Blood Hunt

hotel. Would that suit you? I want to hear everything. It’s quite ghastly. I can hardly take it in. Jim was one of-”

“Where’s the hotel, Mr. Gulliver?”

“Sorry. The Ritz. See you there at midday.”

“Good-bye, Mr. Gulliver.”

And still Joshua Vincent didn’t call.

In Jim’s notes, Giles Gulliver had always been “the old boy” or “the old duffer.” Reeve was expecting a man in his sixties or even seventies, a newspaperman of the old school. But when he was shown to Gulliver’s table in the Ritz bar, he saw that the man half-rising to greet him from behind a fat Cuban cigar could only be in his early forties-not much older than Reeve himself. But Gulliver’s actions were studied, like those of a much older man, a man who has seen everything life has to throw at him. Yet he had gleaming eyes, the eyes of a child when shown something wondrous. And Reeve saw at once that the phrase “old boy” was perfect for Giles Gulliver. He was Peter Pan in a pinstripe.

“Good man,” Gulliver said, shaking Reeve’s hand. He ran his fingers through his slicked hair as he sat back down again. They had a corner table, away from the general babble of the bar. There were four things on the table: an ashtray, a portable telephone, a portable fax machine, and a glass of iced whiskey.

Gulliver rolled the cigar around his mouth. “Something to drink?” Their waiter was standing ready.

“Mineral water,” said Reeve.

“Ice and lime, sir?”

“Lemon,” said Reeve. The waiter retreated, and Reeve waited for Gulliver to say something.

Gulliver was shaking his head. “Hellish business. Surprised no one told me sooner. I’ve got a sub working on the obit.” He paused, catching himself. “My dear chap, I’m so sorry. You don’t want to hear about that.”

“It’s okay.”

“Now tell me, how did Jim die?”

“He was murdered.”

Gulliver’s eyes were hidden by the smoke he’d just exhaled. “What?”

“That’s my theory.”

Gulliver relaxed; he was dealing with a theory, not a story.

Reeve told him some of the rest, but by no means all of it. He wasn’t sure of his ground. On the one hand, he wanted the public to know what had happened in San Diego. On the other, he wasn’t sure whose life he might be endangering if he did go public-especially if he went public without proof. Proof would be his insurance. He needed proof.

“Did you know Jim was going to San Diego?” Reeve asked.

Gulliver nodded. “He wanted three thousand dollars from me. Said the trip would be worth it.”

“Did he tell you why he was going?”

Gulliver’s phone rang. He smiled an apology and picked it up. The conversation-the side of it Reeve could hear-was technical, something to do with the next day’s edition.

Gulliver pressed the Off button. “Apologies.” He glanced at his watch. “Did Jim tell me why he was going? No, that was one of the irritating things about him.” He caught himself again. “I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead…”

“Speak away.”

“Well, Jim liked his little conspiracy; and he liked to keep it his own secret. I think he thought it gave him more power: if an editor didn’t know what the story might be, he couldn’t come straight out and say no. That’s how Jim liked to play us. The less he told, the more we were supposed to think he had to tell. Eventually, he’d give you the story, the story you’d shelled out for, and it was seldom as meaty as you’d been led to believe.”

Listening to Gulliver, especially as the whiskey did its loosening, Reeve could hear hard edges and jagged corners that were a long way away from the public school image Gulliver presented to the world. There was street market in those edges and corners. There was street smart. There was city boy.

The fax bleeped and then started to roll out a page. Gulliver examined the sheet and got on the telephone again. There was another technical discussion, another glance at the Piaget watch, a tug at the crocodile wristband.

“He didn’t tell you anything?” Reeve persisted, sounding like he didn’t believe it.

“Oh, he told me snatches. Cooking oil, British beef, some veterinarian who’d died.”

“Did he mention Co-World Chemicals?”

“I think so.”

“In what connection?”

“My dear boy, there was no connection, that’s what I’ve been saying. He’d just say a couple of words, like he was feeding an infant egg from a silver spoon. Thinking he was stringing one along…”

“Someone killed him to stop the story.”

“Then prove it. I don’t mean prove it in a court of law, but prove it to me. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” Gulliver’s eyes seemed clearer than ever. He leaned across the table. “You want to finish what Jim started. You want an epitaph which would also be a revenge. Isn’t that right?”

“Maybe.”

“No maybe about it. That is what you want, and I applaud you. I’ll run with it. But I need more than you’ve given me, more than Jim gave me.”

“You’re saying I should finish the story?”

“I’m saying I’m interested. I’m saying keep in touch.” Gulliver sat back and picked up his glass, washing the ice with the amber liquid.

“Can I ask a question?” Reeve said.

“We only have a minute or so.”

“How much does CWC spend a year on advertising in your paper?”

“How much? That’s a question for my advertising manager.”

“You don’t know?”

Gulliver shrugged. “CWC’s a big company, a multinational. They own several subsidiaries in the UK and many more in Europe. There’s UK production and some importation.”

“A multimillion-pound industry, with a proportionate advertising budget.”

“I don’t see-”

“And when they advertise, they do it big. Full-page ads in the broadsheets and-what?-maybe double-color spreads in the financial glossies. TV as well?”

Gulliver stared at him. “Are you in advertising, Mr. Reeve?”

“No.” But, he might have added, I was well briefed this morning by someone on your fashion page. The fashion page, apparently, was a sop to certain advertisers.

Another glance at the watch, a rehearsed sigh. “I have to go, unfortunately.”

“Yes, that is unfortunate.”

As Gulliver rose, a hotel minion appeared and unplugged his fax. Fax machine and telephone went into a briefcase. The cigar was stubbed into the ashtray. Meeting most definitely over.

“Will you keep in touch?” Gulliver implored, touching Reeve’s arm, letting his hand rest there.

“Maybe.”

“And is there any good cause?” Reeve didn’t understand. “A charity, something like that. You know, for mourners to make donations to, as a mark of respect and in memory.”

Reeve thought about it, then wrote a phone number for Gulliver on the back of a paper napkin. “Here,” he said. Gulliver waited for elucidation. “It’s the number of a bookie’s in Finsbury Park. They tell me Jim owed them a ton and a half. All contributions gratefully received.”

Reeve walked out of the hotel thinking he’d probably never in his life met someone so powerful, someone with so much influence, a shaper and changer. He’d shaken hands with royalty at medal ceremonies, but that wasn’t the same.

For one thing, some royalty were nice; for another, some of them were known to tell the truth.

Giles Gulliver on the other hand was a born-and-bred liar; that was how you worked your way up from market