The Endgame Read online

  Frank nodded his approval as Cornelius drained the last drop of wine from the one glass they allowed themselves before a game.

  ‘Now, I feel I ought to warn you,’ said Cornelius as he rose from his place, ‘that the only reason you have won the last three encounters in a row is simply because I have had other things on my mind. Now that those matters have been resolved, your run of luck is about to come to an end.’

  ‘We shall see,’ said Frank, as they marched down the long corridor together. The two men stopped for a moment to admire the portrait of Daniel.

  ‘How did you get that back?’ asked Frank.

  ‘I had to strike a mean bargain with Pauline, but we both ended up with what we wanted.’

  ‘But how . . . ?’ began Frank.

  ‘It’s a long story,’ Cornelius replied, ‘and I’ll tell you the details over a brandy after I’ve won the game.’

  Cornelius opened the library door and allowed his friend to enter ahead of him, so that he could observe his reaction. When the inscrutable lawyer saw the chess set laid out before him, he made no comment, but simply walked across to the far side of the table, took his usual place and said, ‘Your move first, if I remember correctly.’

  ‘You’re right,’ said Cornelius, trying to hide his irritation. He pushed his queen’s pawn to Q4.

  ‘Back to an orthodox opening gambit. I see I shall have to concentrate tonight.’

  They had been playing for about an hour, no word having passed between them, when Cornelius could bear it no longer. ‘Are you not in the least bit curious to discover how I came back into possession of the chess set?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ said Frank, his eyes remaining fixed on the board. ‘Not in the least bit.’

  ‘But why not, you old dullard?’

  ‘Because I already know,’ Frank said as he moved his queen’s bishop across the board.

  ‘How can you possibly know?’ demanded Cornelius, who responded by moving a knight back to defend his king.

  Frank smiled. ‘You forget that Hugh is also my client,’ he said, moving his king’s rook two squares to the right.

  Cornelius smiled. ‘And to think he need never have sacrificed his shares, if he had only known the true value of the chess set.’ He returned his queen to its home square.

  ‘But he did know its true value,’ said Frank, as he considered his opponent’s last move.

  ‘How could he possibly have found out, when you and I were the only people who knew?’

  ‘Because I told him,’ said Frank matter-of-factly.

  ‘But why would you do that?’ asked Cornelius, staring across at his oldest friend.

  ‘Because it was the only way I could find out if Hugh and Elizabeth were working together.’

  ‘So why didn’t he bid for the set in the morning auction?’

  ‘Precisely because he didn’t want Elizabeth to know what he was up to. Once he discovered that Timothy was also hoping to purchase the set in order to give it back to you, he remained silent.’

  ‘But he could have kept bidding once Timothy had fallen out.’

  ‘No, he couldn’t. He had agreed to bid for the Louis XIV table, if you recall, and that was the last item to come under the hammer.’

  ‘But Elizabeth failed to get the long-case clock, so she could have bid for it.’

  ‘Elizabeth is not my client,’ said Frank, as he moved his queen across the board. ‘So she never discovered the chess set’s true value. She believed what you had told her – that at best it was worth a few hundred pounds – which is why Hugh instructed his secretary to bid for the set in the afternoon.’

  ‘Sometimes you can miss the most obvious things, even when they are staring you right in the face,’ said Cornelius, pushing his rook five squares forward.

  ‘I concur with that judgement,’ said Frank, moving his queen across to take Cornelius’s rook. He looked up at his opponent and said, ‘I think you’ll find that’s checkmate.’

  THE YEAR OF SHORT STORIES SERIES:

  Master storyteller Jeffrey Archer has become synonymous with short story writing following the release of six superlative collections. From his first, A Quiver of Arrows, to his last, And Thereby Hangs a Tale, Archer has demonstrated time and time again why the Daily Telegraph says he ‘has a gift for storytelling that can only be described as genius’.

  Now, to celebrate the release of Jeffrey’s magnificent seventh collection, Tell Tale, we are releasing several free digital shorts as part of THE YEAR OF SHORT STORIES.

  Available now:

  The Grass Is Always Greener

  In the Eye of the Beholder

  One Man’s Meat

  No Room at the Inn

  Clean Sweep Ignatius

  Cheap at Half the Price

  Christina Rosenthal

  The Endgame

  THE YEAR OF SHORT STORIES continues in January 2018 with the release of The Man Who Robbed His Own Post Office.

  Tell Tale

  Fourteen captivating stories full of incredible twists and unforgettable characters.

  This is a fascinating insight into the people Jeffrey Archer has met, the stories he has come across and the countries he has visited during the past ten years. Poignant, engrossing and addictive, this is Archer at his spellbinding best.

  These wonderfully engaging and completely satisfying tales prove not only why Archer has been compared to Dahl and Maugham, but why he was described by Mail on Sunday as ‘probably the greatest storyteller of our age’.

  ALSO BY JEFFREY ARCHER

  THE CLIFTON CHRONICLES

  Only Time Will Tell

  The Sins of the Father

  Best Kept Secret

  Be Careful What You Wish For

  Mightier than the Sword

  Cometh the Hour

  This Was a Man

  NOVELS

  Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

  Shall We Tell the President?

  Kane and Abel

  The Prodigal Daughter

  First Among Equals

  A Matter of Honour

  As the Crow Flies

  Honour Among Thieves

  The Fourth Estate

  The Eleventh Commandment

  Sons of Fortune

  False Impression

  The Gospel According to Judas (with the assistance of Professor Francis J. Moloney)

  A Prisoner of Birth

  Paths of Glory

  SHORT STORIES

  A Quiver Full of Arrows

  A Twist in the Tale

  Twelve Red Herrings

  The Collected Short Stories

  To Cut a Long Story Short

  Cat O’ Nine Tales

  And Thereby Hangs a Tale

  Tell Tale

  PLAYS

  Beyond Reasonable Doubt

  Exclusive

  The Accused

  PRISON DIARIES

  Volume One – Belmarsh: Hell

  Volume Two – Wayland: Purgatory

  Volume Three – North Sea Camp: Heaven

  SCREENPLAYS

  Mallory: Walking Off the Map

  False Impression

  First published 2000 by HarperCollins Publishers

  First published by Pan Books 2010

  This electronic edition published 2017 by Pan Books

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-5098-8540-4

  Copyright © Jeffrey Archer 2000

  The right of Jeffrey Archer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of