Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 26:

I smiled and received a handshake that was as commanding as his dark brown eyes.

I now knew why Max had brought me here and I was determined to set a good example waiting patiently until everyone had been seated. I took a quick sip of water before speaking.

'Mr Takiyoma,' I started. 'May I say sir on behalf of Stamford Enterprises that it is an immense honour to meet you. As the first Captain to be appointed to your new fleet of ships I want to say how proud I am sir to be here and I just wanted to say that having been on board the Jupiter these past few days, she is a very fine ship. You should be very proud of her.'

Rather surprisingly a stony silence fell on the room.

I knew it had been a risk talking about the ship in its current state but I wanted Max to know that I had her back and that I too could rise up to her level and sensing an unease I added quickly.

'You should come out and see her one day. When you are not too busy that is.'

I saw only confused faces. I didn't understand.

Max smiled at me from across the table and explained.

'Kirk. This is Sumo Takuyama of Honshu and as much as information technology may try and bridge the gap of understanding, I don't think he has any idea what you are talking about nor is he, I imagine, in any way related to our Mr Urisaki Takiyoma from Haikado!'

She then launched into fluent Japanese that ended in raucous laughter around the room and to add pain to my injury the guest of honour then offered me his own piece of wisdom.

'Captain Attwood. My father has a saying,' he said looking directly at me and offering a sympathetic smile. "It is not the noise of the donkey that counts. It is the size of his feet."

This was met with an even louder volume of laughter and all I could do was shrug apologetically.

I felt such a fool.

Lucky for me Max had put me next to Josie and over the next two and a half hours I was given another opportunity to understand more about the firm and at the same time gain a better understanding about the woman who had invited me here.

Contrary to what Richard had said; everyone seemed to like Miss Stamford and she was by all accounts a very intelligent woman. There was no long-standing boyfriend but there had been quite a few minor ones along the way.

She was very much the fool, something I could already testify to, and on more than one occasion she had ended up in trouble. She crashed her 'E' type jaguar only last year, writing off well over forty thousand pounds without even a blink of an eye. She was very proactive towards woman's lib and was an active member of the Royal Woman's Institute.

The only sobering piece of information I gained was on learning about her mother's death. I don't know why but I had always assumed both parents were still alive. Max had never mentioned it and I had never enquired. It had been a vicious death by all account. Mrs Stamford had been home alone and there had been a break in. No arrests were made but the police believed that she must have disturbed the intruder because there had been a struggle and Mrs Stamford had been killed from a blow to the head.

It was all very sad leaving me in a reflective mood and as soon as I was able I went straight to Max after the meal.

She turned towards me , her face breaking out into an enormous grin.

'I couldn't resist about earlier,' she cooed. 'It was mean and I'm sorry. I should have told you. Takiyoma and Takuyama are very similar. It's the same as calling someone Smith or Smithson and to someone from outside the language, I guess it must all sound the same.'