Chapter 29
Christian had been working long hours since he’d received the letter about the visit of the MHRA and now the day had arrived. He hoped it would be a good end to the week thus allowing him to relax a bit over the weekend. Fortunately, it wasn’t a full inspection this time, due to the relatively short notice. No doubt that would be something to look forward to at a future date. Perhaps by then, he would have left Radford ClinTry and that honour would fall to his successor. An in-depth inspection could take a full week and due to the number of documents required for scrutiny, usually commanded at least two months’ notice.
Christian had already drunk two strong coffees that morning and realised he shouldn’t have another as it would make him even more jittery. Water would have to suffice until after the inspection. He’d made a list of all the documents requested by Victoria Prendergast and they were neatly piled up on a trolley in his office.
His office door opened making him jump as he thought perhaps the inspector was early, however, a beaming Ron strode into his office. He wasn’t sure which was the worse fate.
‘Morning, Christian. You’re looking very smart today. Everything under control?’
‘I hope so,’ replied Christian, touching his tie and making sure the knot was neat. ‘I’ve been preparing for this every day.’ He pointed to the documents on the trolley.
‘Excellent. Well, you can relax as I’m going to be here all day. I’ve cleared my diary so I can be on hand in case there are any tricky questions.’
‘But I thought you were just going to say hello and then leave.’
‘I did say that, yes, but on reflection, I think I can be of use.’
‘How?’
‘Because I’ve got a gift for this sort of thing.’
‘But you’ve never experienced an inspection by the MHRA before, I have, in my previous positions. You don’t have a scientific background either.’
Ron glared at him and Christian realised he might have overstepped the mark.
‘Trust me, Christian. I know what’s best.’
**
Brett had sent out reminder emails to let all the existing investors know that today was the deadline for registering an interest in Jake Marsfield’s stake. So far, Ron Radford had been the only interested party. He was willing to buy the whole stake but had put an upper limit on his offer. There would doubtless be some “horse-trading” so that both parties were happy with the amount but Brett felt confident that the deal would be done. Once the equity was transferred, equilibrium would be restored and they could concentrate on growing the business again.
His phone rang.
‘Hi, Ian,’ answered Brett.
‘Brett, hi, I need to speak to you. I’ve just phoned Matt, he’s free this morning. Could you pop along to my office?’
‘Yes, sure. When?’
‘About half an hour?’
‘Yes, fine. Ian, just before you go it looks like Mr Radford will be taking over Jake Marsfield’s stake. The cut off is today, so providing they can be both a bit flexible on the price it should be sorted.’
‘Well, that’s good but as I say, I need to speak to you. We aren’t out of the woods yet.’
Brett ended the call and frowned. Ian sounded extremely tense, it didn’t bode well at all.
**
At just after 9.30 a.m. Fay brought Victoria Prendergast into Chrisitan’s office.
‘Can I get you a tea or coffee, Dr Prendergast?’ said Fay.
‘Tea would be lovely, thank you.’
‘Christian? Mr Radford, anything for you?’
Christian declined. ‘Tea for me, thank you, Fay,’ replied Ron.
Handshakes were exchanged. The inspector looked very businesslike. Slightly below average height, she was slim with stylishly cut short hair, somewhat spiky on top and her heart-shaped face bore just a trace of makeup. She wore a black trouser suit with flattish shoes and had an expensive looking satchel slung over her right shoulder.
‘Dr Prendergast, please take a seat,’ offered Ron.
‘Please call me Victoria,’ she replied. ‘I’m sorry to spring this on you but we need to keep on top of things particularly after an event like this. Also, when there is a change in ownership we like to make contact.’
‘That sounds eminently sensible. We would expect nothing less and we are more than happy to host you,’ said Ron, ‘aren’t we Christian? Continuous improvement is our motto here.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ she replied. ‘We can have a little chat, then perhaps you could show me around and then I’d like some time alone to go through the paperwork, in a separate office. Would that be possible?’
‘Of course,’ replied Ron. ‘Whatever you need, just ask.’
Christian wondered why he’d bothered coming in that morning. Apart from introducing himself and refusing a drink, he’d not actually said anything.
Fay brought in the drinks along with some biscuits and the trio went to sit at the circular table in the corner.
‘So, remind me, how long have you been in charge here, Christian?’
‘Oh, about nine months, now,’ he replied. ‘I’m really enjoying it.’
‘I’ve seen the staff lists of course and I’m just a bit concerned how lean the organisation is here. I couldn’t see any mention of a deputy. Has someone left recently?’
‘Er, well, someone did leave and no, er there isn’t a deputy...’ Christian started to reply.
‘At the moment,’ interrupted Ron, ‘we are interviewing for that position. We need to employ someone to be responsible for recruiting patients. Our previous person left us in the lurch. For the moment, Christian has been managing ably but we need to ensure he can delegate more work. He’s been doing a sterling job, well, two jobs really but he’s going to burn out at this rate.’
‘Oh, well, that’s good to know. I was worried in case Christian is off sick then there wouldn’t be anyone to take over.’ She made some notes.
