Deadly Diamonds (36 page)

I looked into each face. Every eye was glued on me, and no one knew enough law to disagree.

“That being the case, before we conclude this transaction, since each of us is in equal legal jeopardy, for the sake of us all, I'd like to know what happened the night this all began.”

There were some side-glances between the O'Byrnes, but no one spoke.

“In other words, if I'm going to benefit from the murder of Salvatore Barone, I'd like to know who takes the credit for it.”

Packy and Frank, as I'd imagined, knew enough to keep their mouths shut. Kevin, on the other hand, was like the kid in class who can't wait to get his hand in the air.

“That was me.”

Kevin said it with a look at his father as if he were expecting Frank to rejoice that his son had, as the Italians say, made his bones like a man. Frank instantaneously snapped a look at Kevin that left Kevin's mouth hanging. “Shut up, Kevin. Damn it.”

I jumped in to keep the train from derailing just yet. “No harm done, Mr. O'Byrne. As I say, we're all in this together. If one of us falls, we all fall. I think that insures our mutual discretion.”

Frank was still glaring at Kevin, but anything worse than a look had been averted. I retreated to less sensitive ground.

“Then, gentlemen, there's just one last bit of business. It's personal. This case has been one to remember. I'd simply like as a memento to have that leather bag that's carried those rocks all the way from Africa. Any objection, Mr. O'Byrne?”

I think he was still evaluating any danger from Kevin's last outburst. He just shook his head.

“Then watch carefully. Please hold out your hand and count them, Mr. O'Byrne.”

I poured the diamonds slowly out of the bag to allow him to count each one up to twenty-two. The count was right, but O'Byrne was still giving me a suspicious look.

“I want you to be satisfied, Mr. O'Byrne.”

I reached over and between two fingers took one of the stones from his hand. I went back to the mirror and elaborately etched his initials in the smooth deep glass. That seemed to satisfy him to the point where I felt comfortable in handing him back the diamond and sliding the open briefcase with the cash across the table to Packy.

That done, I stood. “Gentlemen, we've all done well here today. Let's do it again soon.”

I gave Seamus the signal that this was probably a choice moment to get the hell out of Dodge. He held the door, and I was through it as fast as order and decorum would allow.

I whispered to Seamus, “Close the door behind us.” He did. I figured that this was when nitro and glycerin would merge, and I would have no control whatsoever. On the other hand, I grabbed Seamus's arm and stopped him a short distance down the corridor.

I had no way of actually knowing what would happen, but I'd have bet my life on my prediction. It was less than a count of five before four gunshots came from the room and echoed down the corridor. Seamus and I gave it another fifteen seconds. We ran back to the room and knocked. One of the Italian bodyguards opened the door.

The first glimpse we had was of Kevin and Frank O'Byrne both splayed across the floor behind their chairs. Each had a gun in his hand. Neither was moving. My second look was at the two Italian bodyguards. Each had a service revolver in his hand with a trickle of smoke coming out of the barrel. It was about ten seconds later that Packy crawled out from under the table.

I looked at the Italian who'd opened the door. “What happened, Marty?”

“It was like you said, Mr. Knight. The O'Byrnes both pulled guns. They were going to open fire on us and Salviti. They wanted to take both the diamonds and the money. Pete and I got shots off first. It's a good thing you told us what might happen.”

Seamus was squinting question marks in my direction. I hadn't let him in on the whole plan on the need-to-know theory.

“I forgot to tell you, Seamus. The two bodyguards for Packy are cops. They're Italian so it would look right. That's why I told you to overlook the guns strapped to their legs when you frisked them. I wanted them here to listen for Kevin's confession to the murder. I guess it doesn't make much difference now.”

Packy was still shaking. I picked up the twenty-two diamonds that Frank was still clutching. “Packy, I'm going to do this deal with you in reverse.”

I opened Packy's hand and put the diamonds into it. He could barely hold them, he was shaking so badly. His eyes popped. It was like a personal gift from Santa Claus. I picked up the briefcase of money. “Since Frank gave this to you, I'll take it in payment for the diamonds. Square?”

Packy was so delighted to come out of it with his life, let alone diamonds, he just nodded. Seamus and I went out the door with a last word to the Italian cops. “You did well, boys. If you need a statement
for your report about the shooting, you know where to find me.”

Seamus and I walked the streets of Boston until my blood pressure came back down to something that was within measurement. The end of our trek was an Irish pub on Beacon Street for about four Guinnesses.

When we were well into the second, Seamus gave me a funny look. “I'm surprised at ya, Michael.”

I looked back at him. “Oh?”

“After we've chased those damn diamonds all over hell and back, what in the world possessed ya to give them to that scumbag Salviti?”

“Well, Seamus, it's this way. My heart began to ache for him. He's had a hard life. His father was a poor but honest bootlegger. His mother had to sell spaghetti on the corner to make ends meet. The lad never had a pony growing up. All of his friends—”

“Oh, cut the bullshit. I mean it, Michael. You could have slipped a few of them to me for the effort.”

“You mean these, Seamus?”

I took twenty-two diamonds out of my pocket and held them under his nose.

“What the hell?”

