‘Let’s start with you talking us through exactly what you saw from the first time you spotted the helicopter,’ she asked Lance. ‘Zoe, can you jump in when you want to? Please use lay terms when you can, I’m afraid I’m a novice on how these things work.’

Chapter 24

Terrance knocked lightly on her bedroom door and Vivienne knew that it meant her son was home. He’d caught the first available flight from Argentina, where he was part of the sponsorship group for the national polo team. Fabian was the horse-lover in the family, and the one who’d convinced Bart to invest. It must have been a long flight, given the news she’d burdened him with before he boarded. She’d had no choice. It was all over the news. It was one thing keeping a story out of the Argentine press, but quite another once he boarded first class and read any choice of English newspaper handed to him. The headlines about his father were disparaging, and frankly harrowing to read.

What was cabinet minister doing with the King of Dodgy Cash? Read one. Another announced: Lord Reilly in intensive care after crash with Mr Cash. A higher-end publication announced: Minister hitches doomed ride home and Questions asked after cabinet minister critical and billionaire dead.

The last one caught her attention. She was unaware that they were billionaires, she considered, tongue in cheek. But on a more sobering note, she felt for Elaine, a little. Donald was a dithering old-school fool, but he was also a terrible husband and so deserved to be caught out. That was a tad uncharitable, but she honestly believed Elaine was better off without him and that, in time, the children would agree, if the old goat didn’t pull though. It didn’t look good, from what she’d read, and Elaine had sounded shell-shocked when she called. So she might; the stupid woman had actually believed that her husband was going to stay away from Bart for good. Vivienne knew hers better than that. Elaine was still concerned about appearances, like they all were when they were caught with their pants down.

She felt protective towards her son, who would have read all of the loathsome and offensive headlines about his father. She felt the familiar rush of burning anger in her body and knew it was a reaction to the sheer fact that it was all so bloody unfair. The press had got their teeth into a new scandal, and the story would run and run. Meanwhile, her husband’s legacy – and the father of her son – was being side-lined and diminished, as if he didn’t matter at all. And her name was being dragged through the dirt with him. However, she realised that this could work to their advantage. Taking a little heat off Bart’s death in the press might be just what they needed.