The Willing Ghost Learn English through story level 3
chapter one
she opened the door of my office without
knocking and came in
she stood in front of my desk and looked
down at me
i was sitting in my chair with my feet
on the desk and reading the sports pages
of a newspaper
you’re a private detective i believe she
said
i took my feet off the desk and put down
the newspaper
that’s right
well i have a job for you
good i said
i charge 250 pounds a day plus expenses
money’s no problem
even better i said
what’s the problem during these few
seconds i was looking at her closely she
had beautiful long red hair and enormous
emerald green eyes
she reminded me of a cat i had once
the eyes not the hair i also thought i
recognized her but i couldn’t remember
where from
she was about 27 or 28 and very
beautiful
she was wearing a tight green the same
shade as her eyes sleeveless silk dress
nothing on top
no coat no cardigan
we were enjoying a very hot summer in
london that year
she was also wearing expensive jewelry
very expensive the kind many women are
prepared to kill for
a gold watch
a ring with a huge emerald surrounded by
diamonds on her left hand
a gold bracelet on her right wrist
and three loops of the best australian
pearls around her neck
i know quite a lot about jewelry
i know quite a lot about everything that
costs a lot of money
it’s a hobby of mine for the same reason
i was also receiving messages from the
perfume she was using that day
it was something like the latest perfume
but not the one along with all the other
latest of the perfume manufacturers
which flood the department stores around
christmas
this was a special made to order mix
the kind produced in small quantities
for very rich vips
i know quite a lot about perfume as well
definitely she was the kind of client
that i like to have
and also the kind of client that i
needed at that moment
well the problem mr boot is that i have
great difficulties in sleeping at the
moment shouldn’t you see a doctor not a
detective i said
no you see
there’s a reason i can’t sleep
and what is it i asked
it’s a ghost
a ghost
yes a ghost
a ghost in my house
and two or three nights a week about
midnight or one o’clock i hear strange
noises in the house
now i don’t believe in ghosts but i do
believe in rich beautiful clients
so i asked her to sit down
while she was doing this i tried to
think of intelligent questions that you
can ask about ghosts
well
first of all
when did this start
about three months ago
and
where do the noises come from
from which part of the house i mean in
your bedroom or
no not in my bedroom in fact quite a
long way from my bedroom
it’s a very big house you see
my bedroom is on the second floor
there are three floors all together
all i can be sure of is that the noises
come from below where i sleep not above
i see
and have you ever gone down to find out
what’s going on
yes two or three times but each time the
noise stops a moment or two later while
i’m going down the stairs
i’ve looked into every room on the first
floor and the ground floor and
everything has been completely normal
curious i said
tell me a little more about the house
well it’s about 350 years old it’s in
surrey in the country not far from
saturn
it was built in the second half of the
17th century
its last owner was my father
he died about a year ago
he left the house to me
he left everything else to me as well
he was very rich i presume
yes very
he was sir arthur willing
good god
you’re sir arthur willing’s daughter
yes
my name is selena willing
sir arthur willing’s daughter i couldn’t
believe it
her photograph was often in the
newspapers
without doubt she was the kind of client
that i needed at that moment
chapter 2
everybody in england knew who sir arthur
willing was
he was 63 when he died 14 months before
his beautiful daughter walked into my
office
and for the last 20 or 25 years of his
life he was one of the 10 richest people
in the united kingdom
i knew this because an english newspaper
publishes a list once a year of the
thousand richest people in that year
sometimes saratha was number one in the
list sometimes number two or three
but always in the top ten
surprisingly saratha was born into a
very poor family in a poor part of
london
he left school when he was 15 to sell
fruit and vegetables in a local street
market
but saratha was one of those rare people
who have a gift for business
and also the ambition to get to the top
by the time he was 18 he owned most of
the stalls in the market
then he opened his own import export
business when he was twenty
from that time on he became richer and
richer
he bought or founded many more companies
and extended his business interests into
construction furniture insurance
and just about everything else
sir arthur was knighted for services to
british industry when he was thirty
he married when he was thirty two and in
the following years the couple had three
children
selena was first and then two brothers
a few years later saratha’s wife died
sir arthur never remarried
saratha’s favorite child was selena
she was like her father in many ways
she was a good student and a very hard
worker
and she loved her father very much
she helped her father with all his
business too
she learned everything that her father
was able to teach her about companies
finances the stock market and so on
on the other hand sir saratha’s
relationship with his two sons was never
very successful
they were not at all like their father
they were very bad students
very lazy
and only interested in having fun they
escaped from the house as often as they
could in the evenings
