Pendlebury replaced the telephone and sat back, trying to calm himself and to think the complication through. That’s all it was, he tried to reassure himself; merely a complication. They were still more than in control of the situation, whatever Terrilli instructed his people to do. As he poured himself the first drink of the day, Pendlebury realised that his hand was shaking, rattling the bottle top against the glass edge. It was the effect of this morning’s news rather than the alcohol of the previous night, he knew. The telephone rang again fifteen minutes later, while he was rinsing his mouth of any trace of alcohol before his meeting with the exhibition organisers. He recognised the voice of the communications chief.
‘Terrilli’s made a call,’ reported the man. ‘About ten minutes ago. To Chambine at the hotel.’
‘What did he say?’ demanded Pendlebury urgently.
‘It was to arrange a meeting.’
‘Do we have it covered?’
The man paused, having anticipated the question. ‘It’s at the beach,’ he said unhappily. ‘There’s no way we could monitor it.’
‘Damn!’ said Pendlebury, the word hissing through his clenched teeth. ‘The son-of-a-bitch has fucked everything up.’
‘Terrilli?’ asked the communications man curiously.
‘No,’ said Pendlebury, irritated. ‘Forget it. Now listen. Get on to the Contemporary Resort. Tell those listening there I want to know every word that’s said in every room in which we’ve installed devices. We might stand a chance of picking up whatever they talked about there: Chambine is almost certain to make contact. Now get off the line; I’ve other calls to make.’
Pendlebury summoned Roger Gilbert to his room, outlining within minutes what Charlie had done.
‘Is it serious?’ demanded the man.
‘It is if Terrilli cancels everything. And that’s what he might be meeting Chambine to discuss.’
‘What do you want?’
‘Six of you on the beach in five minutes,’ said Pendlebury. ‘Stripped and apparently enjoying yourselves. You obviously won’t be able to get near enough to hear what’s going on, particularly if Chambine goes to Terrilli’s private beach. But I’m betting that Terrilli will come to the hotel area, where there are more people and therefore protection. As soon as it’s over, I want you all back here, giving me as full an account as it’s possible to assemble. Understood?’
‘What about the Englishman?’
‘We’ve enough men to cover him,’ said Pendlebury. ‘He’ll be at a meeting with me most of the time.’
‘It’ll mean using yesterday’s people,’ warned Gilbert.
‘Then be careful,’ said Pendlebury. After Gilbert had left the room, Pendlebury remained half crouched in a sitting-room chair, reviewing what he had done. He had become complacent, he realised, critically. Everything had conformed so easily to his expectations that he had overlooked the unexpected and now he was having to move too fast. And speed unsettled Pendlebury. He liked to consider problems in a leisurely fashion, imagining a move and then his opponent’s counter to it, like playing chess. He looked towards the vodka bottle, decided against it and went down to the exhibition room.
Cosgrove was just inside the door of the side chamber. Heppert and the chief of the uniformed guard stood slightly apart and the Englishman was alone, near the linking door into the main hall. Charlie Muffin smiled at Pendlebury’s approach, guessing from the look on the man’s face that the threat of withdrawal had had the disruptive effect he had hoped for.
‘This is monstrous,’ said Cosgrove in his politician’s voice.
Pendlebury ignored the organising chairman, halting just in front of Charlie.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ he demanded.
‘You keep asking me that,’ complained Charlie. ‘I thought I’d made that clear last night. I’m trying to protect the exhibition. That’s what I came here for.’
‘You’ve put the fear of God up everyone.’
‘The time it took people to react to an alarm bell last night put the fear of God up me,’ said Charlie. ‘It should have had the same effect on you.’
‘I said this is monstrous,’ repeated Cosgrove, forcing his way into the conversation. ‘Do we have proper cover here or don’t we?’
‘At the moment you don’t,’ said Charlie. It pleased him to deflate the pompous man, particularly as he knew from Clarissa of Cosgrove’s earlier annoyance.
‘My firm have asked me to say how sorry they are for any inconvenience,’ said Pendlebury.
‘There’s already been a committee meeting,’ reported Cosgrove. ‘They don’t see how they could possibly continue without the proper insurance protection. I argued against cancellation, but the feeling was that the risk is incalculable.’
‘We are willing to draft here immediately as many extra people as you consider necessary,’ Pendlebury assured him.
The white-haired man looked at Charlie. ‘What is necessary for security doesn’t really seem to be my prerogative,’ he said.
‘No,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s mine. You were not here for the test I made last night, but had you been I’m sure you would have been appalled. It took eight minutes to open the exhibition doors, even to discover if anything had been touched. And a full twenty minutes for the local police to arrive.’
‘I was here within minutes,’ Pendlebury interposed defensively.
‘ Outside,’ qualified Charlie, ‘by yourself for a further five, and with no idea of what might have been going on behind those locked doors.’
‘Shall we sit down?’ suggested Cosgrove, indicating a semi-circle of chairs that had been arranged.
Charlie had expected Pendlebury to be irritated, but not as annoyed as he obviously was.
‘How many extra men would you consider necessary for your firm to continue the insurance protection?’ Cosgrove asked Charlie, once they had settled at the table.
‘It’s not a question of numbers,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s a matter of efficiency.’
‘We could increase the number of patrols perhaps to one every fifteen minutes,’ offered Pendlebury.
Charlie sat gazing at the man, aware of his desperation and curious at it.
‘Well?’ demanded the chairman of Charlie.
‘We would also like an improvement on the night-time checks,’ said Charlie. ‘At the moment the guards merely look through the windows. I want the doors opened and the cases examined.’
‘Agreed,’ said Pendlebury tightly.
‘A number of display case keys were available in New York,’ Charlie reminded him. ‘I want them fully accounted for.’
‘They will be,’ conceded Pendlebury.
Cosgrove shifted hopefully. ‘So we’re in agreement?’ he said, smiling.
‘No,’ replied Charlie. ‘The announcement about cover was made from London. Obviously I must consult them first to see if all their doubts are resolved.’
‘Where does that leave us?’ demanded the man, allowing his annoyance to show for the first time.
‘With limited cover and the understanding that we would dispute our liability were anything to happen to the exhibition until we have formally issued an addendum to the policy, guaranteeing the points agreed here.’
‘It would take days for a document to arrive here,’ protested Cosgrove. ‘I think I should warn you that we are taking legal advice about this. If our lawyers advise it, we will consider issuing a writ against your company, demanding the continued protection.’
‘I expected you to take the proper advice,’ said Charlie, unconcerned. ‘As far as the document is concerned, it was my intention to have it telexed from London, here to the hotel.’
Cosgrove smiled briefly. That would be acceptable, certainly,’ he said.
‘How long will it take to get a reaction from London?’ asked Pendlebury.
Charlie looked at his watch. ‘It’s seven-thirty at night there now,’ he said. ‘I can speak to my principal at home, but I doubt very much that we could manage it today… I don’t even know about tomorrow. There are members of a syndicate to consult.’
‘But this is preposterous!’ exclaimed Cosgrove. ‘We couldn’t continue, faced with this uncertainty.’