Harry’s face betrayed an agony. ‘This can’t be happening,’ he said.

Morag turned to Johnny Lam. ‘I think you’d better leave.’

Lam shrugged and indicated to Furnell that he should scoop up the documents from the table, but Morag grabbed them. ‘I think we need to read those.’

Furnell’s bony hands tugged at the papers, but Morag held them to her chest, and turned her back on him, breaking his grip. Lam held up a cautionary hand to his associate.

‘Never fight with a lady, Dominic. Weren’t you ever taught that?’ He turned to Harry. ‘You can have those, but you didn’t get them from me, understand? I came here to help. When you realise the situation you are in, you will call me, I promise.’ He walked out of the conference room, and just as he was about to close the door, he whispered. ‘Where else are you going to get a hundred million before the banks want their money? Without me Empire of Spice will go bust.’

Chapter 14

Once they were alone, Morag stared at the man she thought she knew so well, and demanded, once again, that he tell her what was happening.

‘I’m sorry,’ Harry said. ‘I should have told you. I think I’ve got a migraine coming on, I’ll just go get some tablets.’ He started to stand.

The slap Morag gave him was so hard it sent him sprawling onto the carpet. ‘After all I have done for you, ten years of covering for you, I cannot believe you would keep me in the dark on something like this!’ She sat down and started leafing through the documents. ‘Harry, you’ve got to give me some pointers. I’m not a blasted accountant. Tell me what’s happening to Nosh2U, and why it matters to us.’

Harry sniffed, and wiped his face. ‘Deepak used £108 million of borrowed money to buy extra shares in Nosh2U, and that money is now probably lost.’

Morag’s face contorted as she digested the size of the debt. ‘I don’t believe it. How could he have borrowed that much? And without your mother knowing? And without board approval?’

‘He had asked her several times in previous months for permission to spend £10 million to give EoS a stake in Nosh2U, and then put it on the agenda for a board meeting approval. She had flatly refused, and had the agenda revised to exclude it.’

‘Good for her. Her caution was spot on.’

‘Yes, but on the Friday before she died, Deepak rang her and said he had done it anyway, three months previously. As you know, he is the only director of the EoS (Property) Holdings subsidiary, and he took out short-term loans secured against the property. She told me this when she rang me on the Friday night in India.’

‘She must have been fuming.’

‘She was, but as I pointed out at the time, in the months since Deepak bought, the value of the shares had risen by 12 per cent. I suggested we call a board meeting, mandate the sale of the £10 million worth of Nosh2U shares and pocket the profit. With the shares continuing to go up, it just didn’t seem an urgent matter.’