by Penny Avis
‘Yes, that’s no problem. I’m confident we could meet those deadlines. It sounds like a very interesting business. I can see why you would want it. How about I come to see you early next week, say Tuesday?’ Carl clicked away at his on-screen diary. ‘Eleven o’clock? Perfect, Ian, see you then.’ He put the phone down.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said. ‘Call from a good contact of mine thinking of buying out a smaller competitor.’
‘Interesting business as you said?’ Rachel asked.
‘No, not at all, makes radiators, but that’s interesting to Ian − he’s in the same business.’
Rachel grinned. ‘I look forward to that one.’
‘So what’s the latest on basket case Beau Street then? Found any more frauds today?’ Carl asked.
He was clearly in a good mood.
‘No, but I’m afraid there is more bad news,’ said Rachel.
Carl’s face fell. ‘What now?’
‘Well, we went to see Audrey about the invoices that hadn’t had the front copy sent out. She was pretty unhelpful, as you might expect. She just said it must be an oversight and she had no idea why they hadn’t been sent.’
‘Well, she was bound to say something like that,’ said Carl. ‘We should just hand the invoices over to Tom, tell him what we think and let them investigate it.’
‘It’s not that straightforward, I’m afraid,’ said Rachel.
‘Why not?’ said Carl.
‘I told her that we thought she knew exactly what was going on and she didn’t send the invoices out as the people they were addressed to didn’t exist. I also asked her if Lloyd had given her a cut of the money he took,’ said Rachel.
‘That was a bit direct! What did she say to that?’ Carl asked.
‘She got a bit nasty. She said that if we continued to push down this route then she’d, um, tell Payne Stanley about you and her. She knows that would get you into trouble.’ Rachel looked anxiously at Carl.
Carl stood up. ‘The conniving, two-faced…’ He restrained himself from finishing the sentence.
‘What do you want to do?’ Rachel asked.
Carl thought for a while. ‘We’ll play her at her own game. I’ll talk to her, tell her that if she says anything about us I’ll also tell Lloyd Cassidy. I bet Lloyd won’t be so keen to protect her if he finds out what she’s been up to.’
Rachel suddenly realised Lloyd wouldn’t know about Clive Steele either. But neither did Carl and she would have to tell him if they wanted to use that with Audrey too.
‘I think Audrey has been playing the same games with someone else too, someone Lloyd probably won’t know about either,’ said Rachel.
‘Really, who?’ Carl looked astounded.
‘Clive Steele. He’s head of Cavanaugh PR, the company working with Beau Street on a new joint marketing plan for when the Equinox deal happens. We got some extra work from Tom to help them out, remember?’
‘What has that got to do with Audrey?’
Rachel explained about finding the pitch documents in Lloyd’s office.
‘I thought they’d seemed a bit of an unlikely choice for the work. Lloyd was getting copies of all the deal documents as he was part of the senior management team. Audrey used them to help give Cavanaugh the inside track,’ said Rachel.
‘I still don’t see how you know for definite that they were, well, er, in a relationship.’
Rachel looked at the floor. ‘Carl, I need to tell you about something that happened when I was at university.’
Carl looked totally bemused. ‘What the hell has your time at university got to do with anything?’
Rachel explained the whole story to Carl, who sat and listened in silence.
‘So, you see, Clive wanted us to be, well, friendly, and said that if I wasn’t he would tell people about me being disciplined for climbing the clock tower,’ said Rachel. ‘And the thing is, I didn’t say anything about it when I applied to work here.’
Rachel looked at Carl, her brow furrowed with worry.
Carl threw his head back and laughed loudly. ‘Christ, Rachel, if we didn’t employ people just because they had a good time at university, we wouldn’t have any employees left at all! I don’t think that there’s a partner here who doesn’t have some minor misdemeanour or other lurking in the closet,’ said Carl.
‘Really, are you sure? I don’t need to tell HR or anything, you know, just in case it comes out later on?’ Rachel asked.
