Kane & Abel (1979) Read online

  When they rounded the final bend, Florentyna saw her father’s birthright for the first time. Abel brought the car to a halt and gazed at his castle. Neither of them spoke. What was there to say? They stared in shock and disbelief at the remains of the bombed-out shell of his dream.

  They climbed slowly out of the car. Still neither spoke. Florentyna held her father’s hand very, very tightly as the tears rolled down his cheeks. Only one wall remained precariously standing in a semblance of its former glory; the rest was nothing more than a pile of rubble. He could not bear to tell her of the great halls, the sprawling wings, the vast kitchens and the luxurious bedrooms.

  Abel walked across to three mounds, now smooth with thick green moss, that marked the graves of the Baron, his friend Leon and his other beloved Florentyna. He paused at each one, thinking that Leon and Florentyna should still be alive today. He knelt by their side, the dreadful visions of their final moments vividly returning to him. His daughter stood beside him, her hand resting on his shoulder, saying nothing.

  A long time passed before Abel rose to his feet. They tramped over the ruins together, hand in hand, broken slabs of stone marking the places where once magnificent staterooms had been filled with laughter. Abel still said nothing. When they clambered down into the dungeons Abel sat on the floor of the damp little room under the grille, or the half of the grille that was still left. He twisted the silver band around and around his wrist.

  ‘This is where your father spent four years of his life.’

  ‘It can’t be possible,’ said Florentyna.

  ‘It’s better now than it was then. At least now there’s fresh air, birds singing, the sun shining and a feeling of freedom. Then there was only darkness, death, the stench of death, and worst of all, the hope of death.’

  ‘Come on, Daddy, let’s get out of here. Staying can only bring back more unhappy memories.’

  Florentyna led her reluctant father back to the car, and drove slowly down the long drive. Abel didn’t once look back towards his ruined castle as he passed through its iron gates for the last time.

  On the journey to Warsaw, Abel hardly spoke, and Florentyna abandoned any attempt to cheer him up.

  When he finally said, ‘There is now only one thing left that I must achieve in this life,’ she wondered what he could possibly mean, but she did not press him to explain. She did, however, manage to coax him into spending another weekend in London on their return journey, which she hoped would help him forget his demented old foster mother and what was left of his inheritance.

  They flew to London the next day. Once they had booked into Claridge’s, Florentyna went off to see old friends and make new ones. Abel went through the newspapers that had been accumulating at the hotel since they had last been there. He did not like knowing that things didn’t stop while he was away; it reminded him only too clearly that the world would keep turning without him. A report on an inside page of the previous day’s Times caught his attention. Something had happened while he was away. An Interstate Airways Vickers Viscount had crashed immediately after take-off from Mexico airport on its way to Panama City. The seventeen passengers and crew had all been killed. The Mexican authorities were placing the blame firmly on Interstate’s bad servicing of its aircraft, while Interstate blamed the Mexican mechanics. Abel picked up the phone and asked the switchboard operator for an overseas line.

  Saturday. He’s probably in Chicago, thought Abel. He thumbed through his little address book to check the home number.

  ‘There’ll be a delay of about thirty minutes,’ said a precise English voice.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Abel, and lay down on the bed to wait impatiently. The phone rang twenty minutes later.

  ‘Your overseas call is on the line, sir,’ said the same precise voice.

  Abel, is that you? Where are you?’

  ‘Sure is, Henry. I’m in London.’

  ‘Are you through?’ said the girl, who was back on the line.

  ‘I haven’t even started,’ said Abel.

  ‘I’m sorry, sir, I mean are you speaking to America?’

  ‘Oh yes, sure. Thank you. Jesus, Henry, they speak a different language over here.’

  Osborne laughed.

  ‘Now listen. Did you hear about that Interstate plane that crashed at Mexico City?’

  ‘Yes, I did. But there’s nothing for you to worry about. The plane was properly insured, so the company’s incurred no loss, and the stock has only dropped a few cents.’

  ‘The insurance is the last thing I’m interested in,’ said Abel. ‘This could be an ideal opportunity to find out just how strong Mr Kane’s constitution is.’

  ‘I don’t understand, Abel. What are you getting at?’

  ‘Listen carefully, and I’ll explain exactly what I want you to do when the Stock Exchange opens on Monday morning. I’ll be back in New York by Tuesday to conduct the final movement myself.’

  Osborne listened attentively to Abel’s instructions. Twenty minutes later, Abel replaced the phone on its hook.

  He was through.

  46

  WILLIAM REALIZED that he could expect more trouble from Abel Rosnovski when Curtis Fenton phoned to let him know that the Chicago Baron was closing all the group’s bank accounts with Continental Trust, and accusing Fenton of disloyalty and unethical conduct.

  ‘I thought I did the correct thing in writing to you about Mr Rosnovski’s acquisitions in Lester’s,’ said the banker unhappily, ‘and it’s ended with my losing one of my most important customers. I don’t know how my board of directors will react.’

  William calmed Fenton down a little by promising him he would speak to his superiors at Continental Trust. He was, however, more concerned about what Rosnovski’s next move would be.

  It was another month before he found out. William was checking over the morning mail when a call came through from his broker, who told him that someone had placed a million dollars’ worth of Interstate Airways stock on the market. William told him that his trust would pick up the shares, and the broker issued an immediate buy order. At two o’clock that afternoon another million dollars’ worth was put on the market. Before William had a chance to pick them up, the price started to fall. By the time the New York Stock Exchange closed at three o’clock, the share price of Interstate Airways had fallen by a third.

  At ten minutes past ten the next morning, William received a call from his now agitated broker. Another million dollars’ worth of Interstate stock had been placed on the market at the opening bell. The broker reported that the latest dumping had caused an avalanche of sellers. Brokers with Interstate sell orders were rushing onto the floor from every quarter, and the stock was now trading at only a few cents a share. Only twenty-four hours previously, Interstate had been quoted at four and a half dollars.

  William instructed Alfred Rodgers, the company secretary, to call a board meeting for the following Monday. Before then he needed to confirm who was responsible for dumping the stock. Not that he was in much doubt. By Wednesday afternoon he had to abandon any attempt at shoring up Interstate by buying all the shares as they came on the market. At the close of business that day, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it would be conducting an inquiry into all Interstate transactions. William knew that the Lester’s board would now have to decide whether to support the airline for the three to six months it would take the SEC to complete its investigation, or whether to let the company go under. Either alternative looked extremely damaging, both to William’s pocket and to the bank’s reputation.

  It came as no surprise to William when Thaddeus Cohen rang to confirm that the company that had dumped the three million dollars’ worth of Interstate shares was one of those fronting for Abel Rosnovski. On Thursday morning a spokesman for Guaranty Investment Corporation issued a press release explaining their reasons for selling: they had been very concerned about Inter-state’s future after the Mexican government’s ‘detailed and considered’ statement ab