Rosie's Diamond: Chapters 31 to 35

The story so far: Rosemary now knew for sure that her husband had been a career criminal.

The story so far: Rosemary now knew for sure that her husband had been a career criminal.Vic Bannerman her long lost brother at last arrives at Wulfrum Manor and will give Rosemary further proof of how evil her husband really was.

Bill Allington is still in contact with the South African police and discovers that four of them are coming to london on an exchange with the British Police, including Charlie Randle, the man who told him all about Rod van der Velde.

And the mysterious Jennie whom Bill has developed a telephone fascination for.

Chapter Thirty One

Connie arrived whilst Rosemary was still upstairs. She had offered to prepare breakfast for them but they had declined saying that they would wait for Rosemary. They had then left Connie to whatever it was she had to do and retired to the lounge.

Having first been into the kitchen to greet Connie she was aware that she had a visitor but did not know who. Michael had asked Connie not to say.

The lounge door opened. They were all seated and she did not immediately see Vic's face.

He stood up and turned around.

"Vic," she said it as if she had just been punched in the stomach and all the air had been knocked out of her. By the time she reached him the tears were running down her face. "Vic, Vic," was all she could say as she flung her arms around him. Her sobbing was uncontrollable as she hugged her long lost brother.

Vic too had tears rolling down his face.

Michael and Ruth watched quietly. Michael was the only one who somehow managed to hold back the tears, but it was a damn close thing.

She held on to him for a long time and only released him when she had managed to control her tears.

"Vic," she said again. This time it sounded normal although still full of total disbelief. She stood back, one hand on each of his upper arms and looked him up and down as a mother would her son on his first day of school.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you. I've agonized about you over the years. I always thought that you and I were the best of friends. Where have you been? Was it something I said or did?"

Without waiting for an answer she pulled him back to her and hugged him again.

For a moment he thought that this might just mean that she didn't really want an answer to her question.

She stood back again and looked at him through eyes darkened from wet mascara and took from him that little bit of hope.

"Well, what did happen?"

Vic looked at her and then at Michael as if asking for help.

Michael shrugged.

"Probably best to get it over with now Vic."

"I suppose you're right."

"Get what over with?"

Her mood had quickly changed from happiness to concern.

"Just what did happen?"

Vic took her by the hand. "You'd better sit down," he said, leading her to one of the sofas. He helped her down and then sat next to her, whilst still holding her hand.

"You're not going to like this Rosie but I have to tell you, and like Michael said, it's best to get it over with now. It was nothing you said or did. I know that you would never do anything to hurt me and I hope you know, or knew then, that the last thing I ever wanted to do was to hurt you."

He looked directly in her eyes waiting for a response.

She nodded.

"Therein we had the reason why I vanished. I didn't want to do anything that would cause any hurt or pain to you and I also had to protect myself. I really didn't know what to do and after much soul searching I did what I thought was the only thing I could do – I left."

"But why? You still haven't given me a reason."

Again he looked up at Michael and Ruth.

He then went through it all again as gently as he could. When he had finished his story she sat in stone faced silence. The silence continued for a few minutes until it was broken by Rosemary.

"The bastard."

All three of them were surprised. That was the worst word any of them had ever heard her utter and although in recent weeks she had come to realise that Rod was far from perfect, to hear her say that about him was a huge step for her.

"Show me your back."

Vic hesitated.

"I need to see it for myself. Remember this man treated me so well that all this is difficult for me to take in. I have to see for myself. You could say it's part of my healing process."

Vic stood up and turned round and for the third time pulled up his shirt to reveal his back. Both Rosemary and Ruth drew in sharp breaths and raised their hands to their mouths. Even though Ruth had already seen it she was still appalled by the sight.

"My God," said Rosemary. "Vic I am so sorry. I had no idea, I had absolutely no I . ." She didn't finish as the tears welled up again and she came over and held him to her once more.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she kept repeating.

He took her shoulders and held her at arm's length. "Rosie, you have nothing to be sorry about. It really had nothing to do with you. I always felt in my heart that we would get our relationship back, I just hadn't expected it to be this long."

"I always thought Rod was gentle. He was to me. It was many years before I had any suspicions at all. I certainly didn't relate your disappearance to him. If I had, I would never have married him."

"Had that happened, then we probably wouldn't be here together today," he said ominously.

"I never thought of that."

