“We both worked there,” he started, to Luc’s surprise. “When the previous owner decided to sell and retire I was with this guy called Nigel. We had been dating about six months, but I was head over heels. Nigel suggested that we buy the business. I had savings. He had good credit. He arranged some lawyers, it made good sense. I mean, locking ourselves down to mortgages and business loans for thirty years, and a lot of work, but a place to build up together.”
He shrugged a little. “I wasn’t sure if Aydin would stay on. He didn’t like Nigel much, thought he was lazy. Looking back, I guess he did skip the dirty jobs and wasn’t around as much as he should have been.”
He looked up. “I was in love, Luc. I would have died for that man. He was everything I had ever wanted and dreamed of. Every fantasy made flesh. Perfect for me. Or so I thought.”
Luc reached out and gripped his hand.
“Then one day I came back from an afternoon with my aunt, and the place was locked up. Aydin was sat outside waiting, couldn’t get in. I was worried, I thought something had happened to Nigel, but Aydin said there was a sign on the main door. Just said closed.”
He sighed. “We went in and immediately it was just wrong. There was a fair amount of stock missing. All of the cash. And all of Nigel’s stuff was gone. Didn’t even leave a toothbrush. Like he was a fucking ghost.”
“Con, I’m so sorry. You don’t have to, if it’s too hard.”
“Let me get it out, kid. I only wanna tell it once.”
“Okay.”
“Aydin called the cops, not much happened really, until they discovered that Nigel Willslow didn’t exist.”
“What?”
“His real name was Peter Smith. Con artist, known to the FBI. The credit was fake. He was fake. And I was in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Including the loans he had taken out on the business without my knowledge.”
Luc didn’t say anything, just gripped Connor’s hand harder.
“Four days after he disappeared. I’m looking at losing the pub. I would never clear all the loans, not even if I worked a hundred years. Possible criminal charges. And the FBI coming back every day to question me, because they had been tracking him across the states but lost him in Florida, shortly before I met him.”
There were a few moments of silence.
“You said he was perfect for you. He did that on purpose?”
Connor nodded.
“So?” Luc motioned, like — what happened?
“Eight days after he disappeared, I’m sat in the bar drinking. On the floor. Making my way through what was left of the stock. I was just totally overwhelmed. Only place I’d moved in days was the bathroom. Then back via the bar to my nest on the floor. I was kinda numb, you know?”
Luc nodded.
“Aydin came in. Considering all I’d said to him in days was ‘Fuck off’ it’s amazing he bothered. He brought Gently and Paulo with him.”
“Paulo was Gently’s partner?”
“Yea, he was lovely. Older than Gently, used to be his manager. Anyhow, quite apart from the fact that Gently is still a big guy, and strong. Paulo was too, and also he was about ninety-four, this was just over two years ago. What was I supposed to do? When you have an eighty-something and a ninety-plus manoeuvring you into the shower. You can’t exactly fight them off can you?”
Luc grinned, even as he grabbed a napkin and wiped his eyes. “Is that what they did?”
“Literally stripped me to the skin. I still remember the sound Aydin made when they passed my clothes out to him. Sounded like a cat bringing up a furball backwards! Once they had me in the shower, Gently disappeared and Paulo just talked to me. Just that I had wallowed long enough, it was time to man-up. But nicely. It’s hard to explain.”
“I totally get it. Knowing what Gently is like, I’m sure his partner was wonderful.”
Connor nodded and grabbed another napkin. “Once I was clean, shaved and dressed, Paulo walked me downstairs. The machine’s running, the doors are open, and Aydin is there with three or four of our regulars cleaning up. I was so embarrassed, but they all just hugged me and told me to go with Paulo. He walked me over the road, well, Gently’s just across the street, as you know.”
“Yea.”
“Gently had made this amazing meal. They fed me and put me to bed. I told them I never wanted to see the pub again, but Paulo just said things would be different in the morning and to go to sleep. So I did.”
“But how did you get from there to here?” Luc asked.
Connor smiled. “I found out what amazing friends I had.”
He paused for some coffee and Luc frowned impatiently.
“Aydin had called in help. He went to Cal and Frank. I told you Cal was my mentor, but it’s way more than that. Paulo and Gently walked me back the next morning. All the tables in the bar had been pushed together. There’s paperwork everywhere. Frank and Cal were there. Aydin, the FBI, representatives from the banks, and Cal had brought three of his lawyers with him. It looked like a war room. I was fucking terrified.”
He shrugged. “I won’t bore you. It went on for two days. Cal’s lawyers were something else. He never did let me pay them.” Connor sniffed. “I don’t even know how much it cost him. But after two days, all of the illegal loans taken out against the business were gone. They had been loaned to someone who didn’t exist, which was not my responsibility. And they had also, somehow, got the banks to wipe out 30% of the original loans. On the same basis really, but it was more complicated. But that was a huge chunk gone. So then I had a choice.”
He paused as Katy re-filled their coffee again.
“What was your choice,” Luc asked quietly when she had moved away.
“Sell the business and property, which would clear about 70% of what I was liable for, and the bank would have made me a really good deal to clear the rest over fifteen years. Cal had a job for me, it meant I would avoid bankruptcy.”
“Banks aren’t known for being so accommodating, are they?”
“Cal’s lawyers are fucking terrifying, Luc!”
Luc sniggered.
“Second choice, another loan, to float the business and get back up and running. Not huge, I was broke but a restock and wages and a few months cushion and it could be done. But that’s more money to be repaid. I was already in debt for decades.”
Connor sighed. “Third choice was similar but Cal offered me the loan. But the security for that was Engagement. That’s a risk if my business fails, and quite frankly, he had done enough.”
“So you went with option two?”
“No, I went with a combination of option four and three.”
“CONNOR O’NALLY!” Luc slapped his arm. “Stop messing with me.”
Connor laughed. “Aydin was a hard worker and was in the same situation I was when I bought the business. He had been saving for years to have his own one day. He offered to buy in. I took a bit of persuading, but I sat down with him and Cal, and Cal’s scary lawyers, and we ended up going into it together. A smaller loan from Cal, which we cleared in a year. His lawyers worked it all out. So we’re stuck with each other. We have a small living wage, the debts go slowly down, and in about twenty-six years, give or take, we’ll be joint owners of a property and a thriving business. At least, that’s the plan.”