Page 68 of The Impossible Fortune
‘Why did they come and see you?’ Joyce asks.
‘My whole career,’ says Lord Townes, ‘such as it was, was banking. City banking, you know, the blue-chip stuff.I understand they also had advice from people who might know more about the modern side of things. Davey Noakes? He is on your radar, I hope?’
‘He is,’ says Elizabeth.
‘But I think they also wanted to talk to someone who could connect them with a few old hands they could trust.There is a lot of trickery in the world of cryptocurrency, and I think that, at some point, they wanted to talk to someone in a suit.’
‘And they told you how much was at stake?’ Elizabeth asks.
‘Somewhere north of quarter of a billion,’ says Lord Townes. ‘That was my understanding? To a banker, not an immense amount of money, but to two individuals, certainly enough to focus the mind.’
Looking out of a huge bay window, Joyce sees that a light fog has settled across the garden.
‘And what advice did you give them?’ Elizabeth asks.
‘I promised I would arrange some meetings for them, once the money had become liquid,’ says Lord Townes.
‘And did you speak to anyone?’ Elizabeth asks.
‘I spoke to a few old friends in the City,’ says Lord Townes. ‘But I gave no names, no pack-drill, just said a couple of friends have had an unexpected windfall, how do you fancy it?’
‘So no mention of The Compound,’ says Elizabeth. ‘And no mention of Holly and Nick and the amount at stake?’
‘I told them it would be worth their while,’ says Lord Townes. ‘But nothing else.’
‘And did you hear from Nick or Holly again after your meeting?’
‘Only a note of thanks from Holly, and let’s catch up next week,’ says Lord Townes. ‘I was preparing a document for her, a few runners and riders and what have you.’
‘You’re very kind to help us, Robert,’ says Elizabeth. She will have noticed everything that Joyce has noticed. A man with a big house, and not enough money to keep it, suddenly informed of a large fortune. ‘What is your take on the thing?’
‘Oh, we didn’t discuss a fee,’ says Lord Townes. ‘But the usual –’
‘No, sorry,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Your take on the matter at hand. On Holly’s murder?’
‘Well, it’s a conundrum, isn’t it?’ says Lord Townes. ‘Games are being played.’
‘But the coincidence?’ Elizabeth says.
‘The coincidence?’
‘That Holly and Nick decide to cash out after so many years, and a matter of days after first telling people of their decision one of them is killed and the other disappears?’ Elizabeth gives him a terrifyingly neutral look. ‘That coincidence?’
Lord Townes sits back, and Joyce can see he is considering Elizabeth through new eyes. He smiles and looks down.
‘Your supposition, I suppose,’ he says, motioning to his shabby surroundings, ‘is that a man running low on money and luck suddenly finds a mine full of the stuff right under his feet?’
‘It’s certainly one way of looking at it,’ says Elizabeth. ‘To a suspicious mind.’
Lord Townes nods. ‘How do bankers make their money?’
Joyce has often wondered. Ron once told her, but he becomes quite hard to follow the angrier he gets.
‘Money sloshes around,’ says Lord Townes. ‘Great globs of it haring here and there. Peter paying Paul, Paul paying Mary, Mary leveraging a buyout of Harry’s company, Harry converting his debt into equity. Around it all swirls. And at the heart of it are bankers, shaking hands, introducing Peter to Paul, and Mary to Harry, and every time that money moves or transforms or grows, they take a tiny piece. A tiny piece from Paul, a tiny piece from Peter, all day, every day, until they can ski down their very own mountain of money.’
This was different to how Ron explained it, Joyce is certain of that.
‘So here’s the way to look at the thing,’ says Lord Townes. ‘Holly Lewis and I had developed a relationship of trust over a number of years. Enough trust that when she had a big decision to make, she knew she could come to me. Did you meet Holly?’
