Page 108 of End Game

Laughter and applause followed.

When Beth turned to the last page of her speech, her voice became quiet and thoughtful. ‘I read in the press quite recently,’ she said, ‘that I’m being tipped to become the next director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.’ A sudden hush fell over the room. ‘So, it’s only fair to let you know,’ she paused, ‘I ain’t goin’ nowhere.’

Beth quietly stepped off thestage to join her guests, accompanied by the loudest cheer of the evening ringing in her ears.

‘Thanks for the warning,’ said Wilbur, as he gave Beth a hug. ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about, you during the day and Christina at night. How long can I hope to survive?’

‘You have to survive for at least a decade,’ said Beth. ‘That’s what’s recorded in the minutes.’

‘Great speech,’ said Christina, as she walked across to join them. She lowered her voice and asked, ‘But how much do we owe to William for getting his hands on Miles’s Will before …’

‘When I showed William an early draft of my speech, he crossed out that particular paragraph, suggesting that perhaps it was better they weren’t told the whole story.’

Beth smiled as she looked across the room to see William chatting to his father and the Hawk.

•••

‘I’m reliably informed,’ said Sir Julian, ‘that the Home Secretary, after consulting the Mayor of London, has made her recommendation to the Prime Minister as to who should be the next Police Commissioner. As tradition demands with any public appointment, the PM was presented with two names, leaving him to make the final decision.’

‘No prizes for guessing the other name,’ said the Hawk.

‘It won’t have done Sinclair any harm,’ suggested Julian, ‘that Bernie Longe ended up with a life sentence, and Booth Watson was sent down for seven years.’

‘I think Booth Watson got off lightly,’ said the Hawk.

‘So how long should he have been sentenced for?’ asked Julian.

‘He should have been deported.’

‘Dare I ask where?’

‘Australia, of course,’ said the Hawk.

‘Which reminds me,’ said Julian. ‘I’ve got a couple of tickets for the opening day of the Test match at Lord’s against the Aussies, and wondered if you’d care to join me, Jack.’

William suppressed a smile. He wondered if the day would ever come when he felt able to address the Hawk as Jack.

Laughter broke out nearby, and William turned to see Jojo chatting to Ross and Alice.

•••

‘Will you be leaving the force when the Hawk retires?’ Jojo asked her father.

‘That rather depends on who our next Commissioner is,’ said Ross. ‘I’ve already given my word to one of the candidates that I’ll be happy to stay on if he gets the job, while making it clear to the other that, if he’s appointed Commissioner, I’ll resign the same day. Frankly, the decision is in the Home Secretary’s hands, not mine.’

‘Then we must all pray that William gets the job,’ said Alice, ‘because I don’t need your father under my feet all day.’

‘But why would you have to resign if Sinclair gets the job?’ pressed Jojo.

‘He might ask me how your grandmother is,’ said Ross, ‘and I’d have to admit she’s in perfect health. So, Jojo, if I do have to resign, will you take pity on your dad and join him for lunch from time to time?’

‘Not a hope,’ said Jojo, ‘unless you can join me at the Algonquin, because I’m off to New York next week to do a photoshoot forVogue.’ Jojo stood on her toes and kissed her father on the cheekbefore leaving him and Alice to admire a Van Gogh.

‘I could have sworn,’ said Alice, taking a closer look at the masterpiece, ‘that I saw this particular painting at the Russian Embassy only a few months ago.’

‘Do you think Jojo will make the cover ofVogue?’ asked Ross, as he looked across at his daughter, who was chatting to Artemisia and Peter.

•••