Twelve Red Herrings Read Free Page B

emotion. He simply looked down at his notes and began drumming his
fingers on the boardroom table. I was determined that the report would prove to
be his downfall. If only it hadn’t been for my short temper, I might, given
time, have worked out a more sensible way of ridding myself of him.
    As no one had
‘any other business’ to raise , I closed the meeting at
5.4, and suggested to Jeremy that he join Rosemary and me for dinner. I wanted
to see them together. Jeremy didn’t seem too keen, but after some bluffing from
me about not fully understanding his new share proposal, and feeling that my
wife ought to be brought in on it at some stage, he agreed. When I rang
Rosemary to let her know that Jeremy would be coming to dinner, she seemed even
less enthusiastic about the idea than he had been.
    “Perhaps the two
of you should go off to a restaurant together,’ she suggested. “Then Jeremy can
bring you up to date on what’s been going on while you’ve been away.” I tried
not to laugh. “We haven’t got much food in at the moment,” she added. I told
her that it wasn’t the food I was worried about.
    Jeremy was
uncharacteristically late, but I had his usual whisky and soda ready the moment
he walked through the door. I must say he put up a brilliant performance over
dinner, though Rosemary was less convincing.
    Over coffee in
the sitting room, I managed to provoke the confrontation that Jeremy had so
skilfully avoided at the board meeting.
    “Why are you so
keen to rush through this new share allocation?” I asked once he was on his
second brandy. “Surely you realise that it will take control of the company out
of the hands of Rosemary and me. Can’t you see that we could be taken over in
no time?” He tried a few well-rehearsed phrases. “In the best
interests of the company, Richard. You must realise how quickly Cooper’s
is expanding. It’s no longer a family firm. In the long term it has to be the
most prudent course for both of you, not to mention the shareholders.” I
wondered which particular shareholders he had in mind.
    I was a little
surprised to find Rosemary not only backing him up, but showing a remarkable
grasp of the finer details of the share allocation, even after Jeremy had
scowled rather too obviously at her.
    She seemed
extremely well-versed in the arguments he had been putting forward, given the
fact that she had never shown any interest in the company’s transactions in the
past. It was when she turned to me and said, “We must consider our future,
darling,” that I finally lost my temper.
    Yorkshiremen are
well known for being blunt, and my next question lived up to our county’s
reputation.
    “Are you two
having an affair, by any chance?” Rosemary turned scarlet. Jeremy laughed a
little too loudly, and then said, “I think you’ve had one drink too many,
Richard.”
    “Not a drop,” I
assured him.
    “Sober as a
judge. As I was when I came home late last night, and found your car parked in
the driveway and the light on in the bedroom.’
    For the first
time since I’d met him, I had completely wrongfooted Jeremy, even if it was
only for a moment. He began drumming his fingers on the glass table in front of
him.
    “I was simply
explaining to Rosemary how the new share issue would affect her,” he said,
hardly missing a beat. “ Which is no more than is required
under Stock Exchange regulations. ”
    “And is there a
Stock Exchange regulation requiring that such explanations should take place in
bed?”
    “Oh, don’t be
absurd,” said Jeremy. “I spent the night at the Queen’s Hotel. Call the
manager,” he added, picking up the telephone and offering it to me. “He’ll
confirm that I was booked in to my usual room.”
    “I’m sure he
will,” I said. “But he’ll also confirm that it was I who spent the night in
your usual bed.” In the silence that followed I removed the hotel bedroom key
from my jacket pocket, and dangled it in front of him. Jeremy