The secret keeper, p.16
The Secret Keeper, page 16
Andee regarded her closely, and allowed several moments to pass before she said, ‘Have you seen Ana Petrov since you had lunch with her?’
Olivia shook her head.
‘Is she still at Imogen’s?’
‘I guess so. You know, I’d rather think of him going off with her than I would of him cheating anyone, least of all people we know.’ Her eyes closed in heartbreak and shame. ‘I’m so sorry about your mother and Graeme’s sisters,’ she whispered brokenly, thinking of the fondness she had for those women, and knowing that she was never going to be able to look them in the face again. ‘I wish I could tell you that there’s a way to get their investments back, but at the moment I’m really not sure that there is.’
Clearly deciding not to make her feel any worse on that score, Andee said, ‘Have you been in touch with anyone at the London office to see if they can tell you what’s happening?’
Olivia shook her head. ‘I don’t really know anyone there, apart from Cooper Jarrett. I’m sure he’s fully aware of everything. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he’s responsible for it all.’
Neither agreeing nor disagreeing, Andee eventually said, ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’
Olivia immediately tensed. It wasn’t going to be good, she could tell by Andee’s tone, and she could feel herself pulling back as even the potential of a new twist made her fearful.
‘There’s no easy way of doing it,’ Andee said softly, ‘so I’ll come straight to the point. It’s quite possible that Richmond allowed the marina expansion to be used as a channel for laundering money.’
Olivia’s mouth turned dry, as the rest of her seemed to go numb. Though she hadn’t voiced this to herself, she knew that deep down it was what she’d feared most. It made her head spin to think of her husband doing deals with people who were no more than gangsters, individuals he must surely have known would ruin him in the end. ‘Why would he do it?’ she asked hoarsely. ‘He doesn’t even know … I mean, he’s always been honest and …’ She gave a humourless laugh. ‘How can I say that when I apparently don’t know him?’
‘I’ve no idea why he got involved,’ Andee replied, ‘but I do have an idea of how it came about.’
Olivia looked at her, aware of a pounding tightness in her head, of a wall coming up again as though to keep Andee out. Pushing past it, she braced herself for more.
‘I think … It seems quite likely,’ Andee said, ‘that Ana Petrov’s father introduced him to the initial investors.’
Olivia stopped breathing. She could feel the colour draining from her face, the rhythm changing in her heart. Though she understood the implications of what Andee had just said, each time they seemed to come clear they slipped away again, into a black gulf of denial. Ana Petrov had led him to this. Ana Petrov and her family were at the heart of it. She could get no further than that, didn’t want to go any further.
In the end she managed to say, ‘How – how do you know this?’
Nodding to show it was a reasonable question, Andee said, ‘When I found out that due diligence on the marina had revealed a fraud investigation, I contacted an old colleague at the Met to see what more I could learn. He confirmed that an investigation was under way, and after digging a little deeper he sent me photographs …’ She paused, looked concernedly at Olivia and continued. ‘They’re of Richmond and Ana Petrov, dining with her father and two other men at a restaurant in Amsterdam. These men were, still are I’m told, under National Crime Agency surveillance.’ After allowing that to register, she added, ‘The photos were taken in April 2015.’
Olivia reeled, as the date hit her as hard as the link to organised crime. Her husband had been living a life she’d known nothing about, had deceived her on a level she could hardly begin to comprehend. He’d been sucked into the Petrov family’s dark and murky world, a world that coiled itself through decent society like poisoned gas, invisible and deadly. He’d done a deal that he must surely have known would benefit them and ruin him … She opened her mouth but no words came out.
Finally, she heard herself saying, in a voice that barely sounded like her own, ‘Can I see these photos?’
As Andee went inside to fetch her laptop, Olivia pressed her hands to her face and tried to breathe steadily. She could deal with this, she told herself, she was going to find a way to get through it for the children’s sake and for her own. But even as she tried to bolster herself she was faltering in the fear of where Richmond was now and what might be happening to him.
