them in the tour. Instead, he showed off those parts he considered most important: a well-equipped gym; a sauna; a home cinema with a floor-shaking sound system and practically a whole wall of DVDs and Blu-rays, Nina awarding him a few approving brownie points when she noticed that the collection included the complete works of Monty Python. Slightly to her surprise, a large attic was filled by a model railway. It wasn’t a hobby she would have expected of such an obvious Type A personality, but as Larry explained, ‘I’ve had model railways since I was a kid. That way, I know there’s at least one place where the trains run on time.’
‘Yeah, you always did like being in control, didn’t you?’ said Eddie. He tweaked a dial, and a train jerked into motion.
‘Do you mind?’ Larry snapped.
‘What? I’m not going to break it.’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’ He flicked a master switch to turn off the power.
Eddie shook his head. ‘Christ, I crash a toy train once as a kid, and I’m banned for life.’
‘They’re not toys,’ his father said with irritation.
‘It’s really amazing,’ Nina cut in, hoping to forestall an argument. She examined one of the little buildings, a replica of an English country pub. ‘And it’s so detailed!’
‘Detail is everything,’ said Larry. ‘If you want to be successful, you need to cover every last detail, whether you’re doing something yourself or delegating. Like this.’ He swept a hand over the layout. ‘I don’t have the time to make everything myself, but I always make sure that when someone else works for me, they know exactly what I expect from them.’
‘You paid someone to make this for you?’ Eddie said scathingly. ‘Where’s the fun in that? You might as well hire someone to stand here and drive the trains.’
To Nina’s relief, a call came that dinner was almost ready, and they trooped downstairs. Drinks were served, then the meal began. With the addition of the chirpy Julie to the mix, the conversation became less tense. However, halfway through the main course of beef carpaccio with marinated salad, Nina realised she would have to be the designated driver as Eddie, keeping pace with his father, poured himself a third glass of wine. Not even having finished her first glass, she switched to water. ‘I’m no expert on the linguistic ins and outs of England,’ she said to Larry, ‘but I can tell you don’t have the same accent as Eddie. Are you not from Yorkshire originally?’
‘Oh, no,’ he replied. ‘I’m from Bucks.’ Nina gave him a blank look. ‘Buckinghamshire, in the Home Counties. The rich parts around London,’ he clarified. ‘I used to spend a lot of time travelling between the ports at Liverpool and Hull for work, and the M62, the motorway between them, was just being finished. So I picked somewhere to live that was right in the middle. Same reason I moved down here, actually. A lot of my work goes through Southampton, so it made sense to be near the port. Turned out well in both cases. I met Julie down here – she used to be my secretary – and met my first wife in Yorkshire.’
‘You mean Mum,’ Eddie rumbled.
‘What is your work?’ Nina asked quickly. ‘Eddie said it was something to do with shipping.’ His actual words had been ‘shipping, or some bollocks’, but she kept that to herself.
Larry gestured at a shelf. ‘Julie, there are some of my cards on there – can you get one for Nina?’ Julie stood and retrieved one, and handed it to Nina.
‘Thanks,’ Nina said. A stark, modern logo in deep blue stood out at the card’s top above the company name. ‘Chase International Logistics?’
‘That’s right,’ said Larry with a smug smile. ‘I left the old firm ten years ago and went into business for myself. And it’s worked out rather well.’
‘So what does international logistics entail?’ Not wanting to seem rude by discarding it, she slipped the card into her breast pocket.
‘Getting things from where they are to where they’re wanted as quickly as possible with the minimum of hassle. Including from officials. I go all over the world, getting to know the right people. A word in someone’s ear can mean the difference between a package being held up by red tape for a week or clearing customs in an hour.’
Eddie took another chug of wine. ‘And it’s all totally legal, obviously.’ His voice was full of sarcasm.
‘Everything’s above board, if that’s what you’re