Giles frowned his eyebrows almost meeting in the middle. 'I see.'
Jackie looked at the big man as he brushed and imaginary fleck of lint from his immaculately tailored suit of black.
'I'm sorry, Giles, it was a bad idea coming here, it's not fair to ask you about a friend.'
'Let's take a walk,' he suddenly said.
She looked at him in surprise and then nodded. 'OK.'
They began to move along the gravel drive, Jackie having to hurry to match his pace.
'The history of the Jepson family goes way back,' he said as they moved towards the woodland that surrounded the hall.
'Almost nine hundred years apparently.'
'Quite, though these days there are lots of titled people knocking about, they are handed out to cronies like raffle tickets.'
'So, you would turn one down if it was ever offered?' she asked with a small smile.
Giles threw his head back and guffawed. 'God no, I would grab it with both hands, however, what I'm trying to say is that old families, the really old families like the Jepsons are the elite.'
'''Elite''?'
Giles shortened his stride as if suddenly realising that she was finding it difficult to keep up.
'There's a hierarchy in everything, whatever job you do you have your place, it's the same with the gentry and let me tell you, Charlie Jepson is exceedingly high in the pecking order, the air up there is rarefied indeed.'
'And they say he's a bit of a philanthropist,' she said as the path led between the ancient trees.
'Very much so.'
Jackie waited for him to continue, it was almost as if he had something to say but couldn't quite bring himself to release the words.
'And that's a good thing, right?' she asked.
'Lovely bluebells,' Giles said admiringly.
Jackie looked at the carpet of blue, sunlight breaking through the canopies above filling the woodland with light.
'Lasser told me how the family originally made their money,' she suddenly said.
'Via the slave trade,' Giles replied in much the same way someone would say ''plumber'' or ''joiner'', almost as if the slave trade was still a legitimate business.
'I suppose that went on a lot back then,' Jackie replied with a hint of distaste in her voice.
'Oh, most definitely, absolutely abhorrent of course though in many ways the world hasn't really changed, these days we have simply adopted other words to convey the same thing.'
'Such as?'
To their left a squirrel darted up one of the trees in a flash of grey.
'They are numerous, Jackie, you know that.'
'Oppressed?' she suggested.
Giles grunted in agreement. 'You also have persecuted, exploited, repressed, they all mean the same thing, they are words that simply mean slavery.'
Jackie frowned as she realised that what he was saying was basically true.
'Of course, it's all done in a more subtle manner these days, I mean, look at me and tell me what you see?' he asked, coming to an immediate stop.
Jackie looked at him in confusion. 'I'm sorry, you've lost me?'
'I'm a true-blue Tory, right?'
She took in the expensive suit, the shining brogues, the air of elitism that he seemed to radiate. 'I'd say so.'
'Well, you would be wrong, I'm a socialist born and bred.'
'No way,' she said, unable to keep the look of disbelief from showing on her face.
'It's the truth, I can trace my family back around three hundred years and every one of them have been of the same ilk.'
Jackie felt the amazement at his admission. 'Well, you don't look like a socialist.'
'Ah the fancy suit, the plummy voice, that is all real enough, there are no affectations, though what you think you see and what I keep in here, are at a constant juxta position,' he said, tapping a finger to the side of his head.
'But I don't understand, you move in circles where most of us would never get our foot in the door.'
Giles nodded and smiled and then they set off walking again.
'Just because I move in these ''circles'' it doesn't mean I uphold all their beliefs.'
'So why do you do it?' she asked as birdsong trilled out in the trees.
'You are confusing image with reality.'
'You've lost me again,' she admitted with a small smile.
'OK, let's just say I have no real problem with certain aspects of how the system works, there are a lot of wealthy individuals out there who do great good, be they socialist or capitalist and Charles Jepson is amongst them. There are people out there who owe that man a lot, and I'm being serious here; he's donated fortunes to worthy causes and most people have no idea that he even does those things.'
'Like you said, he's a good guy.'
'I never actually used the word ''guy'' but yes he is most charitable,' Giles paused and she heard him cough slightly, 'though remember, like me, everyone has two sides to their character, the one they are prepared to show to the world and the one they would sooner keep private.'
Jackie felt the first hint of excitement at his words, and she wanted to ask him to elaborate though somehow, she knew if she did then he would change the subject and that would be the end of the conversation.
'If you were to ask Charles about his past, about the history of his family then he would gladly tell you how the real money was originally made.'
'Like I said, he admitted as much to Lasser.'
Giles nodded as if her words were of no surprise to him. 'So, what can we deduce from that?' he asked.
'That he's aware of his past and he finds it offensive?' she replied, unsure of her answer.
'There is that, 'he paused, 'though there could also be other reasons.'
Jackie tried to think as they continued to move through the trees. 'Has it always been common knowledge how the Jepsons made their money?'
Giles glanced at her and smiled. 'Now we're getting somewhere.'
Jackie took her time trying to join the dots. 'So, at some point, the fact that his ancestors had built the family fortune through slavery had been a family secret?'
