The Talisman (72 page)

They dined together at a very elegant restaurant. Edward chose a table at the back of the room, in a small alcove. He poured Skye a glass of Dom Perignon and toasted him.

‘Got some business to add to your already expanding duties. That land I own over at Ghost Mountains, I’m ready to begin work on it. I want all the tractors and digging machines driven over there at the beginning of next month. I have all the licences for blowing the place apart.’

Skye whistled. He had been waiting to see why Edward had been steadily buying up vast areas of land to add to the millions of acres he already owned.

‘It’s not for diamonds, it’s perlite . . . I’ve done a deal with some Americans to start mining for perlite.’

‘What do I get out of it, apart from more work?’

‘You’ll be handsomely paid, old bean, as always.’

‘The official will want a cut, plus the government, you know that?’

Edward ordered for them both, and Skye tossed the menu aside. He downed his champagne, ordered another bottle.

Edward mused, twirling his glass around. ‘Been thinking of floating the company on the London Johannesburg stock exchange, raise more money from Joe Public – make you a tycoon, Skye. I’ve made an appointment for you to see the solicitors tomorrow, Main Street, they’ll be waiting. I’m not interested in the stones, it’s the perlite I want. You’ll have the best man to help you, an expert on sedimentary rock, he’ll do all the assessments. I want to corner the whole market, become the sole owner of every perlite mine in South Africa, so I don’t want any leakage. I don’t want anyone to suspect there might be valuable stones there as well . . .’

Skye lit a cigarette and blew out the smoke, which formed circles above his head. ‘You’ll have to be fucking careful, man, that place could be more productive – surrounded by fucking oyster beds, you know, near the fucking coast. Could be showered with pearls, never mind fucking diamonds.’

Edward didn’t speak while the waiter served their meal, then he jabbed at the steak with his fork. ‘I’m arranging a method for getting the stones out and over to England . . . We are mining for perlite, sweetheart, anything else keep quiet about. I’ll get it out of South Africa, no problem.’

Skye toyed with his food, pushing it around his plate, his cigarette still burning between his fingers. ‘You’re the boss, man, but you want to get on the side of the blokes running the so-called “Illegal Diamond Division”. I’ll give you their names. They’ll turn a blind eye as long as you pay them enough.’

Edward nodded, chewing his steak, then spoke with his mouth full. ‘I don’t want a single mining house to get wind of this project. Next week I want you to go over to Sbwana Bay, and take your fucking quinine with you, it’s bush and more bush. You don’t go near the map companies, I’ve got some worked out. This is mouth shut time.’

‘Okay by me – fancy a trip, bored out of my mind on the building sites. You know how much the machines will set you back? Around fifty thousand – pounds, not dollars, sweetie.’

Edward pushed his plate away and wiped his mouth with his napkin. ‘I don’t like to push you, but I have a lot of money tied up in this deal, and I’m trusting you with it. Fuck me over, Skye, and you’re dead.’

Skye sighed, his voice quiet and pitiful.

‘I know, I know . . . I’ll see it through for you as I do everything else. Goodnight.’

Edward mentioned neither Harriet nor the child to Skye, and Skye didn’t dare to broach the subject. There was no friendship between them now and he knew it, had known it ever since he made that stupid pass at Harriet.

Edward, after a delay of over a month, eventually returned to London and went straight home. Even though it was after midnight, he went to the nursery to deliver the promised gifts. His daughter lay sleeping, her blankets kicked off, her fists curled tightly in sleep. He felt such a strong surge of emotion he wanted to pick her up and hug her, but he gently covered her and crept into the bedroom.

Harriet was sitting up in bed, a pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose. She gave him a wink and tapped her book. ‘Just checking up on the pros and cons of motherhood. She is extraordinary, I’m sure she’s advanced for her age. Do you know, I’m sure she almost said something . . . Did you see how long her hair’s grown? And she has a front tooth coming . . . You’ve missed so much, she’s nearly walking, and she holds on so hard. And when she laughs she tosses her tiny head back and gurgles . . .’

Exhausted, Edward undressed and climbed into bed. Harriet switched off the light and he pulled her close. ‘I love you, I love you both . . . I’m sorry to have been away so long, you get my letters?’

