Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (26 page)

“Oh, come on, Charlie. You didn’t want this amalgamation. You made that patently clear. You wanted to push ahead with expansion on our own.”

“Yes,” Charlie said, steel in his tone. “I think you’ve been too cautious, and still do, but I got outvoted. End of story.”

“So you decided to get you own back,” Ashley said scathingly.

“Christ, I don’t believe this!” Charlie paused, clearly struggling to control his temper. “I ask you again. Why? What do I have to gain by making Interactive look fraudulent? It would weaken our position and that would affect me as badly as anyone.”

“Spite?” Ashley suggested mildly. “You’ll do anything to belittle Matt.”

Matt put his hand on her arm to stop her saying anything else. “Are you saying it isn’t you?” he asked quietly.

“Well, of course I bloody am! Christ, I know you don’t have a very high opinion of me, Matt, but I’m buggered if I’ll bite the hand that feeds me.”

Ashley and Matt exchanged a loaded glance. It was obvious to her that their thoughts colluded. They’d been barking up the wrong tree all along. Charlie really wasn’t the one responsible. Matt stood and paced the spacious office.

“Then it begs the question who? Who stands to gain the most out of us getting on the wrong side of the ombudsman?”

“Stevensons’s, obviously,” Ashley said.

“Yes, but to do what they’ve done, they’d have to have access to our computer systems—”

“Or to someone who works on the systems,” Ashley pointed out.

“Right. They’d also have to have something on the doctors who filed the initial medical reports. Something heavy enough to persuade them to make those reports disappear.”

“That’s where I was this morning.” Ashley addressed her comment to Charlie, but she looked straight at Matt. “We discovered that in the three cases, two different doctors’ offices are involved.”

“And Ashley found out that two of those doctors are married to each other.”

“That has to be more than a coincidence,” Charlie said, frowning.

“That’s what we thought, and so I went to see the wife this morning,” Ashley said. “I managed to bring up the Dawson case in conversation. It spooked her. She obviously knows something isn’t right about it, but I’m convinced she didn’t make the original report disappear.”

“So it’s the husband,” Matt said.

“Looks that way.” Ashley shrugged. “Dr. Simpson came back from her holiday early. I’m guessing that hubby came clean, they argued about it, and she came back in case there were any repercussions.”

“Like you turning up at her surgery,” Matt said, glowering at her. “I told you not to go.”

“It was fine.”

“The perpetrator would have to have early warning that death claims were pending so as to choose the right ones,” Charlie said. “And, presumably, someone’s managing to get into the deceased’s homes and remove their records of the policies. Christ!” He shook his head. “This is some slick operation. The ombudsman would know from the premiums that the cases were rated and would never believe that we didn’t deliberately try to avoid paying out. It would be the end of us.”

“Exactly,” Matt said grimly.

“How much is involved with these three claims?”

“Over half a million quid.”

Charlie let out a low whistle. “What the hell are we going to do?”

“We usually find out before a claim’s submitted that one’s pending when the premiums aren’t paid. The bank return the request marked
deceased,”
Ashley pointed out.

“Which would show on our systems,” Matt and Charlie said together.

“Right, but how someone’s destroying the policyholder’s papers is beyond me,” Ashley continued. “In one case there was a break in during the funeral, if you can believe it, but nothing untoward has been reported in the other two instances.”

“You should have said something, Matt,” Charlie said. “At least told your fellow directors. Oh no, sorry,” he added sarcastically. “You thought you knew who the culprit was.”

“Put yourself in my position,” Matt said shortly.

“We may not be bosom buddies, but we
are
business partners. I’ve worked my nuts off to build up a decent sales team. Why would I wreck that?”

“Look, okay, I admit I got it wrong.” Matt paused. “I’m sorry. And if it’s any consolation, I’m glad it’s not you.”

“Apology accepted,” Charlie said shortly.

“We think we know who’s altering our computer records,” Ashley said, “but not why?”

“Who?” Charlie asked.

“Claire Slattery.”

Charlie pulled a face. “I’m not top of her Christmas card list, as it happens, because I fired her husband.”

“So we gather,” Matt said. “How long ago?”

“Oh, about four or five months.”

“Why did you let him go?” Matt asked. “I hear he was good at his job.”

“Yes, he was, but he was also fiddling his expenses.”

Matt quirked a brow. “And you fired him for that? I should have thought a rap over the knuckles would be enough to keep him on the straight and narrow.”

“No, I didn’t fire him for that, but I made it plain that the promotion he’d been hankering after had gone to someone else because I knew what he’d done. I hate being played for an idiot.” Charlie sighed. “Anyway, he lost his rag and took a swing at me.”

“Ah, that black eye I recall you sporting a while back.”

“Yep. Couldn’t let that go, could I?”

“No, of course not. You did the right thing.”

