‘Julius, this is my associate,’ Eamonn Pollock said, with clear distaste in his voice. ‘Lucas Daly.’
Moments later, Gavin Daly felt the tell-tale fire burning in his chest followed by the tightening sensation. He fumbled in his pocket, pulled out the vial, shook a tiny nitroglycerin tablet into his palm and popped it beneath his tongue. Breathing heavily, shaking with rage and suddenly clammy, he turned the volume up a bit.
‘Good to meet you, Mr Daly,’ Rosenblaum said with a frown, and indicated for them to sit at the conference table. ‘Can I offer you gentlemen coffee – or maybe tea?’
‘A coffee would be very pleasant,’ Eamonn Pollock said. Lucas nodded. Rosenblaum went over to his desk, raised his phone and spoke to his secretary, then returned to the conference table. ‘So, Mr Pollock, I presume you have brought the watch?’
‘I have indeed!’ Pollock pushed himself upright, onto his feet, with some effort. Then he unbuckled his belt, which had a small black leather pouch hooped through it, unzipped the pouch, removed a large wad of cotton wool from it and laid it on the table. Slowly and laboriously, but beaming with greedy anticipation, he unpicked the cotton wool, lifted free the Patek Philippe watch and placed it in front of them.
Julius Rosenblaum went over to his desk drawer, removed a magnifying eyepiece and wedged it into his right eye socket. Then he sat down, picked up the watch and began to examine it. ‘Nice piece, but shame about the condition. Three million you want for this, right?’
‘That’s the minimum I – we – would accept.’ Pollock shot a glance at Lucas Daly, who nodded in agreement.
The New Yorker’s secretary brought in their coffees, set them down, then left. Rosenblaum continued to study the watch in silence. He turned it over, then using a thin-bladed tool he opened the back, and carefully examined the interior. ‘It’s undoubtedly very beautiful, very rare. I’ve not seen many watches like this in all my life. But I have some issues. What are you able to tell me about its provenance, Mr Pollock?’
‘It belonged to my grandfather,’ Lucas Daly interjected. ‘It was handed to my father in 1922.’
‘By my uncle, who came by it illegally and wanted to return it to its rightful owner’s family,’ Pollock added.
Gavin Daly watched, listening, his fury growing as his angina pains subsided.
‘You see, there are a few anomalies,’ Rosenblaum said calmly. ‘I checked with Patek Philippe, who keep records of every watch they ever made. The production date serial number, 049, 351 – oops – apologies – I’m a little dyslexic; I read numbers backwards oftentimes! The serial, 153,940, would indicate a date of 1911 or later. It should be between 149,100 to 150,000 for a manufacturing date of 1910. Do you have an explanation for this?’
‘I do, yes,’ Lucas Daly said. ‘I understand it was common practice for top apprentices to make themselves a duplicate at the same time as they worked on a particular timepiece, secretly of course. I suspect that’s what my father’s watch is. That is the reason the serial number is slightly out.’
‘I see,’ Rosenblaum said. ‘But on a watch of this period, every time it was repaired, there would be a little mark of who repaired it, with the date and initials. I don’t see any here. Additionally, a watch like this would have been commissioned, and almost certainly the owner would have had his initials engraved on it. Sometimes, of course, when the watch changes hands, the initials would be etched out, but that always leaves a trace. I can’t see any trace.’
‘This is bullshit!’ Lucas Daly said with rising anger. ‘Maybe it was stolen way back then, by my grandfather, before any initials were engraved. How would I know?’
Behind the two-way mirror Gavin Daly watched and listened, his brain fogged with fury. Lucas, his son, was sitting there with this fat, sanctimonious, lying shit.
My uncle came by it illegally and wanted to return it to its rightful owner’s family.
Oh yes?
His uncle having murdered the rightful owner.
And then Eamonn Pollock had murdered Aileen to get it back, and was now trying to sell it. But where the hell did Lucas fit in?
‘This may be a dumb question,’ Rosenblaum said, turning to Lucas. ‘With such a valuable piece, why did no one in your family get it repaired?’
‘I think they believed it might affect its authenticity,’ Eamonn Pollock replied.
