The line went dead.
I clicked on my computer screen and pulled up the incoming-call register. Nothing. I slammed the phone down. ‘Son of a bitch!’
‘At least we know something from that.’
‘What?’
‘It’s not an American outfit that’s taken her.’
‘How so?’
‘He said woodentops. Quite pointedly. Not likely an American would use the expression.’
‘Not impossible. They have English cop shows over there too, and he said as you call them. Meaning the British, as though he were foreign.’
‘It’s more a term used in the force than out. And it’s hardly a current one, is it?’
‘True.’
‘Could have been deliberate.’
‘I’m pretty sure everything he said was deliberate.’
‘What are we going to do?’
‘Get the diamonds. Make the trade.’
‘No cops.’
‘Absolutely no cops. We can handle this,’ I said with a degree of confidence that I certainly didn’t feel.
Chapter 53
PROFESSOR ANNABELLE WESTON looked at her watch and pushed aside a second-year student’s essay that she had been marking.
Jungian archetypes in contemporary graphic novels. She sighed dismissively and picked up the telephone, tapping in some numbers. After a while, the phone she was calling clicked into a recorded message – she waited for it to finish.
‘Laura, this is Professor Weston, just to remind you that you were due for a tutorial. I can understand if you’re not coming in but I just wanted to make sure you’re all right. Please give me a call.’
She hung up and twirled a perfectly manicured finger around a lock of her strawberry-blonde hair. She looked at the first paragraph of the essay again and put it to one side once more, unable to concentrate.
She snatched the phone up again, consulted a bus
iness card that was sitting on her desk and dialled another number. After a second or two it was answered.
‘Dan Carter.’
She smiled a little hesitantly. ‘Dan, it’s Professor Weston. Annabelle.’
‘Hi,’ he said and she could hear the warmth in his voice, picture the smile at the other end of the line. He had a nice smile. He was bright, too, she could tell that much.
‘I just wondered if there had been any developments your end? I have spoken to the police, of course, and all they can tell me is that they are pursuing all lines of enquiry. Which I take to mean that they have no idea.’
‘They’ll be doing all they can.’
‘I guess they are. I just feel so helpless. I feel like I should be doing something.’
‘I know it’s hard. But remember what the poet said. “They also serve who only stand and wait”.’