of the locations and names have been crossed off, indicating that these properties, and possibly their caretakers, may have been compromised in some way, or simply their usefulness expired. And then there are the new additions that appear to take their place. These safe houses have obviously been built up over many years and I daresay that under close scrutiny their ownership would make interesting reading.”
Dillon was watching Latimer closely, but the politician was showing no obvious reaction other than distress at what was happening to him.
He went on: “Now the question is what happens after the stuff leaves the safe houses? They’re spread out across southern England, and the most obvious reason for this is ease of access to and from the coast. Which leaves only the why?”
“You seem to have all the answers, Dillon. Surely you’ve worked that one out.”
“Come on, Latimer, your manners are slipping. Or is this the real Latimer I’m seeing? The street brawler? The boy from a lower-class background who rose to greater things?”
“You reckless bastard. Don’t you realise that there are men outside who are going to blow your head off?”
Latimer tailed off almost to a mumbled sob. Then he slowly lifted his head, his jaw now so swollen and bruised that his face was distorted.
“That’s a crazy notion. There isn’t a safe house safe enough to hide gold of the supposed quantity that you’re suggesting. You see, it’s the yellow fever that makes it so difficult — sends even the most honest person over the top. And why have all of those properties when one large vault would do the job?”
“That’s what I thought,” Dillon agreed. “So what’s the catch?”
Latimer sat, his legs crossed and both hands deep in his dressing gown pockets. He appeared to be sinking deeper into the void of despair. Looking up at Dillon, he said, “You really are a foolish man, aren’t you? Up to this point we were thinking that you had been unsuccessful in locating the underground strong room. It’s possibly why you’re still alive. But now that you’ve made it clear that you did find it, I’m afraid it puts a completely different slant on things.”
He smiled maliciously at Dillon, adding, “You see, I will be able to tell Trevelyan something he doesn’t already know.”
Latimer suddenly jumped up and went towards the telephone located on an occasional table by the side of an armchair. He stopped abruptly and turned back towards Dillon, the hatred in his eyes showing through as he remembered that Dillon had disconnected the line from outside. Dillon raised the silenced Glock and pulled the trigger. The phone disintegrated as the hollow point hit the cradle and smashed it into a thousand pieces, sent it flying around the room and crashing to the floor. Latimer jumped back in fear.