Christian sat looking completely dumbfounded. Where had this come from? Ron had emphasised how they had to get rid of Judith and thus her workload had been passed to him. It was unbelievable what was unfolding before his eyes.
‘Data archiving. What do you have in place in terms of back-up?’ asked Victoria.
‘We make copies of every document and they are stored off-site in secure storage facilities. We also make electronic copies of all documents which are stored in secure web-based storage and also on disc, again in secure off-site storage,’ said Christian, pleased that he had actually been able to contribute.
‘Excellent. That’s one of the issues we highlighted when Dr Marshall was in charge. It’s good to see our action points were addressed.’
‘When I started here I looked at the action points from the last inspection and followed up on them,’ Christian added, gaining more confidence.
‘Very commendable. The next issue is the paperwork for Petra Drabek, the unfortunate lady who has terminated her pregnancy.’
‘It’s so very sad,’ said Ron.
‘Indeed. Ms Drabek told the hospital that she didn’t get proper counselling regarding the use of additional contraception in the event that her contraceptive pill’s effectiveness might be compromised. May I see the paperwork?’
‘Of course, it’s all here in her folder.’ Christian’s hand was visibly trembling as he handed over the documents. ‘The one you are interested in is on the top,’ he said.
Victoria read through the document. ‘Well, it all seems in order. She has clearly signed that she did receive the appropriate information. I’m confused.’
‘Well, we have the paperwork, so either the hospital has misreported something or the poor woman has been trying to make things difficult for us. I hesitate to say this but well, I do wonder if she has been trying to claim compensation.’
‘Mr Radford, we must not speculate. We deal in facts and evidence. I will have to put this down to a breakdown in communication. As this is the fir
st example of this, I am prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt. However, this must be an area you give priority to in the future.’
‘We most certainly will,’ agreed Ron. He cast the slightest hint of a wink towards Christian who felt his face flush as he met Ron’s gaze.
‘I trust you have reported this through the proper channels about an adverse outcome from the trial?’
‘Of course. Here is a copy of the report,’ said Christian, handing it over.
Victoria scrutinised the document and made some notes on her pad.
‘Now, I understand you have a trial running at the moment?’
‘Yes, it’s a Phase II trial for the glioblastoma treatment being developed in Persford,’ explained Christian. ‘Would you like to visit the ward?’
‘Yes, I’d like that. Hopefully, I can speak to the nurses and healthcare assistants as well. Providing it doesn’t impact on their work,’ she said.
Before Christian could speak, Ron stood and headed towards the door. ‘Let me show you the way,’ he said. ‘The facilities are top-notch, every comfort is provided for the participants, as I’m sure you will see.’
Christian tagged along behind, the subordinate as always in Ron’s presence. He had a medical qualification, years of experience and certificates on the wall for Good Laboratory Practice and similar accolades. Today’s proceedings were being conducted by someone with few formal qualifications who had experience of selling cars, running a hotel and manipulating people. Never in his wildest dreams could he have envisaged such a scenario and yet Victoria seemed to be taken in by him and regarded him with respect. How did Ron manage it? Christian realised there and then that this had to stop. When Victoria left, he would have to speak to Ron. It was time to stand up and be counted.
Chapter 30
Matt and Brett trudged along to see Ian French.
‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ said Matt.
‘Me too. I tried to contact Hilary straight after Ian phoned but she’s not answering. I thought I might get an inkling of what it’s about. Just to help me get my brain prepared.’
‘She’s definitely giving you the cold shoulder,’ said Matt, smiling.
‘Rubbish, she’s playing hard to get!’
Matt knocked on Ian’s door. They entered and saw Hilary already in the room.
‘Brett, Matt,’ said Ian. ‘Take a seat. Audrey is bringing us some coffee. It’s a pity it’s not whisky.’
Brett raised an eyebrow at Matt and beamed at Hilary who ignored him. Once they had poured themselves their refreshments they took their seats and waited for Ian to open the meeting.
‘Sorry about the short notice. I think I’m going to ruin your weekends.’ He paused. ‘As you know we’ve been waiting for Janet to decide on the University’s continued support for PersCure.’
‘Yes, and I guess they are scaling back,’ said Brett. ‘We’ve been expecting it.’
‘Well, yes, I did hint at that but after our stay of execution we were reasonably confident that we could win her around.’
‘So, how much are they cutting from their stake? Ten, twenty percent?’ asked Brett.
Ian paused once more. ‘All of it.’
‘What? No! They can’t! What’s the matter with them?’
‘They’ve decided the University doesn’t want to have to fight the bad publicity. Somehow, somewhere there’s been a leak and it’s broken on social media that we have been involved in money laundering.’
‘I’d like to get my hands on the bastard,’ fumed Brett. ‘It’s being blown out of all proportion. Shall I speak to Janet?’
‘No, please don’t. She’s under a lot of pressure. It’s not just that. Our funding is being cut further as we found out that grants from the EU are going to be five percent less than we had budgeted for. Also, we have scored unexpectedly poorly on a value for money rating in Social Sciences. We need to prop up certain courses otherwise it will affect our overall league tables. It has a knock on effect.’
