Proof - By Dick Francis Page 0,69

you’re here on the doorstep loaded to the hairline with specialist knowledge… so do you mind letting me talk my ideas to you? And be sure to speak out if I start something in your thoughts. That’s where the value of these sessions lies. Bouncing ideas back. Do you mind?’

‘No, of course not. But I…’

‘Just listen,’ he said. ‘Stop me if you’ve a comment. That’s all there is to it.’

‘All right.’

‘And honestly… do you have any brandy?’

I smiled. ‘Yes, I do. What would you like?’

‘Anything.’

I gave him some Hine Antique, which he sighed over as if putting on friendly old shoes. I poured some for myself also on the grounds that people who said it had medicinal qualities weren’t joking. If queasy, drink brandy, if tired, drink brandy, if suffering from green shivers and cold shakes… drink brandy.

‘All right, then,’ he said, cradling his glass in the palm of one hand. ‘First, review the status quo. Under that heading we have the prime and never-to-be-forgotten fact that our number one aim is to save Kenneth Charter’s business without landing his son in jail. That’s what we’re being paid for. Justice and other considerations are secondary.’

He sipped his drink.

‘Fact number two,’ he went on, ‘Kenneth Charter’s son… whose name is also Kenneth, to be awkward, so we’ll call him Kenneth Junior… Kenneth Charter Junior made the theft of the scotch possible by telling Zarac of the Silver Moondance where to find the tanker.’ He paused. ‘We still have the unanswered question.’

‘How did Kenneth Junior know Zarac?’

‘Yes. Anyway, I’ve brought the photostats of the pages of Kenneth Junior’s notebook.’ He pulled a well-filled business-sized envelope from an inner pocket and laid it on the table. ‘I’ll leave these with you… see if you make anything from them that we haven’t.’

He saw the doubt in my face. ‘You’ll try?’ he said almost severely, and I without apology said, ‘Yes.’

‘Right, then. Fact three: Zarac passed on the message and wasn’t present when the tanker was stolen. Fact four: scotch was being sold under the wrong labels at the Silver Moon-dance, which Zarac as head waiter must have known. Supposition arising: the substitute scotch was part of an earlier load stolen from Charter’s tankers. Any comment?’

I shook my head.

‘Second supposition arising: Larry Trent knew his whisky and wines were cheating the customers.’

He stopped, waiting for an opinion. I said, i agree with that, yes. I’d say it was definite.’

‘Supposition three: Larry Trent organised the theft of the tankers.’

I frowned.

‘You don’t think so?

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I never talked to him… can’t make a first-hand guess. He certainly did have in his hands a great deal more cash than he would have made out of the Silver Moondance, but he said it was his brother’s.’ I told Gerard precisely what Orkney Swayle had told me at Martineau Park. ‘Larry Trent was buying horses and shipping them abroad to be sold. As sweet a way as one can imagine of turning illegal money pure white.’

Gerard drank some brandy.

‘Did you believe in the brother?’ he asked.

‘You mean, was it a case of the hypothetical friend? My friend has a problem, give me advice?’

He nodded.

‘I would have thought so,’ I said, ‘except for one thing which rang humanly true. Orkney said that Larry Trent said he, Larry, was buying the horses for his brother because his brother couldn’t tell good from bad. About the only thing his brother couldn’t do, he said. Orkney Swayle said Larry was envious. That sort of grudge sounds like a real brother to me. Or at any rate a real person. Partner, maybe.’

A small silence. We both thought about the partner who might or might not be a brother, and finally Gerard gave him his name. The name, anyway, that we knew him by.

‘Paul Young.’

I agreed.

‘Supposition four,’ Gerard said. ‘When Larry Trent was killed, Paul Young came to the Silver Moondance to take over, unaware that the police were investigating the drinks and unaware that Charter’s tanker thefts had been linked with Zarac’

‘Those are certainties, not suppositions. I saw him arrive myself… he had no idea he was walking into trouble.’

‘Right. And I’ll add in a few certainties of my own at this point. I’ve spent all day interviewing people from the Silver Moondance, especially the waitress and the wet little assistant who were both there with you in the bar. They say that soon after you left, Paul Young told them to go home, the waitress until told to return and the