No Place in the Sun (40 page)

‘You’ve come to the right place, madam.’ He led her over to the desk. ‘What level of spend did you have in mind, madam?’

‘About three million, maybe a little more.’

Tom swallowed; he tried not to let the surprise show on his face. The bitch was spending Milton’s money in a big way. ‘That’s a lot of money.’

‘I know. I saw you on the news. I thought you were very honest; you didn’t come out with the usual sales talk. That’s why I came to see you.’

‘Oh, thank you.’

‘My husband and I live in Spain, you see. He doesn’t come back here at all; I only come home to see my mother, she’s getting on a bit.’

I bet she is; she must be fucking ancient. Tom kept the thought to himself. ‘So you want to invest a lump sum, maybe get an income from it?’

‘Yes, that’s the idea. Retain our capital and draw an income as well.’

So that when the old goat pops his clogs, you’ll be sitting on a fortune that his relatives can’t get their hands on? Tom wished he could say out loud what was on his mind.

‘So what’s the best place for this kind of money?’

Tom pondered his situation. He looked over to the door; Amanda waved, and Tommy strained to get out of the buggy to run to his daddy. The room was empty except for the salesmen and lawyers who were writing up their records. Somebody turned off the air conditioning and the place was suddenly silent.

‘Mama, there dada.’

‘Yes Tommy, that’s daddy.’

‘Mama, Critopher Wobin was bold.’

‘Was he, love?’

‘Mama, Critopher Wobin catrated the puttycat, mama, he cat-rated the puttycat.’

She tried to keep a straight face; Tom smiled back at his family. Everything seemed to be turning out for the best; Amanda was a lovely girl and as for Tommy, well, that kid was something else. It wouldn’t be easy to start a new life with someone who was practically a stranger, even if she was the mother of his child, but the next few months would tell him a lot about the realities of family life, whether the actuality would match the dream. He was looking forward to it, to this new challenge and this new way of living.

He looked back at Mrs. Milton; she waited for his response. It wouldn’t be right to take their bloody money, even if Milton had screwed him when he closed the shop. Maybe the woman in the Lebanese cafe was right when she said that telling the truth gave you peace of mind.

He looked back at his son. Then again, there would be school fees, and maybe if all went well little Tommy would have a brother or a sister. They would have to be fed and cared for, and that city apartment mightn’t be the best place to bring them up. A big house in the country would be nice, with a big garden where they could run and play. Then they would grow up quickly, the kids would need houses themselves, it would be endless. This caper could be expensive.

The woman was looking at him, she repeated her question.

‘Where would I go with that kind of money?’

‘You’d have to be very careful, madam, that’s an awful lot of money and you’d need to be sure that it was invested wisely.’

‘I know that, I’ll get one shot at this and it has to be good.’

Tom wavered. This woman was putting her trust in him, and he would have to live up to that trust. He would have to tell the truth, to follow the advice that Pauline had given him. She had seemed very content with her life, so it had to be the best way forward. You couldn’t live for ever in fear of all your unhappy customers coming back to haunt you, it was better to be straight and honest and to leave all the dodgy dealing behind, to make a new start. He thought of the old Englishwoman in Pueblo Alto Blanco; he felt an uneasy stir in his stomach when he pictured how she had looked as she sat on the steps and wept at the loss of her life savings.

On the other hand, a three million sale this weekend would put well over a million in his own pocket, and that was serious money in anyone’s language. Taking a small amount from a lot of people was not such a problem, but taking that much money from an old couple would be too much, really. How could you live with something like that on your conscience? Then again, he had responsibilities to his family as well; it was all very difficult sometimes.

He looked at the woman sitting across from him; this day wasn’t over yet. He turned on his most sincere look and leaned across the desk. ‘You’re a serious investor and you’re obviously a smart woman; there’s no point in wasting your time with some kind of sales pitch, so let me tell it like it is. The very best advice that I could give you would be to put your money in the same place that I put mine, madam. Tell me, did you ever hear of a place called Malko?