Relative Danger (24 page)

Chapter 36

Doug walked between the potted palms and perfectly positioned fountains, weaving his way towards Raffles Grill. His new shoes clicked audibly on the tile floor. He could almost see his reflection in the highly polished tiles, but there were enough ornate framed mirrors hanging on the walls if he wanted to check his appearance. But unless things had changed since he left the men’s department of Tang’s Plaza, he knew he looked good. The suit was from a Japanese designer he’d never heard of, but then he had never heard of the American designers the squadron of sales clerks insisted he’d love. The jacket fit well right off the rack. The sales clerks called it a classic-cut, navy silk pinpoint. To Doug it was a blue suit. The pants needed hemming but that was taken care of before he and his assigned sales clerks had picked out shirt, tie, shoes, and socks to complete the outfit. The sales clerks were paid to tell him he looked good. The looks he got from the women on the subway only confirmed it.

After his late-morning stroll in the park, Doug had returned to the ZRZ Publishing Group/Hotel, showered, shaved, and spent a few hours thinking things through. Using Dexter Lee’s office—which, he noticed, contained complete sets of encyclopedias—he made several phone calls, the last one to Aisha. He had expected her to be a bit more excited when he called.

“Really? That’s great,” she said when he told her he had found the diamond, but it was the way she said it, like he had just told her about finding a misplaced sock, that bothered him. She didn’t ask where he had found it or what it looked like or how he was doing, she just asked for directions to his hotel.

“Actually I’d like to take you to dinner later. I noticed a nice place in your hotel, Raffles Grill.”

“That’s not a nice place, Doug,” she said. “That’s a phenomenal place. I think you’d be a lot more comfortable if we just grabbed a pizza and ate in your room.”

Doug had to insist three times until she sighed, saying, “I guess that’ll be alright.”

“Your note said that you figured out who killed your uncle,” she added, referring to the message he had left for her the night before. “You’re on a roll.”

The
maitre d’
nodded when Doug gave him his name and led him to a smaller table, as far from the other diners as possible. Even by the hotel’s own standards, Raffles Grill was impressive. Given the name, Doug had expected dark woods and brass fixtures, but soaring, ivory-white walls and delicate silver chandeliers gave the room an elegance that made royal families jealous. Fine-turned, high-backed chairs ringed china-laden tables, the silver cutlery glowing on the starched and pressed white tablecloths. The white theme continued with sheer curtains that swept down from the high arched windows and doorways, and with the legions of white-coated waiters that shimmered around the room. Adding dramatic contrast, Aisha sat at the table, her black hair up, showing off her long neck and the low neckline of what Doug was sure was a little black dress.

“You certainly clean up nicely,” she said after the first wave of waiters had taken their drink orders.

“Oh this old thing?” he said. “You look beautiful, but I’m sure you know that.”

“Modesty is an overrated virtue. Besides, I wanted this evening to be special. After all, you’ve had such an eventful stay in Singapore. Speaking of which, now that you’ve solved everything, what comes next for Doug Pearce?”

“That’s why I invited you here tonight. I figured I could explain best over an expensive meal.”

“Well you picked the right place,” Aisha said, looking past Doug as she spoke. “I hope you don’t mind but I asked an old friend to join us.”

“Hello, Douglas,” Sergei said as he pulled out the last chair and sat down. “You look good.” He was wearing a light tan suit with an ice-blue shirt and matching tie. He looked tan, fit, and happy.

“Hello, Sergei,” Doug said. “Or should I call you Sasha?”

“Let’s keep it Sergei. I’m too old to be a Sasha anymore. Ah, just in time,” Sergei said as the waiter returned with Aisha’s martini and Doug’s whiskey. “I’ll have a gin and tonic,” he said to the waiter. “The quinine in the tonic has kept me free of malaria most of my life,” he added as the waiter turned to leave.

“You killed Russell Pearce,” Doug said, sipping his whiskey.

“You know I was quite impressed when Aisha told me that you had figured it out. What was it that tipped you off?”

“CH. The initials on the gun.”

“Ah, now, Douglas,” Sergei said. “Don’t they incriminate your uncle’s friend, Charley Hodge?”

“It was a Russian gun. The initials were from the Russian alphabet.”

“It’s called Cyrillic, but go on.”

