I looked at the card and then back to him. “Sebastian, thank you. I’m sure we’ll chat again.”
He nodded and turned to leave. I watched him walk away and through the glass, I saw him wave for a taxi. He held an air of confidence about him, more than I would expect for someone who worked in the postal room of a newspaper. Something didn’t add up, for sure. Maybe Mary had simply got it wrong.
I was back in my office with the envelope on my desk in no time. I rang upstairs to speak to Mackenzie and left a message when Mary said he was on the phone.
“I met Sebastian today,” I said.
“Aw, he said he was popping in. I wonder why he didn’t come and see me, the little git. Probably because he owes me a tenner. I bet he didn’t give it to you to pass on, did he?” she asked.
“No, sorry. Are you sure he works in the postal department at the newspaper? He looked terribly smart, dressed in a suit,” I said.
“Well, he did when he first started. I can’t imagine he’s the boss now, didn’t pass any exams, the lazy sod. His muvva is a bit posh. She left my Trevor years ago, we said he was her bit of rough!”
“Perhaps he’s worked his way up in the newspaper,” I said, making a note to investigate and ignoring the Trevor comment. I was sure I’d heard he was in jail but I wouldn’t ask for fear Mary’s wrath if I was wrong.
“Anyway, I’ll get the boss man to call you when he gets off the phone. He’s obviously talking dirty to someone; he has his blinds closed.”
I had no idea how to answer that, I didn’t want to know if he was talking dirty to anyone, but I knew I ought to mention to Mackenzie that’s what Marythoughthe was doing when his blinds were closed.
“Thank you, Mary,” I said, then replaced the handset before she could divulge more of Mackenzie’s secrets.
I opened the envelope and tomorrow’s newspaper slid out. Front page was Stanton’s face, in his House of Lords robes, and then next to that, him on a bed with a woman tied up and Daughton watching from the sidelines. His genitals and her face were blacked out, of course, but it was absolutely clear what was going on. The headlines screamed out:
Lord of the Realm in threesome with Russian agent and prostitute – Do we have another Profumo Affair?
He wasn’t a Lord of the Realm, but I guessed that wasn’t the point. “Fucking hell,” I said to myself.
“What’s up?” Mackenzie asked as he walked in. I slid the newspaper to him.
“Fucking hell,” he echoed.
We read the article, which was a huge embellishment on the facts but did, thankfully, leave out all reference to the woman’s name. There was a further photograph of her bruised body, again, her face was blacked out, but mention was made of her split lip and swollen eyes.
The article went on to say that the woman had reported the assault but the police had dismissed her case. Plenty of women’s rights and #MeToo activists were taking up the case on her behalf, it said. A lawyer had come forward to offer his service pro-bono.
“Wow, that’s blown up,” Mackenzie said.
“Yeah. I worry for Veronica, though. He knows she gave us the photographs.”
“Mmm, hadn’t thought about that.”
“I’ll call her in a minute, make sure she has enough security around,” I said.
The story went on to feature on the inside front cover and the next page as well. What pleased me was seeing so much support for the woman, questions as to why the police hadn’t acted and calls for theestablishmentto be held accountable for crimes. The journalist had reached out to Stanton for a statement, he’d obviously declined to answer; all questions were to be directed to his lawyer.
The purpose of the article was to break up theloan sharkbusiness he had on the side and that seemed to be working. The journalist, and I needed to check the name, had delved deeply into Stanton’s business arrangements, found a link to hislet’s bail out the Lloyds ‘names’business and started to ask questions about them. Add in Daughton and the journalist had made a presumed link, or maybe not, to mafia money being laundered in the UK. It was a story that would run and run, I had no doubt about that.
My mobile phone rang.
“Darling, have you seen the papers?” Veronica asked.
“I have a copy of one here right now. I was going to call you. I didn’t expect the connection with Daughton to be so prominent and I’m worried about you,” I said.
“Don’t be, Alex. I have enough security here around the clock, I’m sure I’ll be fine. I think that the emphasis will soon change. More women are going to come forward, bring the story back to Stanton.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because he didn’t just start his nasty activities here. He was a member of other clubs and I believe one threw him out. Mark my words, there’ll be other women coming forward.”
