02 The House by Imogen Robertson & Tom Watson

Author:Imogen Robertson & Tom Watson [Robertson, Imogen & Watson, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2020-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Owen refuses dessert, makes his farewells and walks home. The notes in Jay’s file repeating in his head. He can hear them in Jay’s voice.

He tries to think it through: what’s the worst that could happen? He could be scapegoated by the party and press – have any other skeletons they find in the back of the closet in Charlotte Street lashed to his back and then be driven out into the wilderness. Scapegoat or sacrificial lamb? What would life be outside politics? He can’t conceive of it.

His phone buzzes.

He doesn’t recognise the number but when he answers it, Greg’s voice at the other end seems inevitable.

‘Owen!’

‘Greg. How did you get this number?’

He presses the button on the pedestrian crossing with his knuckle, the traffic eases to a halt and he crosses to walk back towards his flat along the river, his back to the Houses of Parliament. ‘I still have friends around the place,’ Greg replies. ‘Quite a few, as it happens, and making new ones all the time.’

‘How nice. What do you want?’

‘You owe me a new pair of shoes, by the way. That lovely single malt didn’t agree with the leather. But there we go. I called to ask what you thought of Elsie Collins? I do not understand why young women disfigure themselves with tattoos. Not the sort of thing which goes down well in middle England, that look. And she is rather highly strung.’

Owen wonders if he is being followed.

‘I have nothing to say to you, Greg.’

He sighs. Owen hears it as a hiss on the microphone and steps sideways to avoid a pair of young women taking selfies with the Thames in the background, its surface rippled with lights.

‘Withdraw the question, Owen. It’s perfectly clear how this is going to play out. Suppose you support the Collins family. What then? First, before you can finish typing a press release Edward will publish the story, complete with tragic Jay’s own words. What a story!’

Owen stops, leans on the stone wall between him and the river. He finds he is staring at Millbank Tower and has a flash of himself there when he was just a teenager, overwhelmed by the fact he had found a place at the centre of things. Greg is still talking, and Owen can’t stop listening.

‘Perhaps your friends agreed it was for the greater good, but it was you who made the calls, wasn’t it? You who let it be known that Jay was not a candidate favoured by the party that year. Not them. Your boss didn’t know anything about it, did he? And even if you did drag dear Georgie and Phil into it, Georgina is the star of the week, and attacking Phil – saying he agreed with you keeping Jay off the lists – I mean, that will look a bit pathetic it, won’t it? You made the calls.’

He is right. Owen’s spent the last thirteen years trying to forget about it, but bloody Greg is right.

‘Dangerous talk, Owen.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.