Chapter 67 #2
‘No disrespect, guys,’ Robin said, ‘but I don’t think any of us move in billionaire circles.’ He’d meant it as a joke, a tension-softener. Nobody even smiled.
‘Tara, maybe,’ Sabri said, earning herself a sharp glance from the other woman.
‘Hardly,’ Tara snapped back. ‘I may have a nice house, thanks to a husband who earned a decent salary for a long time, but I stand to lose that when my divorce goes through. I’m just a retired nurse.’
So much for alleviating tension.
‘Do you think he knows that?’ It was the first time Cheryl had spoken since the others had arrived.
Robin had already labelled her a woman with zero self-worth, only comfortable being invisible.
‘I mean, maybe he knows you’re going to lose your house, Tara, and that’s why he’s leaving you the money.
Because it’s the same with me. My mum’s leaving all her money to a charity, so I’ll lose my home when she dies.
It’s not as grand as yours, but it’s the same thing, isn’t it? ’
‘The lady might have a point,’ Tug said. ‘I’ve just been fired. I could lose my flat if I don’t find another job soon.’
Cheryl shot a nervous smile at Tug; he winked back at her.
‘I’m in a mountain of debt. And facing a court case that could see me bankrupt by the end of the year,’ Robin admitted, although given the events of the previous night, he’d be lucky if bankruptcy was all he faced.
‘Lots of people have money problems,’ Craig said.
‘Do you?’ Tug asked him.
Craig pulled a dismissive face. ‘Not especially. I’ve an ex-wife and two teenage kids to support but thousands must be in my position.’
‘What about you, Holly?’ Cheryl asked. ‘You’re a barrister, so you must be doing all right.’
‘I’m a junior barrister,’ Holly admitted. ‘We’re notoriously badly paid. And I have a father who’s very ill. His care is expensive. So, yes, I have money problems too. I agree with Craig, though. How can that be enough?’
‘I have another pressing question.’ Craig fixed Holly with one of his penetrating looks.
‘What’s that?’ Holly asked.
If anything, Craig’s stare seemed to intensify. He said, ‘Why are you here?’
Holly looked shocked. ‘Sorry?’
‘I’m guessing everyone around this table was born sometime in the 1970s,’ Craig said. ‘As was Logan Quick. But not you. You’re over twenty years younger than the rest of us.’
Robin saw puzzled glances shooting around the room as Holly grew pale. He said, ‘You think that’s significant?’
Craig didn’t back down. ‘Everything’s significant. She’s also the only one of us educated beyond university. And a lawyer to boot. Based in Exeter, like Barker, Momen and Dodds.’
The puzzled looks were becoming nervous.
‘What are you getting at?’ Tug asked.
‘Are you a plant, Holly?’ said Craig.
Holly physically recoiled. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
‘I’ve been making enquiries.’ Craig spoke with a hint of a smile, as though pleased with himself. ‘The firm puts a lot of business in the way of your chambers. You’ll know all the senior partners, by name if not in person. A lot of the junior associates as well.’
‘Is this right, Holly?’ Sabri asked.
The young woman’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Which part? I’m a barrister. Practically all our business comes via solicitors. That’s hardly a secret.’
‘If I were Logan Quick, I’d be wanting to keep an eye on us,’ Craig went on. ‘What better way than to place someone in the heart of the group?’
‘I follow a code of conduct.’ Holly seemed to be speaking through gritted teeth. ‘Shenanigans like that could get me disbarred.’
‘So, you’d need to be well recompensed? By someone very well resourced?’
‘Oh, hold on, Craig—’
‘I think that’s a bit—’
‘Why don’t you fuck—’
‘How about this idea?’ Tug raised his voice above the clamour that had broken out over Craig’s random bit of conjecture. He’d already decided he didn’t like the bloke.
The table quietened a fraction.
‘How about we trust each other till we have reason not to?’ he said, before the others could start wittering again.
‘Good idea,’ Tara said. ‘We’ve no reason to be suspicious of Holly. She has a young child. No half-decent mother would subject her son to what we’ve been through the last couple of weeks without good reason.’
‘Inheriting millions sounds like a good reason to me,’ Craig said.
Holly glared across the table at him.
‘What I want to know is why?’ Tug said. ‘Of all the people in the world, why would an eccentric billionaire leave his money to us?’
‘Are we good people?’ Cheryl asked. ‘I’ve been asking myself that a lot since it happened. What have I done to deserve so much money?’
‘I’ve done nothing,’ Tug admitted. ‘I could use it, but I can’t exactly claim I deserve it. To be honest, though, I don’t think Logan Quick is doing this out of philanthropy. If it was about helping others out, he’d have picked a few charities.’
‘Why then?’ Craig asked.
