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The head waiter whisked away their plates while the aiter poured Mrs Faulkner another glass of chane
‘But what about Makins? He won’t just sit back and watch while you pack up all your husband’s paintings’
‘Makins is spending Christhter and son-in-law in the Lake District, and won’t be returning until January 2nd, by which tis from our apartnificent Rauschenberg a them’
‘But he’ll come after you’
‘I don’t think so, because my final destination will be a country where he is persona non grata, and would be arrested even before he reached passport control I must admit, I had several to choose from’
‘You do realize that everything you’ve just told me will be repeated word for word to Commander Hawksby?’
‘I was rather hoping you’d say that’ She touched Willia, ‘I don’t know about you, darling, but I’m ready to look at the dessert menu’
‘Do you think there’s any chance that she ht be on the level?’ asked Lamont after William had delivered a blow-by-blow account of his lunch with Mrs Faulkner
‘Possibly,’ said Hawksby, ‘although I wouldn’t bet on it But as long as Mike Harrison’s down under keeping an eye on Faulkner, there’s not a lot we can do about it until she invites William to join her in Monte Carlo’
‘What makes you think she’ll do that?’ asked William
‘Because the Rembrandt’s too hot for her to handle, and she also realizes it’s her one chance of keeping us on side My bet is she won’t be in touch with you again for at least a couple of weeks, by which time Carter should have been arrested and the ht just have faded a little’
The phone on the co ‘Commander Hawksby’
‘Good afternoon, sir It’s Lieutenant Monti I thought I’d give you a call and bring you up to date on what’s been happening at our end’
‘I appreciate that, lieutenant,’ said Hawksby, switching on the intercom so William could hear the conversation
‘As you know, Carter has submitted a claim to the Italian Naval Office for fifty per cent of the value of the cob coins, which he’s telling the press are worth around seven hundred thousand pounds’