‘He was all right but she was furious. As I heard it, she even threatened to take their business away from us if you couldn’t be bothered to see them. It was just as well Phil was on good form. He made it up as he went along and told them your brother had unexpectedly been taken seriously ill so you’d rushed down to Newcastle to see him. He laid it on so thick she was almost ready to send a get-well card by the time he finished.’
Zak gave what he hoped was a realistic chuckle. ‘Good for Phil. I’ll have to remember that when I ring them to apologise. Anyway, how are things going here?’ He nodded in the general direction of the workshop and for the next ten minutes George bent his ear on matters technical, most of which went way over his head. All the while he tried to keep, what he hoped was an intelligent look on his face and to nod in all the right places.
Before leaving George to try to get into the main showroom, which he hoped would now be open, he said, ‘Who are we expecting to be manning the showroom today?’
George looked startled at the question, but Zak was the boss so he scratched his head a moment before replying. ‘Well, Phil, of course, and I suppose Mark and Ross will be there as well. I can’t be certain, though.’
‘Who’s on reception? Zak said trying to appear casual.
‘Diana, who else?’ George said looking sideways at his boss, clearly very surprised to be asked such a basic question.
‘I told you, my brain’s beginning to go,’ Zak said, trying to laugh it off. George smiled back but he could not entirely hide the uncertainty in his eyes.
‘Right, I’ll leave you to get on then,’ Zak said moving away.
George might think he was losing his marbles but that was probably better than being unable to identify any of his salesmen or even his receptionist.
The door into the main showroom was indeed open when he arrived back at a little after eight-forty-five and he could see a young woman on the far side filling a coffee percolator. That had to be Diana, he decided. Nipping in quickly he called out a welcome and went across to join her.
‘Are you the first in?’
‘Yes, I am, Mr Storie. Did you have a good trip?’
‘Yes, fine thanks, luv, and would you remind me to give the Simpsons a ring later in the morning, please?’
There was something different about her boss this morning, but whatever it was, she could not quite put her finger on it. Nevertheless, she smiled knowingly at his mention of the infamous Simpsons and nodded her head in acceptance as he moved away. He could not afford the time to stop and chat, even if he were disposed to do so, which he wasn’t. He desperately needed to take a quick look around his business premises to see names on doors or desks before their owners appeared. There were two desks on view in the showroom, one at either end, and a quick look identified them as belonging to Mark Forbes and Ross Clements. Next, Zak hurried up a staircase located in the middle of the complex where he discovered a suite of modern offices. The name ‘P. Williamson, Financial Director’, was fixed on the door of the first office; next came his own office; while further along the corridor a small meeting room was located followed by some toilets and an open plan area which looked out over the Forth Estuary. Presumably this was where his staff sat when they took their various breaks. It was all very civilized, he thought.
Having taken in and written down as many names as he could possibly cope with for one day he settled himself in his office and began the daunting task of familiarising himself with the business. He was there no more than a few minutes when there was a discrete knock on his door and the face of a man, who seemed to be a few years younger than he was, peered in.
‘Morning, Zachary. It’s good to have you back again. Have you got a minute?’
From the familiar tone used by the visitor, Zak assumed this good-looking, personable man must be Phil Williamson, his Financial Director. But realizing it would be foolish to jump to conclusions he merely smiled and waved the man in.
‘Of course, come on in.’
The man plonked himself down in a chair opposite Zak, made himself comfortable and said:
‘I was wondering how it went in Carlisle. When you didn’t come back yesterday afternoon, I assumed you wanted more time with Bill Wragg. Then, when he rang later to check that you’d got back, I knew you hadn’t been with him. What happened? Did you have a problem with the car or something?’
This had to be Phil, Zak decided. Only his Financial Director would know about his intention to acquire Ibbotsons.
‘No, the car was fine. I didn’t go back to Ibbotsons in the afternoon because I had some private business I wanted to attend to. I must admit though, I did forget about the Simpsons. Thanks for looking after them.’
‘I won’t say it was a pleasure, because it was far from that.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Phil smiled. ‘I made up a story about you being unexpectedly called away to see your brother. I pretended he was desperately ill. In fact, I made you out to be a cross between St Francis of Assisi and Florence Nightingale.’
‘In that case, I’d better tell them he’s made a miraculous recovery the next time I speak to them.’
Phil laughed. ‘And another thing, we’ll probably have to give them an extra little sweetener at Christmas if we want to keep them on our list for next year. If everything doesn’t go exactly as she wants, she can be such a miserable bitch.’
Zak still had no idea who the Simpsons were but he still smiled and nodded as Phil returned to his first enquiry.
‘But what about Bill Wragg and Ibbotsons? Is it still a runner? Bill seemed to think you might have gone cold on the acquisition. Are you still interested?’
Zak gave his colleague an overview of the meeting at Ibbotsons and Phil nodded appreciatively.
‘It sounds as though you’ve got him on the run, but we can’t hang around for too long. For the reasons I’ve already explained, I reckon Ibbotsons would make an excellent addition to your business interests. You did a great job making him come down in price because I thought he really was as low as he was prepared to go.’
