New Directions (35)

 

Seven minutes after the appointed hour a green German made van pulled up next to my car. Tasteful lettering in mid-blue announced it worked for EV Digital Securities Ltd. Looking out from the kitchen window, I watched Erik unfold his six-five bean pole to exit the vehicle, it seemed to shrink when he stood next to it. It always amazed me how he squeezed his giant frame into the tiny spaces we often worked in or how he could move around unnoticed under fire. By the time I got the door he was already standing at the threshold with a box in one hand and a PC case in the other.

 

‘l’accord représailles,’ he announced, I thought for a second he was going to salute, but of course he couldn’t

 

I said my part, ‘La  Legion est Notre Patrie.’

 

Formalities over, which in simple terms means: “You’ve always got my back - I’ve always got your back.”  Erik stepped inside and handed me the box.

 

‘Brought you a present.’ 

 

‘ Een gift voor mij?’ I joked.

 

‘I think you would prefer a bullet,’ (gift is a teutonic word for poison). I’ve got you a new security system. I broke yours. We can fix it up later, I’ve added a few specials. A mosquito won’t get past this one.’

 

‘Would you? He knew what I was asking.

 

‘It only surveys when you’re not in the house, I swear.’

 

‘Does this one play Stormy Daniels movies?’  

 

Ignoring the question Erik took a carton of strong Dutch coffee from his pocket, ‘let’s get down to business.’

 

‘You know where everything is, you can make the coffee.’

 

‘I’ll do the best I can with that piece of junk you call a coffee maker.’

 

As we drank the kind of strong yet surprisingly smooth coffee you can only seem to get in the Netherlands, Erik set up his PC. Almost instantly the screen filled with spreadsheets showing the health of The Duke of Swindon’s estate down to the last penny. Following them; Celia’s Trust fund contents and arrangements following her death, all laid out in correspondence between the two law firms over a period of 18 years. 

 

‘I’ve put it all on a memory stick, makes interesting reading,’ Erik said slapping the thing on the table, ‘A lot to go through, but I’d say the only reason the duke would kill the lady is because he’s a psychopath.’

 

‘Which he isn’t.’

 

‘In a nutshell the Estate is swimming in money and your Gerald’s been monitoring the old lady’s wealth very carefully since he took over from his father — who reading between the lines — was a total asshole. He’s made sure she gets the maximum income from the trust and gets her wishes on what happens to everything after she croaks. The only thing he’ll get is enough to cover his expenses: his request.’

 

’So Gerald is a good guy and I was wrong.’

 

‘Well, yes, but he is definitely an “ant fucker” as they say in Holland.

 

‘An ant what?’

 

‘A nit-picking bastard,’ Erik clarified. ‘He’s driven Celia’s lawyers crazy plus he won’t allow change on his land. The pub in Maplebury instance. The landlord wants to modernise it, bring in a chef and start serving restaurant food. The duke won’t have it, he wants it to stay “a rustic haven for the local community,” his words. The landlord’s really struggling even with Gerald’s financial support.’

 

‘Shit you’ve been busy, Mate.’

 

‘It’s all on the stick, you’ll need a little time to digest it all. There’s more. The only reason your friend Dev got the cottage was because it was signed over by the father before he died, Gerald couldn’t get out of it, he wanted to sign it into Celia’s trust.’

 

‘That don’t look promising for Dev’s hope of getting the other four.’

 

‘Forget about that, not your prob. The thing you need to be aware of is what your friend Stokes is into. Once you know you’ll understand why Guido wants you to back off. 

 

‘Does the name Alan Mercer come up in Stokesy’s stuff? 

 

Erik thought for a few seconds, like he was searching data, ’Nope. Is it relevant?’

 

‘He was the piece of shit casing Celia’s cottage I’ve tracked him down. I have his location, I just need his address. I planned to go looking for him today, it’s bloody important. He’s the link to the whoever arranged the blag. I want to get hold of him before they suss it and he gets topped.’

 

‘Ah you have a lead, Let’s find out all about him.’ Eric stabbed a button and the pc went blank, his fingers flew across the keyboard. Unable to follow the stream of numbers and symbols flashing up I opened the security system box and took a stab at reading the installation manual while he worked.

 

After a what felt like a couple of minutes of frantic clicking Eric turned his laptop to face me. A distorted picture of a nondescript building came on screen. I realised it was in real time when a bus pulled up at a nearby stop.

 

‘I just love © Ring,’ Erik breathed.