by Rob Wyllie
'I must say sir, you do seem to know a lot about them. For someone who's not involved I mean.'
Morgan shrugged. 'Business is my hobby Inspector. It's sad I know, but where other people waste their time reading trashy novels, I study the business pages. It's paid off handsomely, I think you'll agree.'
'Aye, if you say so,' Frank said. 'But coming back to the folks who died, Chardonnay Clarke at HBB and Luke Brown at Alexia. Did you know them?'
His voice took on a condescending tone. 'As I told you before, we're not involved in day-to-day management of our investments. I may have some interaction with the senior leadership, but even that is limited. I certainly wouldn't have any reason to know such junior staff.'
Frank was silent for a moment as if weighing up his next move. Maggie was studying him closely, fascinated to watch such a consummate professional at work. When she was just starting out as a lawyer, she often had to sit in on police interviews as a duty solicitor, so the situation wasn't new to her. But she'd seldom seen anything to match this, the tone of his questioning finely judged, gently probing but without risking an aggressive reaction which she knew would be counter-productive. However, to her surprise it seemed as if he was minded to draw the short interview to a close, as he nodded and said,
'No, I see now you wouldn't have known them sir. Well, it was just a loose strand of my enquiry that I had to follow up. Sorry to have troubled you.' He got to his feet and smiled at Jimmy and Maggie. 'Maybe catch up with you two in the pub later? Anyway, must dash. Got some bad guys to catch.'
◆◆◆
She waited until Frank had left the room before speaking. 'He always says that, the bit about bad guys I mean. And he's very good at it, apparently. Catching them.'
Jimmy laughed. 'Aye, so he says.'
'If that's the case,' Morgan said, half-serious, 'maybe I should ask him to look at the Justice for Greenway matter. Unless of course you've got something for me.'
Maggie smiled. 'Well as it happens, we've already asked him to help. Strictly in an unofficial capacity, but then again more or less everything he does starts off as unofficial.'
Morgan looked surprised. 'I didn't know you guys worked with the police.'
'Not the police per say,' she said. 'Just Frank.'
'And has he been able to help?'
'A little. Let's just say there's been some progress on the matter, but perhaps before Jimmy updates you on what we've found out, we can share some good news about Lotti.'
Morgan's eyes lit up. 'Good news? That sounds excellent.'
'Yes, I think it is,' Maggie said, then went on to tell him about how they had spoken to her mother who confirmed that her daughter Lotti was working in London, and that they also had confirmation from the University of Heidelberg that she had graduated from that prestigious institution as she had claimed. She didn't say anything about the fact she had doubted Lotti was as old as she had told her fiancé she was. That had been disproved by the facts, and so had to be dismissed as an issue.
Finally they addressed what could have been the trickiest matter, Lotti's fidelity or otherwise. Which in the end turned out to be the most straightforward of all, Jimmy explaining how he had sought to find out whether or not she was single, and had made it crystal clear he was interested in her whatever her answer. And how she had politely but firmly made it equally clear that she was not interested because she was blissfully happy in her existing relationship.
'So I think it's safe for you to make your arrangements for the big proposal,' Maggie said, smiling. 'Porto Banus, wasn't it?'
Morgan looked as if the emotion of the moment might overcome him. His face broke into a huge beaming smile, and Maggie saw him clenching and unclenching his fists. 'Brilliant news,' he said, 'that's brilliant news.'
She shrugged. 'Glad we could help. And she really is a lovely girl, you're very lucky.' But of course it had nothing to do with luck. This was the man who had quite coldly decided he wanted a new and younger wife and had simply discarded the old one when he was finished with her. Not for the first time she found herself hoping that the same fate would befall him when he was sixty and wrinkly and Lotti had decided there was more to life than just money. That would be a cracking moment of schadenfreude.
'So these Justice for Greenway people,' Morgan said, changing the subject. 'Tell me what you've got.'
Jimmy smiled. 'Will do. Right, so it made sense to start our investigation up in Cumbria. Seemed odds-on that it would be centred around there obviously, given where the mine is. By good fortune, we found a contact on the local paper, a nice lady called Liz Donahue. Smart too. Your mate Gary whats-it gave us her name.'
