‘But it hasn’t?’
‘No.’ She paused. ‘Well, it has done, a couple of times in the last fortnight. The first time, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I thought it had to be him, but it wasn’t, just some bloke looking for him. I told him he didn’t live there any more then hung up. When he called again a few days later, I got really stroppy with him, and told him to eff off. Apart from that, for all that I stared at it, for hours on end, the damn thing’s been silent.’
Her mouth twisted. ‘That’s all going to stop; the fight-back begins as of now.’
‘As of now?’ I quoted back at her. ‘Does that mean that you haven’t told the police about the theft?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘Or no; as in no, I haven’t.’
‘Why the hell not?’
She sighed. ‘I don’t know, Oz. The attitude of those two idle unsympathetic bastards who turned up when I did call them didn’t exactly encourage me to ask for their help again. Plus, I had this vision of Paul being arrested in the States and Tom being taken into care. Or maybe my mind was just fuzzed with the drink. I don’t know.’
‘It must have been fuzzed. If the police had put you off, why not call Dawn and Miles? Or why not just try my mobile number, without the elaborate charade to make me call you?’
She put down her fork, and looked me in the eye. ‘Do you remember the last time I saw you guys, when I came to Edinburgh with Nicky Johnson and Miles laid him out . . . probably for his own relative safety, for God knows what you would have done to him? He and Dawn let me know what they thought of me, and you, you chose that moment to let me find out that you and Susie had a child together.’
‘Hey, I didn’t choose it on purpose; I honestly thought you must have known.’
‘Whatever! After that I could hardly come crawling back to either of you, drunk and tearful, to tell you that I’d made a complete arse of myself. Well, could I?’
‘As it happens, the answer to that is “Yes”, but all you’d have had to tell either of us was that you were in big trouble and needed help. Dawn and Miles are parents as well, remember.’
She seemed to soften. ‘How is Bruce?’
‘Nearly as big as his dad, last time I saw him, and he’s only just coming up on four. They’re talking about having another. You’ve hurt them, you know, Prim, by cutting them out of your life.’
Her eyes went moist again, my cue to clear away the salad plates.
They were dry when I returned, carrying a big pot filled with Blackstone’s special pasta pescado, as I liked to call it, and three bowls, all on a tray. She and Susie were talking quietly, and carried on until I had f inished dishing up.
‘You never did this for me,’ Prim asserted, when she’d tasted the sauce.
‘I bloody did, when we had that apartment in St Marti, before . . .’ I stopped myself, but I should have known she’d carry on.
‘. . . before you left me to go back to Jan.’
‘Yeah, okay.’
‘No wonder I don’t remember it, then.’
‘Hey, little Miss Innocent, if we’re casting up, what about . . .’
‘Enough!’ Susie shouted. ‘We are not casting up . . .’ She grinned. ‘. . . or the pasta will either get cold or be thrown all around the room, and it’s too good for that.’
That was one thing we were all agreed on: it was so good that not only did Prim wolf hers down, by the time she’d had seconds there was hardly any left for me.
Dessert was easy; it was Häagen-Dazs time, vanilla chocolate fudge, with some white-chocolate sauce poured over it. Susie made a disapproving face, but she ate hers all the same; we don’t do it often. When she and Prim were finished, they went off to the kitchen with the empties. I moved back to the leisure wing. Being midsummer in Scotland there was still plenty of daylight. I was enjoying it when they returned with two coffees, and what was left in the cafetière. I don’t drink much of the stuff these days; my way of keeping consumption under control is not to have it at all at home.
‘So,’ said Susie, heavily, after she had she folded herself into an armchair, ‘what are you going to do, Oz? This bastard Wallinger has got to be brought to book, and Prim has to get Tom back, and her money.’
‘I’ve already done something.’ I told them about my call and my instructions to Mark Kravitz.
‘I’ve met him, haven’t I?’ Prim ventured, tentatively.
I nodded. ‘A few years back.’
She gave a quick uncertain look. ‘I remember him. He’s sort of ... sinister? No, that’s not the word. He’s a bit dangerous, isn’t he?’
