Terminal Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  At 8 a.m. Nick phoned Amanda at work and told her that Polly wasn’t well and he would need to take the morning off to look after her. It wasn’t a complete lie but he didn’t want to go into details at the moment. They enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and they were planning to walk to the university together, then Nick would call back at the flat to collect the car.

  ‘I’ll just go and have my shower,’ said Polly, ‘then we can leave in about fifteen minutes, that OK with you?’

  ‘Fine, no need to rush, after what you’ve been through with your colleagues you deserve a break,’ said Nick, checking his phone for messages. He heard Polly finish her shower and go through to the bedroom to get dressed. After five minutes he shouted to her, ‘I just want to go and check all the tyres are OK before we set off, see you downstairs in a couple of minutes. I’ll take the rubbish down as well!’ and he left the flat making sure he had his bag and phone.

  Nick left the main door of their block of flats after checking their mailbox in case anything else had made its way there during the night but it was thankfully empty. He walked down the path and turned to go to the rear of the property and stopped in his tracks. His normally pristine white car was covered in brown smears, and over the windscreen was the remains of a takeaway. The greasy remains were covering all the windows rendering them opaque. It had been completely trashed. It was impossible to know whether underneath the mess there had been any damage to the paintwork.

  ‘Fuck, I don’t believe it,’ uttered Nick. How was he going to break the news to Polly? Should he even tell her? He felt like weeping but practicality kicked in, he took out his phone and made a record of all the vandalism. He wasn’t sure whether the police would be interested but he was going to report it and get a crime incident number, he might need to make a claim on his insurance if there were any scratches or dents. How had it come to this Nick asked himself? Perhaps they would need to move if this continued. Stowing his phone in his jacket pocket he jogged round to the entrance hoping to intercept Polly before she came looking for him. The intimidation had now increased a notch, where would it end?

  **

  Brett could hardly wait for 9 a.m. to arrive so he could phone Emma and tell her about his revelation from the previous night. Without the help of the whisky, he would have been unable to sleep and even with its help his slumber was broken. Giles’ face kept appearing in his dreams. He had taken on the role of a pursuer who tailed Brett constantly, just when he felt he’d outwitted him he appeared his grinning face blocking his path. Giles was drunk, horribly drunk and kept raising a glass to Brett, toasting his health and thanking him profusely. He’d awoken a few times feeling hot and sweaty as a result of a chase through a labyrinth of winding streets. At one point he’d waded through water to escape from Giles as if his pursuer were a pack of hounds following a scent.

  Unable to sleep past 6 a.m. he’d risen and decided to go to the gym before work, hoping that it would pass the time more quickly. He knew that at his desk he would be unable to concentrate much whilst waiting to make his call. Better to use the physical activity to burn off some anger which was still coursing through his veins.

  Annabelle had been delighted when he’d phoned back with his news. Her mood lightened considerably and she said that the FCA would now be duty bound to investigate Giles. Although he might have covered his tracks well there were now many more rules and measures available to investigate money laundering. Although she did warn him that some countries were still not compliant in the disclosure of offshore accounts which was presumably where the money was now residing. She reminded him that it didn’t ultimately matter whether they could secure a conviction against Giles, satisfying though it would be, Brett’s aim was merely to clear his name. It was all about disrupting their evidence and spreading enough doubt on their accusations.

  As the clock ticked past 9 a.m., Brett phoned his solicitor only to get the engaged tone. So frustrating, he kept hitting redial but his call cut off after a few rings. He had half a mind to drive round to the solicitor in person but there was no guarantee that Emma would be free, he would just have to persist. After what seemed like an age but was in fact only ten minutes, his call was answered. The receptionist politely informed him that Ms Pearson was with a client but should be free in about half an hour and she was fully appreciative of the urgency of his call. Brett didn’t want to risk leaving his office so he was left to pace around it like a caged animal. It would be impossible to concentrate on the project plans and he wasn’t allowed access to budgets or Melanie’s new costings, so he decided the best thing was a coffee and to look at the pharmaceutical news websites. It was always good to see what the opposition was up to.

