Ghigau 8

Wednesday 12th July

 

Much as he didn’t want to, Lenny had to go to work. He wanted to talk to Jake face to face. Lydia was upstairs with her grandmother Julia, who had ‘motored up’, as she still put it, from her retirement apartment in Bexhill-on-Sea. Lydia hadn’t been to school since Nikki had gone missing — was he really saying those words in his head?— He hadn’t even tried to persuade her to go. Their lives were hanging by a thread. Until Nikki was home nothing would be normal.

    He poked his head around Lydia’s bedroom door. “I’m off love, I won’t be long.”

    Lydia was sitting on her bed cross legged, with headphones on, reading a magazine. He could see she had been crying. She couldn’t hear him and didn’t look up.

    “Don’t worry, I’ll call if we need you,” Julia said. She nodded and smiled to let him know they would be ok. She was a fit and well seventy year old, still smart as a whip and, next to Nikki, the person Lenny trusted most in the world.

    “Thanks mum.” He blew her a kiss and left.

 

    He walked to work as usual. If possible, the weather was even hotter than yesterday. The sun was already an angry white-orange disc in the sky. As he passed by familiar landmarks his mind raced with theories. His stomach churned with anxiety at the thought of Nikki being hurt or worse. How would he cope? What would it do to Lydia? To lose Jamie was almost unbearable, he wasn’t sure he would survive losing Nikki as well. But if she wasn’t incapacitated in some way what could possibly have happened?  He knew she wouldn’t consciously do anything to cause him or Lydia pain, but if that was true then where was she? His mother had suggested that it might be a delayed breakdown, that Nikki had just not been able to cope and gone off to heal herself — but he was sure this wasn’t true, he felt it deep down. He tried to be logical. If Nikki was in control of her own actions and had gone for a reason, what could that reason be? He came up blank. Nothing he could think of would make her leave like this. He had checked everything he could think of that might have given a clue as to what happened. They had a joint account and none of Nikki’s cards had been used since that day. He’d called every hospital, and everyone he could think of who Nikki might have been in touch with — nothing. Her phone was switched off and the phone company were unwilling to share any information unless requested by the police. 

    He looked at his watch, he had four hours until the officer who had phoned him came round. What was her name? Tate, wasn’t it? Yes, Samantha Tate. Why does she sound familiar? Lenny thought, something tugging at his memory.

 

He arrived at the office by 9am. Jake was already at his desk and on the phone. A large oscillating fan was whirring in the corner, making pieces of paper occasionally flutter and threaten to lift off.

        “Sure, of course, by Friday, yes.” Jake ended his call and stood up. “Lenny, mate, you ok? I didn’t think I’d see you today. Any news? Catherine is beside herself. I just can’t believe what’s happened, it’s — I mean it’s just…” He ran out of words.

    “No news yet, no,” said Lenny. “I’ve had a call from the police, they’re coming round this afternoon.” He sat down and opened his laptop.

    “So have they said anything? Do they have any idea what might have happened?

    Lenny’s stomach somersaulted at the word ‘happened’. Had something happened? He calmed himself before speaking. “Nothing, no.” He had the unpleasant sensation that Jake was secretly pleased there was something else to focus on other than their discussion two days ago.  “Listen we need to talk about the issue with these solicitors — today.” He said.

    “Hey, look, you’ve got enough to worry ab—”

    Lenny cut him off. “Never mind that.” He was emphatic. “I want to know what we’re going to do about this. “And don’t say the contract with GREnergy will sort it out because I’m not sure I want anything to do with that.”

    Jake looked aghast. “You don’t mean that, we can’t turn down that kind of money!”

    “Working with Aidan Hulme could cost us the whole company Jake.”

    “We’re not working with him, he’s just one investor. Can’t a guy clean up his act? Maybe he wants to do something good with his money?” Jake pleaded.

    “He’s not cleaning anything up believe me.” Said Lenny.

    “But we can’t be responsible for every connection to our clients can we?” Jake held his hands out, palms up. “ I mean where do we stop? Should we investigate the politics of their grandparents? It’s crazy.” He fell silent.

    Lenny took a deep breath before responding. He was near to losing his temper, but conscious this wasn’t all Jakes’s fault. “It’s not the same thing Jake. Hulme is diametrically opposed to our mission statement and he’s a big stakeholder, he has direct influence over their business. We’re going to have to think very carefully before we make a decision.”

    Jake took this as a concession, “Absolutely mate, of course. We’ll think it over and make a decision when this…, this situation with Nikki is all sorted.” He was clearly relieved that Lenny wasn’t going to make him decide today.

    “Let’s talk about the money.”