“But you obviously didn’t know his wife was pregnant and that, because you didn’t give him a reference, he couldn’t get another job in the industry and had to take something with less pay,” Ashley said.

“Not my problem.”

“No, but someone else must have known about it and targeted Claire,” Matt said. “She was a soft option.”

“What I don’t understand,” Ashley said, frowning, “is how someone inside Stevenson’s could know all this. Know who to target, I mean. Know which claims were pending, stuff like that. And as to how they nobbled that doctor…well, it beats the hell out of me. Whoever it is has been very clever, put a lot of thought into it, and must have a huge grudge to bear against Interactive.”

“How long have you two been an item?” Charlie asked, in an abrupt change of subject.

Matt and Ashley shared a prolonged glance. She remained silent. It was up to Matt whether or not he admitted it.

“So you know,” he said quietly. “We thought you must do.”

“I only found out at that do we had a couple of weeks ago.”

“The one when you targeted Ashley?” Matt said, frowning.

“Yes, don’t know why I did that. I only intended to get her a drink and flirt with her a bit.” He shrugged. “You know me. Then you started shooting me daggers, so I carried on, just for the hell of it. Later on Ashley disappeared for ages to the bathroom, so on a whim, I followed her.” He barked a short, humourless laugh. “I saw the two of you almost making out right there in the corridor.”

“And lost no time running to Eve?”

“What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t tell Eve anything. Why would I hurt her like that?”

“Because you’ve always wanted her, perhaps,” Matt suggested.

“I did when we were kids, but she chose you and I don’t take another man’s leftovers. We’re friends. That’s all. As it happens, I’m very happy with my new wife.”

“Well, she obviously knows,” Ashley said. “That’s why she’s been virtually stalking me since I came down here.”

“If you were a man, you’d tell her yourself,” Charlie said scathingly. “Have to say I thought you had higher standards. You impregnate her then run off with another woman but don’t want her to know.” Charlie snorted. “Charming!”

Ashley glanced at Matt and would have given much to know what was going through his mind. There was little doubt in Ashley’s mind that Charlie wasn’t behind the rigged death claims. Could it be that Matt had got it wrong about him fathering Eve’s baby, too? Had the competitive barrier that existed between them made him over-judgemental?

“What happened that night when I passed out at your place?” he asked in a glacial tone.

“What do you mean, what happened?” Charlie shrugged. “You had a few too many, virtually passed out, and it took Eve and me to put you to bed.”

“No, I meant what happened between you and Eve when I was passed out?”

“Nothing.” His eyes slid away from Matt’s face, and Ashley knew he was lying.

“That’s not the way I remember it,” Matt said.

“You weren’t in any condition to remember anything.”

“Answer the question,” Matt snapped.

“Oh okay, what the hell, you’ve got me down as a bastard anyway.” He let out a long sigh. “Eve was in one of her needy moods. She wanted a cuddle, so I obliged.” He paused. “She wanted more than that, which is when, as they say, I made my excuses and left.”

“So you didn’t—”

“No, Matt, I didn’t. As I said, I like Eve, and okay, I deliberately flirt with her when you’re around just to annoy you, but I did
not
shag her. Believe me or not, I don’t much care, but it’s true. I never have, and I never will. She wanted you, and that’s what she’s got.”

Ashley could hear hurt and resentment in Charlie’s voice. He still cared for Eve, probably still loved her in his own way, but she believed what he’d just said. She glanced at Matt, and it was apparent that he did, too.

“Then I owe you another apology,” he said quietly. “I thought you fathered the child.”

Charlie looked genuinely shocked. “Are you saying it’s not yours?”

“Yes.”

Matt explained how it couldn’t have been.

“Jesus!” Charlie plonked himself heavily into the nearest chair. “What a bloody mess. Talk about dysfunctional families.” His expression briefly lightened. “I guess that’s what the falling out between you two was about?”

“Yes, it was,” Ashley said quietly. “But I’ve forgiven him now.”

“Who do you think she’s been playing footsie with, then?”

“No idea,” Matt said quietly. “But it explains a lot of things. She’s been on her own a lot over the past year or so whilst I’ve worked on the amalgamation, and she hasn’t once complained.”

“Which ought to have made you suspicions because Eve hates her own company,” Charlie said.

“Quite. But what I don’t understand is why she’s so keen to cling and make me think the child’s mine?”

“Can’t help you there,” Charlie said. “I can only assume the father’s married, or doesn’t want to stand by her, or whatever.”

“Yes well,” Matt said, with a weary sigh. “I dare say I’ll find out the sordid truth sooner or later. Right now I have more serious issues to contend with.”

“Why didn’t you confront Eve about the baby? Surely you’re not prepared to put up with a cuckoo in the nest.” Charlie grinned. “Especially not if you thought it was mine.”

“Because I need her vote to swing the amalgamation.”

“You bloody idiot!” Charlie spoke almost affectionately. “You just assumed Peter and I would vote against you?”