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"Hi, Nick," said a voice.
Da
"Hello," said Da
"Can I introduce you to a business associate of mine, Gary Hall."
The man bent down and shook hands with Hall, saying, "Pleased to meet you, Gary. I'm Sandy, Sandy Dawson," he added in a strong Scottish accent.
"Sandy and I go back a long way," said Da
"Sure do," said Dawson. "But I haven't seen Nick since we left school."
"We were at Loretto together," Da
"Like my father, still in the meat business," said Dawson. "And ever thankful that Highland beef remains the most popular meat in the kingdom. What about you, Nick?"
"I've been taking it pretty easy since…" said Da
"Yes, of course," said Sandy. "Terrible business, most unfair. But I'm delighted to see you've come through the whole experience unscathed." A puzzled look appeared on Hall's face. Da
"And a damn good one," said Da
"Sorry to interrupt you," said Dawson, "but I couldn't just walk by without saying hello."
"Quite right," said Da
"You, too," said Dawson as he turned to leave. Da
"No, I'm sorry to hear that," said Da
"Had a heart attack on the golf course while playing a round with the headmaster. The fifteen has never been the same since Squiffy retired."
"Yes, poor old Squiffy. Great coach."
"I'll leave you in peace," said Dawson. "I thought you'd want to know. The whole of Musselburgh turned out for his funeral."
"No more than he deserved," said Da
This time Da
"Sorry about that," he said.
"Always embarrassing to meet up with old school chums years later," said Hall. "Half the time I can't even remember their names. Mind you, it would be difficult to forget that one. Quite a character."
"Yes," said Da
Hall studied the document for some time before he asked, "What sort of price are you expecting the property to fetch?"
"Around three million," said Da
"The first thing I'll have to do is arrange for a survey."
"Pity Payne didn't carry out a survey on the Stratford site."
"He claims he did," said Hall. "My bet is the surveyor had never heard of Japanese knotweed. To be fair, neither had anyone else in the office."
"I certainly hadn't," said Da
"Any problems with the present owner?" asked Hall as he turned the last page of the deeds. Then he added before Da
"Yes, Lawrence Davenport, the actor," said Da
"Did you know he's a friend of Gerald's?"
"Yur on the front page of the Evening Standard, boss," said Big Al as he pulled out of the Dorchester forecourt and joined the traffic heading toward Hyde Park Corner.
"What do you mean?" said Da
Big Al passed the paper back to Da
He skimmed through the article before reading it more carefully a second time.
"I don't know whit yur go
"If all goes to plan," said Da
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
CRAIG HAD SENT out for four pizzas, and there would be no waitresses to serve chilled wine for this particular gathering of the Musketeers.
Since leaving the Lord Chancellor's office, he had spent every spare moment trying to find out everything he could about Sir Nicholas Mon-crieff. He had been able to confirm that Moncrieff had shared a cell with Da
What Craig couldn't work out was why anyone would be willing to devote his entire existence, as Moncrieff had clearly done, to tracking down and then attempting to destroy three men he had never met. Unless… It was when he placed the two photographs of Moncrieff and Cartwright next to each other that he first began to consider the possibility. It didn't take him too long to come up with a plan to discover if the possibility could in fact be a reality.
There was a knock on the front door. Craig opened it, to be greeted by the forlorn figure of Gerald Payne, clutching on to a cheap bottle of wine. All the self-assurance of their previous meeting had evaporated.
"Is Larry coming?" he asked, not bothering to shake hands with Craig.
"I'm expecting him at any minute," said Craig as he led his old friend through to the drawing room. "So where have you been hiding yourself?"
"I'm staying in Sussex with my mother until this all blows over," Payne replied, sinking into a comfortable chair.
"Any trouble in the constituency?" Craig asked as he poured him a glass of wine.
"Could be worse," said Payne. "The Liberals are spreading rumors, but fortunately they do it so often no one takes much notice. When the editor of the local rag rang, I told him I'd resigned as a partner of Baker, Tremlett and Smythe because I wanted to devote more time to my constituency work in the run-up to the general election. He even wrote a supportive leader the following day."
"I have no doubt you'll survive," said Craig. "Frankly, I'm far more worried about Larry. He not only failed to land the part in Holby City, but he's telling everyone that you texted him about the minister's statement just as he was about to take the screen test."
"But that just isn't true," said Payne. "I was in such a state of shock I didn't get in touch with anyone, not even you."
"Someone did," said Craig. "And I now realize if it wasn't you who sent us both a text, it had to be someone who knew about Larry's screen test as well as my meeting with the Lord Chancellor."
"The same person who had access to my phone at that time."