Read Online Devil's Game by Patricia Hall - Free Book Online Page A

and sat down opposite her. ‘I have to leave for London at three,’ he said. ‘So perhaps you’re right. Let’s concentrate on how I can help you. But I must warn you. Sir David is a very private person. He really dislikes personal publicity.’
    ‘He’s proposing to take over one of Bradfield’s schools,’ Laura objected. ‘People will expect to know who he is and what his plans are.’
    ‘Of course,’ Sanderson said, his expression bland. ‘But there are limits to what he is prepared to talk about, that’s all I’m saying.’
    ‘Right,’ Laura said. ‘So can we talk about his local connections first? That’s naturally what a local paper is interested in. And then perhaps we can talk a bit more widely.’
    Sanderson waved a hand around the room.
    ‘As you can see, he has a home locally, his family home,which he inherited from his father. His business interests are international, of course, but he gets here a couple of times a year at least.’
    ‘So I can write about the house, can I?’
    ‘No reason why not. I’ll give you a quick tour before you go. It’s a fantastic old place, built about 1860, I believe, by some textile magnate, and bought by Sir David’s father in the 1950s. No one was interested in these old places back then.’ Sanderson glanced around the room with a proprietorial air. ‘He got it for a song, apparently.’
    ‘But it must be worth a fortune now,’ Laura said, wondering just how wealthy Murgatroyd was. No expense had been spared on the meticulous period detail around her.
    ‘Absolutely,’ Sanderson said, with satisfaction.
    ‘Mr Murgatroyd was left an orphan at quite an early age, I understand,’ Laura said.
    ‘He had a tragic early life, but he really is not prepared to discuss that publicly. I think you could safely say it left him deeply traumatised, and it has taken him a long time to come to terms with what happened. That’s his father over there.’ He waved a hand at a portrait of a stocky man in a dark three-piece suit, with piercing blue eyes and a proprietorial expression.
    ‘And his mother?’ Laura asked, glancing around and seeing no other family pictures.
    ‘I’ve not seen a photograph of his mother,’ Sanderson said.
    ‘Is he married?’ Laura pressed on.
    ‘No,’ Sanderson said, and it was obvious he was not going to expand on that answer.
    ‘And his business interests are what, exactly?’ Laura asked.
    ‘He’s in private equity,’ Sanderson said, confirming what Laura had already discovered. ‘He buys companies, improvestheir productivity, then sells on. You could say he was a moderniser of British industry when he started, now it’s a worldwide enterprise. He has set up various private companies over the years, but is tending to take a back seat now, in favour of his educational and religious interests.’
    ‘Financially, he’s done very well, then?’
    ‘You could say that,’ Sanderson said. ‘But he is more interested now in doing some public good than amassing further money. That, I think, is what he would like you to concentrate on.’
    ‘So why schools?’
    ‘Mr Murgatroyd is a firm Christian believer, as I expect you know. And he feels that children and young people can only benefit from exposure to Christian belief at an early age. It is something that he feels he can give back to society.’
    ‘Give me a child before he is seven? Is it the Jesuits who say that?’ Laura suggested. ‘But these will be teenagers. They may be harder nuts to crack.’
    ‘We haven’t found that to be the case,’ Sanderson said, betraying just a hint of irritability. ‘It’s possible to turn lives around.’ He sounded, Laura thought, as if that was something he knew about.
    ‘Was religion something he had in his own life, maybe? Or something he lacked?’ Laura asked, not wanting to get sidetracked if Sanderson’s time was short.
    ‘I think that is the sort of question Sir David would not wish to answer,’ Sanderson said