‘No,’ Lucas said. ‘It’s very simple. My father – and my aunt – wanted the watch kept exactly as it was the day they got it back. It was the only link they had with their father, so it had immense sentimental value. It would not have been the same if they’d had it repaired.’
‘And how do they feel about you selling this now?’ Rosenblaum asked, staring hard at Lucas.
‘Well, sadly, they are both dead now.’ He raised his hands in a gesture of sad despair. ‘The time has come, extremely reluctantly, for the family to sell it.’
A door burst open behind them. All three turned round to see Gavin Daly, holding his walking stick in one hand, and a black revolver in the other. ‘I’m dead, am I, Lucas? I will be dead one day, all in good time, you’ll be pleased to know.’
He aimed the gun, with a shaky hand, at Eamonn Pollock. ‘But this bastard will be dead first.’
109
Detective Lieutenant Aaron Cobb threaded the grimy, brown Crown Victoria through the heavy Fifth Avenue traffic, siren wailing, lights flashing, heading downtown. He cussed at everything in his way, especially the bicycle rickshaws for which he seemed to reserve particular venom.
Pat Lanigan rode up front beside him, while Roy Grace sat in the back, which smelled of feet and rancid kebab, trying to call Cleo, but both her home and mobile numbers went straight to voicemail, indicating she was probably on both phones. He looked at his watch. It was 10.20 a.m.; 3.20 p.m. in Brighton.
‘Next on our list coming up, Roy,’ Lanigan announced.
Cobb pulled the car up alongside the Flatiron, one of Grace’s favourite buildings in the city, and stayed behind the wheel as Lanigan and Grace jumped out and hurried over to the entrance of a small shop. The name was displayed, above the window, in olde worlde script, The Seconds Hand. Beneath, in smaller lettering, was inscribed, Fine watches bought and sold. The window contained a display of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Omega wristwatches, among the classic brands Grace recognized.
The door was locked, and there was a discreet bell beside it. Lanigan pressed it, and moments later, the two detectives heard a sharp click from the latch. They entered a space that looked considerably bigger than the exterior suggested, and which smelled pleasantly of old leather.
Roy Grace had always liked watches, although most of the ones he fancied were way out of his price range. There were floor-to-ceiling display cabinets, divided into sections by brand, and more free-standing, glass-topped cabinets around the floor. Without peering too closely, in the one nearest him he could see handwritten price tags that ended in long rows of noughts.
A man in his late sixties rose from behind a desk at the far end of the showroom. ‘Good morning, gentlemen. May I help you?’ He spoke with a warm, cultured voice, in very slightly broken English, and exuded courtly, old-world charm.
Pat Lanigan held up his NYPD badge. ‘I’m looking for Mr Turkkan? Mr Attila Turkkan?’
‘You have found him!’
‘Detective Lanigan, I called you a little earlier; said we’d be over.’
‘This is a good moment, gentlemen – as you can see, we are quiet this morning.’ He was dressed for this warm day in a navy and white striped seersucker jacket, a white shirt and an elegant navy and white silk tie, and he carried himself well, with fine posture. His short, silver hair, elegantly cut, was receding at the front, and he had a thin, neatly trimmed moustache, giving him, Grace thought, rather the air of a ladies’ man. He reminded him of the actor Omar Sharif.
‘My associate here, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, is from Sussex Police in England,’ Pat Lanigan said. ‘The NYPD are helping his team
on a case involving a rare pocket watch of high value that’s been stolen.’
Attila Turkkan frowned, and Grace thought the man looked genuinely hurt. ‘Gentlemen, I have been in this business for forty-one years, and to my absolute certainty I have never handled a stolen watch.’
‘We’re here to ask you for help,’ Roy Grace said. ‘That’s all. Not to accuse you of anything.’ He blinked. There was a bright ceiling light with an angled beam striking his face, hurting his tired eyes, and he stepped a couple of feet to the right to get away from it.
The watch dealer looked a little relieved, but was still not comfortable. ‘Can I offer you gentlemen some Turkish coffee?’
‘I’m afraid we don’t have time,’ Lanigan said.
