?We do not have time to sift through files,? my mother says slowly but firmly. ?Now kindly get on with it.?
I start sifting through the papers, but I can?t make head or tail of them. There are investment agreements, letters from banks, business plans, all in piles on the floor. But I have no idea what I need. Banking information must be a good place to start, though, if Mike has been stealing money. I pick up a few credit card statements, but other than proving that Mike eats out a lot, they don?t tell me very much.
?Hurry up!? hisses my mother. ?Come on, darling, you work in the City. You must know what these things mean.?
?I do not work in the City,? I say pointedly. ?I work in the West End. And I am not a financier. I research stuff.?
?Then do some research! Come on!?
I knew it was a mistake letting my mother come. I sift through a few more papers. And then I see something interesting. It?s a bank statement in Mike?s name, but it isn?t a U.K. bank. It?s a Spanish one. And a lot of money has been deposited in the past month. Like hundreds of thousands of pounds.
And it hasn?t come from Big Base Records, it?s from Proud Promotions. I?ve never even heard of Proud Promotions.
?Proud Promotions,? I mutter to myself as I continue to sift through papers. ?Who the fuck are Proud Promotions??
My mother looks up. ?Don?t swear, darling, it?s so unbecoming,? she chides me. ?Now, did you say Proud Promotions? There?s an invoice here to Proud Promotions for ?100K. And look, another one for ?50K. And another . . . and another . . . is this what you need? Will this get that Mike what he deserves??
I want to say yes, that we?ve cracked it, but to tell the truth I have no idea whether these invoices are important or not. I need more information and I have no idea how to get it.
Unless . . . oh, but I couldn?t, could I?
I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. I take out my phone and dial a number.
?Nigel Lymes.?
?Nigel! You?re there!?
?Of course I?m here. Which you patently aren?t, Georgie. And unless you are ringing to tell me about a serious illness, I am going to be filing a report for HR this very afternoon.?
?Yes, look, I?m sorry I haven?t been at work, but there?s been a bit of an emergency.?
?I see. And would you like to elaborate any further??
?Nigel, look, forget about this for a minute will you? I need your help.?
Nigel pauses.
?And why would you need my help??
?I?m in trouble, Nigel. A friend is, too. I need to find out some information about a company?who runs it and stuff. It?s called Proud Promotions. Could you do a quick search for me??
?You could go to Company?s House, you know.? Nigel doesn?t appear to want to play ball.
?I know that. I haven?t got the time though. Please, can you just see what you can dig out??
Nigel acquiesces and I hear him typing furiously.
Mum is scrabbling around on the floor piecing together balance sheets, letters, and bank statements covered in scribbles.
I can?t believe that just a couple of days ago I was in this flat being impressed by Mike?s decor. How convinced I?d been that Mike had turned his life around just for me. How could I be so naive? I shudder to think of it.
I can hear Nigel?s computer whirring. ?Okay,? he says, ?we?re getting somewhere now. Not much information, I?m afraid.?
My eyes are scanning the floor for something, anything, that might make some sense of all of this. I wish David was here?he?d know exactly what to take. Except if David was here, the police would probably turn up and then he?d be done for trespassing, too?again, all my fault. And then I see it. It is a statement of revenues from Proud Promotions, which has a company address in Switzerland. I pull it out from under a pile of press releases about the enormous success enjoyed by BB Records and the recent successful round of investment that had netted the company ?1.2 million.
The revenue statement shows that over the past year and a half, Proud Promotion?s revenues have totaled over a million pounds. All the revenue has come from Big Base Records.
?Nigel, are you still there?? I am breathless with excitement. ?The company isn?t a U.K. one?it?s based in??
?Geneva,? interrupts Nigel. It?s a holding company, owned and set up by a Mr. Geoffrey Proud.?
Geoffrey Proud. The name is sort of familiar, but I can?t place it.
?Just Geoffrey Proud, or is there a partner??
?No, just Geoffrey.?
?Nigel, you are so my favorite person, thank you,? I gush.
?Is that all, then? I?d hardly call that an emergency.?
?No, there?s one more thing. Nigel, how easy do you think it would be to break into an airline?s reservation system??
