Over My Dead Body (Detective William Warwick #4)(4)

‘Good morning,’ Booth Watson said, looking up at his only client, a man he neither liked nor trusted. However, Faulkner was the one person who made it possible for him to enjoy a lifestyle few of his colleagues at the bar could hope to emulate.

‘Good morning, BW,’ Miles replied, as he sat down in the seat opposite him.

A waiter quickly appeared, notebook open, pen poised. ‘What will you have this morning, gentlemen?’ he asked.

‘The full English,’ said Miles, without looking at the menu.

‘And will you be having your usual, sir?’

‘Yes,’ confirmed Booth Watson, as he peered more closely at his client. He had to admit the Swiss plastic surgeon had done a first-class job. No one would have recognized him as the man who had escaped from prison, attended his own funeral, and recently risen from the dead. The man seated opposite him bore no resemblance to the successful entrepreneur who had once owned one of the great art collections in private hands, but now looked every bit the retired naval captain and veteran of the Falklands campaign, who answered to the name of Captain Ralph Neville. But if William Warwick were to discover that his old nemesis was still alive, he wouldn’t rest until he was back behind bars. For Warwick it would be personal, the man who escaped from his clutches, the man who made fools of the Metropolitan Police, the man who’d—

‘Why did you need to see me so urgently?’ Miles asked once the waiter had left.

‘A journalist from The Sunday Times insight team called yesterday and asked me if I knew anything about a Raphael that had recently been sold by Christie’s and turned out to be a fake.’

‘What did you tell him?’ asked Miles, nervously.

‘I assured her that the original was part of the late Miles Faulkner’s private collection, and is still hanging in his widow’s villa in Monte Carlo.’

‘Not for much longer,’ confided Miles. ‘Once Christina found out she wasn’t a widow after all, I had no choice but to move the entire collection to a safer location before she could get her hands on it.’

‘And where might that be?’ asked Booth Watson, wondering if he would get an honest reply.

‘I’ve found somewhere that doesn’t have any locals to spy on me, and only the passing seagulls can shit on me,’ was all Miles offered.

‘I’m glad to hear that, because I think it might be wise to leave England for a few weeks before you once again reappear as Captain Neville, and no better time than while Chief Inspector Warwick and his wife are enjoying a holiday in New York.’

‘A holiday that was arranged for them by Christina to make sure they’re both well out of harm’s way when my wife and I get married for the second time.’

‘But I thought Beth Warwick was going to be Christina’s maid of honour?’

‘She was, but that was before Christina discovered why I couldn’t afford to be seen on board the SS Alden.’

‘You have to admit your ex has her uses,’ said Booth Watson, ‘and one of them is to take advantage of the close relationship she’s formed with Mrs Warwick.’

‘Frankly, BW, I would have been better off if Christina had never discovered I was still alive. So please explain to me why I have to marry the damn woman a second time?’

‘Because, in the end, it solves all your problems,’ said Booth Watson. ‘Don’t forget she’s the one person who can keep an eye on Detective Inspector Warwick without him ever becoming suspicious.’

‘But if she were to switch sides?’ said Faulkner.

‘That’s unlikely while you still hold the purse strings.’

Faulkner didn’t look convinced. ‘That wouldn’t be the case if they discovered who Captain Ralph Neville was, and I ended up back in prison.’

‘She’d still have to get past me, when Christina would quickly discover which side I’m on.’

‘But you also don’t have a choice,’ said Miles, ‘because you’d have to explain to the Bar Council why you’ve been representing an escaped criminal for the past couple of years, when you were well aware he was your former client.’

‘All the more reason,’ suggested Booth Watson, ‘to make sure Christina signs a binding agreement that if she were to break she’d have just as much to lose as either of us.’

‘And be sure she signs it before she marries Captain Neville, and certainly before the Warwicks return to Blighty.’

‘Blighty?’ said BW.

‘That’s Captain Neville-speak, old chap,’ said Miles, sounding rather pleased with himself. ‘So when are you seeing Christina?’

‘I have a meeting with her in chambers tomorrow morning, when I intend to take her through the agreement clause by clause, stressing the consequences of her failing to sign it.’

‘Good, because if she ever thought she could get her hands on my art collection simply by telling her friend Beth that Miles Faulkner is still alive and kicking …’

‘You’d end up having breakfast in Pentonville and not the Savoy.’

‘If that were to happen,’ said Miles, ‘I wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.’

‘I’ve already made that painfully clear,’ said Booth Watson as the waiter returned with their breakfast. ‘Though I confess, I haven’t spelt it out quite that explicitly in the final agreement.’