Morgan grimaced. 'That arse McGinley.'
'Funnily enough, that's what Liz called him too. Anyway, it turns out there's been a couple of incidents up there as well, directed mainly at Belinda Milner. The woman who drowned herself.'
'Yes, a terrible tragedy,' Morgan said, without emotion.
Jimmy nodded. 'Aye it was, a real tragedy. Anyway, they graffiti'd her house and her car, and I heard that they also tried to poison her dog. So kinda similar to the stuff you've experienced. But to cut to the chase, Liz Donahue pointed me to a local family. The Tompkins.'
Morgan gave him a sardonic look. 'Ah yes, the investment geniuses. Bet all their savings on Milner's lame horse then started bitching when it fell at the first.’
Jimmy looked at him sharply. 'Christ Hugo, William Tompkins killed himself because of the shame of it all. That's not something to joke about.'
He shrugged. 'I don't see it as my problem. So you think it may be them behind this?'
'We went to see them. Liz and I met two of the sons, Wayne and Karl. They're pretty sore about the whole thing and I'd put money on them being behind the Milner incidents. The one's down here in London, we're not too sure of at the moment, although Karl looks a nasty piece of work so I wouldn't put it past him. And he was a sapper in the Royal Engineers, so he'd have the wherewithal, there's no doubt about that.'
'That's where Frank - DI Stewart - comes in,' Maggie said. 'If either of them was involved, we think they would have driven down in his car or in his father's old van rather than taking the train. Frank is going to pull a few favours to get a couple of the traffic cameras on the M6 checked out, see if we can spot him en route.'
It was flimsy, she knew it was, but the good news about Lotti seemed to have had a positive effect on Morgan's mood. He shrugged, 'Well ok, let's wait and see where that takes us. Is that us done then?'
He half got up, seemingly anxious to bring the meeting to a close.
'There's just one more thing Hugo, if you don't mind,' Jimmy said quickly. 'It's kinda related to the injunction you took out against the Chronicle.' The one you conveniently omitted to mention, Maggie thought.
Morgan said nothing, but his expression had hardened as Jimmy continued.
'The wee local paper up there, the Westmoreland Gazette, they had a story that they tried to syndicate out to the Chronicle. I think that's the right term. But apparently McGinley had different ideas. Something about the South African guy, Mark De Bruin. McGinley thinks he's the one who told you about the screw-up with the cobalt content.'
'McGinley's a fool as well as an arse,' Morgan said. 'I raised that injunction just as a bit of fun. Now the idiots at the Chronicle are going to spend half a million to fight it, but what they don't know is I intend to drop the action five minutes before the judge announces his verdict. God, they're going to look so stupid.'
'So that's what it's all about?' Maggie said. 'Some sort of private vendetta against Gary McGinley?'
Morgan gave a smug smile. 'Exactly right. It's sport actually. His tiny little head is full of stupid conspiracy theories, but as I've said many times, there's no magic. And this one was all in the numbers, plain as the nose on your face.'
'What do you mean?' Jimmy asked, surprised.
'Eight weeks after Greenway were supposed to have been bringing all that lovely cobalt-ric
h ore to the surface, the revenue line in their monthly trading updates was still showing a big fat zilch. Nothing. Oh sure, our Belinda was spouting a load of shit about tidying up some fine print in their sales contracts, but I knew that was rubbish. If that ore was yielding like they said it would, they would have recognised the revenue there and then, contract or no contract. So you see, no magic. You just need to know where to look, and we do.'
The more Maggie thought about it, the more plausible his account seemed. She hated to admit it, but it seemed a lot more credible than the frankly wild suggestions of dark industrial espionage that Jimmy had uncovered up in Cumbria. But then again, she knew that even in the short time he had known the Westmoreland Gazette reporter, he had come to trust Liz Donahue implicitly. And if Jimmy Stewart trusted this woman whom she was yet to meet, then that was good enough for her.
