The Amber Knight Read Online Free PDF Page A

Adam.
    ‘It’s dark in this corner.’
    ‘It is.’ Josef glanced at the ring of lights set in the paved area in front of the hotel. ‘How did you know you’d stumbled into a body?’
    ‘I kicked it and it didn’t move.’
    ‘Could have been a drunk.’
    ‘Drunks don’t leak blood. I laid a hand on him.’
    ‘Were you alone?’
    ‘Helga was with me, we were on our way home. I’ve had a long day and she’d just finished a ten hour shift,’ Adam said.
    ‘The luscious Helga. I must have a word with her.’
    ‘She didn’t see a thing. When I realised he was dead I sent her into the hotel to get the manager.’
    ‘Were you with Helga all night?’ Josef motioned Adam to join him as he walked over the hotel gardens towards the sea.
    ‘No, I left her in the casino after Kaszuba was thrown out, cashed my chips…’
    ‘You won?’
    ‘Not a lot.’
    ‘What were you playing?’
    ‘Blackjack, not that it’s any of your business.’
    ‘And after you cashed your chips?’ Josef prompted.
    ‘I took a vodka on to the terrace and waited for Helga.’
    ‘Did anyone see you?’
    ‘Anyone who cared to look,’ Adam snapped, exhaustion making him irritable.
    ‘How long were you out there?’
    ‘I don’t know – five – ten minutes perhaps.’
    ‘Did you hear or see anything?’
    ‘The usual, lovers on the beach…’
    ‘I didn’t know you were a voyeur.’
    ‘Josef, I’ve been up since five,’ Adam reminded him irritably.
    ‘Haven’t we all?’
    ‘Can’t this wait until morning?’ Adam pleaded.
    ‘I suppose so, if you give me your passport.’
    ‘What?’ Adam glared at him.
    ‘Your passport, you must have it. You wouldn’t have been allowed to play in the casino without it.’
    ‘You can’t be serious? Come on, this is an open and shut case. It’s Kaszuba you should be looking for.’
    ‘We don’t need to look for Kaszuba. We’ve got him. Took him into custody five minutes after he was thrown out of the casino.’
    ‘You bastard! You’ve been wasting my time asking questions you already know the answers to.’
    ‘Not exactly. That corpse was alive when the locals picked up Kaszuba. If you left the casino shortly after Kaszuba, he must have been killed during the time you cashed in your chips and bought a drink. How long was that?’
    ‘It was five to two when I left the casino.’
    ‘You’re very sure of that, considering you couldn’t remember how long you were out on the terrace.’
    ‘I looked at my watch. I remember thinking Helga only had five minutes of her shift to go.’
    ‘And we logged the call at half past two. So if you were out on the terrace for ten minutes – say quarter of an hour at the most, the murder must have taken place in the five to ten minutes that elapsed between us picking up Kaszuba and you walking outside, unless he was murdered while you were on the terrace.’ Josef looked back at the hotel. ‘You were on the terrace outside the bar?’
    ‘I’ve already told you I was.’
    ‘You would have heard something if the murder had happened then, don’t you think? A scuffle? A cry?’
    ‘That depends on how much noise they made about it.’
    ‘I don’t think Rat would have died easy if he saw his killer beforehand. Perhaps the murderer knew Rat was in the casino, lay in wait and took him by surprise.’
    ‘Unless he had an old score to settle and came across Rat by chance.’
    ‘That’s the Mafia for you. Cross them, and they never forget it.’
    ‘If I were you, I’d ask Kaszuba how he acquired fifty thousand American dollars. If he and Rat stole it, it’s my guess there’s one pissed-off person around somewhere.’
    ‘Perhaps more pissed off than you know. Kaszuba insists the money belonged to Rat.’
    ‘Perhaps whoever Rat stole it from, got to him. As they couldn’t collect their money, they collected his life. A warning to anyone else who has an eye on Mafia money.’ Adam thought for a moment. ‘Do you really believe Rat stole the