The Legacy (10 page)

‘OK,' said Briggs, ‘you were unlucky but I can't see anything dodgy so far.'

‘No,' replied Knowles, ‘but I was intrigued by the story and I decided to dig into it. You've got to remember that there was a fifteen year gap between the deal and the old boy telling me about it in York. It was hard to track anyone from the film company down but eventually we found a chap who remembered the incident well. He'd been the head of contracts at the time and he remembered the CEO forcing him to sign the contract with Demon Toys. He queried it because he reckoned that he could get a better deal with a different company but the CEO was adamant. It turns out that the CEO was an old friend and, after a couple of heated discussions, he admitted that he and his wife had been physically threatened. Apparently, he'd been told that if Demon Toys didn't get the contract, then something unpleasant would happen to his wife and children. It seems that the threats were very convincing.'

‘Interesting,' said Briggs. ‘I don't suppose you know who put the pressure on them?'

‘No,' replied Knowles. ‘The CEO died before I started digging around. The chap in contracts told me everything he knew - which wasn't much - but it set me thinking. The only beneficiary of this, other than the company itself, was International Valiant. I don't have the exact figures but I suspect they made several million out of the deal because by the time they sold their shares, the company had become the UK's major manufacturer of film-related toys. It had expanded significantly and was, by all accounts, flourishing. It still is as a matter of fact.'

Knowles paused. He took a long sip of his water and then signalled to one of the hovering waiters that they were ready to order. The waiter recommended the Beef Wellington which both men were happy to try. Knowles ordered a bottle of the Club Claret and then continued with his story.

‘The story about Demon Toys made me think. I got my team to dig into International Valiant's deals over the last few years. I've invested a fair amount of money with them myself and we were therefore able to piece together a reasonable picture of their activity. There were some striking successes which nobody, and I mean nobody, would have predicted. We selected six of these and started digging deeper. Four of the six successes were remarkable. International Valiant seemed to know exactly when an event would occur that would cause seismic changes to share prices. On each occasion, they were doing exactly the opposite of what the rest of the market was doing and, as a result, they made hundreds of millions.' Knowles paused to allow the waiter to serve the wine.

‘Go on,' prompted Briggs.

‘I hired a discrete and very expensive firm of private investigators to add another level of detail to our research. I've used them before a number of times. They are very thorough and I trust them. They interviewed people in the six companies we'd selected and the story was the same: threats, a few physical assaults to reinforce the point, a handful of accidental deaths and a couple of supposedly random murders. Again, people were reluctant to talk but from what the investigators managed to unearth, it's clear that somebody has been engineering events to get the outcome they wanted.' Knowles stopped whilst the waiter served their food.

‘This is quite a story Richard,' said Briggs. ‘How sure of your facts are you?'

‘Very,' said Knowles. ‘The same thing happened again a few weeks ago with a company called Tokifora.' Knowles went on to explain his interest in the company and his discussion with Highworth.

‘You realise that if what you are saying is true, you've put yourself in a lot of danger by confronting Highworth,' said Briggs.

‘Yes,' said Knowles. ‘That's why I wanted to see you urgently and why I'm explaining all of this. I've also had the team put everything we've discovered in a report. It's on this,' he said, taking a memory stick out of his pocket and waving it at Briggs. ‘All the transactions we've been able to identify as well as the details of the interviews carried out by the private investigators are in the report. Where we can, we've also included newspaper cuttings about any deaths, accidental or otherwise, that we think are connected. It's quite a package,' said Knowles, handing it over to Briggs.

Briggs looked at it and then put it in his own pocket. He trusted Knowles but he was intrigued by his motivation. ‘Why are you doing this Richard?' he asked.

‘I might be a ruthless bastard Jim, but I've never broken the law. Highworth has cost me a small fortune over the years. I can live with that but he was one step ahead of me so many times that I was starting to lose faith in my ability to read the market. It was almost a relief when we worked out that he's not playing by the same rules as the rest of us. He needs to be stopped Richard, sooner rather than later.'

‘I agree,' said Briggs. ‘What do you suggest?'