‘Before I buy any watch, I have to be one hundred per cent sure of its provenance. One hundred per cent, you understand?’ A phone started ringing on this desk, but he ignored it.
‘That’s how you build a reputation,’ Lanigan said. ‘Absolutely!’
‘Precisely. I am known the world over. I pay the best prices; I have the best watches – everyone trusts me. So, tell me about this pocket watch that you are concerned with?’
‘It’s a 1910 Patek Philippe.’
He nodded. ‘There is already an alert out on the wire about this watch, I think. No respectable dealer is going to touch it.’
‘That’s our problem, Mr Turkkan,’ Roy Grace said. ‘The man we believe has the watch is called Eamonn Pollock, although he uses a number of aliases.’ He pulled out a photograph and showed it to the dealer. ‘Do you recognize him?’
Turkkan studied it for some moments, while Grace watched his eyes. Then the dealer shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, no, I’ve never seen him before.’
He was telling the truth.
‘I presume there are people in this city who would be less scrupulous than yourself if offered a valuable timepiece?’ Grace continued.
Turkkan laughed. ‘Some indeed, oh yes, I have no doubt, but I do not know any of these people.’
‘Not even by reputation?’ Roy Grace asked.
‘It is not my world,’ he said. ‘Not – how do you phrase it in this modern jargon – not the space I inhabit?’ He grinned, and Grace saw a flash of gold among his teeth. ‘I can’t help you gentlemen. I am so sorry, please believe me.’ He looked at Pat. ‘If you give me your phone number, and this Mr Pollip walks in here, I’ll call you instantly and with pleasure.’
Lanigan produced a business card and handed it to him. ‘Any time, day or night.’
*
Back in the car, Roy Grace crossed out the circle on the map that had been drawn around The Seconds Hand. It was the third watch dealer they had crossed out in the past forty minutes, from a long list of dealers, some totally legit, others less so, that had been compiled by Peregrine Stuart-Simmonds in England, and by two officers from the Major Case Squad here in New York.
Guy Batchelor and Jack Alexander were in separate cars, with detectives Keith Johnson and Linda Blankson working their way through other dealers in the New York boroughs. Grace was about to call and check in with them, when his phone rang. It was Cleo.
‘Darling, Humphrey won’t wake up,’ she said, sounding scared.
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s half past three in the afternoon here, and he’s been fast asleep in his basket all day. I’m really worried about him.’
Humphrey was always awake before either of them, pulling at the duvet if they’d left the bedroom door open. He would never sleep this long. One possibility was that the dog was sick. But he had always been a believer in applying Occam’s razor: that the most likely explanation was usually the correct one. Someone had tried to break into the house last night. Now the dog was fast asleep, hours after he would normally have woken up. It was likely the two were linked.
‘Is Humphrey breathing okay?’
‘He’s snoring.’
‘Darling, this might be very important. Is there any way you could take him to the vet?’
‘Sure, and leave Noah to mind the house?’
‘Yep, teach him to use the vacuum cleaner and washing machine! Look, I’m serious, Humphrey could have been drugged – but we’d need some tests done before the stuff leaves his system. If it’s difficult, I’ll see if I can get a police dog handler to take him.’
‘That would be helpful.’
‘Okay, leave it with me. I’ll get back to you.’
‘You’ll be home in the morning.’
‘Absolutely. My flight’s booked.’
‘I’m really scared.’
‘You needn’t be, darling. I’ve got the patrols stepped up around the house, and a scene guard on the gates. Has the FLO arrived?’
‘Yes, a lovely lady called Linda Buckley.’
‘Good, you’ll be fine now. How’s Noah?’ His phone was beeping.
‘Noah’s fine. He’s pooing for England.’
He grinned. His phone continued beeping. ‘I’ve got another call. Love you.’
‘Love you, too.’
He switched to the incoming call.
It was Glenn Branson at the mortuary, where he was attending Amis Smallbone’s post-mortem. ‘I’ve got some fast-time developments, Roy. Alec Davies, right? He’s bright; you’re right about him.’
