Chapter 12

I was working in my study when the phone rang and I answered it. My private detective was on the line and he told me that there had been some interesting developments at his end. He had been invited to a meeting with the colonel's lawyer and an appointment had been made to meet with the man himself. He then inquired about what he was free to tell the Colonel.

I gave that some thought for a moment and then I told him to say that he had been hired by his daughter's fiancé to find him because we know Ginny is his daughter."

I stressed to John that the next bit was important the next bit was most important.

"Assure him we neither need nor want any money from him but tell him that I would like to meet and discuss with him some things he ought to know. If he agrees to this," I went on, "you have important work to do. First give me your assessment of Pete Shankly. If you think he is trustworthy I may be able to help him. Secondly get him to give you a sworn statement of what he told you and his assessment about the others. Lastly I want you to try and get a statement from that so called friend even if you have to blackmail it out of him.

Give yourself time to complete these tasks and once you have estimated how long that will be, set a date for my meeting with the colonel for sometime after that. Late June, when our exams are over would be a good time."

John agreed to do what I asked and then said he would be back in touch as soon as he had anything to report

The colonel was sitting on his porch watching as his expected visitor's car made its way up his drive. A tall well dressed man got out and he stood up and went forward to meet him. The detective moved towards him and the colonel held out his hand and they both shook hands.

"Mr., Gladstone I presume" the colonel said. "I will be most interested in what you have to tell me. Come inside and I will have the maid bring us some refreshment. What would you like to drink?"

"Black coffee colonel, no milk or sugar," he smiled, "My wife watches my waistline even when she isn't around"

The Colonel laughed and said,

"It seems to be working detective; you seem to be in good shape."

"It is a long time since I was addressed as detective, colonel. I am now merely a private investigator," he said with a smile.

At that their coffees arrived and some cakes were also set before him.

John looked over at his host and said,

"You surely do know how to tempt a man sir, I am going to need all my will power to resist these delicacies," he told him.

The colonel smiled and said "I will take your mind of them detective, since I have some questions to ask you. I hear you have been down here twice in recent months asking questions about a former girlfriend of mine. Why is that? What can you tell me about her present condition and whereabouts?"

"I am afraid I can't tell you all that you might want sir," John replied. "The man who has hired me has instructed me regarding what I can and can't say to you at this point in time."

"I see!" Said the colonel, "Then what can you tell me?"

"I can tell you that I have been hired by your daughter's fiancé to do two things. The first time I was here it was to ascertain the facts regarding her mother's pregnancy. This time I am down here for two purposes, one I cannot go into but the other is to ascertain that you do in fact still live here and get some idea of how you feel about these developments. Another thing that I am instructed to tell you is that neither my client nor your daughter need nor want any money from you."

The colonel looked at him sceptically,

"I would like to believe that detective, but I hope you forgive my scepticism."

"Colonel, I will go off the record a bit here and tell you this, "My client is not an American. He is a very rich young Scotsman who is currently studying in this country. Before I took this assignment I knew nothing about him. But the longer I work for him and the more I get to know about him the more I admire him. He is a man of honour and he likes to believe that he is carrying on the traditions of his clan forebears. He is a very caring man and he has helped your daughter come to terms with some problems she was having. I will also say this but you did not hear it from me; your daughter is a beautiful and brilliant young woman and a real candidate for Valedictorian in her final year."

"If she is my daughter, detective." His host said.

"You are not going to draw me to comment on that sir," John said. "But in the course of my investigations I learned that you were valedictorian in your final year here. Had it not been for her unfortunate pregnancy the likelihood was that the girl's mother would also have been valedictorian the year after. With that information what would you say the odds were Colonel?"

The colonel looked at him and said "If I were a betting man I think the odds against her being my daughter will have decreased greatly."

"I have exceeded my brief here colonel and given you more information than I should have because I think whoever is her father is a lucky man. This young woman in spite of the privations of her existence before meeting her fiancé has shown great courage and determination. In the face of adversity she has pursued her studies so that she could win a scholarship which would enable her to go college. Before meeting her fiancé this was the only way she could have achieved this. As things stand now most Colleges, I imagine, will be falling over themselves to get her into the ranks of their academic students."

"You have given me much to think about Mr. Gladstone," the colonel said, "But surely your client knows that I will not let the matter rest without knowing more."

"Yes he does sir. I am authorised to set up a meeting between you and him before you take any steps to see his fiancé. He thinks that would be advisable for the sake of the six people who are going to be most affected by it.

"Six People?" Queried the colonel.

"Yes sir, there is Shirley, your ex girlfriend, her daughter and my client. Then, if you don't mind me saying so, there is your life, and the life of your two daughters. All of you will be affected by this one way or another," said John.

"You left out my mother, Mr. Gladstone. She would make seven and Shirley's parents would make nine or ten."

"I don't want to comment on your mother sir, but I can say this about Shirley's parents. Unless I am mistaken, I think hell will freeze over before Shirley will have anything to do with them and I doubt if her daughter will either."

"Is she as bitter about me?" The colonel asked.

"I could not comment on that sir I have not had much contact with her. I can only say that my heart went out to that young woman when I learned how she had been treated in this community."

"You are right Mr. Gladstone, and I number myself among those who behaved so badly towards her." The colonel replied

John looked at him for a moment and then he said, "Yes you did sir, and you know something, I think you got a really big decision seriously wrong and lost the love of the wonderful young woman she then was."

