The Snow Tiger / Night of Error. Desmond Bagley

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СКАЧАТЬ gone to see Joe Cameron, the mine engineer. He’s still in hospital.’

      The clippings fluttered in Stenning’s hand. ‘So I gathered.’ He looked around. ‘We could do worse than have a chat here. Very nice place.’

      Ballard unfolded another garden chair. ‘The town is all right, too. Christchurch prides itself on being more English than England.’

      Stenning sat down. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing it.’ He regarded the clippings, then folded them and put them into his pocket. ‘You’re having quite a time at this Inquiry. I don’t think your family is going to like the things you’ve been saying.’

      ‘I know they don’t like it,’ said Ballard. ‘I had a visit from Frank yesterday. He wants me to shut up.’

      ‘What did you do?’ asked Stenning interestedly.

      ‘I showed him the door.’

      Stenning did not comment but he looked pleased in an indefinable way which Ballard could not place. ‘You know, I was more than your grandfather’s lawyer. I was also his friend.’

      ‘I know he placed a lot of trust in you.’

      ‘Trust,’ said Stenning, and smiled. ‘Trust – that’s what I want to talk about. What do you know about the way your grandfather organized his affairs – I mean his financial affairs?’

      ‘Practically nothing,’ said Ballard. ‘I knew that he put all, or most, of his money into some kind of trust a few years ago. He made it quite clear that I was not going to inherit, so I didn’t take much interest. It was nothing to do with me.’

      Stenning nodded. ‘Yes, it was a little over seven years ago. Do you know anything about estate duties in the United Kingdom?’

      ‘Death duties? Nothing much.’

      ‘Then I shall enlighten you. A man may give his money away – to his family usually – to a charitable foundation, as Ben did. However, if he dies within seven years of the transaction having taken place then his gift is assessed for estate duty just as if he hadn’t made it at all. If he dies after seven years have elapsed then the gift escapes the tax.’

      ‘I had heard about that,’ Ballard smiled. ‘I didn’t worry too much about it, myself. I don’t have much to leave, and I’ve no one to leave it to.’

      Stenning shook his head. ‘Every man must make provision for the unknown future,’ he said in a lawyerly way. ‘Ben died after the seven-year period.’

      ‘Therefore the foundation doesn’t have to pay the tax.’

      ‘Precisely. But it was a near-run thing. For one thing, the government changed the law and Ben squeezed in just under the deadline. For another he died just two weeks after the seven years were up. In fact, he nearly didn’t make it at all. Do you remember him coming to see you just before you came to New Zealand?’

      ‘Yes. It was when he offered me the job in Hukahoronui.’

      ‘The effort nearly killed him,’ said Stenning. ‘The next day he took to his bed and never left it again.’

      ‘He sent me his stick,’ said Ballard. ‘I had a bad leg at the time. He said he wouldn’t need the stick again.’

      ‘He didn’t.’ Stenning looked at the sky contemplatively. ‘It was very important to Ben that he should see you at that time. The breaking of your leg was a minor disaster – you couldn’t go to see him, so the mountain had to go to Mahomet. It was so important to him that he put at risk a very large sum of money – and more beside.’

      Ballard frowned. ‘I don’t see how it could have been important. All he did was to twist my arm into taking the job at Hukahoronui – and look how that’s turned out.’ His voice was bitter.

      ‘An avalanche wasn’t part of Ben’s plans – but it came in useful.’ Stenning laughed as he saw the bafflement on Ballard’s face. ‘You think I’m talking in riddles? Never mind; all will be made clear. Let us look at the charitable foundation. Ben gave it all his personal fortune except what he needed to live on until his death, which wasn’t much. Ben was not a man to flaunt prestige symbols; he had no Rolls Royce, for example. His needs were few and his life austere. But the foundation got a lot of money.’

      ‘I could see how it might.’

      ‘It does good work. The money or, rather, the interest on the money, supports several laboratories working mostly in the fields of mining safety and health. Very good and necessary work, indeed.’

      ‘My God!’ said Ballard in astonishment. ‘Do the trustees know how the Ballard Group works? Every safety regulation is normally bent, or broken if they think they can get away with it. That’s like giving with one hand and taking with the other.’

      Stenning nodded. ‘That perturbed Ben, but there was nothing he could do about it at the time for reasons you shall see. Now let us take a look at the trustees. There are five.’ He ticked them off on his fingers. ‘There’s your uncle Edward, your cousin Frank, Lord Brockhurst, Sir William Bendell and myself. I am the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ballard Foundation.’

      ‘I’m surprised that two of the family are trustees. From what Ben said the last time I saw him he had no great regard for them.’

      ‘Ben made them trustees for tactical reasons. You’ll see what I mean when I come to the nub. You’re right, of course, in your assessment of Ben’s attitude to the family. He had four sons, one of whom died here in New Zealand, and the other three turned out in a way he couldn’t stomach. He had no great regard for any of his grandchildren, either, except one.’ Stenning jabbed forward a thin forefinger. ‘You.’

      ‘He had funny ways of showing it,’ said Ballard wryly.

      ‘He’d seen how his sons had turned out and he knew that whatever else he was good at he was not a good father. So he saw to your education and left you strictly alone. He watched you, of course, and he liked what he saw. Now consider – what could Ben do a few years ago when he contemplated what was likely to happen to his personal fortune? He wouldn’t give it to his family whom he didn’t like, would he?’

      ‘Not on the face of it.’

      ‘No,’ said Stenning. ‘Anyway, as Ben saw it they already had enough. In all honesty, could he give it to you? How old were you then?’

      ‘Seven years ago? Twenty-eight.’

      Stenning leaned back. ‘I rather think that when Ben and I first talked about setting this thing up you were twenty-six. Just a fledgling, Ian. Ben couldn’t see himself putting so much money and power – and money is power – into the hands of one so young. Besides, he wasn’t too sure of you. He thought you were immature for your years. He also thought your mother had something to do with that.’

      ‘I know. He was scathing about her at our last meeting.’

      ‘So he set up the Ballard Foundation. And he had to do two things: he had to make sure that he retained essential control – and he had to live for seven years. He did both. And he watched you like a hawk because he wanted to see how you turned out.’

      Ballard СКАЧАТЬ