‘You know something, I asked that snooty bitch Barbara if she would like to have a double birthday party, and she refused. So I told her to bugger off. They’ll no doubt have the Savoy Grill, but . . . Edward?’

Edward was sound asleep.

The next morning, Edward went to see Jinks before leaving for the office. She was standing up in her cot waving a rubber hammer, and he picked her up, loving the smell of her. She nuzzled his neck and then whacked him over the head with the hammer. He laughed, and the little girl looked afraid, unsure, so he put her down and pulled a funny face. She responded with a smile that made his heart lurch.

He gave Dewint instructions to throw out his jeans and cowboy boots, then went straight to the barber’s to have his hair cut. He was buzzing, filled with energy and ready for anything.

Arriving unannounced at the office, Edward took the place by storm. He was like a whirlwind, and everyone jumped as he rampaged through the offices. ‘Where’s Alex, Miss Henderson, where’s Alex?’

Miss Henderson told him Alex would be at the Stock Exchange. Edward walked straight into his brother’s office and began sorting through all the business the company had done during his absence.

He picked up a vast ledger on Alex’s proposed takeover of Buchanan House. The major deal had fallen apart. Alex had been investing on the Stock Exchange and, by the look of it, had taken some bad setbacks, costing him a lot of money, added to which the property boom was beginning to slide. They were left with millions of pounds’ worth of properties they could not offload.

Edward paced the office as he discovered more and more of Alex’s disastrous ventures. He had taken over the St James’ Bank, and that was now being investigated for astronomical losses, and they stood to lose millions. Edward threw up his hands in despair. The property boom was fast becoming a landslide, and Alex had allowed loans to companies, taking their properties as collateral. Now many of those companies were sinking so fast that the bank looked as if it was on the brink of closure. On the good side, however, the Carnaby Street shops were making huge dividends, the money rolling in in waves. But Alex was moving it out again, and without Edward’s signature.

Edward checked over the Banks sale to Jasper Golding and Sir Francis Coleman, and discovered that it was yet again a flourishing, successful business. Renamed, the private gaming house was making a vast profit. From the documents he found in Alex’s desk he reckoned that the men’s stakes of one million each had already trebled . . . he also discovered the shares Alex had hung on to. He was furious, Alex was cheating him, going behind his back. Edward’s trust in his brother suddenly disintegrated – he was just like everyone else, like Walter, lining his own pockets.

Edward turned to the company’s financial records. It was more and more obvious that Alex had been steadily losing money, the company’s money. Edward sighed, so much for honest, straightforward dealing. To date, he alone had been responsible for the lucrative side of the Barkley Company.

He returned to his own office and began to outline a plan to salvage the failing St James’ Bank, to try to recoup the losses incurred during his absence. He was so engrossed in working his way through the files that he didn’t even look up when the door opened.

‘Well, well, this is your Uncle Edward, go on, say hello.’

Alex carried his son in his arms. Although the same age as Jinks, he was twice her size, and had thick, black, curly hair. His eyes were dark, his skin tawny, and his lungs were in good working order. He bellowed, wriggling to get down.

‘This is Evelyn – what do you think of him?’

He put the little boy down and he clung unsteadily to the desk, then fell over. Edward bent down and picked him up. He could feel how much heavier Evelyn was than Jinks.

‘He looks like him, doesn’t he Edward, like Dad?’

Edward looked down into the upturned face. Papers tumbled to the floor as the little hands grabbed.

‘You’ve got your hands full here, Alex, eh? What a big fella. So this is what’s been keeping you away from the office?’

Alex picked up the insult fast, and immediately led Evelyn by the hand to the office door. ‘Go to Nanny, there’s a good boy . . . bye-bye.’

Turning unsteadily on his fat little legs, Evelyn waved to Edward. Beyond the door a nanny in uniform waited for him. As soon as the door closed, there was a scream which continued into the distance as the nanny carried the wailing child away.

Alex looked at the closed door, then at the desk. ‘I see you’ve been over the files. I admit we’ve taken a few setbacks, but we lost the takeover of Buchanan House because you weren’t here and the board wouldn’t accept the deal without you . . . And you have the nerve to make digs about me not being in the office . . . where in God’s name have you been?’

A cigar clamped between his teeth, soberly dressed and with his hair cut short, Edward was back to his old self.

