Читать книгу Legacy - Jeff Edwards - Страница 13

As they reviewed their notes back at the shop Bree declared: ‘We certainly stirred him up at the end, but I don’t think Jade Green got to him.’

Sam nodded: ‘I agree. He was almost certainly one of Green’s clients, but he ran the case as well as he could. It wasn’t his decision to settle and let Brown get away with it.’

‘What about interference with the judge?’ asked Bree.

‘Not likely from what I can see. We’ll go over the transcripts to be certain that the judge didn’t push the hearing in any one direction, but I think it will only confirm what we already believe.’

‘So it comes down to the board of the Briscoe Corporation.’

‘A perfectly capable managing director is voted out just before a large settlement is made. A settlement that probably wouldn’t have taken place if an appeal had been lodged. It certainly does look suspicious.’

‘So we make inquiries at Briscoe Corporation.’

‘I’m looking forward to meeting Mr Potter and his friends.’

Clive Potter had come a long way in a short time.

Less than a year before, his position on the board of Briscoe Corporation had been largely to make up the required numbers. Few of the board members had had any purpose in life other than to rubber-stamp the decisions of the managing director, Walter Groom. Groom had been the man in charge for so many years, that no one else even considered the possibility that he should be replaced.

However, Groom had alienated most of the people around him with his attitude. To Groom, the company was his, and his alone. It always had been, and it always would be. No one else had any idea how to run the company and Groom continuously told them so in no uncertain terms.

Now, Clive Potter was the man in charge and he had no intention of falling for the same mistakes that Groom had. The company was too big for just one man to rule. He did what Groom had found it impossible to do, and that was to delegate authority. Potter was in overall charge, but now other members of the board were responsible for the various independent divisions of the corporation.

The first few months had been difficult, as shown by the drop in the value of their stocks, but the latest reports from the divisions had been very encouraging.

A grin of satisfaction creased his mouth as he read the figures.

He was still congratulating himself when his assistant ushered Bree and Sam into his office. Potter had been expecting them, but had no idea what Inland Security would want from him. Probably something to do with one of their industries that supplied the military.

Expecting two suited males, he was surprised to find the agents to be a casually dressed male and an expensively dressed, and beautiful, woman.

‘Well what can I do for Inland Security?’ he asked as they shook hands.

‘Frank answers to our questions would be a good start,’ replied Bree with an ingratiating smile.

Potter returned her smile.

‘Of course. Our company is always willing to co-operate with the authorities.’

The three continued with small talk for a while as the agents lulled Potter into thinking this was a periodic occurrence and not an actual investigation. The topics ranged around security procedures being adopted and the latest in security devices.

Finally, Sam decided the time had come. ‘I was wondering why the Briscoe Corporation decided to settle so quickly after losing your case with Toby Brown.’

Potter was taken completely off guard.

‘What?’

Bree smiled at him.

‘My partner asked why your company settled so quickly, after losing to Toby Brown.’

Potter didn’t know what was going on

‘What would make you ask a question like that?’

‘I’m asking that question because I would like to have your answer.’

‘But what has that to do with security?’

‘It has a great deal to do with security. However, we are not at liberty to discuss the details with you. We simply require you to answer the question. Do you want me to repeat it?’

‘I think the reasons are a matter of privacy.’

‘Would you like us to subpoena the corporation for transcripts of all board meetings for the relevant period?’ asked Bree. ‘I’m sure you don’t want to put your staff to that trouble. They might even read the documents as they photocopy them for us.’

Potter realised he had been backed into a corner.

‘It was a commercial decision,’ he blustered. ‘The sooner we settled the question of ownership, the sooner we could purchase the property from Brown, and the sooner we could commence sub-dividing it.’

Sam asked: ‘Why didn’t you appeal the decision? Surely you could have waited that long. You might have won and not had to purchase the property for a second time.’

‘An appeal would have cost us a lot more in legal fees. We saved ourselves a lot by not appealing.’

‘You saved yourselves a lot, compared to the amount of compensation you paid to Toby Brown?’

‘Yes. That’s right.’

Bree and Sam exchanged glances. The first lie.

Bree decided to let the matter rest for the moment and moved on to a different topic. ‘Why did Walter Groom give up the running of Briscoe Corporation?’

