Exhausted, Edward undressed and climbed into bed. Harriet switched off the light and he pulled her close. ‘I love you, I love you both... I’m sorry to have been away so long, you get my letters?’
‘You know something, I asked that snooty bitch Barbara if she would like to have a double birthday party, and she refused. So I told her to bugger off. They’ll no doubt have the Savoy Grill, but... Edward?’
Edward was sound asleep.
The next morning, Edward went to see Jinks before leaving for the office. She was standing up in her cot waving a rubber hammer, and he picked her up, loving the smell of her. She nuzzled his neck and then whacked him over the head with the hammer. He laughed, and the little girl looked afraid, unsure, so he put her down and pulled a funny face. She responded with a smile that made his heart lurch.
He gave Dewint instructions to throw out his jeans and cowboy boots, then went straight to the barber’s to have his hair cut. He was buzzing, filled with energy and ready for anything.
Arriving unannounced at the office, Edward took the place by storm. He was like a whirlwind, and everyone jumped as he rampaged through the offices. ‘Where’s Alex, Miss Henderson, where’s Alex?’
Miss Henderson told him Alex would be at the Stock Exchange. Edward walked straight into his brother’s office and began sorting through all the business the company had done during his absence.
He picked up a vast ledger on Alex’s proposed takeover of Buchanan House. The major deal had fallen apart. Alex had been investing on the Stock Exchange and, by the look of it, had taken some bad setbacks, costing him a lot of money, added to which the property boom was beginning to slide. They were left with millions of pounds’ worth of properties they could not offload.
Edward paced the office as he discovered more and more of Alex’s disastrous ventures. He had taken over the St James’ Bank, and that was now being investigated for astronomical losses, and they stood to lose millions. Edward threw up his hands in despair. The property boom was fast becoming a landslide, and Alex had allowed loans to companies, taking their properties as collateral. Now many of those companies were sinking so fast that the bank looked as if it was on the brink of closure. On the good side, however, the Carnaby Street shops were making huge dividends, the money rolling in in waves. But Alex was moving it out again, and without Edward’s signature.
Edward checked over the Banks sale to Jasper Golding and Sir Francis Coleman, and discovered that it was yet again a flourishing, successful business. Renamed, the private gaming house was making a vast profit. From the documents he found in Alex’s desk he reckoned that the men’s stakes of one million each had already trebled... he also discovered the shares Alex had hung on to. He was furious, Alex was cheating him, going behind his back. Edward’s trust in his brother suddenly disintegrated — he was just like everyone else, like Walter, lining his own pockets.
Edward turned to the company’s financial records. It was more and more obvious that Alex had been steadily losing money, the company’s money. Edward sighed, so much for honest, straightforward dealing. To date, he alone had been responsible for the lucrative side of the Barkley Company.
He returned to his own office and began to outline a plan to salvage the failing St James’ Bank, to try to recoup the losses incurred during his absence. He was so engrossed in working his way through the files that he didn’t even look up when the door opened.
‘Well, well, this is your Uncle Edward, go on, say hello.’
Alex carried his son in his arms. Although the same age as Jinks, he was twice her size, and had thick, black, curly hair. His eyes were dark, his skin tawny, and his lungs were in good working order. He bellowed, wriggling to get down.
‘This is Evelyn — what do you think of him?’
He put the little boy down and he clung unsteadily to the desk, then fell over. Edward bent down and picked him up. He could feel how much heavier Evelyn was than Jinks.
‘He looks like him, doesn’t he Edward, like Dad?’
Edward looked down into the upturned face. Papers tumbled to the floor as the little hands grabbed.
‘You’ve got your hands full here, Alex, eh? What a big fella. So this is what’s been keeping you away from the office?’
Alex picked up the insult fast, and immediately led Evelyn by the hand to the office door. ‘Go to Nanny, there’s a good boy... bye-bye.’
Turning unsteadily on his fat little legs, Evelyn waved to Edward. Beyond the door a nanny in uniform waited for him. As soon as the door closed, there was a scream which continued into the distance as the nanny carried the wailing child away.
Alex looked at the closed door, then at the desk. ‘I see you’ve been over the files. I admit we’ve taken a few setbacks, but we lost the takeover of Buchanan House because you weren’t here and the board wouldn’t accept the deal without you... And you have the nerve to make digs about me not being in the office... where in God’s name have you been?’
A cigar clamped between his teeth, soberly dressed and with his hair cut short, Edward was back to his old self.
‘Well, it’s a bloody good job I showed up when I did, you’re certainly making a right balls-up of it. Christ, whatever made you buy stock in that fucking heap?’
Alex tried hard to control his temper. ‘I made a list of the properties we can let go, cover our losses.’
Edward tossed Alex his own list of companies they could sell off fast. Alex looked at them quickly, noting that they were mostly his own deals, and threw the paper back.
Miss Henderson heard the argument escalating into a full-scale row. Before long everyone could hear the brothers screaming at each other.
‘There’s not a memo or a note on Ming’s contract with the Japs that I set up. Do I have to do everything, for Chrissake? If she’s gone into business without us then we get over there... Plus we get shot of this prat of a son-in-law, what’s his name, Conrad St James. Guy couldn’t run a bowling alley, never mind a fucking bank! I want a meeting set up with all the board members of the bank and I want it fast... Think you can handle that, buddy? Think you can do one simple thing and not cock it up?’
All through dinner Alex was quiet, and Barbara knew something was wrong.
‘Edward’s back, things have not been going all that well, especially at the bank...’
‘Why didn’t you tell me, Alex? What things?’
Alex didn’t usually discuss business with her, but slowly he began to tell her about the problems. Conrad St James was proving incapable of running the bank, and Alex had delayed confronting him because he was married to Alex’s stepdaughter, Selina. ‘Edward wants to take a look at the accounts. I’ve had to fund a lot of the bank with Barkley monies... He has every right, I’ll go over and have a talk with them this evening.’
Barbara sighed. She had had very little to do with her daughter since she had been married off. With either of her daughters, come to think of it — her new life left little room for them. She was a grandmother now, and didn’t like that, either.
‘I won’t be able to join you, darling, I have a charity meeting for the Spastic Association, do you mind going alone?’
Alex held her hand and kissed it. ‘Just a few things to remember... Keep quiet about my stake in the club should Edward start sniffing around. Now he’s back, he’ll be poking his nose into every transaction I’ve done since he left.’
‘Did he ask after Evelyn at all?’
Alex smiled. ‘I took him to the zoo this morning and then Edward met him at the office. You know, he was jealous, I could see it in his face.’