Page 34 of The Impossible Fortune
‘Yes, if you can help us, I think we can help you,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Nick tells me you work in “cold storage”, and I can’t quite get to the bottom of it. In my line of work “cold storage” was where you kept corpses until it was politically expedient to return them to their mother country, but I’m guessing that’s not what you do?’
Holly stops eating her broccoli tart for a moment. ‘No, that’s not what we do. We work for companies, individuals, and we look after the security of their computers or their files. Anything they want kept secret.’
‘Ah,’ says Ibrahim. ‘That’s what I suspected. Online security, firewalls, the cloud. I have read around the issue.’
‘The exact opposite,’ says Holly.
‘Yes, yes,’ says Ibrahim. ‘I thought as much, the exact opposite. Three hundred and sixty degrees.’
‘What do you mean, the exact opposite?’ asks Elizabeth.
‘We’ve all got so used to security being online,’ says Holly. ‘Financial details, corporate secrets, crypto trades, all hidden behind walls.’
‘Crypto is Bitcoin,’ says Joyce, tucking into her shepherd’spie. ‘You mustn’t tell Joanna, but I lost fourteen thousand pounds.’
‘I don’t really know Joanna,’ says Holly. ‘I told you.’
‘Oh, she’s terrific,’ says Ibrahim.
Holly ignores him and continues her train of thought. ‘But at the very, very top level of security, because of hackers –’
‘Computer hackers,’ says Ibrahim, nodding wisely.
‘Companies and individuals turn to “cold storage”. Whatever secrets they want to keep, they never go near any sort of connected computer. Instead they use companies like us, and they store their documents, more usually their hard drives, with us. We physically lock them up.’
‘What’s the advantage in that?’ Ron asks.
‘It’s easier to keep out robbers than it is to keep out hackers,’ says Holly. ‘However well protected you might think your information is behind whatever firewall you’ve installed, there’s always someone in Russia, or Dubai, or Brazil, working out how to access it. Whereas if it’s in a locked box, with an impossible combination in an unknown location, it’s a lot easier to protect.’
‘So if you want to steal the secrets,’ says Ron, ‘you have to steal them physically?’
‘You do,’ says Holly. ‘That’s cold storage. And with the system we have in place, I would say stealing them physically is impossible.’
‘That’s very useful, Holly, thank you,’ says Ibrahim. ‘Confirms a lot of my thoughts.’
‘It’s been a tough day today, you understand that?’ says Holly. ‘I discover my business partner has gonemissing, could be dead as far as I know. Then I’m told Joanna’s mum and her friends would be able to find Nick for me.’
‘We can certainly try,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Nick thought that either Davey Noakes or Lord Townes was trying to kill him. Does that sound reasonable?’
Holly looks away, looks back, then nods. ‘Very reasonable. They both knew.’
‘Knew what?’ asks Elizabeth. ‘That’s the piece of the puzzle we’re missing.’
Their desserts arrive. Along with another bottle of wine. Ibrahim does the honours.
‘You’re sure I can’t tempt you, Holly?’ he asks.
Holly hovers her hand over her glass. ‘Driving.’
Ibrahim nods. Very wise.
‘This whole thing is all about one single safe,’ says Holly. ‘The Compound is one room, a vault, and the walls are lined with safes. Each one about the size of a shoe box. Nick and I have one.’
‘What’s in it?’ asks Joyce, enjoying her Eton mess. ‘Jewels?’
‘It’s always jewels with you, Joyce,’ says Elizabeth.
‘One of our first jobs,’ says Holly, ‘was for a company –’
