Chapter 93

Chateau Martinè

I had been having fun the last few days. I'd been buying stocks and shares, 'equities' the market called them. Naturally, as I didn't know anything about 'the market', I personally wasn't allowed to buy these stocks. I had to go through a broker.

I was assured that these people weren't called 'brokers' because they usually made their clients broke. But as it was Cecy that told me that, I wasn't certain. Besides, I don't think she's forgiven me for the food fight yet, maybe in another year or two.

So I kept sending my broker instructions to buy certain stocks. And chief among these were Sanders & Co stocks. He'd tried to dissuade me from buying into this particular company, saying that it didn't have a very good reputation on the floor. And its Standard and Poor score was too high for its stated turnover. But he didn't try very hard to talk me out of spending my money, so I poured another half million in.

My stock holdings were quickly approaching the point where I would have to officially declare my interest in the company. The market didn't seem bothered that I was buying into this company, nor by how hard I was buying. I had, after all, done this before when I wanted a company. And the Sanders' board were also desperately trying to raise capital for an expansion project, they said.

So our plan was going well. Bee had just called me, she made an appointment to go and look over the Sanders books tomorrow. Everything was going to plan.

And they say no plan survives the first contact with the enemy. Well it was serendipity that intervened today. A container at Liverpool docks was opened because of noises from inside. Forty two bodies were found inside; only two men survived their ordeal. The container belonged to Sanders & Co.

For us, this was a God send, I immediately put all of my Sanders stock back onto the market and issued a notice through my broker that due to the illegal activities by the board, I was withdrawing from Sanders & Co. I would lose nearly a quarter of a million pounds doing this. But I was happy to. The huge loss I was taking by selling my current Sanders stock 'proved' that I wasn't out to break the company.

Despite the Sanders board's cries of innocence, their share price plummeted. In just days it was less than 20 pence a share, down over 95%.

When Bee and I felt that the time was right, we would get our people, or rather Prof's people, buying shares in hundreds and thousands. This activity, spread over the whole of England, and involving thousands of people, would hold the price down and prevented the FSA from spotting what was going on. We'd let our people buy shares for a couple of weeks and see what the situation looks like then. All-in-all, I was happy with the way that the Sanders operation was progressing.

Bee and I had sketched out two more phases in our acquisition of Sanders, and a final phase in the bankruptcy of Ernest Sanders. I was looking forward to all of them.

Cumbria

"Oh my God! What the fuck do we do now?" said Bertie.

While this wasn't quite what Sally wanted to hear, just being with him calmed and reassured her. Bertie had been in tight spots before and had come out with his skin in, basically, one piece.

"Err..."

"That's what you were hoping I'd know," Bertie said with a grin. "Well, we'll sort this one out together. But, and this is a big 'but' mind you, you're in charge. This could take you places, Sally pet. You're good, but now you need to grow a bit. So what do we do now, Boss?"

Sally thought for a few moments, "Let's have a look at the video from the crash site."

Bertie nodded, "This is a copy of the original memory card, I had it done by a solicitor friend of mine. He seemed only too glad to help."

They sat in Bertie's small two bedroom flat. Bertie hadn't married and had spent his money on the only true love in his life, stamps. Wherever he'd been, Bertie had bought stamps. He now valued his collection at around half a million pounds. And that was a conservative estimate. At the right auction house, and at the right time of year, that figure might double or even treble. Bertie's stamps were his pension and life assurance. One of the main features that made Bertie's lounge so much better than Sally's for their work was the 50-inch high-definition TV on one wall. In moments, Bertie had set the TV ready to play the output from his media player.

They watched the whole recording from beginning to end three times.

Then Bertie looked at Sally, "You're lucky to be alive. Let alone getting away with such light injuries. My God, girl, I never thought it was that bad."

Sally too was astonished at what she'd seen. Everything after the explosion itself was a mystery to her. She had been too busy singing childhood songs and hymns to remember what had been going on. She did remember those screams though. She'd remember those for the rest of her life.

"So Sal', talk me through the first bit," Bertie asked.

