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Chapters (45)
  1. The Man With No Face
  2. Also by
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. Contents
  8. INTRODUCTION
  9. CHAPTER ONE
  10. CHAPTER TWO
  11. CHAPTER THREE
  12. CHAPTER FOUR
  13. CHAPTER FIVE
  14. CHAPTER SIX
  15. CHAPTER SEVEN
  16. CHAPTER EIGHT
  17. CHAPTER NINE
  18. CHAPTER TEN
  19. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  20. CHAPTER TWELVE
  21. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  23. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  25. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  26. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  27. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

‘And?’ Bannerman could barely conceal his impatience.

‘It was Lapointe’s law firm. Not directly, but through another company he’d set up.’

Bannerman sighed. ‘So where’s all this going?’

‘Well, don’t you see? It was actually Jansen who was lending cash to his competitors. They had no idea. He turned the screws then called in the loans. And when they couldn’t pay, bought them up for a song. He may have had to pay off their debts, but in reality he was just repaying himself. All indirectly, of course, through the cobweb of companies that Lapointe had spun for him.’

Bannerman sighed. ‘Well, is that illegal?’

Platt was confused. ‘I . . . I don’t know. But it’s a bloody good story.’

Bannerman said dryly, ‘Maybe you should stick to writing up fires and press releases on the price of butter. How Jansen built his empire is of no fucking interest to me at all.’

Platt was clearly stunned. ‘But I thought that’s what you wanted. Something on Jansen and Lapointe.’

‘A bit of background is all I needed. You already got that for me. Look, Platt, I don’t know what the law is in this country, but I doubt very much if what you’ve described is illegal. Unethical, perhaps, but not illegal. You’ve been wasting your time, pal. I’ll call you.’ He hung up.

Platt replaced the receiver with a trembling hand. His breath came in rapid bursts, his mind ablaze with anger and humiliation. His face had paled to the colour of yellowed ivory. He rose unsteadily, picked up his coat and hat and headed for the door.

*

Bannerman sat for a few minutes thinking about what Platt had told him. It might be of value, it might not. It was impossible to know yet. He reached for the notepad beside the telephone and scribbled down the names of the companies while they were still fresh in his mind. Platt said that Corniche S.A. had shut up shop and reregistered in Liechtenstein. Technically, then, it was a new company. Why, he wondered, would that have been necessary? And as if to lodge the thought firmly in his mind, he underlined the name in his notes.

He stood up as Sally emerged from the kitchen with a tray full of steaming mugs of coffee. ‘No time for that,’ he said. ‘We need to take Tania back to the clinic.’ Immediately he saw her hurt and realized he’d been unnecessarily blunt. He backtracked, but too late now, and he knew it. ‘She’s tired, I’m tired. I need time to think.’