‘And you are the brilliant young lady that Priest here has told me so much about,’ Jack replied, letting go of Georgie’s hand and offering her a strained but genuine smile.

Georgie turned to Priest, ‘Should we be . . . ?’

‘You didn’t think I was going to take down a children’s charity without being able to prop it back up again, did you?’ Priest asked, raising an eyebrow. He could see she was starting to catch on.

‘So . . . ?’

‘I first met Priest when this whole affair started,’ Jack offered. ‘We knew that Alexia Elias was bad news but the Board didn’t have any firm evidence to oust her; she had become too powerful.’

‘Because Alexia had set the charity up in the first place, she had made sure that constitutionally her position was safe,’ Priest explained. ‘The Board’s only option was a derivative action to wrestle control from Alexia through the courts.’

‘And for that we needed evidence,’ Jack added. ‘At least, much more evidence than we have currently.’

Georgie pointed at Jack, although it was clearly an inadvertent gesture. ‘So, you’re on our side?’

‘She’s as quick as you described, Priest,’ Jack laughed.

‘What about The Real Byte?’

‘Probably best we don’t think about that too much,’ Priest replied. ‘The Solicitor’s Regulation Authority are unlikely to be impressed, let’s put it that way.’

‘There’s a greater good,’ Jack said, casting her a confidential look. ‘To the outside world, Alexia Elias was a saint. Only a select number of the Board knew what her true colours looked like.’

‘So you knew about the bribes?’ Georgie asked Jack. ‘I thought the charity was supporting Alexia in the libel action.’

‘That’s our official line, yes. There really is no other option. As I say, though, some of us know the truth. That woman has been using the Foundation as her own personal bank for years. I strongly suspect she took the bribes as well, but I can’t prove it. Only Simeon could have done that.’

‘She’d been stealing charity money?’

‘Let’s just say that vast sums of money – and we are talking hundreds of thousands of pounds – over a long period of time have eventually found their way to various trust funds that are in her personal ownership.’

‘But you couldn’t . . . ?’

‘Unseat her, no. As your boss says, legally that would have been very difficult without cogent evidence. The problem is that Alexia is – was – very adept at covering her tracks.’

‘And whenever someone looked like they were thinking about taking a stand, they were paid off,’ added Priest.

‘I’m afraid that the corruption is institutional,’ said Jack sadly. ‘Rotten to the core.’