Poisoned Cherries (16 page)

“No.
 
I have a couple of business interests; non-executive directorships.
 
I’m on the board of the Gantry Group; you’ll have heard of us, I’m sure.”
 
I looked him in the eyes as I said it.
 
Not a single lash batted, never mind an eyelid; he didn’t give as much as a twitch.

“Of course,” he rumbled.
 
“You and Susie have a personal connection, don’t you?”

“Yes.
 
She’s my fiancee.”
 
The word came out without my even thinking about it.
 
Christ, Blackstone, I said to myself.
 
What’s got into you?

“You’re in for an interesting life, then.
 
She’s quite a lady; a businesswoman after my own heart, as a matter of fact.”

“I’m glad to hear you approve.
 
But that has nothing to do with my visit.
 
No, it’s my other directorship that brings me here.
 
I know you’ve heard of the unfortunate death of David Capperauld.”
 
This time, James Torrent did blink.
 
“Well, as it happens, Alison Goodchild’s an old friend of mine.
 
She’s asked me to join her board, to help her through, and I’ve agreed.”

“Mmm.”
 
The murmur sounded like a drill cutting into rock.
 
“There’s a turn-up for the books.”
 
He paused.
 
“But you did say non-executive, earlier.”

“I did, but I take my responsibilities seriously.
 
I have some time on my hands, so I thought I should visit all of our major clients, to assure them personally that David’s loss isn’t going to cause a vacuum in the management of the business, and that its quality of service will continue as before.”

Torrent gave me that half-leer again.
 
“I’m delighted to hear it, Oz. I value Alison’s advice greatly.”

“I’m glad to hear that too.
 
I confess to having had a doubt about that, given the emphasis you placed on the importance of securing Ewan Capperauld to perform your opening ceremony.
 
She gave me the impression that it was a condition of continued employment, in fact.”

He shrugged his shoulders.
 
“I’m sorry if she took me so literally.

It’s my style, I’m afraid.
 
I like to keep my people on their toes.
 
This is a hard business I’m in, son, and I’ve been growing it for a long time.
 
I didn’t get here by being everyone’s favourite uncle.

“I have the greatest respect for Alison, and admiration for her as a professional.
 
Of course, it would be good to have someone as eminent as Ewan Capperauld visit this building, and even more to have him open it, but there are others.
 
I’m sure the First Minister would be pleased to do the job.

“If Alison thought I was being threatening when I mentioned Capperauld’s name, then please give her my apologies and tell her not to give it another thought.”
 
He shot me a quick, perceptive glance.
 
“Of course, you’re making a film with him, aren’t you?”

I nodded.
 
“Yes, and I’ll ask him, first chance I get.
 
I’ve never met him, you understand, but most actors are ego maniacs
 
The chance to have his name on a plaque on an important building might be too much for him to turn down.”

“Let’s hope so.
 
Tell him he can name his own fee ... within reason, of course.
 
Or if he’d prefer it, I’ll make a substantial donation to a charity of his choice, in recognition of the event.”

“Okay, I’ll put that to him.”
 
Torrent’s affability had thrown me; I had gone in there partly to check Alison’s story, and partly to do battle.
 
I had expected him either to deny everything, or to give me a hard time.
 
The last thing I had anticipated was that he would be reasonable.
 
I began to harbour my first doubt about Ms Goodchild; maybe she wasn’t good at all.

Still, having Torrent in this sort of mood was an opportunity too good to miss.
 
I decided to push my luck just a little further.
 
“One of the areas Alison’s asked me to look at is the company’s cash flow
 
This has all happened very quickly, so I haven’t had a chance to look at the debtor lists.
 
Can you recall if you’re holding any outstanding invoices?”

That grin again; cheesy this time.
 
“I’m sure we are,” he chortled.
 
“We’re bloody slow payers.
 
I’m good at cash management too, Oz.”
 
He picked up one of his telephones and pushed a button.
 
“Nat,” he said into the phone.
 
“Dig out all the pending Goodchild Capperauld invoices, total them up and make payment in full today, through the system, then send out the usual notification.”

He hung up and turned back to me.
 
“The money, whatever it is, should be in your bank by close of play this afternoon.
 
We pay all our regular suppliers by electronic transfer these days.
 
This is a cash less business.
 
I hired a security consultant a few years back, and that was his first recommendation.
 
Good chap; he’s an ex-policeman. He was pretty senior, before he decided to retire.”

“His name isn’t Ross, is it?”

The great head nodded.
 
“Yes, it is.
 
Do you know him?”

“He’s looking after security for the movie.”

“You’ll be fine, then.
 
He’s a very sound man, is Richard.”

Fucking tight-lipped as well, I thought.
 
Ricky had known I was going to see Torrent, and he’d said nothing about his connection with him.

“That’s reassuring,” I said.
 
“I knew him as a copper; he was a real collar and front then, I can tell you.”

He looked puzzled at my slang for a moment, then worked it out.
 
I stood, and he followed suit.
 
“I mustn’t keep you any longer,” I told him.
 
“I’m grateful to you for putting me right on Capperauld, and for your payment.
 
Alison will be pleased on both scores.”

“That’s good.”
 
I glanced at him; he seemed genuine.
 
“Oh yes,” he continued, “I should have mentioned this earlier.
 
Please give the young lady my deepest condolences.
 
David’s death must be a terrible blow to her, both in personal and business terms.
 
