Give The Devil His Due (18 page)

       Suddenly time leapt forward and I was back in Peter Steadman’s study, present day. At a guess I would’ve put Steadman in a similar age group to ours, perhaps slightly older. Going by first impressions, he seemed to be a very quiet, gentle man. Peach handed his business card to Steadman and began his introduction.

       ‘First, I would like to say how grateful we are that you’ve agreed to meet with us Mr Steadman …’

       ‘Please call me Peter.’

       ‘Thank you. Peter, although my official position is stated on the card you’re holding, I'm here, as are my associates Neil and Will, in a very unofficial capacity. I would very much appreciate it if you could keep the details of this meeting confidential and not discuss what I’m about to tell you with anyone.

       ‘Does that include my wife?’

       ‘It would be better if you didn't tell anyone. If you feel that you must discuss the matter with Mrs Steadman then that is your prerogative. But I would ask that you seek the same assurances of confidentiality from her that I have requested of you. I'm sure you’ll soon understand why. Now tell me Peter, how much do you know about your family history?’

       Peter considered the question. ‘Not a great deal. Both my parents have passed away, and I never got to know my grandfather. He died before I was born.’

       On the face of it he wasn't wrong when he said he didn't know very much. In fact he knew bugger all. I began to wonder if the man was a complete ignoramus where his ancestry was concerned.

       Peach continued. ‘Well Peter, I want to take you back a little further than just a couple of generations ...’

       We listened as Peach related the De Villiers/Steadman story. I don't know whether it was fear that gripped him or just curiosity, but as Peach started to speak there was an intensity about Peter. The way he hung on to Peach's every word reminded me of a rabbit caught in the glare of someone's headlights.

       As the story unfolded Peter looked more and more intrigued. When Peach had come to the end, Steadman looked gobsmacked. Peach put a bundle on the desk in front of him and said, ‘It's all there Peter. As much evidence as can be gathered, at this moment in time.’

       Peter started to look through the documents. Just then there was a knock at the door and Louise popped her head around. ‘Peter would you and your guests like some tea?’ Peter glanced at each of us and we all nodded.

       ‘Thanks Louise.’ Peter looked back at the bundle. ‘I don't understand what all this is ...’

       Neil stood up. ‘Peter, that's why we're here.’

       I listened as Neil went to work. He portrayed the recovery of the note as a monumental feat that only we were capable of achieving. He told Peter about our specialist skills, and about Phil who, although he couldn't make it to the meeting, was an absolutely crucial member of the team. Peter was in awe. Watching, I knew that if anyone could persuade this man to sign up with us, it was Neil Fairburn.

       There was another knock at the door; Louise with the tea. Peach pulled the door open. She walked in carrying a fancy tray with some very up-market looking teacups and saucers, a large pot of tea and biscuits to boot. It looked like it might have been their best set.

       She stared at her husband. ‘Peter, are you alright?’

       ‘Yes. Why?’

       ‘You don't look very well.’

       ‘No, I'm fine.’

       ‘Are you sure?’

       ‘Yes, now don't fuss Louise.’

       ‘Sorry I asked.’ She left with her tail between her legs and headed back to the kitchen. Peter had been abrupt with her, but what could you expect from a man who had just found out that he might have a legitimate claim to a £500 million fortune? I watched as Neil suddenly changed tack.

       ‘Peter, I realise it's a lot to take in right now and I have a suggestion for you. In order for us to proceed with the acquisition of the note, we’ll need a guarantee from you. Personally, I don't see that there is much of a decision to make here. No-one else has brought this to your attention; which, in itself, should tell you that we are the right people to carry out the retrieval.’

       Silence. We could see Peter was thinking. We could all sense he wasn't prepared to commit.

       ‘Peter, tomorrow morning Will and I are leaving London. We have some business to deal with in another part of the country. It would be good if, before we left, we could have a decision from you one way or another.’

       I had to give it to Neil. He could see Peter wasn't ready to sign and was giving him some thinking time, while still applying the sales pressure. I wondered how Steadman would react if he knew the business to which Neil referred, was picking up old ladies outside Tesco’s and a late dinner
chez
Denise!

