The Fund. Jeff Edwards

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СКАЧАТЬ man, Mr Sloane,’ she said kindly. ‘However, I have not in the past, I will not now, nor will I in the future agree to make my life the stuff of public scrutiny.’

      Sloane had grinned. ‘I must disagree with you on that score, Mrs Green. Your very actions, such as owning the most famous bordello in the city, your most public trial and imprisonment and finally the unfortunate incident resulting in the death of Walter Groom, have all been the stuff of public scrutiny. It can only to be to your benefit to make the world aware of your side of the story in those matters.’

      ‘I disagree entirely, Mr Sloane. I have no wish to put my side, or any other side, forward. Much to my regret the matters occurred and I now wish to fade away. I choose to live my life in peace and quiet, just as I have done for years.’

      ‘And if I were to write a story about you anyway?’

      ‘I have had many stories written about me, Mr Sloane. Most have painted me in a bad light. I am an old lady and now quite immune to them. Yet another attempt to blacken my name will not get me to break my silence. So, Mr Sloane, go ahead and do your worst, but be assured, if you make the slightest error I will have my good friend Brian Reynolds and his firm of lawyers upstairs, sue both you and your publishers.’

      ‘Are you sure that you won’t change your mind and set the record straight?’

      ‘Goodbye, Mr Sloane!’ she pronounced with great finality.

      Following the arson attack on her home, Sloane had again attempted to contact her, but so had numerous other reporters and all had been repulsed.

      Suddenly she was dead.

      The media frenzy at her funeral had been as much because of her former notoriety as from the mystery surrounding her death. Again, there were hundreds of question to be asked, but not one answer was forthcoming.

      Now, even her closest friends were refusing to co-operate.

      Not one of the people that she had been close to would speak to the press. Not even the inducement of money would sway them from their silence.

      The next morning, Sloane finished his latest article for the paper and dropped it into his sub-editor who accepted it for filing. It would probably appear in the next few days. The article itself was not breaking news, so it would appear whenever there was sufficient spare space to match the size of his work. Sloane didn’t care. It was a very ordinary piece of work, even by his standards, and he was glad to see the end of it.

      On the way back to his workstation, Sloane dropped by the news desk to see what was happening in the world, searching for a new story that needed his particular spin. As he quickly scanned through the items that would appear in the next edition his eyes were drawn to a name, Toby Brown, and then another, Grant & Associates.

      Studying the article more closely, Sloane read that a fire the previous evening in the township of Walton Village had completely destroyed the recently renovated factory that had contained the workshop and gallery of the up-and-coming sculptor Toby Brown as well as the first floor offices of the legal firm Grant & Associates.

      Sloane knew that this was the same Toby Brown that Jade Green had been with when she first reappeared in public. He had found out that Brown had even been living with her at the time her house was destroyed by fire, and now there had been another fire, this time not only destroying the place where Toby Brown worked but also the offices of Grant & Associates as well. That was the office of Brian Reynolds, Jade Green’s next-door neighbour whose home had suffered extensive damage under still more mysterious circumstances and who was also a close friend of Jade Green.

      Sloane had a circumspect nature and did not subscribe easily to conspiracy theories, but this was all just too much!

      Printing out the news item regarding the fire, Sloane strode into the chief editor’s office and spent the next half hour convincing the man to give him free rein on following up the story.

      Unfortunately, the editor had just recently come from a budget meeting and was not in a position to give Sloane the sort of leeway he sought. ‘We can’t give you any more than a couple of weeks to work on this. If you can’t turn up enough in that time to make a decent story out of it then we’ll have to pull the plug and move on to other things.’

      Disappointed, Sloane accepted the restrictions and made his way home to where his files on Jade Green were scattered throughout his cramped flat.

      Settled once more on his battered lounge, Sloane reviewed his notes.

      At one time he thought that her death would be the end of his story, but now it seemed the mystery continued through her friends.

      Or had they been involved all along?

      After much searching, Sloane had obtained a probated copy of the will of a Janice Patricia Symes (nee Green). He was totally stunned at the vast amount of money that she had bequeathed and made a note to contact each of the recipient organisations to see if they could shed any light upon the life of their benefactor.

      However, the details of the main part of the bequest were missing and no amount of searching on behalf of court staff had been successful in locating those details. All that remained were the names of those receiving her legacy.

      With no known relatives, four of the names came as no surprise to Sloane. They were Toby Brown and his wife Suzie as well as her former next-door neighbours Brian and Lana Reynolds.

      However, it was the third couple, Ali and Nori Akuba, that shocked him. What was the connection between Jade Green of Walton Village and a married refugee couple from Nigeria who operated a taxi business in the city?

      The more Sloane searched the more questions that remained unanswered.

      He took a swig of the whiskey and contemplated his next move.

      Sloane realised that he needed to find more information on the six people who inherited Green’s fortune. Who were they really and why did Green select them? What would they do with the money? So far as he could tell none of them had shown any sign of lavish spending. Why not? ‘If I inherited millions the first thing I would be doing would be to spend a bit of it on myself, and Pamela.’

      Sloane decided that he would begin by talking to Toby Brown and his wife and arose early the following morning to drive out to Walton Village, hoping to catch the couple at home before they both left for work.

      As he entered the street where they lived, he saw them both emerge from their building and climb into a battered truck parked at the kerb.

      Deciding to follow and catch up with them when they parked, Sloane was in the middle of attempting to turn his car around when another car nearly slammed into him as it hurriedly pulled away from the kerb and tried to catch up with Toby Brown’s truck.

      Sloane had slammed on the brakes to avoid the inevitable collision and was about to blast his horn at the retreating car when he thought better of it. He had noticed that there were two very heavily built men in the front seat and had no wish to become involved in a confrontation. Instead, he followed both cars from a distance as they made their way towards the city.

      A short time later Sloane noticed a second car insert itself between the car containing the two large men and Brown’s truck. Then the now third car in line allowed Sloane to overtake them and settled in behind him.

      Sloane was able to get a good look at СКАЧАТЬ