Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation Read online

  'We are involved in trying to find the thieves who were responsible for the theft of a boat from Port Canto. The boat was taken about three months' ago.'

  'What is the name of the boat?' he interrupted.

  'It was the Sea Office.'

  Ah, Yes, I remember when that happened. The police were crawling all over the port.'

  'We have noticed that there are a lot of CCTV cameras at Port Canto. Do you still have the tapes from the day the vessel was stolen?'

  No, I am afraid that the tapes are re-used and are only held for three months; however, I know that, in this case, the police made a copy of the tape in question.'

  'What do you think are the chances of the police letting us look at the tape?'

  'I am afraid that I can't answer for the police; you would have to ask them.'

  'Do you have any other information that might help us find out what happened the night the boat was stolen?' I asked, not expecting a positive answer.

  'The only thing that I can add is that the thieves seemed to use the same methods as had been used when the previous boat was stolen. They motored out of Port Canto and then both the vessels vanished and have not been seen since.'

  'Thank you officer, we appreciate your help.'

  'Good luck in your search.'

  We left the Capitainerie disappointed that we weren't able to get hold of the tape.

  'We honestly can't go to the police and try to view the tape as I wouldn't think that they would want amateurs getting involved in their case,' Willem said.

  'I'll put it on my list of questions for the owners when we meet them tomorrow. Perhaps they can get a copy for us.'

  'As we have the time, why don't we take a ferry out to Ile Sainte Marguerite and check it out,' Willem suggested. 'The name has come up a few times so it might help if we go there and have a look.'

  'Well, we have nothing else to do this afternoon, so we might as well go out there.'

  In fact, our trip out to the island proved to be a total waste of time. The only place of interest on the island was the remains of the castle where the man in the iron mask had been held. We did have a quick look around to see if it was possible that a large Motor yacht had dropped somebody off on the island. The depth of the water around the various jetties seemed to be far too shallow for such an exercise. It proved that Dillon Seaton had never been on the island, and his story was a pure fabrication. There was a bar on the island where we were able to buy a cold beer before we caught the 5.30pm ferry back to Cannes.

  On the return journey, we reviewed where we had got to, and I drew up one of my lists to try and sort things out in my brain.

  1. There were many luxurious Motor Yachts in the two principal ports of Cannes, and security surrounding them wasn't that good.

  2. Why had they stolen Sea Office - most obvious reason was that there was nobody on board and that it was close to the end of the quay so they could get out quickly?

  3. The stolen boat didn't go near Ile Sainte Marguerite so it could have got much further away from Cannes than calculated based on Dillon Seaton's story.

  4. Having crews on board provided the owners with a false sense of security because the crews had too many temptations in a place like Cannes, and there was no certainty that they would spend a night on board.

  5. There were plenty of places around the ports where a gang, destined to steal a Motor Yacht, could be landed. Another option would be for a visiting yacht to bring the thieves ashore, and they could stay there for days until the best opportunity presented itself.

  6. There was no possible way of knowing where Sea Office had vanished to. Once in the Mediterranean it could go anywhere.

  7. It was a very large challenge but, hopefully, not insurmountable.

  I discussed my list with Willem as we ate our dinner that evening. He agreed with most of what I had written, but suggested that I add the fact that both the boats stolen had been 80 feet long or thereabouts. Smaller and they wouldn't be so seaworthy and larger, and they would be easier to track down as there was a much lower population of the largest boats. I added an eighth point to my list.

  8. How far could the boats travel based on their size and fuel load?

  We agreed that we were in good shape to meet the owners the following morning.

  Worn out by our day wandering around Cannes and the sea air, we headed for bed around 10.00pm.

  Chapter 4

  The following morning I was woken from a deep sleep by the phone ringing. It was Freddie Shuttleworth confirming that he expected me at The Grand Hotel at 10.00am, and he also confirmed that the meeting with the owner's group was still scheduled to start an hour later.

  I contacted Willem and told him that I would meet him for breakfast at 8.30am. I also brought him up to date on the meeting times.

  We were standing in the foyer of The Grand Hotel, when, just after 10, a red-faced Freddie Shuttleworth came puffing into the hotel.

  'Hi Vince, I thought that I was going to be late. I was delayed answering questions from one of the owners coming to the meeting. He wanted to know more about you and your credentials. He reckoned that it would be too embarrassing to interrogate you at the meeting.'

  'No problem Freddie it is only just after ten. Let me introduce Willem van Grimbergen to you. He is the boat expert friend from Holland, who I told you about.'

  'Good morning Willem, I am delighted to meet you.' He shook Willem's hand.

  'I have had the hotel assign a meeting room to us, and I have asked them to provide some juice and coffee, so let's see if we can locate the room.'

  He went over and asked the porter what room we were in and where it was located. The porter came with us to show us the way to the venue allocated for the meeting. Shortly later, we were sitting around a circular table, equipped with our choice of drink.

  Freddie Shuttleworth started proceedings.

  'If I am correct in my assumptions Vince, you have been in Cannes since Friday evening. Have you found out anything?'

