Chapter Seventeen
Gabe ended the call to his half-brother and sighed in frustration. Honestly, Adam was repellent. Gabe had tried to remind him again that Harrington’s troubles were down to Harringtons themselves. That De Foix Investments were not to blame, and that in fact, it was Geoffrey Flint-Hyssop that had tipped off the City to the family’s predicament.
‘And how easy do you think it is to take down Sir Geoffrey?’ demanded Adam. ‘De Foix Investments is a much easier target and will remind the City that we are still a force to be reckoned with.’
‘Honestly, Adam. My advice to you is: that won’t wash. If she’s guilty, the FCA will prove it.’
‘Exactly, and as whistle-blowers we will remarket ourselves as reformed sinners. Holier than thou. The safest place to invest your money. It’s a great angle.’
‘If she’s guilty,’ said Gabe trying to remind Adam that all this was pure speculation. He had no idea why Adam was so convinced of her guilt.
‘Of course she is. That’s why we need you to keep an eye on her.’
‘Well, so far I haven’t even seen her. Yesterday’s flight was cancelled so maybe she isn’t here at all.’
‘Ask reception?’
‘Very subtle. This is not some huge faceless hotel. If I asked reception they’d tell her in a second.’
‘Well, give them some money not to.’ Adam’s voice was exasperated, and Gabe could picture him rolling his eyes. As far as his brother was concerned there wasn’t a problem that couldn’t be solved by throwing more money at it.
‘People don’t work like that, Adam.’
‘They do for the right price.’
‘Look, leave it to me but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. If she is here to do some sort of business deal, I’d expect her to be staying in Cork city. This place is very isolated.’
‘Gabe, I have to say, I’m disappointed. Where’s your sense of family duty? You know what this did to the old man. For the love you owe him, can you please get a grip and find out what she is up to.’
‘How many more times? Don’t try to blackmail me like this. You know I’ll do anything for our father, but I am not some pet lawyer, you have your own guys for that.’
‘Well, we can hardly send them, can we? You are there in a strictly unofficial capacity. Find her and find out what she’s up to.’
With that he ended the phone call. Gabe glared at the phone and then sighed. His half-brother was an arse. Fancy trying to blackmail him with talk of family and love. Love winning out was not the Harrington way, duty before dishonour was more their thing. What really stank was that he didn’t know if Adam was working off his own initiative or if their father had asked but was doing it through his eldest son for a layer of deniability. Gabe was fairly certain his father wouldn’t throw his children to the wolves, but he wasn’t 100 per cent sure .
Well, he would oblige his father and brother, and keep an eye out for Miss de Foix, but in the meantime, he and Letta were off on an adventure.
***
Walking down to the main foyer, Gabe stopped for a minute to watch Letta who was currently on her hands and knees, laughing with Mrs Devaney. Ohana was scrambling over the two enormous wolfhounds. The shaggy beasts were sprawled in front of the empty hearth, sniffing Ohana in amusement as she walked across their heads and fell down their noses, onto their legs.
As Letta’s hair kept falling forward she would tuck it behind her ear but as it wasn’t quite long enough, it would fall forward again, causing her to fidget constantly. Pulling his phone out he grabbed a few quick shots and then came and joined them.
‘Well, it looks as though Ohana will be in good hands,’ he said lightly.
Letta turned quickly and smiled up at Gabe. ‘Aren’t they fabulous? Look at them – they don’t seem to mind at all. In fact, Mairead says that they are cousins, Ohana is a hound, just like them.’
‘Here, look, I took some photos. I thought you might like them.’ Letta flicked through them and gave Gabe her number and he pinged them across.
Mairead Devaney shook her head at the simplicity of modern technology and got up from her knees. She was somewhat slower than Letta, but her smile was just as bright. ‘They don’t mind at all.’ She brushed down her front and continued, ‘Now look, reports are that this storm is going to be a big one, so you’d better be getting yourselves back sooner rather than later. If you get caught out and the waves are breaking over the causeway, we’ll put you up on the mainland.’
‘Does that happen a lot?’ said Letta curiously.
‘Once or twice a year. More often in winter but the occasional summer storm can catch us on the hop as well.’
Letta looked at Gabe in alarm. ‘Do you think this is a good idea?’
‘Absolutely.’ He sat down opposite Nick and watched as Mairead returned to the office with Ohana. ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’
‘We could be swept out to sea?’ she laughed nervously.
‘Nonsense. I shall be like Canute and tell the tide to turn back.’
‘You know the point of that story was that Canute wasn’t capable of turning back the tide.’
