LITMIR.BIZ

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      He nodded. ‘You bought the dress,’ he said. ‘Must have thought it was a bloody good cause to pay that much.’ He leaned back in his chair and eyed her body appraisingly. ‘Mind you, it’ll look great on you.’

      She thought that she ought to feel offended, but his tone was good-natured, perhaps even slightly satirical, rather than straightforwardly lecherous. More to the point, he was attractive enough for her to feel mildly flattered.

      ‘At that price, I’d hope so,’ she said. ‘At that price, I’d expect it to look good on you.’

      He laughed. Around them, bored-looking waitresses were serving the starter – some overdressed variant on a prawn cocktail.

      ‘I get the impression this isn’t your natural environment,’ he said.

      ‘Is it anybody’s?’

      ‘Oh, yes.’ He gestured towards the rows of tables in front of them. ‘Look at them. Enjoying every moment. Every mouthful of rubber chicken.’

      ‘Rubber prawn,’ she pointed out. ‘Rubber chicken’s next.’ She was beginning to find herself intrigued by this man. ‘So – why are you here?’

      He pointed along the table. ‘Work for Jeff. Three-line whip for his top team.’

      That was interesting, she thought. She hadn’t registered the name at first, but now she recalled her briefing notes, all the details that she’d painstakingly squirrelled away in her memory. James Morton. Apparently known as Jake. Director of finance for Kerridge’s legitimate holding company. But rumoured also to be a significant player in the other, more clandestine parts of Kerridge’s business. Definitely someone worth getting to know.

      ‘He does a lot of this, does he? This is my first time.’

      He shrugged. ‘Well, that’s Jeff for you. Likes to do his bit for the community.’

      ‘Very commendable.’

      ‘Especially his own community. Local councillors. Business types. People he wants to get onside. Customers. The big customers. And a few suppliers like yourself, if you’re very good.’

      She raised an eyebrow. ‘You know who I am, then?’

      ‘You’re the print lady, aren’t you? Came highly recommended, I understand.’ There was an undertone to his words that was unmistakable.

      ‘Glad to hear it,’ she said. ‘I hope I’ve lived up to expectations.’ She’d already completed the trial order, ahead of schedule and at what she knew was a very competitive price.

      ‘Done some good work so far, from what I hear. Printing, and all that.’

      ‘And all that,’ she agreed.

      ‘Jeff appreciates a good supplier. So far I’m told you’ve done well.’

      ‘Not the cheapest, but the best.’

      ‘Something like that.’ He smiled. ‘Mind you, don’t get me wrong. Jeff appreciates a cheap supplier as well.’

      ‘I’ll bear that in mind. And that you’re the finance director.’

      ‘Got me sussed too, then? Well, yes, that’s my job.’ He paused. ‘For what it’s worth.’

      ‘Quite a bit, I’d have thought.’

      ‘It pays well enough, if that’s what you mean. Though maybe not enough to compensate for evenings like this.’

      ‘And I was trying so hard to be sparkling,’ she said.

      He laughed. ‘Funnily enough, the evening’s rather brightened up in the last few minutes.’

      ‘That’ll be the prawn cocktail.’

      He lifted his glass of white wine. ‘Yeah, and the Chateau Toilet Duck. Cheers.’

      ‘Cheers.’

      That had been it, she thought. That trivial, jokey salutation. As they’d clinked their glasses, she’d felt as if something had passed between them. Some coded, inarticulate message. Some unspoken pact. Both knowing more than they were able to say. Not quite trust. Perhaps, at that point, nothing more than a balance of suspicion. But something.

      That was where it had started.

      That night, too, was the first time she really had an inkling of what she might be letting herself in for. It was the first opportunity she’d had to get anywhere close to her key targets – the smooth Jeff Kerridge and his much rougher number two, Pete Boyle. She already felt that she half-knew them from the files and reports that she’d worked her way through in preparation for the assignment, but meeting them in the flesh, after everything she’d read, was something else again. Everything she’d read indicated that, appearances aside, they were an unpleasant pair. Kerridge had built a business empire by ruthlessly jamming his hands into every pie he could find, legal or otherwise. He was what passed for the brains of the outfit, running a complex network of on- and off-shore companies that allowed him to funnel cash wherever he wanted for tax avoidance and laundering purposes. The forensic accounting team had tracked through some of those movements, but they didn’t yet have enough to be confident that a case would stick.

      Boyle was a different matter. A hard-case from Hulme who, by dint of being that bit brighter than his associates, had managed to claw his way up to near the top of the pile. The word was that Boyle looked after most of Kerridge’s dirty work, and that some of that work could get very dirty indeed. Unlike Kerridge, who’d managed to stay squeaky-clean, Boyle did have a record, though it was mainly petty stuff from his youth. These days, he tended not to risk messing up his own Hugo Boss suit, if he could pay others to do the work for him. They were getting closer with Boyle. They’d picked up two or three of his associates over the last year or so on a variety of charges – GBH, demanding money with menaces, manslaughter in one case. No one had actually blown the whistle on Boyle, but they were gradually piecing together enough evidence to collar him. He’d left his metaphorical fingerprints in a few too many places.

      At the dinner, true to form, Kerridge had been charm personified, chatting amiably with Marie during the earlier part of the evening. He had an old-fashioned manner which stayed just the right side of flirtatious. Probably just as well, Marie thought, eyeing Kerridge’s fearsome-looking wife. ‘Ah, Miss Donovan,’ he’d said. ‘The printer. I’ve heard some very good things about you. Your work comes highly recommended.’

      ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ she said. ‘I hope I manage to live up to my reputation.’

      ‘I’m sure you will.’ He turned and waved in the general direction of his wife, who was standing just a few inches behind him. ‘My wife, Helen. This is Miss Donovan—’

      ‘Marie.’

      ‘Marie, who’s handling some printing for us at the moment. You two should get together. I’m sure you’d have a lot to discuss.’

      The two women gazed at each other with expressions that confirmed their obvious lack of any common ground. Helen Kerridge was a certain sort of Cheshire lady, Marie thought. Well-off, self-made, dismissive of those who thought their characters might be defined by something other than material possessions. Marie could imagine the older woman patrolling the upmarket clothes shops and restaurants of Wilmslow or Alderley Edge, killing days that had little other purpose.

      ‘We could do lunch sometime,’ she said, mischievously.

      Helen Kerridge gazed at her for a long moment without speaking. ‘Sometime,’ she said finally, in a tone that suggested they should aim for one of the chillier days in hell.

      Marie had seen Boyle only from the other side of the room. He was a broad muscular man, who clearly still devoted considerable time and energy to working out. He looked awkward in his undoubtedly expensive suit, a glass of fizzy wine in hand, with the air of a man who would much rather have been propping up some bar downing a pint of lager. Every now and then, his eyes scanned

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