Zak gave what he thought was a knowing smile as Phil continued.
‘That said, I don’t think he’s going to move any lower. I’ve heard on the grapevine that he’s anxious to retire so he wants to make sure he’s got as big a nest egg as possible when he hangs up his boots. We might be able to let him stew for a few more days, but that’s about all.’
Zak was completely out of his depth. He had no idea if the acquisition of the Carlisle dealership made any sort of financial sense and, what was worse, he knew he would have no better idea next week or even next month. Being so new to the business, he wondered if now was the time for caution or whether he should grasp what might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. The gambler in him was all for taking a chance but since he had a financial director who might help to shorten the odds, this was clearly the time to delegate.
‘You’re right; we can’t mess Wragg around for too long. And I suppose if we don’t make him an offer, someone else will. After all, we can’t be the only people he’s talking to.’
‘That’s true,’ Phil quickly agreed. ‘If we don’t strike while the iron’s hot, we might lose out to one of our competitors.’
Zak nodded. ‘In which case, why don’t we meet up as early as possible next week and you can go through all the figures with me. At least we now know what he’s prepared to accept. All we’ve got to do is work out if Wragg’s figure makes any sort of economic sense for us. Can you do that, Phil?’
Zak realized he’d made a big mistake when Phil, with petulance in his voice said, ‘How many times do you want me to go through that exercise? I’ll amend my figures to show Wragg’s latest asking price but that’s the only figure that needs changing and it’s going to make very little difference to the overall deal.’
Thinking quickly, Zak said, ‘Yes, I realize that. But it’s just such a big move, I’d like you to go through it with me just once more.’
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br /> 'Okay. If that’s what you want, I’ll go through it all again next week. I can have everything ready by Monday morning.’
Zak was already very impressed with his Financial Director. The man was obviously a bundle of energy as well as being confident, handsome and personable. It was also obvious that Phil knew what he was talking about and that he had his ear tuned to all the latest relevant gossip. It was already clear to Zak that he was lucky to have such a man on his staff.
‘Thanks, Phil. We’ll discuss it again in detail on Monday afternoon.’
For the rest of the day he freewheeled and only came out of his office when he felt he should meet some of his other staff. What surprised him was how easily he slotted into position. Things would have been much more difficult were he just a member of staff but as the boss he could do no wrong. He took the opportunity to go through all the files he could lay his hands on, including personnel files, which contained details of all his staff, as well as business files and the annual accounts. In the process, he discovered that Phil and his wife, someone called Valerie, had separated and that he had no children. He also discovered the identity of the infamous Simpsons. They owned a large car rental business in Edinburgh and were important customers. Later in the day, he rang them up and did his expected bit of grovelling. Worrying though it was with so much information to absorb, he actually enjoyed his first day at the office and it was only when the other staff began preparing to go home that he realized how late it was. Normally he would have been the first to notice the approach of finishing time. It had always been that way, even from the time of his first job. Another thing he noticed was that during his day he’d had no desire to smoke and nor had he felt the need to consult the racing pages. It seemed that ownership and responsibility suited him.
Another thing that ceased to be a concern was the security alarm. He had approached the subject somewhat circuitously during the day only to discover that the premises were not alarmed in any way. The building had secure locks but there was no alarm. It surprised him that crime levels could be so low that alarms were not thought necessary. At the same time, he was grateful that even one problem had disappeared. He was also made to realize just how much more conscientious, in matters of detail, his other self was. He had even written his computer password in the back of his diary. Mentally, Zak shrugged. His other half would get no such help from him, but then, never having owned a computer, let alone an entire business, he had never needed to be more organised. All he ever wrote in the diaries Jeanie regularly gave him in an attempt to make him more organized were notes on form and racing tips. As he pondered these differences, he wondered, yet again, how the other Zak was getting on. His concern lasted but a brief moment. He realized he was still not yet out of the wood even though he appeared to have landed on his feet thanks to the industry, or was it the good fortune, of his other self.
As he began preparing to go home, once again the problems he might expect to face there re-surfaced. Jenny was expecting him to act the doting father and husband but he even had to consult his diary to recall the names of his children. At least he should have no difficulty identifying which one was Rose and which one was Ken, or so he thought. Also, somehow or other during the weekend, he had to try to make amends with Jenny. She had seemed very determined to be rid of him the previous evening, so his chance of making her change her mind seemed forlorn, at best.
Yet again, he was wrong-footed. Jenny smiled at him and offered him her cheek to kiss when she opened the front door of his home.
‘Hello darling, did you have a good day?’ she said. As Zak bent to kiss her, he became aware of four grinning teenagers just behind who were watching him with amusement. There were two boys and two girls, each of roughly the same age. He had no idea which one was Rose and which one was Ken.
‘It was fine, thank you, luv.’ In a whisper, he said, ‘who are they?’
‘Jenny smiled brightly. ‘You remember Catherine and Richard. They spent a few days with us last Christmas. They’ve come to spend the weekend with us.’
