‘I was told I’d be met by security. Are you …?’ Nicholas asked.
She answered before he completed his question, ‘I’m Sir Marcus’ personal bodyguard and I assure you I am more than capable of looking after him. If you have a doubt, perhaps we could go a round or two, unarmed combat, I mean of course.’ She smiled at him and licked her lips.
He eyed the sturdy body which filled her uniform more than adequately. She was almost as tall as he and her shoulders strained the sleeves of her jacket.
‘I’ll pass on that offer, thanks. I’m a bit out of practice these days. Texas?’ he queried, one eyebrow raised.
‘Well, yes, Commander. Good ear. But it’s been a while since I left Fort Worth for New York. I like to think of myself as an Aussie now.’
The lift doors opened and they stepped into a small foyer where a woman sat at an elegant desk, a holo screen in front of her. Lara introduced them.
‘This is Ms Tennant, Sir Marcus’ PA.’
She nodded and smiled slightly before resuming her work.
They passed through a broad archway into a space that looked like the living room of a comfortable house. To one side was a fireplace, the walls held tapestries and paintings and the floors were scattered with rugs, faded old Persians. A comfortable seating arrangement of couches and armchairs, side tables and lamps took up most of the remaining space on that side of the room.
The decor reminded him of Adelaide Browne’s house. Nicholas could see a carpeted hallway at the rear of the room with several closed doors leading from it. The smell of freshly made coffee filled the air and to the left of the room he saw a console with a coffee machine. The wall nearby held a number of monitors, and a brief glance in that direction showed him a glimpse of the foyer and another location he didn’t recognise.
Nicholas barely had time to take this in before Lara was introducing him to a tall man who seemed familiar.
‘Commander, this is Orlando Gray, the company’s Security Chief. Orlando, Commander Nicholas Adams.’
‘Good afternoon, Commander. We met at your mother’s funeral … such a sad occasion.’
Orlando Gray was well named. In spite of his impressive size, he was a grey man in an unremarkable dark grey suit. His face was bland, unmemorable and his eyes were pale grey behind rimless lenses. Now in his early thirties, his hair was the sort of mousy colour that never changes much from childhood to old age. They shook hands.
‘Of course. Nice to meet you again in more pleasant circumstances,’ he said, glancing around. ‘I can’t quite take this in … it’s more like a home than an office.’
‘Indeed. Sir Marcus likes his comforts.’ He spoke as though he disapproved, lips compressed to a thin line after the utterance. ‘If you wouldn’t mind having a seat for a few minutes. I have something to attend to first.’
He turned to Lara, gripping her arm possessively as they walked over to the coffee machine, talking in a low voice. She pulled her arm free and poured a mug of coffee as they spoke. She shook her head sharply and spoke to him, her face conveying annoyance. Gray took her upper arm and shook it roughly; she pulled away angrily, before seating herself at the bank of monitors, one of which he noticed showed the interior of the lift he’d just left.
Nick pondered this scene as Gray walked back to him.
Down the hall Gray pressed his hand to a panel which opened the door of an elevator concealed behind rich timber-look panelling.
‘Ms Nash has notified Sir Marcus of your arrival and he will be waiting for you,’ said Gray as he held the door open. He ushered Nick into the small space then stood back. The door closed and the elevator started upwards. After a few seconds the door opened and Nick saw Marcus Havington waiting to greet him.
He held out both hands. ‘Nicholas, my boy. How delightful to see you again. Come in, come in.’
‘Sir Marcus,’ murmured Nicholas. ‘I feel like Alice in Wonderland.’
Marcus chuckled. ‘I’ve got just the thing, a bottle marked “Drink me”. It’s a 40-year-old malt, but good enough, eh. Well, dear boy, come and sit down over here. And please, drop the Sir.’
Nick looked around at another unusual room, this one more office-like but still furnished like a private home rather than a place of business. He hadn’t seen Marcus for a while, not since his first month in Australia. It always surprised him that such a mild and pleasant man could command such enormous wealth and wield such enormous power throughout the world. At sixty-five, his hair was still thick with only a few grey hairs scattered through the dark brown. He exuded a quiet but powerful presence.
