The Amber Knight (19 page)

‘It happened twenty years before I was born.’ Adam didn’t want to talk about the tragedy that had cast a long shadow from his grandfather’s and father’s generations into his own. ‘Be sensible, Magdalena, the boys will have a great time there. If you’re worried about their school work I’ll get them a tutor. You could take a holiday, enjoy the pool, exercise the horses, or just sit in the sun and read.’

‘All right. You can send the boys and Brunon’s grandmother there,’ she conceded. ‘But not me.’

‘What’s the point when it’s you they’re after?’ Adam asked.

‘We don’t know that for sure,’ she insisted.

‘First the car ambush, now this. What will it take to convince you?’ He took the tea she offered him without thinking. He loathed tea, never drank it, something he forgot until he took the first sip.

‘You were with me on both occasions,’ she reminded him.

‘No one knew I intended to sleep here tonight.’

‘Only half the police department and anyone who cared to follow us and look up at the balcony,’ she contradicted.

‘I’d know if anyone had been checking on Adam’s movements.’ Tired of waiting for Magdalena to offer, Josef poured tea into a cup and took it.

‘You can’t possibly know what every man who works in Piwna Street gets up to.’ She picked up her cup and walked to the window.

‘Don’t!’ Josef and Adam shouted simultaneously.

Deliberately standing in front of the bullet-shattered balcony door, she turned to face them, her grey eyes glittering, frosted steel in her pale face. ‘I have no intention of changing my lifestyle because of the antics of a few thugs.’ She pushed her dark hair away from her face. ‘If the boys want to go to America, that’s up to them. I’m packing for an overnight stay at the Wolfschanze.’

‘The trip’s off,’ Adam growled.

‘If you won’t take me, I’ll go alone. The Amber Knight is part of Poland’s heritage. If I can restore it to Gdansk, I will.’

‘Tell her she can’t go?’ Adam pleaded with Josef.

‘Poland became a free country after the Revolution. Everyone can do what they want. Even women.’

Jan and Wiktor heard the magic word “America” and started emptying their slim wardrobes into sports bags, but Magdalena sat on Wiktor’s bed, watched the bustle around her, and calmly announced that no one, and nothing, was going to drive her out of her home. After half an hour of futile argument Josef motioned his head to the door and Adam followed him into the corridor.

‘We can send the old lady on when she turns up,’ Josef said.

‘You still haven’t tracked her down?’ Adam asked in surprise.

‘Oltzyn as an address is a bit vague even for us. But she must be safe. If she’d been killed or kidnapped we would have heard by now.’

‘And Magdalena?’

‘I can’t force her to go anywhere she doesn’t want to. Just occasionally, I regret the passing of the old ways. Life might have been tough under the Communists, but it was a bloody sight easier when people did what uniformed officials told them to.’

‘So, you’ll put a round-the-clock guard on Magdalena again?’ Adam mocked him.

Josef didn’t even hear him. ‘Why would anyone, especially the Mafia, go to such public lengths to kill a museum director?’

‘To get at her thieving husband?’

‘Brunon’s small fry in the grand Mafia scheme of things.’

‘Small fry who’s stolen a big chunk of their loose change and amber.’

‘Which will eventually cost him his head. Word is out. No one in Poland who values their life will lift a finger to help or hide him.’

‘But he hasn’t surfaced, so someone must be covering up for him,’ Adam said.

‘Until we find him I can’t do a damned thing.’

‘You could try looking for him.’

‘You think we haven’t?’ Josef’s temper surfaced. ‘There isn’t a stone in this city that hasn’t been lifted.’

‘It takes a great deal of confidence, or police protection, for a man in his position to walk around openly.’

‘Edmund must have been mistaken.’

‘And I still say that’s unlikely. I think it’s time to set up another meeting with Radek and Melerski.’

‘And your sister,’ Josef mused. ‘If she knew Casimir Zamosc, it’s possible she knows more than she realises.’

Adam arranged the flight to America, Josef an escort for the boys. In a last-ditch attempt to persuade Magdalena to leave with her brothers, Josef announced that he needed to close off her apartment for at least a week for forensic tests. Her reaction was to pack everything she wouldn’t need in the Wolfschanze and move it across the hall into Mrs Dynski’s apartment. Once the initial excitement at the thought of visiting America wore off, the boys began to sense Adam and Josef’s concern for their sister’s safety. Much to Magdalena’s consternation Wiktor and Jan decided not to leave her, and it took a stern reminder from Adam that it was easier to mount a guard on one, than three, to get them into the car.