this was not difficult because their
father usually worked late and didn’t
return home until eleven or twelve
the boys went to the cinema or to
discotheques or to games parlors
both went to good universities but
failed almost all their examinations and
left without taking a degree
finally when the boys were 19 and 20
their father lost patience with them he
tore up his will which was made years
before
in this will all his money and
possessions and business interests were
left to his three children equally
then he made a new will which left
everything to selena
well
except for one little company in bangkok
in thailand which exported hand-carved
teak furniture to britain and other
countries
this company did not make a big profit
but enough for his two sons as owner
directors to earn a living
of course
when saratha died and his will became
known the sons reacted badly
they found the solicitor who agreed to
defend their interests
a long court case followed
every day there were articles about it
in all the newspapers
finally
selena won the case and stayed in
possession of all her inheritance
the boys angrily left the family house
in surrey and went to share a tiny
rented flat in a not very exclusive part
of london
chapter 3
before selena left my office that day i
told her that i needed to see her house
first
i wanted to look for clues
the next day i drove to the town of
sutton
i left the car parked and got a taxi
i had directions with me written by
selena
however i didn’t need them the taxi
driver knew where the willing mansion
was
we left the town and drove into the
country after 15 minutes we arrived at
an enormous stone wall beside the road
we followed this wall for a few minutes
until we came to a gate made of iron
bars
it was closed and behind it was a
uniformed security guard
i paid the taxi driver and told the
security guard that i had an appointment
with miss willing
while he was telephoning the house i
looked through the bars of the gate
there was a road which led from the gate
through some trees
well
many trees
a wood in fact
in the distance i could just see the
roof of a large house
all right
said the security guard
walk up the drive until you reach the
house
oh and be careful of the tigers
be careful of the tigers
he saw the panic in my eyes
he laughed
just my little joke
there are no tigers in the wood
not at this time anyway
they’re all in their cages behind the
house
not at this time anyway
in their cages behind the house
i was beginning to feel that i didn’t
want to visit this house
but the guard opened the gate and i went
in and walked quickly
very quickly up that driveway
about 75 yards from the house the trees
stopped
then there was an open space a forecourt
and then
the house
magnificent
a real english stately home
in the center was a huge wooden front
door
open
and selena was standing in the doorway
hello she said brightly
how are you today mr boot
i needed three or four seconds to catch
my breath uh fine thanks i said
surprised
and you
we went into the house and she offered
me some tea or coffee
i said that i wanted to inspect the
house
first she took me on a guided tour
first of the ground floor
a living room at least twice as big as
my flat with a large ornamental marble
fireplace in the center of one wall
a dining room with a dark polished
wooden table
about 10 yards long in the center with
chairs around it
the kitchen and the pantry
a room that selena used as an office
various other smaller rooms
afterwards we went upstairs to look at
the bedrooms and bathrooms on the first
floor we didn’t go higher because selena
was sure that the noises came from below
where she slept
on the second floor
we returned to the living room
and selena rang a bell
a pretty little maid about 18 years old
appeared
and selena asked for coffee it arrived
almost immediately
and we sat down to talk
well mr boot any clues any ideas
i confessed that there was nothing
strange or suspicious that i could see
then i asked her if i might sleep in the
house for at least one night
why not mr boot
the servants will prepare a bedroom for
you on the same floor as mine
will you come tonight
i said yes
and at the same moment i remembered the
tigers
tell me i said
was the security guard joking when he
warned me about the tigers
well yes and no
said selena
i do have five old tigers in cages just
behind the trees at the back of the
house
but we only let them out for exercise
between two and three in the mornings
you let them out
well i don’t personally but one of the
gardeners worked in a circus for many
years
he lets them out and then puts them back
in every night
how does he put them back in i wanted to
know
oh they’re well trained mr boot
they know that while they are exercising
the gardener puts their dinner in the
cages
a half a cow for each one
a half a cow
yes tigers eat a lot
they bring the cows down from one of my
farms in scotland but isn’t it rather
dangerous to let tigers roam around the
grounds
no not really we’re all in bed myself
and all the servants at that time
and if we aren’t we don’t go outside
anyway as i said they’re quite old now
and well fed and probably quite harmless
but why do you have these tigers
they belong to my father mr boot and
were part of my inheritance
he loved the tigers and because of that
i’ve kept them
but when they die i won’t get any more
i was glad to hear that
but have they never given you any
problems
well not really
well
yes from time to time when they were
younger
about six years ago one of them ate one
of the servants while he was smoking a
cigarette on the forecourt
it was a shame he was a nice man good