‘Where exactly are we now? Is this the top floor?’
‘Yes, it is and there is an identical office in Gemini Two next door.’ He gestured to the twin building a corner of which could be seen through the tall windows.
‘I like to move around, but I want all my offices to look the same. You might say, as some do, that I’m paranoid about security, now we are in a fully shielded top-floor penthouse. No possibility of being monitored.’
‘Is this necessary? I just have a couple of questions to do with a murder investigation, nothing secret about that.’
‘Of course, of course, but after we get that out of the way there are some other matters I need to discuss with you now that you are here. So indulge me.’
Nicholas said dryly, ‘It was actually Verity who made the contact. I was told by Gray that you were away.’
‘Ah, yes, Orlando,’ said Marcus. His eyes twinkled. ‘Were you perhaps thinking Verity was my mistress? As it happens Verity and Adelaide are my nieces. Odd, I thought you knew that. Daughters of my late twin sisters, Sophie and Maria. They lost both sets of parents when Verity was eleven and Adelaide ten. Avalanche … long story, for another time. Ask her about it, eh? Charlie and the girls were staying with us on the farm just outside Burford for school holidays when it happened. My wife and I were their guardians.’
He paused, frowned, then added, ‘And what were your people doing spying on me anyway?’
‘Not my people. The Fraud squad have their eye on some fellow who was also lunching there. Nothing to do with you, actually. Their DCI happened to mention it to me in passing. Good looking girl having a very friendly lunch with Sir Marcus Havington … just a casual reference. You are well known.
‘Which brings me to the point of all this—did Verity, Ms Burne, say anything to you about the Richardsons? Anything about her sources, anything at all?’
‘Hmm, I recall her mentioning a problem she was having. She certainly didn’t mention any names. That good enough for you? And now let’s get comfortable. Sandwiches there under the cover. Coffee or a splash or two of this malt?’
‘Better stick with coffee for now. I still have a long day to get through.’
‘Verity is a wonderful girl. Had a bad marriage, poor thing, he said. ‘And had a lot of fortune hunters after her since her husband died. Know about that, Nicholas?’
‘Marcus, I’m not here to discuss Ms Burne …’
‘You know, your parents were very dear to me, right from the early days. Hugo always said if anything happened to him he wanted me to look after your mother and you, physically and financially. And I did. Kept an eye on both of you, one way or another.
‘Your mother, Eleanor, was one of the great beauties of her day. When Hugo met her here in Australia within weeks he whisked her back to England to meet his family. I think we all fell in love with her on sight. So very sweet and natural. I wasn’t the only broken heart when she and your father married. Still, I met my beloved Elizabeth not long after and we were happy till the day she died.’ He sighed gently, then took a sandwich and bit into it thoughtfully.
‘I don’t know why I’m telling you your own family history! Now, Verity. Verity is physically a strong woman, quite capable of looking after herself these days. Emotionally, well, that’s a different matter. She needs a good man, I mean good. As I know you are. If you want her you will have to be patient, very patient.
’
‘What’s this all leading up to? And what did you mean by fortune hunters? Are your nieces your heirs?’
‘Let me explain. After I finished my engineering degree I worked with my father for some years. This was back when the W.I.S.E. project was being mooted. The old man was one of the movers and was prepared to back it if others were willing to come in. It was to be a joint undertaking with the Australian Government.’
‘Sorry, Marcus … wise?’
‘Water for an Inland Sea Enterprise or Project, usually called W - I - S - E or sometimes WISP. You must have heard about the north-to-south canals and lakes in Central Australia. Look, I don’t want to go into all this now. I’ll send you the references and you can read it all yourself at your leisure. Fascinating stuff.’