‘No, definitely not. It was a matter for the university and they dealt with it. End of subject. Really, you don’t need to worry. Let the lecherous old bastard do his worst. I think it’s a bloody great story! I can just see you dangling off some clock tower, waiting to be rescued by the fire brigade. Hilarious!’ Carl chuckled to himself.
Rachel felt hugely relieved. She needn’t worry now if Clive did say anything.
‘I’d still rather the whole world didn’t know. I’m trying really hard to get this director promotion and it won’t exactly enhance my reputation, will it?’ said Rachel.
‘I don’t think it will matter, it was so long ago. But we don’t need that sort of thing happening now, though,’ said Carl.
‘No, of course not,’ said Rachel, mindful of her recent spate of Harry-induced hangovers. At least there was one up side to breaking up with him.
‘And while we’re on the subject, I wanted to talk to you about the director promotions,’ said Carl.
‘Oh yes?’ said Rachel, concerned.
‘Yes, I want you to know that I’ll be supporting your case for promotion. You’ve done really well on this project. I know it hasn’t been easy. You perhaps didn’t get every decision quite right but that’s not unusual. We all learn as we go.’ Carl smiled at her ruefully.
‘Really? Carl, that’s great news, thank you!’
‘I’ll put something in your development plan about remembering to consult more on key issues, but that’s quite normal at your level. And just to be clear, I’m not doing this just because you helped me. You genuinely deserve a good review for this job.’
Rachel smiled warmly at Carl. ‘Thanks. And it’s certainly been an experience I won’t forget, that’s for sure!’
‘Good. So look, I’ll call Audrey and nicely explain to her that if she mentions anything about us to Beau Street, Payne Stanley or anyone else for that matter, I’ll tell Lloyd about her relationship with me and with this Clive Steele guy,’ said Carl.
‘We can only show at the moment that she probably knew that the paperwork wasn’t right,’ said Rachel. ‘It doesn’t prove that she took any money. Only Lloyd knows that. And if he finds out she’s been seeing other men, he could easily drop her right in it.’
‘Yup, he certainly could,’ said Carl.
‘Oh, I forgot to say, I saw Tom earlier. He told me that Charles Sutton has done a deal with Lloyd. They won’t involve the police in return for Lloyd leaving immediately and giving up his money from the sale of the business,’ said Rachel.
‘Audrey will probably be out of a job too then, once we tell Tom,’ said Carl.
Rachel nodded. ‘Shall I tell him then?’
Carl stared out of the window. Rachel could see it was a hard decision for him.
‘Yes, I’ll let you know once I’ve spoken to her,’ Carl said eventually.
Chapter 25
Rachel, Natalie and Shali were sitting in an Italian bistro tucking into huge plates of pasta. Rachel needed comfort food and this seemed to be doing the trick.
‘So you’re pretty much done with the fantastic plastic project then?’ Natalie asked, twirling a large mouthful of rich and creamy spaghetti flecked with basil round a fork.
‘Yes, pretty much, but with two people being sacked for fraud, fantastic isn’t exactly the first word that springs to mind,’ said Rachel.
Carl had rung Rachel earlier to recount his conversation with Audrey. At first she’d shouted, ranted and threatened, but
then eventually she’d shut up and listened.
‘So it was pretty clear that Lloyd knew nothing about me or this Clive Steele bloke,’ Carl had explained. ‘And she needs him. He’s her only source of income. Apparently he’s thinking of going back to South America to work there and wants her to go too. She was waiting to see how things worked out at Beau Street before she decided, but I think we just helped her make up her mind. Anyway, she definitely won’t be saying anything about us now and that’s for sure.’
‘Oh, Carl, that’s good news. I’ll talk to Tom then. And by the way, I’m really sorry about you and Audrey, the whole situation. No one’s really winning here, are they?’ Rachel had said. She’d expected to feel pleased that Audrey was getting her comeuppance, but instead for some reason she’d just felt rather sad.
‘No, I guess they’re not,’ Carl had said.
Tom Duffy had listened in steely silence as Rachel explained why they were certain that Audrey had known at least something about Lloyd Cassidy’s cash for anonymity scam. And later on, AJ had burst into the project room to say that he’d been returning some files and had seen Fred helping a tearful Audrey pack up her desk.