'Jimmy's contact seems pretty sure there was more to it than that,' Maggie said, but then, anxious not to raise Morgan's hackles added, 'but from what you said about those monthly trading things, then maybe she's wrong.'
'Aye, and I didn't really get the full story anyway,' Jimmy said, tuning into where she was coming from, 'All Liz said was something about pillow talk, and to be honest, I haven't been able to make head or tail of it. But we'll find out soon enough, because I think her paper's planning on running her story at the weekend.'
Morgan sneered. 'Pillow talk did you say? Well, I'm sure it will be great entertainment for the locals. And no doubt your reporter friend, what was her name...?'
'Liz Donahue.'
'... yes, well no doubt your Miss Donahue will enjoy her fifteen minutes of fame.'
Morgan pushed back his chair and stood up, the smooth facade fully restored. 'I think we've made some progress, and once again, thank you both for putting my mind to rest about Lotti. It's a big weight off my shoulders, it really is.'
He ushered them towards the door. 'And if you and your pet policeman dig up anything more about those Justice morons, let me know immediately.'
Afterwards when she discussed the meeting with Jimmy, she couldn't help thinking that somewhere along the line they had missed something, and she said as much to him. He also agreed there was something, a vague something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but aye, definitely something. And then out of the blue, she realised what it was. Because when she replayed Frank's interview in her mind, she was certain he hadn't said anything about Charlotte and Luke being junior staff. So how the hell did Hugo Morgan know? Now she understood why Frank had been perfectly happy for the interview to be short and sweet. Because he had noticed too.
◆◆◆
They normally met on a Thursday evening, but this time they had agreed on a supplementary lunchtime date earlier the same day. The Old King's Head was packed as usual, customers being attracted by what was in City terms a good-value menu. Charging twelve to fifteen quid for a main, it served pub staples like lasagne and steak and ale pie, nothing too fancy, but it was proper food, not the pre-prepared microwaved stodge favoured by the big chain places that she knew Frank despised. You couldn't reserve a table, so timing was everything if you wanted to bag a place. Either get there before twelve-fifteen, or wait until about half past one to be in the vanguard of the second wave. They had chosen the former option, turning up at a minute past the hour and had managed to grab a little table tucked away in the corner. It was barely big enough for three, but the quiet location meant it was just about possible to conduct a normal conversation. And they had a lot to talk about.
'He's quite an operator our boy Hugo, isn't he?' Frank said, as Jimmy brought the drinks back to the table. Maggie was glad that it hadn't taken long, because sitting there alone with Frank, even for just a couple of minutes had been, as she had expected, awkward. And confusing too, because she was a forty-two-year-old woman and she ought to by now be able to make sense of her feelings. Frank was nice, more than nice, but then, casting a huge shadow over everything, there was Robert. Already that relationship had become carnal, as lovely as it was unexpected, and everything had been going swimmingly until she had discovered that Mr Robert Trelawney hadn't been exactly honest with her. Somehow omitting to mention the presence of Felicity Morgan in his life. Not exactly a lie though, it had to be said. It was not as if he was pretending to be a completely different person entirely. Not like her. Robert, I've got something to tell you. You see, I'm not actually Mrs Magdalene Slattery. Now that would be a conversation.
'Yeah he certainly is,' Jimmy said, responding to his brother's observation. 'Food should only be five minutes by the way. Pie for me again.'
'Great, I'm starving,' Maggie said, pleased to be able to focus once again on the mundane. 'So Frank, getting back to Hugo Morgan, I'm thinking you noticed that thing about the interns?'
'Aye, I spotted it. How did he know they were junior staff when I never mentioned it once?’
'Exactly. Have you any ideas what it means?'
He shrugged. 'Well it means he knew of course, but why, that's a different matter. That's why I wanted to talk to you guys, see if you can help me shed some light on it. You see, I thought it would have been connected to his Brasenose Trust business, given that Chardonnay worked at HBB Bank, and we know he was knee -deep in that, with the German takeover and everything. But Luke Brown was assigned to Alexia Life, and the financial guy at HBB said exactly the same as Morgan, that it's a mutual so doesn't have any shareholders. Meaning there was nothing for Morgan to buy into or anything like that. No connection at all as far as I can see. A dead end.'
