Chapter 51

When he got home, Howard Cavendish shouted and raged and slammed doors. His family and servants tiptoed around him. He might shout, but he was not a man who raised his fists to them. Even so, no one wanted to provoke him any further. Elizabeth, one of their maids, heard him ranting about Salter and his war.

"That man Salter just walks over everyone. We were supposed to discuss the decision, but it had obviously already been made. If you are saying something of value they all start shouting to drown you out. They behave worse than children."

"I know, it must be frustrating" Mrs Cavendish could only offer platitudes.

"I see the other ministers cowering in their seats afraid to speak up. That is their choice, but that is not why I am in government. I need to have my say. I have to keep trying."

"Be careful."

"No. That is something I cannot do. I won't take the easy option and keep my mouth shut. I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I have retained my integrity."

The cabinet meeting which he had just attended had panned out exactly as he had thought it would. Howard was deeply frustrated that he had gone there with no real hope of changing anyone's mind. He knew that there had been whispering in the corridors and that the motion would be passed. He was angry that no one would listen to him.

The other ministers had capitulated to Nicholas Salter once again. Men that he had considered friends had become Salter's pawns and he had been disgusted to see them voting with him. Eric McBride had been one of them. The man had suffered a lot of tragedy in his life and seemed to have just given up and settled for an easy life.

Had he seen what had happened to those who opposed Salter? He had, but he was a man of principle. Howard could not force himself to vote for something which he was vehemently against. He had voiced his opinion and now he would have to wait to see what the consequences of that would be.

The inner cabinet wanted their war. They wanted to put on a show of force for the world to see. The forces would go to South America and annihilate the rebels just to stamp their authority. He could understand their desire to control the resources, but he was worried about their methods.

Howard sat at his desk and produced a letter which he would send to all of his colleagues. He gave possible solutions to the problem which could be used and would avoid a war. Firstly, he wanted negotiation. They could offer to build proper houses where there was at present a shanty town. Infrastructure and supplies could change the people's lives.

If no agreement could be reached, then troops could be deployed, but they did not need to attack. A show of force and an offer to accept their surrender without bloodshed could work. Why did they need to put the army at risk and sanction the murder of people in the area? Howard knew that the decision had been made, but he wanted to put his objection on record.

Ministers who regularly spoke against the inner cabinet lost their jobs. Howard was aware of this and had heard rumours about the methods used to make it happen. He understood that blackmail was the usual weapon of choice. Compromising photographs or testimony would arrive in an envelope and the recipient would resign.

What might they have in store for him? Not many people got through their lives without breaking a few rules. Howard had stolen fruit from an orchard and had definitely been drunk a few times, but nothing out of the ordinary. He did not beat his wife and servants. He did not have affairs with either women or men. He had committed no bad crimes.

There was nothing that Salter and his club could use against him, Howard thought. The idea that they might kill him crossed his mind, but he dismissed it. The sudden death of someone who had so vociferously opposed Salter would attract unwanted attention. He could do nothing now. It was a waiting game.

Elizabeth was not stupid. She had been a naïve youngster when she joined the Cavendish household, but she had learned a lot about politics by listening to what was said. Her boss was not best pleased with the latest decision made by the OWG. His wife had expressed concern about his constant opposition to what they were doing. He was inviting trouble.

She had heard the word war, but only had an abstract idea of what this meant. There had not been a proper war in her lifetime, or even before that. The troops heading off in their smart uniforms and precise formations seemed romantic somehow. When she thought about it more, she realised that war meant death.

At school they had learned about the way that the world had been run in the past. The evil people who pitted country against country. The waste of fighting amongst ourselves when we could be producing whatever the population needed. The One World Government would rule everywhere and that would stop all the fighting. Well it seemed they wouldn't.

She was hardly a philosopher, but Elizabeth pondered on the nature of war. She wondered if it was in man's nature. Mr Cavendish had said that the cabinet were, in his words, "practically frothing at the mouth" at the idea of armed conflict. It was like they needed this after there being such a long time of peace.

A couple of weeks after the meeting a brown envelope arrived. Howard shut himself in his office for most of the day. Mrs Cavendish had taken to her bed sobbing. When everyone had gone to bed Elizabeth crept into the office and looked at the correspondence which had caused such anguish. She could not believe her eyes.

Elizabeth replaced the photographs which she had seen in the envelope and put it back in the drawer. She crept out of the office and went back to her room in the attic of the building. Her curiosity had got the better of her but now she wished with all her heart that she hadn't snooped on Mr Cavendish.