  'We haven't found out a lot, but there is one crucial piece of information that you need to know. The crew member, who should have been on board your motor yacht that fateful night, was, almost certainly, shacked up with his girlfriend ashore that night.'

  'I don't believe it. The little bugger,' Freddie exclaimed.

  'We can't be one hundred percent sure, but when we confronted him with our suspicions when we met him yesterday morning, he ran off.'

  'What do think Willem?' He turned and looked at Willem.

  'On Friday night, while Vince was talking to Dillon, I talked to the girl he was with, and established that they have been an item for at least a year. When they left the bar, we followed them back to her apartment, and he didn't come back out. When we confronted him the following morning, he denied that he had spent the night with his girlfriend, and then he ran off.'

  'That obviously changes a lot of things, and he has wasted a lot of our time with his lies.'

  'We can be pretty sure that whoever stole Sea Office didn't need to put Dillon ashore on Ile Sainte Marguerite. We also checked that possibility out and found that the water was too shallow for a boat your size to have gone in there,’ I said. ‘So, Sea Office took off at full speed as soon as it left Port Canto, and there were no diversions.'

  'I am impressed,' Freddie Shuttleworth said. 'You have found out more in a few days than the police have found out in three months. Let's talk now about how you are going to approach our meeting with the other owners. They will begin arriving in half an hour or so.'

  'I have written down a list of questions that we would like to ask so, the best approach, is probably to go through this list.'

  'That sounds a brilliant idea Vince. Have you got a copy of the list for me?'

  'Yes, I wrote a copy out for you and here it is.'

  I gave him a copy, and we talked over the items I had written down.

  'I would like you to put another item on your list Vince. We need to know how m
uch they are willing to pay to protect their boats. I know these guys pretty well. They have plenty of money, but they hate surprises. We need to get their commitment to a sum of money before you go and incur costs.'

  'That's an excellent point, and I should have thought of it myself. I'll add it to my original list and then get the Hotel to make me a few copies.'

  As if on cue, there was a knock at the door, and a head appeared.

  A very overweight, suntanned, man in his sixties came through the door. He was dressed in a blue blazer and sporting a bright yellow cravat. '

  'Am I interrupting something or can I come in.'

  'Good morning David. No, you can come in, we are finished.'

  'Are these the investigator chappies that you want us to meet,' he said pointing at Willem and me.

  'They are indeed, but I will introduce you to them when the others arrive,' Freddie replied.

  I took the opportunity to slip out and go to the reception desk to get ten photocopies of the list.

  A further six people arrived all looking equally affluent and sun-tanned. Shortly after 11.0am, Freddie called the meeting to order.

  For the next hour, we discussed all the points on my list, although arriving at a clear way forward wasn't easy with so many sharp brains in the room. They were all used to being the boss and issuing the orders. Finally, we did end up with some proposals.

  As the conversation was dying down I said, 'If you like I will write down some suggestions as to how we might proceed.'

  I walked over to where the hotel staff had left a flip chart and some pens. I wrote:

  1. Fit a tracking device to all the boats.

  2. Owners to inform Vince Hamilton by email when their boats were being used and would be at sea.

  3. If a boat was stolen, Vince Hamilton would travel immediately to Nice.

  4. Willem van Grimbergen would monitor the boats from his office in Rotterdam.

  5. A security officer will be recruited to check the boats at night to ensure that the crews sleep on board.

  6. The expenses incurred would be split eight ways, with the fund set at a maximum of £100,000?

  There was some further discussion especially on the money to be invested in the project, but eventually they agreed to what I had written down.

  They all got up and came over to shake my hand and wish me good luck. David was the last of the owners to come over to say goodbye.

  'Major Hamilton, I have a suggestion to make about who should be appointed as the security officer. I have an extremely reliable crew member who has been with me for six years. He is twenty-seven years of age and he could do this job, in addition to the role that he has for me, as a member of my crew.'

  'What would happen when he was at sea with you? Presumably he would still be a member of your crew?'

  'He would have to stay ashore somewhere. I could book him into a small pension or hotel. Between now and the end of the year, the boat shouldn't be at sea for longer than two weeks at the most.'

  'Can we meet him to have a chat with him?'

  'That shouldn't be a problem. Why don’t you come back with me now and have some lunch on board, and you can talk to him there?'

  'What do you think Willem? Does this sound like a possible solution?' I turned towards Willem seeking his opinion.

  'Sounds like a good idea to me Vince. If he's suitable, then he can start immediately which is ideal.'

  'Thanks David for offering him to us. It's a perfect solution if he's as good as you say.'

  We went over to where Freddie Shuttleworth was talking to two of the owners.

  Once we had his attention, I said to him, 'We have been invited by David here, to go to his boat for lunch and interview a guy called Nick, one of his crew. He has offered him as a possible security officer. If he's suitable, he can start immediately.'

  'Are you sure that you could spare him David. He's been with you for quite a few years.'

  'Well, Freddie it is crucial that we appoint someone we can totally trust rather than a stranger.'