I had very little to do with him, but I found him a very pleasant young man when we did meet..
 
.”
 
He gave a small sad laugh.
 
‘..
 
. Even if he didn’t get on with his famous cousin.”
 
He pushed a button on his phone.

“I’m a great believer in family values, Oz,” he rumbled as he walked me to the door.
 
“I’ve never married myself, but I treat my late sister’s daughter as my own.
 
I couldn’t do without her, in fact.”
 
At that moment, the door opened and Natalie Morgan appeared.
 
“Could I, my dear?”

“Could you what, Uncle James?”

“Do without you.”

She smiled, for the first time in my presence.
 
It was supercharged, and it made her eyes shine like deep blue pools.
 
“Absolutely not,” she said.

Twenty-Four.

I drove straight to Ricky’s place, without calling to let him know I was coming.

“Thanks, pal,” I said, when he opened the door.
 
“You might have bloody told me you work for Torrent.”

“Why?”
 
he retorted.
 
“I treat all my clients on a confidential basis.
 
I’m in the security business, for fuck’s sake.
 
Anyway, what difference would it have made?”

“You might have saved me a trip.”

“How?
 
I don’t bug his fucking office.
 
I don’t know what he did or didn’t tell Alison.”

He had a point; I cooled down.
 
“How is she, anyway?”
 
I asked him.

Ross shrugged his shoulders and nodded towards the kitchen, at the back of the narrow hall.
 
“Nervous; we still haven’t heard from Ronnie Morrow.
 
She’s in the kitchen knocking up some lunch; go and ask her yourself.”
 
His tone was as he looked; offhand.

I did as he suggested.
 
She had her back to the door as I stepped into the room.
 
“Do you want HP sauce on your corned beef?”
 
she asked.
 
There was something in her voice too, and I knew at once what it was.
 
Even in that simple question, she sounded just as she had a few years back, when she and I had been together and she’d been making breakfast at my place.
 
Alison always sounded guilty after sex, as if it was something she shouldn’t have been doing.
 
For some reason, she also consumed large quantities of brown sauce the morning after.

“I’ll take mustard on mine, thanks.”

She jumped at the sound of my voice and turned round.
 
She caught me frowning at her, and turned red.
 
“Did you shag him?”
 
I asked her. She turned even redder.

“That’s .. .”

“None of my business, I know.
 
Except for the fact that I’m out there trying to help my old friend, the grieving fiancee, and all the time she’s doing the fucking horizontal mambo with her minder.

“You know what?”
 
I’m starting to have serious doubts about you, Alison.”

“Why?”
 
she protested.
 
“I’m frightened, and I was lonely; I needed to be with someone.
 
You made your feelings clear the other night, and Ricky was kind to me, so ...”

I reached out, opened one of the kitchen drawers and took a look inside.
 
“What are you doing?”
 
she asked.

“Checking for ice-picks, or other sharp objects,” I told her.

“Oz!”
 
She squealed my name.

“No, listen.
 
Did you have any sort of a relationship with David, other than business?
 
Were you really engaged to him?”

The blush left her cheeks; she looked down at the floor, and gnawed her lip.
 
“Not any more,” she whisphered.
 
“He broke it off a month ago.”

“Did he tell you why?”

“He was seeing someone else.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“And all that carry-on on Sunday night; getting me to thump on his door.
 
What was that about?”

“I was hoping she’d be there, whoever she was.
 
I wanted to cause a scene, to embarrass him.”

“So you used me?”

“Yes.
 
I’m sorry.”
 
A spark of the new Alison flared up in her.
 
“But why should I be?
 
You used me often enough in the past.”
 
She had me there.

“I taught you bloody well, then,” I shot back at her.
 
“Okay,” I went on.
 
“So David dumped you a month ago.
 
How did you manage to conduct a business relationship after that?”

“We didn’t.
 
He walked out of the business as well, and he demanded half the assets.”

“What assets?
 
You told me the business had a cash problem.”

“It’s still worth quite a bit, though, as a trading entity.
 
David had the shares valued by our auditor.
 
He was insisting that I buy him out or that the company bought his shares in.
 
I couldn’t afford that and neither could the business.
 
Anyway..
 
.”
 
her voice rose, and hardened; ‘... it wasn’t fair.
 
I would never agree to that.
 
He never pulled his weight at work.
 
I won most of the clients, and I serviced most of them myself.”

“I’ll bet you did.
 
That’s probably why he chucked you.”

She ignored my wisecrack.
 
“He did ten per cent of the work yet he wanted half the value.
 
I wasn’t going to let him away with that.
 
I offered him one fifth of what the auditor claimed his shares were worth.
 
He laughed at me, and told me that if I didn’t give him what he wanted he’d withdraw his personal guarantee of our overdraft, and the bank would pull the plug on everything.”

“Oh shit,” I heard myself bellow, just as the kitchen door opened again behind me, and Ricky Ross walked in.

“Indeed,” he said.
 
“I’m afraid you’re cooked, dear.”

I stared at him.
 
The offhand look had gone; now he looked very interested, and bloody pleased with himself too.
 
“You son of a .. .” I hissed.
 
“You might not have bugged Torrent’s place, but you’ve done your own, haven’t you?”

White teeth gleamed.
 
“Once a copper, Oz, always ...”
 
That was as far as he got before I sank my right fist deep into his gut.
 
The breath rushed out of him and he folded up.
 
Alison just stood there, bewildered, staring at us, both hands pressed to her mouth.