‘He can be, but I’ve told him just to find out whatever he can about the guy and not to have anything nasty done to him.’
‘Are you sure he understood you?’ Susie asked.
‘Certain, love.’
‘Could you change that?’ Prim muttered, grimly. ‘I think I’d like him good and dead.’
I looked at her. ‘Let me tell you something: you don’t ever say that to me, or anyone else, especially anyone else, ever again. If you come out with something like that in front of the wrong person, and he thinks you mean it . . . you could find yourself in so deep you won’t even see the surface.’
‘What makes you think I don’t mean it?’
‘Unless you tell me you don’t, I won’t lift another finger to help you.’
‘You never used to be quite so scrupulous.’
‘I’m not playing games, Prim.’
‘Okay, I promise, when I find out where Paul is I won’t hire a hit man. Is that okay?’
‘That’ll do.’
‘Good, because I want to rip his balls off personally.’
I remembered what Dawn had said about her. ‘When we get to that stage, there may be a queue. This man didn’t happen upon you by accident, and make it all up as he was going along. There’s a fair chance you’re not the first rich widow or divorcee he’s fleeced. Let me ask you something: when you met him up at Gleneagles, when he was on that golfing holiday, did you ever see his clubs?’
‘He told me he hired them from the pro shop.’
‘But you never thought to check?’
‘Why should I? He was my escape route.’
‘Mug. One quick question and you might have saved yourself a lot of grief: a real golfer doesn’t hire.’
‘Maybe not, but if I had asked that question, I might never have had Tom.’ She had me there; I didn’t take it any further.
‘Oz,’ my wife butted in, ‘I’ve been thinking.’
‘When are you not, my angel?’
She ignored my idle sally. ‘Everett’s movie,’ she continued. ‘If you agreed to do it, you’d be in the US, and maybe you’d have time to ask a few questions.’
‘It may have escaped your notice, Sooz, but America is one hell of a big place.’
‘I know, but still. If you didn’t ask them yourself, you could hire people over there.’
‘I’ll think about it.’ Best to let it be her idea, I reasoned. ‘But I’ve got something else in mind before that. You need some top-class legal advice, Prim, and I know just where you can get it.’
I took my mobile from its hiding place in the breast pocket of my shirt and called my sister. My nephew Jonny’s voice sounded in my ear. ‘This is the Sinclair residence.’
‘And this is your uncle, kid.’
‘Hello, Uncle Kid,’ he said cheerfully. ‘What can I do for you?’ I was pleased at his flippancy. Jonny had been through a bad time a few months before; I’d been very worried about him for a while, but he was coming through it okay.
‘You can stop being bloody cheeky and put me on to your mother.’
‘I’ll see if she’s available.’
‘Why wouldn’t she be? Is Perry Mason there?’
‘Who?’
‘A fictional lawyer; before your time.’
‘Ach, you mean Harvey? Yes, he is actually.’
‘Well, actually, it’s him I want to talk to.’
‘Hang on, then.’
I waited for a few seconds, then a few seconds more. Finally, the advocate announced himself. ‘Harvey January.’ Jonny couldn’t have told him who was on the line.
‘Hiya, it’s Oz here. You and I are having lunch next Tuesday, yes?’
‘It’s in my diary.’
‘Can we do it tomorrow? There’s something I want to pick your brain about.’
He paused for thought. ‘Yes, I suppose so, if it’s all right with Ellen.’
‘It will be. Where?’
‘Where’s good for you?’
‘How does Gleneagles sound? Bring Ellie and the boys, and their golf clubs, and yours too.’
There was a pause. ‘I don’t play, Oz.’ For a man with prospects of the Bench, that was a surprising admission.
I smiled. ‘Let me suggest something to you, then. If you have any plans for my sister that involve impressing our father, her sons, and me, you might give it a try.’
‘Wouldn’t they like sailing?’
‘My dad would drown you if you tried to get him into a boat.’
