Chapter 7

Before I was ready to meet up with Billy, I needed to organise. If I ended up leaving with Billy, I wouldn't have a chance to come back to my campsite. I didn't want to leave all my stuff to be discovered, but I also needed to be able to retrieve everything if I didn't leave with Billy. I made two piles, one that I thought I could take with me and the rest. I had to base what I could take with me on what I could reasonably have gotten a hold of or couldn't live without and what I would be able to carry.

Maxine continued her task of trying to understand the business and how Adrian worked. A lot of it seemed like magic to her but slowly his approach to doing business became clear.

All the time, the bid to buy the Hotel in Devon was on the table. Adrian’s lawyers tried to get a decision about the bid but for a while, they were fobbed off by the phalanx of Amercian Lawyers and Accountants that seemed to be pouring over every aspect of the UK Company’s operations. Adrian was perplexed as this should have been done as part of the ‘due diligence’ before the deal was signed. He wondered more than once if there was something in the books that was very dodgy.

Six weeks after the bid had been put on the table, the reason for the delays became obvious. Two of the former UK company directors were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and employing illegal immigrants. Jon Lord was also implicated in the wrongdoing.