When Andee returned with her laptop she opened it, but before turning it so Olivia could see the screen, she said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
Olivia nodded, knowing she had to if she was ever going to make herself believe the nightmare was real.
She was bemused when the first shot came up; she’d expected people, but it was of a large Regency house with a colonnaded porch and black front door. Andee clicked the mouse and the next photo showed a street name and postcode. Another click revealed a title register, and as Olivia read Richmond’s name at the top she frowned in confusion. It was when she saw the shot of the nameplates showing who lived at Flat 6 that blood raced hotly through her veins.
She looked at Andee and the sorrow in her friend’s dark eyes suddenly made her lash out, knocking the computer to the floor. She didn’t need to see any more, whatever else there was hardly mattered. All that did was the rage burning inside her, the devastating sense of betrayal that was consuming her – and before Andee could do anything to stop her she ran back through the house and out of the door.
ANDEE. I told Olivia about the London flat first, because I thought she should know everything I knew, and I hoped that finding out through me would help her to prepare for whatever was going to come next. No one had any clear idea then what it would be; if we had, I guess we’d all have done things differently.
I presumed when she left my house that she’d gone home, just across the square. I checked regularly and her car was there, but she didn’t return my messages or answer the door when I knocked.
In the end Graeme and I decided to use the key we kept for emergencies to let ourselves in. She wasn’t there, and we could find nothing to tell us where she’d gone.
Richmond’s face was pale, his expression impenetrable as he watched Crispin Blake react to what he’d just told him. Though the lawyer acting for Penn Financial had appeared shocked at first, and even vaguely disbelieving, he was now starting to look more puzzled, even anxious. In the end, after taking even longer to digest Richmond’s proposal than Richmond had expected, he said, ‘Does – do your former business associates know you’re here?’
Richmond shook his head.
‘Does Cooper Jarrett?’
‘As far as I know,’ Richmond replied, ‘he’s still with the investigators.’ He didn’t add that he suspected Jarrett was cutting himself some sort of deal. In Jarrett’s shoes he’d be doing the same, but he didn’t have the luxury of the swap, or of a deal.
Blake’s gaze focused in hard on his client. ‘You’re wise not to name names,’ he told him, ‘but even so, I take it you understand what’s likely to happen if I go to the police with what you’ve just told me?’
‘I do,’ Richmond replied.
‘And that’s what you want?’
‘Of course it’s not what I want.’
Blake nodded slowly, then turning to his computer screen he started to type.
As he waited, Richmond got to his feet and walked over to the window. Blake’s office was on the fourth floor of a large, sixties building just off High Holborn, with a view down into the busy street below. In a derelict shop doorway opposite, a tramp was slouched up against a shopping trolley filled with his worldly goods, and surrounded by old papers and bottles. Richmond found himself wondering what could have happened to bring the old man so low. Had he ever known success, or love or happiness? Had he lost everything because of a crime he hadn’t even meant to commit? This last question caused Richmond’s insides to clench, for he was under no illusion of how it would be if he followed the path he’d just laid out to Blake.
Pushing his hands into his pockets, he turned his back on the tramp and looked across at his lawyer, who was taking two sheets of paper from the printer on his desk.
‘Before we go any further,’ Blake said, laying the two typed sheets out in front of him, ‘I need you to look over this statement and make sure I’ve understood everything correctly. I will also require reassurance that you’ve given serious consideration to the consequences you’ll face if you go ahead with …’
‘I have,’ Richmond interrupted, coming to take the pen he was being offered. ‘And I don’t need to read it. I’m sure you understood me perfectly.’ He added his signature to the foot of the second page and put the pen down. ‘Now,’ he said, picking up his keys, ‘I need you to act,’ and without another word he left.
An hour later Richmond was in the spacious third-floor flat that he owned and was home to Ana Petrov, on Pelham Crescent in South Kensington. He’d bought it for her because he’d known that if he didn’t she’d make sure Olivia found out about their affair. Of course she hadn’t threatened it, she was far too subtle for that, but he’d realised when she’d shown him the brochure for the flat that the choice was either buy it for her, or lose his marriage.