He sighed, but I could hear a quiet laugh there too. ‘Ah, well, if that’s what it takes. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Meet me at midday, for lunch at twelve thirty; we’ll get the brain-picking over with first.’
As I put my mobile away the girls were watching me. ‘Who was that?’ Prim asked.
‘That was a man who wants to make a good impression on me. In the process he might do you some good too.’
‘But why Gleneagles?’
‘One, because it’s where this all started, so it’s as good a place as any. Two, because it’s handy for your parents. The lunch invite doesn’t include you. Once we’ve talked to Harvey, you’re going to see your mum and dad, and you’re going to do something you should have done a while ago: you’re going to tell them about their grandson.’
Chapter 10
When Ellie came into the lobby of the Gleneagles Hotel and saw Prim waiting with Susie, the kids and me, her mouth dropped open. For a second I thought we were in for a scene: my sister is not the sort to stifle her true feelings. However, I managed to catch her eye and to shake my head very slightly, and succeeded in putting her off.
So instead of coming out with something on the lines of ‘What the *&!% is she doing here?’, she simply ignored her former sister-in-law altogether, instead rushing up to embrace Susie and make a fuss of Janet and the baby.
The older Jonathan, my nephew, was intrigued, though. I could see his mother’s question in his eyes, although without the indignation. He’s known Primavera since he was a kid, and wasn’t close to any of the aggro that happened between us. As for Colin, the subtleties of inter-personal relationships are lost on him and, I hope, always will be. He just beamed and said, ‘Hello, Auntie Prim!’
It all went over Harvey January’s head too. The beefy, dark-haired QC stood there, with a vague uncertain smile on his big square face, one of his eyebrows rising a little at Colin’s greeting. I guessed that Ellie had filled him in on the family history.
I took charge of events straight away. After I had kissed Ellie hello, whispering, ‘Susie’ll explain,’ in her ear at the same time, I took Harvey by the elbow and ushered him and Primavera through to a small meeting room, which I had reserved for our discussion.
I introduced the two of them. I was right about my sister: I didn’t have to explain who Prim was. ‘Harvey,’ I began, ‘I’m proposing to take serious advantage of our brief acquaintance, or of the fact that you’re sleeping with our Ellen, however you prefer to look at it. My ex here is in serious trouble, and she needs a guiding hand. I know you can’t represent her directly, but you might be able to point her in the right direction, and recommend appropriate people.’
The QC shifted in his chair, frowning. ‘Oz, under Faculty of Advocates rules I’m not supposed to do even that without a solicitor’s instruction.’
‘I know, but that’s covered by the phrase “take serious advantage”. You’re not going to be quoted to anyone, so will you hear us out?’
He gave a diffident smile. ‘You mean that this meeting isn’t taking place?’
‘What meeting? I’m just your girlfriend’s brother, filling you in on a wee bit of history, something that began in this very hotel, two years ago.’ I carried on and told him Prim’s story, as quickly and clearly as I could. A minute into my tale, he produced a hand-held computer from his pocket . . . these days, high-flyers like Harvey and I don’t go anywhere without one of those . . . and began making notes on it with a stylus.
When I was finished, he whistled. ‘You wouldn’t get away with that in court,’ I said.
‘I might, before some judges I know. In fact they’d probably be whistling themselves after a piece of evidence like that. A carefully planned, long-term, major fraud, with the child as a surprise twist; very little deception on this scale comes before the Scottish Bench, I assure you.’
He glanced at his palm-top, reviewing his notes. ‘If this was a consultation,’ he murmured, ‘I’d ask you a couple of questions, Primavera.’
She leaned forward. ‘Such as?’
‘The first would be whether Mr Wallinger ever proposed marriage to you, or you to him.’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Not in the get-down-on-your-knees sense. We discussed it, but we had both come from failure, so we weren’t in any rush. I just assumed it was something that would happen eventually.’
‘Who initiated these discussions?’
She looked up and over Harvey’s head for a few moments, then back at him. ‘Now that you ask me to recall it, whenever the subject came up, it was me who raised it.’
