Terry Minahan - The Adventures of Thadeus Burke Vol 1

Thadeus smiled broadly and even more so when Jackson continued.

‘I asked Mr Pearson for a brief description of the major, he said he was a little shorter, and slightly heavier than his brother, and, entirely unprompted by me, I quote again, “a rather dapper little man”.’

‘Gotchyer!’ cried the two men clicking glasses.

‘Actually I know Lady Frances. I had lunch with her son yesterday. If you send someone to interview her, he will need to be on horseback; I have never seen her out of the saddle! She may well have been at Royal Ascot, but I know that she hates London and never goes near the place,’ added Thadeus usefully.

The two men left the pub and went their separate ways home.

It was 10.30 pm when Jackson phoned Thadeus at home. The story was a simple one. The Norfolk Constabulary had interviewed Lady Frances Downing that evening; she had been in the stables. She had not visited London for many years, and had no intention of revisiting the noisy and smelly place again. She had never witnessed a will, as far as she could remember. She had attended all four days at Royal Ascot; on the first day she had backed a young jockey named Gordon Richards riding his first winner at the Royal meeting. She insisted that the Norfolk Constabulary make a note of his name, actually watched carefully as the sergeant wrote the name into his book. On the Wednesday before racing started Lady Frances had attended, and chaired, a meeting of a charity concerned with the welfare of retired cavalry horses. The secretary at the meeting had been a Mrs Bennett, the wife of a Major Bennett, a cavalry officer. Yes, Mrs Bennett had collected up all the papers for the minutes, including documents signed by Lady Frances.

The Norfolk Constabulary had done a very good, low profile job. Now it was time for a slightly heavier and more aggressive visit to the home of Major and Mrs Bennet by the Berkshire Constabulary. They arrived at just after ten o’clock in the evening; two motorcars, two detectives, an inspector and a sergeant, and two of the new WPCs. The end game was brief, confronted by such a mass of information Mrs Bennett quickly broke down and confessed to assisting her husband forge his brother’s will. She knew nothing of any murders. The major tried valiantly to defend himself but eventually yielded to the overwhelming accusations and undeniable facts. He insisted that his brother’s death had been an accident.

At the end of the bulletin Inspector Jackson added, ‘There was a Lloyd’s underwriter, Sir Percy Dennington, committed suicide about six months ago. I was never entirely happy with the result of the inquest. We adjourned it twice but eventually had to go to the jury. When you’ve got five or ten minutes to spare you might solve that one for me. I’ll give you the details over lunch one of these days.’

‘Right!’ said Thadeus.

Within six weeks Mrs Bennett had been sentenced to twelve years in Holloway Prison, a period that suggested that the judge was not entirely happy with her pleas of ignorance about the deaths of Colonel Bennett and Mr Whelan.

Her husband was hanged.

It was just two weeks after Burke & Co had commenced operations that James Pooley had been introduced to the Lloyd’s Underwriting Room. He was authorized to transact business as a ‘substitute’ to Thadeus. Working brokers, not themselves underwriting members, were allowed in the Room on a substitute’s ticket, which James had begun to flourish proudly at the waiters who guarded to entrance to the Underwriting Room. His name appeared on the broker’s list held by the Caller, who stood at the rostrum and called the names of brokers who were required to meet somebody, usually a colleague.

The ‘call’ consisted of the company name followed by the name of the individual required to respond to the call. Thadeus’ was ‘Burke–Burke’, which came out of the Caller’s voice box rather akin to an attack of indigestion. James’ call had a similar start followed by a ‘Pooley’ that appeared to include at least a dozen ‘o’s.

These exaggerations were necessary in order that the music, as it were, of the Caller’s voice attracted the attention of the required broker above the general hubbub of the Room.

For the most part James had accompanied Thadeus, watching his technique and being introduced to the underwriters that underwrote the Burke & Co account. Occasionally he was let loose with a simple endorsement for an underwriter with whom he was acquainted. On one such occasion he was strolling through the Room when a chap on one of the marine boxes, with which James was not familiar, shouted his name out.

‘Jim Pooley!’ the voice exclaimed.

‘Jimmy Payne!’ responded James, recognizing an old school friend. With red hair, freckles and large spectacles, it was not difficult. He had one of those ‘young’ faces and could have just walked out of the physics lab as a member of class 5A.

J Payne stood up and shook hands with J Pooley.

‘I thought that you were up at Cambridge,’ questioned Pooley.

‘I’ve been up there and come back down,’ responded James Payne. ‘It’s a long story, or a short story, whichever one you want. I’ll tell you all about it over a beer some time.’

‘Oh right!’ said James Pooley, adding, ‘So here you are working at Lloyd’s?’

James Payne smiled. ‘The underwriter is my uncle,’ explaining everything, ‘What are you up to?’

Pooley explained his position with Burke & Co, advising his school chum that the company did not appear to have any business with Payne & Others, as they seemed to be only marine business.

The young Payne challenged this immediately. ‘We write a small incidental non-marine book and - ’ he paused for effect - ‘I am underwriting a small motor account.’

The two young men had been keen motor vehicle buffs at STOGS – short for St Olave’s Grammar School – following all the new makes and models with the enthusiasm of the train spotters that flood the railway stations.

‘Crikey, that’s exciting!’ exclaimed Pooley.

‘Do you have any motor business?’ questioned Payne.

‘We have only existed for four weeks, but we will have the boss’s Bentley, and his sister’s Morris Cowley when they come up for renewal. But I do have the boss’s permission to try and establish a motor portfolio, and as you know, if you can remember, my dad has a small garage/workshop.’

‘Oh right! How is he getting on? Because one of the things I am working on is setting up a register of motor repair agents whom we can trust for dealing with claims.’

‘He is still underneath the arches in Peckham,’ replied Pooley, ‘but business is good, and he is looking at some new premises out in North Essex, an old aircraft field with some huts and hangers.’

‘Crikey! That really is expansion.’ exclaimed Payne

‘It is because he may be working on some buses. Putting roofs on “Ks” and “NSs”, fitting pneumatic tyres, and that sort of thing.’ Jim did not need to explain to Jimmy the different types of omnibus. He was sure that the underwriter was familiar with the Bs, the Ks, the recent S-Type and the new NS as they had followed the development of the London General Omnibus Company, and their vehicles, from the time when Sydney Pooley, James’s father, used to drive them to school on the Brown and Cream Special.

At that moment two young brokers arrived at the box to see Jimmy Payne.

‘Crikey!’ he exclaimed, ’I’ve got a queue. What about lunch later today – 1.00 pm at Simpson’s?’

‘Fine, see you there,’ answered James, and he set off to find Thadeus.

James approached the rostrum, to call ‘Burke–Burke’ but before he reached the front of the queue of brokers seeking the caller’s attention, he saw Thadeus’ top hat held high above his head about six boxes away. A ‘box’ is a large desk with a set of benches down each side, rather like a luncheon booth, indeed they are a remnant of the old Lloyd’s coffee room. At these desks sit the underwriter, his deputy – who usually sits opposite the underwriter – and some staff, quite often these are youngsters who enter the lines written by the underwriter or his deputy. At the other end of the box from the underwriter might sit a senior member of the syndicate staff engaged in claims settlement.