Chapter Twenty-Four
Twenty-Four
‘Oliver Lund? It’s Sara Pearson from the London office of CSH. You advised me on a case last year?’ I said, clutching my phone tightly and hiding behind a tree. I’d had a sleepless night and couldn’t sit back and do nothing while Tore’s world fell apart. Especially when it was all my fault.
‘Hei, Sara. Yes, of course I remember you. How are things over there? I hear it’s hard going?’
‘I’m not in work at the moment, but everything was fine a few weeks ago.’
‘Ah, well that makes sense. It’s going down with you out of office.’ He chuckled. ‘I heard you were very impressive in court on the Danny Jackson case.’
I flushed with pride. I had been particularly excellent that week. ‘Thank you. He’s back in Mauritius now and probably on the rum already, if I know him.’
‘It’s hard in these fraud cases for people to understand that we are there to focus on the law and not on the crime – that’s what they pay us for.’
‘To game the system in their favour. Well, we certainly did a good job for Danny.’
‘Absolutely. Now what can I do for you? Is everything OK?’
‘Not really, no. I’m on holiday near Bergen, at a retreat called Firefly Forest and a legal situation has come up. I was hoping to pick your brains on local property law.’
‘Of course. Tell me the problem.’
‘It’s an ownership question that needs digging into, but the scenario is this: a covenant agreement was struck years ago between the ancestors of the Nilsens who run the retreat, and the ancestors of the Bakkens who own the land it’s built on.
The agreement states that they each bring their half to the party – the land plus the work efforts – and as long as the retreat makes enough money to wash its face and supports the people who find their way there, the two families share any profits and the legacy of good. In perpetuity.’
‘Makes sense,’ Oliver said. ‘I’ve heard of similar situations and it’s fairly straightforward if there is a covenant in place.’
‘The complication is that there’s an interested buyer who is speaking directly with the Bakkens about a possible sale, which will of course affect the Nilsens’ livelihoods and business.’
‘Hmm. These old agreements can get messy. It often depends on who is trying to break it and why. Do you know what this buyer wants to do with the land?’
‘Yes,’ I said, miserably. ‘He wants to chop the trees down and build houses.’
‘Residential?’ Oliver asked.
‘I don’t think so. More likely to be holiday homes.’
‘Which could be argued as good or bad. I’d need to understand the details and read the proposal. Have you got anything you can send me?’
‘Yes!’ I lied, desperate to secure his help. ‘I’ll email everything across. The signal is terrible here, so it’ll be later today once I get into the office. Is that OK?’
‘Sure. No rush my side. Send it on when you can and I’ll take a look.’
‘Thank you, Oliver, I really appreciate it.’
The good news was I had him on side, the bad news was I had nothing to send him other than the few snatches of conversation I’d overheard from Mark. The farmhouse door flew open and an angry Jonas marched down the path, followed by Henrik, who was trying to calm him down.
‘That asshole is not leaving until he tells us everything,’ Jonas said.
‘Filip sent a text to say he’ll be at the jetty in ten minutes.
As if Mr Pearson thought he could book a private speedboat and disappear without us knowing.
We need to straighten out a few things before we see him off the premises. ’
‘Pappa doesn’t want any bad publicity, remember, so try and keep it civil.’
Jonas laughed. ‘No chance, bro. He lost the right to civil when he tried to steal our home. Screwing us behind our backs while we walked him over hot coals.’
‘I get it, but let’s stay focused on what we need from him. And that’s the proposal and plans.’
‘Which I will help myself to, while you hold him down.’
They walked out of earshot. Shitttt, this was an actual nightmare.
Maybe I could influence the situation somehow.
Get Mark to see sense and talk his client out of it.
I tiptoed out of my phone signal nook and followed them down to the water, hiding tree to tree as they walked through the forest and down to the jetty.
Filip was heading straight towards us in his speedboat while Mark paced anxiously, his bags packed next to him.
I hurried the rest of the way to bear witness to Jonas and Henrik seeing Mark ‘off the premises’ and presumably throwing him in the sea. For the courts.
Mark’s face dropped as he saw the boys heading his way.
‘Hey, big fellas,’ he said, a look of terror in his eyes as he checked Filip’s position and willed him to go faster.
The last time I’d seen that expression, we’d found ourselves alone in a field with a bull on a romantic country walk.
Mark had pushed me forward to ‘make eye contact’ because I was a girl.
‘Hei, Mark. What’s going on, buddy? Leaving without saying goodbye?’ Jonas asked.
