This Was a Man Read online

  Jessica did, however, confide in Claire a fear that if she was offered a place at the Slade, she might discover that Avril Perkins, who came second in art, was right when she remarked within Jessica’s hearing that she was just a big fish in a small pool, who was about to be cast into the ocean where she would undoubtedly sink without trace.

  Claire told her to dismiss Avril for the little creep she was, but Jessica still spent her final term at St. Paul’s wondering if she might be right.

  When the high mistress announced at prize-giving that Jessica Clifton had been awarded the Gainsborough Scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art, Jessica seemed to be the only person in the hall who was surprised. In fact, she took as much pleasure in Claire being offered a place at University College to read English as she did in her own triumph. However, she wasn’t pleased to learn that Avril Perkins would be joining her at the Slade.

  * * *

  “The chairman would like a word with you, Mr. Clifton.”

  Sebastian stopped signing letters and looked up to see the boss’s secretary standing in the doorway. “I thought he was in Copenhagen?”

  “He came back on the first flight this morning,” said Angela, “and asked to see you the moment he walked into his office.”

  “Sounds serious,” said Seb, raising an eyebrow, but receiving no response.

  “All I can tell you, Mr. Clifton, is that he’s cleared his diary for the rest of the morning.”

  “Perhaps he’s going to sack me,” said Seb, hoping to tempt Angela into an indiscretion.

  “I don’t think so, because that usually only takes him a couple of minutes.”

  “Not even a clue?” whispered Sebastian as they left his office and walked along the corridor together.

  “All I’m willing to say,” said Angela, “is that you can’t have missed the fact that Mr. Bishara has traveled to Copenhagen six times in the last month. Perhaps you’re about to find out why,” she added before knocking on the chairman’s door.

  “Has he taken over Lego or Carlsberg?” said Seb as Angela opened the door and stood aside to allow him to enter.

  “Good morning, chairman,” said Seb. But he couldn’t work out from the sphinx-like expression on Hakim Bishara’s face if it was good news or bad.

  “Good morning, Sebastian.” First clue, thought Seb. The chairman only ever called him Sebastian when he was about to discuss something serious. “Have a seat.” Second clue, this wasn’t going to be a short meeting.

  “Sebastian, I wanted you to be the first to know that I got married on Saturday.”

  Seb had considered half a dozen possible reasons the chairman would want to see him, but marriage wasn’t among them, and to say he was taken by surprise would have been an understatement. For a moment he couldn’t think of what to say. Hakim leaned back in his chair and enjoyed the unusual experience of a silent CEO.

  “Do I know the lady in question?” Seb eventually managed.

  “No, but you’ve seen her from a distance.”

  Sebastian decided to join in the game. “In London?”

  “Yes.”

  “In the City?”

  “Yes,” Hakim repeated, “but you’re heading down the wrong road.”

  “Is she a banker?”

  “No, a landscape architect.”

  “So she must have worked on one of our projects,” suggested Seb.

  “Yes and no.”

  “Was she for or against us?”

  “Neither,” said Hakim. “I would describe her as neutral, but not helpful.”

  Another long silence followed before Sebastian said, “Oh my God, it’s the woman who gave evidence in your trial. Mrs. um, Mrs.…”

  “Bergström.”

  “But she was the Crown’s key witness, and she certainly didn’t help our cause. I remember everyone regretting that Mr. Carman had tracked her down.”

  “Everyone except me,” said Hakim. “I spent endless nights in prison regretting that I hadn’t spoken to her when we sat next to each other on that flight back from Lagos. So a few days after I was released, I flew to Copenhagen.”

  “I’ve never thought of you as the romantic type, Hakim, and I suspect most of our colleagues in the City would agree with me. May I ask what Mr. Bergström had to say about your proposed takeover bid?”

  “I wouldn’t have boarded the plane if there’d been a Mr. Bergström. It only took Barry Hammond a couple of days to discover that Kristina’s husband died of a heart attack at the age of fifty-two.”

  “Don’t tell me, he was a banker.”

  “Head of the loans division at the Royal Bank of Copenhagen.”

  “They nearly went under a couple of years ago.”

  “On his watch, I’m afraid,” said Hakim quietly.

  “So will Mrs. Bergström—”

  “Mrs. Bishara.”

  “Be moving to London?”

  “Not immediately. She has two children who are still at school, and she doesn’t want their lives disrupted, so I had to make a deal.”

  “Which you’re usually very good at.”

  “Not when it’s personal. Something I’ve always warned you about. We plan to live in Copenhagen for the next couple of years, until Inge and Aksel are settled at university. After that, Kristina has agreed to come to England.”

  “In the meantime, you’ll be living on an airplane.”

  “Not a chance. Kristina has made it abundantly clear that she doesn’t need a second husband to die of a heart attack. Which is why I needed to see you, Sebastian. I want you to take over as chairman of the bank.”

  This time Seb was stunned into a far longer silence, which Hakim again took advantage of.

  “I intend to call a board meeting early next week so I can brief the directors on my decision. I shall propose that you replace me as chairman, while I become president of the bank. All you’ll need to decide is who will be your CEO.”

  Seb didn’t need to spend much time thinking about that, but he waited to hear Hakim’s opinion.

  “I assume you’ll want Victor Kaufman to take your place,” said Hakim. “After all, he’s one of your oldest friends, and owns twenty-five percent of the bank’s stock.”

  “That doesn’t qualify him to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of a major financial institution. We’re running a bank, Hakim, not a local sports club.”

  “Does that mean you have another candidate in mind?”

  “John Ashley would be my first choice,” said Seb without hesitation.

  “But he’s only been with the bank a couple of years. He’s hardly got his feet under the table.”

  “But what a pedigree,” Seb reminded him. “Manchester Grammar School, the London School of Economics, and a scholarship to Harvard Business School. And let’s not forget how much we had to pay to tempt him away from Chase Manhattan. And how long will it be before one of our rivals offers him a golden hello? Sooner rather than later, would be my guess, especially if Victor ends up as CEO of Farthings. No. If you want me to be chairman, Hakim, appointing John Ashley to that position is the deal maker.”

  * * *

  “Congratulations,” said Jessica.

  “What’s a chairman?” demanded Jake.

  “Someone who’s in charge of everything and everybody, rather like a high mistress.”

  “I’d never thought of it quite like that,” admitted Sebastian, as Samantha burst out laughing.

  Jessica walked around the table and gave her father a hug. “Congratulations,” she repeated.

  “Hakim seems far too young to retire,” said Samantha, as she sliced the top off Jake’s egg.

  “I agree,” said Seb, “but he’s fallen in love.”

  “I hadn’t realized that if you were the chairman of a bank and fell in love, you were expected to resign.”

  “It’s not compulsory,” said Seb, laughing, “but banks generally prefer their chairman to reside in the same country, and the lady in question lives in Copenhagen.”