第 19 页

'First, Mr. Ricardo, I want to be assured of your complete discretion,' Anne began.

'Of course, of course, it goes without saying,' replied Ricardo, not looking up from his disappearing pencil.

'Nevertheless, I am saying it,' said Anne.

'Of course, of course.'

Anne thought that if the man said 'of course' once more, she would scream. She drew a deep breath. 'I have been receiving anonymous letters which allege that my husband has been having an affair with a close friend. I want to know who is sending the letters, and if there is any truth in the accusations!'

Anne felt an immense sense of relief at having voiced her fears out loud for the first time. Ricardo looked at her impassively, as if it were not the first time he had heard such fears expressed. He put his hand through his long black hair which, Anne noticed for the first time, matched his finger nails.

'Right,' he began. "The husband will be easy. Who's responsible for sending the letters will be a lot harder. You've kept the letters, of course?'

'Only the last one,' said Anne.

Glen Ricardo sighed and stretched his hand across the table wearily. Anne reluctantly took the letter out of her bag and then hesitated for a moment.

'I know how you feel, Mrs. Osborne, but I can't do the job with one hand tied behind my back.'

'Of course, Mr. Ricardo, I'm sorry.'

Anne couldn't believe she had said 'of course'.

Ricardo read the letter through two or three times before speaking. 'Have they all been typed on this sort of paper and sent in this sort of envelope?'

'Yes, I think so,' said Anne. 'As far as I can remember?

'Well, when the next one comes be sure to---'

'Can you be so certain there will be another one?' interrupted Anne.

'Of course, so be sure to keep it. Now give me all the details about your husband. Do you have a photograph?'

'Yes.' Once again she hesitated.

'I only want to look at the face. Don't want to waste my time chasing the wrong man, do I?' said Ricardo.

Anne opened her bag again and passed him a worn-edged photograph of Henry in alieutenant's uniform.

'Good-looking man, Mr. Osborne,' said the detective. 'When was this photograph taken?'

'About five years ago, I think,' said Anne. 'I didn't know him when he was in the army.'

Ricardo questioned Anne for several minutes on Henry's daily movements. She was surprised to find how little she really knew of Henry's habits, or past.

'Not a lot to go on, Mrs. Osborne, but I'll do the best I can. Now, my charges are ten dollars a day plus expenses. I will make a written report for you once a week. Two weeks' payment in advance, please!' His hand came across the desk again, this time more eagerly.

Anne opened her handbag once more and took out two crisp new one hundred-dollar notes and passed them over to Ricardo. He studied the notes carefully as if he wasn't certain which distinguished American should be engraved ort them. Benjamin Franklin gazed imperturbably at Ricardo, who obviously had not seen him for some time. Ricardo handed Anne sixty dollars in grubby fives.

'I see you work on Sundays, Mr. Ricardo,' said Anne, pleased with her mental arithmetic.

'Of course,' he said. 'Will the same time next week suit you, Mrs. Osborne?'

'Of course,' said Anne and left quickly to avoid having to shake hands with the man behind the desk.

When William read in his quarterly trust report from Kane and Cabot that Henry Osborne - Henry Osborne, he repeated the name out loud to be sure he could believe it - was requesting five hundred thousand dollars for a personal investment, he had a bad day. For the first time in four years at St. Paul's he came second in a maths test. Matthew Lester, who beat him, asked if he was feeling well.

That evening, William rang Alan Lloyd at home. The chairman of Kane and Cabot was not altogether surprised to hear from him after Anne's disclosure of the unhappy relationship between her son and Henry.

'William, dear boy, how are you and how are things at St. Paul's?'

'All is well this end, thank you, sir, but that's not why I telephoned!

The tact of an advancing Mack truck, thought Alan. 'No, I didn't imagine it was,' he replied drily. 'What can I do for YOU?'

'I'd like to see you tomorrow afternoon?'

'On a Sunday, William?'

