Dead Clever Read Free Page A

pocket and offered it. ‘Heather says it’s the sign of a barbarian. So, I tell her, I’m a barbarian.’ He flicked open a lighter and then, when their cigarettes were alight, settled back in his chair. ‘In the light of what I’ve told you, you won’t be surprised to learn that when the company received the report that an aircraft, piloted by Green, had disappeared into the sea, they immediately began to ask questions. Which is why I’m here now.’
    ‘They think it might have been a faked accident?’
    ‘In one. And not just because, without the increase asked for, the sum involved is in the order of a quarter of a million; after all, when businessmen are vain enough to value their lives in millions, that isn’t very much. It’s because of the pattern. As you suggested earlier, taking an insurance company on a faked claim has been popular ever since insurance was invented. But criminals aren’t usually all that imaginative and their methods of fraud tend to run in patterns. Obviously, a man who takes out an insurance today and claims on it tomorrow is going to be suspected, so the fraudster tries to establish himself as honest and the most popular way of doing this is to work to a distant dateline and for a while to pay the premiums on the dot and to increase the sum insured by only a reasonable amount, which is to say by no more than would a prudent man who’d never thought of swindling anyone in the whole of his life. Then, when satisfied he’s established himself, he produces a good reason for asking the capital sum assured to be increased considerably and after another pause he fakes his own death.’
    Alvarez spoke diffidently, rather afraid that what he said might appear to be reflecting on Ware’s ability as an insurance investigator. ‘If this were the pattern that Green were following, wouldn’t he have waited to fake his own death until the sum assured had been increased and he would judge enough time had passed after that for suspicions to be dulled?’
    ‘Normally, the answer has to be yes. But it’s more than possible that he suddenly discovered he didn’t have all the time available that he’d been banking on and so if he was to carry out the fraud at all, he had to do it quickly. I know that if one were in his position and looked at the facts logically, one would say that it must be too dangerous to act precipitately and the idea must be dropped, but a criminal who’s spent a lot of thought and time on a projected job often can’t view it logically; and as you’ll know much better than I, fraudsters tend to be at the smart end of the criminal tree and it’s my experience that a smart man can get so puffed up with pride in his own smartness that he behaves like a plain, ordinary fool.’
    ‘That can be very true.’ Alvarez fiddled with some crumbs from his roll, kneading them into a pellet. ‘But from what you say you cannot as yet be certain that the crash was faked?’
    ‘That’s right. Which is why I’d be grateful for all the help you can give me.’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘Starting off by seeing the officials at the airport who’ll be able to provide us with a much more detailed account of events than I have at the moment.’
    ‘I’ll ring them first thing tomorrow and find out exactly who to talk to and then arrange a meeting.’
    ‘That’s great!’ Ware drained his glass. ‘Where’s that other bottle? . . . You know, Enrique, sitting out here under the stars, eating ambrosia and drinking nectar, I realize I’m a prime candidate for the deadly sin of gluttony!’
     

 
CHAPTER 3
    A sound disturbed Alvarez’s sleep and he opened his eyes and stared at the far wall of the bedroom, clearly visible although both shutters and curtains were closed. He vaguely wondered what the sound could have been as he languidly and pleasurably drifted back to sleep . . .
    There was a pounding on the bedroom door which startled him fully awake. ‘Are you deaf?’ Dolores called