god i exclaimed
but is it legal to have tigers wandering
about in a garden in england i have no
idea mr boot she said
chapter four
i went back to the house at ten o’clock
that evening
i had a few more questions to ask selena
this time another security guard opened
the gate
selena met me at the front door again
she was dressed for bed in pajamas and a
dressing gown
i always go to bed at 10 o’clock she
explained i have to control all my
father’s business interests and i go to
bed early and get up early
that’s not much of a life for a girl of
your age i said
anyway miss
or do you prefer ms willing
miss is fine but call me selena she
interrupted with a smile fine selena i
said call me richard
i added with what i think is my most
attractive and seductive smile
first then i have
one or two questions i want to ask you
of course please come in
i followed her into the living room and
we sat down
well
firstly
do you ever see your brothers these days
do you have a good relationship with
them i asked
no is the answer to both questions i’m
afraid
we’ve never had a good relationship even
when we were children
they were always against me
they used to call me daddy’s little girl
because i loved my father and i wanted
to help him especially after my mother
died
they left here after the problem of the
inheritance was over
you know all about that i suppose
i nodded
that was about a year ago she continued
and i’ve only seen them once since by
chance
i was walking past a cafe near
knightsbridge and i saw them through the
window
they were talking to two or three other
men
foreign men i think
dark haired and fairly dark skins
from some part of asia perhaps
i see
i said
but another question
do they have keys to the gate
and to the house
selena looks surprised
do you suspect them of something she
asked
let’s say i’m trying to eliminate
possibilities well
yes
i suppose they still have keys to the
house but not to the gate
no one has a key to the gate except the
security men
there are five of them and they work
shifts
to work nights and the others during the
day
at least one of them is on duty 24 hours
a day
and another question
does anyone else live in the house
no not even the servants
there were some old stables which we
converted into apartments some years ago
close to the house on one side
all the servants live there
so i said after 11 or 12 at night
there’s no one in the house except you
that’s right she answered
all right
just one more question before you go to
bed
there isn’t a basement or seller below
this house is there no nothing
somewhere there are some old plans of
the house i’ve seen them and there’s
nothing but the three floors
right i said
no more questions for today
oh
except where do i sleep
one of the servants will show you to
your room when you’re ready to go to bed
if you want something to eat or drink
you just have to ring this little bell
thank you but i don’t want anything
i’ll go to bed soon too
i’ve brought a book to read in bed i
added
i took out of my pocket the book i was
reading at the moment a paperback copy
of henry esmond a well-known 19th
century english novel by william
thackery
you like good books richard said selena
so do i when i have time to read
i’ve read that one and everything else
by thackery i think it’s very good
i was beginning to like selena
young
very good looking and with good taste in
literature
just my kind of girl
chapter five
nothing happened that first night no
noises
nothing
i saw celina at breakfast and i asked to
stay another night
she said that i could stay as long as i
wanted to
there were noises the second night
as i was getting up i realized they were
not inside the house but outside in the
grounds
and they were not human noises but
animal noises
i looked at my watch it was 25 past two
i suppose the tigers were looking for
another servant to eat
i went back to bed
the third night
yes
noises
this time inside the house
i thought i heard footsteps
and perhaps a door opened and shut
i got up immediately put on my dressing
gown and went out of the bedroom
selena was coming out of her room at the
same time
do you hear it she asked
i can hear it
i’m going down to see what it is
i went into every room on the first
floor and then on the ground floor
nothing
nothing unusual
nothing suspicious
and selena was right
the moment i left the bedroom
the noises stopped
i went back to the second floor
selena was still waiting at her bedroom
door
well
she said
well
nothing i answered your ghost is very
elusive
the next morning i sat down at my desk
in my office
i left the newspaper on the desk without
opening it
i needed to think
it was the fourth day on this case and i
didn’t have even one clue
thoughts possibilities came into my head
and went out again
nothing seemed to make any sense
i knew what i had to do
go home and drink two or three cups of
my special coffee brew
this idea i got from the 19th century
french novelist honored balzac
this enormously productive writer
he wrote and published about 90 novels
wrote mainly at night and usually for 14
or 15 hours without stopping
then he went to bed for a few hours and
tried to sleep
not very successfully i imagine because
to keep himself awake and more
importantly to keep his imagination
working on all cylinders he drank many
cups of coffee while he was working
not just any coffee but his own special
mixture of coffees in exact proportions
bought from various coffee merchants in
paris
while he was writing his first books he
experimented until he had a coffee
mixture as strong as coffee can be
then from time to time he visited his