The pictures that she had seen were shocking. Elizabeth could hardly believe what they showed but her eyes had could not have deceived her. Mr Cavendish had been whipping a naked man in one image and he had been having sex with him in another. The one where he was dressed as a woman had been very disturbing.

She had worked for the family since she was 16. Now she was 22. She had never seen anything that would indicate that her employer would do those things. His government position was now in jeopardy and that meant that her job was too. Elizabeth knew that being a homosexual was illegal and she had discovered that her boss was one.

Elizabeth was back in bed but she could not sleep. The pictures played like a slide show in her head. She had seen him supposedly doing those things and yet it did not add up. The latest problems he had experienced with the government surely had a bearing on what had happened. Mrs Cavendish had warned her husband that there would be problems if he continued to disagree with them.

She could not shake the feeling that the photographs turning up after the latest set to with the inner cabinet was not a coincidence. But she had seen the pictures. Poor Mrs Cavendish. Had she seen what was in that envelope? Elizabeth would have to carry on as if nothing had happened.

The story of what had gone on in the Cavendish household should not be told to anyone else. Elizabeth saw Serena in town and before she knew what she was doing she had begun to tell her what had been delivered to the house. The girls sat with their heads together whispering for half an hour before they had to get back to work.

"I know I shouldn't have done it but I had to look in that envelope. Oh, Serena. I still can't understand what I saw. Mr Cavendish with a man doing, you know, intimate things."

"Mr Cavendish! I didn't think he was like that did you?"

"No. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it."

"You are sure. It was the middle of the night when you looked at them. Was it dark?"

"Not that dark. I could clearly see his thingy."

The details which Serena had just heard were shocking. Not because of what Elizabeth had said she had seen but because Serena knew they had been produced because of what Howard Cavendish had dared to do. He had opposed Nicholas Salter and his inner cabinet and now he was paying the price.

She forgot the reason that she had gone to town in the first place and rushed back home. Dan was at work but Serena phoned him. She did not want to say too much on the call so she just alluded to the problem.

"I met with one of my friends today. She was full of gossip. I'll tell you all about it when you get home."

Dan knew that something was up. Serena wouldn't phone him at work over some trivial gossip. He visited Ryan and told him that he was heading home. Serena was worried and he had to find out what was going on. Ryan knew that it must be serious so he said that he would call around to his house later in the day.

Other calls were made and by 7 O'clock Eric had joined Ryan, Sebastien, Derek and the household. Serena told the story of the explicit photographs which had been delivered to Howard Cavendish. His maid Elizabeth said that she would never have believed he was of that persuasion if she had not seen the photographs herself.

Eric was appalled. "I would swear on my life that Howard Cavendish is not homosexual."

The debate ranged back and forth over the photographs. Dan said that the pictures could have been faked. As long as they appeared genuine at first glance, they would have done the job. Once they had been seen even if tampering could be proved, which would be difficult, the damage would have been done.

"The girl saw the photographs but a letter was probably sent too. Something about resigning from his position unless he wanted the pictures to become public or be sent to the police I would imagine." Derek summed up how the caper would work. Everyone in the room was learning how ruthless Salter and his friends were.

Howard was reading a letter which was pretty much as Derek had described. He had studied the photographs with a magnifying glass and he could see where they had been doctored. They were good though. Good enough that they would cause all sorts of problems for him if they were released as threatened.

Could he chance calling their bluff and denying what was in the photographs? A proper scrutiny of the images would reveal that they were fake. Howard was not sure that they would either be looked at properly or that it would make any difference. If this ruse did not work the alternative method of removing him might be even worse.

He had seen the writing on the wall long before the envelope had arrived. He was not like some of the ministers who liked to live in luxury. He had a fairly large house and two servants, Elizabeth and a cook. He had saved his money rather than fritter it away on unnecessary and expensive extras. He would lose his salary, but he would be able to live out his life moderately well.

As a last act of defiance, he replied to the letter with a demand of his own. He would go quietly if they gave him severance pay. It was a gamble but it paid off. He resigned on the grounds of poor health. He had been backed into a corner and he was going to lose whatever he did. He had some guilt about taking the money but he had to look after his family.

All of the ministers guessed that Howard's resignation had been engineered. Some of them knew exactly how it had been managed. Salter and his cadre knew because they had arranged it. Eric had come to know about it, but he was not going to talk to anyone about it. The next couple of meetings took place in an atmosphere of suspicion. Nicholas Salter looked very pleased with himself.