“I found this,” he announced.
“Oh dear, how frightfully embarrassing,” said Mrs Forthby.
“Not half as embarrassing, my dear, as it will be when we produce that in court as an exhibit. Now then, the details.”
Mrs Forthby got up. “It’s all written down,” she said. “He writes it all down for me. You see I’m terribly forgetful and I do tend to get things wrong. I’ll get you the game plan.” She went through to the bedroom and returned with a notebook. “It’s all there.”
Lady Maud took the book and studied a page. “And what were you last night?” she asked finally. “Miss Catheter, the Wicked Nurse, or Sister Florinda, the Nymphomaniac Nun?”
Mrs Forthby blushed? “Doris, the Schoolgirl Sexpot,” she tittered.
Lady Maud looked at her doubtfully. “My husband must have a truly remarkable imagination,” she said, “but I find his literary style rather limited. And what are you going to be tonight?”
“Oh he doesn’t come tonight. He’s had to go to Plymouth for a business conference. He’s coming again the day after tomorrow. That’s Nanny Whip’s night.”
Lady Maud put the book down. “Now then, this is the arrangement,” she said. “In return for your co-operation I will settle for a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. There will be no mention of you at all and Sir Giles need know nothing about the help you have given me. All I want you to do is to go out for a little while on Thursday night so that I can have a little chat with him.”
Mrs Forthby hesitated. “He’ll be awfully cross,” she said.
“With me,” Lady Maud assured her. “I don’t think he’ll worry about you by the time I’ve had my say. He’ll have other things on his mind.”
“You won’t do anything nasty to him, will you?” said Mrs Forthby. “I wouldn’t want him to be hurt or anything. I know he’s not very nice but I’m really quite fond of him.”
“I won’t touch him,” Lady Maud said. “I give you my word of honour I won’t so much as lift a little finger to him. And let me say I think your feelings do you great credit.”
Mrs Forthby began to weep. “You’re very kind,” she said.
Lady Maud stood up. “Not at all,” she said truthfully. “And now if you’ll be so good as to give me the key of the flat I’ll send Blott to get a duplicate cut.”
By the time they left the flat Mrs Forthby was feeling better. “It’s been so nice meeting you and getting things straightened out,” she said. “It’s taken a great weight off my mind. I do hate deception so.”
“Quite,” said Lady Maud. “Unfortunately men seem to live in a fantasy world and as the weaker sex we have to follow suit.”
“That’s what I keep telling myself,” Mrs Forthby said. “Felicia, I say, you may find it peculiar but if it makes him happy you can’t afford to be choosey.”
“My sentiments exactly,” said Lady Maud. She and Blott went downstairs. They took a taxi across London to Sir Giles’ flat in Victoria. On the way Lady Maud coached Blott in his new role.
Chapter 19
In Worford Dundridge asserted himself. Now that he came to think about it, he could see that he had been wise to visit Mr Ganglion. The old man’s reaction might have been violent but at least it had been genuine and served to indicate that the solicitor was far too respectable to be a party to a blackmail attempt by one of his clients no matter how influential she might be. And Mr Ganglion could do one of two things: he could let Lady Maud know that Dundridge had visited him and had accused her of blackmail, or, more likely, since it was unprofessional to disclose one client’s business to another, he could keep silent. In either case Dundridge was in a fairly strong position. If Ganglion spoke to Lady Maud she would not dare to repeat her threat. If he kept silent… Dundridge considered the most likely consequence. There would be another message from her. Dundridge got up and went out and bought himself a tape recorder. The next time he visited Mr Ganglion he would take evidence, solid evidence that Lady Maud was involved. That was the thing to do.
Having arrived at that conclusion he felt better. He had spiked the bitch’s guns. Operation Overland could proceed. He went round to the Regional Planning Board and sent for Hoskins.
“We are going ahead,” he told him.
“Of course we are,” said Hoskins. “Work has already started at Bunnington.”
“Never mind that,” said Dundridge, “I want a task force to begin work in the Gorge.”
Hoskins consulted his schedule. “We’re not due there until October.”
“I know that but all the same I want work to begin there at once. Just a token force, you understand.”
“At Handyman Hall? A token force?”
“Not at the Hall. In the Gorge itself,” said Dundridge.
“But we haven’t even served a compulsory purchase order on the Lynchwoods yet,” Hoskins protested.
“In that case it is about time we did. I want orders out to Miss Percival, General Burnett, and the Lynchwoods at once. We’ve got to bring pressure to bear on them as quickly as possible. Do you understand?”
“Well I understand that,” said Hoskins who was beginning to resent Dundridge’s authoritarian manner, “but quite frankly I can’t see what all the hurry is about.”
“You wouldn’t,” said Dundridge, “but I’m telling you to do it so get it done. In any case we don’t need a compulsory purchase order for the entrance to the Gorge. It’s common land. Move men in there tomorrow.”
“And what the hell do you expect them to do? Storm the bloody Hall under cover of darkness?”
“Hoskins,” said Dundridge, “I’m getting a little tired of your sarcasm. You seem to forget that I am Controller Motorways Midlands and what I say goes.”
“Oh all right,” said Hoskins. “Just remember that if anything goes wrong you’ll have to take the can back. What do you want the task force to do?”
Dundridge looked at the plans for construction. “It says here that the cliffs have to be cleared and the Gorge widened. They can start work on that.”
“That means dynamiting,” Hoskins pointed out.
“Excellent,” said Dundridge, “that ought to serve notice on the old bag that we mean business.”
“It will do that all right,” said Hoskins. “She’ll probably be round here like a flash.”
“And I shall be only too glad to see her,” Dundridge said. Hoskins went back to his office puzzled. The more he saw of the Controller Motorways Midlands the odder he found him.
“I never thought he would stand up to Lady Maud like this,” he muttered. “Well, better him than me.”
In his office Dundridge smiled to himself. Dynamite. That was just the thing to bring Lady Maud rushing into the trap he had set. He took the tape recorder out of his briefcase and tested it. The thing worked perfectly.
In Sir Giles’ flat in Victoria, Lady Maud and Blott sat down by the desk. In front of her were the details of Sir Giles’ shareholdings. In front of Blott the telephone and the script of his part.
“Ready?” said Lady Maud.
“Ready,” said Blott and dialled.
“Schaeffer, Blodger and Vaizey,” said the girl at the stockbrokers.
“Mr Blodger please,” said Blott.
“Sir Giles Lynchwood on the line for you, Mr Blodger,” he heard the girl say.
“Ah Lynchwood,” said Blodger, “good morning.”
“Good morning Blodger,” said Blott. “Now then, I want to sell the following at best. Four thousand President Rand. One thousand five hundred ICM. Ten thousand Rio Pinto. All my Zinc and Copper…”
At the other end of the line there was a choking sound. Mr Blodger was evidently having some difficulty coming to terms with Sir Giles’ orders, “I say, Lynchwood,” he muttered, “are you all right?”
“All right? What the devil do you mean? Of course I’m all right,” snarled Blott.
“It’s just that… well… I mean the market’s rock bottom just at the moment. Wouldn’t it be better to wait…”