The Deal by Tony Drury Read Free Book Online Page A

the girls in the afternoon and Scarlett noticed a difference when they arrived home. She sniffed the air in the house and asked her younger sister what smell she could detect. “Peaches,” said Lily.
    Lucy sent text messages to Charles on three occasions and received one reply.
    He arrived home at six thirty in the evening. When he entered their bedroom he found that some casual clothing was laid out on the bed. There was also a wrapped present. The label read: “Darling Daddy/Charles. We love you lots. Scarlett, Lily, Tabitha and Lucy xxx.”
    He opened it and found a book inside. For Those in Peril by Wilbur Smith. His favourite author. He would never forget reading When the Lions Feed , his first masterpiece. Thirty books later they kept coming. It was signed inside. “Fondest love. Lucy. 3 June 2011.”
    Charles went downstairs and initially could not find anybody. As he reached the patio doors he smelt the barbecue. Scarlett was cooking the meats, Lily stood behind the salad bowl with some plastic forks and spoons and Tabitha was holding a jug of fresh cordial.
    It wasn’t long before the four of them were seated at the wooden table, each with a plate of food. Charles realised the music being played was Leonard Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story’, a modern day Romeo and Juliet musical set in New York.
    “Mrs Allen was horrible today,” said Lily.
    “Later,” ordered Lucy. “Charles, I think you had a board meeting today? We want to know what happened.”
    He looked at the girls and drank some cordial.
    “Well, I sacked a broker,” said Charles.
    “Can you do that?” she asked.
    Before he could answer her question his eldest daughter chipped in with one of her own.
    “What did he do, Daddy?”
    “He was rude to a client. It has been going on for some time. I can’t abide that.”
    “Is that a sacking offence?” asked Lucy.
    “No. But his expenses are. It’s the oldest trick in the book. I went in early this morning to go through his returns for the last six months. He has a girlfriend. He took her to Paris. He shouted and screamed and then I showed him the hotel and restaurant invoices. He walked out.”
    “And is that the end of the matter?”
    “He’ll go to a lawyer and we’ll end up paying him two hundred thousand pounds and then he will secure another position. That’s the way the City works.”
    “So why sack him, Daddy?” asked Scarlett.
    “I want to live my life with people I can trust, my darling,” replied her father.
    “Like me,” said Tabitha.
    “Like you, Tabitha,” he laughed as he sipped his drink.
    Sara had spent the morning at her computer compiling an initial report on the publishing industry. It was a fairly straightforward task. She had been trained in this activity and knew many of the tricks of the trade. One was sheer volume. It never ceased to amaze her that there was an immediate payoff between size and quality. Time and again in her government work she saw volumes of meaningless research papers which would hardly be read. She understood that the work lying behind these tomes provided the basis for the recommendations which might, at a later stage, be considered. It was the system and Westminster worked on the system.
    She wanted her report for Agnew Capital to offer originality. She therefore spent the afternoon in Charing Cross Road visiting a number of bookshops. She spoke to some of the staff and asked what books people were reading. She asked what they themselves were reading too. It proved difficult to identify patterns. She studied the bestseller lists; fiction and non-fiction, hardback and paperback. She used Google to analyse the latest information on eBooks.
    At 5.30pm she had reached Leicester Square. She found a wine bar and treated herself to a glass of Chardonnay. She raised her glass and said a silent “cheers” to herself. She had decided that she knew what Andrew Agnew wanted.
    She felt her mood beginning to lighten with the wine. She didn’t