‘Anyway, once the thing got underway the old man saw I was more than capable of running the show, so he signed over most of the shares in the companies to the three of us, to me and my two sisters, when he turned sixty. Said he wanted to enjoy his money before he was too old and took off to do just that. He’s still doing it too. I’ve lost track but I think he’s on his fourth or fifth wife, somewhere in the South Pacific or wherever it’s warm and still above water. My sisters weren’t interested in business, both being academic types, so were happy to take income from their shares and leave me to run it on my own. When they died half their shares went to Verity, to Adelaide and her brother Charles in trust until a certain age and the rest to me. In addition to the trust income, Verity has made a lot through her own inventions and patents. Charles and Adelaide too, for that matter, made plenty off their own bat.’
‘Charles? I didn’t know Adelaide had a brother. Where is he?’
‘Charles Havington Browne is CEO of Proserpina Inc, the parent company of my American business interests. A very astute chap who earns every cent of his large remuneration. He lives in New York with his wife, Faith, and their two young children. Most of his trust income is diverted to various charities.’
‘Hang on, Verity has inventions and patents? What sort of inventions are you talking about?’
‘She has a company, an electronics company and that’s all I’m going to say. She’ll tell you when she’s ready.’
‘How many more surprises have you got for me today, Marcus? And well, I see what you mean about fortune hunters and I …’ he stopped at a sudden thought. ‘Does she think I’m a fortune hunter? Is that why she won’t …?’
Marcus held up his hand to silence Nicholas, stood up and walked over to his desk. ‘In a word, no. Now, I want to show you something. Come and sit here.’ He pointed to a chair on the other side of the desk. ‘I told you I’ve been looking after your mother’s finances. Now I want to show you just how. He placed his palm flat on the desktop.
‘Computer, commence operations. File Adams-Chandos, subfile ANS7132b. Execute.’
The desk top shimmered for a couple of seconds then cleared to show a spreadsheet filled with financial data.
‘Split screen, duplicate and reverse duplicate data. Execute.’ The desktop shimmered again and showed identical spreadsheets, one of them now facing towards Nicholas.
‘What is this? What am I looking at?’
‘This is your trust fund, yours and your brother Christopher’s actually. I set these up when you were about ten. We, your father and I, set up one for your mother too which was wound up after she died. As you know she left everything to you and your brother. Now, your own trust fund matures on your thirty-fifth birthday which is just a few weeks away. Keep looking.’ Marcus slowly ran his finger down the screen, scrolling down, revealing page after page of figures in amounts that were almost incomprehensible to Nicholas.
‘What is this? Why didn’t I know about this? Why didn’t my mother mention it? Why now? … I’m sorry for all the questions, Marcus, but this is rapidly becoming most confusing.’
Marcus said, ‘You had to know this sometime soon and today is as good a day as any. As I said, I was going to contact you—this is why. Please look at the bottom line.’ He pointed to it.
Nicholas felt himself blanch. ‘This can’t be,’ he whispered. ‘I thought we both had decent incomes from Father’s trust, but this … I can’t take it in. Are you sure this is right?’ He stabbed a finger at the screen, which rippled slightly.
‘Yes, that’s the current market value in Australian dollars,’ said Sir Marcus blandly. ‘You’re quite a catch.’ He laughed at the stricken look on the Commander’s face. ‘It’s not really that huge when you consider a house like Verity’s would cost you about $5 million today.’
‘Does Ms Burne, Verity know about this? I have to see her tonight about those Richardson murder scenes that were sent to her computer. We have to try to trace their origin, find who sent them.’
Marcus leapt up, his chair clattering against the console behind him.
‘What pictures? What are you saying? Did some bastard send her scenes from that murder?’ He was standing now, no longer a smiling, affable man, but a fierce warrior, ready to defend at all and any cost. Nicholas stood too and though he was a little taller he felt overwhelmed by his presence.
He realised for the first time that this was the real Marcus, the brilliant but ruthless businessman who owned so much, who had expanded his grandfather’s and his father’s businesses, had created dozens of new ones, had doubled and redoubled his holdings until it was impossible to even estimate his worth; it must be in the billions. He persuaded governments and built moon bases, satellites, space stations, solar collectors. His companies created an oasis in the very heart of Australia. The power generated by that amount of money and influence was now evident—it radiated from him in waves. Then he sat and it was gone as abruptly as it had appeared.
