Kamal checked his watch. It was nearly 6.15pm.
He had time to dispose of the rubber gloves before there was a quiet rap on the apartment door.
"Come in Claudia, it is wonderful to see you again" said Kamal as he stepped aside to allow the stunning twenty five year old young lady to enter. As the door slammed shut, she put her arms around Kamal’s neck and kissed him fervently. Claudia Timms was previously a catwalk model, but preferred the higher income generated as an escort to the rich and famous, or sometimes even the infamous.
"I am so glad you are here Kamal, I have missed you."
Claudia was magnificently attired in a body hugging white full length dress from Chanel which emphasized her slim figure and her five feet nine inch height. She wore elegant gold sandals with two inch heels, which were hard to see as the dress was so long. Her long bright red hair was worn up and she had a simple short gold necklace around her delicate neck.
"You look ravishing my dear, is that the dress that I bought for you on my last visit?"
"Yes Kamal. This is the first time I have worn it" replied Claudia lying easily.
Kamal was dressed in a black dinner suit which fitted perfectly courtesy of an expensive Saville Row tailor.
Claudia pulled two theatre tickets from her small gold purse and passed them to Kamal. "We need to be seated by 8.15pm for the 8.30 start. Perhaps we should leave for dinner immediately so we won’t have to rush." But in truth, the real reason was that since she would have to spend the night with him anyway, she could put off his groping for a few hours yet.
There was no need to venture too far for dinner since also in The Strand was the one hundred and seventy year old Simpson’s, one of London’s best restaurant traditions.
"Welcome Sir", said the maitre de, "it is good to see you here again." Prior reservations were essential at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, but that certainly did not apply to Kamal.
"Thank you Henry, we have a theatre booking for an 8.30pm start, can you work around that?"
"Of course Mr. Pashwari, let me show you to your table."
Henry led them to a quiet table at the back of the restaurant against the left wall, adorned with a sparkling white table cloth and Sheffield silverware.
Kamal and Claudia sat and perused the menu, but really there was little choice since everyone came to Simpson’s to eat the roast beef. It is wheeled past on large antique silver domed trolleys, and carved to perfection by professional master carvers.
The appetizer they had both chosen arrived fifteen minutes later, accompanied by a chilled glass of French Sancerre white wine.
The steamed asparagus spears served with Hollandaise sauce were an ideal forerunner for the roast beef, which was served to the table after just the right delay. The trolley was wheeled over by a young man who positioned it just right before beating a hasty retreat. Almost immediately a much older man in a sparkling white chef’s outfit came over for the carving production.
"How would you like your roast beef Miss?" began the restaurant theatre production.
"I will have mine medium please. I am not too hungry, so just one slice with lots of gravy if you don’t mind." Claudia had obviously been here before. The gentleman carved a slice as instructed, but since she was only getting one, he made it nearly an inch thick!
When this was served, the master carver turned to Kamal, "And you sir?"
"Do you have something quite rare? No gravy please, but perhaps some Béarnaise sauce."
"Very good sir, coming up" with a flourish he cut two slices from the thicker end of the beef ensuring they were rare as requested.
When the trolley was pushed away, another waiter arrived with the sauce for Kamal, together with a selection of mustards.
The quite elderly sommelier arrived at the same time with two glasses of red wine. "I thought you may enjoy a glass of wine with your roast. This is The Grange. It is produced in the colonies by Penfolds winery in Australia. Many think this is the finest Shiraz in the world.
"Thank you, this is indeed a fine wine" said Kamal after first swirling it around his glass, sniffing the bouquet, and sloshing it around his palate.
"May I ask you a question?" Kamal said as the wine waiter was shuffling away.
The man turned slowly "Of course sir, go ahead."
"I have been coming to Simpson’s for more than twenty years since my father first brought me here. Every time I have been here, you have served the wine. Tell me, how long have you been working at Simpson’s?" asked Kamal with interest.
"It is good of you to remember me sir. I do recall your father bringing you here that first time. It seems like just yesterday. He had a devil of a time getting you to take a sip of the wine that day. I have been working at Simpson’s for nearly fifty years. Before that my father worked here for a similar time. I am hoping to clock up a century of service between the two of us before I retire."
Simpson’s was like that.
Kamal looked at his watch, it was nearly 8pm.
"I will be back in a moment" whispered Kamal as he stood and strode to the elegant bathroom.
Kamal entered the second stall and put on another pair of gloves from his pocket. Then he took the envelope from his pocket and hid it behind the stacked rolls of toilet paper at the back of the bathroom. When he had finished, he flushed the latex gloves. Kamal had no desire to leave fingerprints on the letter.
By the time Kamal had rejoined Claudia at their table, the letter had already been retrieved by a dark skinned waiter.
Chapter 27
The casino clubs in London were often hosts to groups of Arabs wearing the Dish-dash-ah, the traditional white one piece dress that covers the whole body. Their heads were also usually covered with the Shumagg scarf secured to the head with the black band at the top called an Ogal. The casinos had little choice but to ignore their rules about no head coverings on the premises, since in reality it was the rich Arabs who kept these establishments going.
Kamal was however in non-traditional dress tonight and was welcomed with open arms as he strode in with the beautiful redheaded Claudia hanging off his arm.
The play they had attended earlier in the evening was actually quite boring and Kamal had suggested they leave early to go somewhere with a little more excitement.
Kamal flashed a membership card for the establishment and they walked directly to the roped off high rollers area at the back of the casino. Somehow the rope parted as they arrived and Kamal took a seat at an empty blackjack table. Claudia stood behind.
There was credit already established for Kamal here, and he was passed a stack of one thousand pound chips together with a docket to sign.
Once the paperwork was out of the way, Kamal placed one chip on each of the last three boxes. He was dealt a blackjack on the first box, twenty on the second and thirteen on the last.
The dealer’s hole card was a five. Kamal elected not to take any cards since five is the dealer’s worst card. Most amateur players mistakenly believed the six was the dealer’s worst hole card. But Kamal knew that because the dealer could draw only one card if it were an ace, the five was marginally better for the player. Kamal had done the math.
The dealer busted as Claudia had hoped. Kamal was instantly three and a half thousand pounds richer.
This went on for nearly an hour by which time after parlaying and betting progressively more, Kamal had won a quarter of a million pounds. Not bad for a night’s work! He grabbed a couple of thousand pound chips off the top before pushing the rest of the chips forward and announcing "Cash please." Kamal passed the two chips to Claudia who secreted them instantly into her purse. "Just credit my London account with the proceeds" Kamal said to the pit supervisor.