coffee dealers in paris to renew his
supply
now
i don’t write novels but i do sometimes
have cases which are very difficult to
work out and which call for some really
imaginative thinking
and as balzac’s recipe for his special
mixture has not survived as far as i
know
several years ago i decided to
experiment with creating one for myself
i went every few days to a coffee dealer
who has a little shop in soho and who
sells only coffee
coffee from everywhere
i don’t remember how i started but it
was something like this
put two ounces of colombian then mix in
one ounce of indonesian
now three ounces of brazilian
and so on
by changing the proportions
and sometimes the source countries each
time for about a year i achieved my own
special very strong blend
one that could help me to think of
possibilities that i couldn’t reach
without help
now just as balzac did i go to my coffee
dealer every two or three months
he knows me well
two pounds of your special mr boot he
asks with a smile at home i made a pot
of my mixture
then i poured the first cupful and
while i was sipping it i did some
housework
as i live alone this is a necessity from
time to time although i’m not very good
at it
so
still sipping i made the bed for the
first time that week and washed and
dried some plates and cups and sauces
which were waiting in the sink for me
for the same length of time
then i swept the kitchen floor
and i couldn’t remember the last time i
did that
after this i sat down in my armchair and
started drinking another cup
i began to concentrate on the case
but
after the second cup
i still didn’t have any good ideas
so i poured another
cupful halfway through that cup i
decided that my special mixture wasn’t
working that day
the best thing to do was to take the
rest of the day off and relax
i decided to make some lunch and then
return to my armchair and finish reading
henry esmond
henry esmond
suddenly yes
an idea came
the events in thackery’s novel take
place in the last years of the 17th
century and the first years of the 18th
the 17th century was a very violent time
in english history
civil wars the execution of a king
and bloody battles all around england
between royalists and parliamentarians
and i remembered that once i read that
during this period secret rooms or
cupboards were installed in some big
country houses
rooms or cupboards big enough to hide
people during the wars
there is one secret cupboard
big enough for a man
in henry esmond
of course these secret places don’t show
on any plans that still exist of the
houses
the more i thought of the possibility of
a secret room in selena’s 17th century
house
the more i liked it both selena and i
were sure that the noise came from
inside the house
i decided that the next thing to do was
to search for a secret room
chapter six
i didn’t finish the third cup of coffee
i telephoned selena immediately and
asked her if i could go back to her
house that day
i told her that i had an idea and that i
needed to look at the house again
she said i could go whenever i wanted to
she also said that she had meetings to
attend in two or three of her companies
in the city
the security guards and the servants
were already instructed to let me in at
any time i went there
i thought for a moment before i left
home
i decided to take a torch with me
it might be useful
i arrived at selena’s house at about two
o’clock
i was let in and firstly i went through
all the rooms on the first floor
i couldn’t find any secret cupboards or
any possible space for a secret room
i went down to the ground floor and did
the same
with the same result
i sat down in an armchair to think
i tried to recall my conversations with
selena
perhaps there was a clue in them
suddenly i remembered that she told me
that there was no basement or cellar
she also told me that she once saw the
plans of the house and no basement was
shown
but secret spaces don’t appear in the
plans of houses
i decided to look for a way into a
possible secret room below the ground
floor
i went into all the rooms on the ground
floor again
nothing
i had to start thinking again
then i remembered that in films secret
hiding places are usually opened and
closed by levers
i went through all the rooms on the
ground floor again
i was looking for a lever or somewhere
to conceal
a lever
again
nothing
i sat back down in the armchair
i was feeling frustrated
my eyes were still moving around the
living room
hopefully
they went back to the fireplace
of course
what better place to hide a lever
i put my hand inside and began to grope
from the bottom to the top of the left
hand side
nothing but cold marble
i tried the right hand side
the same
then i moved my hand along inside the
top part
halfway along my hand touched a piece of
metal
a lever
i was feeling excited now
i tried to move the piece of metal to
the right and to the left
but it didn’t move
i tried going up
nothing
i placed my hand above the metal and
began to push down
the piece of metal moved easily three or
four inches downwards
at the same time a large panel on the
wall next to the fireplace slid behind
the panel on its other side to leave a
space about the size of a doorway
it was pitch black inside
i took my torch from one of the arms of
the armchair and shone it into this new
space
i saw three or four steps
i went down them
then there was a turn to the right and
three or four steps more
when i arrived at the bottom of these i
saw that i was in a small room
i shone the torch all around that room
in the center was a long table
on top of this table there were three
oil lamps
in one corner of the room there was a
pile of large colorful cushions the kind