‘Amazing really,’ said Shali.
‘Totally,’ agreed Natalie. ‘My projects are never this interesting.’
Rachel had decided not to tell any of the other partners about Carl’s relationship with Audrey. He’d protected her when she’d taken too long to speak up about Lloyd and she knew for certain that it was over between him and Audrey. There seemed little point now. He’d been a bit of idiot, but then so had she! AJ and Rosa had also promised not to say anything and she was pretty sure that she could trust them. Plus, it was hardly in their interests to upset her. With a bit of luck she’d be a director soon.
‘Carl was pretty pleased with how it went, though, in the end,’ said Rachel.
‘I went to see him yesterday about the summer party investigation,’ said Shali.
‘Oh my God, did you! How did it go?’ Rachel asked.
‘Well, apart from being the most embarrassing twenty minutes of my life, not too bad all things considered,’ said Shali. ‘I think he knew that he couldn’t give me too much of a big lecture. But even so, being asked not to shag guests at work events was still pretty awful. I just mumbled a load of stuff about it being out of character and that it wouldn’t happen again and he seemed to believe me.’
Natalie and Rachel exchanged amused glances.
‘What! It won’t,’ said Shali.
‘No, no, of course not,’ said Natalie, shaking her head and winking at Rachel.
‘Not until the next time, anyway,’ said Rachel.
Shali laughed. ‘Shut up, you two! Anyway, I’ve got a written warning for “inappropriate behaviour” that will go on my HR file. But Carl says that should be the end of it, provided I keep my head down.’
‘Oh I’m sure you’ll be very good at that,’ said Rachel, giving Natalie a knowing look.
Natalie snorted with laughter and spat her mouthful of wine across the table.
The three of them giggled hysterically as Natalie mopped up the wine.
‘Anyway, enough about me,’ said Shali, catching her breath. ‘We’re meant to be cheering Rachel up. How’s it going without Harry?’
‘Pretty crap actually,’ said Rachel. ‘Still, no point moaning on about it. I’m better off without him.’
‘And we don’t want to listen to you moaning about it either,’ said Natalie.
‘Here, here,’ said Shali.
The three of them clinked their oversized glasses of red wine together.
‘He was very good looking, though,’ said Shali.
Natalie glared at her. ‘Not helpful.’
‘I was just saying!’
‘Well don’t. Rachel doesn’t need our opinions on him. She’s made her own mind up,’ said Natalie.
‘Yup. I’ve decided he’s a shallow, immature prick,’ said Rachel.
‘Yes, I’m afraid he is,’ said Natalie, nodding.
‘Listen to you! I thought Rachel didn’t need our opinions, you hypocrite,’ said Shali, laughing.
‘I was just agreeing with her. That’s not the same thing,’ said Natalie.
‘Yes it is,’ said Shali.
‘Look, it’s okay, guys,’ said Rachel. ‘The world is still turning. It’s not that big a deal. I’ll get a bit of a break now that Beau Street is pretty much done. Bit of a rest and I’ll be fine.’
‘Ooh, I’ve got a good idea,’ said Natalie. ‘Sue Martin is organising the office sailing race this weekend. She asked me if I wanted to go as a couple of people couldn’t make it due to jobs over-running, but I’ve got a wedding this weekend so had to say no. You should go instead! It sounded brilliant fun.’
‘I don’t know the first thing about sailing,’ said Rachel.
‘That doesn’t matter. Beginners are welcome. There are about six boats in the race, I think. They race round the Solent somewhere for the afternoon and then there’s a big barbecue and disco in the evening. It would be good for you − you know, get out of London, meet a few new people,’ said Natalie.
‘I don’t know, sounds a bit energetic to me. I thought I might go shopping on Saturday,’ said Rachel.
‘Well, think about it,’ said Natalie. ‘I’ll forward you her email. I’m sure they still need a couple more people.’
‘What are you doing Saturday night?’ Rachel asked Shali, thinking that some post shopping company might be good.
‘My sister is up, I’m afraid, and we’re having dinner with Mum and Dad,’ said Shali.