"I think I have grown aware of that as the years have passed, detective. Now about this meeting, how soon can you set it up?" The colonel asked

"Well sir both my client and your daughter are in the throes of studying for this year's exams. He has suggested that sometime in late June would be ideal for him and he would fly out here to meet with you if that is agreeable." John told him.

"I find that perfectly acceptable Mr. Gladstone. If your client fixes a definite date around that time I will meet him here," said the colonel. "If he wishes, he can stay here, we have a guest house in the grounds and he can use that for his stay. There is also the option of a room in the main house if he wishes. I will leave that decision up to him."

"Thank you sir," John said. "I will convey the outcome of our meeting to him and he will either instruct me to confirm the arrangements or telephone you himself."

"He has my number?" Asked the colonel

"Yes sir, he has," said John with a smile. "I am a detective after all."

The colonel laughed and said, "It was a pleasure doing business with you and thank you for being so forthcoming. I think I will be prepared for the truth when I hear it. Have a nice day and drive carefully."

John gave him a salute and said as one marine to another "semper fi sir." With that he got into his car and the surprised colonel watched him drive away. As he walked back to his porch he thought with a smile, 'Once a marine always a marine.' That is why he had gone beyond his brief and virtually told him the girl was his daughter. He was also flagging up that I may well have other shocks in store."

John Gladstone got back in touch with Pete Shankly and set up another meeting with him.

Pete said jokingly. "I'm game if that includes another free lunch."

John had laughed and said if he was agreeable to what John wanted then he would consider it cheap at the price. They set up the meeting for the same time and the same place for two days hence. That evening he phoned his client.

I answered the phone and discovered it was my private eye reporting back. I took the phone into my study so that I would have privacy answering it. When I had seated myself comfortably I told him to go ahead and give me his report.

He told me about his meeting with the colonel and we set a date for the twenty fifth of June.

I asked how the colonel had reacted. John reported that he had been very favourably in his approach to the fact that Ginny may well be his daughter. I'm afraid I gave the impression that I was almost certain she was and told him she was in the running for Valedictorian and said that as both he and his then girlfriend had been candidates for this position that alone would suggest a strong genetic link.

When I asked how the colonel had responded to this I was told that the colonel had agreed that he would be a foolish man if he bet against it.

John felt the colonel's whole attitude conveyed the impression that should Ginny be his daughter he was prepared to meet any obligations she felt he had towards her. He told me he had asked about Shirley, but said that he had told him he knew little about her as a woman though he had admired and respected her as the girl she had been. He had made it clear that the community had treated her badly.

He reported the colonel had agreed with that, assessment and told him he could be numbered among those who fell into that category.

John then told me he had gone as far as telling the colonel that in the light of his investigations he felt the colonel had been a fool and thrown away the chance to make a life with a wonderful young woman. When I asked how the colonel took that statement John said that as the years had passed he had come to the same conclusion himself. I found that interesting and told John so. He briefed me on his meeting with Pete and what he planned to ask him to do. I concurred with his plan and said, Pete sounds as if he was a jack of all trades in the building industry and John agreed with that assessment. I said I was interested in helping him to stay on the straight and narrow and might be able to offer him a job if he was prepared to travel for work. I told him if he thought Pete was reliable then after this business was complete he could point him in my direction and I would interview him. John said he would bear that in mind while he was dealing with the young man.

John met with Pete and again provided lunch. He looked at Pete thoughtfully and then said, "If I offered you temporary employment, could I trust you to treat anything you learn about my client and the people he is interested in as confidential."

"Sure," said Pete. "One thing prison teaches you is how to keep your mouth shut when necessary. But what kind of things would you want me to do?"

John smiled at his reply and said, "Your first task would be easy. I would want a full report on your dealings with Mrs. Lambert all those years ago. If there was any way you could confirm that, it would add value to that report. Then I would like you to follow up on that by trying to persuade the two others to do the same by any means short of violence."

"Does that include bribing them?" Pete asked.

"I would prefer not to do it that way because it would devalue the veracity of their report, but yes if that is the only way to do it, though the bribe would have to be fairly modest. If I felt it was really worthwhile to get the statements though, I could get authorisation to raise it." John told him.

Pete thought for a minute or two and then he said with a laugh.

"Right now boss I haven't anything better to do with my time."

"You have not asked about the remuneration for your time." John said.

"I guess you are going to make me an offer, and right now any offer is one I can't afford to turn down." Pete told him

They agreed terms, and John said to him, "Do a good job on this Pete and prove to me I can trust you, and I may be able to find you more permanent employment with a guy who would be great to work for, though you may need to be ready to move to another state. I can't say any more about that just now, but believe me it is a serious offer." John told him.

"There is nothing keeping me here," Pete told him. "And so long as I can swing it with the probation people for the kind of job you might be offering I would travel anywhere."

"Good," said John, "we will talk further on this when we finish our task here."

Pete arranged a meeting with one of his teammates who had been friendly with Bill Lambert at the time. He had learned in prison the guy, Joe Smithson, had been stupid and got into gambling debts with one of the local illegal bookmakers around the time they were interested in. He was the one he felt could have been paid off by Mrs. Lambert.

He had been given credit because his dad was one of the local magnates. The sums had not been huge but they had been significant, and when he had been pressed for payment he could not afford to meet them and was scared to go to his dad. The alternative was equally scary for not paying would result in the bookie's hard men persuading him that it would not be healthy to default on any payments due. Though in this case they might just have sent the bill to his dad and then the shit would have hit the fan anyway.