DC Alec Davies was a young officer Grace had recruited to his team a few months back, a young, extremely keen detective who he felt certain had a great future. ‘Tell me all.’
‘He just happened to notice a serial about a firm of estate agents, Rand and Co., who were broken into on Saturday night. They’re the ones that handle Cleo’s next-door neighbour’s house. He checked with them and found that there was only one thing stolen – ready for this?’
‘Ready.’
‘The spare keys to the house – Chez Amis Smallbone.’
‘Any idea by whom, or for what reason?’
‘There’s more. SOCO found shoeprints at Rand and Co., and I’ve just had an analysis done by Haydn Kelly, comparing them to shoeprints found at Smallbone’s. They’re an exact match.’
Grace thought hard for some moments as he absorbed this. ‘So, if Haydn Kelly’s right, the implication is that someone helped themselves to a set of keys to Amis Smallbone’s house, and then let themselves in. On the same night that Smallbone fell from the roof?’
‘You’re playing catch-up very well, for an old man.’
‘Sod you! So did he fall, or was he pushed?’
‘I thought I’d let you work that one out.’
110
Beads of sweat rolled down Eamonn Pollock’s face; his Mediterranean tan had vanished and his complexion was now sickly white, as he stared into the gun barrel and at the fury in the old man’s eyes behind it.
‘Dad!’ Lucas Daly said, standing up. ‘Put that down.’
‘I’ll put it down when I’ve emptied it into that sack of shit,’ he said, waving it at Pollock. ‘Now you sit back down.’
Lucas hesitated.
‘SIT DOWN!’
‘Dad!’
Gavin Daly pulled the trigger. In the confines of the room the shot was like a thunderclap. The bullet tore through the tabletop a couple of feet from where Lucas was standing, sending splinters flying, and plugged into the carpet.
In the stunned silence that followed, all four of them were motionless, momentarily deafened, their ears popping, breathing in the reek of cordite.
‘I said sit down!’ Gavin Daly hissed at his son.
Lucas sat down.
‘Gavin!’ Rosenblaum said. ‘What the heck—?’
‘I’ll pay for any damage, Julius. You have to understand what’s going on.’
‘Jesus, Gavin! You got some score to settle, do it someplace else – not in here, please!’
Supporting himself on his walking stick, Gavin Daly jabbed the gun at Pollock. ‘This piece of vermin’s uncle murdered my father.’ He swung the gun towards Lucas. ‘This other piece of vermin is my son, unfortunately.
These two charmers killed my sister to get this watch.’
‘I never – I never did – Dad, that was not the plan!’
‘Perhaps you’d like to tell me what the plan was, exactly? I’d like to know. I’d like to know why my sister was murdered and why the pair of you are in New York trying to sell my stolen watch? Go on, tell me, I’m all ears, and it had better be damned good.’
The two seated men looked at each other.
The door opened and Rosenblaum’s secretary looked in, nervously. ‘I heard a – Is – is everything all – ?’ Then she froze as she saw the gun.
Rosenblaum nodded, then looked at her, uncertainly. ‘Just a little family dispute, Marjorie.’
‘Shall I call the police?’
‘That won’t be necessary.’
She retreated, slamming the door hastily behind her.
‘Dad, I can explain,’ Lucas said.
‘I said I’m listening. But I know what your involvement is, you little shit. Money to pay your debts, right?’
‘Because you wouldn’t give me any.’
‘At your age, isn’t it about time you learned to support yourself, instead of sponging off me and your wife? Or are you planning to kill a member of the family every time you need money?’
‘Dad, I told you, that was never the plan. It just all went – it went – wrong. No one ever intended to harm Aileen, you have to understand that!’
‘I only understand one thing. My sister is dead, and the watch that was in her safe, that belonged to the two of us, is lying on that table. And you two are behind this.’
Daly swung the gun on Pollock. ‘I want to hear from you. I want the whole damned story. I want to know everything you know.’
‘Don’t kill me!’ Pollock pleaded, raising his hands. ‘Please don’t kill me.’ Heavy beads of sweat were guttering down his face, and he was shaking.
‘Why not? Did your thugs show any mercy to my sister? I don’t think so, Mr Pollock.’