Page 62 of A Christmas Celebration
‘Making money,’ Brodie said on an out-breath. ‘Making lots and lots of money.’
‘Oh.’ I swallowed. ‘Right.’
I felt a torrid mix of emotions when he said that. The thought of him spending his working life making money was so far removed from what I had imagined him doing, it was a real jolt to my system. As was the realization that our careers couldn’t have been more different. I had spent a decade with my bank balance sailing close to zero, but Brodie’s most likely had a whole host of zeros embellishing it and all in a far more lucrative order.
‘When I became a hedge fund manager for D and C,’ he carried on, unknowingly delivering yet another blow, ‘I thought Dad was going to die of pride. He came down to London to celebrate the weekend before I started and I’d never seen him so happy.’
I took a moment to catch my breath as the puzzle that was Brodie broke apart and reformed into an entirely different pattern. The return Angus was hoping to see, I realized, was of a financial variety and the London mates Brodie had leftWynbridge to catch up with were in fact suits and not some arty group in a creative up and coming part of the city.
But it was even worse than that. Jack had said that his brother had been really going through it with his work and hearing the company name fall from Brodie’s lips, I realized that the man sitting opposite me could well be responsible for so much more than trying to swell the Wynthorpe coffers.
I swallowed down the bitter tang of disappointment and upset as I kissed goodbye to the image of Brodie wearing over-sized knitted sweaters to paint in and replaced it with one of him in a designer suit behind the wheel of an ostentatious and overpriced car and not giving two hoots for the consequences of his misplaced investments.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, putting my glass on the table, with a less than steady hand. ‘But I’m not feeling very well. I think I’d better go.’
Brodie looked at me and frowned.
‘Crikey,’ he said. ‘You do look a bit pale. Here, let me help you.’
He pushed back his chair as I stood up.
‘No,’ I said, shrugging him and his concern off. ‘It’s okay. You stay where you are.’
‘Can we meet again soon?’ he asked, as I walked away.
‘Sure,’ I said, making for Molly and Archie who were fortuitously signalling that they were ready to go. ‘I’ll call you.’
Chapter 16
I drove back to the hall with rather less caution than I’d exercised on the way in to town and in a mood that in no way reflected the earlier part of the evening which I had enjoyed very much. Thankfully neither Molly or Archie noticed my change of temper and I was left to try and get my head around what I had discovered in peace.
Nothing could lull me to sleep and long before anyone else was up, I crept into the family sitting room, the only place where I’d found a remotely decent signal for my phone, and fired it up. It didn’t take many seconds of searching to confirm that my reaction to Brodie mentioning the name of the company he worked for was justified.
‘Davey and Clarkson,’ I whispered. ‘Shit.’
Not only had the lavish lifestyles and reckless insider trading, along with dodgy investments and even dodgier pay outs led to the downfall of one of the biggest city funds the UK had ever known, it had also ensured the charity I had worked for had lost a huge chunk of its benevolent fundingand had to cut essential jobs as a result. Mine included, in a roundabout sort of way.
No wonder Jack had told me his brother was going through a rough time with his work. With Davey and Clarkson as a former employer, it was hardly surprising that Brodie was keeping his head down and hiding out in the Fens. Keeping a low profile would have been high on his agenda and might possibly even account for the duplicitous artistic impression he had adopted. I can’t have been the only person in Wynbridge to have been taken in by that?
I wondered if anyone else in our circle knew about his questionable credentials and more to the point, why had he mentioned them in front of me? Had he assumed that because I was only recently back in the country I wouldn’t know about the scandal or had mentioning the company by name been a genuine slip of the tongue after he’d downed a couple of drinks?
With more questions than answers now filling my head, I shut my phone down again, feeling nonetheless grateful that I now knew more about the man I had been formerly falling for. It appalled me to think that Angus had been drawn into something risky, but there could be no other explanation. Going forward, I would watch him and Brodie like a hawk and take whatever action was required to stop my godfather suffering a financial loss.
‘So,’ I briskly said to Albert, when he opened the cottage door to me a little later, ‘I thought we’d see about sorting out a few things upstairs today.’
‘Is it day?’ he asked, peering out. ‘It still looks like the middle of the night to me.’
‘I know it’s early,’ I said, ‘but there’s no time like the present and as you’ll only let me help you, we have to capitalize on the limited time I have available, don’t we?’
He stepped aside to let me and Bran in.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, closing the door. ‘I know it’s not ideal…’
I reached for his hand feeling wretched. I couldn’t let my upset over Brodie and my concerns about Angus spill into my time supporting Albert.
‘Please don’t apologize,’ I said quickly. ‘I didn’t sleep well and I’m in a bit of a grump. I didn’t mean to bite your head off and I really am happy to be here.’
At least I could be certain of who I was dealing with at the cottage. There were no secrets or skeletons waiting to be unearthed at Albert’s. The situation with him couldn’t have been more straightforward and that’s what I needed. Something simple to keep me occupied while I decided how best to tackle the Brodie conundrum.
