Best Kept Secret (The Clifton Chronicles 3)

'It's thanks to your sister that we were able to get to the bottom of it,' said Buchanan. Giles looked at Emma in surprise. 'She recommended that we employ a Mr Derek Mitchell, who had assisted her in the past. Mr Mitchell flew to Hong Kong at our request, and once he located the one bar on the island that serves Guinness, it took him about a week and several emptied crates to find out the name of Benny Driscoll's biggest client.'

'So at last we can remove Fisher from the board,' said Giles.

'I wish it were that easy,' said Buchanan. 'He has the right to a place on the board, as long as he represents seven and a half per cent of the company's stock. And the only proof we have of his duplicity is a drunken stockbroker living in Hong Kong.'

'Does that mean there's nothing we can do?'

'Far from it,' said Buchanan. 'That's the reason I needed to see you and Mrs Clifton urgently. I believe the time has come to play Major Fisher at his own game.'

'Count me in.'

'I'd like to hear what you have in mind before I make a decision,' said Emma.

'Of course.' Buchanan opened a file in front of him. 'Between the two of you, you own twenty-two per cent of the company's stock. That makes you by far the largest shareholders, and I wouldn't consider going ahead with any plan without your blessing.'

'We have no doubt,' chipped in Ray Compton, 'that Lady Virginia's long-term aim is to cripple the company, making regular raids on our stock position until we lose all credibility.'

'And you think she'd do that simply to get back at me?' said Giles.

'As long as she's got someone on the inside, she knows exactly when to strike,' said Buchanan, avoiding Giles's question.

'But doesn't she risk losing a great deal of money using these tactics?' asked Emma.

'Virginia won't give a damn about that,' said Giles. 'If she could destroy the company and me along with it, she'd be more than satisfied, as my mother worked out long before I did.'

'What makes matters worse,' said the chairman, 'is that we estimate that her two previous raids on our stock have shown her a profit of over seventy thousand pounds. That's why we've got to move now, before she strikes again.'

'What do you have in mind?' asked Emma.

'Let us assume,' said Compton, 'that Fisher is just waiting for another piece of bad news so he can repeat the whole exercise again.'

'And if we were to supply him with it . . .' said Buchanan.

'But how does that help us?' said Emma.

'Because this time it would be our turn to be the insider traders,' said Compton.

'When Driscoll puts Lady Virginia's seven and a half per cent on the market, we'll buy it immediately, and the share price will go up, not down.'

'But that could cost us a fortune,' said Emma.

'Not if we feed Fisher the wrong information,' said Buchanan. 'With your blessing, I'm going to try to convince him that the company is facing a financial crisis that might threaten its very existence. I'll let him know we won't be declaring a profit this year due to the cost of building the Buckingham, which is already running twenty per cent over budget, so it won't be possible to offer our shareholders a dividend.'

'If you do that,' said Emma, 'you're assuming he'll advise Virginia to sell her stock, with the intention of buying it all back at a lower price during the three-week trading period.'

'Exactly. But if the share price were to rise during those three weeks,' continued Ray, 'Lady Virginia might be unwilling to buy her seven and a half per cent back, in which case Fisher would lose his place on the board, and we'd be rid of both of them.'

'How much are you going to need to make this happen?' asked Giles.

'I'm confident,' said Buchanan, 'if I had a war chest of half a million pounds, I could keep them at bay.'

'And the timing?'

'I'll deliver the bad news in confidence at the next board meeting, pointing out that the shareholders will have to be informed at the AGM.'

'When is the AGM?'

'That's where I need your advice, Sir Giles. Do you have any idea when the general election will be called?'

'The smart money's on May twenty-sixth, and that's certainly the date I'm planning on.'

'When will we know for certain?' asked Buchanan.

'There's usually about a month's warning before Parliament is prorogued.'

'Good, then I'll call the board meeting for  - ' he turned some pages in his diary  -  'April eighteenth, and schedule the AGM for May fifth.'

'Why would you want to hold the AGM in the middle of an election campaign?' asked Emma.

'Because it's the one time I can guarantee that a constituency chairman will not be able to attend.'

'Chairman?' queried Giles, showing far more interest.

'You clearly haven't read the evening paper,' said Ray Compton, handing him a copy of the Bristol Evening Post.

Giles read the headline: Former Tobruk hero becomes Bristol Docklands Conservative Chairman. Major Alex Fisher was unanimously voted . . .

'What's that man up to?' he said.

'He assumes you're going to lose the election, and wants to be chairman when - '

'If that was true, he would have backed Neville Simpson and not Greg Dunnett to be the Conservative candidate, because Simpson would have proved a far more formidable opponent. He's up to something.'

'What would you like us to do, Mr Buchanan?' asked Emma, remembering why the chairman had asked to see her and Giles in the first place.

'I need your authority to buy every share that comes on to the market on May fifth, and to keep on buying for the following three weeks.'

'How much could we lose?'

'I'm afraid it might be as much as twenty to thirty thousand pounds. But at least this time we've chosen the date of the battle, and the battlefield, so you should break even at worst, and you might possibly make a bob or two.'

'If it means replacing Fisher on the board,' said Giles, 'as well as spiking Virginia's guns, thirty thousand pounds would be a cheap price to pay.'

'While we're on the subject of replacing Fisher as a board member . . .'

'I'm not available,' said Giles, 'even if I do lose my seat at the election.'

'I wasn't thinking of you, Sir Giles. I was rather hoping Mrs Clifton might agree to become a member of the board.'

'The prime minister, Sir Anthony Eden, visited Buckingham Palace at four o'clock this afternoon, for an audience with Her Majesty The Queen. Sir Anthony asked Her Majesty's permission to dissolve Parliament in order that a General Election could be held on May 26th. Her Majesty graciously agreed to his request.'

'Just as you predicted,' said Virginia as she switched off the radio. 'When do you intend to tell the unfortunate Mr Dunnett what you have in mind for him?'

'Timing is everything,' said Fisher. 'I thought I'd wait until Sunday afternoon before I asked him to come and see me.'

'Why Sunday afternoon?'

'I don't want any other members of the committee to be around at the time.'