‘My next questions would be about the fraud, if I were to ask them. Clearly it could only have happened if Mr Wallinger was acting as your financial adviser. Is that the case?’
‘Yes. I was pregnant when Paul raised the subject of my financial affairs for the first time. He said that since I was having his child, he supposed that he had a duty as a parent to ensure that its interests were protected properly. He was laughing when he said it, but I saw the sense in it.’
‘You took him seriously?’
‘Yes.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘I reconsidered the arrangement I had at the time. My funds were managed in Edinburgh, by a company that Oz had found for me. I remember when I told Paul he gave me one of those kindly looks of his that implied I was an idiot. “It’s unusual,” he said, “to let your ex have as much continuing influence over your life.” I saw the sense in that too, so I asked him if he’d be happier if he was looking after me. He was hesitant, at first.’
‘But you persuaded him?’
‘Goddamnit, I suppose I did. I thought he was a bloody stockbroker, didn’t I?’
‘A slight flaw in your case,’ said Harvey, ‘but not crippling by any means, especially since he presented himself as such. How did you give him the authority to act for you?’
‘I wrote to my former manager firing him, and instructing him to send all my papers to me, by registered post, then I signed letters that Paul produced, one for each of the companies in which I was invested, naming him as my new financial adviser and giving him full authority to act on my behalf.’
‘How was he described in those letters?’
‘As my partner.’
‘Excellent. If I was your counsel I’d be able to argue that his appointment was based upon the trust flowing from an established relationship, in which a child was at that time expected.’
‘Will you be my counsel, Harvey?’ she asked.
‘You’ll have to instruct me formally, through a solicitor, but if you do that, I will. Do you have a lawyer in Scotland?’
‘No, but ...’ She looked at me.
‘I have,’ I said, diving into my pocket for my phone. ‘And when I’m around, he works on Saturdays.’
I rang Greg McPhillips, my personal brief, hoping that he wasn’t
at his golf club, for mobiles are banned there. As luck had it he had just left; the background noise told me that his Bluetooth connection picked up my call in his car.
‘Hi,’ he answered cheerily. ‘I’m just on my way home, love. I won’t be long; we’ll be in plenty of time for the wedding, promise.’
‘That’s good to know, darling,’ I replied, ‘but I’m having a hell of a fucking job getting my dress to fit, so we might not be going after all.’
‘Pillock, Blackstone.’
‘I was once told by a homosexual in London that a pillock is a man with a small penis. I ask you to withdraw that remark, or I’ll have to instruct you to sue yourself. If you want a list of witnesses against you, there’s one sitting right here.’ Prim and Harvey both stared at me.
‘Withdrawn, withdrawn; I’ve played squash with you, remember. Now what the bloody hell do you want?’
‘I want you, right now this minute, to instruct Mr Harvey January, QC, to act in the case of Miss Primavera Eagle Phillips, against Mr Paul Wallinger.’
‘You serious? Harvey January? He’s a top silk.’
‘Believe it.’
‘Have you got his number?’
‘Have I ever; her name’s Ellen. He’s right here; now repeat to him what I just said.’
‘Were you serious about the Eagle bit too?’
‘I’m afraid so. It’s Prim’s middle name, so secret that once you know it she has to kill you. Her mother is close to nature; she saw a mountain eagle in Spain on the night Prim was conceived.’
‘Thank God it wasn’t a vulture!’
‘I’ve often thought that, but never had the courage to say it. Here’s Harvey, just repeat the instruction as I gave it to you.’ I passed the phone across.
The advocate took it, listened for a few seconds, then said, ‘I accept.’ They conversed quietly for another minute or so, then Harvey said, ‘I’ll get back to you as necessary with any specific requirements,’ and returned the handset.
‘Thanks, Greg,’ I told him. ‘Enjoy the wedding.’
‘I’d rather be cutting my toenails with a chainsaw,’ he admitted. ‘You keep an eye on that Eagle, d’you hear? She’s had her talons in you before; don’t let it happen again.’
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