Relief flooded Mark’s face at Jonas’s friendly tone.
‘Yes! Sorry, didn’t I say? I’m heading back to London, mate.
My bill is all settled though – I sorted it with Tore last night and added a nice big tip for the staff.
Thanks for looking after me.’ His wink was so cartoonish, I could see it from my spyhole.
‘This isn’t about your bill,’ Henrik said evenly. ‘We need to understand what conversations have been had with Bjorn and Nina Bakken before you leave.’
Filip arrived in a puff of diesel as he steered the boat alongside the jetty with a noisy put-put-put. He threw the rope towards the boys and Jonas caught it, hooked it and knotted it with no more than a cursory glance.
‘Ah, lads, I’d love to stay and chat, but this is my ride,’ Mark said, holding his bag out to Filip, who gave him a curt nod and ignored it.
‘It’ll only be your ride once you tell us everything we need to know,’ Henrik said as Filip stepped ashore. ‘It’s a small community out here, you see, and the reason it works so well is because we all look after each other.’
Mark’s smug smile faded as he looked from Henrik to Jonas and then Filip, and realised he was very much still on his own. The situation hadn’t gone from two-on-one to two-on-two. It was now three-on-one, and he was outnumbered on all sides.
His tone changed immediately. ‘Absolutely, guys! We’re all friends here aren’t we? Anything you need to know, just ask!’
‘We’re not all friends here, no,’ Jonas said. ‘And we need to know it all. Start from the beginning and tell us exactly what is going on.’
‘Honestly, I would if I could, but the lawyers will put my bollocks in a blender – you know how they can be. Especially the girls,’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘Total control freaks!’
Henrik ignored him and continued. ‘We need copies of the financial proposal, the development plans and any formal paperwork or draft contracts you’ve shared with Bjorn and Nina.’
‘Right,’ Mark said, nodding. ‘OK, well I will absolutely check if I’m allowed to share those with you…’ Jonas stepped forward. ‘I don’t have paper copies on me,’ he said, hurriedly. ‘But I can email you once I’m back in the office.’
‘No.’ Jonas was getting annoyed. ‘Whatever Bjorn has seen, we need to see. Today.’
Mark gulped. He was in way over his head. ‘There was only one certified copy for the landowner as they were authenticated in ink, but I have PDF copies on email – you can print them out?’
Jonas and Henrik were getting increasingly agitated, and it felt like a good time to pop my face in, so I jumped up from my hidey-hole and walked along the jetty.
‘Going without saying goodbye?’ I called, and Mark looked over in relief. A rabbit cornered by three foxes. Or should I say a rat.
‘Heyyy, of course not. I’ve been trying to call you,’ he said, holding his phone in the air. ‘It’s impossible to do anything around here. I don’t know how you can stand it.’
‘Tick tock,’ Jonas said. ‘Your flight won’t wait, and you’re not leaving until you hand over the information.’
‘How can I give you what I don’t have?’ Mark was trying to look innocent, but I could see he was almost enjoying this. He didn’t consider these guys to be anywhere near his level of intelligence. He’d spit out his soy Frappuccino if he knew about Henrik’s rainmaking career.
‘You can’t expect us to believe you don’t have a second copy?’ Jonas said. ‘You came all this way with no backup? That feels like extremely poor planning on your part.’
‘Is it on your laptop?’ I asked.
‘Yes, but they don’t trust me to email it over once I get signal.’
‘I’m sure you can understand why,’ Henrik said, with a wry smile.
‘How about I scan the files on my phone,’ I said, swiping through my apps. ‘Then you can email when you get signal in Bergen and Filip can check we’ve got everything through before you get off the boat.’
‘Great idea,’ Henrik said, nodding. ‘Thanks, Sara.’
Mark forced a smile. ‘Yes, thanks, Sara.’ He was clearly livid to have been cornered when he thought he was home free, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
He flipped his laptop open and bashed the keys furiously to bring up the proposal.
I smiled at him as I scanned, saving the files onto my phone.
‘Anddd… done,’ I said, snapping the last one. ‘We can make a start with these.’
Mark rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, come on, Erin Brockovich, you’re not getting involved as well, are you? Is this to piss me off?’
‘Not everything is about you, Mark.’
He laughed. ‘Isn’t it?’ he said. There was a malicious glint in his eye. ‘You weren’t saying that in the hot tub the other night.’
That was a low blow.
‘You wish,’ I said. It was a weak response, but if I got too defensive I’d look guilty of something I hadn’t done. Well, only half done. Henrik was staring at the ground, his hands in his back pockets.