Stick to your plan you can't go wrong. I kept telling myself that.
'Tomorrow, you sign over the manor house and Saffron Fields to Mortimer, Colette's son. In exchange you get the antiques.'
'And Dulwich? I'm counting on that.'
'It's all in hand. Agreed?'
He finally laughed. It was like a dam bursting. He rolled in the aisles, fell about. I watched, astonished. He cackled, guffawed, blotted his eyes, bellowed.
'No, Lovejoy,' he said, choking.
What was wrong? 'No what?'
'No deal. No deception. You have no antiques.'
Yet some of Wrinkle's were genuine, and Wrinkle's fakes would deceive any dealer. A fortune by any other name, for heaven's sake.
'I admit some of the pieces are—'
'Tell him,' Gluck gasped, wheezing.
A woman stepped from the tree-lined darkness. I thought, eh?
'You're a fool, Lovejoy.' Honor was calm as a pond. 'I told you I'd combed the world for a real opportunity. Dieter jumped at me.' She gave an ugly giggle. 'I mean my deal -
among other things.'
'You're in with Gluck,' I said dully. 'What does Wrinkle think?'
'He's not going to think any more, Lovejoy.' No regret in her querulous voice. 'He was so fucking boring.'
Wrinkle, past tense? Which meant my thinking days were also already over. Gluck sobered, took my torch.
'Come, Lovejoy.' The outrage was that he sounded kindly, a sadistic teacher's benevolence. 'It won't hurt. We'll do it properly. No hard feelings?'
Honor nagged, 'We should have brought the auto down the side road. Those shitty fields.'
I quaked. 'Look, Dieter,' I said, my voice trembling. 'I've some antiques worth a mint, if only—'
'No, Lovejoy,' he said with regret. 'No more ifs.'
We left the shore. I gave a desperate glance at the receding tide, the sluggish boats, the tilting dinghies. No ghost rose from the sea to rescue me, Mortimer's only helper.
Gluck gestured me to turn round. I felt something cold click on my wrists. Handcuffs?
'Walk on,' he purred. They say that to horses. 37
WE CUT OVER ploughed ground. Like a fool I lost my bearings from lurching to my knees. Every time I stumbled Gluck did his laugh. I realized he was quite mad. He'd slipped a rope under the handcuffs, thought it was a huge joke to yank me sideways, bring me down every few yards.
Away from the sea the night grew darker, the shushing of the waves quieter. I could only hear my laboured breathing, Gluck's lunatic cackling, and Honor's perennial grumbling about the chill. I hadn't a notion where we were going. A car in the distance, some selfish sod off to the boozer.
We came on the canal all of a sudden. No path, no lock gate. Just a cold breath on my face, as you feel near waterways. Yet what could Gluck do to me? Saintly knew that Gluck and I were enemies. If anything befell me, Gluck would catch it. And he couldn't have an alibi. I began to hope.
'Onto the bank, Lovejoy.'
Was there a farm cottage near the second bridge? That's where we seemed to be.
Honor came behind me. She had the frigging nerve to clutch my arm and pull herself up. Gluck shone the light at my longboat, still and silent. Somebody must have moved it, right? Hope surged. Who? Could it be Sorbo, my one remaining trusty pal? If so, how come Dieter Gluck knew it would be waiting at this exact spot? The instant the light clicked out, I glimpsed a coracle among the floating weeds, maybe ten paces off. For a frantic second I had visions of making a heroic bound for freedom, swimming underwater, hiding among the bulrushes.
'Escape, Lovejoy?' Gluck gloated. 'I think not.' His gun clicked. Why do they do that?
'Dive in if you like. I'd shoot you when you surfaced. Nobody would hear. Get him aboard, Honor.'
Honor went across the gangplank first. I followed, wobbling perilously.
'About time,' Hymie's voice said from the cabin. 'Hello, Lovejoy.'
'Hello, Hymie,' I said, pathetically still hoping.
'Let's do it and get the fuck ahta here,' Hymie said. 'This country's the pits for cold and damp.'
Hope can't be trusted. 'Kill me, Hymie?' I quavered, scared stiff. 'You think that will be the end of it? Kill me, you'll be in clover? Dream on.'
'That's enough, Lovejoy.'
Gluck must have clubbed me, for I felt a shudder, went onto my knees. I tried to keep talking. A small door tapped its brass bolt on my temple, joining the fun.
'You're no more Honor's brother than I am, Hymie,' I said to the deck. Torchlight flickered more madness before my eyes. 'Are you Gluck's supposed cousin, the bruiser Tinker called Kenelley? Gluck and Honor will let you kill me, then they'll top you. They'll make it look like we fought each other. Can't you see the frigging obvious?' , A movement behind told me Gluck was readying another swing. I hunched, took a stunning blow to the side of my