Tug took a moment. ‘I think he’s playing God.’
It was a relief to finally say it. Since he learned the will was for real, Tug had been trying to suppress the uncomfortable feeling that he was a pawn in someone else’s game.
‘Messing with us, more like,’ Sabri said.
‘I’m not sure how much more my family can cope with.
The kids are all over the place. Jason has his mates guarding the house for us.
With shotguns. I caught one of them rooting in the kitchen cupboard this morning, though, so I trust them like I trust a Tory politician. ’
‘Charlie’s struggling with it too.’ Holly was still glaring at Craig. ‘I’m not sure how he’ll cope when he goes back to school.’
Tara said, ‘In only a couple of weeks we’ve become some of the most famous people on the planet. And it’s not going away.’
Holly dropped her head into her hands. From what Tug could see, she was the least OK of the whole group. No way was she a plant.
‘It’s the same for all of us.’ Craig’s tone was gentler. ‘We deserve to know why.’
Unless she was a plant and struggling to manage the guilt.
‘We could ask him,’ Tug tried.
Silence for a second, then another.
‘And how do we do that?’ Sabri challenged. ‘The man’s a recluse. And given what we’ve heard the last few days, a terminally ill recluse. He’s probably in a clinic in Switzerland.’
Robin said, ‘If Tug’s right, Quick won’t be taking the euthanasia option just yet. He’ll be wanting to see how this plays out.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I think he’s close,’ Tug said. ‘I think he’s watching us.’
More than one person glanced around.
‘Someone’s been following me for weeks,’ Tug went on. ‘I thought I was losing it, having a breakdown. Not anymore. I think my instincts were spot on.’
He looked from one face to the next, trying to spot the flash of acknowledgement. ‘Anyone seen a black Volvo hanging around?’
Alarm shone out of Holly’s face. ‘Seriously?’ she asked.
‘I’m more interested in how theatrical it all is,’ Craig said.
‘First the mysterious tokens arrive, like something out of The Hobbit. Then word gets out, as Quick knew it would, and the media circus kicks in. The solicitors are carefully briefed, denying nothing, but giving very little away. Then we have the press conference when he announces to the world he’s dying. ’
Robin said, ‘And it all becomes a lot more real.’
Craig let his head nod in agreement. ‘And immediate. The guy practically shone a countdown on the side of Big Ben.’
Tara said, ‘Then all our identities are leaked to the media. Any idea how that happened?’
‘That wasn’t necessarily deliberate,’ Tug said.
Silence.
‘But probably was,’ he acknowledged. ‘I think you’re right, Craig. It’s all been very carefully managed and we’re the … I’m not sure what we are.’
‘Puppets?’ Holly suggested.
‘He’s not in Switzerland,’ Tug said. ‘I’d put money on it.
‘You’re absolutely right,’ said a new voice.
Tug’s head shot round to see a woman standing at the tent entrance. She was slender, fair-haired, probably in her early forties; she was attractive too, the opposite of threatening. All the same, there was no way he should have allowed her to creep up on them.
‘I work for Mr Quick,’ she told the shocked group as she stepped inside.
Tara watched the woman stride towards them, detouring only to lift a chair from another table. Placing it in the gap between herself and Robin, she sat down. ‘Mind if I join you?’
She smiled, showing perfect white teeth, and Tara felt something inside her recoiling. Around the table, no one spoke; no one smiled back. If the newcomer was fazed by her lack of welcome, she didn’t show it.
‘Who are you?’ Tara asked.
The woman seemed to consider for a moment, then, ‘I’m here to issue an invitation from Mr Quick. He understands you must have many questions and is more than happy to explain his thinking. He’d like you to visit him next week. If you name a date, he’ll arrange for a boat to take you across.’
‘Is Quick tapping our phones?’ Tug asked.
‘Excuse me?’ Two perfectly formed eyebrows rose as the woman turned her half-smile in Tug’s direction.
‘How did he know we were meeting tonight? How did he know we’d be here?’
‘Starting to rethink the plant idea?’ Craig said.
Tara noticed more than one face turn towards Holly; the young woman took a deep and very visible breath.
‘If you work for Logan Quick,’ Holly said to the woman, ‘perhaps you can tell the others that I don’t.’
Another smile, more secretive this time.
‘For real?’ Holly looked on the verge of getting to her feet.
‘You said something about an invitation,’ Tug spoke quickly, probably to distract Holly. ‘Why don’t we hear the lady out?’
‘Thank you, Mr Winter,’ the newcomer replied.
‘But there isn’t much more to say. I’ve already texted my phone number to all of you.
There’s no signal here, so you probably haven’t received the messages yet, but they’ll come through.
When you decide on the date you’d like to travel, and whether you’ll be able to stay the night on St Helen’s, I’ll make the arrangements. Or we could make them now?’
