Winner Takes It All (14 page)

‘
Your mother
sounds a remarkable woman,’ Tom said, wondering if that gruesome
story was true or just family folklore. Sorcha certainly never
mentioned it.

‘
She was,’
Paula smiled sadly. ‘She’s been gone a couple of months now, but we
all miss her greatly. I can’t help but think Chris’s stroke is some
sort of delayed reaction.’

‘
It must be
lovely to have such a close family.’

Paula smiled warmly,
reaching out and touching his arm.

‘
Well you’re
one of us now. Tara speaks very highly of you.’

Tom noticed Tara hang her
head and blush. In thirty two years he’d never caused anyone to
blush and he found this quite heart-warming. She then darted away
to fetch another young man from the throng. Tom was quite alarmed
to see how physically similar they were - tall, dark and skinny and
like Tom, he appeared to feel quite awkward in a smart
suit.

‘
Tom this is
my cousin Michael, he’s Alex’s brother. Mike this is Tom
Montague.’

‘
Nice to meet
you Tom,’ Michael said without a smile or a handshake. He appeared
to be pissed off and Tom wondered if it was anything to do with him
being overlooked for the job of running Sheridans.

After brief introductions
to everyone in the room, they settled down at the twenty foot
table. Alex sat at the head, on one side of her sat Michael;
Charlotte, her PA on the other. Tom sat next to Tara, far enough
away from Bannerman and the other board members to save his
embarrassment. On the table in front of him was an agenda, although
most of the items on there meant very little to him.

‘
Thank you for
coming here today everyone,’ Alex began. For such a small woman she
had a very commanding voice and everyone in the room turned to look
at her. ‘I wish we weren’t meeting under these circumstances but
thankfully I can report dad is improving. He still hasn’t any
mobility in his left side, but the doctors are hopeful he will make
a full recovery as he has age and general good health on his side.
They’re hoping to release him next week and he’ll be convalescing
at Layton House. Can we all ensure we visit on a regular basis, as
grandpa will be doing all he can to try and look after him and
it’ll run poor Julie ragged.’

There were sniggers from
around the table. This meant nothing to Tom, making him feel left
out as usual.

‘
I’ll speak to
Hal and Lucy and make sure we all take it in turns to go down
there.’ She turned to Tara. ‘Do you think you could pop over there
each day and make sure Grandpa isn’t getting up to
mischief?’

‘
Yes of
course,’ Tara replied quietly. ‘I was thinking of taking him and
Andrew to Brighton for the day next week, that’ll get him out of
Julie’s hair.’

Tom was aware this Andrew
was a family friend. He had indeed been married to Bridget Sheridan
but she had gone to live in Dongeal when she sold Sheridans. No one
explained why they’d separated and yet never divorced and even more
puzzling was why he kept such close links to the Cusacks. Tara
adored him. Each day she would leave the office for an hour to go
and see him and make sure he was okay. Instinct told Tom there was
more to it than met the eye and was determined to find out what the
secret was.

‘
I will be
looking after things until daddy’s better,’ Alex continued. ‘So I
just wanted to bring everyone up to speed.’ She looked at the
agenda and for the first time that day Tom noticed his cousin’s
hand was shaking - she wasn’t as confident as she liked to make
out.

‘
I’m
continuing with the expansion into Sheridan hotels. I’ve purchased
some land in Ibiza on which I’m going to build a lower budget hotel
for British holidaymakers in the summer and Spaniards in the
winter. I’ve also bought a run down building in Liverpool City
Centre which I am transforming into a traditional five star hotel.
Overseeing the Spanish operation is Melanie Williams and a man
called Jack Byrne is looking after Liverpool.’

‘
Can I
interrupt you a moment Alex?’ Bannerman piped up. ‘But I have been
made aware of a hotel that is for sale in London. It’s currently
owned by an Arab family but they’re moving their operations abroad
and are looking for a buyer.’

‘
Okay, thanks
Maurice,’ Alex smiled. ‘Let’s chat afterwards.

