Best Kept Secret (The Clifton Chronicles 3)

He charged through the open door, grabbed the phone in the hall and dialled the office number. A few moments later Don Pedro's secretary came on the line.

'I need to speak to the boss, urgently, urgently,' he repeated.

'But Mr Martinez and Diego left for Wimbledon a few minutes ago.'

'Seb, I need to discuss something with you that's been worrying me for some time.'

'Why I think it's unlikely that Sally will turn up tomorrow?'

'No, it's far more serious than that,' said Bruno. Although Sebastian detected a change of tone in his friend's voice, he couldn't turn to look at him more closely, while he attempted to negotiate Hyde Park Corner for the first time.

'It's nothing I can put my finger on, but since you've been in London, I've had a feeling my father's been avoiding you.'

'But that doesn't make any sense. After all, it was he who suggested I join you at Wimbledon,' Sebastian reminded him as they headed up Park Lane.

'I know, and it was also Pa's idea that you borrow my MG today. I just wondered if anything had happened when you were in Buenos Aires that might have annoyed him.'

'Not that I'm aware of,' said Sebastian as he spotted a signpost for the A1 and moved across to the outside lane.

'And I still can't work out why your father travelled halfway round the world to see you, when all he had to do was pick up a phone.'

'I meant to ask him the same question, but he was preoccupied, preparing for his latest book tour to America. When I raised the subject with my mother, she acted dumb. And I can tell you one thing about Mama, she ain't dumb.'

'And another thing I don't understand is why you remained in Buenos Aires when you could have flown back to England with your pa.'

'Because I promised your father that I'd deliver a large crate to Southampton, and I didn't want to let him down after all the trouble he'd gone to.'

'That must have been the statue I saw lying on the lawn at Shillingford. But that only adds to the mystery. Why would my father ask you to bring a statue back from Argentina, put it up for auction and then buy it himself?'

'I've no idea. I signed the release forms as he asked me to, and once Sotheby's had picked up the crate, I travelled down to Bristol with my parents. Why the third degree? I only did exactly what your father asked me to do.'

'Because yesterday a man came to visit Papa at the house, and I overheard him mention the name Barrington.'

Sebastian came to a halt at the next traffic light. 'Do you have any idea who the man was?'

'No, I've never seen him before, but I did hear my father call him "major".'

'This is a public announcement,' said a voice over the loudspeaker. The crowd fell silent, even though Miss Gibson was about to serve for the first set. 'Would Mr Martinez please report to the secretary's office immediately?'

Don Pedro didn't react at once, and then he rose slowly from his place, and said, 'Something must have gone wrong.' Without another word, he began to barge his way past the seated spectators towards the nearest exit, with Diego only a pace behind. Once Don Pedro had reached the gangway, he asked a programme seller where the secretary's office was.

'It's that large building with the green roof, sir,' said the young corporal, pointing to his right. 'You can't miss it.'

Don Pedro walked quickly down the steps and out of Centre Court, but Diego had overtaken him long before he reached the exit. Diego quickened his pace and headed towards the large building that dominated the skyline. He occasionally glanced back to make sure his father wasn't too far behind. When he spotted a uniformed official standing by a set of double doors, he slowed down and shouted, 'Where's the secretary's office?'

'Third door on the left, sir.'

Diego didn't slow down again until he saw the words Club Secretary printed on a door.

When he opened it, he came face to face with a man wearing a smart purple and green jacket.

'My name is Martinez. You just called for me on the tannoy.'

'Yes, sir. A Mr Karl Ramirez phoned and asked if you would ring him at home immediately. He stressed that it couldn't be more important.'

Diego grabbed the phone on the secretary's desk and was dialling his home number when his father came charging through the door, his cheeks flushed.

'What's the emergency?' he demanded between breaths.

'I don't know yet. I only have instructions to ring Karl at home.'

Don Pedro seized the phone when he heard the words, 'Is that you, Mr Martinez?'

'Yes, it is,' he said, and listened carefully to what Karl had to say.

'What's happened?' said Diego, trying to remain calm, although his father had turned ashen white and was clinging to the edge of the secretary's desk.

'Bruno's in the car.'

'I'm going to have it out with my father when I get back this evening,' said Bruno. 'After all, what can you possibly have done to annoy him, if you only carried out his instructions?'

'I've no idea,' said Sebastian as he took the first exit off the roundabout on to the A1 and merged with the traffic travelling up the dual carriageway. He pressed his foot down on the accelerator and enjoyed the sensation of the wind blowing through his hair.

'It could be that I'm overreacting,' said Bruno, 'but I'd prefer to get this mystery sorted out.'

'If the major is someone called Fisher,' said Sebastian, 'then I can tell you, even you won't be able to sort it out.'

'I don't understand. Who the hell is Fisher?'

'He was the Conservative candidate who stood against my uncle at the last election. Don't you remember? I told you all about him.'

'Was he the chap who tried to cheat your uncle out of the election by fixing the vote?'

'That's him, and he also tried to destabilize Barrington Shipping by buying and selling the company's shares whenever they were under any pressure. And it might not have helped that when the chairman finally got rid of him, my mother took his place on the board.'

'But why would my father have anything to do with a creep like that?'

'It's possible that it may not even be Fisher, in which case we're both overreacting.'

'Let's hope you're right. But I still think we should keep our eyes and ears open just in case either of us picks up anything that might explain the mystery.'

'Good idea. Because one thing's for certain, I don't want to get on the wrong side of your father.'

'And even if one of us does find out that for some reason there's bad feeling between our two families, it doesn't mean that we have to become involved.'

'I couldn't agree more,' said Sebastian as the speedometer climbed to sixty, another new experience. 'How many set books did your tutor expect you to have read by the beginning of term?' he asked as he moved into the outside lane to overtake three coal trucks driving in convoy.

'He recommended about a dozen, but I got the impression that I wasn't expected to read all of them by the first day of term.'

'I don't think I've read a dozen books in my life,' said Sebastian as he passed the first of the lorries. But he had to brake sharply when the driver of the middle lorry suddenly pulled out and began to overtake the one in front. Just at the point when it looked as if the driver would pass the front lorry and return to the inside lane, Sebastian glanced in his rear-view mirror to see that the third lorry had also moved into the outside lane.