Radical Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

‘In the next couple of days, don’t worry, I’ll let you know.’

  ‘I’ve got everything crossed. I feel it could happen this time. It’s bound to as I’m not there!’ Nick joked.

  ‘So, make sure you let me know how your meetings go tomorrow. How are you getting to the company in the morning?’

  ‘The taxi is coming at 8.30 am. I’m looking forward to meeting the chemists and seeing the labs out here.’

  ‘Hope it goes well.’

  ‘Thanks. Anyway, I hope your week at work isn’t too stressful.’

  ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m here in sleepy Persford. I think I’ll go to bed early as well tonight.’

  ‘OK, well, I’ll speak to you tomorrow. I love you.’

  ‘I love you too. Bye.’

  ‘Bye, Polly. Take care.’

  Polly ended the call and realised tears were forming in her eyes. She sat for a few moments and then went to make herself some tea. This week without Nick would seem interminable. She wished she could make the clock run more quickly.

  Chapter 47

  Polly had gone to bed shortly before 10 p.m. and had fallen asleep reading her book. She had woken around midnight to find the bedside light still on and her book on the floor. After switching off the light she had immediately gone back to sleep. The call from Nick had reassured her that he was OK and safe and she had finally been able to relax. However, she had woken early just before 6 a.m. unable to sleep any longer.

  She went into the bathroom and opened the cupboard where she kept her stack of pregnancy testing kits. Although she had planned to wait until tomorrow she was desperate to know. Somehow she felt different. She couldn’t explain it exactly, it was a sort of sixth sense. Of course it could be wishful thinking but she had been hoping for some time and she’d previously never felt like this. Unwrapping the cellophane, she read the instructions for the umpteenth time. For a few moments she was overcome with indecision but then she sat down on the toilet and urinated on the tip of the test kit. The two minutes she had to wait seemed interminable. She could hardly bear to look but cautiously she cast her eyes on to the window and saw two blue lines.

  Suddenly the blood drained from her head and she grasped the side of the bath. She sat down on the floor of the bathroom so that she wouldn’t fall and hurt herself. Her instincts had been correct. Nick had been correct. The positive result had occurred when he wasn’t there to hug her. She felt like jumping up and down with excitement. However, for the moment a shower would have to do as a celebration. She would wait until later in the day when Nick would hopefully have finished his meetings and then she would phone him. She didn’t want to text him, she wanted to hear his voice when he heard the news. They would celebrate properly when he returned. Suddenly her enthusiasm for the week had increased. However, it was early days and so much could go wrong in the first twelve weeks, she needed to remind herself of that fact. As she washed her hair she was conscious of a big grin on her face. She would need to be careful at work that she didn’t appear to be grinning like the Cheshire cat otherwise her colleagues would wonder what was wrong with her. How was she going to get through the next six hours? It would be torture.

  **

  Maureen had spent most of the weekend at Brensford Manor but she was planning to go back to her own house after breakfast. They were enjoying coffee and cereal whilst looking out at the garden when some workmen arrived and started setting up their equipment.

  ‘Oh, it looks like something big is starting to happen?’ said Maureen? ‘I take it the summerhouse is going to start taking shape.’

  ‘Yes, and not past time. Let’s hope these guys are competent.’

  ‘I’m sure it will be lovely. Have you got the plans?’

  ‘Yes, but they are in my office. I’ll show them to you next time you come around.’

  ‘I didn’t know you were into garden design?’

  ‘I’m not really. Actually, Shirley planned it all. I was going to cancel it after, well, after she died.’

  Maureen reached over to hold Ron’s hand. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.’

  ‘It’s OK. I initially cancelled it but they said that I would lose the deposit. Then I thought, I would go ahead with it and as you are coming around here I thought it would be nice. We can sit out and have a glass of wine on the veranda in the evenings.’

  ‘That’s lovely. I’ll look forward to it.’

  The plot for the summerhouse had been marked out earlier before they had come down for breakfast and Maureen noticed Ron frowning.