Adam had booked an internal flight for the boys and their escort from Gdansk to Warsaw, and a transatlantic flight from there. Five minutes conversation with Adam’s grandfather’s housekeeper, Betsy, on Josef’s mobile phone did more to reassure Magdalena of the reception the boys would receive in California than all Adam’s protestations that they would have the time of their lives there.

Less than two hours after leaving Magdalena’s apartment they waved goodbye to Wiktor, Jan and their police bodyguard as they walked through the boarding gate at Gdansk airport.

‘And now the Wolfschanze.’ Magdalena turned to the main doors.

‘The Grand Hotel first,’ Josef said. ‘It might help if you were there when I talked to your sister, Adam.’

‘In that case I’ll go to the office for an hour,’ Magdalena declared casually.

Adam gripped her elbow as he led her out into the car park. ‘Until Brunon’s found, we’re an item.’

‘You can’t go everywhere with me,’ she smiled.

‘I’ll give you an armed female officer to go to the places he can’t,’ Josef said grimly, ‘as well as a driver and two guards. But I’d be happier still if you postponed the trip to the Wolf’s Lair.’

‘We’re running out of time to make a bid for the knight,’ Magdalena reminded him.

‘See if you can set up a meeting with Radek and Melerski in the Grand Hotel.’ Adam helped Magdalena into Josef’s car. ‘As the lady’s set on leaving Gdansk, I’ve a feeling the sooner we go, the better, for the sake of all our nerves.’

Adam opened the mini-bar and removed a miniature of brandy. Unscrewing the top he poured it into a glass and handed it to a sobbing Georgiana. ‘Goddamn it, Georgie, you only knew the guy for twenty-four hours.’

‘He was the one.’ She gulped the brandy. ‘I knew it the first time I heard his voice on the telephone. He was the one. There’ll never be anyone else…’

‘You said that when you married your first, your second and your…’

‘Casimir was different.’ She glared at him through tear-stained eyes.

‘The one good thing that can be said in his favour is that he’s no position to claim palimony.’

‘You’re a callous bastard, Adam. I don’t know how you live with yourself.’ Georgiana abandoned the empty brandy glass on the coffee table that lay between her chair and the sofa Josef and Magdalena were sitting on. ‘You said he was shot, captain,’ she moved closer to Josef. ‘Was it an accident? I can’t believe anyone would want to kill such a talented artist.’

Josef cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘It’s possible he was mixed up in something.’

‘Like the Mafia, you mean? My God, do you think I could be in danger?’

‘It’s possible, Georgiana,’ Adam picked up her glass.

‘The children? I had no idea Poland was this dangerous…’

‘It isn’t,’ Josef interrupted.

‘Oh, but it is for foreigners. You should return to the States immediately, Georgie. Who knows what Casimir was mixed up in,’ Adam broke in smoothly, trying to strike a balance between Josef’s fear that the Salen family were about to wreck the Polish tourist industry with unnecessary scaremongering and his own desire to be rid of his wife and sister. ‘Until the captain finds out exactly why Casimir was killed, it might be as well if you leave.’

‘I suppose we could go back to Paris… or on to Prague or Rome…’

‘Brilliant idea,’ Adam enthused.

‘But Courtney came all this way to see you, and all you’ve done is ignore her.’

‘We’re here to talk about Casimir, not Courtney.’

‘Where did you meet him?’ Josef removed a notebook and pencil from the inside pocket of his jacket.

‘Here.’

‘In the hotel?’

‘In Gdansk.’ Georgiana glanced at Josef, decided a man with his looks was worth flirting with, crossed her legs, hitched her skirt higher and smiled coyly beneath her tears. Adam only just managed to stop himself from groaning. ‘I saw these darling little paintings and I knew right then and there I simply had to have them.’

‘Saw them where?’ Josef asked patiently.

‘In a gallery. That’s why I’m in Europe. To tour galleries. I’m the buyer for the European section of the Salen Academy of Modern Art in Texas.’

‘So you met Casimir in a gallery?’

‘Not in the gallery I saw his paintings in. I had to ask the gallery owner…’

‘In Paris,’ Adam supplied, reading confusion on Josef’s face.

‘Of course in Paris,’ Georgiana chipped in testily. ‘I asked her who the artist was and she told me Casimir, and then we telephoned him…’

‘In Gdansk?’ Josef checked.

