‘I thought it would help tide you over.’
‘It will do more than that, so much more,’ said Kelly. ‘I must pay you back every penny I owe you.’
‘There’s no hurry,’ said Virginia, who still had over two hundred thousand pounds in her current account, and was already looking forward to another windfall. ‘More important, Kelly my dear, how is little Cindy settling down?’
‘I’ve never seen her so happy. She loves her new school, and already has several best friends.’
‘I do envy you. I’ve always wanted a child of my own, and now it’s too late. Perhaps you’ll allow me to be an honorary grandmother.’
‘I can’t think of anyone more appropriate to guide Cindy through her formative years,’ said Kelly, who hesitated for a moment before adding, ‘but there’s something else I need to discuss with you, Virginia, that I’ve been feeling a little guilty about.’
‘You have nothing to feel guilty about, my dear. On the contrary. I’ll never be able to repay your father for his kindness to me over the years.’
‘And I must now repay you for your kindness, because I know you and my father were not only close friends, but business partners, and I therefore have to ask you an embarrassing question.’ Kelly hesitated again, and this time Virginia didn’t come to her rescue. ‘What percentage did he pay after you’d closed a deal?’
A question Virginia was well prepared for. ‘Desmond was a generous man,’ she said, ‘and always paid me a fee of twenty-five thousand pounds, and ten per cent of the final settlement plus any expenses I had incurred on his behalf. But there’s no need for you to—‘
‘There most certainly is. I shall treat you the same way my father did, and you’ll be paid in full just as soon as the deal with Thomas Cook goes through.’
‘No hurry, my darling,’ said Virginia. ‘Your friendship is far more important to me.’
Five weeks later Kelly received a cheque from Thomas Cook for three million pounds, and immediately sent a cheque to Virginia for ￡345,000 to cover her loan, her fee and 10 per cent of the three million.
Virginia didn’t press Kelly for any expenses. After all, she hadn’t invested a great deal to find her quarry. A few phone calls and, once Kelly was back in England, a couple of meals in restaurants where no one was likely to recognize them. The only real cost had been hiring a private detective in Chicago to track down the missing Kelly Mellor. Well, to be accurate, he first caught up with Cindy Mellor at her school, where he handed over two letters to Cindy’s mother when she came to pick up her daughter. Once she’d read the two letters, Kelly made a reverse-charge call from a phone box that afternoon. So when Giles got in touch with Virginia, she knew exactly what he was really after.
The detective’s bill of $2,000 had been more than covered by Farthings in return for a copy of Desmond Mellor’s will and an address that would lead them to his next of kin. Sebastian Clifton also saved her the expense of travelling to Chicago, bringing Kelly Mellor back to England and preparing her for the encounter with Sorkin, only to end up having to pay double for Kelly’s 51 per cent of the company. Virginia decided she could afford to be magnanimous about expenses this time, confident that Kelly was about to replace her father as an alternative source of income.
‘Let me try to understand what you are proposing, Lady Virginia,’ said Sir Edward Makepeace. ‘You want me to approach Cyrus T. Grant’s solicitors, and suggest that instead of paying ￡100,000 a year for the next nine years, you would be willing to settle the action with a one-off payment of ￡500,000?’
‘In full and final settlement.’
‘I’ll get in touch with Lord Goodman and let you know what he thinks of your proposal.’
It took Cyrus T. Grant III a month before he agreed to settle his action with Virginia for ￡500,000 in full and final settlement, and only after being nagged constantly by Ellie May.
‘As my grandfather used to say,’ she reminded him, ‘better a dollar in the bank than the promise of a dowry.’
Another month passed before Virginia received a bill from Sir Edward Makepeace, for ￡2,300, which she settled immediately, as she could never be sure when she might need his services again.