Page 114 of The One Plus One
‘I’m fine. Well. I’m sort of fine. I mean I’m healthy. But…’ He swallowed. ‘No I’m not fine. There’s something I have to tell you.’
‘What?’ Gemma said.
‘Okay.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Well, here it is.’
‘What?’ said Gemma. ‘Jesus, Ed. What?’
‘I’m being investigated for insider trading. I’ve been suspended from my company. Next week I have to go to a police station where I will in all likelihood be charged and I may go to prison.’
To say the room fell silent was an understatement. It was as if someone had come in and sucked out all the available air. Jess thought she might pass out briefly from lack of oxygen.
‘Is this a joke?’ said his mother.
‘No.’
‘I really could go and get some tea,’ Jess said.
Nobody paid her any attention. Ed’s mother sat down slowly on a plastic chair.
‘Insider trading?’ Gemma was the first to speak. ‘This – that’s serious, Ed.’
‘Yeah. I do get that, Gem.’
‘Actual insider trading, like you see on the news?’
‘That’s the one.’
‘He’s got good lawyers,’ Jess said.
Nobody seemed to hear.
‘Expensive ones.’
His mother’s hand had risen halfway to her mouth. She lowered it slowly. ‘I don’t understand. When did this happen?’
‘A month or so ago. The insider-trading bit, anyway.’
‘A month ago? But why didn’t you tell us? We could have helped you.’
‘You couldn’t, Mum. Nobody can help.’
‘But prison? Like a criminal?’ Anne Nicholls had gone quite pale.
‘I think if you’re sent to prison you pretty much are a criminal, Mum.’
‘Well, they’ll have to sort it out. They’ll see that there’s been some kind of mistake, but they’ll sort it out.’
‘No, Mum. I’m not sure it’s going to work out like that.’
There was another long silence.
‘Are you going to be all right?’
‘I’ll be fine, Mum. As Jess said, I have good lawyers. I have resources. They have already established that there was no financial gain for me.’
‘You didn’t even make money out of it?’
‘It was a mistake.’