    “I’m sorting it Lenny, I promise.”

    “When?” Lenny wasn’t letting it go.

    “I told you. I’ve spoken to Dad, he’s negotiating with them.”

    “Negotiating? What does that mean?”

    Jake stood and walked over to the fan, turning his back on it and letting it cool his back “You know Dad, he wants a deal.” He looked uncomfortable. 

    William Booth was the old block that Jake was a chip off. A burly Yorkshireman and self-made millionaire (as he liked to refer to himself) who’d built a decent property portfolio in the north-east that mostly housed low income families in barely liveable conditions. He wasn’t a man to pay full price for anything.

    “And he’s talking to these solicitors?” Lenny said.

    “Yes, he’s going to sort it, no problem at all, it’s basically a done deal.” Jake looked glum then. “I’ll pay in the long run though, make no mistake.”

    Lenny didn’t doubt it, but had no sympathy for Jake. It was his own fault.

    They were different people for sure. Lenny’s family roots were firmly working class Essex. His father Ben was an orphan who had made it to Commander in the Royal Navy but had always remained a no-nonsense down to earth character. His mother Julia was the daughter of a publican and had been a nurse until she retired to care for Ben who had suffered a stroke at 65. She was clever and well read, but unpretentious. Lenny had gone to a good state school and on to Leicester University. 

    Jake had similarly prosaic roots albeit Yorkshire based, but his parents, having made a pile of money, became obsessed with bettering themselves and had sent Jake to a minor public school from where he went on to Durham.

    Lenny had always liked Jake, but now he wasn’t sure he trusted him. The events of the last few days had made his mind up, he wanted out of the business. He wanted his wife to come home and he wanted to be free of Jake Booth and his fuck-ups. 

    “Ok, well, keep me posted on what happens. I need to know it’s dealt with.” Lenny said.

    “I will, I will.” Jake nodded.

 

After Lenny had left for his meeting with the police, Jake shut the office door and pulled down the blinds for privacy. He let Liam know that he didn’t want to be disturbed. He picked up his phone and opened his messages, scrolling through until he found the one from ‘anonymous’ and tapped on the number in the body of the text. 

    What have I got myself into? He thought, as the line connected. 

    “Hello? May I speak to Mr Smith?” He felt silly using the patently false contact name he’d been given. 

    “Hold on please.” A female voice responded. The phone went quiet for a while before a click announced that the call had transferred to a someone else. “Hello?” A man’s voice this time. Hard edged, impatient.

    “Yes, hello, this is Jake Booth. I was told to ring this number if I had any information about my business partner Lenny, Lenny Talbot?”.

    “And?” The voice was terse, authoritative.

    “I’m not sure if this is the kind of thing I should be calling about but…” He paused. “Lenny’s wife Nikki, she’s gone missing, I mean like disappeared.” Jake’s breathing was laboured, he felt sweat beading on his brow and his pulse was racing.  He went on, gabbling now, “She didn’t come home when she was supposed to, just vanished on her walk home. It’s a fucking nightmare. The police are looking for her. I mean it’s crazy… It’s crazy. She’s my wife’s best friend for christ’s sake.” He paused, unsure about his next words. “It’s not, um,  anything to do with… is it? I mean I’m not suggesting that—.”

    The voice cut him off. “Suggesting that — what exactly?” The tone was calm, unperturbed but somehow threatening.

    “Nothing, nothing.” Jake felt nauseous.

    “I can assure you we have nothing to do with Mrs Talbot’s… situation.” The voice said. “This is purely a business transaction as you well know. But of course our personal lives and our business lives sometimes cross over, do they not? 

    “I guess so, yes.”  Jake agreed, not sure what he was actually agreeing with. “Also, Lenny is going cold on our GREenergy deal, the one I told you about.”

    “What makes you say that Mr Booth?”    

    “Because he made it pretty clear to me. He discovered that Aidan Hulme is one of the backers, you know, the billionaire crypto guy?” Adding, by way of explanation, “He thinks that any connection with Aidan Hulme is going to hurt our business.”

    “Is that so?” Said the voice calmly. “And how do you feel about that? Did you try to convince him otherwise?”

    “I’m trying, I’m trying. I want this deal, I need this deal. But Lenny’s no pushover and he’s not stupid.” Jake protested.

    “Well, neither are you, Mr Booth, hopefully. Thank you for the information.  We’ll adjust your account accordingly and notify you of the new balance. Be sure to update us again if anything comes up. In the meantime we’ll contact you if we need to.” The line went dead.

    Who the fuck are these people and what the fuck do they want with Lenny? Jake asked himself, not for the first time.