  Brett was reading an interesting article about another company’s progress against antibiotic resistance, which had caught his attention as he’d previously worked on such a project at his previous company when his phone rang causing him to start.

  ‘Brett Chandler,’ he answered.

  ‘Dr Chandler, Emma Pearson returning your call. I understand you wanted to speak to me urgently.’

  ‘Yes, I’ve realised who stole my identity and is most likely behind this whole insider dealing fiasco. His name is Giles Wentworth, he works for a bank in London, presumably the one where my so-called account is lodged. I met him at an alumni dinner a few months ago,’ and he paused as Emma started to say something.

  ‘This is excellent, just slow down a minute I’m making notes as you speak. I need you to give me as much detail as possible, do you have times, dates, details of what he did in writing for me?’

  ‘Yes, I made notes last night, shall I bring them to you?’

  ‘Well I’ll need something signed but in the first instance can you email or fax it to me so I can make a start on a letter to the FCA. From what you’ve said already it should be enough for them to postpone an interview with you. I am going to insist that they investigate this Giles acquaintance of yours with the utmost urgency. They will have the powers to look into all his bank accounts and to try to trace any recent transfers of money out of the country. Whether they can persuade offshore tax havens to release information is another matter. However my job is to act as your defence, what happens to Giles isn’t really our concern.’

  This was exactly the message Annabelle had given him last night. Brett felt much more relieved that he might have turned a corner on this and although there was a long way to go his circumstances appeared a lot less bleak than they had at the beginning of the week.

  ‘Thanks so much, Ms Pearson, I’ll get this faxed through to you right away, can you give me your fax number?’

  So they completed their conversation with some minor administrative details and then Emma ran through her anticipated timelines for any further requests from the FCA. She ended by saying that they may not even have to attend an interview in London in the light of Brett’s latest revelation.

  Brett hung up and felt like punching the air. In the absence of Giles’ face, the air would have to do for a home for his punches. He would have loved to get the train to London and then Putney and wait for the odious Giles and beat him senseless but he wasn’t living in some sort of vigilante movie, this was respectable staid Persford. Perhaps now he could concentrate on his work. Progress at BioQex had very much taken a back seat this week but as he looked in his diary he realised there was another landmark approaching. Their first prototype was undergoing its first in man study at a low dose at the end of the week, which was in fact only two days away. This was the first of many clinical trials along the road to approval providing they could prove efficacy. That ultimate goal was many years away, firstly they needed to show that the first eight volunteers could tolerate a very small dose without any adverse effects. The first study would be ultracautious in terms of dose, future Phase 1 studies would involve higher doses, different dosing regimes and during all these, they would be able to take blood and urine samples and learn much more about how the compound was metabolised. It was a
really exciting week and hopefully, by early next week, they would get some results back from the analysis of those samples.

  It reminded him to check that Bob had rubber-stamped the protocol and sent if off to the contract organisation running the trial which was actually in Persford just down the road. He checked Bob’s online diary and he appeared to be free so he thought he’d take a wander down to see him rather than phone. He didn’t want people to think he was hiding away in his office guiltily after the FCA visit on Monday. Leaving his office he checked with Amanda as to whether she’d seen Bob that morning.

  ‘Hi Amanda, how’s things?’

  ‘Fine, fine, busy as usual,’ she smiled, ‘anything you need?’

  ‘Oh, no, I’m OK, just going to see Bob,’ he replied.

  ‘Good luck,’ said Amanda, then looked rather sheepish that she was speaking ill of a senior staff member.

  ‘Why do I need luck?’ asked Brett feeling rather bemused by her response.

