Vince shrugged. ‘Whatever. That’s really not a factor in the equation.’
‘What equation?’ I asked. Now that I had enough breath back to speak, screaming seemed a little redundant.
Vince came a step closer. I’d seen him punch people; he was good at it.
Maybe Tarquin sensed the danger Vince presented. Or maybe it was that Tamara let out a little groan and Tarquin knew he had to start dealing with us. Whatever the catalyst, he threw me to the ground, and yanked out a taser.
I call it a taser, but I’ve never actually seen one before. They are things on TV shows shot in America, or places that are not the UK anyway. But whatever it was, he pointed it at Vince and let it rip.
The things it shot out moved too fast for me to see. The effect on Vince, however, that was right in front of my eyes.
He twitched in place, looking like every muscle in his body had been activated simultaneously. Even though I was still bouncing across the ground and tearing my palms on the rough tarmac, my worry was more focused on Vince than it was on me.
A second elapsed, by which time I was just coming to rest on the ground and thinking about getting to my feet. By then the tasering was done, and Vince folded like a deck of cards. He was fit and muscular and strong, but he was also in his late fifties and I had to question what a shock like that might do to his heart.
Tarquin grabbed my hair again as if to remind me that I needed to worry more about myself. His anger, if anything, had been magnified by Vince’s interference and he was being even more rough with me than before.
‘Who was that?’ Tarquin demanded.
‘Vince Slater. He’s a private investigator. I expect the police are coming right now.’
Tarquin paused. ‘I don’t hear any sirens. Do you hear any sirens?’ he asked. When I didn’t answer, he said, ‘Then they will be too late. Did you wonder what he was on about?’ Tarquin rumbled into my ear; his mouth right next to my head. ‘I have made a very profitable business out of taking over other businesses. I move in, I impress them and make myself utterly invaluable.’ He was half dragging me across the carpark as I fought to get my feet under my body so I could support my own weight.
‘They always want me to stay so they offer me what I tell them I want: a small number of shares in the business. What they don’t realise is once you are a shareholder it becomes a game of musical chairs. Do you know how a game of musical chairs ends, Mrs Philips?’
I did. ‘Only one person is left.’
He laughed at me. ‘That’s right. Well done. You are the first person to ever answer that question correctly.’
‘How many times have you done this?’ I couldn’t help myself; even terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought, I was still full of questions.
Tarquin laughed again. We had arrived at Tamara’s barely conscious form. He grabbed her ankle and started dragging the pair of us back toward the rear wall of Orion Print. She moaned softly, an involuntary noise that told me she wasn’t dead, but she also wasn’t really conscious and certainly wasn’t going to be of any help.
‘This will be my seventh successful take over. I never own the businesses for long. I arrange for the shareholders to meet with untimely, but tragic accidents. Once there is no one left to oppose me, I appoint myself as CEO – that was what John was supposed to convince Derek to do. I got bored waiting for Derek to die, which by the way is a demonstration of my genius if ever there was one.’
Uncertain what he was telling me, and trying to buy another few seconds for someone to discover us, I asked, ‘What is?’
Tarquin sniggered. ‘The poison in his brandy. It’s a delicate blend of cadmium, vanadium, and nickel. It plays utter havoc with the body. As the toxin levels build up, the victim’s skin breaks out in a terrible rash and the soft tissue of the joints swell in a painful manner. Blindness follows and then either madness and death, or just death depending on the health and strength of the subject. Honestly, I’m stunned Derek lasted as long as he did. Hence pushing John to force Derek to stand down and appoint me.’
‘You’re a monster,’ I whimpered.
He chuckled. ‘I think you mean a homicidal entrepreneur. It’s the future for all business. Besides, when I found out about John … well, who wouldn’t want to blackmail someone with a secret that disgusting. I even considered not killing him. Can you believe that?’
‘How generous,’ I murmured.
‘One less death, you know – but he decided to get clever and look into me. I found files on the work computer; that was sloppy of him. If he’d done it all at home, I might never have known. Fixing his brakes was a doddle. Just the right amount of turns and the brake fluid slowly drains until … BOOM! No brakes!’ Tarquin laughed as if he had just told a joke. ‘Soon, the poison will kill Derek and I will be able to buy the shares from the widow or whoever is left holding them. That takes me to the final stage where I run this firm the way it ought to have been. Once the share price is high enough, I’ll sell the whole thing. It’s a victimless crime.’
‘Victimless? You’re insane!’ I blurted.
Tarquin laughed at me. ‘You can hardly count Derek and John as victims. They did this to themselves.’
‘And Tamara?’ I reminded him about his fiancée.
I got a shrug in reply. ‘Casualty of war.’
We were nearing an Aston
