Page 49 of The Midnight Bakery
He picked up a leaflet, idly reading it while he waited for Tam to appear. It was more to give his hands something to do than any interest he had in learning how to research his family tree, however. If he did this thing, and found the information he needed, did that mean he absolutely had to follow it up? His head had one answer, and his heart another, and right now, William had no clue which would win.
William was no angel; his life thus far had been littered with lies. Some of them were no more than the schoolboy fibs of his youth. Some might come under the umbrella of a certain kindness, an accommodation of how you felt in order to spare someone a harsh reality. But some of them had been much worse. And then there were the lies of omission, where he hadn’trevealed what he should. Kept things to himself in order to cover the truth of his past…but wasn’t that just as bad?
He had told Frankie and Tam that he didn’t need much sleep because he’d been living somewhere noisy, implying as much anyway, but he’dlied. He’d told Frankie he’d made the odd loaf of bread, implying that it was a leisurely pastime, something he might do of a weekend, but he’dlied. He had also left an apologetic message for Danny on the club answerphone saying that he wouldn’t be at work for the next few days because he had flu, but he hadlied.
Thetruthwas that he would be working with Frankie until her wrist was better because there was nowhere else he’d rather be. But his relationship with the truth was complicated. He glanced at the computer screen in front of him. If he and Tam found what he suspected they might, then the biggest truth of them all was about to stare William in the face. The question was whether he could bring himself to tell it.
‘Sorry,’ said Tam, appearing by his side. ‘Would you believe the computer which allows us to use the computers was on a go-slow. I’m loving the irony.’
William smiled and shuffled his seat over so that Tam could sit down in front of the screen. ‘I’m not much good with technology,’ he admitted. ‘It’s kind of passed me by.’
‘Well, I’m no expert,’ replied Tam. ‘But I reckon I can find us what we need. Let me just log on and then I can take a look. Have you got the exact name of the company you’re trying to find?’
William pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and spread it open on the desk. He’d been carrying it around ever since they’d followed Stuart’s van to the row of shops just around the corner from where he used to live.
‘Sun City Tanning Studio…’ read Tam, squinting slightly at William’s untidy scrawl. ‘Isn’t that the place we stopped outside the other day?’ He frowned. ‘I know you said it was better if Ididn’t know what was going on, but I think the time for that has passed. You obviously think it’s something dodgy.’
‘I didn’t mention it before, but I used to live a couple of streets away from those shops when I was young. I know them very well. The tanning salon was a greengrocer’s back then, and I’ve been inside it many a time. It isn’t very big, none of the shops are. They’re only small businesses, useful and viable, but not the sort to make you a millionaire. So how much do you reckon the tanning salon takes in a year?’
Tam pursed his lips. ‘We can do a quick search of similar businesses for sale, if you like,’ he said. ‘That would give us a rough idea of turnover, but I don’t suppose it’s more than forty or fifty thousand a year. A shop that size, in that location…’ He shook his head. ‘Definitely not going to make you a millionaire.’ He began to tap at the keyboard. ‘Let’s have a look, shall we?’
William watched while Tam brought up a series of pages, most of which meant nothing to him, but after a couple of minutes, Tam indicated the screen. ‘If we want more detail, we have to pay, but this should give us the basics.’ He began to type the company name into a search box.
The screen was suddenly filled with a list of names – all either identical or very similar to the one they were looking for, businesses all over the country. Tam drew his finger down the list. ‘There,’ he said, tapping the screen. ‘It’s the only one with the right address.’
A couple more clicks of the mouse and the screen changed again. Filled with numbers this time, against terms William had no understanding of. ‘You’ll have to tell me what we’re looking at,’ he said.
But Tam was silent, brows drawn together as he digested what he saw in front of him.
‘What does it mean?’ urged William.
‘That I was in the wrong line of business,’ Tam replied. ‘I can’t believe they’re making that much money…Is tanning really that lucrative?’
William stared at the screen. ‘No,’ he said. ‘That’s just it, I don’t believe it is. This is about ten times what I think it should be, but, sadly, pretty much what I expected to find. I’m no expert, but if what I suspect about Stuart is right, then he’s going to need some way of making his ill-gotten gains seem legit. He needs to make his money clean.’ He raised his eyebrows at Tam, not wanting to say the actual words out loud.
Tam looked furtively around the room, leaning closer. ‘You mean they’re laundering it?’ he whispered.
William nodded. ‘I can’t think of any other explanation. And businesses like tanning salons are prime examples of how they do it – ones which operate primarily on a cash basis. They simply mix in the dirty money with the legitimate takings, and it all comes out clean in the end. But what you end up with is a business that has far more money coming through the door than you would expect.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Is there a way to check who owns this company?’
‘Sure,’ replied Tam. ‘Hang on, I’ll get the page back up. So yes, here’s Stuart, and apart from him, there’s just one other guy listed – a Paul Morris. Does that mean anything to you?’
William stared at the second name on the list, unsure whether to be relieved or not. A big part of him had been worried he’d find Danny’s name, but Paul Morris meant nothing to him. He picked up the piece of paper which held the details of the tanning salon and, spying a biro that was lying on an adjacent desk, he scribbled down what he’d seen on the screen. ‘Thanks, Tam, this is exactly what I needed.’
Tam slid him a sideways look. ‘I’m not sure you should be thanking me,’ he said. ‘This is serious, William. What are you going to do?’
William closed his eyes, inhaling deeply as he opened them. ‘At this moment in time, I’m not sure. But something. I have to do something…’ He swallowed, staring at the wall behind the computer as if the answer could be found there. ‘I have a promise to keep.’
26
Tam
It was a beautiful day and Tam could feel his spirits lifting with every mile he drove. After weeks of rain, grey skies by day and freezing temperatures at night, this morning had heralded the return of the sun. Tam could feel spring beginning to stir. He’d become attuned to the slightest change in temperature and this morning there was a softness to the air that he hadn’t felt before – a faint promise of what was to come. Faint, yet there all the same. It was the perfect day for what Tam had in mind.
Jack looked like a kid on Christmas Eve when he opened the door, grinning from ear to ear and, Tam was pleased to see, looking far more relaxed than when Tam had first met him. Just the thought of what they were about to do had been enough to smooth the lines from his face and chase away the grey pallor to his skin.
‘Good morning for it,’ said Tam as he followed Jack down the hallway of the farmhouse.
‘Pathetic fallacy,’ replied Jack, as he wheeled ahead of him. ‘’Twas clearly meant to be.’