“In Russian, C has the same sound as S in English, and the H is the Russian for N. So even though the initials on the gun are CH it’s like saying SN in English. Sergei Nikolaisen. It was your gun.”

“Bravo, Douglas, I am impressed. Really I am. At the time no one even considered any other possibility. Maybe you’ll make a detective yet.”

“You killed him.”

Sergei took a deep breath. “Yes, yes I did. I’d like you to believe that it was an accident, that I didn’t mean to do it.”

“That’s kind of hard to do since you shot him twice.”

“I fired three times, I only hit him twice,” Sergei said. “We were in my hotel room, talking, when he suddenly became angry. He wanted to sell the diamond right away, I had other plans. He charged at me and I panicked. I just kept shooting till he stopped.” Sergei paused and looked across the table to Doug, the slight smile disappearing from his face. “He was a violent man, a dangerous man. He would have killed me, I’m sure of it. Still, it’s not an easy thing to live with. It’s not something I’m proud of.”

“You had no trouble killing the guards when you stole the diamond.”

“Douglas, we both know who killed the guards. In my plan, there was to be no shooting at all.”

“That’s what Mr. Ahmed said this morning when I called him in Morocco,” Doug said. “The man has a great memory and once you get him started he loves to reminisce.”

Sergei rolled his eyes and shook his head. “That is precisely why I didn’t want him talking to you.” He sighed and continued. “So,
monsieur
detective, what inspired you to call Mr. Ahmed?”

“Once I figured out it was your gun, I assumed that much of what happened to me was your doing, starting with Mr. Ahmed.”

“I told him you were a reporter snooping into my private life and we came up with the hit-and-run idea to send you away,” Sergei said. “He told his staff you were a hired killer. I heard that you put quite a scare into them. How did you get him to talk to you?”

“Simple,” Doug said. “I told him the truth.”

“Clever. But I don’t suggest you make a habit of it. It’s generally not a good policy.”

“Oh I love
requin au four
,” Aisha said, reading the menu. “What would go best with that?”

“I’m partial to Number 47,” Doug said. “Tastes just like a Number 18.” He turned back to Sergei. “So how long have you been following me?”

“I received word you were in Casa on your first day. After searching your room—oh, don’t look so surprised, the poor man at the hotel gets paid next to nothing—I determined that you might have some information about the diamond that I hadn’t been able to uncover.”

“Same here,” Aisha said. She was thumbing through the desserts. “When you came asking questions I figured you were hiding something. I didn’t buy the dumb hick act, by the way.”

“Yeah, I figured you were in this together.” Doug tried not to look disappointed.

“Not at first,” Sergei said. “For years each of us had kept an eye out for the diamond, myself much longer than Miss Al-Kady here has been alive. After I retired from the museum—this would be five years ago—I moved to Morocco. I had always liked the weather there and, as I said, I do have many friends in Casa. Thanks to her grandfather, Miss Al-Kady and I have known each other for years. Casa is like a small town and we share some similar interests.” Aisha looked over and flashed her eyebrows up and down suggestively. “We became partners when we realized we needed to move you along. You seemed to take a rather long time making decisions and, since we were both confident that the diamond was not in Morocco, we prodded you a bit.”

“That makes sense, but why all the warnings about dangerous killers out there? For a while it seemed as if you wanted me to quit.”

Sergei and Aisha smiled at each other. “We disagreed on how best to motivate you,” Sergei said. “You see, I didn’t think the—what did you call it Aisha? The ‘hick act’?—I didn’t think that was an affectation. A naïve young man like you, I sensed you would be best motivated by the idea of danger and suspense…never letting you out of sight, of course. With the help of some friends of mine, I think we created a believable scenario.”

“Captain Yehia, for one,” Doug said.

“Yes, and the altercation in the back alley. Without the threat of violence, there really is no sense of danger.”

“Cruising the red light district, Doug?” Aisha said with smile. “Tsk-tsk-tsk.”

“You insisted that you were going to Cairo even though Miss Al-Kady and I were absolutely certain that the diamond was not there either. Remember, we’ve been looking for some time now. We wanted you in Singapore and assumed that’s where you would be heading eventually. We needed time, something to delay your arrival in Cairo while we orchestrated a series of events that we felt would fit both Miss Al-Kady’s and my approach to keeping you motivated.”

“So you planted cocaine in my flight bag,” Doug said, watching Aisha flip through the wine list.

