Conflict of Interest

She was chewing her lip, which he took as a good sign. Maybe he was getting through to her.

‘Plus, after this all started, I checked out the stuff you told me about Strauss. I found it’s true.’

‘What stuff?’

‘Ultra-Sports. Trimnasium.’

‘Oh that!’ She was dismissive. ‘Ancient history.’

‘You mean there’s more?’

Instead of a reply, she just rolled her eyes; a response which suddenly irritated him. ‘I think I have a right to know what’s going on.’

‘I might say the same thing,’ her tone was caustic. ‘I had my flat trashed two weeks ago. Now you tell me the place is crawling with bugs and there’s some creep on my tail.’

They glared at each other across the back seat. Then, after a pause, while she looked out of the window at the shops slipping past them, she turned to him. ‘I’ll do a deal with you,’ she said. ‘You tell me exactly who’s following us. And I tell you why.’

It was only a moment’s thought before he nodded. ‘Shoot.’

Moments later they were climbing out of the cab and walking down a street in the direction of the river. Speaking quickly, Judith told him about her investigations, starting with the discrepancy between the Forbes forecasts and the outputs shown in Starwear’s Annual Reports. How Quantum Change had bombed out when it was first implemented. The rumours of a threatened takeover, with shadowy offshore companies taking up positions. And Jacob Strauss going into hiding until the turnaround, at which point he had emerged to take the credit.

But it was when she started on the child slavery story that he followed her with mounting incredulity. Of course he knew about past rumours, but as she told him about all the first-hand evidence she’d assembled, he realised that Strauss’s American crimes and misdemeanours were paltry by comparison. Child slavery put him in an altogether different league. This was corporate apocalypse.

‘No wonder they’re so paranoid about us,’ he exclaimed in a low whisper, after she’d finished.

‘Just like they were paranoid about Merlin de Vere?’

He looked at her seriously. ‘Why haven’t you run the story?’

‘I plan to. Early next week. The piece that’s missing is where you come in.’

He raised his eyebrows.

‘You know what happened to William van Aardt and Merlin de Vere—’

‘The past few days I haven’t been able to think of much else.’

‘Then who are these people? Who trashed my flat? Who’s on our tails? Who’s Jacob Strauss’s minder?’

They walked on a few paces, curving round a bend in the street which narrowed to a one-way lane leading to mews entrances. It wasn’t so well lit, and there was nobody else walking the cobbled pavements. In a low voice he said to her, ‘Have you ever heard of a guy called Elliott North?’

Her expression was blank. ‘Mr Fixit?’

Chris nodded. ‘Jacob Strauss’s minder.’ He told her how North had been recruited by Strauss in New York, when he was Managing Director of International Division. He went on to detail the tensions that had accompanied his arrival at Lombard – North’s controlling behaviour, his sitting in on journalist briefings, his attempt to bribe Jim Ritchie. Then there was his use of Bruno d’Andrea for monitoring and Solly Kuczynski whose activities, Chris was certain, went way beyond digging up dirt on the personal lives of Starwear competitors.

It was the first time Chris had told anyone about this. Next to him, Judith was following him intently, his revelations making sense, for the first time, of why it was that Merlin had been such a key player – why she had had her flat searched. Jacob Strauss’s minder knew, better than anyone, about the power of the media. He understood exactly how the system worked and how to exploit it. His choice of targets; his timing; it all added up now. Of course he had to be in public relations.

After Chris had finished, they walked on awhile in the semi-darkness, the sound of traffic receding with each minute. Then she asked him, ‘So. What next?’

He glanced over at her. ‘Obviously, you have to get the story out.’ Then, shaking his head, ‘It’ll be the most sensational corporate scam in years. If I were you, I’d file it and high-tail out of town.’

‘That seems all very easy.’

‘What does?’

‘Giving the story to Carter, going to Wales for the week, and when I get back it’s hey, ho, back to normal.’

He flashed her a look of irritation. ‘Do you have a better idea?’