This afternoon Mr Culshaw was unavailable for comment at the family home in Monaco, where he was understood to be comforting his two stepchildren, Janet and John.
His uncle, Mr Philip Culshaw, the chief executive officer of the Gantry Group, said, ‘We are all devastated by this tragedy. The company has a board meeting scheduled for tomorrow, but it is questionable whether it can proceed. In the meantime, shareholders can be assured that its business will continue as usual, in their best interests.’
Sources close to Duncan Culshaw added that he was overcome by the tragedy, but that he would protect his stepchildren’s interests as their new guardian.
I was steaming mad as I handed the iPad to Liam, but I kept quiet until he’d finished reading, and handed it back to Tom. ‘Two points,’ I said, when he had. ‘Phil Culshaw is not the CEO of the Gantry Group, and he never has been. Susie always had executive control, until this morning. I’m the new chair, and I will have a part to play in deciding who the new chief executive will be. Second, he can question all he likes, but the board meeting is going ahead. If he thinks I can be brushed aside …’
Liam touched my arm. ‘Darlin’,’ he murmured. ‘Be cool. This man worked with Susie for years. He’ll be as shocked as the rest of us, so it’s best not to make judgements on what he says in the immediate aftermath, based on quotes in a report that can’t even get the kids’ names right.’
I frowned. ‘Granted. But surely to God he’s not so dazed and confused that he isn’t making a point of getting in touch with me. He knows where I am. Audrey told him.’
‘Oh.’ Tom’s voice was a murmur but it carried across the table.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘I had a phone call,’ he said, ‘in my room. I picked it up and I answered.’
‘How did you answer?’
‘I said Digue at first, then I remembered where I was and said, “Yes?” the way you tell me to answer the phone in English.’ It’s true; I taught him to give nothing away before the caller’s identified himself. ‘There was a silence and then a man said, “Is that …?” then he stopped and said, “No, that’s absurd, it can’t be. I’m sorry, I must have the wrong room,” and then he hung up.’
‘The voice,’ I asked. ‘What can you remember about it? Young or old? What accent?’
‘Older. And he was Scottish, a bit like Grandpa Blackstone, but it definitely wasn’t him.’
I looked at Liam. ‘Culshaw?’
‘Probably.’
‘But why was he put through to Tom’s room?’
My new partner beamed, and his eyes twinkled behind the specs. ‘Because I signed for our room. As far as reception’s concerned, you’re Mrs Matthews. If Culshaw asked, “Do you have a guest named Blackstone?” they’d put him through to Tom automatically.’
‘Okay, I can see that, but when he picked up, why should he ring off like that?’
‘The only thing I can imagine,’ Liam replied, ‘is that he thought he was talking to a ghost. When Tom used his telephone voice just now, it dropped an octave, and went right down to where it’s headed full-time. It even gave me a start and I’m sitting across the table from him. Culshaw must have known Oz well. To hear his son, out of the blue, without knowing who it was …’
Of course. I remembered I’d warned Susie about that very thing, in one of our last conversations. And that made me think of her, and realise that we’d never speak again, and that she would never have the shock of hearing her stepson answer the phone in his father’s voice.
And that made me whisper, ‘Poor Susie,’ lay my head on Liam’s solid, comforting shoulder and shed a few tears.
He slipped an arm around me, with Tom, my young man, looking on. When I was okay and had dried my eyes, thankful that I hadn’t given myself the full treatment and wasn’t in need of repair, I was aware that there was a waitress hovering, ready to take our orders. I hadn’t even looked at the menu, so I told Liam that fish of the day would be fine by me, if that’s what he fancied; he did. Tom is still a full-on carnivore; he opted for steak and chips.
I went with Liam’s suggestion and joined the guys in the fizzy water. ‘Should you call Culshaw?’ he asked as we waited for the bowl of green salad that he’d ordered as our starter.
‘Hell, no. If I did, we’d probably get into an argument about whether the meeting should go ahead or not. I don’t need that right now … nor is there any need for it. The company secretary had his instructions. It’s been convened. End of story.’
‘What’s the agenda?’
‘The usual; minutes of previous meeting, chair’s remarks, review of current activities, finance director’s report, any other competent business.’
‘Will there be?’
‘Other business? Almost certainly, but I’ll decide whether it’s competent or not.’
Liam smiled. ‘You’re looking forward to it, aren’t you?’
‘No,’ I protested. ‘It’s the last thing I wanted to be doing.’
‘But you are. Susie’s destiny has affected yours. Yes, you could walk away and decline the chair. You could still do that with a one-page letter. But you won’t because it’s not in your nature. Your blood’s up, you’re seeing enemies in the shadows, and you’re spoiling for a fight.’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘You reckon?’
‘I do. When I was in the GWA, we all played characters, and that was mine. For a while it was me for real, too, until I got straightened out.’
‘But my enemy isn’t in the shadows. He’s Duncan Culshaw. We’ve clashed before, and he threatened me again a couple of days ago. He told me he was out to destroy Oz’s memory.’
Tom straightened in his seat, his face darkening; he hadn’t known that.
‘That was before Susie’s death, and it was bluster,’ Liam said. ‘I won’t ever let that happen, I promise you. If you ask me, Culshaw was only ever out to make a fast buck for himself. That’s what his extortion attempt was about. As Susie’s widower, he’s achieved that, so why should he bother with you any longer?’
‘Because it’s personal between us?’ I suggested.
‘If so, he’s made a big mistake and he’ll discover that. As of now it isn’t just between you two,’ he nodded in Tom’s direction, ‘and him. A threat to either of you is a threat to me, and I’ll deal with it.’
‘How?’ I asked.
‘Simple. I’ll visit him and tell him to stop.’
‘When you do,’ Tom murmured, ‘can I come?’
‘As long as you promise not to get angry with him.’
‘I promise. I know, Liam,’ he added. ‘Anger weakens me.’
‘In that case I’ll barely be able to lift that fork in front of me,’ I told them both. ‘For what I feel about the man goes way beyond anger.’
‘Which is why you must put him out of your mind,’ my man declared. ‘He won’t be in the room at your meeting tomorrow, and you mustn’t give him access through your thoughts.’
As he spoke, the salad bowl arrived. One of us had been wrong, for not only had I the strength to lift the cutlery, I wolfed my way through half of it.
Dinner was over by nine fifty-five. There were a few people in the bar, but Liam and I didn’t even think about joining them. Instead we went upstairs with Tom, and straight to our rooms. I warned him not to stay up late watching television, realising at the same time that his own hotel room was effectively his own household, and that he could bloody well do what he chose.
I switched on the Ten O’Clock News on BBC as soon as the door closed behind us. Still thinking like a single person, Primavera. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘Did you have other ideas?’
‘Maybe,’ Liam grinned, ‘but watching the TV news shouldn’t knock them on the head.’
We sat on the couch in the Rock ’n’ Roll sitting room, and watched as the day’s events unfolded. I hadn’t expected Susie’s death to make the national news, but it was second lead in the Scottish segment that followed. It was no more than a video version of the report I’d read, but with some library footage of Susie with Oz and a clip of Phil Culshaw being interviewed. I’d seen a still picture, but you can never be quite sure when those were taken, and a good photographer can be a really accomplished liar. I tried to picture Duncan in his late sixties, but couldn’t see much of a family resemblance. I hoped that extended to his character as well, noting the truth that it was the BBC who’d described him as CEO, and not a title he’d claimed for himself.