The Elephant Girl(92)

‘Oh, she’ll have hours of fun doing that. Never tires of it. Let’s indulge her.’ Trevor took a step towards the dog who kept running off and coming back, always keeping the ball just out of reach as they moved along the path. Finally she placed it at Jason’s feet and allowed him to toss it again.

‘I wanted to talk to you about my time with your dad,’ said Trevor. ‘Something I’ve never told a living soul, not even Lucy. You know I started out as his chauffeur. A few years after, I moved on to personal security, although I still did a bit of driving. There wasn’t a job description as such.’

‘Like Jones?’

‘Yeah, a bit like Jones.’ Trevor’s lip curled, either from humour or distaste. ‘You’d be surprised how much of a commitment it is to keep a man like your father safe. You’ve gotta have an eye on every finger 24/7 and be ready to act if you see any threats. No good hesitating. Like being on presidential detail, I suppose.’

‘Did you ever have to, er, get rid of any threats?’

‘Might’ve hospitalised one or two. Never had an official complaint, though.’ He grinned. ‘Of course, Lucy put a stop to that when we met. Wanted me on the straight and narrow, or I’d be out on me ear, thank you very much. Her exact words.’

‘Sounds like her,’ said Jason. It shook him a little, hearing Trevor refer to the job of guarding his father as nothing more than an ordinary day at the office. Despite his efforts he’d never quite succeeded in making himself immune to what his father did for a living. ‘Did it involve guns? Knives?’

‘Sonny, this is your father we’re talking about. He’s as legit as they come in his line of business. Just don’t make the mistake of taking legit for softness. There are many ways a person can be persuaded, know wha’ I mean.’

‘I can guess,’ said Jason drily.

‘So twenty years ago, give or take, I was driving your old man around. This was a job with very anti-social hours. Late into the night, early morning sometimes. Including one morning, at Ealing Common.’

Jason swung around, and blood rushed to his head with a whoosh. ‘What?’

‘Sorry, I didn’t click, not until you asked me to look into the Mimi Stephanov thing. Then I remembered more than I wanted to. Never told a living soul, and I wasn’t planning on telling you either. Not until Lucy … well it was something she said last night. Something to do with the length of Derek’s involvement in that company. I knew he met with someone that day.’

‘Who?’

‘I didn’t see.’ Trevor shook his head. ‘I was told to stay in the car. I didn’t like it and said so. He told me he didn’t pay me to have an opinion. So I stayed put. Later I heard a woman was stabbed, but your dad assured me he had nothing to do with that.’

‘You believe him?’

Trevor shrugged. Just because he didn’t work for Derek Moody any more that didn’t release him from the obligation to keep his mouth shut. Jason knew that.

‘Do you think he met with Mimi Stephanov?’ he asked.

‘I couldn’t say.’

‘What can you say?’

His uncle sent him a dark look. ‘Lucy will have my guts for garters,’ he muttered.

‘Lucy is the least of your problems right now.’

‘You’re not married to her. Okay, what I can say is he wasn’t gone long. Came back looking …’ Trevor whistled for Jessie who was straying too close to a group of mums with toddlers. A little girl was crying, and her mother lifted her up and held her on her hip.

‘Could you keep your dog on a leash, please?’ she said.

She was pint-sized, and Trevor, a six-foot-four ex-bodyguard with the advantage of probably a hundred and fifty pounds, towered over her. He slipped his finger under Jessie’s collar.

‘She’d never harm a kid no matter how excited she gets,’ he said.

‘Maybe not, but my daughter doesn’t know that.’

‘You’re absolutely right, madam. I suppose when you’re that age, big dogs can be scary.’ Trevor smiled at the little girl who’d stopped crying and was now staring at this mountain of a man with huge eyes. She’d stuck her thumb in her mouth, and her dark lashes were still dewy with tears.

Jason experienced a curious kick inside. She reminded him of Helen, of what she must have looked like as a child. He could almost hear her crying, like a twenty-year-old echo.

‘Thank you,’ the woman said when Trevor had clipped the lead back on.

‘He came back looking like … what?’ Jason asked when they turned down a less crowded path in the park.