She looked expectantly around the group.
‘Mr Quick’s boat, a spacious motor launch, will meet you in Falmouth,’ she went on. ‘The trip will take a couple of hours. He can have you back on the mainland the same day if needed.’
Instinctively, Tara turned to Tug, who raised his own brows in a silent question.
Early that morning, he’d agreed quickly when she’d suggested he hang around and get a lift to the yurt.
He’d helped her in the garden, making light work of all the heavy lifting, and they’d swum in the afternoon.
They’d traded stories about his time in the Special Boat Squadron and hers with the NHS; they’d bought food at the local market and cooked soup in her kitchen.
Tug made her feel completely safe and jumpy as a kitten at the same time.
In most circumstances, she was the biggest flirt she knew, but the whole day long she’d been holding back.
Tug was deeply intimidating; and yet she missed his presence when he went briefly to the bathroom.
In less than twenty-four hours this odd man had become a fixture in her life, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
On the other hand, if he was going to St Helen’s, she’d go too. For better or for worse, they were in this together.
‘Hold on a second,’ Holly broke the silence. ‘I can’t go swanning off to the Scilly Isles. I’ve got a job. And a son. What about a Zoom meeting?’
‘I’m with Holly,’ Sabri said. ‘I don’t like boats.’
‘Mr Quick anticipated that response,’ the woman replied. ‘And asked me to say that he would very much like to meet you all in person, while doing so is still a possibility.’
‘A dying man’s request?’ Robin asked.
The woman’s smile faded.
‘And what if we say no?’ Craig asked.
The fair-haired woman got to her feet. ‘Mr Quick very much hopes you won’t say no.’
‘I’m not going,’ Sabri announced. ‘The rest of you can fill me in.’
‘I’m afraid the invitation is for all of you,’ the woman informed them. ‘Or none. I’ll leave you to talk it through. You’ll have my number, as soon as you reach a signal. Goodnight.’
The entrance flap of the tent closed behind her, they heard a footstep on the gravel outside, then nothing but the wind.
Silence stretched.
‘What do we think?’ Tara asked, eventually.
‘No,’ Sabri snapped. ‘I’m not going.’
Craig said, ‘I’d still like to know how Logan Quick knew to send her here tonight.’
Holly dropped her head into her hands.
‘He has the resources to tap our phones,’ Tug said. ‘Or have us followed.’
‘I suppose.’ Craig glanced sideways at Holly.
‘We’re being played,’ Sabri insisted. ‘We shouldn’t do it, guys.’
‘I don’t like boats either,’ Cheryl said. ‘And I’m scared of the sea. But if we don’t go, he might change his will. We’ll get nothing.’
‘We could fly,’ Robin suggested. ‘Make our own way there. That way, we’re in control.’
At that moment, a low sound broke through the rush of the wind and Tara saw Tug’s head shoot around to face the tent entrance.
‘What’s up?’ she asked him, in a low voice.
‘Probably just Girl Friday leaving.’ He didn’t take his eyes from the yurt entrance, though. His body language suggested he was tense, even alarmed. Then he pushed his chair back several inches and leaned down to pick up his cane.
Sabri slammed her drink can down onto the table.
‘Sorry,’ she said, looking embarrassed. ‘Didn’t mean to do that quite so forcefully.
But I’m not getting in any boat owned by Logan Quick, and I can’t afford to fly to the Scilly Isles.
I barely have enough money to pay the next phone bill, and Friday night’s break-in will cost a lot to put right. You’ll have to go without me.’
‘I couldn’t do it either,’ Cheryl said. ‘No matter how much it costs. Mum gives me everything I need and if I asked her, she’d say she should go instead of me.’
‘So that’s three of us who’ll struggle to make the trip,’ Holly said. ‘What do you think, Craig?’
Craig was silent for a moment. Then, ‘I’m happy to go, but I don’t think splitting up is a good idea. I think we all go, or we don’t bother.’
‘I can’t do it,’ Sabri said.
‘Me neither,’ Cheryl said.
‘I think that’s wise,’ Tara said. ‘Something feels wrong to me.’
‘Then we decline our new friend’s kind invitation.’ Tug spoke with the air of someone who’d made a big decision. ‘And we wait to see what he does next.’
Craig said, ‘As long as we’re prepared for him to change his will again. Because I for one …’
Another sound outside. Loud enough for everyone to hear. More than one head turned towards the yurt entrance.
Tug got to his feet. ‘Hold on to that thought, mate. We’ve got company.’
Before Tug could take a step away from the table, the canvas flap at the yurt entrance was pulled apart, a rush of cold air flooded through the tent, and several men stepped through.
‘Fu … uck,’ Tara heard Robin mutter.