you see around the living room on chairs
and sofas
beside these there was a smaller pile of
the same cushions but with the top
surfaces cut open
i went to look at them
i put my hand inside one of the cuts
nothing but feathers
suddenly i saw in another corner six or
seven brown paper bags with the tops
folded
i unfolded one of them
it contained what looked at first sight
to be a lot of little pieces of dirty
colored glass
i reached in and took out a handful
when i looked again
i knew immediately what i was looking at
not pieces of glass
but precious stones
dirty
uncut
unpolished
and straight from the mines
rubies and sapphires mainly but some
pearls as well
it was now obvious what was happening
gems were being smuggled into the
country inside the cushions
these then somehow made their way to
this little basement
then the cushions were cut open and the
stones were extracted ready to be sold i
supposed to dealers who didn’t ask
questions about where the stones came
from
they would then be cut and polished and
used in the making of rings necklaces
earrings bracelets
and so on
i went upstairs back to the living room
as i was leaving through the doorway i
saw another small lever at the top of
the stairs
i took a risk and turned it upwards the
panel shut behind me
i didn’t like the feeling of being
locked inside that secret basement with
only my torch for company
i quickly pushed the lever downwards
the panel sprang open again
thank god i thought
i went to the fireplace and pushed the
lever upwards
the panel closed
how clever i thought a secret room with
a lever outside to open and close it
and one inside as well
chapter
7
i knew what i had to do first
back in my office i telephoned chief
inspector snout at scotland yard
ronald snout was the head of a
department which dealt with contraband
goods
i knew him well because he was a great
friend of my father’s
also snout and i once collaborated on
another case of mine which involved the
smuggling of human organs for
transplants
snout himself answered the telephone
richard
how nice to hear from you
we chatted for a while and then i told
him that i had something for him
i asked if we could meet later that day
at dirty dicks cafe
only a few yards from scotland yard
dirty dicks is open 24 hours a day and
is well known for its enormous english
breakfasts eggs bacon sausages tomatoes
and anything else you ask for which they
will serve you at any moment of the day
or night
it is much used by policemen who are
going on or off duty around the clock
we agreed to meet there at six
then i lay on the sofa in my office to
go over things in my mind
some people are good lateral thinkers
i personally am a horizontal thinker at
least when i’m not drinking my special
coffee mixture i think better when i’m
lying down
i wanted to put things together because
i wanted to tell snout as much as
possible
i started to revise everything i knew
from the newspaper reports about the
inheritance case a year before to my
conversations with selena and my visits
to her house
the boys inheritance a furniture company
in bangkok
and a lot of the precious stones which
are smuggled into europe come from asia
and africa
the boys were talking to foreign men in
a pub possibly asians selena said
the boys probably still had keys to the
house
the fact that they didn’t have keys to
the front gate worried me a little
were the security men members of the
gang
i arrived at dirty dicks a little early
i sat down at a table and ordered a pot
of tea
ten minutes later ronald snout arrived
he looked just the same as he always did
in his late fifties but tall and slim
with an athletic build a luxuriant but
well trimmed moustache
and very well dressed
he looked more like a company director
than a policeman
we greeted each other and he ordered tea
and two scones
once he was seated and after chatting
for a couple of minutes i told him the
whole story i started from the moment
that selena came into my office
he listened without comment
a good policeman must be a good listener
ronald was very interested of course in
what i had to say
he knew all about the willing family but
he had no idea what the boys were doing
we talked about the best way to deal
with this case
one possibility was to arrest the
brothers immediately and interrogate
them
but we agreed that this wasn’t the best
way to do it
they might not say who their accomplices
were and anyway
these might leave the country the moment
they found out that the boys were in the
hands of the police
finally we decided to try to catch them
the boys and their accomplices in
flagrante de litto
that is
when they were in the basement cutting
open the cushions
we decided that i should stay at
selena’s house again that night and for
more nights if necessary
ronald asked me if i thought the gang
were armed
i said i had no idea
in case they were ronald decided to have
a group of armed policemen near the
house during the night prepared to force
the security men to open the gate
if i heard noises i had to telephone
ronald immediately on my mobile
telephone
his men intended to move quickly up to
the house
by that time i had to be downstairs with
the front door open and my hand on the
lever in the fireplace
we said goodbye outside the cafe and i
went back to my office
i telephoned selena to tell her i wanted
to stay at least another night in her
house
then i told her that something might
happen that night and that i wanted to
stay in her bedroom until i went to call
her
she agreed
as a precaution i asked her to instruct
the gardener not to let the tigers out
that night