  ‘Wait a minute. That’s not where we planned it. God, I’m sure he’s got it wrong. I’ll have to go and fetch the plans from my office.’

  At that moment the digger started to remove some of the turfs in preparation. Ron started to shout and ran out of the kitchen in the direction of the workmen. He was waving his arms and shouting. The digger had already made a big hole in the turf as the operator was unaware of Ron’s shouts. Ron covered the ground quickly and was bellowing over the noise of the machinery.

  The foreman indicated to the digger operator to stop and Maureen could hear Ron’s protestations interspersed with colourful language. The men gathered around Ron and he started pointing at the workman’s plans and gesturing at the trees and the lawn. The conversation continued and Maureen turned around as she could hear his mobile ringing. She went over to it and saw that the display showed a private number. She left the phone and it stopped ringing. After a few seconds, it rang again. She was nervous about answering but decided to pick up the call and take a message.

  ‘Hello, Mr Radford’s phone.’

  ‘Oh, hello, this is Lindsey Saunders, can I speak to Mr Radford please?’

  ‘Er, he’s a bit busy at the moment, can I take a message?’ Maureen recognised the name from the support group.

  ‘Are you his secretary?’

  ‘Mr Radford is just speaking to someone at the moment, can I take a message?’

  ‘Thank you. I’m just letting Mr Radford know that we have transferred half the money for Harrison’s treatment at ClinTry and the rest will be with him by the end of the week.’

  Maureen stood in silence. She could hardly believe what she was hearing.

  ‘Hello, hello, are you there?’

  ‘Oh, yes, sorry. Yes, I’ve got that, I’ll let him know.’

  ‘Thank you. Bye.’

  Maureen replaced the phone on the table. She suddenly felt sick. Images of the glioblastoma support group came flooding back. Her suspicions had been raised at the time but she’d dismissed them and had been too afraid to raise the subject with Ron. What sort of person had she become involved with? Ron had clearly deceived her and she needed time to herself to think about this before she confronted him. She looked out towards the garden where the discussion was still in full flow. There wasn’t time to pack her bag she simply had to get out of there. Scribbling a quick note on a pad on the worktop she claimed she had forgotten an appointment, grabbed her handbag and car keys and fled.

  **

  Nick’s taxi arrived on time and they joined the rush hour traffic in the business district. The journey was hair-raising and Nick quickly fastened his seat belt. The rules of the road seemed to be optional and traffic pulled out of side roads and changed lanes whenever they felt like it. The company he was visiting was only a few miles out of the centre of Mumbai but it was clear that the journey would take at least half an hour. They were now stuck in a slow moving queue of traffic waiting to pass through some traffic lights. Nick checked his phone but there were few messages from the UK as there it was the middle of the night. He had slept surprisingly well despite his body clock being disrupted. So far, thankfully, his stomach was coping with the change in temperature and diet. He had a large bottle of mineral water with him as he wanted to try to stay hydrated. He would probably lose a few pounds in weight whilst he was here so he would look forward to making up for his loss of appetite when he returned.

  ‘Sorry about this, sir
,’ said the taxi-driver. ‘It’s always like this in the morning.’

  ‘No problem,’ said Nick, ‘it’s not your fault. I’m enjoying the sightseeing tour.’

  Eventually, they arrived at IndSyn and Nick alighted. He had already paid for the taxi fare when he booked.

  ‘I will collect you at 5 p.m. is that correct sir?’

  ‘Yes, thank you.’

  ‘If you need to change the time just call my company. You have the number?’

  ‘Yes, thank you. See you later.’

  ‘Have a good day sir.’

  Out of the car the heat assailed Nick with a fury. He felt his skin burning up under the intensity of the sun and it was only early in the morning. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with the cuffs turned back and casual trousers but he could feel the sweat immediately start to pool at the base of his spine and behind his knees. Squinting against the sunlight he looked up towards the main entrance and quickly entered the building to escape the heat and begin his working day.

