Chapter 31

“I’ve heard of it happen in London, but here?”

On Monday morning, Will called Jeremy into his room.

“Yes, boss. What can I do for you?” Jeremy asked as he sat in his usual chair on the client’s side of the desk.

“I need you to run the money laundering checks on someone for me.”

“All of them?”

“Yes. Land Registry. Companies House. Criminal records and SOCA.”

“New client?”

Will shook his head. “No. This is personal.”

“Then we shouldn’t really—”

“I know. But you’re going to do it for me anyway.”

“But, Will. The Serious and Organised Crime Agency? You know what they’re like. They’ll need some sort of explanation before running any names.”

“I know. And it’s not like they come up with any explanations of their own when they say not to act for someone. But I just have a feeling about this person and I need it confirming or denying.”

“So what do I tell them?”

“Make something up. Tell them it’s a possible new client you met socially through a friend and the way he spoke made you uneasy. That sort of thing is usually enough.”

Jeremy gave a sigh of resignation. “What’s the name?”

“John Nugent. I’ll e-mail you his address and date of birth later.”

“Isn’t that your new girlfriend’s husband?”

“How do you know that?”

“Your friend Lizzie talks a hell of a lot right after sex. Most of it washed over me, but the bit about you and Amy and John got my attention.”

“So she called you again then? I didn’t think she would after the way she looked Saturday morning.”

“Will, she can’t get enough of me.”

Will smiled. “Just remember she’s my oldest friend. You hurt her and it’ll be my solemn duty to kill you, chop you into small pieces and use you as fish bait.”

“Don’t worry. Seriously, don’t worry. She’s a nice girl. I like her.”

“Even though she’s ten years older?”

“Yeah well, you know what they say about the more experienced woman.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Why are you running checks on the hubby then?”

Will shook his head. “Something Amy said over the weekend about not knowing where the money came from when they first started dating.”

“Sounds dodgy.”

“Exactly.”

Jeremy nodded. “I’ll run the checks as soon as you forward the full details. I could have something for you as soon as this afternoon from the usual three, but who knows how long SOCA might take. You know what they’re like.”

“Thanks. You’re a good friend.”

Jeremy got up to leave. He put his hand on the door handle, but before he opened it he said, “Will, you do realise this is an abuse of the Money Laundering Regulations, don’t you.”

“Yeah.”

“And that if The Law Society get wind of it, they could have you up on professional misconduct charges.”

“I know. That’s why I’m asking you to do the checks for me and not someone else. I know I can trust you to keep it to yourself.”

Jeremy nodded, opened the door and left.

Will and his daughter normally stayed in touch during the day through text messages or rather, Sophie normally sent him lots of messages and he’d reply to less than half of them. He’d get at least one message, sometimes more, before school started. She’d be complaining about her mother, her homework, her friends or all three. She managed to send him messages between classes complaining about the teachers and the work they set and the day wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory lunchtime complaint about the state of the food in the canteen.

The daily messages from Sophie had been joined by messages from Lizzie ever since the reunion, mostly covering the gossip about their old schoolmates. And now he was also getting messages from Amy telling him all the things she’d like to do to him and suggesting things he might like to do to her. After the sixth message of the morning, he couldn’t resist replying even though he was in the middle of dictating an important letter.

Amy’s reply beeped its arrival after less than a minute.