Sally composed herself, "OK, set it back to the beginning again." Sally waited the couple of seconds it took Bertie to reset the playing point back to the start.

"Now, I've just arrived. I'm calling 999 and talking to the operator. There I've set the camera on a fence post on the side away from the van. I put my jacket over the camera to stop it being nicked. And I started walking towards the van. I wanted to see if I could help him."

"Don't you mean 'them'?" asked Bertie.

"No, him. I only knew that there was one person in the van." Sally answered.

They studied the video in detail. Moving onto Bertie's computer and using video editing software to advance through the whole thing a frame at a time.

Sometime after the first run through of the video Sally seemed to take over. She started telling Bertie what she wanted and he, pleased at this growth in his protégé gladly complied.

"THERE! That was it, the money-pack; I just saw it, go back a frame." Sally was thrilled that, at last, she'd found some proof that the money she'd found, came from this van. There it was a dark fuzzy block in the top right-hand corner. They flipped back and forth through the three frames, the tell-tale frame, the one before it and the one after. The only frame which that dark block appeared in was the middle one. And even in that frame, the pack was almost out of the picture.

They went back ten frames, then started forward again. Bertie stopped three frames before the flying money. "That's what caused the explosion," he said with certainty. He pointed to a metal canister, its sides bulging, "A can of gas, probably propane or butane. They're both as bad as each other in a fire. No wonder the van blew up. It's surprising that you found that pack at all. The force those things go off with, I'd half expect it to land in Northumberland."

Chateau Martinè

I walked up and down the poolside with Susan. She was a suffering a little from colic. Julia hardly had any sleep last night and my girls and I were giving her a rest. Besides I liked holding Susan, even if she was a little loud this morning.

One of Em's new nurses had checked Susan over and pronounced her well overall. But colic was one of the things that babies suffer from. She'd get over it in time. We just had to try and comfort her in the meantime. We were helped by having so many adults who could, and would, help take care of her. None of us reached the hair pulling stage because of Susan's continual crying.

Susan let out a huge belch that surprised both of us. I laughed quietly at her wide-eyed expression, and patted her back again. She fell into a fitful sleep.

"Boss," called Carol quietly. She too understood the need to let Susan sleep as much as possible. "Quick update for you, our reporter has examined the crash site and found a pack of cash." Carol smiled, "And we didn't even have to plant it for her either. Drummond has had the memory card copied and has visited four of his old friends. We think that he's stashed the hospital records with one or two of them. Both of them are now in Drummond's flat. Again it is our supposition that they're reviewing the data. Soon we should see some interesting developments."

"How are Em and her girls?" I asked.

Carol smiled. "Em is furious with the state of that hospital. She's starting to call it a death camp. She's already reported three of the consultants to the General Medical Council for malpractice."

I smiled too, imagining Em's reaction to a normal NHS hospital after running her own clinic.

Prof was next to see me. "Boss, I want to take some time off. Marianne's going over to London to start a couple of her courses. I just want to see that she's settled in OK." He looked a little nervous. We'd not discussed Prof's salary or benefits. Needless to say they were 'negotiable' and 'generous'.

"Take as much time as you need Prof. You'll be ready when I need you." He looked relieved at that.

"By the way Prof, have you given Karolina your bank details for your salary?" I asked.

"Boss, this is Karolina you're talking about. She told me, my bank details." Prof answered with a chuckle.

"Well, yeah, she is a bit like that." I admitted. I too had to give a chuckle at the idea of Karolina waiting for someone to give her their bank details so she could organise their pay deposits.

"OK Prof, give Kelly a call before you leave here and she'll get your accommodation sorted out. Kelly knows the standard I want for my people." I smiled at Prof. Since I got back in touch with him his life had started turning around. Sasha had found him a family solicitor. Sasha described her as a pit-bull with lipstick, only she doesn't use much lipstick. Sharon, Prof's (soon to be ex-) wife, had shrunk back into her hole when her own solicitor had been out-thought and out-manoeuvred at every turn. Sharon was now having to explain all of her previous demands for money, and the reasons that she sold all of Prof's belongings, to the court. And the judge was getting more and more impatient and less and less impressed with her and her solicitor. I could see a complete change of fortunes for Prof and his (ex-) wife. Having seen some of the evidence that Prof's solicitor was collecting, I wouldn't be surprised if his former wife collected a criminal record for her behaviour since they parted.