'Could it be something personal then?' Jimmy asked. 'We know he likes them young. Maybe he was having an affair with Chardonnay.'
Maggie gave a half-smile but she wasn't convinced. 'But not with Luke surely? No, I'm certain as I can be that his relationship with Lotti is important to him. He's not faking that, I mean why else would he employ Asvina to do the due diligence? I don't like the man, but he's not a sexual predator. You can always tell, and he's not.'
'Aye, you're probably right,' Frank said, sighing. 'I've got one of my team taking a look at Luke Brown's situation. We don't really know anything about him, except that he was another one of that agency's scholarship kids. Maybe that will turn up a missing piece in the jigsaw.'
'They both died in the same way didn't they?' she said. 'The suicides that weren't suicides.'
'Aye. The Aphrodite suicides, that's what I'm calling them now. Two good-looking kids. Special kids.'
'Except they were murders, not suicides.' Maggie said. 'You're sure of that now.'
'No question, but as to why they were killed, I'm still at base camp. I've got no motive and no suspects but apart from that it's going great.'
She laughed. 'Maybe you should subcontract to us. We've wrapped up the Lotti matter already, in double-quick time, and we're making some progress on Justice for Greenway too.' She hoped he would take it as a joke. Looking at him, she wasn't sure he had.
'Aye, maybe it will come to that,' he said, unsmiling. 'But I think you had a suicide too, am I right?'
Jimmy nodded. 'Yeah, but this one's not suspicious like yours. Belinda Milner, she was the boss of the mine. One morning she just put on her costume and took a swim in the lake. Left a husband and teenage daughter.'
An elderly waitress had arrived with their food, her expression broadcasting that she would rather be anywhere on earth but here.
'Who's the pie?' she snapped, staring vacantly into space.
'Aye, that's me,' Jimmy said, standing up. 'Here, let me help you with that.' He took the plate from her and smiled.
Maggie shot Frank a knowing look. She'll melt, it said, they always do.
And she did. 'Oh, thank you sir,' she said, beaming. 'It's always so busy in this place, run off my feet I am. People don't appreciate it.'
'Aye, tough job, I can see that. He's the lasagne and she's the fish and chips. Here, pass them over, save you stretching.'
He took the plates from her and laid them on the table
.
'Right guys, tuck in. Thanks miss, we'll give you a shout when we want some more drinks, ok?'
The waitress nodded her appreciation and slipped away to collect her next order. For a few minutes they concentrated on their meal until Frank, through a mouthful of lasagne said,
'So this Milner woman. Do you two have any idea why she did it? I suppose that must be connected to Morgan in some way. Given all the Greenway Mining crap and that.'
'It's a bit of puzzle,' Jimmy said, 'because by all accounts the collapse of Greenway on her watch wouldn't have affected her one bit, certainly not enough to make her kill herself. She was one of these smooth Establishment types you see, the type that seem to flit from failure to failure with no apparent effect on their careers.'
'Yes, plenty of them about,' Maggie said. 'That's one of the things we're trying to find out. Because there must have been something else that drove her to that awful act.'
'And I think we're going to find out pretty soon. Liz Donahue's paper's running a story in the next few days.' Jimmy nodded in Frank's direction. 'It ties up with the stuff that you heard from the HBB financial guy, industrial espionage and all that. I think her story is going to spill the beans on how Morgan found out about that problem with the cobalt content.'
'And you think there's a connection between that and Milner's death?' Frank asked.
'Got to be,' Maggie said. 'Morgan spun us some line about it all being in the numbers or in the monthly trading statements, but it sounded like bullshit to us. Or to me at least.'
'Aye, well that would be great for you,' Frank said. 'But being selfish, I don't think it helps me with my murders.'
Maggie shrugged. 'No, I guess you're right there. But maybe it reinforces what we probably already know about him. That he's not above sharp practice to get what he wants.'
But she knew it and Frank knew it and Jimmy knew it, although none of them said it. Billionaire indulges in sharp business practices. It didn't pass the test. The so what test.