Free Out of control by John Dysart

business?”
    “I don’t know yet but very probably. I don’t like what’s been done to Liam and I don’t like the idea of the perpetrators getting away with it scot-free and making millions on the back of it.”
    “Are you, by any chance, the Bob Bruce that I read about in the papers seven or eight months ago concerning some investment company and Keith McDowell’s imprisonment?”
    I smiled “Guilty, your honour, I’m afraid.”
    His parting words were “Well I hope this business isn’t quite as adventurous as that was, from what I heard. But if I can help, let me know.”
    I’m sure we both thought that these words were simply an expression of politeness.
    Liam and I left and drove back home. It seemed that, as far as we were concerned, things were pretty clear. Irina had been sent from France to extract information from Liam which had resulted in the LyonPharma patent registration. Tough on Helen Mackie, tough on Liam, but there wasn’t anything that could undo the damage.
    The only thing left that was bothering me was whether Antoine de Clermont was behind it or not. His friendship with Pierre and the fact that he was a shareholder in Bioscope bothered me greatly.
    Helen Mackie had said she had two other projects on the go. Were they also potentially endangered? That seemed to me to be reason enough to get to the bottom of it.
    There was no way I could voice my suspicions to Pierre. I had absolutely no proof. He simply wouldn’t believe me.
    I  needed another opinion. I determined to discuss it with Mike. He has a great knack of thinking simply and in a straight line. I didn’t often follow his advice but sometimes his black and white approach to things compensated my tendency to see things in shades of grey (but not as many as fifty!) and helped me to clarify my thoughts and plans.
    When we got back to Letham I gave Mike a ring to find out where he was. He was at home and bored.
    “Missing Sophie?”
    “Piss off!” came back down the line.
    Meeting Sophie had engendered a radical change in Mike’s life style. Heather and I were quite amused by it. We had put up with his numerous amorous adventures over the years and, now that he seemed to have got seriously hooked, it was a delight to tease him.
    “Well, I’ve got something for you to get her off your mind. How would you like to look after Liam for the weekend? Come down and stay here and get some golf in or go and run up and down Falkland Hill a few times. I need a break and I promised to go up and see Maggie for the weekend.”
    “Good idea”, he replied, and we agreed that he would stay on a couple more nights when I got back.
    I left Liam in the care of his godfather and drove up to see Maggie for the weekend. I still wasn’t sure whether it was worth doing any more about the patent business. It seemed like a lost cause. But the potential implication of Antoine bothered me greatly. Should I do anything about that? A quiet weekend - a complete change – might help me to decide.
    As I drove north I drifted over the events of the last couple of weeks. LyonPharma had lodged their patent. Helen’s had been refused. So that was a dead duck. No matter what we did we weren’t going to change that. At least Helen had her other two projects. I didn’t know what they were and I doubted very much if she was going to tell me but if they came to a successful outcome she would soon forget what had happened.
    I just hoped that the company was solid enough. Start-ups are notoriously short of cash during their research and development stage. I didn’t like the idea that she might not be able to follow through because of a cash shortage.
    I thought of Pierre. He had stacks of the stuff. He’d probably be interested in an investment opportunity. I made up my mind to talk to her about it when I got back. I did feel a bit guilty that, even if only accidentally, it had been my grandson that had been the source of her troubles.
    Liam had taken a mental knock