Chapter 23: Don’t Trust Easily

I asked Lily for her father’s number the next evening during our run around the campus. There hadn’t been any reports of any more attacks for the whole of November—although there were plenty of rumours flying around. But I still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of Lily running around the campus in the dark, so I still subjected myself to the torture of running with her. Alannah still joined us occasionally too, but more often than not she begged off. This evening she’d said her knee was still sore from our last badminton match.

Actually, it wasn’t as bad almost two months in as it had been at the start of October. My stamina levels had obviously improved. Thinking about it, between the badminton with Alannah and the boys, weights with Mark and running with Lily, I was probably in the best physical condition I’d ever been in. I’d never exactly been unfit, but I certainly felt fitter now than ever.

Hannah had also mentioned a few times that my physique was better than it had been than the three or four times we’d got together last year. She talked about how much more definition I had, and when I saw myself in the mirror after showers and the like, I think I understood what she meant.

I wasn’t a muscle-bound bodybuilder, but you could certainly see the difference between my pecs and my abs, for instance.

“What do you want to speak to Daddy for?” Lily asked as we ran, not even slightly out of breath.

I shook my head. “Nothing important. I just wanted to ask him something about my dad. They were friends, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot that. Okay, I’ll text it to you when we get back.” A few paces down the road later, she said, “It’s weird to think your dad and mine went to university together. I wonder what they got up to?” She shook her head then said, “No, I don’t want to think about it.”

“Pete Williams,” came the voice through the phone. Lily’s dad clearly didn’t have my number stored in his phone.

“Oh, er ... Hi, Mr Williams. It’s Paul.”

“Paul? Robertson? Well, I didn’t expect to be hearing from you any time soon. How the devil are you, young man?”

“I’m ... erm ... I’m good. Actually. Mr Williams.”

“Glad to hear it. Glad to hear it. And didn’t I already tell you to call me Pete ages ago?”

“Erm ... Okay, I’ll try, but ... It took me ages to get used to calling Will, Will, so...”

“I understand. So, what can I do for you? I assume you’ve gotten my number off Lily and you’re not just calling for a chat?”

“No, I ... Er ... Actually, I wondered ... I mean ... I need some advice.”

“Advice. Is this to do with you investing in Will’s new firm?”

“You know about that?”

“Who do you think Will came to for advice when he was trying to stop them closing down the branch? He’s one of my oldest friends.”

“So ... You already know the details?”

“Not at all. I know Will failed to stop the branch from being earmarked for closure and I know that you suggested investing some of the money you got from Clarissa to keep it open, but that’s all. So ... What do you want from me? To look over Will’s proposal and fix it—because if Will’s put it together there’s bound to be lots that can be improved on. Will’s a far better lawyer than he is a businessman.”

“Actually, Will put me in touch with a couple of guys who’ve already put a counterproposal together. I just wondered if...”

“You want me to take a look at it and give you my opinion?”

“Would you mind?”

“Mind? That’s what I do, lad. Now, I really should charge you a fee for the consultation, but ... That wouldn’t be right. You’re Ben’s boy. Look, are you able to come over tonight? Maggie will cook us a nice dinner and then you and I can sit down and go through what you’ve got, and I’ll see what I think about it.”

“I’m not sure I can get to London tonight.”

“Lond...? Oh, God, no. We decided to stay in Micester after all.”

“Oh, okay. In that case, I’d love to.”

“Excellent. See you at, say, six?”

My sister is an excellent cook. Lily’s mom was almost as good. She cooked us a truly splendid pasta dish, with a homemade apple crumble and custard for dessert. And afterwards, Pete took me into his office.

“Take a seat,” he said, sitting in the chair at his desk himself. He tapped the keyboard to wake his computer, and I could see the proposal that I’d emailed him earlier open on the screen. I sat in a wing chair just to the right of the desk.

Pete’s was very much a “work” desk. He had two monitors and countless buff-coloured files. There was a large all-in-one printer/scanner/copier on a separate desk to his left, and a shelf with even more files at the side of that. Over dinner, he’d explained that he worked from home three days a week and commuted into his office in London the other two days. He’d said that even five years ago that would have been impossible, but the march of technology meant it was almost the same as actually being in London anyway.

Almost.

Next to the monitor closest to me were a number of framed photographs. There was one of Lily. One of Pete, Maggie and Lily. One of just Maggie.

And there was a photo of four young men dressed in evening wear. It looked quite old. Which, I suppose, it was.

“Is that...” I said, pointing at the photo.

Pete looked where I was pointing then picked up the photo and handed it to me. “It is indeed.” He pointed at the second man from the left. “That’s Ben—your dad—in the middle next to Will, where he always was. That’s me on Will’s other side and Andy—Clarissa’s Dad—on the other side of Ben.”

“Is this a wedding or something?”

“Oh, no, that was at our Graduation Ball. God, what a night that was! Our last big blow out before the real world came for us.” He huffed. “Funny story. There were two bands booked to play that night, but the supposed headline act was so awful they got booed off the stage—actually, it was more like they walked off after everyone by the stage started throwing beer at them—the four of us included. Then twenty minutes later the support act came back out to do a second set and were brilliant.”

I stared at the photo. “I know Will said ... But I mean, I never...”

“A man never had three better friends,” Pete said. Then after a pause. “I miss him. I miss them both. Taken far too soon. Both of them.”

I fought back a tear and nodded. “Yeah.”

“After that night, we sort of went our separate ways—although we stayed close even though we were far apart, if you know what I mean. Will stayed in Oxford to do his LPC, I headed to the LSE—”

“I’ve heard of the LSE, but what it? What does it stand for?”

“London School of Economics.”

“Oh, right.”

“It’s just a university—well, it’s part of the University of London, I think. But that’s where I did my MBA—my Master’s degree. Business Administration. Meanwhile, Andy and Ben came back here to Micester and joined the Management programme up at the factory. Ben was on the shop floor, training to run the technical department while Andy was initially in Sales, I think.”

Pete tapped the photo. “It’s remarkable how much you look like him at your age, you know. Remarkable.”

He was right, there was no denying that. The man in the centre of this photo could easily have been me.

“Did Will ever tell you how the four of us became such good friends?” Pete asked.

I shook my head. “He just said you were in the same dormitory or something. Adjoining rooms?”