‘I’ll have to check my diary,’ said Jimmy, as he dropped a third sugar lump in his tea.
‘If you’re not there,’ said Ross, ‘I’ll be joining you for breakfast every morning until you’ve paid back the first two hundred.’
‘You’ve persuaded me, but then there’s no disguising your Irish charm, Inspector,’ said Jimmy, spooning a large blob of marmalade onto a slice of toast. By the time he had picked up his knife and begun to spread it, the Inspector had left.
? ? ?
Lieutenant Sanchez spread out a large map of Catalonia on the table in front of him, and the team gathered around to take a closer look.
‘Once Chief Inspector Warwick and Inspector Ross have landed in Barcelona,’ he began, ‘they will be driven to a safe house on the outskirts of the city, where I’ll carry out the final briefing, before we all change into the appropriate gear for a night operation.’
‘When is the witching hour?’ asked the commander.
‘Midnight, sir,’ replied Sanchez. ‘We’ll leave the city in an unmarked car, and be dropped off a couple of kilometres from the boundary of Faulkner’s estate.’
William nodded as Sanchez pointed to an ‘X’ he’d marked on the map. ‘Can you be sure he’s still there?’ he asked.
‘We’ve got cameras on the road leading up to the estate and patrols on the beach at the foot of the cliff, and so far there’s been no sign of life, so we’re fairly confident he’s still holed up in the house.’
‘Don’t forget, we know Booth Watson has a flight booked to Barcelona on Monday,’ interjected Rebecca. ‘Why would he bother to make the trip if Faulkner wasn’t there?’
‘Fair point,’ said William. ‘But I suspect the reason for Booth Watson’s visit is to put the finishing touches to his client’s unscheduled departure, so this may be our last chance before he disappears again.’
‘We’ll need Detective Inspector Hogan to get us from here,’ Sanchez’s finger rested at the edge of the forest, ‘to here,’ he said moving it across to the front door of the house.
William shook his head. ‘No. Ross is convinced our best hope of getting into the house unobserved is through one of the windows in the servants’ quarters on the fourth floor. When we were last there, he noticed three of them were left open during the day. Here, here and here. This one,’ he added, his forefinger moving across the plans, ‘is next to the fire escape.’
Sanchez nodded, but suggested, ‘We still need to know what DI Ross has planned once we reach the edge of the forest. I suspect we’ll find it’s full of alarms, traps and other surprises for unwelcome visitors.’
‘He should be with us in the next few minutes,’ said William, checking his watch.
‘What makes you so sure of that?’ asked The Hawk.
‘His plane landed at Heathrow a couple of hours ago. In fact I’m surprised—’ continued William as the door burst open and Ross strode in.
‘Sorry I’m late. Something held me up.’
Or someone, thought William, but satisfied himself with, ‘Lieutenant Sanchez was just taking us through what we’ll be up against once we arrive in Barcelona.’
‘I can only get us as far as the end of the road leading to the estate before you’ll have to take over,’ admitted Sanchez.
Ross took his place at the table and began to explain in detail how he planned to get the three of them from the edge of the forest to the fire escape on the far side of the house without setting off any alarms. No one interrupted him. William finally brought the meeting to a close when they began to ask the same questions a third time.
‘That still leaves the problem of the impenetrable door,’ said The Hawk, as they rose from their places.
‘I have an appointment this afternoon with the only person other than Faulkner who knows how to open that door,’ said Ross. ‘I’ll report back.’
‘Then let’s all meet again at eight tomorrow morning,’ said William, ‘and go over the plan one last time.’
‘I have a meeting at eight tomorrow morning that I can’t afford to miss,’ said Ross without explanation. ‘But I’ll call you later this evening with an update.’
‘Fine,’ said William, to everyone’s surprise. But then, he knew exactly where Detective Inspector Hogan would be the following morning at eight o’clock, because he intended to be there as well.