"I don't want you worrying about it. I want us to get our lives back together again and try to pretend that this never happened. There's nothing, now, to stop us. All the bad stuff is over. Now," he said with a hint of mischief, "tell me about Gerald."

She looked across at Michael and Ruth.

"There's nothing to tell."

He smiled and pulled her to him.

"If you say so," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

Chapter Thirty Two

Groves had been out of the office all morning and consequently had been unable to pass on his information to Allington. When he eventually did get back he was only too eager to pass it on.

"Bill, that pistol we took from Wulfrum Manor, the lab has had further tests done on it and have confirmed that it was indeed fired before they tested it. The results of some of the tests and scrapings they took and sent away have now been returned. The gun was fired before they tested it but apparently it had been cleaned, not just cleaned, but thoroughly cleaned. They are still waiting to find what was used to clean it so well, but they are now sure that it was fired."

"At least that settles one issue, but it doesn't bring us any closer to finding out who actually fired it."

"I know, but if they can come up with what was used to clean it, who knows, maybe that will lead us somewhere."

"As you say, who knows, but I have a feeling that we shouldn't pin too many hopes on that."

Groves sighed and let out a long mmm of agreement.

"Anyway, Bill, pray tell me how you are getting on with your two women?"

Allington looked at him suspiciously. "What two women?"

"Mrs. Van der Velde of course," he said, as if he should have known immediately, and then after a short pause, seemingly designed to throw Allington off his guard, "and that South African policewoman, Jennie."

The discolouration spread all over his face. He didn't bother trying to deny it as he realised that his boss knew exactly what he was talking about.

"How the hell did you know about that?" he queried indignantly.

"Come on Bill, I am a detective inspector after all."

Allington was still glaring at him.

"She rang this morning and left a message. Anyway, I'm just popping up to the canteen for a coffee."

He was surprised at how quickly Allington got between him and the door. "No, you're bloody well not."

Groves grinned.

"She's definitely coming over to London but hasn't got the dates yet. She said she'd call again when she has them. She said to tell you that she is really," he stressed 'really,' "looking forward to meeting you."

He thought that the best description of the look on Groves' face was smug.

"Now let's go and get a coffee and you can tell me all about it. You do realise that she could turn out to be fat with missing teeth."

"Nonsense," he retaliated as he stood back and opened the door.

Chapter Thirty Three

Vic followed Rosie out into the hallway. "I like him. I really like him. I can't see anything about him that I don't like."

Gerald had popped round to see if he could do anything. He had been invited around for dinner but had decided to come much earlier on the pretence of helping out if anything needed to be done. He knew there would be nothing.

He had not known about Vic, even that she had a brother, but had been delighted to meet him. The feeling between the two men had been instant.

"I'm glad you do, but there's nothing going on."

"Hey, I may not have seen you for a long time but I know you. It's just a matter of time."

"Nonsense."

She knew that he knew she was lying.

"I'll help you if you like. You're not getting any younger so you can't afford to wait too long." She whacked him. After all these years they were the same as they had always been.

She went off to the kitchen to speak to Connie and he went back into the lounge. Michael was talking.

He broke off when Vic came in. "Ah Vic, I was just telling Gerald that I have to be back at work on Monday morning so we shall have to leave on Sunday. The fact that you are here, and of course Gerald, makes it a lot easier to leave."

"I'm sure we can take good care of her, eh, Gerald?"

Michael screwed his face up. What's he going to say he thought? Vic had always been one to say what he was thinking. He saw Michael's face and although he smiled he said nothing more.

"We'll do our best," Gerald agreed.

Michael was pleased to see that the twinkle had returned to Vic's eyes. He was sure that Rosemary and Gerald's getting together would now, somehow, be hurried along. It would be good for her, for both of them. Although he was pleased about the prospect he just hoped that Vic would at least display a modicum of discretion.

He considered mentioning it to him but decided against it. Vic would have said something like 'me, of course not,' and then done whatever he had wanted anyway.

As they sat down at dinner that evening Vic steered Gerald so that he was sitting next to Rosemary.

"He's started," Michael whispered to Ruth.

Chapter Thirty Four

Terence Cragge, nobody called him Terry or Craggy, anyone who did was given one warning, that was enough, lived in an affluent suburb of Johannesburg. The house was huge, yet despite being a distance from any other house, was still surrounded by a high brick wall and topped by four strands of electrified wire. Terence lived well and had money salted away in several countries. He did not mix with any of his neighbours, and none of them knew anything of his business. Had they known they would not have been impressed.