but to give them each their half a cow
and leave them in their cages
she agreed to that as well
she wanted to know what was going on of
course but i told her i would tell her
later
chapter eight
i arrived at selena’s house at about
eleven
the security guard let me in without any
questions
from one or two jokey comments he made i
understood that he thought that i was
selena’s boyfriend
the pretty little maid let me into the
house
selena was already in bed
i was hungry and i asked the maid to
bring me a sandwich and a coke
i sat in the living room and looked at
the fireplace
i was looking forward to a little action
at about 11 30 i went upstairs to bed
before i went to sleep i telephoned
snout to make sure that everything was
ready
he told me not to worry
he and his men were ready and waiting
hidden in a side road only 200 yards
from the house
i fell asleep immediately without taking
my clothes off just my shoes
at one o’clock i was woken up by the
same noises as the night before
i put my shoes back on and telephones
snout
then i left the bedroom and the noises
stopped
i went downstairs and opened the front
door
i waited in the living room
after a few minutes i heard cars on the
drive
a few seconds later snout and six
policemen armed with pistols and torches
came into the living room
snout looked at me and nodded
i pushed the lever in the fireplace
downwards the six policemen rushed into
the open doorway and down the stairs
snout and i followed
before i reached the bottom stair i
heard two shots
when i arrived in the room it was
brightly lit by the oil lamps
i saw that one of the policemen was
wounded in the arm
one of the five other men in the room
one of the asians was lying on the floor
with a bullet in his leg and a pistol
beside him
the two brothers were there unarmed
astonished and very frightened
the two other men both obviously asians
also had pistols in their hands but with
five armed policemen with their weapons
pointed at them they didn’t seem very
sure what to do with them
drop the guns
ordered snout the pistols fell to the
floor all that was left to do was to
handcuff the members of the gang and
take them to the cars which were waiting
on the forecourt and then to take
possession of the gems
the uncut cushions were also carried to
the cars and loaded into the boots
two ambulances were called for the
wounded men
snout and i spoke for a minute or two
before they all left
he told me that they would interrogate
the men sometime later
he promised to telephone me after that
i went upstairs and knocked on selena’s
door
she was awake of course and i told her
everything
no ghost i said
just some villains making a dishonest
living
she seemed relieved
but a bit disappointed
i think she quite liked having a ghost
in the house
i told her i would ring her later after
i talked to snout
chapter nine
snout telephoned me about two o’clock
that afternoon
he told me that during their
interrogation the brothers confessed
everything
snout said that they were like two
frightened little boys they were first
offenders so they had no experience of
being questioned by police authorities
the asians were more difficult obviously
hardened criminals but they were caught
red-handed and the police had all the
evidence they needed to prosecute them
snout also told me that the two night
security men were also in custody
they were paid by the rest of the gang
to open the gate and help to carry the
cushions up the driveway to the house
the other three security men were clean
they knew nothing about it
then because there were some things i
didn’t have clear i asked snout some
questions
for example
how did the boys know about the secret
room
they found it when they were only kids
while they were playing in the living
room
they decided to keep it a secret their
private place that no one else knew
about
one night a few months ago while miss
willing was in the united states on
business they carried the table down
there
they needed a surface to cut open the
cushions
and how did this operation start i
wanted to know
well said snout two or three months
after they received their inheritance
the brothers went to bangkok they wanted
to see the factory
they were there about two weeks
somehow they got involved with a group
of local people
you have met three of them
one is burmese by the way and the other
two thais
these people are in fact experienced
jewel smugglers but the brothers didn’t
know that at the time
and the idea for this operation came
from them not from the brothers
now the brothers are pretty simple
minded frankly they were taken out to
dinner several times to good restaurants
by these nice people
always invited always paid for after
that i think that it was easy to
persuade them to take part in the scheme
now the company makes furniture from
teak and the accompanying cushions
so the plan was that the brothers
returned to london with the three asians
which they did
after that a small group of local people
in the pay of the smugglers began to
enter the factory late at night two or
three nights a week
their job was to make the cushions and
into every third one before they lined
it they put a bag of precious stones
they marked these cushions with a tiny x
on the bottom surface
then together with other furniture which
the company made they were exported to
england to be stored in the company
warehouse in west kensington
so when each consignment arrived the
brothers and the three other men visited
the warehouse at night and filled the
van with all the cushions marked with an
x
they then drove to miss willing’s house
in surrey
they arrived between 11 and 12.
