Читать книгу The Fund - Jeff Edwards - Страница 11

Sloane had managed to obtain a great deal of information regarding Dr Rani Smith, as well as Janice (aka Jade) Patricia Green from the Internet and from newspaper archives. Most of the information had not been accessed in decades and stood largely forgotten. He followed up the leads presented there with old census and electoral rolls as well as hospital, university and the student records from the school formerly known as the Staunton College for Young Ladies and which had now evolved into The Staunton Academy, a co-educational school which specialised in boarders from overseas.

All the information gathered added to Sloane’s background detail and helped to add a further dimension to the characters he was investigating.

He now knew where they had come from and could better appreciate where their lives took them. All he needed now was confirmation that his suspicions were correct and Dr Rani Smith was the person who could provide him with that information.

Sloane rang her home and asked the young female who answered if he could speak to Dr Rani Smith. After a brief wait Dr Smith answered, sounding very spritely despite her age.

After introducing himself, Sloane explained that he was seeking background information on Jade Green and requested a face to face interview.

Dr Smith took some time before answering. ‘What makes you believe that I would have any information on this Jade Green person?’

Sloane suspected that he would receive such a reply. ‘Dr Smith, I was present at your friend’s funeral. I saw you there.’

‘And what makes you think that just because I attended a funeral, the person was a friend of mine?’

Sloane smiled to himself. He tried to be as gentle as he could with the old lady. ‘Dr Smith, I admire your loyalty to your old friend, but I don’t mean to do any further damage to her reputation. In fact, with the information I have I believe the world needs to see the infamous Jade Green in a completely different light.’

‘I’m sure your motives are quite admirable, Mr Sloane, but I don’t see how I could possibly be of assistance to you.’

Sloane smiled again. She was being far too polite. If she were not the person he sought then she would have hung up on him by now.

He was sure that she wanted to know just how much he knew before dismissing him completely. It was time to set her straight. ‘With all due respect to your age, Dr Smith, I’m sure your memory has not deserted you completely. I’m almost certain that you can remember The Staunton College for Young Ladies and the girl from Shanghai that you shared a room with for all those years.’

He smiled at the sound of the sharp intake of breath at the other end of the line and continued. ‘I’m sure you also remember the woman you shared lodgings with when you went to university and medical school. I would most certainly think you would remember the woman who paid your fees to attend those institutions. Your name also appears on the wedding certificate of Robert Symes and Janice Green. Do you remember her now?’

‘What do you want?’ asked a suddenly steely voiced Dr Rani Smith.

Sloane spoke softly. ‘I have the facts. I could write a very good story based just on the facts, but what I want is the flesh that surrounds the facts. I need to understand how, and why, the events happened as they did. That’s where the true story lies. Will you help me to understand the facts or will I be forced to write it without the flesh, without understanding the why of the facts.’

‘I thank you for your candor, Mr Sloane, but I’d like to think about your request if I may.’

‘Of course, Dr Smith. May I ring you tomorrow?’

‘Thank you, Mr Sloane. I’ll expect your call.’

Quite shaken by Sloane’s call, Rani Smith asked her granddaughter to bring her a cup of tea which she sipped while planning her next move.

Reaching a decision, she took her leather bound diary from a desk drawer and consulted the phone numbers and then placed an international call. She was delighted when the phone was picked up on the third ring.

‘Good morning, Colleen, I hope I didn’t wake you.’

‘Rani! So wonderful to hear from you again so soon. I was just sitting down to breakfast on a sparkling autumn day.’

‘You still call it autumn after all those years?’

‘I’m afraid fall just doesn’t mean anything to me. You can take the girl out of England, but you can’t take England out of the girl. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?’

‘I have a problem. A reporter has contacted me. He wants to talk about Jade.’

‘Tell him to get lost. You don’t have to talk to him.’

‘I was going to do just that, but he already knows so much.’

‘Like what?’

‘The early days, our schooling together, how she paid for my tuition. Heavens knows how much else.’

Colleen was quiet for a time. ‘You were thinking of changing the name of the foundation to include Jade, weren’t you?’

‘I had thought about it, especially after the amounts she bequeathed, but I realised that Jade was right. It would only harm our image.’

‘I agree. Jade loved the work you were doing. She would have been devastated if her name had caused it any damage. I suppose you’re going to have to talk to this man and try to reason with him.’

