The Main chance

42

The bullet had removed half Lavinia's head. Blood streamed out of her. She was so close to the hull she fell backwards, legs in the air as she collapsed heavily on the far side of the hull, her body pressing heavily on the starting lever.

The engine burst into full power. She had pressed the lever fully down, to top speed. The shotgun had fallen with her onto the deck. Marler joined them and Paula flung her arms round him. `You always turn up in the nick of time, Marler,' Tweed said. 'Thank you.'

He was watching the progress of the vessel with both bodies aboard. It had raced down the ramp, just in time to catch the crest of a monster wave. It carried the vessel across Oyster Bay, a rolling leviathan. `It does appear to be headed for the exit from the bay,' Marler remarked.

Paula stared at the sea beyond the two capes enclosing the bay. A fresh and very violent storm had arrived. Immense waves were colliding with each other, hurling up tons of water. Nothing could survive in that maelstrom.

The remnants of the yacht were still perched on the crest of the wave moving at extraordinary speed. It carried the yacht exactly between the capes and entered the Atlantic. Tweed was using his binoculars. `Both bodies are still on board. They appear to be trapped amid a huge coil of rope anchored to the deck.'

The craft was hurled from the crest of its wave into the churning sea. Through his binoculars Tweed saw it tossed from one wave to another, amazingly still upright with the corpses entangled in the ropes. Then at great speed, it plunged downwards, deep, deep, deep. It did not reappear. `The bodies are still aboard,' reported Marler, who had been using his own binoculars. 'The Coastguard will never find anything.' `And,' Tweed said, 'the remnants of the forward section which hit Pindle have already been carried into the Atlantic.' `It's over,' said Paula, who suddenly realized her hands had remained clenched fists inside her windcheater pockets. `No!' Tweed warned. 'It's not quite over yet. Back to Hengistbury now.'

Marler flew back to the private airfield he had found near Leaminster. It was the second time he had watched over his friends during their two visits to Seacove.

Later, her mind full of the traumatic events she had witnessed, Paula could never remember the long drive back. Crystal, who had opened the gates, met them at the entrance to the hall. She stood very erect and managed a smile of welcome. `I need to see your father urgently,' Tweed told her. `He's working in his apartment.'

Warner Chance was seated at his desk, a pile of accounts on the wide surface. Tweed immediately gave him a censored version of what had happened – how Marshal had taken Lavinia out in the yacht, how they were in the Atlantic when a storm of great violence had blown up and sunk the yacht. No survivors. Entering the apartment, Tweed had noticed a crumpled handkerchief on the desk. He could learn the truth later. `Now, Mr Chance…' Tweed began. `Please call me Warner.' `Now, Warner – the gold. `Gold?' `Paula:Tweed continued, 'show Warner those newspaper clippings we obtained from Peg-Leg Pete.'

She arranged them in sequence on the desk in front of Warner.

MURDEROUS BANK ROBBERY

Last night three men were murdered when raiders attacked Klempner's, a subsidiary of the great Kreditanstalt in Vienna. The Director and his two assistants, still on the premises at midnight, were shot dead by two masked men.?800,000 of gold bullion was then loaded onto waiting lorries which then vanished. The police have as yet no clue as to the identity of the murderers.

Paula next produced a photograph of the complete sheet from which the report had been extracted. `Note the date,' Tweed said, '6 November 1912.'

Paula then produced the second extract from the Clarion.

THE MAIN CHANCE BANK ESTABLISHED TODAY

Ezra Main and Pitt Chance have founded a new powerful and important bank, the Main Chance. The Banking Authority has confirmed this new addition has more than adequate resources to conduct national and international business. `Now look at the date,' Tweed demanded as Paula spread the second sheet. '12 December 1912. Just about a month after the bullion raid. The "adequate assets".' `I didn't know.' Warner held his head in his hands. `And I'm sure Bella never knew.' `Earlier,' Tweed drummed on, 'on my instructions Paula went to the Land Registry in Gladworth. She obtained a copy of the plans of Hengistbury, different from the ones we were shown for searching the manor. The ones she obtained show a vast labyrinth of cellars under the manor. May we visit them now? It's the brown button, so-called for emergencies, in the lift, I suspect…'

The three of them were inside the lift when Warner pressed the brown button. They descended. When the doors opened again they walked out into a complex of stone-walled cellars. Warner stopped before a massive steel door, consulted a small black notebook he had discovered inside one of Bella's secret drawers. Operating the combination, he stood back as the door swung open.

They walked inside a large steel chamber with strong shelves. They had entered an Aladdin's cave. All around them gold bars were piled up to the ceiling. A strong wheeled trolley stood at the far end. `What the hell am I going to do with all this?' Warner asked wearily. 'I don't want it. The bank is, incredibly, solvent on the cash deposits alone.' `Klempner's was a subsidiary of the Kreditanstalt in Vienna,' Tweed said as though talking to himself. `When it – the Kreditanstalt – crashed, bankrupt, few people know that was what triggered Wall Street's Black Monday, followed by the slump. So this gold no longer belongs to anyone. Surely it could be sold, a few bars at a time to bullion collectors. That's not advice. If necessary, I'll deny I ever said it. I'm sure that the bank will flourish in your hands.'

Now Lavinia is gone,' Warner said, 'I'm appointing Crystal as Chief Accountant. Maybe it's the shock of Leo's death, but she has suddenly grown up.' `And she'll be a great ally for you,' said Paula. `We must be off now,' announced Tweed.