'Oh, nothing is ever really secret, Jackie, all the information was there in weighty tomes buried away in some historical library, just waiting to be discovered.'
'Waiting to be exposed?' she asked.
'Always a possibility,' he replied with a brusque nod.
'And rather than have that threat hanging over him, Charles Jepson decided to talk about it openly?'
'Of a fashion.'
Jackie knew she was missing something, and she thought hard about what Giles was saying or rather what he was leaving out, waiting for her to form the links. 'He was selective about who he told?' she asked her expression one of uncertainty.
A brief smile flickered across the big man's face. 'Whenever you are dealing with delicate issues and you decide to come clean, then it's always preferable to choose your confidante carefully.'
'We're talking media here, aren't we?'
'We are always talking media, you can confide in friends but what use is that? No, Charles Jepson is an intelligent man, an intellectual in the real sense of the word.'
'Meaning he chose to use people who would be sympathetic to these revelations?'
'Precisely.'
'But what about the others, the ones who would print things that would have been hard for Jepson to read?' she asked as they crossed over a small bridge that spanned a woodland stream.
'That's the whole point of coming clean in the first place, it castrates those who would seek to damage your name or reputation.'
'Because you can't do a hatchet job if those involved have already got their dirty washing on the line?' Jackie asked as she began to see the bigger picture.
'Nice analogy,' Giles answered as the Hall came back into view.
'And by coming clean it proves that Jepson finds the whole slavery aspect of his family unsavoury, by owning his past it stops others crucifying him over what
his ancestors did.'
'Got it in one.'
Emerging from the trees, they came to a stop, the sunshine beaming down from a cloudless sky of blue.
Giles threaded his hands behind his back and looked at the Hall, a small smile curling his lips.
Jackie was thinking things through and, like Lasser had said, Jepson coming clean about the family history had been the right thing to do, the honourable thing to do and yet Lasser had said that there was something about his lordship that didn't sit well with him, and she knew that his instincts were usually spot on.
'Do you think that Jepson spoke about all this of his own free will?' she asked as she glanced at Giles from the corner of her eye.
He continued to study the house; his expression pensive. 'In my experience – and I'm not just talking about the wealthy here – no one likes to admit past wrongs, be they something they have done themselves or even historically.'
Jackie watched as a blackbird went flying by, singing as it vanished into the trees. 'Which suggests that Jepson knew that the truth could come out at some point, so he decided to give his own version of events rather than have some tabloid digging in the dirt?'
Giles looked at her, his dark eyes full of warmth. 'Most people don't get the chance to do that, normally the first thing they know about it is when the reporters are camped on their doorstep and the scandal is splashed all over the front of the papers and on the television.'
Jackie nodded slowly in agreement. 'Which means that Jepson has plenty of friends in the media, people he could turn to when he came clean about the history of his family?'
'Charles has many fingers in numerous pies, he has stakes in several media groups with left-leaning tendencies.'
Suddenly, things came into sharp focus, Jepson had come clean about his family's shady past, but he had done it under his own terms using his connections to give his side of the historical events.
'You see, people are not always what they seem, Jacqueline.'
She looked up at him, that had been the first time he had ever used her full name and as she looked at him, he raised an eyebrow.
'Basically, he was forced to admit the truth?' she suggested.
Giles nodded. 'Hands are always forced at some level.'
'So, ideally he would have done like the rest of his ancestors and said nothing about how they made their money?'
Giles shrugged his heavy shoulders. 'Who can blame him for that, after all, people do it all the time?'
Her mind was racing through the facts and then she turned to fully face him.
'Even though he was forced to reveal the truth, that doesn't mean the shame he claims to feel is legitimate.'
Giles smiled slightly. 'And there's the rub,' he paused, 'how do you know when someone is being truthful, how can you judge guilt and sincerity?'
'By proving they are telling lies, by having facts that can't be denied.'
Giles sighed and then shook his head. 'Alas that it were so simple.'
'Meaning?'
Dipping a hand inside his jacket, he pulled the old pocket watch from his waistcoat though he didn't open it to check the time. 'This watch has been in the family for four generations and let's be honest, who wears a watch like this these days?' he asked, looking at her keenly.
'You're the only person I know who still wears one,' she replied.
'And yet I use my iPhone to check the time.'
She thought for a moment before speaking. 'It's all to do with the image you want to portray?'
'Exactly, don't get me wrong I am fond of the watch, but it is never really used, never looked at until I place it by the side of the bed and get my beauty sleep.'
Jackie tried to see where he was going with the story, but her mind seemed foggy, unable to really grasp his point.
'I've told you about the watch, about how I never use it, but no one else knows that, no doubt they think I use it all the time, but it's merely a prop, and the truth is I bought it at a car boot sale about five years ago, it isn't a family heirloom at all.'
'That was a lie?' she asked astonished.
'It was my way of showing you that not everything is the truth,' he paused, 'smoke and mirrors, Jacqueline, smoke and mirrors,' he said before striding off across the short grass.
