The Drop

couldn’t be seen from the road. Lord knows how many rooms Amrein had. He was clearly doing pretty well for himself, on the back of us and others.
    Two of Amrein’s men met us at the door and patted us down, quick and professional like. They even took our keys, car keys, wallets and my silver Cross pen, leaving nothing that could remotely be used as a weapon. The only thing they didn’t touch was the case Finney was carrying. He wasn’t going to let go of that until he was face to face with Amrein.
    We were shown into a large dining room with a highly-polished table that would have comfortably seated a dozen for dinner. Sunlight shone through the enormous French windows at the far end, picking out little specks of dust that hung in the air.
    ‘Mister Amrein will be here presently Mister Blake,’ said one of the men who’d patted us down. We stayed on our feet and, sure enough, a few moments later, Amrein himself arrived with yet another bodyguard and a third man who didn’t look like muscle. Amrein was a small man in late middle age. His hair was receding around a widow’s peak and he wore wire-framed spectacles on his long, angular nose. His thin, bloodless lips were pressed tightly together like he meant business. Amrein looked more like a banker than a villain. Some times I think the world is run by small men in wire-framed spectacles.
    There were handshakes and I introduced Finney. If Amrein was put off by the presence of Bobby’s scariest employee, he chose not to show it.
    ‘Gentlemen please,’ he said amiably as he held out a hand to indicate we should each take a seat around the table. Amrein’s English was flawless, without a trace of accent. He’d been educated somewhere very expensive but he still had the look of a foreigner. Was he Swiss, Belgian, Nordic? He was impossible to place. Amrein sat with us while the bodyguard stayed on his feet behind him. Finney handed over the case and left the talking to me.
    ‘Thank you,’ he said, immediately handing the case to the bodyguard who in turn gave it to the third man. He opened it on a small table and began to silently count the contents, expertly skimming the notes with his fingertips.
    Amrein smiled slightly, like I’d just given him a belated birthday present. ‘Of course I don’t have to mention that it is late.’
    ‘A week late,’ I admitted, ‘we had a problem,’ I wasn’t looking to concede much more than that, ‘which is why you will find an additional payment,’ I assured him.
    ‘Most gracious,’ he dipped his head to acknowledge this, ‘but I am afraid the issue is rather more complicated than a little… ’ he seemed to be searching for the right word, ‘… interest. The funds were already allocated,’ he told me, ‘committed elsewhere. The lateness of the payment caused me considerable embarrassment. There was some… ’ again he thought for a while before choosing his words carefully, ‘… consternation,’ he spread his palms and in one gesture seemed to convey the fact that he was a reasonable man who had been placed in an entirely unreasonable position. I knew I had to walk a thin line between winning him over and acting like his poodle.
    ‘Mister Mahoney understands your liquidity issue and he appreciates your position, which is why he sends his apologies, along with a generous commission to alleviate the inconvenience caused.’ God I was starting to sound just like Amrein. We both glanced over at the man who had been counting. He finished and gave Amrein an affirmative nod, as if to confirm the generosity of Bobby’s additional bung. My guess was all of it would go straight into Amrein’s pocket without being kicked up to any one.
    ‘Notwithstanding,’ he said, in that lawyer-speak he favoured, ‘this must never be allowed to happen again. You do understand that? Bobby Mahoney does understand that?’
    ‘Of course,’ I told him, ‘that’s why I am here personally. That’s why Mister Finney has accompanied me today.’
    ‘Good,’ he said as if the matter was concluded, ‘would you walk with me in my garden?’
    I nodded, assuming he didn’t just want to show me his rhododendrons. Finney and I both rose with Amrein and the bodyguard opened the French windows for us to step through. Amrein looked at Finney, ‘would you excuse us for a time?’ he asked. Finney looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. Amrein and I walked out onto a manicured lawn so immaculate he must have had a platoon of