when my mother found it difficult to talk about things, especially anything to do with my dad, she would cook, try new recipes. A new recipe was a sort of offering, a gift, a way of bridging a gap. And, of course, it’s one of the greatest gifts you can give. I mean, you’re actually sharing the very stuff of life, aren’t you? I mean…’
‘Tilly,’ said Jake wearily, ‘it was just an observation. I didn’t want a psychological treatise.’
‘Oh.’ Yet again, Jake had somehow put me in the wrong, made me feel silly. And I realised I didn’t have to put up with it any more. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you again,’I said. ‘I thought you’d be far too busy researching with…Flick.’
‘Did you really go off in a helicopter with Clayton Silver yesterday?’
‘Ah. So that’s why you’ve searched me out. For information. For work. Not out of concern at all.’ Which was, in a funny way, a relief. I was getting used to the idea that the ties between me and Jake were now well and truly cut. ‘Actually, yes, I did. Some posh hotel near Newcastle.’
‘So who did he meet?’
‘Dunno. Just two men. I told you in my email. Why?’
‘Well, I knew he wasn’t at the shoot yesterday. But when Clayton Silver didn’t turn up yesterday, nobody seemed surprised or cared much. And when you think how much it costs to have a gun at a shoot—we’re talking thousands—it just seemed odd that no one minded.’
I pushed the parkin towards him and poured him a cup of tea. ‘Do you think something’s going on? Something dodgy?’
‘Well, there are rumours, but nothing I can get to grips with. Maynard’s spending a fortune trying to turn himself into a respectable English gentleman—the country house in Surrey, the shooting lodge up here. The trouble is that no one quite knows where his fortune came from.’
‘Something crooked?’
‘Possibly. Undoubtedly. But it’s impossible to prove. He calls himself a property developer and certainly he made a lot in the boom years, but no one can get to the bottom of it. There are too many companies, not enough information. I have spent days trawling through records, reading annual reports, company accounts, trying to make sense of it all. It’s bloody difficult. In any case, half the stuff’s offshore or is just untraceable. A football club is a wonderful cover-up.’
‘Doesn’t that make money?’
‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But then think about the stupid money footballers get paid. It can’t all come from Sky TV or selling replica shirts to little boys. There’s a lot of dodgy dealing going on somewhere and it’s hard to pin down. Interesting that many of the usual hangers-on—minor royalty and all those impoverished aristos—don’t want much to do with him, not even his grouse moors. He’s left with jumped-up City boys, soap stars and footballers.’
I felt uneasy. ‘Would that have been Maynard’s helicopter I had a lift in?’
‘Oh yes. A couple of footballers have their own, but not Clayton Silver as far as I know. That would have been Maynard’s all right.’
‘Do you think the footballers are involved in this dodgy stuff ?’
‘Probably not in the really big league. But there again, there’s an awful lot of corruption that’s hard to prove. There were all those scandals in the Eighties and Nineties and they’ve just shown that Italian football is rotten to the core. So it’s hard to say. But if I were you, I would definitely steer clear of footballers, especially any that have any connection with Simeon Maynard.’
I was quiet for a bit, thinking about what he’d said and wondering if the helicopter jaunt hadn’t been so much fun after all, when Jake took an absent-minded bite of parkin. ‘Mmm, you’re right, this is good.’
‘Told you.’
We looked at each other and smiled.
‘It seems weird to be sitting in a café at the top of England with you,’ I said.
‘You could always move in to the B & B where I
‘Tilly,’ said Jake wearily, ‘it was just an observation. I didn’t want a psychological treatise.’
‘Oh.’ Yet again, Jake had somehow put me in the wrong, made me feel silly. And I realised I didn’t have to put up with it any more. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you again,’I said. ‘I thought you’d be far too busy researching with…Flick.’
‘Did you really go off in a helicopter with Clayton Silver yesterday?’
‘Ah. So that’s why you’ve searched me out. For information. For work. Not out of concern at all.’ Which was, in a funny way, a relief. I was getting used to the idea that the ties between me and Jake were now well and truly cut. ‘Actually, yes, I did. Some posh hotel near Newcastle.’
‘So who did he meet?’
‘Dunno. Just two men. I told you in my email. Why?’
‘Well, I knew he wasn’t at the shoot yesterday. But when Clayton Silver didn’t turn up yesterday, nobody seemed surprised or cared much. And when you think how much it costs to have a gun at a shoot—we’re talking thousands—it just seemed odd that no one minded.’
I pushed the parkin towards him and poured him a cup of tea. ‘Do you think something’s going on? Something dodgy?’
‘Well, there are rumours, but nothing I can get to grips with. Maynard’s spending a fortune trying to turn himself into a respectable English gentleman—the country house in Surrey, the shooting lodge up here. The trouble is that no one quite knows where his fortune came from.’
‘Something crooked?’
‘Possibly. Undoubtedly. But it’s impossible to prove. He calls himself a property developer and certainly he made a lot in the boom years, but no one can get to the bottom of it. There are too many companies, not enough information. I have spent days trawling through records, reading annual reports, company accounts, trying to make sense of it all. It’s bloody difficult. In any case, half the stuff’s offshore or is just untraceable. A football club is a wonderful cover-up.’
‘Doesn’t that make money?’
‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But then think about the stupid money footballers get paid. It can’t all come from Sky TV or selling replica shirts to little boys. There’s a lot of dodgy dealing going on somewhere and it’s hard to pin down. Interesting that many of the usual hangers-on—minor royalty and all those impoverished aristos—don’t want much to do with him, not even his grouse moors. He’s left with jumped-up City boys, soap stars and footballers.’
I felt uneasy. ‘Would that have been Maynard’s helicopter I had a lift in?’
‘Oh yes. A couple of footballers have their own, but not Clayton Silver as far as I know. That would have been Maynard’s all right.’
‘Do you think the footballers are involved in this dodgy stuff ?’
‘Probably not in the really big league. But there again, there’s an awful lot of corruption that’s hard to prove. There were all those scandals in the Eighties and Nineties and they’ve just shown that Italian football is rotten to the core. So it’s hard to say. But if I were you, I would definitely steer clear of footballers, especially any that have any connection with Simeon Maynard.’
I was quiet for a bit, thinking about what he’d said and wondering if the helicopter jaunt hadn’t been so much fun after all, when Jake took an absent-minded bite of parkin. ‘Mmm, you’re right, this is good.’
‘Told you.’
We looked at each other and smiled.
‘It seems weird to be sitting in a café at the top of England with you,’ I said.
‘You could always move in to the B & B where I
Similar Books