  **

  Maureen arrived home and rushed inside to the sanctuary of her own domain. She felt agitated and confused. Had she been a complete fool to trust Ron? Her emotions were in turmoil. She had just been released from a controlling relationship, had found love and friendship with someone who appeared to be the man she had been waiting for all her life and now she felt she couldn’t trust him. She had switched her phone to silent and noticed that Ron had tried to phone her. He had texted as well so she quickly typed a reply to say she had a routine appointment to review her repeat medication at the doctor and would contact him later. Before then, she needed to think clearly and rationally and plan her course of action.

  She headed upstairs and stripped off the clothes she was wearing. Despite already showering that morning she felt sullied. A long soak in the bath was what she needed. She switched on the radio and tuned it to Classic FM. Hopefully, the soothing music would help her to relax and her thought processes could evaluate the evidence of the last couple of weeks. Then came the hard part; she would have to decide how to broach the subject with Ron.

  Chapter 48

  Nick’s day at IndSyn had been productive and enjoyable. The facilities were impressive and the staff appeared enthusiastic and competent. However, there were still some problems to sort out. Despite the slick presentations their productivity was still below what could be considered acceptable and there had been some failed steps which were holding up progress.

  ‘Well, thanks, Sanjay,’ said Nick. ‘That was a good summary of the project you have at the moment but there are still some key compounds which we are waiting for you to synthesise.’

  ‘Of course, Nick, we will be addressing those as a priority.’

  ‘That’s good but how do you plan to improve the steps and in some cases actually make progress?’

  Sanjay brought up another slide on his laptop. ‘These are our next attempts.’

  Nick stared at the slide for a while. He could see a flaw in their plans. There was no way this was going to work.

  ‘I see. Well, I don’t want to sound harsh but I’m not confident that will work. You see, that particular subset of compounds is a special case. I’ve got some other suggestions. I was sure I sent those through to you.’

  ‘Did you? I don’t think so,’ said Sanjay defensively.

  ‘Well, it doesn’t matter now as I can go through it again with you. But I’d like to speak to the chemists who are actually doing the reactions.’

  ‘I don’t think that will be necessary,’ said Sanjay quickly.

  Nick raised his eyebrows. ‘Why not?’

  ‘It’s not the way we work here. I am in charge of this section and I will tell the team leaders and they will convey it to the chemists.’

  This was precisely why there were issues thought Nick. There were too many people in the chain. Messages could get lost or instructions jumbled. It wasn’t an efficient way of doing things.

  ‘I appreciate this is the way you have been used to working but I’m afraid we need to make some changes. I need to speak to,’ he paused to look at his report, ‘Aarav and Riya.’

  ‘Their English isn’t very fluent,’ said Sanjay.

  ‘I’m sure it will be good enough. I can write out the reactions to explain. Chemical structures are understandable in any language.’

  ‘I’ll come along with you and sit in on the meeting,’ said Sanjay.

  ‘I’d really rather speak to them alone. If I need help I’ll come and find you.’

  Nick wasn’t going to back down on this one. He needed to speak to the chemists involved in an environment where they weren’t inhibited by their supervisor.

  ‘I’ll go and find them and ask them to come here. I’ll be in my office down the corridor if you should need me,’ he said stiffly. He was clearly annoyed at Nick’s challenge of his authority.

  Whilst he was out of the room, Nick tried once again to phone Polly, however, it just cut to voicemail. He looked at the time and realised it would be late morning there and so she was doubtless in meetings of her own. He sent a quick text to say all was well with him and he would try again later.

  A worried pair of chemists knocked at the door. Nick stood to let them in and shook hands with them both. They were in their twenties he guessed, the young woman Riya looked to be around twenty-two or three and Aarav was possibly a few years older. After the introductions were over he explained what he wanted from them. They were each clutching their laboratory notebooks containing details of the experiments. Both looked as though they had been asked to attend a police interview. Inwardly Nick sighed, this was going to require a lot of coaxing to get to the bottom of the problems here.

