Brian Freemantle - The Inscrutable Charlie Muffin

‘I’m really not accustomed to rudeness,’ said Lu threateningly.

‘I’m not being rude,’ said Charlie. ‘I’m asking a very pertinent question.’

‘After the sealed bid tenders had been taken up,’ said Lu, ‘we discovered that we were still uncovered to the extent of?6,000,000. Mr Nelson’s offer had not at that stage been accepted. Rather than reopen the other policies, which might have left us with even less cover dangerously near the sailing date from New York, I decided to give it to him. It was an oversight, really. It was all done at the very last moment.’

‘He told me about the rush,’ said Charlie. ‘And I think you are talking bullshit.’

Lu winced at the crudeness. That hadn’t worked either, thought Charlie.

‘I’m not really concerned with what you will accept or not,’ said Lu. ‘I’m rich enough to do as I wish with my money.’

‘No one’s that rich.’

‘I am. And I’ll remind you that I’m used to being treated with proper respect, because of it.’

‘And I’ll remind you that I’m not being disrespectful,’ said Charlie. He was, he knew. Intentionally so. There had to be some way to penetrate the man’s control.

‘That’s for me to decide,’ said Lu.

‘There will be several things for you to decide today,’ agreed Charlie.

‘Don’t strain my patience,’ said Lu.

‘Now you’re issuing warnings,’ said Charlie.

‘With far more ability to enforce them,’ said Lu.

‘As you did with Robert Nelson?’

Lu sat impassively, hands cupped in his lap. It wasn’t working, realised Charlie. Lu had sensed the manoeuvre and was refusing to react.

‘I know that Nelson was murdered,’ announced Charlie. ‘And I know why.’

Do something, for Christ’s sake, he thought.

‘All of which,’ said Lu, ‘would I’m sure be of great interest to the police. My only concern is in the settlement of my claim for the destruction of my ship, sorry as I am about Mr Nelson’s death.’

‘You destroyed your own ship,’ declared Charlie. ‘And had Robert Nelson killed when he tried to establish the reasons being spread by your people among the Chinese community.’

The patronising smile came back.

‘I’ve made a mistake,’ Lu said. ‘I’ve admitted a madman to my office. And I’m usually so careful.’

‘As careful as you were in having the shipyard workers killed, knowing they could never withstand any cross-examination in court.’

‘More than one murder!’ mocked Lu.

There had always been a desperation about the bluff, accepted Charlie. But he’d expected to unsettle the man far more than he had done. He should have resisted Lu’s pace and prolonged the verbal fencing, he realised. It was his own fault that he’d hurried the confrontation. More than hurried. Panicked, in fact. Because of his nervousness of Harvey Jones. There had been a time when he wouldn’t have made such a mistake, no matter what the pressure.

‘You and perhaps more importantly your son have lost face once,’ persisted Charlie. ‘Try to press this claim in court and I’ll ensure you’ll be ridiculed not just in Asia but throughout the world. Are you prepared to risk that?’

‘I haven’t the remotest conception what you’re talking about,’ said Lu, shaking his head.

‘I will guarantee that in the English High Court my company will oppose your claim,’ said Charlie. ‘I’ll see to it that every suspicion comes out. We’ll label Robert Nelson’s death for what it was. We’ll demand to know in open court why you were prepared to pay 12 per cent on a?6,000,000 cover and get a better answer than the one you’ve given me. We’ll show the real reason… that your anti-communist campaign was always to be paid for by British insurance companies…’

‘Such nonsense,’ intruded Lu. ‘You’re talking absolute nonsense.’

‘But we won’t just stop there,’ carried on Charlie. ‘We’ll ask questions about the gambling. And the brothel-keeping. And the heroin factories that supply America and Europe.’

‘Is there no crime for which I’m not to be held responsible?’ sneered Lu. He infused boredom into his voice.

‘I don’t know of a man who uses publicity more effectively than you,’ said Charlie, ignoring Lu’s jibe. ‘Are you prepared to risk the loss of face that such a court hearing would cause?’

Lu stood and for a moment Charlie thought he intended summoning the guards from the outer offices. Instead the man went to the desk, selected a cigar and returned to the chair, fumbling for the gold cutter on his watch chain.

‘I congratulate you,’ announced Lu unexpectedly.

Charlie waited.

‘It really was a most effective attempt,’ continued the millionaire. ‘Almost deserved to succeed.’

‘ Will succeed,’ Charlie corrected him, imagining a change of attitude at last.

‘Oh no,’ said Lu. ‘I’m no longer treating you as a fool and neither must you regard me as one.’

The attitude had changed, realised Charlie. But not as he had hoped.

‘I’ve already told you,’ said Lu, ‘that I’m a very careful man. I begin nothing without the guarantee of success.’

He stopped, waving a flame before his face. Charlie glanced towards the desk. He hadn’t seen Lu turn off any recording device. But that’s what the man had done, he was sure, under the guise of getting a cigar.

‘I’m not arguing you wouldn’t win judgment,’ said Charlie. ‘I’m saying it would be a court action that would destroy you and your reputation…’

‘And I asked you not to treat me like a fool,’ repeated Lu, sadly. ‘We both of us know there will never be a court hearing.’

‘You’ll withdraw the claim?’

Lu laughed at him, in genuine amusement.

‘No,’ he said. ‘I won’t withdraw the claim. I’ll press it, as hard as I am able. Because I know damned well that no lawyer, no matter how much filth or innuendo he hoped to smear, would risk fighting in court the case I am able to bring.’

‘I will…’ tried Charlie, but Lu raised his hand imperiously, halting him.

‘You need evidence,’ said Lu. ‘Better evidence than some doubt about a rich man’s foible in paying more than he should for a policy he needed in a hurry. You’d need witnesses prepared to give evidence about a planned crime. And if you had that, it wouldn’t be you sitting here. It would be the police.’

Gently he tapped the ash from his cigar.

‘Your lawyers might listen to your romanticising,’ said the millionaire. ‘They might even be curious. But they’d never introduce it into a court hearing. Your company will settle. For the full amount. Because they have no option. My policy is legally incontestable. There’s never been any risk of my being humiliated. Nor will there be. Ever.’

He’d lost, accepted Charlie. Completely. Another thought came, suddenly. Robert Nelson had died simply for attempting to establish the accusation at street level: he had actually challenged the man.

‘You checked up on me with my London office before agreeing to meet me?’ he said.

Lu nodded:

‘I told you I leave nothing to chance.’

‘And they knew I was coming here today, to confront you with what I believed to be the truth.’

Lu’s smile broadened.

‘You’re giving me another warning,’ he said.

‘Were anything to happen to me, so soon after Robert Nelson’s death and my visit here, the police might be forced into finding the proof that our lawyers might need to take the case to court.’

It meant admitting defeat. But that had been established anyway. Now Charlie needed protection.

‘Yes,’ agreed Lu. ‘They just might. I’ll remember that.’

At least, decided Charlie, rising and moving towards the door, for the moment he was safe. Safe, from Lu anyway. But there was still Harvey Jones.