it was the brothers idea to store the
stones in their secret room
and then when they got to selena’s house
well said snot they couldn’t drive the
van up the drive too much noise
so the guard on duty opened the gate and
the six men carried the cushions up the
drive to the front door
then before they opened the door the
guard returned to the gate one of the
brothers then opened the front door and
went quickly and quietly to open the
secret door
a second later the other men went into
the house as quickly and as quietly as
possible with the cushions and they all
disappeared through the doorway beside
the fireplace
they closed the door using the lever
inside
the whole operation from opening the
front door to closing the door of the
secret room took only a few seconds
you and miss willing probably heard
noises when the men were going in with
the cushions
but by the time you got up and started
to go down the stairs everything was all
over
the boy said that it is impossible to
hear any noise from inside the secret
room in any other part of the house
and they stayed there until about one in
the morning while they were taking the
stones out of the cushions
then they left quietly
all very impressive i said
but why didn’t selena and i hear the men
when they were going up the drive
well firstly because they were trying to
be as quiet as possible and secondly
because miss willing’s bedroom is at the
back of the house it overlooks the back
of the garden
where did you sleep richard
the same yes
my bedroom overlooked the back too
i didn’t think of that
but just one more question ronald
where did the stones come from
well from burma actually
there are several gemstone mines in
burma and they don’t seem to be very
well controlled
they mine various precious stones but
rubies and sapphires are the most
valuable
now burma and thailand are separated by
a natural border the maui river
along this river on the burmese side are
little border towns and a great number
of the stones which are mined are stolen
and smuggled to these towns
the two known border towns are my sot
and my sigh
then the stones are road across the
river sometimes people swim across the
river carrying bags of stones into
thailand and the eager hands of the
international smugglers
the smugglers pay the burmese relatively
little compared to what they earn by
selling the stones in europe
oh and yes the burmese also have a pearl
farming industry at mergui in the
archipelago of the gulf of martiban to
the south of the burmese mainland
many of the pearls from there also end
up in the border towns
chapter 10
i telephone selena next i said i wanted
to see her
she told me to go to the house when i
wanted to that day as she was working at
home
i arrived a couple of hours later about
four o’clock
we sat in the living room and had tea
i told her all i knew after talking to
snout
she seemed a little sad
what’s wrong i asked
well she began
i’m a bit sorry for my brothers
i know we don’t get on well but i told
her that there was nothing i could do
about that
but i cheered her up a little by saying
that her brothers might learn a lesson
by having to spend a little time in
prison
and
anyway their sentences were sure to be
much smaller than those of the three
asian ring leaders
her brothers didn’t have police records
and i told her that it was clear to the
police that they were used and
manipulated by the other gang members
i suppose i should pay you richard she
then said
that’s a good idea i replied
she went to a chest of drawers
opened a drawer
and took out a checkbook
is a check all right she asked
fine i said
but i didn’t go to selena’s house just
to tell her what snout told me
nor to be paid
i had something else on my mind
selena i was wondering
well
i mean the fact is
when i finish a case i like to go out
and celebrate
there’s a little french restaurant in
soho
very good food excellent fish and
well
i was wondering if you would like to
have dinner there with me tonight
finally i said it
her eyes brightened and she gave me a
beautiful smile
i’d love to richard
so we made the arrangements and i left
the house i wanted to dance down the
driveway
the case was solved i had some money in
my pocket and i had a beautiful girl to
take out to dinner that night
life was treating me well the last line
of one of everyone’s favorite old films
came to my mind
as i tried to sound like humphrey bogart
in casablanca
i repeated it to myself
yes i said
this could be the start of a beautiful
friendship
you