This Was a Man (The Clifton Chronicles 7)

“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.