That should have been an end to it, any sane man would have walked away as soon as the keys were handed over, but he hadn’t. He’d carried on seeing her, God only knew why, even now he couldn’t rationalise it for himself. Maybe because she made it so easy, or because the risk excited him; more likely it was because he’d understood on an unspoken level that he’d be wise to do so. He was never going to deny that she fascinated him, as did her friends, until he’d begun to realise who they really were – and what they wanted from him.
People of that sort didn’t take no for an answer. Like Ana, they didn’t make threats, they simply let it be known through innuendo and metaphor what was likely to happen if he didn’t come through with what they wanted.
So the marina expansion had gone ahead, promoted by him to the local authority, marina management company and even private investors, most of them dedicated believers in Brexit, as a way to prepare Kesterly for the great staycation boom. A lot of cash had changed hands to smooth the way, cash that, ironically, had made its way back into the project through private investment.
He paced up and down the sitting room, urging his phone to ring, ready to roar with frustration when it remained obstinately silent. He’d heard from one of the investigators that they’d finished talking to Cooper, but he’d heard nothing from the man himself yet, nor was he answering his phone. He needed to know what Cooper had told them, though the silence was giving him all the information he expected and dreaded.
Spotting the holdall Ana had brought in yesterday, he snatched it up and went to dump it with the others close to the door. She’d made three or four excursions into the Folly over the past weeks, using the key he’d given her to spirit away things for him to take into the future. It had been her idea to pack for him that way; it had pleased her, she’d said, to walk around Olivia’s house, helping herself to Olivia’s husband’s belongings before she took the man himself. He hadn’t refused her, because he’d known he couldn’t.
It had also been her idea to start afresh somewhere, and again he hadn’t argued because he’d understood that he didn’t have a say in the matter. If he stayed he wouldn’t only have to face the disgrace of the financial scandal he’d brought on himself to try and save the marina project, there were also the reprisals her friends might inflict on his family.
Using her contacts, she’d arranged everything.
Starting as his mobile rang, he checked who it was, and sick with frustration he clicked on harshly. ‘Olivia, I told you, I’ll call when …’
‘I need to speak to you …’
‘Not now.’
‘I want to know …’
‘Olivia, stop fucking calling me!’ he shouted, and snapping off the line he sat down hard on the sofa and pressed his hands to his head.
Getting up again, he noticed Ana’s keys on a side table at more or less the same instant as the downstairs buzzer sounded. He went to release the door to let her in, and continued to pace. She wanted to go now, today. Everything was ready …
Feeling sick with the suspicion that Cooper Jarrett had revealed everything and it was already too late for him to carry through his own plans, he turned to open the front door of the flat. He needed to tell Ana that their future couldn’t happen the way she was seeing it. They couldn’t embark on the madness she’d set up for them. He was going to tell her that he’d already spoken to his lawyer who now knew everything but names, never names … He stopped dead and a thundering shock tore through his head.
‘Hello, Richmond,’ Sean said affably.
Richmond’s eyes almost burst from their sockets. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he snarled. ‘You’ve got no damned right …’
‘Maybe not, but you, my friend, need to listen to …’
‘Don’t you fucking …’
Sean’s tone lowered as he said, ‘Are you determined to prove yourself the arsehole I think you are? The bastard who’s planning to leave his wife and kids to live with the shame of what he’s done, because …’
‘Get the fuck out of here!’ Richmond raged.
Sean’s expression tightened almost imperceptibly. ‘Were you ever going to tell Olivia about your set-up here with Ana Petrov?’ he demanded. ‘Was it ever a part of your plan to admit that you were suckered into a deal that was never going to work, wasn’t even meant to? Stupid questions, of course you weren’t going to tell her. You were just going to fuck off into oblivion and let her find out …’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Oh, but I do. I think I probably know all of it, and I have to admit a part of me actually feels sorry for you. Or it would if you weren’t so damned weak. If you’d found the balls to stand up to those bastards, if you’d had what it took to walk away from Ana Petrov.’