  ‘Oh, ignore me, it’s just I got my head bitten off this morning, about something trivial. It’s just that he’s having to sort out expense approvals for all Pete’s team. Pete’s still off due to his little boy being in hospital. But forget it, it’s nothing, I was just a bit upset at the time,’ Amanda paused and looked around to check nobody was approaching. ‘It’s since his wife died, Joan, he’s not coping,’ she whispered, ‘well that’s my opinion. He shouldn’t really be at work. He’s making a lot of mistakes and then he tries to blame other people, usually me,’ she added.

  ‘Look, Amanda, you mustn’t let him treat you badly, it’s not fair, you must tell Piers if it gets any worse.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t want to make a fuss, I feel really sad for him. It’s mainly the admin that he’s getting in a muddle with, after all, it’s never been his strong point.’

  ‘No, well, you are very tolerant, I’ll see how he is with me,’ and Brett wandered off to see Bob.

  He spotted him heading back from the kitchen with a cup of tea. Bob looked dreadful, bags under his eyes, his face lined and drawn. As he neared Brett he appeared to completely misjudge a bookcase containing journals and clipped it with his shoulder, bouncing off it and spilling half his mug of tea on the floor.

  ‘Damn and bugger it,’ cursed Bob, ‘God, that’s such a stupid place to put that stand, it needs shifting before someone goes arse over tits because of it.’

  Amanda rolled her eyes and rushed off to get some paper towels to mop up his accident. Brett could see what a state he was in, blaming the bookcase which was in the position it had always been in and not in anyway blocking the corridor. He fully realised how Amanda must have been on the receiving end of his anger and grief.

  ‘Never mind, just an accident Bob,’ said Brett, ‘I’m always spilling things,’ and he laughed nervously.

  ‘Well I’m not in the habit of spilling things, it only happens when some stupid bugger leaves something in the way. If I had my way that stupid buggering stand would be down the tip. I might take it down there myself soon.’

  Brett was quite shocked to hear Bob speak like this, not because of his language, but the complete irrationality of his behaviour. He was worried Bob was going to try to land a punch on him if he said anything to rile him however slight that might be. After all, Bob had made it quite clear that he was no fan of Brett’s.

  ‘Bob, just wondered if all is in hand for the first in man study with 561?’

  ‘Of course it fucking is, what do you take me for, incompetent?’

  ‘No, of course not, I was just interested that’s all, it’s a big step for the company.’

  ‘Sounds like you’re checking up on me,’ spat Bob.

  ‘I am merely showing an interest and checking that there haven’t been any issues. We all know that contract houses can change dates, let us down, have participants crying off, that sort of thing.’

  ‘Well for your information they have the protocol which we all discussed at length in meetings. Pete and I wrote it based on the results which you lot were all privy to. Feedback from clinicians, remember that? I’ve checked it, Piers has checked it, I’ve checked it again and it’s gone off this morning. Happy now?’

  Brett wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible. He could sense Amanda looking rather uncomfortable during this exchange although she was busying herself cleaning up the wet patch on the floor.

  ‘Well let’s hope it all goes well for the company, should benefit us all in the long term,’ added Brett.

  ‘Hmmph,’ said Bob, ‘it will probably benefit some of us more than others won’t it?’

  Brett stopped in his tracks. Was this some pointed dig at Brett about the insider dealing accusation. Nobody except the senior team was supposed to know about that. Someone had been talking to Bob. ‘What did you just say?’ he said glaring at Bob furiously.

  ‘You know, guess you don’t want me to say it again, in case anyone’s listening,’ he said and stomped off back to his office.

  Brett turned to look at Amanda but she averted his gaze and continued to work at her PC. He was seething and wondered whether to go directly to Piers. It was better not to act in haste though, he’d learned that in the past. He hoped this was a passing phase for Bob, if things didn’t improve over the next few weeks Bob would need to be signed off sick. He might be a danger to others, he hardly seemed safe to be driving. Brett headed back to his office to push the incident aside. Despite the dreadful exchange with Bob, there was good news hiding in there, the trial was due to go ahead and they were finally making progress towards another milestone. One bit of good news in an otherwise difficult week. Hopefully, the week was going to end on a happier note than it had begun.