‘What’s he got to do with anything? He was a criminal. We’re better off without him.’

‘Was he a criminal before he resigned as managing director, or after?’ asked Sam.

Realising he was being pushed into making admissions he wanted to avoid, Potter decided to tell the truth. Partly. ‘We voted Groom off the board. He wasn’t well liked. We thought he wasn’t an asset to the corporation any more.’

‘Who decided?’

‘The board as a whole.’

‘So who got the board together? Who started the drive to oust Groom?’

Potter reddened: ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

‘Was it you Mr Potter? Is that why you became managing director?’

‘What are you saying?’

Sam looked at Potter closely: ‘Did you organise the overthrow of Walter Groom, and were you rewarded by being given his job?’

‘The board voted me this position. The board voted to remove Groom as managing director.’

Bree leaned in closer to Potter and looked him in the eye: ‘So the board, with no prior planning, decided unanimously to replace their current managing director. A man who had led the corporation for many, many successful years. A most unusual occurrence wouldn’t you say Mr Potter?’

Potter was trying to think; what could he say, how could he get out of this?

‘Perhaps we had an indication of Groom’s criminal behaviour.’

Bree smiled: ‘Ah! So you were aware of his activities and decided to get rid of him. He would be a liability, wouldn’t he?’

Potter saw a way out: ‘Yes. Of course.’

Sam said: ‘So. Let’s recap. The board, as a whole, knew about Groom’s criminal activities and decided to get rid of him as managing director?’

‘Um. Yes,’ agreed Potter.

‘So why wasn’t he dismissed from the board completely? Why was he allowed to remain as a director?’ asked Sam.

Not giving Potter time to think, Bree quickly added: ‘Groom was officially a director of Briscoe Corporation right up till the day he was killed by Jade Green.’

Sam watched as Potter paled at the mention of Jade Green’s name.

‘Were you a client’s of Jade Green’s?’ asked Bree.

‘No! Never!’ exclaimed Potter.

Sam and Bree rose as one. Bree said: ‘That will be all for now. If we have any further questions we’ll be back.’

They walked towards the door. As they were about to leave, Sam turned to Potter, who sat unhappily behind his desk. ‘By the way, if the entire board knew about Groom’s criminal activities and did not report them they are all guilty of serious criminal offences. And if the charges were proved to be correct the entire board would cease to be eligible to act as directors. You’d all be out of jobs. Remember that the next time we request information.’

The agents smiled with satisfaction.

As they left, Bree stopped to talk to Potter’s secretary. She smiled benignly as she approached the secretary’s desk.

‘Your Mr Potter is such a lovely gentleman, isn’t he?’

‘Oh, he’s a wonderful person to work with,’ said the secretary. She knew full well Bree was from Inland Security and was going to make sure her boss was shown in the best possible light. ‘He’s such a hard working person and does so much for his church and their charities.’

‘How does he manage to do all that and still have time for his family?’

‘He makes sure his family comes first in everything. I help remind him, of course. He can’t be expected to remember every little detail.’

‘That makes you a very important person around here. How do you cope, does your family life suffer for it?’

‘Oh no. My husband understands completely. It’s not as though I’ll be doing it for the rest of my life. I’ll give it up to have a family in a couple of years and I haven’t been doing it all that long anyway.’

‘So you’ve just become Mr Potter’s secretary?’

‘About six months ago. Just after his other secretary left. While he was still just a director,’

‘She left to have a family too?’

‘I don’t really know. Mr Potter doesn’t talk about it. She was here one day and gone the next. There wasn’t even a farewell party for her, and she had been his secretary for years.’

Bree turned to Sam, who was standing in the background, taking in the information. A raised eyebrow was all he needed.

Bree continued making small-talk, seeing what other information she could elicit, while Sam quietly left the room and wandered down the hallway to the office next door.

It was an office similar to the one he had just come from. A secretary finished her phone call and smiled professionally at Sam’s approach.

‘Can I help you sir?’

Sam produced his identification and said: ‘I’ve just been interviewing your managing director, Mr Potter, and he was trying to recall some information for us. He still is, but he thinks the best person to contact would be his former secretary. Do you know what became of her?’

‘Yes. I remember her. We didn’t have much in common. In fact none of the other secretaries did. She was a very religious person. Very upright and formal. Not an easy person to get to know, or like, unless of course you had the same high moral and religious convictions that she did.’

