Kane and Abel Read online

  ‘You can stop your investigation now, Mr Ricardo. I’m confident you won’t find anything of any consequence next week.’

  ‘I don’t think that would be wise, Mrs Osborne. To make a final judgement on only one week’s observation would, in my experience, be premature to say the least.’

  All right, if you think it will prove the point, but I’m still confident you won’t uncover anything new.’

  ‘In any case,’ continued Ricardo, puffing away at his cigar, which looked bigger, and smelled better, to Anne than the one he had smoked at their previous meeting, ‘you’ve already paid for the two weeks.’

  ‘What about the letters?’ asked Anne. ‘I suppose they must have come from someone jealous of my husband’s achievements.’

  ‘Well, as I pointed out to you when we last met, Mrs Osborne, tracing the sender of anonymous letters is never easy. However, I have been able to locate the shop where the stationery was purchased, as the brand is fairly unusual. But for the moment I have nothing further to report on that front. Again, I may have a lead for you next week. Have you had any more letters?’

  ‘No, I haven’t.’

  ‘Good. Then it all seems to be working out for the best. Let’s hope, for your sake, that the next meeting will be our last.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Anne happily, ‘let’s hope so. Can I settle your expenses next week?’

  ‘Of course, of course.’

  Anne had nearly forgotten the phrase, but this time it only made her laugh. She agreed to see Ricardo for what she felt certain would be their last meeting, on Thursday. As she was being driven home Anne decided that Henry must be given the $500,000 and the chance to prove William and Alan wrong. She still hadn’t recovered from the discovery that William had come to Boston without letting her know. She felt Henry had every right to feel that her son was trying to work behind their backs.

  Henry was delighted when Anne told him over supper of her decision on the loan, and he produced the legal documents for her signature the following morning. Anne couldn’t help thinking that he must have had them prepared for some time, especially as Millie Preston had already signed. Or was she being overly suspicious again? She dismissed the idea and added her signature.

  She was fully prepared for Alan Lloyd when he telephoned on Monday morning.

  Anne, why don’t we just hold things up until Thursday. Then, at least, we’ll know who’s been awarded the hospital contract.’

  ‘No, Alan, I’ve made up my mind. Henry needs the money now. He has to prove to City Hall that he’s financially capable of fulfilling the contract, and you already have the signatures of two trustees, so the decision is not yours to make.’

  ‘The bank could always guarantee Henry’s position without actually passing over the money,’ said Alan. ‘I’m sure City Hall would find that acceptable. In any case, I still haven’t had enough time to check over his company’s accounts.’

  ‘But you did find enough time to have lunch and play a round of golf with William last Sunday without bothering to tell me.’

  There was a momentary silence on the other end of the line.

  ‘Anne, I—’

  ‘Don’t say you didn’t have the opportunity to inform me. You came to our party on Friday evening, and could easily have mentioned it to me then. You chose not to, although you did find enough time to advise me to postpone judgement on the loan to Henry.’

  ‘Anne, I’m sorry. I can understand how that might look and why you’re upset, but there was a reason, believe me. May I come around and explain everything to you?’

  ‘No, Alan, you can’t. You’re all ganging up against my husband. None of you wants to give him the chance to prove himself. Well, I’m going to allow him that chance.’

  Anne put the telephone down, pleased with herself, feeling she had been loyal to Henry in a way that fully atoned for her ever having doubted him in the first place.

  Alan Lloyd rang back, but Anne instructed the maid to say she was out for the rest of the day. When Henry returned home that night, he was delighted to hear how firm Anne had been with Alan.

  ‘It will all turn out for the best, my darling, you’ll see. On Thursday morning I’ll be awarded the contract and you can kiss and make up with Alan; still, you’d better keep out of his way until then. If you like, we can have a celebration lunch at the Grand on Thursday, and wave at him from the other side of the room.’

  Anne smiled. She couldn’t help remembering that she was meant to be seeing Glen Ricardo at twelve o’clock that day. Still, that would give her easily enough time to be at the Grand Hotel by one, when she could celebrate both triumphs.

  Alan tried repeatedly to reach Anne, but the maid always had a ready excuse. As the loan document had been signed by two trustees, he could not hold up payment for more than twenty-four hours. The wording was typical of any legal agreement drawn up by Richard Kane; there were no loopholes to crawl through. When the cheque for $500,000 left the bank by special messenger on Tuesday afternoon, Alan wrote a long letter to William, explaining why he’d been left with no choice but to transfer the money, withholding only the unconfirmed findings of his departmental reports. He sent a copy of the letter to each director of the bank, conscious that although he had behaved with the utmost propriety, he had laid himself open to accusations of concealment.

  William received Alan Lloyd’s letter at St Paul’s on the Thursday morning while he was having breakfast with Matthew.

  Breakfast at Beacon Hill on Thursday morning was the usual eggs and bacon, hot toast, cold oatmeal and a pot of steaming coffee. Henry was simultaneously tense and jaunty, snapping at the maid, joking with a junior city official who telephoned to confirm that the name of the company that had won the hospital contract would be announced by the mayor at a press conference at ten o’clock.

  Anne was almost looking forward to her last meeting with Glen Ricardo. She flicked through Vogue, trying not to notice that Henry’s hands were trembling as he read the pages of the Boston Globe.

  ‘What are you going to do this morning?’ Henry asked, trying to make conversation.

  ‘Oh, nothing much before we have our celebration lunch. Do you still plan to name the children’s wing in memory of Richard?’ Anne asked.

  ‘Not in memory of Richard, my darling. This will be my achievement, so I shall name it in your honour. The Mrs Henry Osborne wing,’ he added grandly.

  ‘What a nice idea,’ Anne said, putting her magazine down and smiling at him. ‘You mustn’t let me drink too much champagne at lunch. I have an appointment with Dr MacKenzie later this afternoon, and I don’t think he’d approve if I arrived drunk only a few weeks before the baby is due. When will you know for certain that the contract is yours?’

  ‘I already know,’ Henry said. ‘The clerk I just spoke to was one hundred per cent confident, but it won’t be official until ten o’clock.’

  ‘The first thing you must do, Henry, is phone Alan and tell him the good news. I’m beginning to feel quite guilty about the way I treated him on Monday.’

  ‘No need for you to feel any guilt, darling. After all, he didn’t bother to keep you informed about his meeting with William.’

  ‘No, but he tried to explain later, Henry, and I didn’t give him the chance.’

  All right, all right, anything you say. If it’ll make you happy I’ll phone him at five past ten, and then you can write and tell William I’ve made him another million.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I’d better be going. Wish me luck.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t need any luck,’ said Anne.

  ‘I don’t, I don’t, it’s just an expression. See you at the Grand at one o’clock.’ He kissed her on the forehead. ‘By tonight you’ll be able to laugh about Alan, William and contracts, and treat them all as problems of the past, believe me. Goodbye, my darling.’

  An uneaten breakfast was laid out in front of Alan Lloyd. He was reading the financial pages of the Boston Globe, noting a small paragraph in a right-hand co