The Shipping Forecast

Thames - Part 6

With light fading quickly, I took a torch from the chart table and pulled open the door to the starboard locker. Inside were a number of dark cloth bundles. I lifted the bundle from the top and felt a hard, heavy object. I didn't need to unwrap it to know what it was.

"This is a gun! You're running guns, Henry?" I said, incredulously.

"No, I'm not! ...Well, yes I am, but that wasn't supposed to be what I was smuggling. The deal was tobacco and spirits. The forepeak lockers and aft lockers are full of it. But then they brought these in too. How could I say no? The rest was already on board, and those men you saw - you know they carried guns. They brought the weapons aboard the night before you arrived. Right up until then, it was only tobacco and spirits, I swear it!"

I looked around the cabin; at the boxes of diamonds, gold and money in eight deposit boxes laid out on the bench and chart table. "Where did these come from then?" I asked.

"When they loaded the tobacco, it came from von Moytons warehouse. I helped move some of it. At one point, von Moyton himself was there. He was supervising the unloading of a crate from a truck that brought the tobacco. There was more there than I'm carrying. I suppose some of it was destined for other places. Anyway, he was crowing over this safe, patting it and stroking it. I thought to myself there must be something very valuable inside. But where he got the safe from, I don't know. It was old, and looked like it had been badly looked after. I noticed It was exactly the same model as the one in Mr Berkovitz's shop.

"When they loaded the guns, I was unhappy about being tricked. I thought it pretty mean of them to foist more on me like that. And I wasn't happy about it. Tobacco and spirits - that's one thing, but guns? You might think me a dirty rotten scoundrel, Charles, but I'm better than that. I was cross, and couldn't sleep. I decided to see what was in that warehouse. I thought it may be useful information if something were to... to go wrong. By that time, most of everything that had been brought in had gone to other boats and taken away by more trucks. There were watchmen, but they were more concerned with people coming from the dock road and so spent most of their time at the front of the warehouse. None of them seemed to think I would be a problem, tucked away on my little yacht.

"The warehouse was in poor condition. It was easy to get inside. I poked around, but there was little there by then except the safe. It was under a tarpaulin, tied to a crate. I guessed it was going to be shipped out the next morning."

Henry dropped into the seat and picked up the gun I'd taken from the locker and cradled it on his lap. By now it was completely dark. It was some time since we had been on deck, and I was getting nervous about how close the following trawler might be, and about other vessels in the crowded waters of the estuary. Besides which, there were sandbanks that awaited the incautious sailor, and we had been below for almost an hour by now. I wanted to get on deck, but couldn't take my eyes off Henry. His tone and demeanor spoke of something awful about to be revealed.

"I looked closely at the safe. It was exactly like the one in Berkovitz's shop. A Milner. Well made. Strong. There was no way anyone could break into it without knowing the combination. Drop it off the tallest building and it would just make a dent in the pavement. Blow it up, and it would still be there in the crater, undamaged. That was why Berkovitz had it. A Milner safe was the best he could afford. And why would he have the best he could afford? Because he didn't trust banks, and kept his whole savings - everything he owned of value - in his safe. And when he and Isabelle left for Germany, he took his safe with him.

"So when I saw this Milner safe in von Moytons warehouse, exactly like the one in Berkovitz's shop, I did the only thing someone in my position would do. I tried old Berkovitz's combination."

Henry looked up at me pleadingly. "Don't ask me how I knew it - I swear I never stole anything from the Berkovitz's. It was just something I happened to see one day."

"..And remembered for the rest of your life," I said.

"It was Isabelle's birthday, and the year of her mother's death. Not very secure, I grant you. Also, very easy to remember. Anyway, I entered the combination... And the safe opened. It wasn't just the same as Berkovitz's safe, it was Berkovitz's safe! When I opened the door, I found it full of those boxes. Nothing of Mr Berkovitz or Isabelle remained. But is was their safe. How had it got here, I asked myself? But when I opened those boxes and saw what was inside, I knew. Whether it was Auschwitz, Treblinka, Chelmno.., it doesn't matter. But I knew what it meant. I knew now for absolute certain. Isabelle was gone."

I found myself holding my breath, and let it out in one great exhalation. A huge rush of affection for Henry replaced any vestiges of annoyance that I had been harbouring up to now. "So you took the boxes. Why?"

"It took me hours to move them. Rubbish security. I had to carry each one individually they were so heavy. Eight trips. I didn't think about why until after I'd done it. I just didn't want them to have it." Henry shrugged disinterestedly. "I suppose I'll give it to the government. Leave it on the doorstep of Buckingham Palace or Number 10. I don't know."

"Henry," I said, "I'm sorry. For what it's worth, I'll help you do it."

At that point, Bandit ran aground.