‘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 egomaniacs. 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 cashflow. 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 cashless 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.
Chapter 24
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. .’