She watched him go, knowing that the conversation was over and also convinced that Giles in his roundabout way had just called Lord Charles Jepson a bloody liar.
77
'I realise it's disappointing,' Jepson said, he was standing in the woodland looking out over the lake, swans in the distance floated on the still surface.
'It's more than disappointing, it's a calamity,' the voice on the phone claimed.
'Believe me, Richard, no one feels it more keenly than I.'
'But what are we going to do, the whole thing is planned, people have paid handsomely and now you're telling me that your runner has been knocked down by a bloody drunk driver?'
Jepson's eyes narrowed in anger as he thought of Julie, his Julie, lifeless on the road, her body broken, her skull crushed, all the effort, all the training and for what?
'Are you still there, Charles?'
'Of course.'
'Well, what do you suggest, what's your plan?'
'I need time, you know how these things work, Richard, it is all about the preparation. Now, I do have a replacement and I think she shows great promise, but…'
'Yes, yes that's all well and good, but that will hardly be satisfactory for those waiting to take part, will it?'
Jepson sighed heavily. 'I suppose not, but these are unique circumstances and if they want the full experience then they shall have to wait.'
'You try telling them that and see what response you get,' Richard snapped.
'Listen to me, plans have changed, I am working on the training of a replacement, but I refuse to put her out there until she can do justice to what we offer. Now, until then things are on hold, though I am prepared to offer something else, call it an appetiser.'
'''Appetiser''?' Richard asked, his voice no more than a whisper.
'I'm loath to do it but sometimes you have to revert to the tried and tested ways.'
'Are we talking about Max?' Richard asked with more than a hint of excitement in his voice.
Jepson sighed. 'Yes, so make enquiries, find out if that will satisfy the baying mob for the time being and if so, then arrange it, it can take place here and there will of course be no charge.'
'Wonderful!' Richard suddenly bellowed. 'Just like the old days.'
'The bad old days,' Jepson replied, his face now sour.
'And you will make sure he's fighting fit?'
'Max is always fighting fit.'
Richard laughed and Jepson felt like throwing the phone into the lake.
'Right, I'll organise that side of things and you get busy on your new protégé.'
'Goodbye, Richard,' Jepson said before ending the call and thrusting the phone into his pocket.
When he heard movement at his back he turned, Max looked at him blank-faced.
'I take it you heard some of that?' Jepson asked.
Max nodded. 'I heard enough.'
'And how do you feel about it?'
For the first time, the man called Max smiled. 'It will be good to be active again.'
Jepson looked at the man in front of him and pursed his lips. 'You could refuse, and I would understand and honour your decision.'
'I never refuse, you know that,' Max said before turning and walking back into the trees, leaving Charles Jepson with a strange look of disappointment on his face, guilt lingering in his eyes.
78
Lasser could hear Bannister in the background complaining about the lack of progress as he tried to concentrate on what Jackie was telling him. In the end he turned to the office window and plugged his right ear with his finger to block out the DCI.
'So, Giles Black thinks that Jepson only revealed the truth about his family because he suspected it was going to
come out anyway?'
'It was all done cryptically, but yes that's what he meant.'
'What else did he say?'
'That people are not always what they seem to be.'
'Bit vague,' Lasser replied.
'I know and I'm sorry, he kind of talks in riddles but you get there in the end, if you know what I mean.'
'Dropping hints rather than coming out with what he really thinks?'
'Something like that, and don't forget he knows Jepson, so to be honest I think he revealed a lot about the man in his own way.'
'Lasser, what the hell are you doing!?'
'Is that Alan bawling as usual?' Jackie asked.
'Afraid so.'
'Right, I'd better let you go otherwise you will end up in the naughty corner again.'
Lasser smiled as the phone beeped and he turned to find Bannister glaring at him.
'We're trying to fathom out what to do next, so what can be so important that you aren't involved?' Bannister demanded.
Odette rolled her eyes, and Carole shook her head.
'That was Jackie, she's been trying to find out more about his lordship.'
Bannister tilted his head slightly, his chin jutting. 'And?'
'According to her, the truth about Jepson's ancestors and their links to slavery were going to come out so he made a pre-emptive strike and told the story himself to certain media types who were sympathetic to his position.'
'Big nobs closing ranks,' Bannister complained.
'What about Brewster, what did he have to say about Jepson?' Carole asked.
'Do not mention that man's name to me, he cried like a bloody baby and almost fell out of the car.'
Carole sighed heavily. 'What did you do?'
Bannister looked suitably offended by the question, though they could all see the gleam in his eyes. 'Sod all, I just asked him a few questions.'
'Does that mean I can expect a formal complaint about you?'
Bannister shrugged. 'No idea, but we do know whatever he says it will be a pack of lies.'
'He actually cried?' Odette asked, leaning forward slightly in the seat.
'Christ, Odette, all I was trying to do was get to the truth about why he's such a complete and utter bastard. I took the psychological approach rather that the screaming and bawling one, and the man simply cracked. In the end he was screaming ''let me out'' over and over again and…'
Driven by Fear (The DS Lasser Book 27) Page 26