In his younger days he had been a prodigy of Roderick van der Velde's and had developed over the years into Rod's right-hand man so, consequently, had taken over the reins when Rod had died. He was not as clever as Rod and had not tried to expand the business, being happy enough with the amount of money he was making.

Although Rod never actually killed anyone by his own hand the same could not be said of Terence. In fact Terence was the main reason that Rod had no actual blood on his hands, as in the early days he had been Rod's executioner. He was afraid of no one. No one, that is, except Rod. Rod was also the only man he had any respect for, which probably grew out of his fear of him.

Although Rod had never threatened him and had always treated him more like a brother, he knew that he could never cross him. Rod had such an air of menace about him that Terence had never seen anyone in his company who was not afraid of him. In the business they were in it was a terrific asset. Nine times out of ten if Rod wanted anything he merely had to ask. Even if people didn't want to do as they were asked they all knew only too well what would happen to them if they didn't.

That's where Terence was so useful to Rod. He could always persuade the odd one who didn't jump at Rod's request. He didn't care what he did or to whom. For all he did, Rod looked after him very well. As the saying goes, it was a match made in heaven, but in this case it was made in hell.

Terence had been responsible for seven killings, all of which were so well covered up that he was only questioned about one of them and then, due to Rod's involvement with several ranking police officers, the investigation was dropped – at least as far as he was concerned.

Today, though, he only had one contact within the police force and he was only of low rank. The only help he could offer Terence was to warn him when a raid was in the offing. Terence, these days, had to be very careful as he had no power to have an investigation dropped. He had been unable to nurture any other relationship with any police officers mainly because he was afraid that he would ask the wrong ones. He had basically just tried to keep Rod's interests going without any new ones. There was enough money coming in without taking any unnecessary risks.

He was seriously thinking of selling it all off to one of the other syndicates and retiring while he was still relatively young and free. He was getting paranoid about being caught and locked away at this stage of his life when he had so much money and the opportunity to enjoy it.

He had sold the diamond business many years ago without letting his wife know, who still thought, as did his two kids, that that was where the money still came from. It was really bizarre that she was married to Terence as her father was a minister. Both of his parents-in-law, up until their deaths, were as oblivious to his activities as their daughter was.

In fact the only person who knew anything of it was his own father, who himself had been a small time villain in his youth, and had been on Terence's payroll after he had taken over from Rod. Terence never involved him in anything too serious or dangerous, mainly confining his involvement with the gambling side of the business.

He had only worked for Rod for a little under three years when Rod had sent him to England. It was just before Rod was married to Rosemary Bannerman – what a good looking woman that was. Apparently her brother had been prying around and asking questions and Rod had decided that he had to be shut up. Initially Terence had thought that Rod had wanted him silenced permanently, but he had explained carefully to him that he wanted him hurt enough to scare him off. Out of respect for his wife to be, he had decided not to have him killed. He gave Terence a free hand as to how he handled it, but he knew that when Rod told him to let the brother live that he meant it and that if he went too far Rod would make him regret it.

He took two others with him. It was only when they were in the flat waiting that he saw the electric iron and the thought occurred to him. He almost salivated with anticipation while they were waiting.

When the brother arrived they had knocked him around a bit then gagged him to prevent him from screaming and alerting the neighbours. His excitement grew all the time he was using the iron. He wanted to do more but because of Rod's warning not to, he didn't dare. Thankfully the brother had passed out or he might have gone just that bit too far. They left him for a while and then threw cold water on his face. When he came to they warned him not to tell anyone and passed on Rod's message to him. He was so scared he would have agreed to anything. Pain is a great persuader.

Now he was the boss and if he needed anything like that done, he sent someone else to do it. Someone younger, someone who still had something to prove. However, now something had come up, something that would necessitate his personal involvement.

A few months ago he had been to dinner at the home of one of Rod's old lawyers. Alvin Tewell was one of the country's best, and a man who had made a small fortune out of Rod. He was now retired but had on several occasions advised Terence and they had become friends. He was well aware of all that had gone on over the years but as it had made him a rich man he turned a blind eye to it.

After dinner when the two of them retired for cigars the conversation went back to when Rod died, and to Terence's great concern he learned that Rod, who was normally so astute, had kept written records of everything.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid so."

"He was so careful."