‘Do you think he’ll listen?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps you can divert him from anything that may be damaging.’

‘Do you think I should let the others know?’

‘Yes. Definitely. Their position may be in danger if he finds out too much.’

‘I’ll ring them as soon as I get off the phone to you. Perhaps they should be here to talk to him as well?’

‘Possibly, but their presence might tip him off.’

‘I’ll ring them and see what they say. Has anyone tried to contact you?’

‘No. Not yet anyway. What’s this reporter’s name?’

‘Sloane.’

‘I’ll be on the alert. Thanks, Rani. Keep me up to date.’

After hanging up, Rani Smith made a further call to the offices of The Fund where the receptionist placed her call through to Brian Reynolds.

‘Dr Smith! It’s good to hear from you! Have you changed your mind about joining the board?’

‘I have quite enough on my plate looking after my foundation, especially with the extra funds. We’re going back over our records to see if we can use it to help students that we were previously unable to assist because of our tight budget.’

‘Excellent news! Now, how can I help you?’

‘I’ve been contacted by a reporter. He wants to talk about Jade.’

‘What’s his name?’

‘Sloane.’

‘I think that’s the same person who’s been trying to contact Toby and Suzie Brown. They’ve just been ignoring him.’

‘I’m afraid that’s not an option for me. He’s found out about our early life together. I have to find out just how much he knows.’

‘If you think he’s capable of doing too much damage, let us know. Perhaps we’ll need to use The Fund’s resources to ensure his silence.’

‘Buy him off?’

‘If he intends to publish something that could bring your foundation into question or to present the government with a reason to close The Fund down, then we’ll have to do what we can to stop him. The easiest and quickest way will be to try and buy him off.’

‘What if that doesn’t work?’

‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Would you like to have one of us there with you?’

‘No. I think I can handle one reporter.’ Rani chuckled. ‘If it all gets to be too much for me, I’ll simply clutch at my chest and look dizzy.’

Brian smiled down the line: ‘Yes. I can just imagine you doing something like that. It would be something that I would have expected from your friend Jade.’

Rani laughed: ‘We taught each other well.’

* * *

Sam Tait sipped at his coffee. His legs were stretched out before him and rested on the top of the coffee table as he read the file.

‘Our friend Mr Sloane has been making some interesting inquiries.

I wonder why our people didn’t think to look in the same places.’

Bree Lake regarded her partner. His feet on the low table made her cringe. Thank heaven they weren’t using her flat as a base of operations. There would have been murder committed if he had dared to treat her furniture in such a cavalier manner.

Bree studied Thorpe’s recent phone records. ‘He contacted Rani Smith yesterday.’

Sam looked at Bree over the top of his file. ‘How would he have been able to find out that she was mentioned in Green’s will?’

‘You’re right! That part of the will went “missing”.’

‘Perhaps he came across her name somewhere else?’

‘There’s just too much we don’t know.’

‘I wonder what she thought when he contacted her?’

‘If she has something to hide then it could be significant.’

‘Would she panic?’

‘I don’t think so, but she might want to discuss the situation with someone else.’

Sam smiled. ‘She wouldn’t just discuss it with anyone. It would have to be someone else that was part of the secret.’

‘Oh yes!’ grinned Bree. ‘I think we need to take a close look at who she spoke to. I’ll get headquarters to download her telephone records to my computer immediately.’

Sam boiled the kettle and replenished his cup of instant coffee while Bree rang headquarters and relayed her request.

Not long after, the information appeared on Bree’s screen and she printed the information out for future reference.

Bree noted the time of Sloane’s call to Rani Smith and then checked the doctor’s phone records. ‘Not five minutes after she hung up on Sloane the good doctor made an international call to New York. I’ll have to do a search to find out who that was to, but as soon as she completed that call she made another call to a local number.’ Bree smiled as she made a search and located the name of the second number dialled. ‘The Fund! She rang someone at The Fund!’

‘Very interesting! I might have suspected the call to The Fund, but a call to New York before she rang them means that she considered the person in New York to be more important than whoever she spoke to at The Fund. I definitely want to find out who that American is.’

‘Unfortunately, it’s not coming up on the reverse directory. It seems Rani Smith’s friend has a silent listing.’

‘That will only slow us down a little. Have headquarters contact our friends in the US. We’ll want a full dossier on whoever has that number. While we wait, I think it’s time for us to go over and talk to Mr Sloane.’