Another difficult subject, but once again I found myself able to talk about it. 'Yes, it was.'
'I didn't know her that well,' Cathy went on. 'Did you?' She looked at me enquiringly.
I understood her question and smiled. 'No, not in that way. But we got on very well. I liked her.'
We walked on a few yards further.
'What happened to her?' Cathy asked.
'What do you mean?'
'Well, they said she committed suicide, but that can't be right. And an accident seems unlikely.'
'Hmm,' I said.
'You know what happened, don't you?' Cathy said.
I nodded.
'Will you tell me?'
I took a deep breath. Suddenly I wanted to tell her everything. Wanted to tell her very badly.
'OK.' We were walking up a steep bit now, and I waited till we had reached the brow of the hill, before stopping. I looked down on the small brook gurgling through the little valley. A quiet, innocent corner of England.
'She was murdered.'
'I guessed as much,' said Cathy quietly. 'Do you know who did it?'
'No. At first I thought that it was Joe Finlay, but he denied it. And I believe him.'
'Oh. Well, do you know why she was murdered?'
'I think so.' I told her all about how I had discovered that the Honshu Bank guarantee for Tremont Capital did not exist; about how I suspected Debbie had discovered this before me. I told her about my investigations in New York, about my encounter with Joe in Central Park, about Phoenix Prosperity Savings and Loan, and about its investment in the Tahiti.
Cathy listened, eyes wide, taking it all in. 'How do all these companies link together?'
'Tremont Capital issued forty million dollars of bonds with a fake guarantee from Honshu Bank. Cash then sold twenty million to De Jong; because of the fake guarantee, Hamilton didn't get the documentation checked. He then sold the other twenty to Harzweiger Bank in Switzerland. Herr Dietweiler was no doubt bribed in some way to buy it on their behalf. It looks as though Cash was pretty heavily involved. He and Waigel go back a long way.
'The forty million raised by the private placement was used to buy the majority of a savings and loan, Phoenix Prosperity, or 'Uncle Sam's Money Machine'. With the extra capital Phoenix Prosperity was able to borrow large amounts of money with a government guarantee. It, in turn, intended to invest this money in a number of high risk, high return ventures. One of the first of these was a 20 per cent stake in Irwin Piper's Tahiti Hotel.
'So far so good. Then things started to go wrong. First, Greg Shoffman became suspicious. He called Honshu Bank and discovered that the guarantee was bogus. I don't know what else he may have discovered or how they knew he was on to them. But he was murdered, probably by Waigel, and his body was dumped near Waigel's house. Then Debbie Chater became suspicious. And she was murdered.'
'So who do you think is behind all this?' Cathy asked.
'I don't know. Whoever are the shareholders of Tremont Capital. I am sure Waigel must be one of them. And…'
'And what?'
'Well, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Cash were in on it too.'
'And anybody else?'
'Maybe. I just don't know.'
'And who killed Debbie?'
'That is a difficult question. We know it wasn't Waigel since his diary shows he was in New York at the time of Debbie's death. As I said, Joe denied it completely, and I am inclined to believe him. It could have been Cash, or it could have been someone else entirely.'
'Like Irwin Piper?'
'No, I don't think it was him. I confronted him in Las Vegas and he seemed genuinely surprised that Debbie had been murdered.'
'So who was it?'
I turned to look at Cathy. 'It must be Cash. He must have known what he was selling to Hamilton. He's also the one with the relationship with Phoenix Prosperity Savings and Loan. And he and Waigel are old friends.'
She frowned. There was silence as we both mulled over everything I had said. We trudged on. 'I know this may sound odd to you,' Cathy said, 'but I don't think Cash would be a part of something like this. He's sleazy and he looks after number one. But he does have his own set of moral principles that he wouldn't breach.'
'What do you mean?' I said. 'He is one of the slimiest people I have ever met!'
'He may be most of the time,' Cathy said. 'But I have worked closely with him for a year now, and I don't think he is all bad. I just don't think he would have anything to do with anyone being killed.'
'What about that bloody Gypsum of America business. That was hardly straight, was it?'
'Oh, didn't I tell you? The investigation cleared Cash of all involvement. It was Joe who was trading on inside information. The Gypsum bonds were on his book, and he bought a bucket-load of shares through some nominees.'
'Really? That does surprise me. I was sure Cash had known something about the takeover.' I digested this new piece of information, and tried to put it together with what else I knew. I still couldn't quite believe in Cash as the bond salesman with principles.
'Apparently they are still investigating who else was involved,' Cathy said.
'Meaning me?'
'I haven't heard. I suppose so,' said Cathy. 'We did have a policeman come round on Friday night asking questions about you.'
'A policeman? Not the TSA? Are you sure?' I had thought the deal that Hamilton had come to was that the TSA would not pursue their investigation against me as long as De Jong agreed to fire me.
'Yes, I'm sure. His name was Powell. Inspector Powell. He asked a lot of questions about you and Debbie.'
Now, that did seem strange. I had thought Inspector Powell had closed his investigation into Debbie's death. Why was he asking questions about me? Odd.
We walked on. The village where I had parked my car was just in sight now, watched over by the squat church a hundred yards or so away from the rest of the village, on a slight mound. The site of a pre-Christian place of worship, I thought vaguely.
'So what are you going to do about it?' Cathy said.
'About what?'
'About Debbie's death. About Tremont Capital. About Phoenix Prosperity.'
'Nothing.'
'Nothing?'
'Why should I. There is not a lot of point is there?' I said sullenly.
'Bullshit,' she said. I looked at her. 'Bullshit,' she said again.
'What do you mean?'
'It's about time you pulled yourself together, Paul. OK, you've had a tough break. But someone, or some people, have stolen forty million dollars and killed two people in the process. If you do nothing, they will get away with it. You can't just let that happen, can you?'
She was angry. Her eyes were burning and her cheeks had reddened. But I got the feeling she was angry with me rather than against me. I shrugged my shoulders. 'You are absolutely right.'
She smiled and took my arm. 'Good. I'll help you. What shall we do first?'
'Well, I suppose I should talk to Hamilton, but I don't see how I can do that with this Gypsum business hanging over me.'
'I see what you mean,' said Cathy. Then a thought struck her. 'If Cash has been cleared, shouldn't you be? I mean, if he didn't have inside information, how could he have passed it to you?'
I looked at her. She was absolutely right. Hope began to flow through my veins.
'Let me talk to Cash about what happened to you. I am sure he will be able to help.'
'I don't think that's a good idea,' I said.
