East of the City Read Free

wouldn’t say he was liked, he wasn’t the chummy kind, but he was respected, and I think he probably preferred it that way. His wife Angela never treated him as casually as Justine did, but even with his daughter there were limits.
    ‘Go on,’ he told her now ‘If you find something else, tell me tonight.’
    She frowned, and circled something else, saying, ‘This one too.’
    ‘Good God,’ he murmured, looking at the magazine over her shoulder. I craned over and caught a glimpse of the name at the top of the page, Valentino.
    Laughing, she got up and strolled out, telling me she’d see me down on the box later.
    Allen rolled his eyes at me, as if to say, Daughters. What can you do?
    And how I was going to put my problem to him? Sack your wife, I need the job?
    ‘Allen, I wanted to have a word about the situation on the 86 box.’
    He cocked his head. ‘Situation?’
    ‘Angela’s retirement.’
    He gave me a direct look, as if he was weighing something up. Then his private line rang, it was Angela.
    While they talked, I wandered across to the window and looked over the Room. Down there the world’s risk was being traded and spread. From every part of the globe the brokers’ agents had gathered policies - insurance against crop damage in Australia, flood risk in the Caribbean, earthquakes in Bangkok, fire in the American mid-West — and now the brokers had brought them on to us, Lloyd’s of London. There were display cabinets downstairs full of silver plates, model ships made of ivory, and all sorts of other presents from various underwriters to historic figures like Nelson who’d saved British ships and cargo from going down. The Lutine Bell and all that. This same business had been going on for centuries, about as establishment as you get; I’d come a hell of a long way from the dog tracks. And now when I was all set to top the past thirteen years of my life off with a promotion and a penthouse, Sebastian Ward, the man who’d first opened the door to me at Lloyd’s, had lost his house in a fire. What were the odds on that?
    Allen hung up the phone, and I faced him.
    ‘I really think it should be settled,’ I said. ‘The delay’s not helping, even the brokers are starting to ask what’s going on.’ I was all set to give him the works, why I deserved the job, and why I deserved it right now. But the look on his face stopped me cold. ‘Bad news?’
    ‘The fire at Sebastian’s,’ he said.
    Something fluttered in my throat. ‘Is he all right?’
    ‘No,’ Allen said, ‘he’s not all right.’ His hands went to his face again and his voice came out muffled. ‘Angela’s coming up. She’s got Max with her.’ Max was Sebastian Ward’s son.
    Allen didn’t move, he kept his hands to his face. I felt a prickling sensation up my neck.
    ‘Is he dead?’
    It was a few seconds before he lowered his hands. He looked straight at me. ‘No, not dead.’ His face was flushed, I thought it was shock at first, but then I realized it was something more like anger. ‘The stupid bastard,’ he said, ‘has been kidnapped.'

Chapter 3
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    F or a while I just stood there not saying a word. Allen pushed his hand up through his hair again.
    ‘Bastard,’ he said. ‘The stupid bastard.’
    He got up from his desk and went to the atrium window. His face was pink now, turning pale.
    ‘Are they sure?’ I said. ‘What is it, some rumour?'
    ‘There’s a note. Max got it at the office.' Max Ward, Sebastian’s son, was the deputy manager of WardSure. Allen explained that Max had brought the note straight over to the Room and shown Angela; it was definitely a kidnap and ransom, a K and R. Now Angela was on her way up with Max. ‘Bastard,’ Allen whispered again, but he didn’t mean Sebastian now, it was the whole situation.
    Dazed, I suggested, hopefully, that it might be a hoax.
    ‘Hoax,’ he said like he was grabbing at a lifeline. Then he pulled a face. ‘What about the house?’ He slapped the