‘A less than subtle Scottish judgement. It usually means that both the judge and the jury aren’t in much doubt that the accused is guilty, but there isn’t enough evidence to convict. However, if you want to scale the heights your grandfather has reached, I suspect you’ll have to take the occasional risk along the way, especially when you start out with nothing.’
‘Grandpa started out with less than nothing. When his father died, he left his wife and two children with debts of around a hundred pounds. Just imagine how much that would be in today’s money. It took her years to pay it off, which was probably the reason she died so young.’
‘It may also explain why he’s so tough on his own children.’
‘Evidence?’ demanded James, imitating his tutor.
‘Franco told me that your uncle Hamish was recently sacked as deputy chairman of the company at the recent AGM. To be fair, I think the word he used was “replaced”。’
‘That’s common knowledge,’ said James. ‘It was well covered by the press on both sides of the Atlantic. I heard my father telling Mother that only the laws of libel prevented the papers from publishing the whole story.’
Franco appeared carrying a tray with a coffee and a hot chocolate.
‘Shall I tell the Chief Inspector the whole story about why my father became deputy chairman, Franco?’ said James, as the hot chocolate was placed on the table in front of him.
‘As long as you leave me out of it,’ said Franco, before disappearing even more quickly than he had materialised.
‘I doubt if you, or your father, know the whole story,’ said William. ‘I suspect the chairman has secrets he intends to take to his grave.’
‘Great-Aunt Flora will know the whole story,’ said James confidently.
‘Great-Aunt Flora?’ asked William, leaving her name floating in the air, in the hope it would induce the young man to even greater indiscretions.
‘After Grandfather left home to join the merchant navy, his sister Flora became the first person in our family to go to university. After graduating from Glasgow with an honours degree in math, she studied accountancy, where she came top of her year. Well, top equal. It seems they weren’t quite ready to admit that a woman might be brighter than any man from her intake. That all happened around the time Grandpa was discharged from the Royal Navy, having served King and country with distinction, as he never stops reminding us. He then somehow raised enough money to buy a clapped-out – his expression – ferry company that transported vehicles and passengers from the mainland to the island of Iona.’
‘I’ve sailed on one of those boats myself,’ said William.
‘Great-Aunt Flora told him he was bonkers, but as there weren’t many firms offering women serious jobs after the war, she reluctantly joined the company and took charge of the books. Her favourite expression remains: “While he raised the pounds, I took care of the pennies.” However, despite her natural caution and shrewd common sense, the company nearly went under on more than one occasion.’
‘What self-made millionaire hasn’t had to face that problem at some time in their career?’
‘On one occasion, Grandfather was within twenty-four hours of declaring bankruptcy, and would have done if the Dundee Bank of Trade and Commerce hadn’t come to his rescue. Even I haven’t worked out how he pulled that one off. All I know for certain is that when his first cruise ship was being built on the Clyde, at the end of one particular week he couldn’t afford to pay the dockers’ wages, and they threatened to go out on strike. He once told me he didn’t sleep for a week, and this is a man who slept soundly every night during the Battle of the Atlantic.’
‘I read all about the role he played in that encounter in the Ship’s Log.’
‘Not to be relied on,’ said James, tossing a ball in the air.
‘Why not?’ asked William, genuinely curious.
‘Grandfather wrote it himself. Or to be more accurate, should I be called to give evidence in court, he dictated every word of it to Kaye Patterson, his private secretary.’
‘Who, I suspect, was the lady seated next to you at breakfast.’
‘Not bad, Chief Inspector. But if I told you my grandfather has two secretaries, one who can spell and one who can’t, which is Kaye?’
‘The one who can.’
‘What makes you so sure of that?’
‘Your grandmother appeared to be having an animated conversation with her, which she was clearly enjoying,’ said William, as Franco reappeared by their side.