A young girl and an even younger boy came forward and shook his hand. ‘I’m pleased to see you both again,’ he greeted them, trying hard to conceal his irritation. What had promised to be a difficult weekend had suddenly become yet more complicated. That meant the other two young people, who were still hovering about in the background, were his children. Zak addressed himself to them.
‘Well, you two, haven’t you got a hug for your old dad?’ He spoke heartily, trying to act as he thought the typical father would act, but instead, he seemed to startle the two youngsters. Grabbing them in his arms and ignoring their protests, he gave them both a squeeze. Eventually releasing them he stood back to look at them. These were the children he and Jeanie had been denied in his other life and now, as he looked at them, he was amazed he had not immediately recognized them. If he didn’t know better, he would have said Rose took after Jenny. She possessed a mass of fair hair that must take some managing, he thought. Unfortunately, a sullen expression marred her otherwise pretty face. Ken, on the other hand, had a big grin spread across his freckled face. Zak knew he was the younger by almost two years but, already, he was almost as tall as his sister. They were fine looking children and he would know them anywhere, he decided. What also sprang to his mind was that now he was a father, he had no intention of abandoning them. What was the other Zak thinking about, putting his marriage in jeopardy by having a fling with the maid?
With the preliminaries over, Zak excused himself and went up to his room to change. By the time he returned the youngsters were in the garden; the girls were sitting with their heads together on the patio, earnestly chatting about something private while Ken and Richard were fooling about on the lawn showing off while they kicked a football aimlessly around. There was no sign of Jenny but he could hear the sound of running water coming from the kitchen. Without Naomi, Jenny was trying, unsuccessfully, to cope alone and Zak, who rarely bothered to lift a finger to help in the kitchen decided to ingratiate himself by going to her rescue.
Jenny scowled at him when he went in, letting him know that her earlier sweetness was just a front put on for the sake of the children but she nodded gratefully to his offer of help.
‘You can lay the table while I get on preparing these vegetables,’ she said.
He was about to do her bidding when it occurred to him that he had no idea where the cutlery was kept or how Jenny normally laid the table. Instead, he spotted an opportunity both to get out of the difficulty and to win himself a few more brownie points.
‘You don’t want to spoil your hands doing the vegetables. Let me do them while you lay the table. In any case, you know no one can make a table look quite as nice as you can.’ He smiled what he hoped was an innocent, ingenuous smile.
Jenny looked suspiciously at him while accepting the truth of what he said. Anyone could peel potatoes but it took an artist to lay a table properly.
Zak looked unsuccessfully for a potato peeler before settling for a knife. His ham-fisted efforts wasted more potato than went into the pot and he was almost finished when he cut himself, fortunately not too badly. He let out a yell and Jenny came running in on hearing his cursing.
‘Good gracious, Zachary, I’ve never heard you use such strong language before. What’s got into you?’
He waved his bleeding finger at her as excuse.
‘How on earth did you do that?’
Dumbly he pointed to the bloodstained knife on the working surface.
‘What possessed you to use the sharpest knife in the house? Why didn’t you use one of the other ones?’
‘I looked for a potato peeler but I couldn’t find one,’ he complained.
‘Well, don’t stand there like an idiot dripping blood onto my floor. Come on into the cloakroom and let me put a plaster on it.’
It was while she searched through the medicine chest in the cloakroom that Zak decided to broach the subject that was uppermost in his thoughts.
‘You’ve got to believe me, Jen. After speaking with you last night, when I got back to my room, Naomi, uninvited, was already there waiting for me.’
He saw her lips tighten but decided to go on, nonetheless. ‘I’d already told her she had to go when you came in.’
‘Well she didn’t appear to have been listening; quite the reverse I’d say,’ She then ripped open a packet of plasters so fiercely Zak winced as an unbidden thought crossed his mind. ‘Here, give me your finger,’ she demanded.
Cautiously Zak proffered up his injured digit. ‘She took me by surprise, honestly. I didn’t mean to kiss her; she leapt at me just as you walked in.
Jenny wrapped the plaster so tightly around his finger, it threatened to cut off his blood supply, but he dared not complain. ‘And I suppose she took you by surprise when she started taking her clothes off, did she?’
‘She didn’t have to. She was like that when I got back to my room. You’ve got to believe me.’ He felt utterly miserable. ‘Surely you can see how impossible it was, even for me, to have invited Naomi to my room and then to have got her to take off all her clothes in the two minutes between my leaving you and you coming into my room. You flatter me if you think I’m that fast a worker.’ He smiled at her and was rewarded by the merest hint of an answering smile.
Going for broke he said, ‘She made me a very tempting offer, I will admit that, but I refused her. I don’t need someone like Naomi when I’ve got such a wonderful, beautiful wife, do I?’ He thought he had finally convinced her but suddenly she stiffened and her eyes grew cold again.
‘You might have had a wonderful wife but you blew it,’ she replied, a scowl on her face. ‘What I told you yesterday still holds. I want you out of here on Monday. Now go and read the paper or something. You’re no help to me in that state.’
The meal was late and overcooked; the children complained; and the weekend had got off to a dismal start.
Chapter 9
Zak
SWITCHED: The man who lost his body but kept his mind. Page 15