One by one, Alex ran
through all the current projects on Sheridan’s agenda and it
finally sunk in just what was at stake. They truly were a massive
company and Tom wasn’t quite sure that between them, he and Maurice
Bannerman could do enough to ruin it so badly Christian Cusack
would be forced to consider selling.

Despite his doubts, he
couldn’t help but see his grandmother’s point of view. The seeds of
all this were sewn by her side of the family and everyone seated
around this table were the descendants of an interloper; the result
of an illicit union between a Sheridan and some catholic girl.
Alex, Tara, Michael - they were all around the same age as him and
yet he could guarantee none of them knew what it was like to be
poor. Not to have enough bus fare to get to an interview; to share
a scruffy house with people you barely liked just to be able to
afford to eat. He’d suffered in this way and although that was down
to Sorcha disowning Fiona he couldn’t help but wonder if the proper
Sheridans had inherited the company, his mother could have been
given more of a role and not be tempted by an Irish journalist.
Maybe
his
father could have been a rich banker or another
businessman and he could have enjoyed the life of luxury his
cousins had.

After the meeting,
everyone went their own separate ways. Alex made a beeline for
Maurice Bannerman – no doubt to find out more about this hotel. Tom
just knew there would be a catch to this and he wondered what
exactly. Tara asked if he was still up for visiting her uncle
Christian and he jumped at the chance; curious to see the man he
was going to destroy. Tara drove the short distance from the
offices to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Tom saw it as a
chance to do some gentle probing.

‘
Do you think
Alex will cope with running Sheridans?’ he asked.

‘
Without a
doubt. Alex has always been the toughest out of all of us. When we
were children she was a terrible tomboy and always fighting with
Michael, then when she hit her teenage years she became really
pretty and went off the rails a bit. Uncle Christian was always
telling her off for drinking and smoking and getting off with boys.
But when she was at university, she met Tim, her boyfriend and he
changed her. Tim is terribly intellectual and political and serious
and he opened Alex’s eyes up to the real world. When she left
college Christian gave her a job as a junior in the PR department.
Within a few years she was running it.’

‘
Nothing to do
with her dad being the boss,’ Tom snorted, then realising he
sounded just a little too contemptuous.

‘
Sheridans
means too much to Uncle Christian to risk its reputation by acting
on family loyalty. That’s why he’s handed the reigns to Alex and
not Michael. Michael needs to sort his head out before he thinks
about taking over the family company.’

Tom thought about Michael
Cusack and wondered if he could be a potential ally. His
displeasure at having his nose pushed aside was obvious and Tom
felt it worth mentioning this to Jackson.

They arrived at the
hospital to find Christian’s room filled with people. The man
himself sat propped up in bed and despite the droop to the left
side of his face, Tom could see he was a handsome man with a head
of fair hair and a good bone structure. On one side of him sat a
straggly looking brunette and on the other an old man who looked
like Father Christmas. Even though he was sitting down, it was
obvious he was tall and a big fat tummy protruded over the top of
his trousers. His hair was practically gone and what was there was
white, but he wore a big, bushy beard. At his shoulder stood
another woman who looked like a middle-aged version of Alex, with
lots of bubbly blonde curls and a cute face. Strangely, she
actually resembled the photographs he’d seen of Sorcha as a young
woman.

‘
Hi everyone,’
Tara said in that almost apologetic way of hers. ‘Hi Uncle
Christian, how are you feeling.’

‘
Better for
seeing you Tara,’ he smiled out of one side of his face - he
resembled someone who’d had a particularly heavy local anaesthetic
at the dentist.

‘
Everyone,
this is Tom Montague. He’s working as Estate Manager with me down
in Summerset. Tom, this is my Uncle Christian.’ She pointed to the
straggly brunette. ‘This is his wife Julie.’ She laid her hand upon
the shoulder of the pretty blonde. ‘This is my aunt Lucy and
finally…’ For the first time ever, Tom saw real emotion across
Tara’s face and it was obvious she adored the old man. ‘This is my
wonderful grandpa Ben.’

