‘We could call her bluff,’ said Underwood. ‘She’d soon find out that no one else is willing to pay her such a ridiculous sum.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that,’ said Jake. ‘The Bank of Boston would love to get their hands on our Russian portfolio, which is now outperforming all our rivals, and I suspect they’d be willing to pay well above the asking price.’
‘Why don’t we just ignore the damned woman,’ suggested Blake, ‘and perhaps she’ll go away.’
‘She’s already anticipated that,’ said Jake, ‘and decided to park her tanks on our front lawn.’
‘And what does she plan to use as ammunition?’ asked Alex.
‘The company statutes.’
‘Which one in particular?’ asked Andy Harbottle, who thought he knew them all off by heart.
‘Number ninety-two.’
The rest of the board waited while Harbottle thumbed through a well-worn leather-bound book. When he came to the relevant statute, he read it out loud. ‘Should one shareholder or group of shareholders own fifty per cent or more of the company stock, they would be entitled to hold up any board decision for six months.’
‘She’s listed eleven decisions we’ve made during the past year that she intends to challenge,’ said Jake. ‘That would bring the bank to a standstill for six months, and she says that if we don’t pay up, she’ll come to the AGM next month and carry out her threat in person.’
‘Who put her up to this?’ said Underwood.
‘Ackroyd would be my bet,’ said Jake. ‘But as he’s got a criminal record, he can’t risk putting his head above the parapet. So we’re going to have to deal with Evelyn personally.’
‘But in view of her past relationship with Ackroyd,’ said Underwood, ‘why don’t we offer her four hundred million and see how she responds?’
‘We could try,’ said Jake. ‘But have I got any room to manoeuvre?’
‘Six hundred, and even that’s extortionate,’ said Alex.
‘I think, as a board, we’ll have to assume that she’ll carry out her threat,’ said Jake. ‘In which case Ackroyd will advise her to offer her shares to the Bank of Boston for seven hundred million.’
‘She should be hanged from the nearest gibbet, as many of her English ancestors were,’ said Underwood.
‘It’s me who should be hanged,’ said Alex. ‘Don’t forget, she once offered me her fifty per cent for a million dollars, and I turned her down.’
‘Drawn and quartered,’ said Underwood.
‘Not quite yet,’ said Jake. ‘We still have one ace up our sleeve.’
‘Congratulations,’ said Anna. ‘It’s always a bit special to be recognized by your peers.’
‘Thank you,’ said Alex. ‘Especially as Davos is attended by all the players who really matter in the financial world.’
‘What do they want you to speak about?’
‘Russia’s role in the new world order. The only problem is, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the bank.’
‘Evelyn causing trouble again?’
‘She’s threatening to hijack the AGM if we don’t agree to her outrageous demands.’
‘Perhaps we should cancel our weekend in London and fly straight to Davos?’
‘No, we both need a break, and you’ve been looking forward to the trip for months.’
‘Years,’ said Anna, ‘ever since Mr Rosenthal told me I’d never really understand the significance of the English watercolour until I’d seen the Turners at the Tate.’
After paying a discreet visit to Boston’s most exclusive wig-maker he booked a return flight to Nice, and paid with cash. The travel agent also reserved him a room at the Hotel de Paris, open-ended, as he couldn’t be sure how long it would take him to carry out his plan.
By training he was a micro-manager, obsessed with detail. His hero, General Eisenhower, had written in his memoirs that all things being equal, planning and preparation are what will decide who wins the battle. By the time he boarded the plane for Nice, he was more than ready to confront her on any battlefield she chose.
Miss Robbins had booked them into the Connaught, Lawrence’s favourite hotel in London. As they only had a long weekend before flying on to Davos, every minute of their stay had to be accounted for.
The National Gallery, the Wallace Collection and the Royal Academy were compulsory viewing, and didn’t disappoint. Henry Goodman’s haunting Shylock made them want to extend their visit and see every other production at the National Theatre. And how did one decide between the Natural History Museum, the V&A and the Science Museum, unless you did all three of them on the run?
Anna saved the Turner Collection at the Tate for their last morning, and both of them were standing outside the entrance even before the gallery had opened its doors. A View of the Archbishop’s Palace, painted when the artist was only fifteen, could not have left anyone in any doubt of Turner’s genius. But after seeing The Shipwreck and Venice, Anna wanted to say to Alex, why don’t you go on to Davos without me?
She turned to see him chatting to a woman who didn’t look like a tourist, and her lapel badge suggested she might work at the Tate. Anna had for some time wanted to ask someone about Turner’s fractious relationship with Constable, his great contemporary and rival, so she strolled across to join them.
‘I’m so sorry,’ the woman was saying. ‘I thought for a moment you were my... How stupid of me.’ She hurried away, looking embarrassed.
‘What was that all about?’ asked Anna.
‘I’m not sure, but I think she mistook me for someone else.’
‘Leading a double life are you, my darling?’ she teased. ‘Because she’s just your type, dark eyes, dark hair, and she looked highly intelligent.’
‘I found one of those some time ago,’ said Alex, putting his arm around his wife, ‘and frankly, one is quite enough.’
‘Do I sense that you’re beginning to feel a little nervous about your speech?’
‘You could be right.’
‘Then let’s go back to the hotel and we can go over it one more time.’
Neither of them noticed the gallery’s head conservator watching them from her office window as they made their way out onto Millbank and hailed a black cab. If it hadn’t been for the Brooks Brothers suit and his American accent, Charlie could have sworn... and then she remembered. Could it possibly be the woman who’d worked at the Rosenthal gallery, and was now the curator of the Lowell Collection?
He took his seat in first class, and was relieved to find he didn’t recognize any of the other passengers. He used the long flight across the Atlantic to go over his strategy again and again, although he knew he would need to look surprised when they first met. As with any seasoned orator, even the ad libs had to be rehearsed.
He turned to her personal file, suspecting that by now he knew more about her than even her closest friends. By the time the plane touched down, he was wondering what could go wrong. Because there would always be something you hadn’t anticipated. Eisenhower.
Once he’d passed through passport control and retrieved his two large leather cases, he took a taxi to the Hotel de Paris, checked in, and was accompanied to his suite. He gave the porter a large tip, all part of the plan. He needed to be remembered. He could never sleep on planes, so he went straight to bed and didn’t wake until eight the following morning.
He spent the day acquainting himself with the layout of the hotel as well as the casino on the other side of the square, not that he ever gambled. It was important for him to look and sound like a regular before they bumped into each other. And most important of all, it was the evenings that needed to be rehearsed to a split second.