“You really didn’t know? I’m surprised. I thought your boyfriend might have told you.”
“My boyfriend? Yes. I thought he might have told me, Jeremy.”
“I don’t mean me. I mean the sainted Rocky Anderson. The real man. Your bit of biker rough.”
“Oh, do fuck off, Jeremy. Don’t you ever fantasise during sex? Just stop being so fucking suburban and monogamous and answer the damn question.”
“Okay. I’ll answer the damn question. Yes, I did know that there were links between your father and Cordwainer. Everyone knows it, Laura. Everyone.”
Laura, trembling too much to stay upright, subsided into the leather couch beside Jeremy.
“Is there any proof, though? What exactly is it between them?”
Jeremy took a breath. “I don’t know exactly. But as Clive said, it’s common knowledge that Cordwainer has been distributing so many sweeteners among the councillors and police of Goldsands that people are starting to call him Willy Wonka. And your dad was especially keen to push this casino license through. We think he’s going to be a major shareholder. There are some tape recordings that have come into the office, conversations he’s had with some of the other councillors. They’re pretty unequivocal. He’s in it up to his neck. I’ve also heard suggestions of building contracts that your dad has obtained improperly, with a little help from his friend. Threats, bullyboy tactics, blackmail. All that good stuff.”
Laura put her palms together and pressed the fingertips to her lips, thinking as fast as her synapses would allow.
“He could get into trouble? There’s enough to get him into serious trouble?”
“Oh yes, Laura. More than enough.”
She turned to him, desperation driving her on. “And you—you are going to expose him, aren’t you? In your grubby little article.”
“Laura, I’m a journalist. It won’t be personal. For what it’s worth, I do care about you. I’ve grown close to you. But I know you’ve been using me all along, so I don’t feel too bad about the way I’ve used you.”
“You bastard.” Laura lashed out, but Jeremy, usually so compliant in any physical situation, discovered his buried strength and caught her before she could do any damage.
“I’m not the bastard, Laura,” he said, clearly and precisely. “Cordwainer is the bastard. Now, do you agree that he needs to be stopped? He’s a loan shark, a protection racketeer, a slum landlord, the lowest of the low. And your father colludes with him. You can see how I’m fixed. Morally, I have no choice.”
“Morally?” Laura spat the word, unable to follow it up, so speechless with rage and fear had he rendered her.
“Yes,” said Jeremy levelly. “Morally.”
“You’d sell me and Daddy for your scoop?”
“If it meant Goldsands didn’t turn into some tin-pot version of Atlantic City, yes.”
“Oh, I see, you care about Goldsands. You’re not just biding your time on the local rag until a London editor comes calling? I was so wrong about you, Jeremy. You have no ambition after all.”
“Don’t be stupid. I’d move to a London paper like a shot. But I grew up here, I have family here and maybe I’ll bring up my own kids here. Maybe I won’t. But I’d like the option. I’m certainly not bringing them up in Sin-on-Sea.”
“Sin-on-Sea. God, you should be working for a tabloid.”
“Thanks. But that’s what Cordwainer wants, d’you see? He’s turning Goldsands into this coastal sleaze pit. He’ll open the casino, then there’ll be brothels, then the drug barons will move in. You know it. And he’ll control them all.”
“What’s wrong with a free market?” Laura sulked. “If that’s what people want.”
“People don’t want it, Laura. Not people here. He has to be stopped. Did you ever go to the China Palace?”
“Yeah, they did the best crispy duck. But you know as well as I do that it burnt down back in the winter.”
“It burnt down because the owner didn’t pay his protection money. I think you’ll find that the man with the flaming torch was your beloved Rocky.”
Laura was silent for a while, chewing on a knuckle. “Supposing you’re right about all this. Supposing it’s all true. Is there any way you can keep Daddy’s name out of your exposé?”
“He’s guilty, Laura.”
“Can’t we go after Rocky instead? Rocky and that Flipp freak? Can’t they be the fall guys?” She turned her most beseeching look on the man she had so seriously underestimated. “I’d help you, Jeremy. If you promise to keep Daddy out of it.”