       ‘I'm not trying to be difficult. It's just this is all a bolt out of the blue and I want to be sure about what I'm getting myself into. You said there are risks involved.’

       ‘Yes I did Peter, but those risks are for us to take. That is why our fee would be a small percentage out of the final court award. Don't forget, there are costs to shoulder in the pursuit of this document, which will all be taken care of at our end. There's also the considerable commitment we've undertaken already, as the papers before you verify.’

       ‘Mmm, you’re right, I can see that. I'll read through these tonight.’

       ‘I'm sorry Peter, but we can’t leave our research with anyone. By all means go through everything while we’re here, but as I'm sure you'll understand, the reason nobody else has come to you with this proposal is because we've maintained absolute secrecy throughout the exploratory work. We must continue to insist on that. It’s vital this information stays private. It could ruin the whole opportunity if others were to realise what’s afoot – you must appreciate this.’

       Was this the same fucking idiot that left his bundle lying about the house only for Tegan to pick up? I had to hand it to him. Fairburn could lie for Britain!

       ‘Don't you trust me Neil?’ He sounded slightly offended.

       ‘Peter, once we have a firm commitment from you, that’ll take our relationship to quite a different level altogether. As I told you earlier, there are risks involved here and the fewer people who know about this matter, the better.

       ‘Think about it. What if we left these papers with you and someone, a visitor maybe, sees them while you're called away to the phone or answering the door? These things can happen believe me. Five hundred million is not chicken feed. If we're going to go ahead with this, you have to believe in us and our professionalism.’

       ‘Are you saying I'm in danger?’ Now he sounded frightened.

       ‘No, I'm not saying that. At this moment in time, no one else knows about this, and that's the way we want to keep it.’

       Peter was thinking hard. We sat there drinking tea while Peter started going through the papers again. We'd now been there for nearly two hours. Phil was probably getting quite agitated, but then
tough tits
– he'd just have to sit it out. We were playing for high stakes here.

       Suddenly, two raised voices, both female, were coming from somewhere else in the house. A door slammed. Peter stopped reading and got up, distracted. Damn!

       ‘Listen, thank you for coming. If you can just give me tonight … we'll speak in the morning.’

       ‘No problem at all.’ Neil picked up the bundle and Peter showed us out of the study. As we made our way towards the front door I could hear someone sobbing in the kitchen. I hoped whatever else was going on in the Steadman household wasn't going to make Peter lose sight of the bigger picture.

       As we walked to the car Peach said, ‘So what do you think then Neil?’

       ‘Don't know. I'm obviously hoping he'll go for it, but if he doesn't … perhaps it’ll be time to play hardball.’

       ‘Meaning?’

       ‘Maybe tell him we're going to post the research to De Villiers.’

       Peach was shaking his head. ‘No, I think even if he doesn't commit tomorrow we should still give him time.’

       ‘I don't mean that we
will
post it, only that we'll threaten to.’

       It was time for me to put a word in. ‘Well, I don't think we could’ve really done any better than we did in that meeting. It's a lot to expect somebody to suddenly hear such a massive proposal and then commit themselves to a contract immediately.’

       Neil agreed. ‘Yeah, you're right Will. What did you make of that set-to going on in the background?’

       ‘Not sure. Could be a row with one of the neighbours?’

       Peach looked unconvinced. ‘No I don't think so. But whatever it was, it certainly took Peter's mind off things.’

       He was right, matters were now out of our hands and in the lap of the gods. We arrived back at the car. Phil was snoozing, head leaning against the window. Peach slapped the glass with palm of his hand. ‘Wakey, wakey Sleeping Beauty.’

       Phil woke with a start. ‘Fuck you! I knew I shouldn't have come. How long have you been in there?’

       ‘A couple of hours.’

       ‘Did he sign then?’

       Peachy looked at him. ‘I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you.’

       ‘Stop pissing about Peach. Did he sign?’ Phil was getting understandably irritated.

