meeting, pointing out that the shareholders will have to be informed at the AGM.’
‘When is the AGM?’
‘That’s where I need your advice, Sir Giles. Do you have any idea when the general election will be called?’
‘The smart money’s on May twenty-sixth, and that’s certainly the date I’m planning on.’
‘When will we know for certain?’ asked Buchanan.
‘There’s usually about a month’s warning before Parliament is prorogued.’
‘Good, then I’ll call the board meeting for –’ he turned some pages in his diary – ‘April eighteenth, and schedule the AGM for May fifth.’
‘Why would you want to hold the AGM in the middle of an election campaign?’ asked Emma.
‘Because it’s the one time I can guarantee that a constituency chairman will not be able to attend.’
‘Chairman?’ queried Giles, showing far more interest.
‘You clearly haven’t read the evening paper,’ said Ray Compton, handing him a copy of the Bristol Evening Post.
Giles read the headline: Former Tobruk hero becomes Bristol Docklands Conservative Chairman. Major Alex Fisher was unanimously voted . . .
‘What’s that man up to?’ he said.
‘He assumes you’re going to lose the election, and wants to be chairman when—’
‘If that was true, he would have backed Neville Simpson and not Greg Dunnett to be the Conservative candidate, because Simpson would have proved a far more formidable opponent. He’s up to something.’
‘What would you like us to do, Mr Buchanan?’ asked Emma, remembering why the chairman had asked to see her and Giles in the first place.
‘I need your authority to buy every share that comes on to the market on May fifth, and to keep on buying for the following three weeks.’
‘How much could we lose?’
‘I’m afraid it might be as much as twenty to thirty thousand pounds. But at least this time we’ve chosen the date of the battle, and the battlefield, so you should break even at worst, and you might possibly make a bob or two.’
‘If it means replacing Fisher on the board,’ said Giles, ‘as well as spiking Virginia’s guns, thirty thousand pounds would be a cheap price to pay.’
‘While we’re on the subject of replacing Fisher as a board member . . .’
‘I’m not available,’ said Giles, ‘even if I do lose my seat at the election.’
‘I wasn’t thinking of you, Sir Giles. I was rather hoping Mrs Clifton might agree to become a member of the board.’
‘The prime minister, Sir Anthony Eden, visited Buckingham Palace at four o’clock this afternoon, for an audience with Her Majesty The Queen. Sir Anthony asked Her Majesty’s permission to dissolve Parliament in order that a General Election could be held on May 26th. Her Majesty graciously agreed to his request.’
‘Just as you predicted,’ said Virginia as she switched off the radio. ‘When do you intend to tell the unfortunate Mr Dunnett what you have in mind for him?’
‘Timing is everything,’ said Fisher. ‘I thought I’d wait until Sunday afternoon before I asked him to come and see me.’
‘Why Sunday afternoon?’
‘I don’t want any other members of the committee to be around at the time.’
‘Machiavelli would have been proud to have you as chairman of his committee,’ said Virginia.
‘Machiavelli didn’t believe in committees.’
Virginia laughed. ‘And when do you plan to ring our friend in Hong Kong?’
‘I’ll call Benny the night before the AGM. It’s important that he places the sell order the moment Buchanan rises to address the meeting.’
Virginia took a Passing Cloud out of her cigarette case, sat back, and waited for the major to strike a match. She inhaled a couple of times before she said, ‘Don’t you think it’s a coincidence, major, that everything is falling so neatly into place on the same day?’
21
‘DUNNETT, IT’S GOOD of you to drop in at such short notice, especially on a Sunday afternoon.’
‘My pleasure, Mr Chairman. I know you’ll be pleased to hear how well our canvassing is going. The early returns suggest we should win the seat by over a thousand votes.’
‘Let’s hope you’re right, Dunnett, for the party’s sake, because I’m afraid my news is not so good. You’d better have a seat.’
The cheerful smile on the candidate’s face was replaced with a quizzical look. ‘What’s the problem, Mr Chairman?’ he asked as he sat down in the chair opposite Fisher.
‘I think you know only too well what the problem is.’
Dunnett began biting his lower lip as he stared at the chairman.
‘When you applied for this seat and supplied the committee with your CV,’ continued Fisher, ‘it appears you weren’t entirely frank with us.’ Fisher had only ever seen a