  'No, I agree. That's very kind of you David,' Freddie luckily was in agreement. 'I am staying till tomorrow evening Vince, so perhaps we can meet up at some stage tomorrow.'

  ‘Our flight leaves from Nice airport at 13.35 hours tomorrow so we would have to get away from here by 11.00am at the latest,' I said.

  'I will pick you up at your hotel at 11.30am tomorrow morning and take you to the airport. We can talk in the car on the way to Nice.'

  'Are you sure that doesn't inconvenience you? We can catch the airport bus from the station.'

  'I have some other jobs that I need to do in Nice, so dropping you off at the airport is no problem.'

  'We'll see you tomorrow then.' I shook his hand, and we left with David for lunch on his motor yacht.

  David's boat turned out to be a 95 footer made by Overmarine in Italy. He had named it Racing Green, although, the only green I could see was a stripe running the length of the boat on either side of the hull.

  We left our shoes on the quayside and boarded the boat by the gangplank. He introduced us to his wife and daughter who were sitting in wickerwork chairs in a covered area on the stern deck, having a glass of wine.

  'Patricia I have asked these two gentlemen for lunch if that is all right. They want to talk to Nick about a possible role they have for him.'

  'That's fine David. I will have to tell Sergio that we have two extra for lunch. Would they be able to talk with Nick now while we are waiting for lunch?'

  'Yes, we might as well do it in that order. I will try and find Nick and bring him to you on the fore-deck if you like to go up there.'

  David went to find Nick, and we moved around the side to what we assumed was the fore-deck.

  A few minutes later David re-appeared with a good looking, reddish haired, young man. I had expected a more robust build, but he was quite thin and angular with a weathered look from many days at sea.

  'This is Nick; the young guy I suggested might be suitable for the security role. I have told him why you want to talk to him.'

  'Hi Nick.' I shook his hand as did Willem.

  'I'll return to the ladies and leave you to it.' David headed towards the stern.

  'Willem will explain to you the proposed role, and you can then tell us what you feel about the job,' I explained. I wanted to observe him and his reactions when Willem explained to him what we wanted. Willem looked a bit startled that I had asked him to outline what was required in the job as I hadn't discussed my approach with him beforehand.

  My initial impressions of Nick were favourable. He asked some sensible questions which indicated that he understood what we required.

  Willem finished his outline of the job, so I asked Nick. 'What is your first reaction to the proposed role?'

  'It is not going to make me too popular, is it? I will be spying on the crew members and reporting back to the owners.'

  'The reason that we have come up with this approach is because we have learnt that the crew member, who was supposed to be sleeping on board Sea Office the night it was taken, was, in fact, in his girlfriend's bed ashore. A million-dollar motor yacht was stolen as a result of his action,' I explained.

  'Not many of the crew members around Cannes are as irresponsible as Dillon,' Nick remarked.

  'You may be right, but the owners are not prepared to take the risk. Sea Office has vanished, and the Insurance Company won't pay. They say that the owner was negligent.'

  'Will I get more money for doing this job?'

  'Of course you will. All the owners involved have agreed to contribute to the costs of having you do this job, so you will be well looked after.'

  'If I say yes to your request, when do I start in my new role?'

  'Your boss has agreed that you can start as soon as you say yes, so if you are in agreement, then you pretty well start immediately.

  'I am interested; so what happens next?'

  'Well, we would like you to tell us a bit abo
ut yourself. Where you were born, where you grew up, how you ended up working as a crew member on boats in Cannes, etc.'

  'Perhaps you can start by telling us about your childhood,' Willem suggested.

  For the next fifteen minutes, Nick filled us in on his background, prompted by questions from Willem.

  It turned out that Nick had had a tough upbringing with an alcoholic father, and a mother who expected him to go to work at sixteen, to replace the money that the father wasted on drink. He had relocated to Portsmouth and got a job with Camper Nicholson, the yacht manufacturing and leasing company. He then moved with them to Cannes where he met David, and he had worked with him as a permanent crew member for the past six years.

  'You are the perfect person for the role, Nick,' I said as he finished his story.

  'I agree Vince. We couldn't have found a more suitable person,' Willem concurred.

  'Perhaps you could write out all your personal details for me while we are having lunch. I will need your mobile number, your email address, your address, etc. You can then give me the piece of paper before I leave.'

  Nick got up and shook our hands. 'Thanks for the opportunity. I won't let you down.'

  'Here is a business card that has all my details on it.' I gave him one of my cards. 'If there is anything that you see you think is suspicious or want to discuss with me, don't hesitate to contact me. You will report to me and not to the owners.'

  'We will pay for you to upgrade your phone so as you can phone me in England. Can you think of anything else that we need to do for you?'

  'No, I think that you have covered everything.'

  'I'll be in touch then, and I look forward to working with you Nick.'

  'I'll go and write down my details for you.'

  He left us and vanished down below. We went and joined David and his family for lunch.

  'What was his reaction?' David inquired.

  'When we first told him what we wanted him to do he was afraid of the peer pressure from the other crew members. He was worried that he would be ostracised and would lose his friends. He thought about it further and has now agreed to take on the role.'