‘I've thought long and hard about this over the last few months. My initial thoughts were that I should leak it to the press but he's got so much to lose that he'll deny it to buy time and then do whatever it takes to silence the critics. He'll also try and destroy any evidence or anything that can link him to any of this. I've no doubt that he won't think twice about killing a few more people if it helps protect him and I'm therefore convinced that the only way to stop him is through the courts. I realise that this will take time and that you'll need to verify everything I've said but it's the only way.'

‘I agree,' said Briggs. ‘I'll look at the stuff you've given me tonight. If it stacks up, I'll get the team started on it first thing tomorrow. If we can make this stick, it's going to have very significant repercussions. I've no doubt that lots of very powerful people have money invested in International Valiant. They probably know nothing about any of this but they've made a great deal of money with Highworth at the helm and we're going to come under a lot of pressure not to prosecute him once word gets out.'

‘Thank you Richard. By the way,' said Knowles, ‘the password for the file is “Belinda”.'

Briggs laughed. It was the name of the blonde girl they'd fought over in Avoriaz all those years ago!

Chapter 22

I
sobel and Lucy fastened their seatbelts as the plane began its descent towards Edinburgh Airport. Looking through the windows Lucy could see the city lights far below her. Straining, she could just make out the black ribbon that marked the river as it led from the sea and up the Firth of Forth to the north of the city. Rain streaked the windows. ‘What a surprise!' she thought to herself. It's always raining in Edinburgh. Not normal rain like everywhere else but big fat drops that soaked you to the skin in no time at all. Despite this, she loved the city. Both the Old and the New Town had their attractions. On balance, she preferred the New Town for shopping and the Old Town for a night out. Both were dominated by the Castle, a stunning building that seemed to grow out of the volcanic plug on which it was built. She'd been to a few parties there when she was younger. A friend of hers had been engaged to a young Army officer from one of the Scottish Regiments that had their Headquarters in the Castle. The parties had been great fun though, if she were honest, she'd never really mastered the highland dancing that seemed to be obligatory at most formal evening functions held north of the border with England.

The plane landed and within a few minutes they were invited to unfasten their seatbelts and leave the plane. ‘Are you OK?' asked Isobel, clearly concerned for her friend.

‘Yes, I'm fine,' replied Lucy with a weary smile.

They collected their bags and took a taxi to the city hospital. She tried phoning Kate on the way to tell her that they had arrived but there was no answer. She left a few messages on the answerphone and sent her a text telling her that they would be at the hospital in twenty minutes. Her phone beeped a few minutes later. It was a text from Kate telling her that she'd meet them outside the main entrance. Lucy assumed that Kate must be in the hospital and unable to talk on the phone. ‘That's a good sign,' she thought to herself.

The taxi approached the main entrance of the hospital and Lucy could see Kate standing outside, having a cigarette. ‘Here's fine,' Lucy said to the taxi driver as he pulled up outside the main door. Isobel paid the driver whilst Lucy got out and went to Kate.

‘I'm so sorry Lucy,' said Kate, bursting into tears. ‘I'm afraid he died about four hours ago. He never really regained consciousness except for one brief moment when I was telling him that you were on your way. I spoke to him for hours but this was the only time that he gave any sign of having heard me. I'm so, so sorry.' She pulled Lucy to her and held her tight, her tears falling on Lucy's shoulders.

Lucy was numb with shock. She couldn't believe that her inde-structible Dad, the man who had been the one constant source of strength throughout her life, was dead. ‘Surely there's been some sort of mistake?' she thought to herself. ‘It can't be true.' She started to sob uncontrollably. Isobel caught her as she slipped from Kate's grasp and started to fall to her knees on the pavement. ‘Why my Dad?' she shouted. ‘Why is it my Mum and my Dad that have to die?' Isobel helped her to her feet and hugged her tightly. She led her to a bench opposite the entrance and sat her down.

‘It's all right, Lucy, let it all out,' said Isobel, gently stroking Lucy's hair off her forehead.

‘But it's not all fucking right is it?' shouted Lucy. ‘My Dad's dead.'