‘
Hello Tom,’
Ben smiled in a big, booming voice, offering a meaty, liver-spotted
hand. ‘Nice to meet you.’

Tom shook hands with him,
surprised at how strong a grip he had for such an old man. He
noticed that no reference had been made to who he really was, and
Tom realised why. Ben Cusack was the same generation as his
grandmother and bad blood obviously had passed between them. It did
make him chuckle though to think of this harmless, fat old man as
the great love of Sorcha’s life.

‘
Do you want
me to take you back to Abbott’s Leigh grandpa?’ Tara
asked.

‘
No my love,’
he replied. ‘I’m going to stay here a while longer and then Lucy’s
taking me back.’

Just at that moment, Tom
felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He made his excuses and
left the room, finding a quiet nook off the ward, realising if he
got caught he could be berated for using a mobile in a
hospital.

Taking his phone from his
pocket, he saw it was Maurice Bannerman.

‘
Are you still
in London?’ he asked.

‘
Yes, I’m at
the hospital visiting Christian Cusack.’

‘
Well come
away, I need to speak to you urgently. Meet me outside the Tate
Modern. I can’t be long, I’ve a meeting nearby shortly afterwards.
I’ll see you in half an hour.’

Bannerman ended the call
and Tom stood staring at his phone for a moment, wondering what
excuse he was going to make. He re-entered the room, tapping Tara
on the shoulder. She tore her attentions away from her uncle and
turned to him.

‘
Tom you look
as white as a sheet. Are you okay?’

‘
It’s an old
friend of mine, I haven’t seen him in years. He’s literally in
London for half an hour. He wants to catch up. I’m going to
go.’

‘
Well do you
want me to pick you up somewhere?’

‘
No, it’s
fine, I’ll catch the train. Thanks Tara.’

He caught a cab over to
Bankside, wondering how he was going to spot Bannerman amongst the
many people milling around outside the mighty art gallery, its
chimney stretching far into the sky. As it was, Bannerman spotted
him first, gently laying his hand upon his shoulder. Tom shot round
with a gasp of shock.

‘
Relax Tom,’
Bannerman smiled. ‘No one’s watching you. Come, walk with
me.’

The two men began walking
along the embankment; on one side, the Thames sloshed gently
against the river wall. On the other, gaggles of tourists made loud
noises of excitement at being photographed against a London
landmark.

‘
So you’ve
been acquainted with the enemy,’ Bannerman said. ‘What do you
think?’

‘
I feel Alex
Cusack is out of her depth. She was shaking like a leaf. And did
you see the brother’s face? He’s well pissed off about being left
out the running of things.’

‘
Very
observant of you Thomas. Michael Cusack was always the son and
heir, but because of his unreliability, his father had passed it to
Alex. Michael is very bitter about it all and that’s why you’re
going to invite him out for a drink. Get to know him. He could be a
very useful ally.’

‘
That hotel
you mentioned. Does it exist?’

‘
Oh yes it
exists. Mr Muhammed, the owner is a very good friend of mine. He is
going to do all he can to make sure his hotel is so desirable that
Ms Cusack will bid and bid until she goes over budget. You see for
every bid she puts in, FreeTime will put in a higher
one.’

‘
FreeTime?’

‘
It’s a
company Jackson and I have set up to do our bidding. We’ve already
beat Michael Cusack to buying an airline.’

‘
That’s very
clever,’ Tom smiled, thinking to himself how exciting all this
subterfuge was and how one day he would use it as the basis of one
of his plays.

‘
Anyway young
Tom. I need to ask a favour of you. You were state educated weren’t
you?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
So I guess
the men you know are pretty down on their luck.’

‘
Most of them,
yes.’

‘
Do you know
anyone who would be willing to do a spot of arson?’

‘
Arson?’ Tom’s
blood ran cold. He didn’t mind doing things to destroy businesses
but he didn’t like the thought of physically harming
anyone.