Best Kept Secret

could have made his life so much easier simply by signing a piece of paper some six months ago. He now realized that had never been part of her plan. She had
always intended to wait until after the election in order to cause him the maximum possible embarrassment. He was now certain she had been responsible for putting Fisher on the board of
Barrington’s, and he even wondered if it was she who’d sown the seed in Fisher’s mind that he could defeat Giles and replace him as Member of Parliament.
    She was probably sitting at home in London right now waiting for the election results to come in, although in truth she was only interested in one seat. Was she preparing for another raid on the
company’s shares as part of her long-term plan to bring the Barrington family to its knees? Giles was confident that in Ross Buchanan and Emma, she had met her match.
    It was Grace who had finally brought him to his senses about Virginia, and having done so, she never mentioned the subject again. He also had her to thank for introducing him to Gwyneth. She had
been keen to come to Bristol and help him retain his seat, but she had been the first to acknowledge that if she’d been seen canvassing with him on the high street, the only person who would
have gained from it would be Fisher.
    Giles had rung Gwyneth in Cambridge every morning before going into the office, but not when he returned at night, despite her telling him to wake her, because he rarely arrived home before
midnight. If he lost tonight, he would drive up to Cambridge in the morning and unburden his troubles on her. If he won, he would join her in the afternoon and share his triumph with her. Whatever
the outcome, he wasn’t going to lose her.
    ‘Good luck, Sir Giles,’ said a passing voice that brought him back to the real world. ‘I’m sure you’ll make it.’ Giles returned his confident smile, but he
wasn’t sure.
    He could now see the massive bulk of City Hall looming in front of him. The two golden unicorns perched high on the roof at each end of the building grew larger with every step he took.
    The volunteers who’d been chosen to assist with the count would already be in place. This was considered a great responsibility, and was usually undertaken by local councillors or senior
party officials. Miss Parish would be in charge of the six Labour scrutineers, as she had been for the past four elections, and he knew she had invited Harry and Emma to join her select team.
    ‘I would have asked Sebastian as well,’ she had told Giles, ‘but he’s not old enough.’
    ‘He’ll be disappointed,’ Giles had replied.
    ‘Yes, he was. But I got him a pass, so he can watch everything that’s going on from the balcony.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘Don’t thank me,’ said Miss Parish. ‘I only wish I’d had him for the whole campaign.’
    Giles took a deep breath as he climbed the steps of City Hall. Whatever the outcome, he mustn’t forget to thank the many people who had supported him, whose only reward would be victory.
He recalled Old Jack’s words after he’d scored a century at Lord’s: anyone can be a good winner. The sign of a great man is how you handle defeat.

25
    G RIFF H ASKINS WAS striding back and forth in the lobby of City Hall when he spotted Giles walking towards him. The two shook
hands as if they hadn’t seen each other for weeks.
    ‘If I win,’ said Giles, ‘you—’
    ‘Don’t get sentimental on me,’ said Griff. ‘We’ve still got a job to do.’
    They made their way through the swing doors into the main auditorium to find that the thousand seats that usually filled the room had been replaced by two dozen trestle tables in rows, with
wooden chairs on either side of them.
    Sam Wainwright, hands on hips, feet apart, stood in the middle of the stage. He blew a whistle to announce that the game had begun. Scissors appeared, seals were cut, ballot boxes were thrown
open and turned upside down to allow thousands of little slips of paper, each one bearing three names, to spill out on to the tables in front of the counters.
    Their first job was to sort the ballot papers into three piles before the counting could begin. One side of the table concentrated on Fisher, while the other worked on Barrington. The search for
Ellsworthy’s votes took a little longer.
    Giles and Griff paced nervously around the room, trying to work out from the piles of ballot papers if one side or the other had an obvious lead. After one