Isobel was lost for words. She'd never seen her friend so upset and she wasn't sure what to do other than to hold her and to try and comfort her. Slowly, Lucy's cries subsided. Eventually, she stood up and took several deep breaths. She was trying hard to get a grip of herself. ‘Can I see him?' she asked Kate.

‘Yes, I should think so,' replied Kate. ‘I told the doctors that you'd be here very shortly. They said they wouldn't move him until you'd had a chance to see him and to talk to them. Are you sure you want to do this?'

‘Yes, I must,' she replied. ‘I need to see him one last time. I need to say goodbye.' She still didn't believe it. She needed to see for herself that this wasn't some sort of cruel mistake.

Kate led Lucy into the hospital. They took the lift to the second floor in silence. Kate was sobbing quietly into her handkerchief. Lucy stood in silence. She suspected she was in shock. He'd always seemed so indestructible that she'd never really thought about what life would be like without him. All through her life, he had been there; big, strong, capable and always hugely supportive. She'd loved him so much. All of a sudden she felt very alone indeed. The tears started to well up in her eyes again and she reached for Kate's hand. ‘You loved him didn't you Kate?'

‘Yes, yes I did,' replied Kate. ‘I've loved him for years.' She would have continued but the lift arrived at the second floor and the door opened. Kate led them down the corridor.

Lucy's heart was beating fast. She could feel the anger welling up inside her. She was angry that someone had taken her father from her and that he had died before she had had the chance to say goodbye. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

They went into a single room off the main corridor. It smelt of antiseptic. This surprised Lucy. She'd never experienced death at first hand before but she'd expected the room to smell musty and old. Her father lay on a single bed behind a curtain screen. She pulled the curtain aside and looked at his face. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful, as though in a deep and satisfying sleep. There were no marks or bruises. A young doctor came in and pulled the curtain the rest of the way back. He turned to look at Lucy, compassion clear in his eyes. ‘Are you his daughter?' he asked.

‘Yes,' replied Lucy without taking her eyes off her father. ‘Yes, I am.'

‘I'm so sorry,' he said. ‘We did everything we could but the knife penetrated deep into his body. There was a lot of internal damage. We were amazed that he hung on for so long. He must have been a tough man.'

‘Yes, he was. He was very tough. Do you know what happened?' she asked the doctor.

‘Not really,' he replied, ‘but I'll tell you what I know. An ambulance brought him in yesterday. He'd been stabbed and then left for dead down a back alley. Somehow, he'd crawled to the main road before passing out. A couple of students found him and called 999. The ambulance brought him here and we operated as soon as we could but there was too much damage. It looks like whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing but I'm not sure the police see it that way.'

‘What do you mean?' asked Lucy.

‘I spoke to the police after we'd operated and told them pretty much what I've just told you. They didn't seem that interested. We get lots of stabbings at weekends, not as many as in Glasgow but a fair few. They seemed to think it was just one of those things, an argument that ended in a fight or a mugging.' The doctor paused. ‘The police were here this afternoon. They left when they realised that your father wasn't going to regain consciousness.'

‘Thank you,' said Lucy, turning to face the doctor. ‘Thank you for trying to save him, he would have appreciated that.' Lucy stared at the doctor. He was in his early thirties. He looked familiar but Lucy couldn't place him.

Isobel came into the room and stood next to Lucy. She squeezed her hand. ‘I'm so sorry,' she said. ‘I was hoping we were going to get here and find that it had all been a dreadful mistake.'

‘Me too,' said Lucy. ‘But there's no mistake. My Dad's dead and there's nothing I can do about it.' There was a long silence before Lucy asked if she could have a few minutes alone with her father.

Kate, Isobel and the doctor left the room. Lucy found her father's hand. She loved him so much and now he was gone. The tears welled up in her eyes. She took a deep breath, more to control the anger that she could feel simmering inside her than to stop the tears. ‘I'll find whoever did this Dad,' she said to his body. ‘And when I do, they'll wish they'd never been born.' She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. Then she went and found the doctor in the corridor. She could grieve later; she had a lot to do.