"Not about that. I told him that it would probably hang him if they were ever found, but he always said that he kept them were they could never be found. He was confident about that."

"Where was that?"

"He always refused to say."

"That means that if they are found now, that it's my neck that goes in the noose."

"Terence, I'm sorry, but that's exactly what it means."

"I've got to find them. Are you sure he said nothing that would give any indication?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Let me see if I can come up with anything. If not I'll get back to you. In the meantime dig around and see if anything comes up"

Terence then curtailed the evening. He had a lot of thinking to do and a lot of questions to ask.

Chapter Thirty Five

Charlie Randle, after hanging up the phone from Bill Allington, had received a message about a break in at one of Johannesburg's most influential businessman's home. Apparently they had been away for the weekend and on arriving home had found the place ransacked from top to bottom, nothing had been spared. Instead of sending one of his officers round Charlie had decided to investigate himself. The victim, Ronnie Salter, was in the same Masonic lodge as he was so he considered that it would be prudent to put in a personal appearance.

Ronnie met him at the front door. "Charlie, nice of you to come yourself."

"No problem. What happened?"

He already knew more or less, but had to start somewhere.

Ronnie sighed. "We got back a couple of hours ago and found the place in this state," he swept his arm around as if Charlie couldn't see for himself.

"What did they take?"

"That's the odd thing, there doesn't appear to be anything missing. Certainly all the stuff you would have thought that they would have been after is still here. My wife's still checking."

"What about the alarms?"

"That's something else. They obviously knew what they were doing because nothing was activated."

"Doesn't look like amateurs then Ronnie. Any idea yourself what they were looking for? I mean it's pretty obvious that they were looking for something or they wouldn't have made that much of a mess. They seem to have moved every piece of furniture as if they were looking to see if anything was hidden behind any of it. All your pictures are off the walls, in fact everything has been pulled away from the walls, even in the kitchen. They don't seem to have even gone through any of your drawers."

"I hadn't even noticed that, but yes you're right."

"Perhaps they were industrial spies?"

"Well if they were, they were sadly disappointed. I never keep anything like that here. I always leave that sort of stuff at the factory. We have twenty-four hour security there."

"Money, jewellery?"

"Again, I don't keep anything like that here. Money goes to the bank and Lydia's jewels are in a safety deposit box, but as you just said, they don't seem to have been looking for anything like that."

"However, they were obviously looking for something. Between us we've got to try and figure out just what it was."

"Yeah, you could almost have expected it years ago with one of the previous owners."

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, the last owner was one of our ex-politicians, but before him the house was owned by Roderick Van der Velde."

"Good grief!" Charlie exclaimed in a manner that caught Ronnie's interest. "You're right I'd forgotten, that was way back in my early days in the police."

"Charlie, what's wrong?"

"I don't know if anything is but Van der Velde's name has risen its ugly head recently in connection with a murder in England. Whether there's any actual connection or not I have no idea yet, it may just be a coincidence and probably is, but it's something that we'll have to look at. We'll check for fingerprints but judging by the way they beat your alarm system I doubt that we'll find any. If you find anything missing or if you notice anything that appears in any way strange, then let me know."

"Can we start to clean up?"

"Just follow the fingerprint team around."

"Thanks Charlie," he said, shaking hands," see you at the lodge on Tuesday night."

As Charlie walked back to his car the thought occurred to him that he should have asked Ronnie how he knew about Rod Van der Velde. He turned around. Ronnie was still standing outside the front door.

"Ronnie," he called and went back towards him.

Ronnie met him at the bottom of the five steps. "Ronnie," he repeated, "just for my own curiosity how did you know that Rod Van der Velde was a villain?"

Ronnie gave a half smile. "My business never had any outside problems and I was only too happy to keep it that way."

"You mean you paid protection?"

Ronnie shrugged.

"Why didn't you come to us?"

"I did, but I must have picked the wrong guy to go to. I had a visit. My family was threatened and I knew the threat was serious. I couldn't have that, so I said nothing more and paid up."

"Who did you speak to?"

"It doesn't matter now, he died many years ago."

"Ronnie, I'm sorry."

"Not your fault Charlie, but in those days nobody crossed that man. When he died a hell of a lot of people danced on his grave, including me. Did you ever meet him?"

"Sadly I did, but I could never pin anything on him. The man was an animal."

"No, Charlie, he was much worse than that."

He patted Charlie on the arm and went back up the steps and into the house.

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