knew it wouldn't be a brilliant opening, but I wasn't prepared for Ernie Nichols, my broker, phoning me to ask if I was sure I still wanted to buy Gantry shares.
'Of course I do,' I told him. 'This crisis will all be sorted in a couple of days.' Optimism was essential, I felt, even though I didn't feel much.
'It's not a bright picture,' he warned me. 'If sales on your new development are as poor as they were last week…' That statement could have been lifted from a master-class in diplomacy. There hadn't been any sales; a hastily put together market research programme had told us that in addition to public concern about living next door to gangsters, many potential buyers had been put off by the fear that if they bought in New Bearsden they might come under police scrutiny themselves.
'The analysts aren't too keen on your wife's decision to step aside either. They feel that it sends the wrong message. Even at this stage you couldn't persuade her to stay in post, could you?'
I told Ernie that I was the guy who'd insisted that she step aside, and that he should stick to buying and selling. He did that, okay. By midday I'd acquired another hundred thousand Gantry shares from small private investors who'd lost their bottle.
But the small fry weren't the only ones to head for the hills.
I was on-set in the afternoon when I had a message to call Phil Culshaw, whenever I could. I was between takes, so I called him on my mobile at the office. 'What are you doing just now?' he asked.
'Nothing. Why?'
'I meant are you shooting funny scenes or heavy drama?'
'The latter.' And how: my character and Ewan's were having their final confrontation.
'That's all right then. What's the worst thing that could happen to the company in the present situation?'
'Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden could buy adjoining villas?'
'Worse than that.'
'George W Bush fancies a weekend retreat in New Bearsden?'
'You're getting there. Sapphire's selling out. Angela Rowntree called me this morning. She told me that she doesn't see the situation being resolved any time soon, if ever, so she's taking what she can get right now and investing elsewhere.'
'So why haven't her shares come on the market?' I asked. 'Ernie Nichols would have told me if they had.'
'She's accepted a private offer, and you're not going to like it when I tell you who the buyer is. Not that you can't guess.'
'Natalie Morgan. Torrent PLC I heard Phil's sudden quiet grunt. 'Got it in one. You're not surprised then?'
'No. In the light of what you told me a while back, Susie and I have been tracking Ms Morgan. She met with the Rowntree woman last week.'
'I don't imagine I want to know how you found that out.'
'No, you don't. Has the deal been done, or can I make a counter-bid?'
'It's done. Anyway, you don't have that sort of money.'
'I have friends who do.'
'Ah, but would they put it at risk?' He had me there: Everett Davis owes me, but not that much. 'Anyway,' he continued, 'it's academic.
The deal's done. Sapphire has accepted an offer of one pound thirty pence per share, and that's not all that far below the Gantry price before the nonsense began. Ms Rowntree didn't say, but I'm assuming that the price will be paid in new Torrent shares, and that she'll simply be exchanging an investment in one company for another.'
'Damn it.'
'No, Oz, that reaction's too mild. I had Nat Morgan on the phone half an hour ago. She told me that given the size of her holding, she expects a seat on the board. I've also had a call from Fisher. She's made the same demand to him and he supports her. Do you want to tell Susie, or shall I.'
'Neither of us will. I don't want her blood pressure raised by a single point, and that news would send it up the scale. You tell Morgan what Susie would if I'd let her. Remind her that she owns about eighteen per cent of the company, and that's not enough to make demands. When she owns fifty-one per cent she gets a seat, but not before.'
'It may come to that, Oz,' Phil warned. 'Almost certainly this is a precursor to a full bid, contingent on one hundred per cent acceptance.'
'Yes, and Susie has sixty per cent and she'll reject.'
'Not so easy. There's another twenty-two per cent out there.'
'Some of that's mine.'
'Yes, but how much?'
'I dunno for sure,' I admitted, 'but it'll be short of one per cent.'
'Minimal. That leaves another twenty. Okay, Joe Donn's six per cent might be out of the reckoning, but that leaves fourteen. Morgan will only need about half of that on her side. If significantly more than half of the minorities want to accept, and the company's advisers deem that a bid of one thirty is the best price attainable, Fisher will recommend acceptance.'
'You mean he'll sell the business out from under Susie's feet?'
'Yes. And I'd say the court would back him if it had to.'
'Where's the escape hatch?'
'Susie resigns her executive position and a successor is appointed. As an ordinary shareholder, she can reject the offer. But, and it's a big one, if she does that her shareholding is such that she could be forced to buy out the minorities.'
'Yes, we had anticipated that one. Do you see any daylight in this?'
'If she took the offer Susie would be a big player inside Torrent. She could make a real nuisance of herself.'
'That's not her scene, Phil.' I thought, as quickly and as broadly as I could. 'Listen, you're chief executive, and it has to be your decision, but if I was you I'd make the bold move now. We've been nice to these chancers for long enough. I'd tear up the Three Bears' sales and call their bluff.'
'And what if they sue?'
'That possibility is the reason why the share price is on the floor, so I don't see that it can do that much more damage. But if they don't.. .'
'Then we've won and it goes back up. You're right, of course. But as a responsible managing director, can I put the business at such a risk?'
'Which is the bigger risk? Doing that or doing nothing and letting New Bearsden turn into a financial disaster? Phil, I'll bet you a million quid right now that the day Nat Morgan takes control of Gantry she'll make those three hooligans a modest offer for their plots and they'll accept.'
He was silent for a while. 'You really think she's behind them?'
'I'd stake your life on it, mate.'
Culshaw laughed. 'In that case, I've got no choice. But… and I really don't want to know how you do it, it would be very nice if you could get me some proof of that.'
But I was in no position to start gathering proof, was I, not four hundred miles away from the action, on a sound stage in Middlesex. I was doing what I could by remote control, of course; Ricky's operatives still had Natalie Morgan under surveillance, and after Arnott Buchan's tip on Saturday, I had asked him to organise a tail on Aidan Keane as well, using close-mouthed Glasgow people who knew the territory. Common sense told me that I couldn't do any more if I was in Scotland, but I wasn't happy being away from Susie at that time, and that was the truth of it.
My anger must have come through in a big way on camera that afternoon, for my big scene with Ewan was another one-take wrap, and after it the Great Man Himself actually complimented me on my work, telling me that for all his years of experience, I'd actually scared him a little. The way I felt, I was surprised I hadn't scared him a lot.
