She smiled. ‘Self-defence, Tony. The way you set me up, you gave me that get-out. That’s why I’m on this side of the table and you’re on that one. Poor judgement. All those years and you hadn’t learned to cover your back.’
Why had he agreed to this? She knew how to push his buttons. She didn’t excoriate him the way it had when he was a boy, but still she could sting. ‘Did you just come here to gloat? I was under the impression that you wanted something. You usually do.’
Vanessa’s face had resumed its usual repose. ‘I’ve been robbed.’
‘And why has that got anything to do with me?’
‘Because I need Carol Jordan to deal with it.’
He couldn’t stop the bark of laughter that spilled from his mouth. ‘Are you suffering from dementia? For one thing, Carol isn’t a cop any more. And for another thing, she’d crawl across the Pennines on broken glass before she’d lift a finger for you.’
‘I know both of those details. For one thing,’ she echoed sarcastically. ‘I don’t want a cop. And for another thing, what she won’t do for me, she’ll do for you.’
They glared at each other, neither bothering to disguise their feelings. ‘If you’ve been robbed, the police are the ones to help.’
Vanessa shook her head impatiently. She leaned back and crossed her elegant legs. ‘The police are not going to get my money back. If they’re very lucky, they’ll arrest the bastard and stick him in here with you. But I’ll never see a penny of my money again. Carol, on the other hand . . . Well, from what I hear, she’s got her own way of doing things.’
‘You’re going to need to explain what has happened.’
To his surprise, Vanessa looked away, focusing on the vending machine on the far side of the visiting room. ‘About three years ago, a colleague recommended a financial adviser to me. Harrison Gardner. He’d been producing consistently good results for her investments, she said. Not spectacular or sensational. Nothing suspicious. Just a point or two above the market, which isn’t so different from what some of the bespoke funds manage. She introduced us at a business conference and I thought he was impressive. He didn’t make ridiculous boasts or inflated promises. He said he’d worked for one of the big city firms and gave me the business card of someone I could check him out with.’
‘Which you duly did.’
‘Of course I did. I realise now it was part of the set-up, but it sounded kosher. The number took me to a woman who claimed to be the referee’s secretary and she put me through. I got a glowing recommendation. So I thought I’d give him a try. I put in twenty K to start with. Just a taster to see what he could do.’ Her mouth twisted in a bitter smile.
Tony almost felt a stab of sympathy before he remembered who he was listening to. ‘It’s hard for me to feel much sympathy for someone who thinks twenty thousand pounds is a taster.’
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed and she swung back to face him. ‘I’ve worked all my life, you little shit. Worked to keep a roof over your head, I might point out. Unlike some of us, unlike you, nobody left me a wedge of cash I’d done nothing to earn. I deserved what I had.’ She swallowed and composed herself again. ‘I gave him six months. The interest payments were good. Better than average but nothing sensational. There was even one month when there was a dip. Market fluctuation, he said. But I was still coming out well ahead. So after six months, I trusted him enough to put most of my funds in his hands. Everything was going fine till three weeks ago. My monthly cheque was late. And two days later, some twerp from the Serious Fraud Office rolled up at my door and told me Harrison Gardner had been running a Ponzi scheme.’ She slapped her hands down on the table, provoking the nearest officer to move closer to them.
‘It’s OK,’ Tony said, smiling at the officer. ‘She’s my mother, it upsets her seeing me in here.’ The guard nodded and moved back against the wall.
‘You know what a Ponzi scheme is?’ Vanessa demanded.
‘A fake investment fund. They work on the principle of greed. They offer better rates than everybody else and they use the money from new investors to pay off the earlier backers. It usually falls apart if it stops growing.’
‘Or if the bastard behind it rakes in enough money to give him the offshore life of Riley,’ Vanessa said savagely.
‘How much?’
‘Five and a quarter million.’ Now she looked her age, disgust revealing the harsh lines round her mouth. ‘I sold the company.’
Tony whistled softly. ‘And that’s everything? Gone?’
‘Gone. My pension, my bucket list.’
‘A bucket list?’ He gave a laugh that was more like a cough. ‘You were planning on spending it so I wouldn’t get a penny, am I right?’
She recovered herself. ‘Why would I leave it to someone who set me up to be murdered? Of course I was going to bloody spend it.’
‘Looks like your friend Harrison saved you the bother.’
‘I want it back. And I want Carol to sort it for me.’
Tony shook his head in genuine bewilderment. He’d thought he was beyond surprise where Vanessa’s self-obsession was concerned, but this time she had bested him. ‘Why would Carol lift a finger for you? She despises you.’
Vanessa rolled her eyes. ‘She thinks she’s hard as me, but she’s not. Where you’re concerned, she’s as hard as a marshmallow. So you’re going to ask her for me.’
He grinned. ‘You really have lost it, Vanessa.’
‘Don’t mock me, Tony. It’s not too late for me to give an exclusive interview to one of the tabloids. How my son conspired with the police to deliberately stake me out like a sacrificial lamb to tempt a serial killer out of hiding.’
She would do