  **

  Maureen felt slightly better after her relaxing bath. However, her appetite had deserted her and she barely managed a cheese sandwich for lunch. She had missed a couple of calls from Ron and decided to text him to hopefully head off more calls this afternoon. She didn’t want to speak to him until she had things clearer in her own mind. In the very near future, she would have to face him but she needed to plan carefully what she intended to say. Texting that she was going for a pedicure and then out for afternoon tea with a neighbour should stop any further attempts at contact from him.

  Maureen took a cup of tea outside and sat in the shade on the patio. The feeling of loneliness which had been absent for the last few weeks had now returned with full force. It had extended its tendrils around her and she felt destined to a life rolling around in the large house having the radio for company. She realised how small her support network was and how it had been eroded by Hubert over the years in order to make her increasingly dependent on him. She was reasonably friendly with Felicity Shipton but it wasn’t a relationship you could call close. Similarly, Evelyn Secombe wasn’t a person she felt she could warm to. Playing bridge with them was one thing but having a heart to heart conversation with them was entirely another. They were often busy with grandchildren and so there was little time to socialise. Perhaps the best thing would be to join some clubs or take up a new hobby. It wouldn’t solve her immediate problem though, she desperately wanted someone to confide in here and now and that person just didn’t exist.

  For the first time since she’d received the shocking news about Hubert’s death, she began to cry. One phone call had swept her new-found happiness away in a matter of seconds. Her trust in Ron had evaporated and it wasn’t clear whether it was ever going to return.

  **

  Nick’s meeting with Aarav and Riya was drawing to a close. After a rather stilted and turgid start he had managed to gain their confidence and he now knew the reasons behind their lack of success. They had been unable to order good quality dry solvents for the work which had meant the water sensitive reagents had not worked as well as they should. Sanjay had told them to move on to other targets rather than trying to sort out the troublesome ones and at one point had interrupted their work and had given them another project to do when they should ha
ve been fully devoted to work for PersCure. It was no wonder that progress had been disappointing. Nick would speak to Sanjay in private about this and make it quite clear that if they wanted to retain the contract this would have to stop.

  ‘Thanks, guys, that’s been really useful. Do you feel confident that you know what to try next?’

  ‘Yes, thanking you very much,’ said Aarav. ‘Can we email you directly to check with you if we are having the problems?’

  ‘Of course, anytime.’ Nick gave them each his business card and they pocketed them.

  ‘Shall I go and get Sanjay?’ asked Riya. ‘Can I get you a cup of tea or anything?’

  ‘Yes, we’ve finished now. Thanks but I’m OK with water.’

  ‘So, are you from Mumbai?’ he asked Aarav.

  ‘Yes, my family are all here although I was the first member of my family to go to university. I am very lucky.’

  ‘Have you any brothers or sisters?’

  ‘Yes, two brothers and one sister. They are working in the family business. My father has a clothing factory.’

  They were interrupted by the return of Sanjay with Riya.

  ‘Hi, Sanjay. Well, I think I’m about finished here. I’d like to have a look around the rest of the building before I go if that’s OK?’

  ‘Certainly. What are you doing for dinner tonight?’

  ‘Oh, I’ll eat at the hotel, I think.’

  ‘We would like to take you out to a restaurant. Would you like that? The Head of the company would like to meet you. Aarav would you like to come?’

  ‘Yes, thank you, Sanjay. Thank you very much?’

  ‘Oh, I’ve just remembered, I’ll need to cancel my taxi. It was due to pick me up from here at 5 p.m.’

  ‘No problem. Riya, can you sort that out please?’

  Nick noticed that no invitation to dinner was extended to Riya. It was to be an all-male gathering. However, she’d been asked to cancel his taxi, that was assumed to be a task fit for a woman. It wasn’t for Nick though, to intervene in the local culture. It was a pity that despite the improvements in equality there was still a way to go before life here was on a par with Western culture. Nick was pleased to be invited but it meant that he would have to delay phoning Polly. He would send her a text to explain that she would probably be at home before he got chance to call her this evening.