And now he'd found Marianne. I wished them both a long and happy life. If I could help that in any way I was going to. These billions I had gave me the opportunity to help people. And I enjoyed helping them. People like Prof, nature's innocents, needed help from people like me.

I carefully waved Prof goodbye; not daring to disturb Susan.

Elastic was next. "Boss, you need to go down to the village again. That Trace girl is here and she's not been announced."

"Does she have a car?" I asked. I was puzzled by Trace's appearance. Charlie used to do a lot of face to face work, and after his accident Trace did that for him. Every day that she was away Charlie was losing money, and I knew Charlie didn't like losing money.

"Yes, a real old banger, she left it nearly two miles outside the village and walked in. But there's something else." Elastic looked thoughtful as though she was going over something in her mind, going over it again and again. "I don't think she actually planned to come here. I think she ran away from something."

"Nurse!" I called as loudly as I dared.

Two women hurried over to me.

"Look after Susan until Julia wakes, then take her orders as to the baby's care."

I gave Susan to the horse-faced woman I'd seen before, and turned back to Elastic.

"Is a car ready?" I asked.

Elastic nodded, "Yes Boss."

I hurried out of the Chateau and into the car that was waiting with its engine running.

Before I could even shut the door the car started off.

"The village, Master?" asked Melissa, with a grin from the passenger's seat.

"And hurry." I replied. But I did smile at her too.

I walked the last two hundred yards. I wanted a chance to look at Trace and judge for myself what state she was in.

Elastic said that she thought that Trace had run away from something. As I drew closer I saw that this supposition was probably right. Trace sat at an empty table, not even an empty coffee cup in front of her. She had tear streaks down both cheeks. She wore a summer weight dress totally unsuited to the current weather. She didn't have a handbag or any other form of female property conveyance. Yes, I'd agree with Elastic, she's run away in a desperate hurry from someone or something.

"Trace?" I said.

"Ba ... Baron," she replied. Her hands were trembling and she was shaking from stress. I opened my arms and she almost collapsed into them. I hugged her and made soothing noises, I wasn't trying to communicate, just comfort.

"Oh Baron ... Dad gave me the wave off. The emergency one, I ran, he always told me to run as far as I could if he gave me that one. I don't know what to do. I don't know if he's even alive." Having reached what she thought of as safety she collapsed in tears. I pulled her onto my lap and hugged her to me. I made soothing noises and kissed the top of her head.

I lied to her too, "Hush precious, it'll be all right. I'll sort it out for you. Charlie'll be alright you wait and see."

I looked down into her trusting eyes and extruded all of the confidence that I could fake.

Then my biggest lie of all.

"Trust me," I said with a smile.

"You're freezing," I said. "Come on and we'll go to the Chateau.

"Baron, I need you to trust me. You have to search me like you did last time."

I nodded my agreement. I thought I understood her need to feel safe and to be accepted as safe and trusted by those she trusted to look after her.

"Trace, we'll do it here." I told her. Trace looked around the village square and the villagers carrying on with their everyday life, the old men playing boules, the children playing, the women shopping and gossiping, the village life that was going on around us here.

"OK Baron."

"After you've had a hot shower and warmed up a bit." I continued with a smile.

"Thank you Baron."

I took Trace back to the Chateau, hugging her in the car as we were driven the short distance.

When the car stopped by the front door I got out and held out my hand for Trace.

"Baron, aren't you worried that the Countess will see?"

I leaned in to the car so I could speak to her so she thought it was private. "Trace, the Countess and I have enjoyed 13 in a bed before now. I don't think she's going to be upset if she sees the video's of me helping you out of a car, even if I throw you to the ground and fuck your brains out immediately afterwards."

I thought for a moment, "And if I don't fuck you, Sasha will probably ask me why I didn't."

Trace sat looking at me for a while, "Oh," she said after considerable thought.