‘But, PersCure raises the profile of the University so much, doesn’t she think it’s worth carrying on? It could be so big,’ protested Brett.
‘I think the bad publicity was just the tipping point. It’s more to do with finances. That’s the message we should take home from this.’
‘So we need to find at least another two, say three million to cover the University investment then?’ clarified Matt.
‘At least. But there’s something else.’
‘I can’t take another slice of bad news,’ said Brett.
‘There’s no immediate need to act on this but if PersCure is no longer affiliated with the University, it has no reason to use the labs here.’
‘Shit and shit,’ said Brett.
‘PersCure can stay for the time being but it would have to lease the laboratories. Really the company should be on the lookout for new premises.’
‘Anything else?’ said Brett, sarcastically.
‘Not from my end,’ said Ian.
‘Well, it’s all come as a bit of a shock,’ said Matt. ‘But we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that none of this alters what has been discovered or its future potential. One of the recent compounds we’ve synthesised is looking even better than 627. We are profiling it fully at the moment.’
‘Exactly,’ nodded Ian.
‘So, perhaps we should think of a flotation after all,’ said Brett.
‘Yes, but only after we’ve tried to allocate the University’s forty percent. We don’t want to run before we can walk.’
‘True,’ Brett finished his coffee. ‘So, I’m all buoyed up from being able to win over Mr Radford to buy Jake’s stake and now I’ve got an even bigger chunk of equity to reallocate.’
‘Don’t do anything about it until next week. Not until after we’ve sorted out this first deal. I’m just worried that it might give the wrong signal. Perhaps Wednesday at the earliest before we start contacting people again.’
‘OK, sounds a good idea. It will give me time to do the groundwork,’ agreed Brett.
‘Well, that’s about all I had to say,’ concluded Ian.
‘Good, joked Brett. You always have bad news at the moment!’
‘Sorry. Well, have a good weekend, if you can,’ he replied.
The meeting dispersed.
‘So, shall we apply for a loan then and buy the stake?’ Brett asked Matt.
‘Ha! Perhaps we should buy lottery tickets tomorrow?’
‘Good idea. Fuck, what a week. I’ll be as bald as you soon.’
‘You’ll be in hospital as well if you continue like that,’ responded Matt, cuffing him lightly on the back of the head.
Brett looked at his watch. ‘Well, it’s definitely beer o’clock now. Your round.’
**
‘Bye, Victoria, drive safely,’ said Ron as he and Christian waved her off.
It had been the longest day ever, thought Christian. He was seething and couldn’t wait for the moment when he could unleash his anger on Ron. The inspector pulled out of the car park and they headed back inside.
‘Well, that went swimmingly don’t you think?’ asked Ron.
‘My office, now,’ said Christian stomping back into the building.
Ron smiled. He could anticipate what was about to occur.
Christian waited for Ron to enter his office, then slammed the door behind him.
‘I don’t agree that it all went swimmingly,’ he shouted. ‘I could hardly imagine what was coming next! What surprise you were going to spring on me!’
‘I think you need to calm down,’ said Ron. ‘It’s not good for you.’
‘Don’t tell me to calm down. What is my role here? No, don’t answer! I’m your poodle, your plaything. I feel like a mouse in the clutches of a cruel tomcat. You make your decisions without consulting me. You contradict what you’ve said to me only recently. It’s no way to run a business. I’ve had enough! You can find someone else to manipulate.’
‘I’m a b
it busy right now. I need to make some phone calls,’ said Ron, bringing out his mobile.
‘Did you listen to anything I’ve just said?’
‘Yes, I did. And because I’m a kind hearted person I’m just going to let it all wash over me. It’s stress that’s doing the talking. Why not go home, take it easy. Go and spend some time with Geraldine.’
‘I can’t! There’s a trial running and as we established I don’t have a deputy!’
‘Do stop shouting. Look, I’m incredibly busy at the moment but why don’t we discuss this on Monday evening?’
‘Monday evening? Why then?’
‘Because I want to invite you and your lovely wife to dinner at Brensford Manor. I want you to meet Maureen, my fiancée. We might have a few more guests as well. Then afterwards we can have a little chat and we can try to improve your job here. Have a real heart to heart away from ClinTry. What do you say?’
‘Well, I suppose so but I’m not happy. I hope you realise.’
‘Of course I do. I’m not completely insensitive. You did a great job today. I was really impressed by how you handled it. Excellent in fact. You’ve come along so well in the last few months. Victoria really took to you, I could tell.’
‘Well, thanks,’ said Christian. It was a compliment but of course, Ron was taking the credit by implying that he’d developed well under his tutelage. His mind was a complete maelstrom of emotions now. However, in a couple of hours, he would be home and he would be opening a bottle of wine, at least one bottle.
‘Right, well I hope to see you on Monday evening then. You know where I live?’
‘I can look it up,’ said Christian wearily.
‘Bye!’ said Ron and breezed out.
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