Knightley and Son (9781619631540) by Gavin Rohan

Author:Gavin, Rohan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2014-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

An Interested Party

En route, Uncle Bill furnished the Knightleys with some further background on Bram Beecham.

Beecham had worked as a literary agent for over fifteen years and discovered several bestselling authors during that time, launching him to the top of his profession. However, his meteoric rise was interrupted by the tragic death of his daughter, Samantha, from leukemia, and the subsequent breakdown of his marriage.

It was around this time that Beecham was contacted by a new writer named Ambrose Chambers, who refused to divulge his identity but was believed to be American, and evidently had an exceptional gift for motivational writing and an extraordinary array of contacts in the fields of mythology and spirituality. It was from this array of contacts, from far-flung corners of the globe, that Chambers drew together the various threads that would eventually become the literary phenomenon that was The Code. For his part, Beecham personally credited Chambers with keeping him on the rails during his tragic trials of fate, and he vowed to bring Chambers’s inspirational writing to a wider audience, which he duly did.

The road to publication, however, was not without obstacles. The editor of The Code, Lester Norris, died in a car accident one month before the book’s release. Other members of the publishing team resigned amid rumors of a curse surrounding the book—rumors that were never substantiated, Uncle Bill was quick to point out.

Chambers himself continued to shy away from any kind of public attention, insisting on being paid through a network of front companies and offshore bank accounts. The Code, meanwhile, ascended the bestseller lists, driving Chambers deeper into hiding and leaving Beecham with the unusual dilemma of representing an author who didn’t wish to be represented.

The latest turn of events only served to heighten Beecham’s predicament: how could he defend his author from accusations of inciting criminal acts when his author refused to comment or appear in public? Beecham couldn’t betray the man who was not only his most prized client but also the person to whom he felt he owed his own life.

Beecham’s penthouse was located in an elegant apartment block in Marylebone. Knightley parked the cab on the opposite corner while Darkus and Bill sat in the backseat, observing the scene.

The white van was positioned outside the foyer, with two of Bill’s officers in the front seats. A dim lampshade was the only sign of life from Beecham’s window, which overlooked a modest roof garden and the unobstructed London skyline, lit up in the night.

Meanwhile, Knightley switched on a reading light over the dashboard and opened a copy of The Code. Darkus caught a glimpse of his father’s eyes moving left to right in the rearview mirror. Knightley scanned through the first chapter of the book, making disgruntled noises and flipping the pages dismissively. “Amazing what people choose to read these days,” he complained.

Satisfied that the book was having no ill effects, Darkus trained his binoculars on the apartment building and the surrounding area, employing his catastrophizer to detect anything that might be worthy of note.

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