'Yes, as it's the only day I can get away from school, I'll come to you any time any place.' William made the statement sound as though it were a concession on his part. 'And under no condition is my mother to know of our meeting!'

'Well, William...' Alan Lloyd began.

William's voice grew firmer. 'I don't have to remind you, sir, that the investment of trust money in my step-father's personal venture, while not actually illegal, could undoubtedly be considered as unethical!'

Alan Lloyd was silent for a few moments, wondering if he should try and placate the bay over the telephone. The boy. He also thought about remonstrating with -him, but the time for that had now passed.

'Fine, William. Why don't you join me for a spot of lunch at the Hunt Club, say one o'clock?'

'I'll look forward to seeing you then, sir.' The telephone clicked.

At least the confrontation is to be on my home ground, thought Alan Lloyd with some relief as he replaced the mouthpiece, cursing Mr. Bell for inventing the damn machine.

Alan had chosen the Hunt Club because he did not want the meeting to be too private. The first thing William asked when he arrived ai the clubhouse was that he should be allowed a round of golf after lunch.

'Telighted, my boy,' said Alan, and reserved the first tee for three o'clock.

He was surprised when William did not discuss Henry Osborne's proposal at all during lunch. Far from it, the boy talked knowledgeably about President Harding's views on tariff reform and the incompetence of Charles G. Dawes as the President's fiscal adviser. Alan began to wonder whether William, having slept on it, had now changed his mind about discussing Henry Osborne's loan, but was going through with the meeting not wishing to admit a change of heart. Well, if that's the way the boy wants to play it, thought Alan, that's fine by me. He looked forward to a quiet afternoon of golf. After an agreeable lunch, and the better part of a bottle of wine - William limited himself to one glass - they changed in the clubhouse and walked to the first tee.

'Do you still have a nine handicap, sir?' asked William.

'Whereabouts, my boy. Why?'

'Will ten dollars a hole suit you?'

Alan Lloyd hesitated, remembering that golf was the one game that William played competently. 'Yes, fine.'

Nothing was said at the first hole, which Alan managed in four while William took a five. Alan also won the second and the third quite comfortably, and began to relax a little, rather pleased with his game. By the time they reached the fourth, they were over half a mile from the clubhouse. William waited for Alan to raise his club.

'There are no conditions under which you will loan five hundred thousand dollars of my trust money to any company or person associated with Henry Osborne!'

Alan hit a bad tee shot which went wildly into the rough. Its only virtue was that it put him far enough away from William, who had made a good drive, to give him a few minutes to think about how to address both William and the ball. After Alan Lloyd had played three more shots, they eventually met on the green. Alan conceded the hole.

'William, you know I only have one vote out of three as a trustee and you must also be aware that you have no authority over trust decisions, as you will not control the money in your own right until your twenty-first birthday. You must also realise that we ought not to be discussing this subject at all.'

'I am fully aware of the legal implications, sir, but as both the other trustees are sleeping with Henry Osborne.'

Alan Lloyd looked shocked.

'Don't tell me you are the only person in Boston who doesn't know that Milly Preston is having an affair with my step-father?'

Alan Lloyd said nothing.

William continued. 'I want to be certain that I have your vote, and that you intend to do everything in your power to influence my mother against this loan, even if it means going to the extreme of telling her the truth about Milly Preston.'

Alan hit an even worse tee shot. Williarn's went right down the middle of the fairway. Alan chopped the next shot into a bush he had never even realised existed before and swore out loud for the first time in forty-three years. He had got a hiding on that occasion as well.

'That's asking a little too much,' said Alan, as he joined up with William on the fif th green.

'It's nothing compared with what I'd do if I couldn't be sure of your support, sir!'

'I don't think your father would have approved of threats, William,' said Alan as he watched William's ball sink from fourteen feet.

'The only thing of which my father would not have approved is Osborne,' retorted William. Alan Lloyd two-putted four feet from the hole.

