The Diamond Rosary Murders Read Free Page B

nossing.’
    Marcia glanced round the room again. ‘Anybody got a cigarette ?’ she said.
    Domino placed a chair next to Argyle’s, looked at Marcia and said, ‘Sit here.’
    She crossed the room like a cat and obediently made her way to the chair.
    Memoré watched her sit down and cross her legs and smiled. He liked looking at her legs. When he smiled, he looked as if he was about to vomit.
    Domino took up a position astride the chair facing Argyle.
    ‘You robbed Henkel’s today and got away with the Rosary worth twenty million.’
    A slow smile developed on James Argyle’s whiskered face. ‘I should be so fortunate, my good man,’ he said.
    ‘I want it,’ Domino said. ‘Or rather the Chameleon wants it.’
    On hearing the mention of the Chameleon, Argyle’s eyes opened wide.
    Everybody was scared of the Chameleon. Where there was anything worth stealing, the Chameleon was there. He murdered anyone who got in his way. He slipped a slim knife between his victim’s ribs into the heart, and death was instantaneous. It took only two seconds. And it was an amazing fact that nobody knew who he was.
    Both Domino and Memoré saw Argyle’s reaction. They were not surprised.
    Memoré came across to the Scotsman, waving the Beretta in his face again. ‘I vant it too,’ he said. ‘Don’t mess about, Argyle.’
    ‘It has your stamp on it, Jimmy,’ Domino said. ‘Don’t waste time denying it.’
    ‘I don’t know anything about it,’ Argyle said. ‘
And don’t call me, Jimmy
!’ he bellowed.
    Memoré looked at the Scotsman. He didn’t like what he saw. The little man rubbed his chin.
    ‘Marcia and I were in Meadowhall at the time of the robbery,’ Argyle said. ‘You’re confusing us with another couple. Isn’t that right, Marcia?’ he said, turning to her.
    She shrugged and continued looking down at the carpet. Her eyes appeared to be closed. ‘Guess so. Anybody got a cigarette?’
    Memoré suddenly breathed in noisily, raised himself to his full height of 5’ 2”. He seemed to have made a decision. He was clearly excited. His eyes were shining. He was almost smiling. ‘Let’s do it, Charles. Dis is only so much a vaste of time. Let’s get on with it.’
    Argyle looked at Memoré and frowned. He wondered what it was they were to get on with.
    Domino looked back at Memoré and said, ‘Let’s give him a chance.’
    Memoré’s face tightened. He was not pleased. ‘It’s just so much a vaste of time,’ he said with a shrug.
    Domino looked back at Argyle and said, ‘We want to be reasonable about this, Jimmy. Where is the Rosary? Where is it?’
    Argyle’s eyes opened wide. ‘I haven’t got it,’ he said. ‘I have never had it. I don’t know anything about it. I can’t be more explicit than that.’
    ‘Where did you go after you left Hatton Garden?’
    Argyle looked weary. ‘We didn’t go
anywhere
. We weren’t in Hatton Garden.’
    ‘You called in at Harry’s to have the number plates changed.’
    Argyle’s head swivelled round. That
had
touched a nerve. It had been a closely guarded secret part of Argyle’s plot.
    Harry’s was a one-man business situated in a lock-up contrived from space under an arch of the main railway line from St Pancras to Birmingham New Street. It was a specialist drive-in place – not open to the general public – where Harry Polinger would supply and change number plates on the spot and at great speed for a fee. The faster, the dearer.
    Argyle frowned. How could Domino have known that?
    ‘The job was done at 12.30,’ Domino continued. ‘After you called at Harry’s, then at Newton Pagnell for a turkey sandwich and a cup of black coffee.’
    There were more shocks on Argyle’s face.
    Domino smiled. ‘You see you were monitored the whole time, my dear James.’
    Argyle stared at him.
    ‘From the moment you put on your wee tartan socks this morning,’ Domino said, ‘until the moment we picked you up on the M1 this afternoon. So this babbling that