CHAPTER 38
Sannan called Mark Dobson again at 6am.
“Five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a swimming pool big enough for sharks,” he said.
“Did you see any sharks?”
“It’s empty. Only one bedroom has a bed and looks like it’s used by a Thai – you know, no shower just a tank of water and a baler. I reckon it’s where Chu’s been sleeping because there was a Toyota Camry manual on the floor. But there is a second sitting room like an office. It was locked but I managed to open it. It’s full - a desk, computer and boxes stuffed with paper, a drawer with hundreds of passport sized photographs, another full of mobile phones and a safe. I didn’t touch anything. I came out because it was getting light.”
“Did you leave it clean?”
“Gloves, overshoes – I had everything in the bike.”
“Reset the alarm? Lock up again?”
“Done. No-one would know. But what now?”
“I’ll join you later. Go get some sleep.”
“OK,” he said. “I’ve got the keys to the Toyota but I’ll use my bike.”
At 7am, Colin Asher called to say Peter Lester had checked in at the Ramada Plaza in Malacca for two nights. Also, at 7am, Jeffrey picked up Pascale at the Orange Premier Hotel in Cheras and they headed south. By nine they were in Malacca.
During the drive down, they’d agreed a plan of action. Jeffrey booked to stay at a cheap hotel in downtown Malacca. Pascale chose the Ramada Plaza but was unable to check in until later. Jeffrey waited outside while Pascale asked reception if Mr Peter Lester was booked in. “Yes,” they said.
Pascale then phoned Lester in his room.
“Mr Lester?”
“Who is it?”
“My name is Aldo Adani. I am from Roma, Italy. Is it Vital Cosmetics I speak to?”
There was a hesitant “Yes.”
“Ah, it’s good,” Pascale said in deliberately poor English. “My friend in England tells me about your cosmetics. I am interested for my business in Italy.”
“Who is your friend?”
“She is a customer, I think. She uses Vital hand cream. Yes? So, I phone your office, it is in Oxford, and they tell me that I must speak to Mr Lester. That is you?”
“Yes.”
“Then I say I am in Singapore. They say you are in Malaysia. I say very good so I can visit him. Where is Mr Lester, I ask. They say try PJ Beauty Supplies in KL so I call this company and they say you go to Malacca and maybe stay in Ramada. So here I am.”
“But I am very busy, Mr…”
“Adani. Do you have some samples, Mr Lester? Some prices?”
“I am leaving in half an hour. “
“No problem. We can meet for five minutes?”
There was another pause. “Where are you Mr, uh….”
“Adani.”
“Did you already visit PJ Beauty Supplies with a lady?”
“A lady? No sir. I am alone.”
Five minutes later, Pascale dressed in his best Italian suit and white open-necked shirt was shaking the hand of Peter Lester. Their short conversation would have done nothing to convince Aldo Adani that Vital Cosmetics was a serious business partner. For Lester, the visit the day before by an unknown man and woman to PJ seemed to matter most, but fifteen minutes was enough for Pascale to ask for Lester’s phone number, appear to put it into his own contacts list but send it in a pre-prepared text to Colin Asher in London. Within an hour, using a neat piece of Israeli software Colin Asher would strip out most of what was on Lester’s phone and listen in to his calls.
Lester checked his watch and stood up. He’d had enough. “I must go, Mr, uh...”
“Adani. Will you return later to continue our discussion?”
“I am not sure. “
Pascale left and re-joined Jeffrey outside. “He’s leaving,” he said.
“The last time he came, he rented a car,” Jeffrey replied. Ten minutes later a silver Toyota Vios car with an Avis sticker passed them. “There,” Jeffrey said. “’A few signatures, a copy of his driving licence and credit card and the car belongs to Lester for a while.”
The car stopped by the hotel’s main entrance, the driver got out, disappeared inside and Jeffrey pulled something from his pocket. “Wait here.” In less than five minutes he was back having fixed a miniature tracking device beneath the Toyota.
“Did anyone see?” Pascale asked.
“If they did, they saw me bend down to pick up my car keys. We can track the car on my phone but I don’t think he’s going far. Probably the Min Hin place. After that, well, we’ll see.”
As Jeffrey anticipated the Avis rental went straight to the Min Hin building. Lester went inside. Jeffrey parked amongst the car tyres next door. No-one came out, but there were pallets of boxes outside, waiting to be collected. “We still need to see inside,” Jeffrey said, not for the first time. “At least twelve local Malays work there.”
“What can I do?”
“Nothing while Lester’s there. He’s just met you.” He fell quiet for a moment. “On the other hand, we could always try something different.” He called Mark Dobson.
Mark called Colin Asher. “Anything on Lester’s phone yet?”
“Plenty,” said Colin. “What do you want?”
“Can you text someone from Lester’s phone?”
“Sure. Who?”
“Someone inside the Min Hin building.”
“Got a name?”
“Good question,” Mark replied. “What calls were made to and by Lester in the last twenty-four hours?”
Colin was silent for a few seconds, then: “He received six calls from Bangkok mobiles, two from KL, one of which matches PJ Beauty Supplies, and three from Malacca. He made one call to Bangkok, one to KL and three to Malacca. I can match some to address book names.”
“Any names to the Malacca calls?”
A pause. “Avis Car Rental, call out and call in. One other call to Malacca made at 0739 this morning to.... the address book says Roman.”
“Any others?”
“No.”
“Right. Stay tuned. We might need a text sent from Lester’s phone.”
Mark called Jeffrey. Jeffrey told Pascale and Pascale remembered something. “Roman Kolodin,” he said “One of the names Enzo mentioned.”
Jeffrey told Mark. “Worth a try?” he asked.
“What do you want?”
“When Lester leaves Min Hin we send a text from his phone to Roman Kolodin saying Mr Aldo Adani from Italy is visiting and wants to look around the factory. Please co-operate.”
Mark thought about that. It was high risk. They weren’t even sure that Roman was inside the factory. “Is Pascale up for it?”
Pascale came on the line. “Yes, Mark. For my father.”
The risk was if Roman Kolodin then phoned Lester back to double check. Mark called Colin Asher. “Can you block incoming calls to Lester’s phone for a while?”
“Sure. Easy,” Colin said. “I could also insert an ‘I’m unable to take your call right now’ message if you like.”
They decided to go ahead. After all, they’d been trying to get inside that factory for months. They could also video it. Both Jeffrey and Sannan carried an Asher & Asher modified 16GB spy camera watch that could switch to infrared for night vision if required. To all intents and purposes, they looked like the sort of cheap, chunky watch that kids wore, but they’d made good use of them in the past. Using them to get useful images, though, was an acquired skill if you needed something useful and didn’t want to be spotted. There was no time for all that.