‘Well, it’s a bloody good job I showed up when I did, you’re certainly making a right balls-up of it. Christ, whatever made you buy stock in that fucking heap?’

Alex tried hard to control his temper. ‘I made a list of the properties we can let go, cover our losses.’

Edward tossed Alex his own list of companies they could sell off fast. Alex looked at them quickly, noting that they were mostly his own deals, and threw the paper back.

Miss Henderson heard the argument escalating into a full-scale row. Before long everyone could hear the brothers screaming at each other.

‘There’s not a memo or a note on Ming’s contract with the Japs that I set up. Do I have to do everything, for Chrissake? If she’s gone into business without us then we get over there . . . Plus we get shot of this prat of a son-in-law, what’s his name, Conrad St James. Guy couldn’t run a bowling alley, never mind a fucking bank! I want a meeting set up with all the board members of the bank and I want it fast . . . Think you can handle that, buddy? Think you can do one simple thing and not cock it up?’

All through dinner Alex was quiet, and Barbara knew something was wrong.

‘Edward’s back, things have not been going all that well, especially at the bank . . .’

‘Why didn’t you tell me, Alex? What things?’

Alex didn’t usually discuss business with her, but slowly he began to tell her about the problems. Conrad St James was proving incapable of running the bank, and Alex had delayed confronting him because he was married to Alex’s stepdaughter, Selina. ‘Edward wants to take a look at the accounts. I’ve had to fund a lot of the bank with Barkley monies . . . He has every right, I’ll go over and have a talk with them this evening.’

Barbara sighed. She had had very little to do with her daughter since she had been married off. With either of her daughters, come to think of it – her new life left little room for them. She was a grandmother now, and didn’t like that, either.

‘I won’t be able to join you, darling, I have a charity meeting for the Spastic Association, do you mind going alone?’

Alex held her hand and kissed it. ‘Just a few things to remember . . . Keep quiet about my stake in the club should Edward start sniffing around. Now he’s back, he’ll be poking his nose into every transaction I’ve done since he left.’

‘Did he ask after Evelyn at all?’

Alex smiled. ‘I took him to the zoo this morning and then Edward met him at the office. You know, he was jealous, I could see it in his face.’

‘You spoil that child, you know. Maybe you’ve been spending too much time with him.’

Alex gave Barbara a strange, veiled look, and spoke quietly. ‘Well, one of us has to.’

Barbara pursed her lips. She didn’t want to discuss it, they invariably argued about Evelyn.

Suddenly the little boy ran into the room. ‘Daddy . . . Daddy . . .’ He threw himself into Alex’s arms, and chortled with laughter as his father twirled him around, tossed him up in the air and caught him.

‘Who’s Daddy’s boy, then, eh? Who’s Daddy’s boy?’

Watching them, Barbara was terrified that Alex would notice Evelyn’s likeness to Edward, it was so obvious to her. ‘I don’t want Edward seeing him, Alex, he’s such a foul-mouthed man. I don’t want Evelyn near him.’

Alex held his son close and buried his face in the thick curls. ‘We’ll keep him away from the big, bad wolf . . . Now, Daddy’s got to go out, but . . . tomorrow, what are we doing tomorrow?’

‘Zoo . . . zoo . . .’

Alex carried Evelyn to the nursery and the nanny smiled. He so obviously adored his son, in a way he made up for the lack of motherly affection. Evelyn began crying because he didn’t want Alex to leave, but he got a tap on the nose and was told Daddy had important work to do.

When Alex arrived at Selina and Conrad’s house, he found his stepdaughter alone. She was a strange, quiet girl, and although he was fond of her he found her trying, she was so shy and introverted.

‘How are your boys?’

Selina murmured that they were all well, then lapsed into silence.

‘I really need to talk to Conrad urgently, you expecting him soon? If so, I’ll wait.’

Selina shrugged, her mouth turned down. ‘He comes and goes as he chooses, perhaps you should try at the office in the morning.’

Alex tilted his head to one side. ‘Nothing wrong between you, is there?’

Selina laughed, humourlessly. ‘There’s nothing between us, but I’ll pass your message on if I see him.’

‘I’d appreciate that, tell him we’re in trouble, Edward’s back, and kicking.’