'In any case, sir, you must be well aware that my father had a clause inserted in the deed that money invested by the trust was a private affair, and the benefactor should never know that the Kane family was personally involved. It was a rule he never broke in his life as a banker. That way he could always be certain there was no conflict of interest between the bank's investments and those of the family trust.'

'Well, your mother obviously feels that the rule can be broken for a member of the family!'

'Henry Osborne is not a member of my family, and when I control the trust it is a rule I, like my father, would never break.'

'You may live to regret taking such a rigid stance, William.'

'I think not, sir.'

'Well, try and consider for a moment the affect such actions might have on your mother,' added Alan.

'My mother has already lost five hundred thousand dollars of her own money, sir. Isn't that enough for one husband? Why do I have to lose five hundred thousand of mine as well?'

'We don't know that to be the case, William. The investment may still yield an excellent return; I haven't had a chance yet to look carefully into Henry's books.'

William winced when Alan Lloyd called his step-father Henry.

'I can assure you, sir, he's blown nearly every penny of my mothier's money. To be exact, he has thirty-three thousand, four hundred and twelve dollars of the original sum left. I suggest you take very little notice of Osborne's books and check more thoroughly into his background, past business record and associates. Not to mention the fact that he gambles - heavily.'

From the eighth tee Alan hit his ball into a lake directly in front of them, a lake even novice players managed to clear. He conceded the hole.

'How did you come by your information on Henry?' asked Alan, fairly certain it had been through Thomas Cohen's office.

'I prefer not to say, sir.'

Alan kept his own counsel; he thought he might need that particular ace up his sleeve to play a little later in William's life.

'If all you claim turned out to be accurate, William, naturally I would have to advise your mother against any investment in Henry's firm, and it would be my duty to have the whole thing out in the open with Henry as well.'

'So be it, sir.'

Alan hit a better shot, but felt he wasn't winning.

William continued. 'It may also interest you to know that Osborne needs the five hundred thousand from my trust not for the hospital contract but to clear a long-standing debt in Chicago. I take it that you were not aware of that, sir?'

Alan said nothing; he certainly had not been aware. William won the hole.

When they reached the eighteenth, Alan was eight holes down and was about to complete the worst round he cared to remember. He had a five-foot putt that would at least enable him to halve the final hole with William.

'Do you have any more bombshells for me?' asked Alan.

'Before or after your putt, sir?'

Alan laughed and decided to call his bluff. 'Before the putt, William,'he said, leaning on his club.

'Osborne will not be awarded the hospital contract. It is thought by those who matter that~ he's been bribing junior officials in the city government. Nothing will be brought out into the open, but to be sure of no repercussions later his company has been removed from thefinal list. The contract will actually be awarded to Kirkbride and Carter. The last piece of information, sir, is confidential. Even Kirkbride and Carter will not be informed until a week from Thursday, so I'd be obliged if you would keep it to yourself.' Alan missed his putt. William holed his, walked over to the chairman and shook him warmly by the hand.

'Thank you for the game, sir. I think you'll find you owe me ninety dollars.'

Alan took out his wallet and handed over a hundred-dollar note. 'William, I think the time has come for you to stop calling me "sir". My name, as you well know, is Alan!'

'Thank you, Alan!' William handed him ten dollars.

Alan Lloyd arrived at the bank on Monday morning with a little more to do than he bad originally anticipated before the weekend. He put five departmental managers to work immediately on checking out the accuracy of William's allegations. He feared that he already knew what their enquiries would reveal and, because of Arme's position at the bank, he made certain that no one department was aware of what the others were up to. His instructions to each manager were clear: all reports were to be strictly confidential and for the chairman's eyes only. By Wednesday of the same week he had five preliminary reports on his desk. They all seemed to be in agreement with William's judgment although each man ager had asked for more time to verify some of the details.

Alan decided against worrying Anne until he had some more concrete evidence to go on. The best he felt he could do for the time being was to take advantage of a buffet supper the Osbornes were giving that evening to advise Anne against any immediate decision on the loan.