‘So what happened to her?’

‘That’s the funny thing. No one knows. She was working here as usual, nothing out of the ordinary, and the next thing she’s packed her things and walked out the door. Mr Potter didn’t even know she was gone. I can remember him coming around looking for her after he’d had a meeting with some of the other directors. But she had just packed up and gone.’

‘And no one knows where she went?’

‘No.’

‘Could she have gotten a better offer from some other company?’

‘I suppose she could have, except one of the other girls saw her go and tried to talk to her but she was very distraught and crying.’

‘So she was probably dismissed then.’

‘I thought so at first, but Mr Potter didn’t know she was gone. Like I said, he came looking for her.’

‘What’s her name?’

‘Post. Hannah Post. Mrs Hannah Post.’

‘I suppose your human resources department will have her details?’

‘Yes. You’ll find them down on the third floor.’

Human Resources was in a large general office with no sign of the luxurious appointments displayed on the executive levels. There was no smiling receptionist here. Sam stood at the counter and waited for one of the desk-bound staff to pull themselves away from their computer terminals to attend to him.

What appeared to be the office’s most junior clerk lost the battle with her fellow workers and reluctantly ambled to the counter.

‘Can I help you?’ asked the seventeen-year-old.

‘I’m sure you can,’ Sam said, producing his usual charming smile along with his identification.

The girl’s face went white as she read his identification. ‘I’ll just get my boss,’ she squeaked as she ran off.

Her reaction had attracted the attention of the rest of the staff, who looked up to see what was happening. Sam smiled at them and their eyes immediately dropped back to their screens.

The girl returned with a middle-aged woman who identified herself as the deputy of human resources. Sam showed her his identification, and requested the home address for Hannah Post.

‘I don’t think we can give that information out. It’s private.’

Sam again produced his most winning smile.

‘I think Mr Potter might see it differently. I’ve just been talking to him. Would you like to ring his office and confirm that?’

The woman didn’t know what to do. Should she ring the new managing director and ask him, and possibly make him upset, or did she just give out the information? What if Sam were lying?

Opting for a safe approach, she rang Potter’s secretary.

‘I have a gentleman from Inland Security down here. Has he been to see Mr Potter?’

‘Why yes. I just had a lovely talk to his assistant as well. They’re very nice people,’

Relieved, the human resources woman returned to Sam, and said: ‘Did you say Hannah Post? Wasn’t she Mr Potter’s secretary?’

‘That’s the one.’

Consulting a nearby computer, she made a note. ‘I’ll just go and get her file.’

Returning a short time later, she placed a binder of documents on the counter. The front page gave Hannah Post’s full name as Hannah Jordan Post and her personnel number as 345765F.

‘What information are you after?’

Taking out his notebook, Sam noted down her full name and asked: ‘What is her current address?’

‘That should be easy enough,’ replied the deputy as she turned over several pages. She paused, reread some notes, and turned back to Sam. ‘We don’t know where she lives.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘We don’t know where she lives. According to our records, she simply walked out. No notice was tendered. We waited for a month to see if she would contact us, for her to explain her actions, but she never did, so we were forced to terminate her. All her entitlements were calculated and a cheque was posted out to the home address recorded on her file. The letter and the cheque were returned by the post office, marked ‘no longer at this address’. We still have her money here, waiting to be collected.’

Bells were ringing in Sam’s brain. This was too much of a coincidence.

‘What was her last address?’

Turning to the documents, she read: ‘145 Chisholm Street, Orangegrove.’

‘Who’s listed as her next-of-kin?’

‘It looks like her husband, Dr Simon Peter Post, also of the same address.’

‘Are there any other relatives referred to in her documents?’

‘No nothing. No parents, nor children,’

‘Thank you. Do you have a phone number that I can contact you on in case we have some further inquiries?’

The deputy supplied those details. She couldn’t wait for Sam to leave so that she could get on to the phone. This bit of juicy gossip would be spread throughout the building by the end of the day.

Sam met Bree back at the car. She noticed his serious expression.

‘What is it?’

‘We now have a secretary who quits her job under suspicious circumstances and promptly disappears.’

Driving off, Sam elaborated while Bree consulted the street directory and gave him directions to Chisholm Street, Orangegrove.