Free ICEHOTEL by Hanna Allen Page B

It’s not a
cause of confession.’
    ‘Yet something tells me there’s a side to you you’re trying
not to reveal,’ I said playfully. ‘What really lights your fire, Mike?’
    He opened his arms in an expression of surrender. ‘You got
me. I like to gamble.’
    ‘I’m guessing cards. Poker?’
    ‘Spot on.’
    ‘What kind?’
    ‘The kind with high stakes.’
    ‘In Edinburgh? Where?’
    ‘It’s not a part of Edinburgh you’re acquainted with.’
    I studied him. ‘You know, Mike, I’ve never seen the
attraction in risking hard-earned money.’
    ‘Ah, but it’s the possibility of relieving someone else of
theirs that’s the attraction.’ He lifted his glass. ‘Eight players. Minimum
stakes, a thousand apiece.’
    ‘Pounds?’ I said, appalled.
    ‘I’m not talking pence, Maggie.’ He wiped his mouth with the
back of his hand. ‘I see you’re shocked.’
    ‘So how did you get into it?’ I said, after a pause.
    ‘When I was young, we all did it. There are plenty of places
in Dublin.’
    ‘And you say this goes on in Edinburgh?’
    ‘It’s not in Yellow Pages. Only the cognoscenti know where
to go. I’d offer to take you when we’re back, but somehow I think you’re not a
player.’
    I stared at him, aghast.
    ‘That’s what I thought,’ he said.
    ‘Do you ever lose?’
    ‘Mostly I break even, though there are times when I come out
with my pockets crammed. Ah, but it’s a grand feeling when that happens.’
    I was seeing him in a new light. Yet I thought he’d been a
little too quick in his reply about gambling. There was another dimension to
him, a dimension he was being careful not to reveal.
    After a silence, I said, ‘Have you heard of the Bibby
Foundation, Mike?’
    His expression changed, and he set down his glass.
    ‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ I said.
    ‘It’s impossible not to have heard of them. Wilson Bibby has
just unveiled his big new schools’ initiative.’
    ‘You know about that?’ I said, surprised.
    ‘The Swedish papers are full of it. And, I expect, so are
the papers everywhere else.’ He rolled the glass between his palms. ‘The Bibbys
were in Stockholm last week, meeting members of the Swedish government.’
    ‘And this week they’re at the Icehotel.’
    His eyes flicked up at me. ‘Yes, I knew they’d be coming
here.’
    ‘How on earth did you find that out?’ Surely Bibby, a man
who travelled incognito, wouldn’t broadcast his holiday location to the world.
    ‘It isn’t widely known they’d be coming to the Icehotel,’
Mike said, ‘but one of the Yanks I was drinking with is working with Bibby. He
told me. So, what’s the big interest in the Bibby Foundation?’
    ‘I’ve just been speaking to Marcellus Bibby, and – ’
    ‘You’ve been speaking to him?’ A look of horror crossed
Mike’s face. ‘Listen, Maggie, it’s not often I give women advice, but I’m
telling you now to steer clear of him. Of both of them.’
    ‘That’s not going to be possible. We’re in the same hotel.’
    He ran a hand through his hair, sighing in irritation.
    ‘Why should I steer clear of them?’ I said defensively.
    A pulse was beating in his temple.
    ‘I’m concerned, Mike, because Harry relies on the Bibby
Foundation for his research funding.’
    ‘Holy Mother o’ God. This just gets better and better. He
takes money from them?’ His jaw muscles clenched. ‘Sounds like Harry’s moral
compass has taken him places it shouldn’t. Take it from me, you need a long
spoon to sup with the Bibbys.’
    ‘You’re exaggerating,’ I said, looking away.
    His voice was laced with sarcasm. ‘Is this why you’re all
here, then? To see the great grand man? Like flies to shit.’
    ‘We had no idea Wilson Bibby would be at the Icehotel,’ I
said hotly.
    But Mike had known. He’d known, and he’d chosen the Icehotel
for a last-minute holiday. I wondered then just how last-minute it had been.
He’d been drinking with the Americans on Saturday. Had he made