when it arrived from the auditors. The shareholder information’s set out there, and he just came out with it. “You know why that is?” he said, and then he volunteered the answer.’
‘That must have pleased you, in a way,’ I suggested. ‘After all, it shows that you have the complete trust of the son as well as the father.’
It occurred to me that it showed also that Rachel had Eden by the balls, suppose Luisa did harbour ambitions there. But I didn’t say that; I said nothing, and allowed her to carry on being frank.
‘I suppose,’ she admitted, ‘although Rory really is only learning the business. His father’s bringing him in gradually, with a view to retiring in five years or so. As it is, Rachel already lives in Monaco for quite a few months out of every year. It’s an easy commute,’ she added. ‘The company has its own plane. ’
All of that set me wondering once again about her and Eden, with the cat being away so much, but I let it lie. I hadn’t come to interrogate Luisa; that had been a bonus. She’d started talking; all my experience has taught me that when people do that, if it’s news to you, shut up and listen.
‘Mr Hurrell,’ I said abruptly.
‘Yes.’ She too snapped back to the reason for my visit. ‘He’s in his room, waiting for you. He has nothing to do until Eden’s return flight gets in from London this evening.’
She led me towards a door, next to her own and two away from Eden’s office, rapped quickly on it and opened it. ‘Walter,’ she called out, ‘Mr Skinner’s here to see you,’ then stood aside to let me past.
If I’d been expecting a little man in a chauffeur’s uniform, I couldn’t have been further from the reality of Walter Hurrell as he stood up to greet me. He was around the six foot mark, in the same age bracket as Luisa McCracken, late thirties, and was dressed in a grey suit so sharp that if you’d seen Eden and him side by side you’d have assumed that he was the billionaire.
He was lean, and I suspected that the expensive tailoring covered a powerful build; he was clean shaven with a perma-tan, and his thick dark hair was brushed back from his forehead. His only irregular feature was a conspicuously broken nose that reminded me of Inspector Drake in Ripper Street. There wasn’t a hint of a smile as he looked at me, and his eyes were cool and appraising. We shook hands; I was prepared for a crusher grip but it didn’t come. Instead those grey eyes stayed fixed on me. ‘Ex-Navy,’ Eden had told me, but this was no everyday sailor. The guy’s body language was yelling ‘Special Forces’.
‘SBS?’ I asked.
Hurrell relaxed a little and finally I saw a flicker of a smile. ‘That obvious?’ he answered.
‘It was the suit that gave you away,’ I joked.
The room was small, and so he didn’t have a desk, just a side table and three chairs. I took a seat that faced the window, with its view of Princes Street.
‘Were you a commando?’
‘No, I was Royal Navy, not Royal Marines.’ His accent was English; south of Birmingham, west of Southampton, I guessed. ‘I was a petty officer on a minesweeper. It bored the shit out of me, so I applied for Special Boat Service training. It’s a less common entry route, but it is possible.’
‘So I’ve heard.’
‘You’ve encountered Special Forces before?’
I nodded. ‘Several times. I had a friend who did the whole tour; SAS, Defence Intelligence, you name it.’
‘Is he still in the service?’
‘Note the past tense. He isn’t anywhere any more.’
‘Ahh, I’m sorry,’ Hurrell murmured. ‘Killed in action?’
‘Of a kind: I’m sorry to be mysterious,’ I added.
He whistled. ‘Spooky stuff? I never did any of that.’
I hadn’t gone there to talk about my past, and certainly not that chapter in the story.
‘Suppose you were going to steal the Princess Alison,’ I asked, abruptly. ‘How would you go about it?’
The grey eyes narrowed, grew colder again. ‘Are you hinting at something?’
‘Hell no,’ I laughed. ‘I don’t take you for an idiot. It was a straight question.’
‘Mmm.’ He didn’t look one hundred per cent convinced, nor should he have been. I knew nothing about ex-Petty Officer Hurrell, nor did I know how thorough Eden’s vetting had been. ‘In that case,’ he replied, ‘all I can say is that I’d have done it the same way they did. Cut