Maloney's Law Read Online Free PDF Page A

then it had stuck and assumed an importance all of its own. And even though — after Dominic, to be honest — it’s more or less faded away, I still like the idea of it.
    ‘Hmm, Maloney’s Law. Can’t remember that one, but, hey, good name. You’d better remind me.’
    Her answer is a quick and thankfully not too hard punch on the arm across the table. ‘Don’t be stupid. You know. It’s...’
    ‘Sometimes you just have to trust that someone is telling the truth,’ we chorus in unison and drain our drinks home.
    Time for another round. And I’m happy to pay again. With the money from Dominic, we could probably afford the pub. Just about. Waiting my turn at the bar, I see pretty boy has gone and think, yes, Maloney’s Law is fine as far as it goes, as long as there’s no evidence to the contrary. That, as always, is the crucial question.
    Right now, of course, evidence or at least some kind of connection between facts is what I need. And I’m not going to find it here.
    Neither, it seems, am I going to find it by ringing ’round the six business and three press contacts I have and performing unhelpful Google searches in the office. Tuesday afternoon finds me, feet on the desk, folding sheets of paper to impossible smallness and arranging them in colour-coordinated piles.
    ‘How’s it going?’ Jade sashays her way in from the kitchen, deposits her camomile tea on her desk and gives me a shrewd glance. Her earrings seem larger today. Fierce-looking diamond shapes that almost reach her neck. She must be worried about something. Probably me.
    ‘Fantastic. I can tell you how effective the Delta Egypt marketing department is, as well as show you a record of their last three years’ annual reports. I can also give you a full and detailed account of the personality, lifestyle, and future plans of Mr. Blake Kenzie. He’s a man born to an Egyptian mother and an American father, and he seems to have worked his way up from a poor rural Nile background to the dazzling halls of Cairo society purely by dint of his own saintliness. He’s earned a fortune from business deals but makes regular and generous donations to local causes, including, of course, political parties destined to win. That explains his popularity.’
    ‘So he’s a manipulator and a cheat with something to hide?’
    ‘As always, your gift for summary gets right to the point.’
    ‘Thank you. He seems much like our client then. Apart from the background.’
    ‘That’s unfair. And you know it. By the way, are those new earrings?’
    ‘Sorry,’ she hesitates. ‘And don’t change the subject. Do you want to hear how I’ve got on?’
    ‘If it’s going to be any help.’
    I lean back, but not so far that I fall over, and prepare to listen to what snippets of gold Jade may have been able to dig up. She’s one of the best computer hackers I know, and I like to think I provide a legal outlet for her skills that otherwise, bearing in mind her moral code, would go to waste.
    Nine minutes later, I’m flipping through her comprehensive report. It tells me that, although Blake Kenzie has no known police record, there are periods of time in his business and personal life, sometimes stretching to weeks, that are unaccounted for. Not that he has much of an obvious personal life, with no wife or apparent partner — of either sex — and no known children. Not many friends either, or none who will admit to it. He stands alone. What is Dominic doing with him? All this is good stuff. However, the information that earns Jade the salary I pay her is the sheet of paper at the end of her report. Blake Kenzie’s business schedule. He’s in the Cairo office on Thursday. Two days’ time. A press call to Delta Egypt in Jade’s best journalist voice confirms it, and by the time she puts down the phone I’m ringing the airline to book the flight.
    When I’ve finished, I give her a thumbs up. ‘I have no idea how you do it, but thanks. You’re a