  Chapter 34

  Nick left the meeting at the university feeling much more assured that Polly’s situation would improve. Her Head of Department had been horrified to hear about the low-level intimidation and promised to look into it. For the time being, she would be moved to another department, working in a separate office so she would have some security. He had also agreed to contact the fees department after Polly’s report of Matt’s double billing experience. One thing which had been apparent was the lack of a robust and accessible whistle-blower policy within the university, something which Nick felt might be addressed very quickly in order to avoid any bad publicity. The Head of Finance even offered to send an admin assistant to collect the remainder of Polly’s files and personal belongings from her desk. He could see how upset she was and keen to avoid any further confrontation with colleagues.

  ‘Well that went really well,’ said Nick to his girlfriend as they wandered off to the coffee bar to get a drink.

  ‘Yes, I feel a lot more positive about things,’ agreed Polly, ‘I can concentrate on some work now and the place is big enough to avoid coming into contact with Phyllis and Luke. They will probably think they’ve won for the time being but they have a shock coming to them.’ Nick smiled it was good to see that Polly was in much better shape now.

  ‘Listen, you must be careful when you leave work though, I can come and collect you if you want for the next few weeks.’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry there’s no need for that, I can look after myself, I’m a big girl you know,’ she joked.

  ‘No seriously, this evening I think I should collect you, it won’t be till about six though.’

  ‘Not necessary, I forgot to tell you I’m meeting up with some of my girlfriends, you know Libby, Megan and a few others you’ve not actually met are coming along. We’re going for drinks, a pizza maybe.’

  ‘But what about later, I can come and meet you, in fact, I’ll be in town as well. I forgot to tell you I’m having drinks with Mark.’

  ‘Oh, well you could text me and I’ll tell you where I am and then come and meet me, sounds like a plan,’ said Polly, actually sounding quite relieved at this suggestion.

  ‘Great, well I better get going now, otherwise I’m never going to get into work, and I need to wash,’ and Nick stopped
realising that he’d not told Polly about the disgusting state of the car.

  ‘Wash?’ asked Polly, ‘Wash what?’

  ‘Oh, nothing, I meant watch, just said wash, I meant I need to watch what Kirsty is up to today,’ he hoped he didn’t look too red in the face at his slip.

  ‘Well don’t hang around on my account, you better get a move on,’ said Polly and she kissed him on the cheek, giving him a wave as Nick made his way out of the building.

  Nick was indeed busy and he was going to phone ahead and tell a little white lie. He’d never done that before but he needed to do a few things, after all, they were both concerned with BioQex. He needed to clean all the disgusting mess off the car, although it would have to be a quick going over at his flat with a few buckets of warm water and a sponge, then he would need to take it to a jet wash on the way to work, or on the way back, it just depended how the time went.

  However, his other more pressing errand was to pop into Bank Street Police Station to get some advice about harassment and what could be done about it. He’d read something quickly on the web that the police could issue Police Information Notices against people who were harassing or intimidating people. It wasn’t the same as charging them but it could help bring a case against someone. He wanted to get their advice on how it worked and whether he should issue one against Kevin. Although it was by no means clear-cut the more he thought about it the more he felt Kevin was the person waging his campaign of intimidation. His mind had been analysing all the pros and cons last night when he was trying to sleep. His conclusion had been that Polly’s incidents had all occurred at work, whereas Nick hadn’t suffered anything at work and of course it would probably be quite difficult for Kevin to target Nick there. They didn’t work in the same department or in such close proximity. Kevin’s domain was downstairs in the storeroom and although he delivered to the labs he would be quite obvious if he was trying to tamper with things in the office area, besides it wouldn’t be so easy to seize an opportune moment. Nick felt convinced it was why Kevin was targeting their home address.