I produced the resignation letter for him to sign and the trust deeds which had been prepared in advance. Mike witnessed his signature. While this was going on I went next door to the WiFi printer that we had set up and brought back paper confirmations of all the transfers for him to sign. I put them carefully in a large brown envelope and, along with the other documents, placed them in my briefcase.

“Will you now let me go?” he asked, getting up from the table.

“Please sit back down in the chair over there. There are a couple of further things we would like to ask you.”

Doug and Mac stood guard again. “In addition to theft on a grand scale you have also demonstrated that you have been capable of attempted murder and we do not wish to run the risk that you might try again,” I said coldly.

If he thought he was going to get away as lightly as that after what he had done to us, he had another think coming.

“What?” exploded out from the back of his throat. “You planted a bomb in my car last week. Fortunately it exploded while I was far enough away for it not to do me any harm. However it was clearly an act of attempted murder.”

“There was no intention to harm you. And anyway what proof do you have that it was me?”

In fact I had no proof. To the three of us it was obvious that it was Purdy – if not him personally, then someone acting on his orders. We were all watching him carefully. His eyes flicked from Pierre to Mike to myself and back again. Our faces were impassive and without pity. He seemed to be trying to come to some kind of a decision. His head dropped and he stared at the floor just in front of his feet. Finally, after a good thirty seconds, while nobody moved nor said anything, he looked up at us, defeat written across his features. He took a deep breath.

He must have weighed up the situation from all angles. He had admitted, although not in so many words, the scam he had been running. We had extorted reparations from him. He must have come to the conclusion that if he could convince us that there had been no intent to kill me that would be his best chance of getting out.

In a dull and defeated voice he said, “I organised the burglary which did you no harm whatsoever. I needed to get those papers to find out how much you might know. That I admit. As far as your car is concerned, it was not my idea. I was told to get rid of you. I planted the bomb in the car. Yes, that’s true. But I set it off by remote control when I was sure that you wouldn’t be hurt. Scared, yes, but not hurt. I could see from further up the hill. I can even tell you exactly what happened. You came out of the house, opened the rear door and threw what looked like a computer bag into the back seat and slammed the door shut. Then you went back towards your house. I suppose you must have forgotten something. I set it off when you were just opening the door. I admit I was happy to scare you but there was no way I was going to commit murder.”

He looked at us pleadingly. “You’ve got to believe me.” The three of us looked at each other, puzzled. “Who?” I asked coldly. “Who told you to get rid of me?” “I can’t tell you.”

“Who?” roared Mike. He flinched and turned his head towards Mike. “Look, I don’t know who the hell you are but there is no way I’m going to tell you. It’s not worth it. You don’t know what’s going on. You’ve found me out. Be satisfied with that and let me go.”

He was almost begging. We tried verbal bullying, softer persuasion techniques, promises, everything for at least twenty minutes but we could not get him to budge. Clearly he was far more frightened of the consequences of telling us than whatever he thought that we were capable of. Even that, in itself, made my flesh creep. Who could be capable of scaring this guy as much as that and why?

I made a sign to Mike and Pierre for us to go outside for a minute.

We all agreed that it was useless to try any more. We weren’t going to get any further without resorting to some kind of torture and we weren’t going to go that far.

Pierre suggested we let him go and put Mac and Doug on his tail. Perhaps we would find out that way.

We went back inside and sat down again. “Mr Purdy, we are going to let you go. Unfortunately not immediately as you can well imagine. You will be kept here until these transfers have taken place and the AIM board has received your letter of resignation. You will then be set free and, if you want any advice from me, I would get out of the country as soon as you can. There is no way I can prevent news of your actions getting out. When the investors hear about the trust fund and your resignation is announced you can be sure there will be speculation. I personally don’t ever want to see you again.”

We got up and Pierre and I left. Mike stayed behind to give Doug and Mac their instructions. Purdy sat still in the chair like a broken doll.

Mike came out a few minutes later and told us he would hold Purdy until Pierre phoned to tell him when he could be set free.

”I’ll give him a bit of food and when the time comes I’ll have him driven back to Edinburgh and dumped near the squash club car park and he can find his own way home.”

Pierre and I drove back to Fife thoughtfully. We now had another villain behind this one and he sounded like a real nasty piece of work. If he had ordered my assassination, there must be a reason and when he found out I was still alive it would be sensible to take a few precautions. The critical issue was to identify him.

We decided it would be safer for me not to go home so we booked me in at Fernie Castle. On the drive back we didn’t say much. The success of our plan to unmask Purdy and obtain reparations should have been a cause for celebrations, but this was overshadowed by the news that we, or I, had another enemy who was seemingly much more dangerous.

The next morning, while the brawn of the partnership was looking after Purdy, the brains, Pierre and myself, sat down to breakfast.

“Sleep well?” I looked up from buttering my toast and answered ruefully, “Not really. It’s a bit scary knowing that someone has tried to kill you – and might well try again.”

“Or might not. Whoever it is might not need to anymore.” “What do you mean?” “Well, the danger occurred while you were trying to unmask Purdy. If that’s now been done and we’ve put a stop to his operation we’ve no real reason to go on digging so perhaps he’ll feel safe and back off.”

“I wouldn’t be sure about that. Who do you think it is?” Pierre replied, “I was thinking about that all last night. The only people we know about who seem to have regular contact with him is the Dewar guy with his house in Spain and the lawyer that he lunches with regularly.” “So we watch Dewar closely over the next few days?” “That’s what I think, and maybe you could see if you could find out a little more about the lawyer through your golfing friend, Keith?”

Mac and Doug would not be available to watch Dewar until we had released Purdy. I could wander along to the club and see if I bumped into Keith. Meanwhile Pierre had to check up on the transfers. I thought it might also be a good idea to give Steven a tip off about possible news coming out of AIM in the very near future.

As it was Sunday we couldn’t do much about the banking side of things, neither could we do anything else.

Purdy, when released, had only two alternatives. He could report back to whoever the man was that he was so frightened of or simply pack his bags and run to whatever country he chose to disappear to. But as we were not going to be able to release him before Tuesday we thought that it was unlikely that there would be any danger until then. We could relax.

We phoned Mike. Sophie answered and assured us that all was well at their end.

“Come on,” I said to Pierre. “Let’s go and have a round on another of our famous Fife courses.”