Best Kept Secret (The Clifton Chronicles, #3)(118)

Don Pedro didn’t react at once, and then he rose slowly from his place, and said, ‘Something must have gone wrong.’ Without another word, he began to barge his way past the seated spectators towards the nearest exit, with Diego only a pace behind. Once Don Pedro had reached the gangway, he asked a programme seller where the secretary’s office was.

‘It’s that large building with the green roof, sir,’ said the young corporal, pointing to his right. ‘You can’t miss it.’

Don Pedro walked quickly down the steps and out of Centre Court, but Diego had overtaken him long before he reached the exit. Diego quickened his pace and headed towards the large building that dominated the skyline. He occasionally glanced back to make sure his father wasn’t too far behind. When he spotted a uniformed official standing by a set of double doors, he slowed down and shouted, ‘Where’s the secretary’s office?’

‘Third door on the left, sir.’

Diego didn’t slow down again until he saw the words Club Secretary printed on a door.

When he opened it, he came face to face with a man wearing a smart purple and green jacket.

‘My name is Martinez. You just called for me on the tannoy.’

‘Yes, sir. A Mr Karl Ramirez phoned and asked if you would ring him at home immediately. He stressed that it couldn’t be more important.’

Diego grabbed the phone on the secretary’s desk and was dialling his home number when his father came charging through the door, his cheeks flushed.

‘What’s the emergency?’ he demanded between breaths.

‘I don’t know yet. I only have instructions to ring Karl at home.’

Don Pedro seized the phone when he heard the words, ‘Is that you, Mr Martinez?’

‘Yes, it is,’ he said, and listened carefully to what Karl had to say.

‘What’s happened?’ said Diego, trying to remain calm, although his father had turned ashen white and was clinging to the edge of the secretary’s desk.

‘Bruno’s in the car.’



‘I’m going to have it out with my father when I get back this evening,’ said Bruno. ‘After all, what can you possibly have done to annoy him, if you only carried out his instructions?’

‘I’ve no idea,’ said Sebastian as he took the first exit off the roundabout on to the A1 and merged with the traffic travelling up the dual carriageway. He pressed his foot down on the accelerator and enjoyed the sensation of the wind blowing through his hair.

‘It could be that I’m overreacting,’ said Bruno, ‘but I’d prefer to get this mystery sorted out.’

‘If the major is someone called Fisher,’ said Sebastian, ‘then I can tell you, even you won’t be able to sort it out.’

‘I don’t understand. Who the hell is Fisher?’

‘He was the Conservative candidate who stood against my uncle at the last election. Don’t you remember? I told you all about him.’

‘Was he the chap who tried to cheat your uncle out of the election by fixing the vote?’

‘That’s him, and he also tried to destabilize Barrington Shipping by buying and selling the company’s shares whenever they were under any pressure. And it might not have helped that when the chairman finally got rid of him, my mother took his place on the board.’

‘But why would my father have anything to do with a creep like that?’

‘It’s possible that it may not even be Fisher, in which case we’re both overreacting.’

‘Let’s hope you’re right. But I still think we should keep our eyes and ears open just in case either of us picks up anything that might explain the mystery.’

‘Good idea. Because one thing’s for certain, I don’t want to get on the wrong side of your father.’

‘And even if one of us does find out that for some reason there’s bad feeling between our two families, it doesn’t mean that we have to become involved.’

‘I couldn’t agree more,’ said Sebastian as the speedometer climbed to sixty, another new experience. ‘How many set books did your tutor expect you to have read by the beginning of term?’ he asked as he moved into the outside lane to overtake three coal trucks driving in convoy.

‘He recommended about a dozen, but I got the impression that I wasn’t expected to read all of them by the first day of term.’

‘I don’t think I’ve read a dozen books in my life,’ said Sebastian as he passed the first of the lorries. But he had to brake sharply when the driver of the middle lorry suddenly pulled out and began to overtake the one in front. Just at the point when it looked as if the driver would pass the front lorry and return to the inside lane, Sebastian glanced in his rear-view mirror to see that the third lorry had also moved into the outside lane.

The lorry in front of Sebastian inched its way forward allowing it to draw up alongside the lorry that was still on the inside lane. Sebastian checked his rear-view mirror again, and began to feel nervous when he saw that the lorry behind him appeared to be closing in.

Bruno swung round and waved his arms furiously at the man driving the lorry behind them, while shouting at the top of his voice, ‘Get back!’

The expressionless driver just leant on his steering wheel as his lorry continued to move closer and closer, despite the fact that the lorry in front still hadn’t quite overtaken the one that remained in the inside lane.