‘I don’t really know, to be honest. I have five sisters.’
‘Do you indeed?’ She gave me a small smile. ‘Lucky you. I was an only child. Anyway, I used to call him every week, just to check he was all right. He’d always sound jolly on the phone, but I knew things weren’t easy for him. Occasionally, at first, I’d drive over on Sundays and take him out to lunch. We became close, and eventually, with his father’s permission, he came to stay with me during exeats and holidays. However, that’s all in the past.’ Her hands clenched together to match her knees.
We sat in silence for a while, me trying to work this plot out in my tiny mind and not managing to. I was sure Ace had made it clear he hadn’t even known his father, yet Linda had just mentioned him. Was she related to Ace? Was that why she’d cared for him when he was younger?
‘Weren’t you the CEO’s PA at Berners Bank?’ I asked her.
‘I was, yes. As you might already know, quite a lot’s changed there in the past few months. I’m now officially retired.’
‘Oh, that’s nice.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ she hissed. ‘It’s utterly horrendous! I hardly know what to do with myself, being at home all day. Still, I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually, but it’s quite difficult when a way of life is pulled from you suddenly, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is,’ I said with feeling. ‘Is it because the bank’s been bought?’
‘Partly, yes, but David felt it was better if I disappeared into the background.’
‘David?’
‘The CEO. Thirty years I worked for that man, lived for him and my job. And now . . .’ She shrugged. ‘Well, there we are. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a cup of tea?’
‘I’m fine, really. Your boss is still working there, isn’t he?’
‘Oh yes,’ she nodded vehemently. ‘I’ve heard he’s got a new version of me now called Deborah. She’s very . . . blonde, apparently. Not that it matters,’ Linda added hastily. ‘I’m sure she’s very efficient.’
‘Linda,’ I said, thinking that this was really getting us nowhere, other than to make her more upset. ‘What is it you know about Ace? Like, is it anything useful that could help him?’
‘Oh, I know everything about Anand,’ she said slowly. ‘I know exactly how he liked his hair stroked as he fell asleep, that he’s a little deaf in one ear due to a rugby injury, and how he loves my homemade shortbread.’
‘I meant, do you know anything that might help defend him in the coming trial?’ I asked. ‘To, um, reduce his sentence, or anything?’
She bit her lip and her eyes filled with tears once more. ‘Do you know, it’s almost noon and I think I would like a little sherry. Would you?’
‘Er, no thanks.’
She stood up and went to a sideboard from which she extracted a bottle and a very tiny glass that she filled with some brown liquid. ‘Goodness, I haven’t drunk sherry at lunchtime for years. Cheers.’
‘Cheers,’ I replied. For someone who said they didn’t drink much, Linda knocked the glass back pretty quickly.
‘That’s better,’ she said. ‘Goodness, one can understand why people turn to alcohol, especially when they’re under pressure. Was Anand drinking when you saw him in Thailand?’
‘No. Nothing, apart from one glass of champagne on New Year’s Eve.’
‘That’s wonderful. He never was a drinker before he started trading. The problem is, excessive drinking is a rite of passage in the City, and he wanted to fit in with his fellow traders. No one wants to be different, do they? Especially if they are.’
‘No, they don’t.’ I nodded in agreement.
‘I told David right from the start that I thought it was a mistake to employ Anand at the bank after he left school, but he could see how gifted he was already. Anand didn’t want to do it. He told me that, sitting right where you are now, but David ruled his world,’ she sighed.
‘Are you saying that your boss forced Ace into being a trader?’ I queried, even further confused.
‘Put it this way: Anand was so in awe of him, he’d have done anything David said.’
‘Why?’
Linda’s eyebrows knitted together in a frown. ‘Surely he told you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.’
‘Told me what?’
‘David is Anand’s father.’
‘Oh,’ I gulped, trying to take in the ramifications of what she’d just said. ‘No, he didn’t tell me.’
‘I, oh, dearie me, I presumed he had . . .’ Linda buried her face in her hands. ‘No one else knows, you see, about that . . . blood tie.’
‘Really? Why not?’
‘David was paranoid about his reputation in the City. Didn’t want anyone to know he had an illegitimate son. And, of course, he was already married when Anand was born, had a young child with his wife.’
‘Right. Does Ace know David’s his dad?’
‘Of course he does, which was why he was constantly trying to please him. David did the proper thing to assuage his guilt by bringing his son over to England and educating him at a top British school when he heard Anand’s mother had died. Then he offered him a job at the bank, as I said, on the condition that no one knew of their real relationship to each other.’
‘You mean, David was ashamed of his mixed-race child?’
‘He prided himself on being the quintessential English gentleman. And he’s always presented himself as the perfect family man.’
‘Jesus,’ I said under my breath, pinching myself to remember that it was 2008, and this kind of thing could still be happening. ‘So, Ace was desperate to impress his dad? Even to the point of trading fraudulently?’
‘It was clear from the beginning that Anand was as talented as his father had once been, which was why David had employed him. Within the space of two years, he had risen through the ranks and was Berners’ most successful trader. There were only three words that mattered on the trading floor: profit, profit and profit. And Anand was making more than any of them.’
‘Was his dad proud of him?’
‘Yes, extremely, but then Anand had a run of bad luck and rather than taking it calmly, he panicked. And that’s when I suspect he started to cheat. The problem is, even if you say you’ll take a risk just once to cover your losses, and then don’t get caught, you’ll do it again. It becomes addictive, and Anand was also addicted to his father’s praise and attention.’
‘Christ, it’s just so sad.’ I shook my head, really feeling for Ace. ‘Linda, do you think David knew what Ace was up to? I mean, surely he must have done? He lost so much money.’
Linda stood up to pour herself another glass of sherry and took a hefty gulp. ‘The truth is, I don’t know for sure, but what I do know is that David should be standing by him now. It’s his son, for crying out loud! And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if David did know the trouble Anand was in. He is the CEO after all. I’ve even wondered since whether he slipped Anand some cash to help him conveniently “disappear” to Thailand.’