Rathborne?"
"No. I have some more information now, so I'm going to have another crack at Adrian. I'm sure he knows that the accounting system was strange. And I'm sure he is well aware of the amounts paid to these contractors. Now that your father has given me the code, I will he able to find out who received all the money."
Julie lay back in the seat and closed her eyes. It had been a long day. I drove the remainder of the journey in silence while she dozed.
FIVE
" Mr McDougall is away on a trade mission and will not be back for a few days. Do you want me to make an appointment with one of his assistants? I have his office on hold." Jennifer's face pixelated a little on the monitor as she leaned over to retrieve a document.
"Yes, please. Make it as soon as possible."
"Will do. I'll get back to you in a minute." Our daily Skype routines were proving a good and efficient way to work. She went offline and I accepted Adrian's call. He was seething with anger at the knowledge that I had Oldfield go through the computer without his knowing.
"Do we keep back-up servers in a remote location in addition to the office mainframe?" I asked.
"Of course. But they are in a separate security room in the sub-basement. Not offsite.” His voice was tight and barely under control, his dislike of me very apparent. But at this moment I really didn't care what he thought of me. The priority was to get to the bottom of this Rathborne mess.
"Are they secure? By that I mean, who has access to them?"
"Only specific members of the board. The Head of IT of course also has access but only with one of us." I didn't say anything for a while. Just let him wonder what I was going to say next. Whilst we sat and looked at each other in silence, Jennifer confirmed by instant message that I had an appointment with a Mr Jonathan Radley at 1500hrs tomorrow afternoon. I hoped the weather would clear as I didn't fancy the drive from the Hall into central London.
"Do you know how Government business loans are paid to companies, Adrian? Obviously I'm thinking about Rathborne in particular."
"There are various methods. Bank guarantees, letters of credit, immediate cash injections, that sort of thing. How the Rathborne loan was handled I have no idea. I've told you before."
"I don't think you did. There is not a lot that gets past you and I cannot envisage my father making any major decisions without consulting you."
"Are you calling me a liar?" he shouted, his voice rising to a choking screech. "Well, are you?"
"I'm not in the mood for histrionics, Adrian. Sooner or later, with or without your help, I am going to find out what this is all about, and if there is a link to my father's murder.”
"Now you listen to me," he snarled, leaning over the desk shaking his finger at me. "I have told you before that if you want my resignation you can have it. Just say the word."
"Tempting Adrian, but you know as well as I do that you won’tresign. People like you are too afraid of being unemployed. Besides, who is going to pay you the sort of money you get here?" It was a risky thing to say but I was pretty sure I was right. It was time we had a showdown and it was better now than later.
I wanted to know exactly where he stood. My words seemed to have the desired effect and he slowly crumpled back into the seat.
"I'm sorry, Thomas, but there is nothing I can I tell you about the deal. I tried to get your father to tell me, but he just said that when it was over and settled then I would be put in the picture. Until then the facilities of the Group would be available to the Managing Director of Rathborne. He didn’t even tell me the man's name. All the instructions we had were via the encrypted email and the data was fed into the computer. We don't even know who did the programming. Occasionally, your father took away one or both of the external storage drives, presumably for security." He looked tired and defeated.
"You said one or both of the storage drives.
"No. I have some more information now, so I'm going to have another crack at Adrian. I'm sure he knows that the accounting system was strange. And I'm sure he is well aware of the amounts paid to these contractors. Now that your father has given me the code, I will he able to find out who received all the money."
Julie lay back in the seat and closed her eyes. It had been a long day. I drove the remainder of the journey in silence while she dozed.
FIVE
" Mr McDougall is away on a trade mission and will not be back for a few days. Do you want me to make an appointment with one of his assistants? I have his office on hold." Jennifer's face pixelated a little on the monitor as she leaned over to retrieve a document.
"Yes, please. Make it as soon as possible."
"Will do. I'll get back to you in a minute." Our daily Skype routines were proving a good and efficient way to work. She went offline and I accepted Adrian's call. He was seething with anger at the knowledge that I had Oldfield go through the computer without his knowing.
"Do we keep back-up servers in a remote location in addition to the office mainframe?" I asked.
"Of course. But they are in a separate security room in the sub-basement. Not offsite.” His voice was tight and barely under control, his dislike of me very apparent. But at this moment I really didn't care what he thought of me. The priority was to get to the bottom of this Rathborne mess.
"Are they secure? By that I mean, who has access to them?"
"Only specific members of the board. The Head of IT of course also has access but only with one of us." I didn't say anything for a while. Just let him wonder what I was going to say next. Whilst we sat and looked at each other in silence, Jennifer confirmed by instant message that I had an appointment with a Mr Jonathan Radley at 1500hrs tomorrow afternoon. I hoped the weather would clear as I didn't fancy the drive from the Hall into central London.
"Do you know how Government business loans are paid to companies, Adrian? Obviously I'm thinking about Rathborne in particular."
"There are various methods. Bank guarantees, letters of credit, immediate cash injections, that sort of thing. How the Rathborne loan was handled I have no idea. I've told you before."
"I don't think you did. There is not a lot that gets past you and I cannot envisage my father making any major decisions without consulting you."
"Are you calling me a liar?" he shouted, his voice rising to a choking screech. "Well, are you?"
"I'm not in the mood for histrionics, Adrian. Sooner or later, with or without your help, I am going to find out what this is all about, and if there is a link to my father's murder.”
"Now you listen to me," he snarled, leaning over the desk shaking his finger at me. "I have told you before that if you want my resignation you can have it. Just say the word."
"Tempting Adrian, but you know as well as I do that you won’tresign. People like you are too afraid of being unemployed. Besides, who is going to pay you the sort of money you get here?" It was a risky thing to say but I was pretty sure I was right. It was time we had a showdown and it was better now than later.
I wanted to know exactly where he stood. My words seemed to have the desired effect and he slowly crumpled back into the seat.
"I'm sorry, Thomas, but there is nothing I can I tell you about the deal. I tried to get your father to tell me, but he just said that when it was over and settled then I would be put in the picture. Until then the facilities of the Group would be available to the Managing Director of Rathborne. He didn’t even tell me the man's name. All the instructions we had were via the encrypted email and the data was fed into the computer. We don't even know who did the programming. Occasionally, your father took away one or both of the external storage drives, presumably for security." He looked tired and defeated.
"You said one or both of the storage drives.
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