PART 5

A Matter Of Principle

It wasn’t that Bill was averse to making a bit of money on the side – after all, everyone likes to treat themselves to something special from time to time – but he drew the line at certain activities.

“Go on mate!” said Marina. “What can go wrong?”

“You’ve got no idea, have you?” thought Bill to himself, a response that he wasn’t going to express out loud, being well aware of the futility of such comments as far as Marina was concerned.

Impetuous, and as single-mindedly determined as she always was, Marina pushed on with her onslaught, convinced that, even if Bill were slow to catch on, the voice of reason would, eventually, break through. Then, even someone like Bill, who clearly couldn’t be trusted to recognise a golden opportunity when it was staring him in the face would finally see the light. Oblivious to any shortcomings in her persuasive powers, Marina pressed on: “Just say the word, and we can get the ball rolling.”

Bill decided that the best course of action for the time being would be to avoid commenting one way or the other. Marina could make as many assumptions as she liked, but if Bill kept his thoughts to himself, it would probably be safer than saying anything that Marina could subsequently latch on to and interpret in whatever way suited her best. Bill understood that Marina, seeing an opportunity for lining her own pockets, was intent on recruiting him as an accomplice. That would increase her chances of getting away with what would, after all, be a serious violation of trust, if not actually a crime. He already had a pretty clear idea of how the conversation would go if he actually expressed his misgivings to Marina.

Bill was aware that Marina had formed a firm impression of their boss, Mr Portly, as an incorrigible exploiter, willing to take advantage of anyone he happened to come across. The antiques business was, after all, a tricky sea to navigate. However, a good haul could be made by those who had the experience and knowledge of a master mariner, so to speak. Mr Portly was just such a man and he also had a firstrate network of contacts, carefully cultivated over the decades. This did not, though, in Bill’s opinion, justify the course of action that Marina was contemplating. 

What made this whole business more complicated was Marina’s apparent belief that she and Bill were friends as well as workmates. This was understandable, Bill realised, when he stopped to think about it. After all, who had actually shown him the ropes when he first came to work here? At that point, Marina had only been there for ten months herself, but she had taken her role as Bill’s mentor in the world of antique selling very seriously.

Now, Bill could see, he would somehow have to get Marina to change her mind, with subtle hints and manipulation. He would plant the seeds of doubt in her mind in such a way as to make her convince herself that this about-turn was both the smart move and a conclusion that she had reached on her own. In this way, the whole thing might be forgotten with Mr Portly remaining none the wiser. Bill knew that achieving this was going to be anything but straightforward. Marina had a number of faults, but she certainly wasn’t stupid and Bill knew he would have to tread carefully.

Nevertheless, Bill knew he had to try. After all, he knew something that Marina was almost certainly unaware of. Bill had been orphaned at the age of six, and it had been Mr Portly, a distant relative of Bill’s, who had taken the young boy under his wing. Okay, the man might have a reputation for shady business practices, but Bill knew that their boss was always very careful to remain on the right side of the line dividing the illegal from the legitimate. More importantly to Bill, even if few other people ever saw it, Bill knew that Mr Portly possessed a genuine streak of compassion and generosity.