Michael Ridpath - Free To Trade

'The forty million raised by the private placement was used to buy the majority of a savings and loan, Phoenix Prosperity, or "Uncle Sam's Money Machine". With the extra capital Phoenix Prosperity was able to borrow large amounts of money with a government guarantee. It, in turn, intended to invest this money in a number of high risk, high return ventures. One of the first of these was a 20 per cent stake in Irwin Piper's Tahiti Hotel.

'So far so good. Then things started to go wrong. First, Greg Shoffman became suspicious. He called Honshu Bank and discovered that the guarantee was bogus. I don't know what else he may have discovered or how they knew he was on to them. But he was murdered, probably by Waigel, and his body was dumped near Waigel's house. Then Debbie Chater became suspicious. And she was murdered.'

'So who do you think is behind all this?' Cathy asked.

'I don't know. Whoever are the shareholders of Tremont Capital. I am sure Waigel must be one of them. And…'

'And what?'

'Well, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Cash were in on it too.'

'And anybody else?'

'Maybe. I just don't know.'

'And who killed Debbie?'

'That is a difficult question. We know it wasn't Waigel since his diary shows he was in New York at the time of Debbie's death. As I said, Joe denied it completely, and I am inclined to believe him. It could have been Cash, or it could have been someone else entirely.'

'Like Irwin Piper?'

'No, I don't think it was him. I confronted him in Las Vegas and he seemed genuinely surprised that Debbie had been murdered.'

'So who was it?'

I turned to look at Cathy. 'It must be Cash. He must have known what he was selling to Hamilton. He's also the one with the relationship with Phoenix Prosperity Savings and Loan. And he and Waigel are old friends.'

She frowned. There was silence as we both mulled over everything I had said. We trudged on. 'I know this may sound odd to you,' Cathy said, 'but I don't think Cash would be a part of something like this. He's sleazy and he looks after number one. But he does have his own set of moral principles that he wouldn't breach.'

'What do you mean?' I said. 'He is one of the slimiest people I have ever met!'

'He may be most of the time,' Cathy said. 'But I have worked closely with him for a year now, and I don't think he is all bad. I just don't think he would have anything to do with anyone being killed.'

'What about that bloody Gypsum of America business. That was hardly straight, was it?'

'Oh, didn't I tell you? The investigation cleared Cash of all involvement. It was Joe who was trading on inside information. The Gypsum bonds were on his book, and he bought a bucket-load of shares through some nominees.'

'Really? That does surprise me. I was sure Cash had known something about the takeover.' I digested this new piece of information, and tried to put it together with what else I knew. I still couldn't quite believe in Cash as the bond salesman with principles.

'Apparently they are still investigating who else was involved,' Cathy said.

'Meaning me?'

'I haven't heard. I suppose so,' said Cathy. 'We did have a policeman come round on Friday night asking questions about you.'

'A policeman? Not the TSA? Are you sure?' I had thought the deal that Hamilton had come to was that the TSA would not pursue their investigation against me as long as De Jong agreed to fire me.

'Yes, I'm sure. His name was Powell. Inspector Powell. He asked a lot of questions about you and Debbie.'

Now, that did seem strange. I had thought Inspector Powell had closed his investigation into Debbie's death. Why was he asking questions about me? Odd.

We walked on. The village where I had parked my car was just in sight now, watched over by the squat church a hundred yards or so away from the rest of the village, on a slight mound. The site of a pre-Christian place of worship, I thought vaguely.

'So what are you going to do about it?' Cathy said.

'About what?'

'About Debbie's death. About Tremont Capital. About Phoenix Prosperity.'

'Nothing.'

'Nothing?'

'Why should I. There is not a lot of point is there?' I said sullenly.

'Bullshit,' she said. I looked at her. 'Bullshit,' she said again.

'What do you mean?'

'It's about time you pulled yourself together, Paul. OK, you've had a tough break. But someone, or some people, have stolen forty million dollars and killed two people in the process. If you do nothing, they will get away with it. You can't just let that happen, can you?'

She was angry. Her eyes were burning and her cheeks had reddened. But I got the feeling she was angry with me rather than against me. I shrugged my shoulders. 'You are absolutely right.'

She smiled and took my arm. 'Good. I'll help you. What shall we do first?'

'Well, I suppose I should talk to Hamilton, but I don't see how I can do that with this Gypsum business hanging over me.'

'I see what you mean,' said Cathy. Then a thought struck her. 'If Cash has been cleared, shouldn't you be? I mean, if he didn't have inside information, how could he have passed it to you?'

I looked at her. She was absolutely right. Hope began to flow through my veins.

'Let me talk to Cash about what happened to you. I am sure he will be able to help.'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' I said.

'Look, I am quite certain he had nothing to do with killing anyone, let alone Debbie Chater. Let me talk to him.'

'OK,' I said. 'But don't mention the Tremont business.'

'I won't.'

The village was much closer now. I spied a pub. 'Enough of all this. I'm thirsty. Let's have a drink.'

We sat outside the sixteenth-century inn and dawdled over a couple of drinks as the sun set over the wooded hills. It was a magical evening, and neither of us wanted to end it. So, since the pub had a dining room, we stayed for a supper of home-made steak-and-kidney pie.

'Have you seen anything of Rob since we got back from America?' I asked.

'Yes, I have,' said Cathy unenthusiastically.

'What's the matter? Has he been bothering you?'

'Yes, I'd say he has,' Cathy said, looking down at her plate.

I waited for her to say more. She didn't. I was interested. More than that, I was worried. I could not easily forget the venom of Rob's words in Las Vegas. 'What has he done?'

'Well, I have bumped into him once or twice at various functions. And recently he has taken to hanging around Bloom-field Weiss's building, and following me on my way home. He always comes up to talk to me, and he is always rude.'

'What does he say?'

'Oh, he says I am shallow and fickle. He says I betrayed him. He calls me a tease. And he says some pretty unpleasant things about you.'

I sighed. 'I'm not altogether surprised.'

'He told me that you had something going together with Debbie.' Cathy looked up at me, her eyes questioning.

'Well, that's wrong. I told you that. We just worked together and became good friends.'

'Rob said he saw both of you having a romantic dinner on a boat, just before she died.' Cathy saw the shocked look on my face. She smiled. 'Don't worry, I believe you. Anyway, it's none of my business who your girlfriends are.'

I waved my hand. 'It's not that. I was just thinking how Rob could have seen us on the boat. We left him in the office that night. He must have followed us.'

'Why would he do that?'

'I'm afraid you are not the first woman Rob has behaved like this with. He once went out with Debbie. She got rid of him, but Debbie's flatmate said Rob had been bothering her recently. He had asked her to marry him and been turned down.'

'Wait a second! If Rob saw you together just before Debbie died, then he might have seen who did it,' Cathy said. Then she saw my face. 'You don't think it was him, surely?'