‘Fair point and correct. I shall be Moses then, and part the Atlantic Ocean.’
‘Moses it is then,’ laughed Letta and slapped her hand decisively on the coffee table. Just as she did so, the wind caught a door in some unseen corridor and slammed shut, making both of them jump.
‘Do you normally have a soundtrack to your life?’ asked Gabe.
‘It’s an East End thing,’ she nodded, playing along. ‘We all have one; you can barely make it through the day without hearing the drums going off. ’
Letta laughed and then banged out the closing drumline to EastEnders on the tabletop. Gabe joined in miming a drummer finishing his set on the top hat.
‘I never realised you were all so afflicted,’ grinned Gabe.
‘It is a nightmare,’ said Letta. ‘At least once a week, some owner is shouting at you to get out of their pub. Even if you are just in the fruit and veg shop.’
‘You have fruit and veg shops? I thought it was all pie and mash?’
‘One fruit and veg shop per every ten pie and mash. It’s the law, plus we need to think of the children.’
‘Ah yes,’ he put on a fake David Attenborough voice, ‘and here we see a typical “EastEnder” discussing the single most important aspect of their lives, the faamly .’ Gabe said faamly in proper EastEnders fashion making Letta snort, which made him laugh loudly.
‘Well, faamly , as you say, is terribly important. Given that we are all actually related to the Kray twins and we all love our mums, it is vital that we don’t get confused.’
‘Is it true that you all have to have Mum tattooed on you?’
‘At birth,’ agreed Letta.
‘And what about Dad ?’
‘No, silly. We don’t acknowledge our father until he is either released from prison, returns from Spain, or following a TV show, we discover that our auntie’s boyfriend is actually our father. Or brother. It depends. There’s an annual lottery where we are awarded the next storyline in our lives.’
‘Do you get told in advance? ’
‘As if. If we knew, there would be no need for the drums.’
Gabe tipped his head at how well Letta had played out the conversation. He couldn’t remember when he had enjoyed just hanging out with a girl. Certainly, he knew lots of fast-witted, clever girls but something about Letta just seemed calmer.
She didn’t seem to be putting on an act or trying to impress anyone, and that gave off a very relaxed vibe. He was glad he had offered to drive, spending time in her company would be no chore at all. He had already spoken to Mrs Devaney and she had explained the route. Just in case Letta’s skills weren’t up to scratch it was always good to be prepared. Not that he would tell her that. There was no need to let her know he didn’t have 100 per cent trust in her, he just found that in his line of work it was better to cover all eventualities.
***
As they headed outside, Nick rolled her eyes at Gabe as he opened the door of the car for her. She was enjoying the banter with Gabe and looking forward to the day ahead.
‘Thank you. I had completely forgotten my arms had fallen off.’
Gabe got into the car and shrugged his shoulders, smiling. ‘Didn’t you hear the drum roll when you lost your arms? Besides which, it’s just how I was brought up. If I failed to open the door, it would say more about me than it would about you. Incidentally, I’m fine with you getting the door for me as well. ’
‘Would we ever get anywhere if we spent all day running around the car, opening the door for each other?’
‘Let’s take turns? Now then navigator, which way?’
Nick nodded, pleased with how Gabe had responded. Sometimes men could get so huffy. She too had been in a household where good manners were required, but she had noticed that too often, those good manners masked a belief that women were somehow inferior. So far her instincts about Gabe were spot on, he was one of the good guys.
Pulling the roadmap out of the bag that Mairead gave her, she gave it a quick glance then smiled at Gabe and looked ahead.
‘Turn left after the causeway, then take the second right for good views, or the third right for a quicker drive.’
‘Shall we take the third right then? We won’t see anything in this rain, plus there’s no point in dawdling, is there?’ Nick agreed and Gabe quickly glanced over at the map on her lap. ‘Did you get all that from the map?’
Nick looked at it again and it did seem to tally with what she had just said.
‘No, I spoke to Mairead and checked it out on Google Earth as well.’
‘Proper Girl Guide then, “Be prepared”.’
‘Girl Guide? Not likely.’
‘D of E then? Good at map reading.’
Nick looked at him blankly.
‘Duke of Edinburgh?’
‘Ah yes, posh kids club.’ Nick regularly saw references to Duke of Edinburgh on the CVs that came across her desk. Basically, it was a scheme that got teenagers to improve fitness, community involvement and skills. In all honesty it sounded excellent, but it tended to be offered in private schools rather than state ones.
Gabe frowned briefly and appeared to be about to say something. Instead, he smiled reflectively as he started up the engine.