       ‘No, he's going to give us an answer in the morning.’

       ‘Does that mean it's back to yours for the night?’ Peach paused for thought.

       ‘Well I think that would be the sensible thing to do. I haven't got much food in though.’

       Neil said, ‘How about we grab something on the way and eat it when we get back to the boat?’ It was a no-brainer.

Chapter 13

Athena's Table
was a restaurant that didn't do take-aways but, for a select few of its regular patrons, it would make an exception to the rule. Mr Kozen was a frequent visitor and qualified for this special treatment and it showed in the food that was prepared for us. It was splendid. None of your common or garden Saturday night kebab shop crap. This was the Real McCoy. It made me feel like booking a holiday to Greece. They even had a couple of live musicians playing bouzoukis, no piped
Demis Roussos Greatest Hits
here.

       Phil felt the need to point out to the girl taking our order, that Athena was the goddess of wisdom, war and justice. And so, in the interest of accuracy the place should really have been called
Demeter’s Table
after the goddess of the harvest. The girl looked a bit embarrassed. Peach had a quiet word in Phil’s ear, the result of which was Phil didn’t feel like pointing anything else out.

       While we were in the restaurant I phoned Tegan. I’d left Pugs with her, and now that we wouldn't be back till Thursday afternoon, I thought it best to let her know what’d happened. She wanted to hear how the meeting had gone. I told her it was impossible for me to discuss it, and so she’d hear the full story when I got back. She was a bit miffed but there was a time and a place for everything, and this was neither the time nor place, especially with Peach within earshot. I hung up the payphone and viewed my surroundings. You couldn't help but admire this restaurant. It really was something out of the ordinary. I made a mental note that next time we were at Peachy's for a proper weekend we should visit this eatery for a no-holds barred sit-down.

       Peachy’s boat was fast becoming a home-from-home for us all. As we boarded her with our late-night feast I checked my watch. Just past eleven. It’d been a long day. We decided to have a few glasses with our food.

       ‘What's the plan for tomorrow then Peach?’ I asked.

       ‘We'll give him till 10.30 a.m. then Neil can phone.’

       It was agreed. We carried on talking until about 1 a.m.

***

The following morning we were up with the lark. Would he or wouldn't he? I felt really jittery. If the others felt the same way, they were doing a good job of hiding it. A green light from Peter Steadman would mean that Peach would have to lend Neil and me clean shirts and ties. We promised he'd get them back in the freshly-laundered state that he’d supplied them and settled down to wait for the momentous event of contract-signing – hopefully.

       It had just gone five to eight. I decided what the hell – I would put Peachy’s shirt on anyway as a part of my positive-thinking regime. Just as I was wondering whether or not I could cope with another two and a half hours of this, Peachy's mobile phone sprang into life.

       ‘You'd better answer. If it's him and he still hasn't made up his mind, go easy.’ Peach handed it to Neil.

       ‘What if he has and it's a negative?’

       ‘Do whatever you think best.’ I didn't know whether this was good advice from Peach, but it was too late to put forward any other alternative.

       Neil answered. ‘Hello.’ We couldn't hear what was being said on the other end, because Neil had the phone tight to his ear.

       ‘Yes Peter. Good of you to get back to us so soon. Have you come to a decision?’

       Peter definitely had plenty to talk about, but Neil's expression was giving nothing away. ‘I see. Yes, of course that goes without saying.’

       What went without saying? Give us a thumbs up or a thumbs down Neil, you wanker. Neil started pacing up and down the boat while talking, all the while staring at the floor.

       ‘Mmm, I understand Peter, I understand ...’ If Fairburn didn't start giving us some indication of how things were going and soon, one thing he'd certainly understand was the meaning of a sharp, full-force contact between my right knee and his bollocks!

       ‘Absolutely. You have my word on it, not a problem. If that should change please let me know. Goodbye then Peter.’ The call ended he handed the phone back to Peach.

       He was looking pretty glum.

       ‘Well, it's bad news I'm afraid.’