Winner Takes It All (25 page)

Alex arrived at the
luxurious hotel on Hyde Park, instructing the concierge to park her
car and not to let any journalists in whatsoever. She then rushed
up to the Savannah Suite where Jack based himself when he was in
London. As soon as he opened the door and she saw that kind,
battered face, she broke down, falling into his arms and sobbing.
She’d never felt so scared in her life. Scared that her father’s
company was about to be ruined, and scared that someone was out
there who hated them so much they were willing to go to any lengths
to ruin them.

Jack sat her upon one of
the sumptuous sofas and held her until she couldn’t cry any more.
When it was just a whimper, he passed her a handkerchief and let
her blow her nose.

‘
What’s
happened?’ he asked.

‘
This man who
was in the IRA is claiming that daddy used to supply them with
money in exchange for protection in Northern Ireland.’

‘
You’re
kidding?’ Jack frowned.

‘
I wish I was.
This is so horrible Jack. It could ruin Sheridans.’

Jack made her a cup of
coffee and she calmed down, showing him the article. He read it
then seemed to re-read it.

‘
Were you ever
in Northern Ireland?’ she asked.

‘
It was my
first tour of duty,’ he replied. ‘I was eighteen. It was fucking
hell having a name like Byrne and yet being on the other
side.’

‘
Do you know
anyone who could help me find out more about this Finn Healy? I
can’t ask Colm Kennedy, he’s dead.’

‘
I don’t see
why not. I’ve a few mates who served in over there longer than I
did. I tell you Alex, I saw what the IRA did and if it’s true,
Sheridans can kiss goodbye to ever having any pubs in certain parts
of Northern Ireland ever again.’

‘
This is the
worst thing that’s ever happened to me. In fact it’s the worst day
of my life.’

‘
Why? Has
something else happened?’

‘
Robin asked
me to marry him.’

‘
What did you
say?’

‘
Nothing.
Nicola called me about this and I ran off. I don’t want to marry
him, I don’t love him and yet my family all think we’re so suited.
My life is such a mess.’

‘
Maybe I can
help just a little bit.’

He got up and walked over
to a Davenport desk that stood close to the window. From it he
fetched an envelope similar to the one Robin had given her. He sat
back down beside her, passing it to her.

‘
Happy
Birthday.’

‘
You
remembered,’ she sniffed, feeling the tears coming again. She
opened the envelope and pulled out two vouchers to Grissoms Health
Club - day passes with free treatments thrown in. A far more
suitable present than a holiday in the Maldives.

‘
I thought you
could do with some R and R,’ he smiled.

‘
You’re so
kind,’ she whimpered, starting to cry again. He pulled her to him
once more and just like before in Hove, Alex knew what was going to
happen. A stillness descended upon their bodies, a sudden awareness
of the other. She stopped crying and made a conscious decision to
pull away. Her life was in enough turmoil. She refused to make it
worse by tormenting herself with something she couldn’t
have.

Pulling away, she blew
her nose once more and thanked Jack for his present.

‘
You’re
welcome. I’m going to see what I can do about this Healy fella. You
go and enjoy the rest of your day.’

‘
It’ll be
hard.’

He reached out and
stroked her face.

‘
I’m at the
end of the phone if you want someone to talk to.’

‘
Don’t be so
kind to me,’ she cried. ‘It just makes everything
worse.’

She got up, taking her
birthday present with her. Kissing him on the cheek, she left
before she did something she would regret.

***

Arriving at Layton House,
Alex found a lot of her family gathered. The mood was sombre given
the revelations that had come out and resembled a wake more than a
birthday party. Before she could speak to anyone, she sought her
father, finding him in the garden, reading. It was encouraging to
see that the droop in his face was gradually lifting and he was
beginning to resemble his old self. Her biggest fear was letting
him down - he had entrusted so much in her.

She sat beside him,
pouring him another glass of lemonade.

‘
Nicola
emailed me the article,’ he said. ‘It’s all complete
lies.’

‘
I gathered
that.’

‘
The one thing
your grandmother respected was people’s faiths and even though she
hated the Protestants, she understood they needed their places to
meet and so allowed them to keep their pubs in Northern Ireland.
Colm Kennedy’s brother was killed in an IRA roadside bomb, why
would he support them?’

‘
Who’s trying
to get us daddy? What have we done that’s so terrible?’

‘
I don’t know
poppet. But I am going to email the editor of the Sunday Telegraph
myself. I’m not leaving this one to you Alex.’

‘
But I can
cope daddy.’

‘
No, this is
all about the past, when I was in charge. I will sort it
out.’

People tried to get into
party mode as the evening wore on but it was difficult. Everyone
was there except Michael who was still sulking and his absence gave
Alex an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Surely even he wouldn’t be
that spiteful as to ruin his own father’s company? She kept her
suspicions to herself and tried to keep smiling.

Tara was here and Alex
was delighted to see her cousin had made a full recovery. After
she’d left hospital, Paula had arranged for her to spend two weeks
in a private clinic in Hertfordshire where she received counselling
and the help she should have had ten years ago. Alex didn’t know if
they intended to press charges against the man who raped Tara, or
just thought it best to let it go. It wasn’t her place to ask. But
what she did notice was the change in her cousin. For the first
time ever, she’d forsaken her plaits and instead her beautiful wavy
black hair was hanging loose over her shoulders. The black dress
she wore skimmed her figure and showed off curves she’d always kept
hidden. Alex also noticed how close she was to Tom. The two of them
were behaving more like a couple than distant cousins and working
partners; following each other around, giggling and talking
intimately.

When she saw Tara get up
to go to the bathroom, she followed her, walking up the mighty
staircase beside her.

