Terry Minahan - The Adventures of Thadeus Burke Vol 1

Immediately upon completing a modest breakfast of tea, toast and marmalade, Thadeus telephoned Inspector Jackson. He questioned him on the subject of the bottle of Drambuie. Jackson tried to go off at tangents regarding the events of the previous day, and other facts about Sir Percy Dennington, but Thadeus remained disciplined and eventually obtained the following specific facts: Drambuie is manufactured in two sizes of bottle, the full bottle and the half bottle – Sir Percy’s bottle had been the half bottle; it appeared to have been full of liquid, except for a couple of glassfuls; there was only one drinking glass at the scene – a Waterford Crystal small brandy balloon – the glass was of the same make and design as the drinking vessels used in the main house; the ‘scene’, incidentally, had been Sir Percy’s office, which was actually a converted horse’s loose box. Thadeus had requested full details of this at a later date! Thadeus thanked Jackson for the information and made a note of their next luncheon appointment, which would be subject to confirmation when he consulted the Burke & Co diary at his office.

He next consulted the label on the near empty Drambuie half-bottle that stood, for some strange reason, on the floor of the kitchen. He sat down at the kitchen table, trying to ignore Hilton’s extravagant preparation of breakfast for his beloved sister, and engaged in some simple arithmetic.

A half-bottle equals one-half litre – information supplied by the label on the Drambuie bottle. A mouthful could be measured at 25 ml – information supplied by Freddie. The number of mouthfuls per half-bottle equals twenty; information calculated by the Cambridge graduate using a method called ‘simple division’.

Freddie’s bacon was beginning to smell very appetizing!

Somewhere at the back of Thadeus’ memory was the information about fatal dosage of arsenic but the active part of his mind was devoted to assessing the number of bacon rashers required to stabilize his equilibrium.

He instructed Hilton to set aside three or four slices of Norfolk best-back for his second breakfast, at which he would join his sister, as he felt it would be impolite to allow a guest in his house to eat alone. Hilton raised his eyes to the ceiling, speechless.

Freed of any further distraction the answer to the dosage question popped back into his mind: 250 mg, that is a quarter of a gram, multiply that by twenty and the answer is 5 g – less than a quarter of an ounce! Not a huge amount in general terms, but enough to frighten a chemist Thadeus thought.

Freddie confirmed this opinion over eggs, bacon and tomatoes a few minutes later.

Within the next four weeks Burke & Company started to flourish. The General Strike was still looming, but more of that later. Thadeus had built up quite a substantial portfolio of general non-marine business, country houses, factories and property investments throughout England and Ireland. Much of this business had come from Thadeus’ aristocratic connections, but their efficient service was beginning to attract a wider clientele. He had also established a reasonable book of agents supplying general non-marine risks to Lloyd’s.

James was developing a small, but useful book of motor business, both direct and through agents. But what really interested Thadeus was the bloodstock account, horses, particularly racehorses, stallions and mares. An area of business that Thadeus thought could establish the company as a major player within the Lloyd’s community.

They had employed three new members of staff. Miss Mills, a lady in her fifties with many years’ experience in the city. She had been private secretary to the chairman of a medium sized company of Lloyd’s brokers and when he retired she felt that a new position was appropriate. She had worked her way up from an office junior at the end of the last century, and knew ‘everything’ about Lloyd’s brokers. She was, frankly, a bit of a dragon – or should it be dragoness: Everyone, including Thadeus, leapt to their feet when she addressed them. She was appointed office manager. Essentially this title meant that she did everything that the others didn’t. James was appointed an assistant director at the same time, to keep him slightly out of her clutches.

Also added was Mr Emery, he was in his sixties and working his way to a well deserved pension that he had already established with one of the large firms of Lloyd’s brokers. By a special arrangement with them he had been engaged by Burke & Co to look after the policy documentation. He had substantial knowledge of the Lloyd’s Signing Bureau and had been involved within the sub-committee set up to consider the idea of a central policy signing office a few years ago.

The third new member was a twenty-six-year-old young lady, Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Bateman, previously employed by the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, situated just round the corner in Cornhill, and an occasional lunch companion of Ethel. She was handling claims, as she had done in her previous job. Her telephone manner was excellent and her paperwork meticulous. As Burke & Co did not have many claims at the present time, she was also taking all telephone calls for the office.

During this period Thadeus had had lunch with Johnny Jackson and received a full account of the Armstrong case, involving the use of arsenic, in Wales. A chap poisoned his wife and then proceeded to try his luck on a fellow solicitor. Unfortunately he got the dosage wrong and his competitor was taken violently ill, which lead to Mrs Armstrong’s body being exhumed and her husband hanged.

Thadeus had also acquired a description of Sir Percy Dennington’s office, the scene of his death. Sir Percy was attempting to establish a small band of thoroughbred broodmares at his farm near Newmarket in Suffolk, the home of English horseracing. To this end he had built two sets of loose boxes, both as a row of six, brick with slate roofs. He had two mares, both in foal, and with recently weaned foals. The two mares were in one unit and the foals in the other. The mare’s unit had a foaling box at one end and a box used for storage at the other end. The foal’s unit had one of the end boxes converted into an office, equipped with a mahogany roll-top desk, two chairs, a filing cabinet and a bookcase. In one of the bottom drawers of the desk Sir Percy kept a bottle of Drambuie, apparently his favourite tipple, practically addicted to the stuff, very rarely drank anything else. At the time of his death there was a half-bottle in the drawer; it was almost empty. There were no glasses in the drawer. The other, almost full, deadly half-bottle was on the desk with his one glass.

Thadeus made some notes and sketched a drawing of the house and outbuildings, and the looseboxes. He then worked on a detailed ground plan of the area and the office layout. Jackson was most impressed, particularly with the fact that Thadeus had bought these large sheets of paper with him to the restaurant. It was this sketched ground plan that attracted the attention of James Pooley the next day.

‘I have been working on a ground plan for Dad’s proposed new premises up in Essex,’ he explained.

‘How is the project getting on?’ asked Thadeus.

‘Actually it has run into a few problems,’ then James, slightly sheepishly added, ‘I wondered if I could seek your advice on a couple of matters?’

‘And you saw my plans of the Dennington estate and it gave you the ideal excuse to raise the matter?’ scoffed Thadeus, softening his observation with the words, ‘James, if you have a problem of any sort always talk to me about it.’ Thadeus thought, but did not say, that worried and distracted staff were bad for business and therefore bad for the firm, and for him.