‘Oh, okay, no problem,’ said Rachel. Maybe she would just go home too. After all, she could do with the rest.
‘Look, it’s the department’s quarterly drinks next month. Why don’t we all go to that? Make a bit of a night of it, you know, maybe go to a club after or something. It’s been ages since we have had a really good girls’ night out,’ said Natalie.
‘I’d be up for that,’ said Rachel.
‘Me too,’ said Shali. ‘In the meantime, I think we need another bottle. This one seems to have mysteriously evaporated.’
The next day, Rachel was sitting in the office rather regretting the previous night’s red-wine-athon. She hadn’t actually got home that late, but the combination of the heavy food and forgetting, as usual, to drink enough water had left her feeling jaded and sluggish. As she sat staring at her blurry computer screen trying to decide what work to pretend to do next, she spotted Sue Martin on the other side of the office. Sue was one of those people who bounded about all day as if they’d been injected with caffeine but were, in fact, just annoyingly fit and healthy. She was girl-next-door pretty, with a super practical short bob that she often had tied up into a mini ponytail and, unlike most people, she didn’t end up with bits of hair falling out of it or fuzzy short bits sticking out round her face. Her hair was far too healthy for that. Her skin looked fresh and glowing, and she was wearing hardly any make-up. That morning she made Rachel feel rather bedraggled and slovenly in comparison.
Rachel clicked open the forwarded email from Natalie about the sailing weekend. Maybe Shali and Natalie were right; she did need a bit of break. ‘A weekend of exciting competition, fun and fresh air’ it promised. Rachel took out her compact mirror, attempted to dab away the alcohol shine on her face and then walked over to where Sue was standing chatting with a couple of other people.
‘Hi, Sue, not interrupting, am I?’ Rachel asked.
‘Hi, Rachel. Not at all, we were just gossiping. How are you? I haven’t seen you in the office for a bit,’ said Sue, smiling widely at Rachel.
‘Fine, thanks. I’ve been working out of the office most of the time for the last few weeks. Anyway look, Natalie mentioned to me that you might need a couple more people to make up the numbers for the sailing race this weekend,’ said Rachel.
‘Yes we do. Why, can you come? That would be brilliant!’
‘I’m a total beginner, though. I can’t even row, let alone sail,’ said Rachel.
‘That’s okay, loads of people are beginners. Each of the boats is being skippered by someone from the sailing company that we’ve chartered the boats from. You just need to be able to pull a rope, that’s all,’ said Sue.
‘I think I can just about manage that,’ said Rachel, grinning.
‘Fantastic. I’ll email you all the details − where you need to be, what you need to bring, all that sort of thing. We’re meeting at ten o’clock on Saturday morning at the marina. The directions will be in the email. Is that okay?’ Sue asked.
‘Great, I’ll be there,’ said Rachel.
She felt quite excited when she got back to her desk. Sue’s enthusiasm was infectious. It did sound fun and she felt better now that she had some concrete plans for the weekend and no time to wallow about feeling sorry for herself.
Rachel spent the next hour going through a rather long backlog of emails, including several from IT reminding her that she needed to bring her computer down to the third floor for an urgent security upgrade. Time for a coffee anyway. She would take her computer down and then head out for a coffee afterwards.
It didn’t take long for Rachel to find where she was meant to go on the third floor. Large signs directing her to the IT helpdesk were posted on every available wall space and when she arrived there were at least ten people in front of her. Rachel stood impatiently in the queue. How long could it take to hand a computer in? But as she watched, Rachel realised that the update was being installed while you waited. In front of her two other employees, one guy and one girl, computers in hand, were chatting.
‘So what time do we need to be there again?’ asked the girl.
‘Ten o’clock at the marina,’ said the guy.
Rachel studied them a bit more closely. They must be going on the sailing weekend too. They were both pretty sporty looking types, a bit younger than her but not much. Both had low intensity golden suntans that Rachel assumed came from living an outdoor lifestyle.
‘Don’t forget to bring flares, will you,’ said the guy, nodding seriously at his female companion.