‘She got them last night. She said the bodies were lying on the ground and partly covered up and some shots showed something carved on their backs. Only the murderer could have sent them to her.’ Nicholas said.
‘So who have you found to do a search? He’d have to be bloody good. If Verity can’t trace the bastard I’d find it hard to believe anyone else could.’
‘Is she really that good?’ asked Nicholas. ‘I didn’t realise. Maybe I should cancel …’
‘No, don’t do that. This hot shot just might find something she’s missed. And besides it gives you a chance to see her again.’ His eyes positively twinkled as he said that.
‘She doesn’t respond to me in that way. Well, we talked but she’s made it pretty clear she’s not interested. She’s not still in love with her late husband, is she?’
‘Nicholas, you are cleared to near top security. You can access all records, national and international way up to Top Secret level. So why haven’t you?’
‘I didn’t feel it was justified at this stage of the investigation. She is not a suspect. And it didn’t feel right, intruding on her privacy.’
Marcus thought for a few seconds. Is now the time to tell him, to tell Nicholas why I engineered his move to Australia? He was the right man for the job, but he was also the right man for Verity. He smiled inwardly. I bet no one would have guessed that.
‘I appreciate your delicacy in this, Nick. It just reinforces my opinion of you. Let me tell you a little about Verity’s husband.
‘Terry Maguire, Major Terence Maguire, was a specialist in psych warfare with the US Army. Putting it simply, he was a good looking charmer from a respectable Irish-American family, who was discreetly let go by the US Army after 15 years of service.
‘Verity had spent most of her life to this point in academic research, a little naïve and unworldly perhaps and not much for socialising. Early on she discovered a knack for electronics and was usually in front of a computer or in a lab. She developed a talent for science writing at some stage and often contributed articles to various publications, wrote a couple of pop science books, explaining complex things in simple ways. Of course there was a shortage of new equipment and research funds were scarce—I helped a bit there.
‘She and Maguire met at her PhD ceremony, introduced by his sister who was an associate. He literally swept her off her feet and they were married only a few weeks later. I was away at the Kaguya moon base, down in Shackleton crater, setting up the solar lab. It was one of the few times I was incommunicado, or I would have found some way to stop it.’ He looked quite savage as he spoke.
‘For some reason, the lunar-synchronous satellite wasn’t working so we had to rely on our suit radios and relay bounces—quite tedious and time consuming.
‘Although Maguire was from a good solid Boston family, I discovered he’d always been … a bad seed, let’s say. Verity had a large apartment and he moved in with her, which made sense as he was away on duty a lot of the time and she was working on her AI research. I didn’t see her too often and apart from being paler and quieter than usual she seemed alright. I suppose I just thought she had been working too hard, which she often did. I must admit I had other things on my mind.’
He paused for a few brooding seconds. ‘My beloved Elizabeth had just been diagnosed with the inoperable brain tumour that eventually killed her. By law, and for good medical reasons, nanobots can’t work on brain tissue. If that tumour had been anywhere else in her body …’ His voice trailed away and he sat silently before shaking his head as if to clear it of sad memories.
‘How ironic that we have eliminated most of the diseases that plagued our planet but we are still helpless with some of nature’s worst curses,’ said Nicholas quietly.
‘I heard things, of course. I had people watching him and had a very good idea of what he was up to. I don’t want to get into all the details but I’ll simply say he deserved to be shot, and he was.’
Nicholas gave him a hard look.
‘No, Nicholas, not on my orders. Not my style. No, Major Maguire had made plenty of enemies and the only surprise is that he lasted as long as he did.’
‘So how did Verity take it? Is she still grieving for him?’
Marcus snorted. ‘Ha. By that time they’d been married for three years and she knew exactly what he was. She tried to leave him a few times but he always found her and dragged her back, or had her dragged back by one of his cronies. Adelaide was in New York then and told me that when they spoke Verity nearly always blocked vision, so she only heard her voice.’
STRANGE BODIES (a gripping crime thriller) Page 12
