Free The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle Page A

ask me.’
    ‘It’s important to me. I believe in it.’
    ‘It’s just work at the end of the day. Your boss giving you a hard
    time?’
    ‘My supervisor.’ Stephen utters the corrective gently. ‘Kind of.
    Well, no. Gerald’s always like that. It’s just a tricky phase.’
    ‘Sounds like he’s a tricky character. And I’ve known a few in my
    time. Needs to have his card marked if you ask me. Tell me about
    this bloke you’re researching. What was his name again?’
    ‘John Graham of Claverhouse, later Viscount Dundee. Born in
    1648 and a key figure in the early Jacobite rebellions.’
    ‘The Jacobite rebellions? What were they exactly?’
    ‘The revolt against William of Orange and Protestantism and the
    fight to restore the house of Stuart to the throne. What’s interesting is how he goes down in folk history. He was known as Bonnie Dundee to the Jacobites, but the Presbyterians called him Bluidy Clavers because he exacted bloody retribution against their communities.
    He was a major influence on the Fifteen and the Forty- Five.’
    ‘What were they?’
    Stephen reflects that Roy seems to be feigning interest quite
    efficiently.
    ‘The two Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Both crushed by the
    English. Graham was killed earlier, in 1689 in a battle that his troops actually won. That victory and Graham were vital shapers of the
    later rebellions. But Graham’s death was a critical fault line in
    them too.’
    Roy says, ‘What’s the point of this work? What’s the purpose?’
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    ‘Three things really. How John Graham shaped the rebellions.
    Then there’s how the mythology and demonology have persisted.
    And lastly, what Graham was actually like behind it all. What drove him? What were the actual facts? Was he such a charismatic leader
    or a cruel criminal?’
    ‘The myth and the man?’
    ‘Exactly. That’s the key theme. For instance, a myth persisted at
    the time that Graham had made a pact with the Devil and was
    immune to lead shot. According to that, he was killed by a silver
    button from his own uniform penetrating his heart. That’s just one
    of the legends. Whereas perhaps the most important point really is
    that, had he survived, the Fifteen might have gone very differently, with his presence and expertise. It could have meant a very different Britain.’
    Stephen is surprised how gratifyingly fluent the patter is. Rather
    more fluent than his stuttering research has proved. Maybe he can
    do this, after all.
    ‘So why’s this Gerald giving you a hard time? You seem to know
    your stuff.’
    ‘It’s mainly technical. He wants me to speed up the validation of
    sources and data and to begin building a structure. It’s fine really.’
    ‘And what’s in it for you?’
    ‘With luck, a published paper that’s accepted after peer review
    and changes things, however minutely. With even better luck, a new
    historical perspective on the period.’
    ‘I mean, where does it get you?’
    ‘Oh, nowhere really, apart from being a major part of my PhD.
    Any published works will go out under Gerald’s name as my
    supervisor.’
    ‘Sounds dodgy. You want my advice, look after number one. You
    don’t want this Gerald stealing your glory.’
    ‘My world doesn’t work like that. Academics are connected and
    work on reputation. If I do a good job it’ll get round and I’ll stand a better chance of securing a good academic position.’
    ‘You want to watch yourself. Life’s not a rehearsal. You want to
    go out there and grab what you want.’
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    They have arrived at the garden centre. Stephen fusses about Roy,
    rushing around the car and trying solicitously to help him out of
    the passenger seat, but Roy is having none of it. Having extricated himself from the vehicle, he looks at Stephen sternly. But their tacit if fragile pact of cordiality holds and he forces a