Shadows of War by Michael Ridpath

Author:Michael Ridpath
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781781853344
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

30

The Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London

‘Cheers, Henry!’

They were at the bar. Freddie Copthorne raised his glass and gulped his beer and Alston sipped his pink gin. It irritated Alston that Freddie insisted on drinking beer in the most inappropriate of places. All right, his family’s fortune was based on the stuff, but Freddie’s loyalties seemed to stretch to any old brew.

‘Do you think we will hear back from Herr Langebrück?’ he asked.

‘I expect so, somehow or other,’ said Alston. ‘The important thing is that Rib knows we are ready to talk. It’s a shame Constance couldn’t have stayed longer in Holland to get a reply.’

‘I can’t get over what happened to Millie de Lancey,’ Copthorne said. ‘Poor old Oakford.’

Alston didn’t answer. He too couldn’t get over what had happened to the de Lancey girl, but for very different reasons. Of course it was a shame that she had had to die, but he had come to realize that Constance was absolutely right: the girl was a war casualty, and when you thought about it, she was a casualty for the enemy. Alston was on the side of peace and sanity. Millie de Lancey had declared herself to be on the side of war.

Alston would have liked to explain all that to his friend, but he couldn’t. Freddie wouldn’t understand. He didn’t have the balls.

Whereas he, Alston, did have balls. He suppressed a smile.

‘Sir Henry! Lord Copthorne! It’s great to see you!’

The French-tinged American accent was instantly recognizable. The two men turned to see Charles Bedaux holding out his hand. He looked like a spruced-up boxer, Alston thought. His face was battered, his ears verged on the cauliflower, but his thick dark hair was brushed back with brilliantine and he was wearing a smartly buttoned double-breasted blazer and two-toned brogues. Not exactly the way one would dress in the dining room of a City merchant bank, but Bedaux was certainly not a City merchant banker. Alston smiled and shook the American’s hand.

‘Do you mind if we go straight in to lunch?’ Bedaux said. ‘I’m not in the country for long, and I have a lot to do.’

‘Of course not,’ said Alston. Some might have found Bedaux’s direct manner rude, but Alston liked it. The man had energy, and energy was good. It got things done. And it was Bedaux who had asked to see Alston. They knew each other from mutual business acquaintances before the war. There were quite a few British firms who used the Bedaux System in their factories and Gurney Kroheim’s money to finance them.

Alston had arranged that the three men should have a discreet table in the corner of the dining room. Freddie ordered lamb chops and Alston and Bedaux both went for the grouse. Alston ordered a bottle of Montrachet ‘24.

‘Friends in Germany tell me you have been in touch with my old friend Otto Langebrück,’ said Bedaux.

‘You are very well informed,’ said Alston.

‘Oh, I am,’ said Bedaux. ‘Always.’

‘We passed him a proposition,’ Alston went on. ‘Through an intermediary in Holland.

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