“Just be quiet. You are going away looking like a well-to-do handsome husband, and not like a cop.”
Lepski cocked an eyebrow.
“Handsome, huh?”
“Terribly handsome and sexy, Tom.”
Lepski puffed out his chest.
“Yeah. I guess I should dress the part. Handsome and sexy, huh? Okay, baby, let’s spend a little money.” He paused, then sniffed. “Is something burning?”
Carroll gave a stifled scream.
“My apple pie!”
She sprang up and rushed to the kitchen. Her wail of despair, which Lepski had heard so often, made him grab his napkin to stifle a raucous laugh.
two
Under the shade of the awning, Herman Radnitz sat on the terrace of his penthouse suite at the Belvedere hotel, studying a legal document.
With his hooded eyes, beaky nose, almost lipless mouth, the mottle colour of his skin and his short, fat body, Radnitz resembled a repellent toad. His appearance never bothered him. He had money and power, and it amused him to see how men and women fawned over him, especially women.
This morning, he was putting together a deal that would net him even more money. There were a few legal problems to iron out, but Radnitz was a master at ironing out legal problems.
He glanced up, his hooded eyes showing irritation as Gustav Holtz, his secretary, came silently across the terrace.
Gustav Holtz, some fifty years of age, was tall, thin and balding, with deep-set eyes and a cruel mouth. He was a mathematical genius, a man with no scruples, with eight languages at his finger tips, and with a shrewd political knowhow. He was as important to Radnitz as Radnitz’s right hand.
“What is it?” Radnitz snapped. “I am busy!”
“Claude Kendrick is here, sir,” Holtz said. “Do you want to see him? It was agreed he should come here this morning.”
Radnitz laid down the document.
“I will see him.” He pointed to the document. “Look at this, Holtz: clause ten. I don’t like it. We must do better than this.”
Holtz picked up the document, then went into the penthouse suite. A moment later, Kendrick, immaculately dressed in a sky-blue linen suit, his wig carefully combed and on straight, and carrying a briefcase, came across the terrace.
Radnitz eyed him malevolently.
“What do you want? I am busy!”
Kendrick was frightened of Radnitz, but he knew this man had the money he wanted. His fat face creased into an oily smile.
“Busy? When aren’t you, Mr Radnitz?” he purred, advancing to the table. “Forgive me for intruding, but I have something that just, just might be of interest to you.”
Radnitz shrugged, then waved to a chair.
“What? Sit down!”
Kendrick lowered his bulk on to the chair.
“So kind, Mr Radnitz. It is a great privilege...”
“What is it?” Radnitz barked.
Kendrick winced. This dreadful man, he warned himself, was in a bad mood. Kendrick realized his usual soft-soap approach would only irritate Radnitz. He came immediately to the crux of his proposition.
“The Hermitage exhibition in Washington,” he said.
A look of interest appeared in Radnitz’s hooded eyes.
“What about it?”
“You may not have seen the catalogue. Splendid treasures... marvellous...”
“I’ve seen it. What about it?”
Kendrick took from his brief case the illustrated catalogue of the exhibition. He opened it at page fifty-four, then reverently laid the open catalogue on the table. He pushed the catalogue towards Radnitz.
“This magnificent item.”
Radnitz picked up the catalogue and studied the illustrated icon. He read the details, his face expressionless, then he looked at Kendrick.
“So?”
“A remarkable, unique treasure,” Kendrick said, smiling his dolphin smile. “Possibly the first icon...”
“I can read,” Radnitz snapped. “What’s this to me?”
“I understand, sir, that, on the open market, this icon is worth at least twenty million dollars.”
Radnitz laid down the catalogue, his eyes cloudy.
“That is possible, but this icon is not for sale. It is the property of the Soviet Union.”
“Of course, Mr Radnitz, but things happen. Let us suppose that this icon comes on the market. Would you be interested in buying it for say, eight million dollars?”
Radnitz sat for a long moment, staring at Kendrick who smiled hopefully at him.
“Are you serious?” Radnitz asked, a rasp in his voice.
“Yes, sir... very serious,” Kendrick returned, his smile drooping a little.
Radnitz got to his feet and walked over to a bank of flowers bordering the terrace. He stood with his back to Kendrick and stared down at the beach and the sea, his mind busy.
Watching him, Kendrick felt his heart flutter.
‘The fish nibbles,’ he thought.
Radnitz remained still for some five minutes. The long wait made Kendrick mop his face, but he hitched on his smile when Radnitz returned to the table and sat down.
“The icon is not coming on the open market,” Radnitz said.
“No, but for a private collector who is interested in acquiring this marvellous treasure, an arrangement could be made.”
“What arrangement?”
“I have been assured that if I can find a buyer, the icon will be delivered. I wouldn’t be here, sir, unless I was satisfied this can be arranged.”
“When?”
Kendrick drew in a long, soft breath. The fish was hooked!
“Some time next week, provided eight million dollars are deposited in a Swiss bank account.”
Radnitz took a cigar from a box on the table and went through the ritual of lighting the cigar.
“I hope for your sake, Kendrick,” he said, a vicious glare in his eyes, “you mean what you are saying.”
“You can rely on me, sir,” Kendrick began to sweat again.
“I haven’t forgotten the Russian stamps you promised to deliver, and what happened.”
Kendrick sighed.
“That was unfortunate. I can’t be blamed for what did happen[1].”
“I will give you that,” Radnitz said grudgingly. “All right, I will buy the icon from you for six million dollars, and no more. You can take it or leave it.”
This was better than Kendrick had hoped. It would mean he would make a three-million-dollar profit.
“Sir, I must remind you an operation like this has to be financed,” he said, his oily smile in evidence. “I suggest six million and expenses.”
“Don’t try to haggle with me!” Radnitz snarled. “Here is my offer. The icon is to be delivered to me at my villa in Zurich. On delivery, I will arrange payment of six million dollars to be credited to a bank you name. That is my final offer.”
Kendrick stiffened as if touched by a red hot iron.
“Zurich?” His voice shot up. “That isn’t possible, sir. How can I get such a treasure out of America to Zurich? You will realized that once the icon is missing...”
Radnitz cut him short with a wave of his hand.
“I’m not interested in problems. All I am interested in is to receive the icon in Zurich. If you are not capable of getting the icon to Zurich, say so. I am busy.”
Kendrick faltered. This was something he had to talk over with Haddon.
“It will be very difficult,” he muttered.
“It is never easy to earn six million dollars,” Radnitz snapped, tipping the ash off his cigar. “Go away and consider my offer. If my secretary has not heard from you in three days to say you can arrange this, then never bother me in the future with other offers.” He leaned forward, his eyes glaring. “Do you understand?”
Sweat was now running down Kendrick’s face. He got unsteadily to his feet.