Sweat was beading on Richmond’s neck; his jaw shook as he said, ‘I’m not listening to your bullshit …’
Sean nodded towards the bags. ‘You’re clearly planning a trip and I swear I don’t want to be the one to stop you, but I’m afraid I must.’
‘What the hell has any of this got to do with you?’ Richmond growled. He wasn’t a bad man, he was reminding himself; he was simply a victim of his own failings; of circumstances beyond his control. He was even trying to make good, goddammit, but this bastard Kenyon was clearly in no mood to cut him any slack.
Sean said, ‘Olivia knows about this place, by the way. Your cosy little love nest here with Ana Petrov. Andee Lawrence told her. So she knows that you’ve betrayed her, cheated your clients, allowed yourself to be used. Tell me this, have you spared a thought for how it must be making her feel right now to know how she’s wasted her life on a piece of scum who never deserved her in the first place?’
Richmond’s guilt was turning him puce with fury. ‘You haven’t got a clue what …’
‘I can see your shame as if it were dripping from your eyes,’ Sean told him savagely. ‘You’re so disgusted with yourself it surpasses even the disgust I feel for you. You fucking hate yourself, don’t you, and boy, you’ve got some company there. But you don’t care about all those people you’ve cheated, do you? All that matters to you is that you get yourself out of here before they come for you with handcuffs, and they’re coming, you can be sure of that.’
‘It’s time for you to go,’ Richmond growled, his eyes darting to the door.
Sean cocked an eyebrow. ‘Oh no. I’m not going anywhere until I’ve done what I came here to do,’ and his fists were already clenching as he moved forward to close the distance between them.
By the time Sean left the flat, he’d been inside for no more than ten minutes. As he opened the front door to the street he almost collided with a woman on her way in. He apologised briefly and continued to the pavement without looking back. He knew he’d just passed Ana Petrov, and from the feel of her eyes boring into his back it was possible she’d recognised him too.
It was early evening by the time Olivia arrived outside the address she’d memorised from the photographs Andee had shown her. It had been a long drive up the M4, and a dangerous one given her speed, but she was here now, still shaking with anger and so pumped with adrenalin that she felt she could tear the door off its hinges if no one answered.
Seeing Richmond’s Mercedes parked further along the crescent she gave a growling sob of fury, but at least he was still here. She felt so outraged and violent that she had to hold on to a pillar to steady herself. Then she pressed the bell, and held it down, determined not to release it until someone let her in.
In the end a stranger came out of the front door, regarded her curiously, but didn’t object when she slipped inside and ran up the stairs.
‘Richmond!’ she cried, hammering on the door of Flat 6 as though she might drive her fists right through it. ‘I know you’re in there, and I’m not leaving until you have the guts to face me.’
OLIVIA. It felt that day as though my life had stopped being my own. It was like I was heading for a slow-motion car crash that I couldn’t avoid. I simply couldn’t get my head around the deceit, and the fact that it had gone on for so long, and that he’d been able to look me in the face when he came home after being with her. What kind of man tells you he loves you only hours, maybe even minutes after he’s said it to someone else? Was she the reason for his low sex drive with me? He was getting all he wanted from her, and I was simply the mother of his children, someone he didn’t need anything more from than that?
I’d known, even before I set out for London, that there was a chance I was already too late. I’d checked his closets and study: things were missing, things he’d want to take with him, though his passport was still there. I took little heart from that – if he was planning to disappear he wouldn’t need it. The fact that he was planning to abscond like a coward was bad enough, but what he was leaving me with, the scandal, the criminal investigation, the sheer devastation of my parents’ lives, and mine, was enough to make me want to kill him. I even thought about asking Sean if he could arrange it, that’s how crazed I was that day. I actually called him and left a message for him to ring back. He sent a text saying, ‘Everything has been taken care of.’
