Hopefully Dave Rex isn’t too greedy. Maybe he’ll think taking seventy million now would be the best option instead of having to wait two years which the lawyers have envisaged.
Perhaps I should consider these options for a couple of days and then make Mr Rex an offer. Yes. Maybe he will accept seventy million and then things can progress as planned. Of course, this won’t leave anything for redeveloping the houses or refurbishing The Albion Hotel but at least the nightmare will be over. I need to speak with lawyers who specialise in this kind of thing and get them to send an offer to Dave Rex’s lawyers and test the water. Perhaps I could start by offering fifty million pounds and see what happens?
Perhaps it will work, or will Mr Rex want it all? If it really was his ticket then he is entitled to it.
I need time to think it over. My head is spinning. If it weren’t for the Asbury Park project I would hand over every penny, but this is so important to me. I remember the tiny first floor council flat I grew up in. No garden, damp patches on the walls, neighbours from hell and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I can’t let everyone down. All those 880 families deserve to have a better future.
Chapter Forty-One
DAVE
Life is still looking better for Dave.
As well as the publicity campaign against James Sheldon gaining momentum, business is booming – in fact he is meeting the two Russians tomorrow for the biggest deal he has done so far. His order for this fortnightly meeting is £40,000 worth of cocaine. The business with the girls is also on the increase and the profits are rolling in.
It is only his three ‘legitimate’ businesses which are suffering from the recession and downturn. Left to its own devices the taxi firm makes a profit of around £500 a week. The launderette brings in a further £300 a week and the pizza takeaway is making £200 a week after all expenses. So, without his illegal activities his income is around £1,000 a week. Nothing like sufficient for the lifestyle he wants to enjoy. However, by laundering cash through the three businesses he is able to show the Inland Revenue they make a combined profit of £3,000 a week. This enables him to have the lifestyle he currently enjoys without any questions being asked as to how he can afford it. It does mean he has to pay extra tax, but it’s worth it to keep everything looking respectable, and his clever accountant manages to keep the level of tax as low as possible.
Chapter Forty-Two
JAMES
After all the correspondence from Dave Rex’s lawyers I’ve decided the best course of action is to seek legal advice. I run a Google search and make a couple of phone calls. As a result I’m informed that the best lawyer in town for this sort of situation is Clinton Palmer from Palmer & Sands.
I telephone and speak to Mr Palmer, who, when told of the sums involved, agrees to put aside his arranged lunch meeting and see me at one o’clock today. The offices of Palmer & Sands are impressive to say the least. Built less than three years ago, they stand on the corner of Station Road with an arc shaped frontage made entirely of lightly tinted glass. It’s probably the most impressive office building in Trentbridge.
Mr Palmer, the senior partner of the firm, has an office on the second floor.
I arrive five minutes early for the appointment but this doesn’t stop him from keeping me waiting five minutes past the agreed time. Once I am ushered into the lawyer’s plush office and offered a drink, to which my reply is “water please,” I am asked to sit down.
I produce a file with all the correspondence in and pass it across the desk. I wait for the six minutes it takes the lawyer costing me £800 an hour to read. Then he looks up and smiles.
“An interesting case,” he comments.
He doesn’t ask me if there is any truth in the matter of who really purchased the Lotto ticket.
“As I see it, you currently hold the best cards. It would be up to the other side to prove beyond reasonable doubt,” he looks down at the paperwork and continues, “that Mr Rex had purchased the ticket. He states these were a set of numbers he used on a weekly basis but beyond being able to offer a single example of a ticket with these numbers on, he offers no further proof. That one occasion could merely be a coincidence. It really does not prove anything. Cases like this can take months, even years, to come to court and then it’s down to the judge to decide. He could, of course, apply for the money to be frozen pending the outcome of the case but I cannot see a court agreeing to that. In my opinion, we write to the other side and inform them we will fight this every step of the way. It’s going to be costly for him to proceed. Do you have any indication of his current financial situation?”
“No. I really don’t know this man at all.”
“If you wish I can have someone check him out for you. Do you have any ideas as to how you would like me to proceed?”
“I’ve been going over things in my mind. It’s true what he says about us bumping into each other at the grocery store on that day but not what he says about me stealing his file or ticket. We both fell to the floor and I picked up the ticket I
