'You'll be in deep trouble?'
'Aye.'
'And it will all be my fault?'
'Aye.'
'I don't know if my conscience can permit that,' said Thackeray gravely. 'Particularly when what I know is so little. The needs of a present friend are more pressing than those of a former client,
'Likely I would if I could pronounce it,' agreed Dalziel.
'Then listen carefully, for I am about to talk to myself. While Swain was in America, I received a phone call from a man called Crawford who works for a company called Muncaster Securities. Basically all that Crawford seemed to want was assurance that Swain really was in America, tying up the details of his wife's estate. When I started to inquire as to the exact nature of Muncaster Securities' connection with my client, he cut our conversation short very politely and rang off. My curiosity was naturally roused. So I made some discreet inquiries
'Oh aye?' laughed Dalziel. 'You mean you didn't rest till you'd pulled every string you could lay your hands on!'
'I have fairly extensive connections in the finance world,' admitted Thackeray. 'To cut things short, what I discovered was that Swain's financial position was far more perilous than I knew. Moscow Farm was mortgaged up to the hilt and in as bad a state financially as when Tom Swain shot himself. In theory the date had already passed on which Muncaster Securities were entitled to call in the debt and possess the farm. In practice, of course, they would rather have their money with additional penalty interest, and the imminence of Swain's inheritance had made them hold their horses. Crawford was simply double-checking.'
He stopped talking, raised his glass and drank carefully, observing Dalziel over the rim.
'And?' said the fat man.
'And what?'
'You're not telling me you threw over a potentially stinking rich client because you took the huff he'd not told you all his business, are you?' sneered Dalziel. 'So what's the rest? You might as well spill it. Be less painful for your influential mates. I've got strings I can pull too, only most of 'em are tied round influential bollocks!'
'Oh dear,' sighed Thackeray. 'I knew there'd come a moment when I wondered if this were such a good idea. All right, there were a couple of other things to give me pause. One was that between February 7th when Gail left allegedly en route for America and February 15th when she was shot, three cheques were issued on her account to pay off Swain's most immediate debts.'
Dalziel digested this with the peptic assistance of his double double.
'Farewell present?' he suggested.
'Perhaps.'
'Or are you thinking that mebbe he gave himself the present of one of her cheque-books and reckoned with her out of the country, she wasn't likely to be paying much attention to her UK account for a while?'
'It's possible. Doubtless by examination of the signature on those cheques, it would be provable. Though of course as the money is now his . . .'
'It wasn't then,' said Dalziel. 'So you began to wonder if your client was a forger? Well, well. Hold on. Once he'd started down that path, why not pay off Muncaster the same way?'
'This was a current account. All right for a couple of thousand, but wholly inadequate for the Moscow Farm mortgage.'
'Stole the wrong cheque-book, did he? Not much use, these Swains, when it comes to money, are they? Incidentally, what happened to the cash he borrowed? I know his business was staggering along, but he can't have lost that much in a tuppenny-ha'penny set-up like that.'
'Every Swain finds his own South Sea Bubble. Swain found his very close to home. You remember I told you that when Delgado were preparing to pull the rug from under Atlas Tayler, they threw up a smokescreen to fool the Unions by letting rumours develop about a possible expansion in the UK via a small components firm in Milton Keynes?'
'But you said Swain knew nowt about that and got all indignant with the Yanks when they suddenly threw everyone out of work.'
'And I told you true,' said Thackeray. 'It was merely the cause of the indignation I mistook.'
Dalziel digested this, then began to grin. 'You mean that's where the money went . . .?'
'Yes. They didn't trust him enough to make him privy to their schemes, but he was close enough to get the first whisper of their interest in the Milton Keynes firm. Perhaps they were even ruthless enough to use him as an unwitting disseminator of their smoke. But what actually happened was Swain suddenly saw a chance to get rich and independent. He borrowed every penny he could, mortgaging Moscow up to the hilt, and started buying shares in the components firm. Once the rumours got out - and they'd be fuelled by Swain’s purchases - the shares started rising, but he kept on buying.'
'Hey, I know nowt about City law, but that's criminal, isn't it?' said Dalziel, suddenly alert to a new possibility of getting something he could stick on Swain.
'Swain certainly thought so,' said Thackeray grimly. 'That's why he covered his tracks so well. But settle down, Andrew. It's only criminal if you make a profit. Delgado weren't interested in a takeover, so insider trading doesn't come into it. You can hardly prosecute a man for making a foolish investment and suffering a substantial loss.'
'I suppose not. No wonder he told Delgado's to stuff their bloody job!' Dalziel began to smile, almost admiringly. 'But it wasn't all loss, was it? He managed to get himself elected as the workers' friend by taking a moral stand against the big bad capitalists. Christ, you've got to give it to the sod. If he lost an arm, he'd sell it for sausage meat!'
'It was unforgivable hypocrisy,' said Thackeray, with distaste.