‘
How are you
feeling my darling?’ she asked.

‘
A lot
better,’ Tara replied. ‘I feel silly though, I wish I’d said
something years ago.’

‘
You coped as
well as you could.’

Tara suddenly stopped and
so did Alex. There was a new sort of coyness in Tara’s expression
that told Alex she was thinking about a man.

‘
Alex would
you help me?’ she asked quietly.

‘
What
with?’

‘
I really like
Tom, and I think he likes me, but I’m not confident looking like
this. I want to look nice, like you. Would you show me what to
do?’

‘
Oh bless
you,’ gushed Alex, hugging her cousin. ‘Of course I will. Jack’s
given me two vouchers for a pampering day. Why don’t we do that? We
could go shopping afterwards and make you look more stunning than
you already do.’

Tara pulled away and the
beaming smile on her beautiful face was more genuine than Alex had
ever seen.

‘
I do love you
Alex,’ she said. ‘You’re the sister I never had.’

Suddenly there was
another voice.

‘
Come on
Alex.’ It was Robin, popping his head out of the drawing room door.
‘They want you to blow out the candles.’

Alex left Tara and went
back downstairs into the drawing room. Mrs Gentle had made her a
lovely cake with four big candles on. Alex blew them out and when
someone asked her to make a wish, the one she’d been planning on
making didn’t come into her head. She’d planned to say she hoped
the crisis would blow over, but instead, the first thought that
came into her mind was
‘I wish I could have
Jack’
.

As if she’d summoned him
up, she felt her mobile vibrate in her pocket and when she took it
out, she saw it was him. She excused herself and ran out onto the
veranda, closing the French doors behind her.

‘
Have you
found something out?’ she gasped.

‘
I spoke to my
old CO, Lieutenant Davy. He did four tours of duty in Northern
Ireland and he was posted in Coleraine. He knew of Finn Healy
because he was John Hobb’s CO too. The reason he killed Hobbs was
because the IRA made him do it.’

‘
Well we know
that…’

‘
The IRA made
him do it as a show of loyalty. If he didn’t do it, they were going
to kill
him
because he was supplying information to the
other side.’

‘
The
Loyalists?’

‘
Yes. His wife
was a protestant and he had divided loyalties. He had to kill Hobbs
to prove he was still loyal to the Cause. But, I think this is the
bit that will interest you. His wife Ann’s, father was a breweryman
for Sheridans over in Summerset. The first time Healy went to
prison in 1971, Ann was given a nice house in Donegal paid for by
Sheridans.’

‘
So it’s
true!’ Alex gasped, then it hit her. ‘1971? My grandmother hadn’t
bought it in 1971.’

‘
Exactly. If
Healy was in anyone’s pockets. It was the old branch of the
family.’

‘
Thank you so
much for this Jack. I owe you more than I can ever repay
you.’

‘
Your
happiness and peace of mind is the only reward I want.’

Alex returned to the
party and asked her father if she could speak to him alone. He
agreed and she wheeled him along to Ben’s study. She told him
everything Jack had just told her and he listened intently. When
she finished, she wondered if he would pooh pooh it, saying it was
just a coincidence.

‘
I’m sorry to
say this Alex,’ he said slowly. ‘But this only confirms my
suspicions.’

‘
What’s
that?’

‘
I’ve had a
feeling this is all connected to the other side of the family.
Sorcha in particular has always borne a grudge regarding your
grandmother buying Sheridans. A part of me has waited for the day
she got her revenge and I think this is what she’s
doing.’

‘
Sorcha? How?
She’s an old lady.’

‘
Never
underestimate the power of Sorcha. I think she’s got someone in to
do her bidding for her?’

‘
Who?’

‘
A supposedly
long lost grandson who was disowned.’

‘
Tom!’

‘
All these
things have started to happen since Tom arrived. I think he’s
working for Sorcha.’

‘
But Tara’s in
love with him!’

‘
You must do
all you can to keep Tara away from him. We won’t accuse him of
anything yet but I will tell the press what Jack found out.
Hopefully we can discredit Healy. But as for young Mr Montague, we
won’t let him out of our sight until we know he can be
trusted.’

Fourteen

Tom was summoned to an
emergency meeting with Jackson and Maurice Bannerman at Waterloo
Station. They met in an anonymous looking coffee shop close to
Platform One - an unlikely place for a war summit. Jackson was
running scared; three days ago he thought he had scored a coup by
paying a man called Finn Healy to lie about Sheridans funding the
IRA. In truth Finn Healy had worked as a double agent back in the
late 1960s and 70s and had done deals with Loyalist paramilitaries
who were funded by the old Sheridan regime. Jackson thought he’d
had it in the bag but Christian Cusack had fought back by exposing
Healy for what he really was. Almost before the
Telegraph
could hit the newsstands,
The Observer
was running the
counter story.

‘
It’s all
going so fucking horribly wrong,’ Jackson spat above the noise of
the busy train station. ‘I’ve had to pay Healy off so he can go
into hiding. He’s got a lot of enemies out there and they’re coming
to get him now.’

‘
What I want
to know is how they found out about Healy,’ Bannerman said. ‘There
are only three possibilities.’

‘
What’s that?’
Tom uttered, not liking the hint of accusation in Bannerman’s
voice.

‘
One, Andrew
McDonald told them. Healy worked for Sheridans when Bridget was in
control. Briggy was unaware of the paramilitary involvement - that
was orchestrated entirely by Patrick and when he died he secretly
instructed Sorcha to make sure it carried on. She always was the
most political of the three girls. But there is a chance Briggy
found out and told Andrew. The other option is Jack
Byrne.’

‘
Alex’s
business partner?’ Tom frowned.