The Fund. Jeff Edwards

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      Finally, Sloane realised that he had spent far too long talking about himself and deftly changed the line of questioning. He had seen Sam’s MG sports car and used that as means of escape.

      Sam was delighted to tell all about his little pride and joy, but Bree had heard it all before and concentrated instead on her cup of green tea.

      It was during their conversation about the relative merits of various models of cars that Sloane commented offhandedly, ‘That Roller of Jade Green’s must be something! It’s bulletproof, judging by the reports. I can’t find a single instance of her even laying eyes on the thing, so why do you think she bought it?’

      It was a question neither of the agents had previously considered and brought Bree out of her daydream. She looked over at Sam to see if he had any bright ideas on the topic.

      ‘I hadn’t really thought much about that before,’ offered Sam. ‘We had been taken off the case by then and never saw it for ourselves.’

      ‘Who has it now?’ asked Sloane.

      Once again the agents were at a loss. They looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders. The car was not something that either of them had considered as relevant. Now their curiosity was piqued. ‘It must be in the reports somewhere,’ said Bree.

      ‘I can’t recall seeing it,’ replied Sam uncertainly.

      ‘Neither can I,’ agreed Bree, ‘but it must be there somewhere.’

      Following breakfast, the trio set back to work.

      Hours of scouring the records proved fruitless. There was no record of the current whereabouts of Green’s car and there had been no reports of its sighting.

      The last notation on the records had been when it was seen parked in front of The Fund, two days prior to the charity ball that Sam and Bree had attended.

      ‘So, it’s fair to assume that someone at The Fund has it,’ said Bree.

      ‘Only there’s no mention of it being present when each of their premises were searched,’ replied Sloane, putting down the report. ‘Your people made a thorough search of all their homes as well as those of their friends and associates. They haven’t reported the Roller being present anywhere.’

      Sam contacted Inland Security headquarters. He obtained the names and phone numbers of all those agents who had been involved in the searches. He divided the list in two and while Sloane made some inquiries of his own, they began to work their way through the names.

      Two hours later they were still unable to find anyone who had set eyes upon the Rolls Royce since the time of the last sighting.

      ‘I don’t like mysteries,’ said Bree. ‘Why would it disappear?’

      ‘Perhaps they sold it,’ offered Sam.

      ‘Not according to vehicle records,’ replied Sloane. ‘I’ve just spoken to a friend down there. Apparently Jade Green used a shelf company to purchase it in the first place and when probate had been granted on her estate, the solicitors transferred it into the name of The Fund. It’s still officially owned by them.’

      Sam considered the information. ‘Well, we didn’t know why she bought the car in the first place. It could have been the simple whim of an old lady. But now that it has disappeared the car takes on a whole new significance. I think we should go back to the start. Why would she buy it?’

      Bree nodded. ‘I think the fact that it wasn’t just any sort of car is important.’

      ‘There can’t be too many bulletproof Rollers out there. She had to have taken that into account when she selected this car to buy. Why would she need it? Did she think someone would try to shoot her?’ asked Sam.

      ‘No,’ nodded Sloane. ‘As you said before. She never laid eyes on it. She had to have had something else in mind for it.’

      ‘So, if it wasn’t to protect her then it had to be to protect someone or something else,’ offered Sam.

      ‘She had it parked in the same storage complex as her infamous videos. It had to be the videos,’ said Bree.

      ‘Those videos in the lockup were dummies. Where were the real ones? In the Roller of course!’ said Sam.

      ‘And the partners escaped the gunfight between our agents and the terrorists in the Roller, taking the real videos with them,’ added Bree.

      Sloane concluded, ‘If your agents searched everywhere for the videos and couldn’t find them and they couldn’t find the Roller either, then it’s a fair chance that the Roller and the videos are still together.’

      Sam and Bree looked at one another. They had been all through the files so many times and missed this completely. Now it was as clear as the noses on their faces. The Roller and the videos were together. Find one and you’d find the other.

      ‘So where do we start looking?’ asked Bree excitedly.

      ‘First we confirm our suspicions,’ replied Sloane, ‘just in case we’ve made the wrong assumption.’

      ‘How?’ asked Sam.

      ‘We have a missing Rolls Royce. Let’s see if our friends at The Fund have realised that its gone,’ said Sloane.

      * * *

      Bree and Sam entered the office of The Fund and presented their credentials to the receptionist.

      ‘We’d like to speak to Brian Reynolds or Toby Brown,’ said Sam officiously. ‘If they’re not available we’ll talk to Lana Reynolds or Suzie Brown and if we can’t speak to them we’ll talk to Ali or Nori Akuba. In fact, we’ll even talk to Justine Small or Eliza Strang.’

      ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like to talk to Ron Tomkins? He’s the cleaner around here and about the only person’s name that you haven’t dropped so far,’ replied the girl with a cheeky grin.

      ‘Just get someone on the blower and tell them we’re here.’

      Stifling a further caustic comment the girl rang through to Brian’s office and announced their presence.

      Brian looked around at the files spread all over his desk. ‘Give me five minutes and I’ll be down.’

      ‘Mr Reynolds will be right with you,’ announced the receptionist. ‘Would you care to check out our eco-shop while you wait?’

      Bree gave the girl an innocent smile. ‘I don’t think so. Perhaps on the way out?’

      Brian appeared a few minutes later and welcomed them both with a hearty handshake before conducting the pair to his office.

      He settled them in seats across from his desk and regained his usual spot on the other side of a desk that now contained nothing more than a blank pad and pen.

      ‘Now then,’ he said with a hearty smile, ‘what can I do for you?’

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