‘Naturally in Gdansk, that’s where he lives – lived.’ She took the tissue Adam handed her. ‘I reached him right away. He said… he had the most gorgeous voice…’ her voice quivered as she dabbed her eyes. ‘He was so pleased that someone had finally recognised his talent. We spoke for hours and I arranged to meet him in the gallery at Mariacka Street.’

‘Waleria Gabska’s gallery?’ Josef looked up at Adam.

‘Nothing to do with me,’ Adam said. ‘I only met Casimir Zamosc when my sister brought him to my apartment.’

‘Casimir was waiting in the gallery for us when we arrived from the airport.’ Georgiana discarded the tissue Adam had given her and he handed her the box.

‘When was that?’ Josef asked.

‘Yesterday morning,’ Adam answered.

‘And Casimir took us out to dinner last night, which was more than my brother did.’ Georgiana glared at Adam again.

‘Us?’ Josef probed.

‘Me and my sister-in-law, who’s desolate because her husband won’t even talk to her.’ She gave Adam another hard look. ‘Casimir wanted to make up for the horrid reception Adam had given us. My brother was rude, but if you know him you don’t need me to tell you that. Casimir took us to this enchanting restaurant in the old town. We were so happy,’ she blotted her eyes again, ‘and had such a heavenly time…’

‘From the way he died I think he’s in the warmer place, Georgie.’

‘Casimir brought you back here?’ Josef prompted, annoyed by Adam’s interruption.

‘Of course. He was such a gentleman.’

‘What time did he leave?’

‘It would have been about midnight. I was absolutely bushed, all this travelling makes for the most horrendous jet lag.’

‘Did you meet any of his friends?’

‘Waleria in the gallery. Although he seemed to know everyone. The barman here, the manager in the restaurant, the croupier at the Casino…’

‘You don’t happen to know where he lived.’ Josef pressed.

‘Gdansk.’

‘Gdansk is a city, Georgie,’ Adam pointed out wryly.

‘I have his telephone number somewhere.’ She patted the sofa in search of her handbag. ‘I think Niklas put it in this little electronic thing. Now let’s see – Niklas,’ she called out. ‘My son,’ she explained to Josef. ‘He’s the only one who can understand how this thing works. He puts in all the names and addresses for me.’

‘Give it here.’ Adam held out his hand.

‘You know how to work it?’ She looked at Adam in surprise. ‘But then of course you would.’ She dropped it into Adam’s hand.

‘I’m into the address section, but there’s nothing under Z,’ Adam said after a few seconds of searching.

‘Niklas may have put him under Casimir.’

‘No.’

‘Gdansk?’

‘No.’

‘Perhaps Niklas forgot…’

‘There’s a section marked “toy boys”,’ Adam interrupted.

‘Niklas’s attempt at humour. He’s a little devil.’ Ignoring Magdalena, Georgiana tried to catch Josef’s eye.

‘Here it is.’ Adam handed Josef the electronic notebook.

‘Number’s in the town centre,’ Josef said.

‘It should be, it’s the Jantar Hotel,’ Adam informed him.

‘You sure?’

‘Take my word for it.’

‘He must have been fairly well off to live there.’

‘Or he booked in just to wait for the call,’ Adam suggested.

‘I’ll have it checked out. Mrs…’ Josef looked enquiringly at Georgiana.

‘It’s Ms Salen. I reverted to my maiden name after my last divorce.’ Georgiana moved her knees closer to Josef’s.

‘Think hard, is there anything else you can tell me about Casimir Zamosc?’

‘Only that he was an immensely talented artist.’

‘He didn’t mention what he did for a living?’

‘Painted, of course.’

‘I doubt he’d have made a living from that,’ Adam said dryly.

‘Really?’ Georgiana was genuinely surprised. ‘But he was so good.’

‘Did he talk about a wife, or a family?’ Josef pressed.

‘No, but he hinted at some sort of tragedy.’ Georgiana sniffed back a tear. ‘When I suggested he return to the States with me, he didn’t mention any encumbrances that would prevent him.’

‘I bet he didn’t,’ Adam said.

‘Adam, the poor man is dead, why do you have to be so horrid?’

‘Because the poor man was mixed up with some very nasty people.’

“Nasty people” reminded Georgiana that she could be in danger. ‘I must have Nanny paged so she can organise the packing.’

A door that led to one of the bedrooms in the suite opened.

‘Packing? You’re not going to let Adam drive you out of Gdansk, are you, Georgiana? We haven’t seen a single sight you marked in the guide book yet.’ Courtney beamed at the assembled company, while reserving one very special, significant, smile for her husband.