Best Kept Secret

company into the twentieth century, before taking it public. But then his thoughts inevitably turned to his father, who
had nearly brought the company to its knees in half the time. But his worst recollection, and one of the main reasons he avoided the building, was that this was where his father had been killed.
The only good thing to come out of that dreadful incident was Jessica, the Berthe Morisot of the lower fourth.
    Giles was the first Barrington not to become chairman of the board, but then he’d wanted to go into politics ever since he’d met Winston Churchill when he’d presented the
prizes at Bristol Grammar School and Giles had been school captain. But it was his close friend Corporal Bates, killed while attempting to escape the Germans, who’d unwittingly turned him
from blue to red.
    He dashed into the chairman’s office and gave his sister a huge hug before shaking hands with Ray Compton, who’d been the company’s managing director for as long as he could
remember.
    The first thing that struck him as he shook hands with Ross Buchanan was how much younger he looked than his fifty-two years. But then he recalled the
Financial Times
pointing out that
Buchanan didn’t smoke or drink, played squash three times a week, turned the lights out at 10.30 p.m. and rose at 6 o’clock every morning. Not a regime that would suit a politician.
    ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Sir Giles,’ said Buchanan.
    ‘The dock workers call me Giles, so perhaps the management should as well.’
    The laughter broke any slight tension that Giles’s political antennae had picked up. He had assumed this was a casual get-together so he could finally meet Buchanan, but from the looks on
their faces, something far more serious was on the agenda.
    ‘This doesn’t look good,’ said Giles as he slumped into a seat next to Emma.
    ‘I’m afraid it isn’t,’ said Buchanan, ‘and I wouldn’t have bothered you so close to the election if I hadn’t thought you ought to be briefed
immediately. I’ll get straight to the point. You may have noticed that the company’s share price fell quite dramatically following my predecessor’s death.’
    ‘Yes, I did,’ said Giles. ‘But I assumed there was nothing unusual in that.’
    ‘In normal circumstances you’d be right, but what was unusual was how quickly the shares fell, and how far.’
    ‘But they seem to have fully recovered since you took over.’
    ‘They have,’ said the chairman, ‘but I don’t think I was the sole reason for that. And I wondered if there could be another explanation for the inexplicable downturn in
the company’s share price after Sir William’s death, especially after Ray brought to my attention that it wasn’t the first time it had happened.’
    ‘That’s correct, chairman,’ said Compton. ‘The shares dropped just as suddenly when we announced our decision to go into the passenger liner business.’
    ‘But if I remember correctly,’ said Emma, ‘they also returned to a new high.’
    ‘They did indeed,’ said Buchanan. ‘But it took several months before they fully recovered, and it didn’t do the company’s reputation any good. While one can accept
such an anomaly once, when it happens a second time, one starts to wonder if a pattern is emerging. I don’t have the time to be continually looking over my shoulder, wondering when it might
happen again.’ Buchanan ran a hand through his thick, sandy hair. ‘I’m running a public company, not a casino.’
    ‘You’re going to tell me that both these incidents took place after Alex Fisher joined the board.’
    ‘You know Major Fisher?’
    ‘That’s far too involved a story to bore you with right now, Ross. That is, if I’m going to make the dock workers’ meeting before midnight.’
    ‘All the indications do seem to point in Fisher’s direction,’ said Buchanan. ‘On both occasions a trade of two hundred thousand shares was executed, which happens to be
almost exactly the seven and a half per cent of the company he represents. The first was just hours before the AGM at which we announced our change of policy, and the second immediately followed
Sir William’s untimely death.’
    ‘It’s too much of a coincidence,’ said Emma.
    ‘It gets worse,’ said Buchanan. ‘On each occasion, during the three-week window, after the share price had fallen so precipitously, the broker who sold them repurchased exactly
the same amount, making his client