“I’m innocent and pure,” she said without looking up.

“That was not cocaine, Douglas, it was baking powder. We assumed you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. And I’m afraid it was I who slipped it in your carry-on bag while you were sleeping.”

“So you paid off someone to have me arrested and thrown in jail, where I conveniently met Abe.”

“An old flame of Miss Al-Kady’s. There are surprisingly few opportunities for a character actor who does impressions in Egypt, even with the movie industry there. I feel he did a fine job.”

“He said to say hi,” Aisha said. “Oh and you’re supposed to rent the movie
Aladdin
—he did some of the voices.”

“You kept me locked up long enough to put together your little charade,” Doug said. “So no one was shooting at us, no one fell off a building….”

“They were shooting,” Aisha said, “they
insisted
they get to shoot. But no, no one fell off the building.”

“Former boyfriends?” Doug said, trying not to sound sarcastic.

“Cousins,” she said.

“Well it worked,” Doug said and sipped his drink. “You got me moving. But the car crash in the desert wasn’t necessary.”

“Oh that was Abe’s idea,” Aisha said. “He and his buddies worked on that for hours.” She started to laugh. “He says you were going to shoot out his back window, but that would have given it all away since there were blanks in the gun. That’s Abe.” Despite everything, Doug still found her laugh sexy and encouraging. “He said he worked really hard on the dramatic ‘there was no crash’ scene, but on the tape it sounds
way
over the top.”

“He taped it?” Doug said. “You’re kidding.”

“For his portfolio. He wants to show he can do serious parts as well.”

“You caused us some difficulties when you disappeared in Bahrain. We thought for sure you had run home to Pennsylvania,” Sergei said.

“Not me,” Aisha said, closing the menu. “I figured you got wise to us and just slipped loose. I mean after I heard Abe overdo it on that tape….” She shook her head, a strategically placed strand of hair bouncing lightly.

“When you managed to eliminate the man we had following you here in Singapore, we realized that you were ready to pick up the diamond and flee the country. We assume the woman you had dinner with last night was your contact here but, and this is truly embarrassing, my cab driver lost you when you left Raffles.”

“We were just lucky you called. We thought for sure we had missed our last chance.” Aisha poked at the fat olive in her martini, skewering it on the third try. She used her teeth to slide it off her fork, careful not to smudge her lipstick.

Doug was looking down at his drink, trying to remember eliminating anybody.

“You shouldn’t feel bad, Douglas,” Sergei said. “You’ve had the adventure of a lifetime. This one just ended a bit differently than you would have liked. Remember, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts.” He smiled at Doug. “It has been quite a time, hasn’t it?”

“What makes you think it’s over?”

Sergei laughed. “Because I know you, Douglas. I know the kind of man you are, what you are capable of and what, frankly, is beyond you. Look,” he said, leaning forward, “I’ll tell you what you’d have to do. First you’d have to get out of Singapore with the diamond.”

“That should be easy.”

“Ha,” Aisha said. “You think I’m just going to let you waltz out on me? Hardly. Believe it or not, I can get rather demanding.”

Doug looked at Sergei, who gave a slight shrug and continued. “Miss Al-Kady is right, of course. We would work to ensure that, if you did leave Singapore, it would be without the diamond.”

“I take it you’d kill me. You had no problem killing my uncle.”

“As I said, that was not my plan. I regret it and I would also regret seeing you hurt. But yes, we would see to it. But let’s assume by some minor miracle you do end up with the diamond.”

“
Major
miracle,” Aisha said.

“Flying out of Singapore is easy, just don’t get caught smuggling any stolen diamonds. This time jail would be for real, and for keeps. You might have to go through Malaysia or Thailand. All this would be the easy part.”

“It gets harder?” Doug said.

“Let’s say you get back to the States and you and this woman who put you up to this trip actually have the diamond in front of you. Would you know what to do with it? Do you know any international jewelry brokers who would be able to handle such a legendary diamond? You certainly can’t walk into a jewelry store in the mall to try to sell it, nor can you take out an ad in the paper. I’m afraid you’d be stuck with an extremely valuable souvenir. But sooner or later the temptation would be too great and you’d try to sell it to someone and the FBI or Interpol would get wind of it and I’m afraid that would bring on the start of a different adventure altogether.”