“And did you?”
The Countess shaded her eyes with her right hand. “I did something I regret, but did not lead him to the gold. He used his contacts and found his own way. My husband had this gold in storage in a commercial building, which was bombed. He moved it here, but obviously that was not suitable and hence he made arrangements to move the gold to the bank yesterday. Voronov learned about these arrangements from a clerk at the bank and came with his cronies to rob us of the gold. He killed my husband, but… well, there it is.”
Merlin leaned forward in his chair. “What were Miro Kubicki and Jerzy Kowalski doing here?”
“They came to provide moral and physical support. My husband was worried about the danger of transporting the gold, justifiably, as we now know. He asked Jerzy to come and Jerzy brought Mr Kubicki. I understand he got a blow on the head. Is he alright?”
“He’s recovering. Do you know what happened to Jerzy?”
“Yes, he rang me last night to offer me his sympathies and to say that he got safely back to his base.”
“And what is Jerzy Kowalski to you, Countess?”
“He is my nephew, my sister’s son.”
“Are you close?”
The Countess reached again for her drink and finished the glass. “Of course. He is a charming, loveable boy. A hero too.”
“Ziggy Kilinski?”
“What about him?”
“We have a theory that Kilinski was on some sort of mission to do with his brother. He also had one or more of your gold ingots and an ancient Aztec amulet. We also had the distinct feeling that the Count was not truthful with us about his meetings with Kilinski. Can you tell us more?”
The Countess stared into the distance for a moment and seemed to be wrestling with her thoughts. She reached some sort of resolution. “His real name was Simon Nozyk. He had a brother called David who was a skilled craftsman who worked for my family. He turned his hand to many things. We had a fine collection of art, jewels and so on. One day David disappeared. His brother was trying to find out what happened to him. Unfortunately he had got it into his head that we had had something to do with it.”
“And this was why Kilinski contacted you? He had connected you to David?”
“Yes.”
Merlin rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Do you have any idea about what happened to David?”
“None I’m afraid, but Kilinski would not believe us. He also knew about our gold and indeed had got hold of a sample of it, although I know nothing of the amulet you mention. He told my husband he had met Voronov who had clearly filled his head with these false rumours about the provenance of the gold. He began to make threats about using this knowledge to embarrass us and make us reveal to him what he thought might be the truth about David. He became more than just a pest. He felt he could blackmail us.”
“And did Kowalski know what Kilinski was about?”
“I told him.”
“And what did he do?”
“I believe Mr Kilinski disappeared before Jerzy could speak to him.”
“Did—” Merlin was interrupted by a commotion at the front door. Moments later, Grishin burst into the room followed by two burly men in military uniform. “And so, Countess Tarkowski, have you been telling Mr Merlin about your stolen gold?”
The Countess stood, her face beetroot red with anger. “The gold is ours!” Grishin produced a document from the briefcase he was carrying.
“Not according to this, dear lady. Do you recognise the signature? Go on, look.”