“I'm not as daft as you think. You know this leather bag I wanted for a keepsake? I'd put another leather bag inside of it with a small hole in it before I came to the meeting. When I made a big show of putting the diamonds back into the bag, I was slipping them through the little hole in the inside bag. That's why I wanted to keep the bag. When Frank had no objections to me keeping the bag, I just poured into his hand twenty-two other diamonds I had stashed in the small inside bag. I kept the bag with the original twenty-two diamonds in the bottom.”

He leaned back and looked at me. “You
are
a bloody genius.” He took a few sips and then snapped back. “But why the hell did you give those other diamonds to Packy?”

“Let him keep 'em. They're low-grade industrial diamonds. I
bought the whole bunch for two thousand dollars. As you say, something for his effort.”

A grin crept across Seamus's face. “I'm getting' to know you better every day, Yank. You scammed old Packy. You figure stealin' from a thief is not stealin' at all.”

I took a deep breath for this one. I put a hand on his shoulder. He caught my seriousness. The smile was gone. “It's not over, Seamus. I didn't do this for you or me. Your man, Declan O'Connor, told me about the African who brought these cursed diamonds from some hellhole in Africa. He's got a need deeper than anything in our lives. He's with Declan now. My friend, you and I are going to take a flight to Ireland. What do you think of that?”

PART SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Seamus and I landed at the Dublin Airport and walked out into a brisk early morning drizzle. I couldn't sleep on the flight. Every time I'd start to doze, I'd be jabbed awake by a shot of adrenalin at the thought of what lay ahead. Seamus slept like a baby. I hadn't told him what I'd be getting him involved in over the next couple of weeks.

We didn't even check into the Gresham Hotel. That could wait, but I couldn't. I'd called Declan O'Connor the night before and asked him to have his African friend—the one he knew as Johnny Walker—in his office at ten a.m. I gave him no clue as to why.

I may have been guilty of relishing to excess the drama of what was about to happen, as Seamus has occasionally reminded me. I figured I'd paid for the moment in close calls and near misses on my life over the previous couple of weeks.

Declan reintroduced us to Johnny Walker, who had met us only briefly in the Dublin hospital. He was courteous but totally clueless about why he was meeting with this Irishman and Yank again. Declan suggested an adjournment to the Brazen Head for a pint or three while we chatted. I rejected the idea out of hand. I was chomping at the bit to get to it, and I felt we needed a totally private time with Mr. Walker.

By the time we settled into four chairs in Declan's private office, we were all on a first-name basis. My flare for dramatic timing had the other three, including Seamus, over the top on the curiosity scale. I could feel every nerve in my body jumping, and the others sensed it.

It was my show. I opened by asking Johnny what he had planned
on doing with the diamonds or the cash they might have brought. I kept a somber face, but it couldn't match that of Johnny. He was dredging deep inside to talk about a driving personal goal that now had not a chance in hell of being accomplished because of the loss of the diamonds.

I kept it all inside, while I let him talk about the lost dream of ransoming his father. He even mentioned the utopian thought of his father, his brother, and him escaping to a life anywhere on earth except Sierra Leone. He finished close to tears, and I couldn't stand it one more second.

I pulled my chair over to look him directly face-to-face. He had to see in my eyes that what I would say was not a lie or a dream.

“Johnny, I have no idea how you'll do what you planned. But it won't be the lack of money that'll keep you from doing it.”

I reached into my pocket and took out the now-worn leather bag that he had carried from Freetown to Dublin and had put into the hands of Salvatore Barone in that very office. His eyes told me he still didn't believe it.

I handed it to him. He felt it tentatively to see if there was anything in it. His eyes began to widen when he felt the tiny solid lumps. I could see his fingers shaking when he pulled open the strings and took out the rough stones one by one.

He looked up at the three of us with an expression that asked if they were real. I just nodded, and he knew. And the knowledge overwhelmed him. The tears flowed. I could see in his face the desperation being smothered in a slowly rising surge of hope. It was almost too much for him to take in at that moment.

He just looked at me with one word. “How?”

I looked at Seamus. He had the third grin I'd seen cross his face since I'd known him. I looked back at Johnny because he'd only heard half of the story. When I thought he could absorb it, I finished the telling.

“Johnny, those diamonds are extremely high quality. I have an offer for them from a chap in Antwerp for something around a million
and a quarter euros. I'm sure Declan can get him up to that full amount.”

Declan's eyes showed surprise at being drawn into the group as an actor. I looked at him with an expression that asked for a commitment. He held up his hands in a “why not?” gesture.

“The buyer made the offer to a young man we followed to Antwerp. He's out of the picture now. I'm sure the buyer doesn't care who's selling them. Declan can probably do the deal tomorrow. Yes?”

Declan chimed in with, “Quite possibly.”

“Good. Johnny, we'll have the money put in an account at your disposal.”

The tears had stopped, but he just sat there looking at the stones and shaking his head. I figured I'd better lay it all open so he could adjust his world to the entirely new reality.

“Johnny, there's more. Listen to me.”

I briefly sketched in the last meeting we'd had with Frank and Kevin O'Byrne and Packy Salviti. Without too many specifics, I intimated that Packy Salviti had given me a briefcase full of cash in payment for certain other diamonds. The total amount in the briefcase was equal to one million euros. I didn't mention that the profit on the hasty deal with Packy was enormous since I had bought those particular cheap industrial diamonds in Antwerp for a couple of thousand dollars. Packy lost a bundle of money on the deal. There may be hell to pay later. That's his business. All things considered, he was lucky to walk out of that hotel room with his life.