Poisoned Cherries

Chapter 17

Ethel Reid opened the door when I arrived at Susie’s with my travel bag slung over my shoulder. She eyed me up and down, with no pretence of subtlety.

‘So you’re Daddy, are you?’

‘That’s me,’ I admitted, as she opened the door. ‘What do you think of my daughter so far?’

She beamed at me like an auntie, and won me over there and then. ‘She’s an absolute wee treasure is baby Janet.’

‘Takes after her mother, then.’

‘Mmm,’ Ethel murmured. ‘I can see how you get on in the pictures and such.’ I’d been called a smarmy bastard before, but never in such a pleasant way.

Susie was at her desk when I went into the living room, working on a pile of folders. The sight made my stomach twitch for a second or two. Jan and I had kept our desks in exactly the same place, looking down on the city.

‘Pick it out, then,’ I said to her, as I kissed her hello.

‘What?’

‘The restaurant; the place I’m taking you.’

‘You’d have trouble seeing it from here. We’re going to Rogano’s; I’ve booked for seven thirty. . in my name, not yours. Gantry still gets a better table in Glasgow than Blackstone.’

‘Enjoy it while you can,’ I told her. ‘My fame grows by the second. Plus. .’ I hesitated; she looked up at me, curious.

‘What?’

‘I just had a meeting with Greg; Prim’s signed the divorce settlement and so have I. All we need to do is go through the petitioning process itself; we can do that in Scotland, right now. We don’t have to wait for a year or anything like that. I’ll be a free man in a few weeks.’

‘And?’

‘And all things will be possible.’

She held me at arm’s length. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I never know what I’m saying,’ I replied, defensively. It was true; I really wasn’t sure. I hadn’t planned any of this; the words were just falling out of my mouth like pebbles into a pond, and I had no idea how far the ripples would go. Until my meeting with Greg, I’d had no idea that the ties between Prim and me could be severed so quickly.

‘Well, when you do know, tell me,’ she said.

‘You’d be interested in hearing, then?’

‘Yes. Now if we’ve finished sparring; drop the subject until you actually are divorced.’

I felt myself grinning at her like an idiot; I couldn’t help it. For the first time since Jan had died I could see real happiness stretching into the future. She laughed at me, then kissed me again. ‘What do you think of Ethel, then?’

‘Magic. Where did you find her?’

‘My father. . Joe, that is. . knew someone whose daughter had her until her kid was ready for school. She gave me references going back twenty-five years, and was happy for me to speak to her last employer.’

‘Wee Jan’s in good hands; and so are you, for now.’

I went off to see the baby; she was awake and content so I did the Daddy thing for a while, carrying her around, showing her the view across the city from the windows. ‘One day, kid,’ I promised her, ‘all this will be yours.’

Eventually, she became restless; maybe I was boring her, but I think she was hungry. I handed her back to Susie; she plugged her in for a while, then I burped her. I’d had plenty of recent practice with Bruce, but I still couldn’t stop her barfing down my shirt.

Luckily, I had another. When the taxi turned up at seven-twenty, I looked not bad at all. Susie looked much better than that; she wore a blue sequinned dress which clung to her in a way that made the driver’s eyes pop out like organ stops. I couldn’t object; I’d just shoved mine back in.

The Rogano restaurant is one of the most famous in Glasgow; it’s in the city centre and for several generations it’s been the top watering hole for the top people. Its decor goes back to the thirties, when shipbuilding was king, and its dining room is after the style of a liner of that period.

The food has kept pace with the times, though; so have the prices. We went past the bar and straight to our table when we entered; on the way several drinkers and diners nodded to Susie; one even gave her a half bow.

‘Who were they, then?’ I whispered as we were seated.

‘A mix of council and business; the woman near the door runs a staffing consultancy, and the guy next to her is a big wheel in the city Labour Party. . New Labour, very much. The man who gave me the wee bow is a steel stockholder. I put a load of business his way.’

As if to prove it, a bottle of champagne arrived at the table, in a bucket. Susie looked across towards the bar; Mr Steel was smiling at her. He dropped another courtly bow as she mimed her thanks. I’d have shone up for the stuff myself, but I wasn’t about to turn it down, so I gave him a wave also, as the wine waiter popped the cork.

For some reason, I thought back twenty-four hours, to Alison Goodchild and her tale. ‘Have you ever come across a man called James Torrent in business? He’s very big in office equipment, they say.’

She nodded. ‘Is he ever. Why do you ask?’

‘He’s my friend’s awkward client; the one who’s putting pressure on her to deliver Ewan Capperauld to open his headquarters.’

‘I see,’ her eyes narrowed slightly. ‘I don’t envy her, in that case.

‘Yes, I’ve come across Mr Torrent, or at least the Gantry Group has. Back in the Lord Provost’s time, when Joe was finance director, he leased some photocopiers from him. He never was the sharpest tool in the box, but still, Torrent’s salesman took him for a real ride. The contract had copy charges built in, with a rolling inflation increase which was actually a blank cheque. We wound up paying a quarter of a million over five years for a machine that would have cost us six grand if we’d bought it. . and Joe had leased six machines. One and a half mil., big bucks over five years, but capable of being overlooked when shown simply as annual group operating costs.

‘It was Jan who spotted it, when I brought her in to look over my books. I’d have been angrier with Joe, but she told me that he wasn’t the only guy to have been stitched up that way. She knew half-a-dozen law firms and at least two big-firm accountants who had signed similar deals with Torrent and with other companies.’

‘Did you take it up with him?’ I asked.

‘No point; the leases had just about expired when we found out what had happened. I just didn’t renew them, that was all, and I told Torrent’s sales director that he would be getting no more business from me.’

‘Was that the end of it?’

She grinned at me; Susie loves it when she puts one over on someone, especially a man. ‘Not quite; Torrent phoned me himself, and asked me why I had put the black on him. He got quite heavy about it.’

After what Alison had told me about the man, I felt rising hackles. ‘Did he threaten you?’

‘Not in so many words.’

‘What did you say?’

She lowered her voice, until it was little more than a whisper. ‘I told him that I was about to ask our Group chairman, the Lord Provost, to call for a review of the City Council purchasing policy, and second, that I planned to show the original contracts to my boyfriend, a detective inspector, and ask him to have his experts check whether any of the figures had been altered after signature.’

‘How did he react?’

‘He got reasonable. He told me that I was clearly upset, and he asked how he could make it up to me. I thought about asking him for one and a half million, but if that had gone back into the books I’d have had to tell our auditors where it had come from. So instead I told him I wanted six free photocopiers for the next five years.

‘He said yes, just like that. I told him that in that case he could tender for my business in the normal way. I’ve bought a few things from him since then; his service is very good, and his prices tend to be sharp too. I’ve let myself believe his story that he had a rogue salesman working for him when the dodgy contracts were signed.’

‘But deep down, you still think he’s a Great White Shark?’

‘Yup.’

‘What you’ve told me could be useful, in that case.’

‘Don’t tell your pal, for Christ’s sake!’

‘No, I wouldn’t do that; but if I have to I might let Torrent know that I’m involved. If he’s that smart he’ll know of the connection between you and me and he might get the message to go easy on Alison.’

‘There won’t be a problem, though, if you can deliver Ewan Capperauld.’

‘I’m not sure I want to, if the guy’s like that.’

‘Just do it if you can. Don’t get yourself involved in an argument with Torrent.’

I grinned. ‘As someone said to me today, I wouldn’t get my own hands dirty. I know the very guy who could carry the message for me.’

‘Who’s that?’

‘No one you’ve ever met, as far as I know; a blast from my past, that’s all.’