Chapter 113
The large conference room was filled to capacity with over two hundred people. Along with Plantation’s former employees and directors, there were also some from Stirling. Together, they represented ten per cent of the total shares. Ashby held eighty per cent ; Grenville had around three per cent and Black had seven per cent.
At the back of the room, a lone figure sat motionless. Her eyes followed Ashby as he moved amongst the crowd.
She was slim with black hair prematurely greying, in her mid thirties and an habitué of Sloan Square – this was evident from her expensive dress coat, fashion jeans and leather top boots. When she wasn’t watching Ashby, she was casually observing everyone in the crowd. No-one seemed to know her and she didn’t speak to anyone. But it was obvious that she knew them. When Ashby began talking to some of the old directors near her, he suddenly noticed her looking straight at him.
“Erika – I thought you were living abroad. What are you doing here, of all places ?” said Ashby, as he left the others to talk to her.
“That’s not much of a greeting,” she said defensively.
“Well....it’s just that I haven’t seen you for such a long time. It must be....over five years, since Mother died. How long have you been back ? I didn’t see you at the funeral a few weeks ago.”
“I was in LA. How have I been ? Oh, alright, I suppose.”
“It was a shame you missed it. Everyone was there, some MPs. It was a good send-off. So, what brings you here ?”
“Your letter, of course.”
“My letter ?”
“To all shareholders about today’s EGM. I’m a shareholder. That’s why I’m here.”
“I didn’t know you had any shares. Well, anyway, we’ll speak again later. I must get on with the meeting. You’ll come and see me afterwards, won’t you ?”
“Don’t worry, I will. I need to talk to you about......oh, it can wait.”
Not many people knew that Ashby had a half-sister.
His mother had been married twice. Her first marriage was in her late teens, before the war. Erika was the only child of the marriage. Her father had been killed in the Arnhem campaign. Erika never knew him but had much of his character – she was impetuous, restless and unpredictable. Her father’s family were titled and very wealthy. Ashby’s mother had been left a huge sum in his will. The rest had been put in trust for Erika. In the early fifties, his mother had met Ashby’s father and a few years later, Rob was born. By then, Erika was nine and away at school.
As he grew up, he sometimes saw her during the holidays when she was home from boarding school. She always behaved sourly towards him, treating him like a baby because she was older. She also disliked his father even though Ashby senior treated her as his own daughter. Their mother spoiled her and gave her whatever she wanted. As she got older, it was clear that she was jealous of her mother’s affections for him and of his father having survived the war when her own father hadn’t. The worst thing about her was that she was a consummate liar. Often, she would make up stories to get him into trouble with his parents. She seemed to enjoy making people angry with each other and derived a form of entertainment from it. In time, Ashby grew convinced that she hated him and that she enjoyed seeing him suffer from her continual fabrications about him. For years, he stoically ignored the ill feeling she had for him until at last, she finished school in the early sixties and decided to go travelling. By that stage, she’d fallen in with a bad crowd and went trailing off around Asia. Her friends used her for her money. After years of drink, drugs and casual relationships into the seventies, she had never found happiness. Instead, she drifted aimlessly from one place or husband to another.
Their mother had died five years earlier and he hadn’t seen Erika since then. At the time, she’d gone to live in Los Angeles and was on her second marriage but had put off having children. Now she was back in England and no doubt living at the large house she’d been given by her paternal grandparents in Sussex. Ashby recalled that his father had encouraged her to take up a career. She’d worked for him for around six months and then grown bored and left. His father had probably given her a small number of shares in Plantation. He used to give them to his employees as a way of sharing the company’s success. Erika must have been given a small number of shares at some point in the mid seventies. The standard letter to all shareholders had been sent out to her last known address in West Sussex.
Why she wanted to speak to him was a mystery. They had never got on. And he had no interest at all in fostering any association with her after so many years of bad blood. Her mere presence was ominous.
“When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions.”
Putting this at the back of his mind, he stood up at a long table at the front of the room to address the meeting. Grenville sat on his left and Nigel Black was on his right. Further along were Simon Wells and Ed Meredith.
In less than a minute, he described what he’d said to everyone upstairs – that Plantation would have a new board of directors and intended to explore new markets. Having dealt with the preliminaries, he then got onto the main point of dissension.
“The new board will also be pursuing a de-merger of its business with Stirling Limited,” announced Ashby. This produced an uproar and some of the shareholders began applauding.
“About time,” interjected one of the old directors who had been sacked after the merger.
“Why wasn’t Black given his marching orders earlier ?” someone else called out. “Stirling brought the claims with them and dumped them on Plantation. Why wasn’t he thrown out ?”
Amid the uproar, Ashby called for silence.
“We aren’t here to talk about Mr Black – and anyway, he was guaranteed a seat on Plantation’s board for as long as he remained a shareholder. That was the arrangement agreed in the merger by my father. At present, Mr Black has around seven per cent of the total shares.”
This failed to pacify the audience which grew even noisier.
“I’m not sitting here to put up with this,” said Black and stood up, ready to make a quick exit, to the delight of many in the audience.
“No, you must stay and vote on the resolutions,” said Ashby.
“Get on with it, then,” responded Black impatiently while confronting the hostile crowd. “I’m not afraid of them – but you’re chairing this meeting – and order needs to be restored if we’re to get anywhere.”
Ashby said he would put the resolutions to a vote by a show of hands after Grenville had reported on Plantation’s financial position.
Grenville then gave a summary of the accounts prepared by Waring. He emphasised Waring’s opinion that Plantation might be technically insolvent.
“The auditors have drawn our attention to the uncertainty created by the extremely large claims from Victor Oil, the British Gallery, North Eastern Steel, Caspian Limited and Seguros Amazonas. The company has not reserved for any of these claims,” said Grenville while turning to look at Ashby, “because they are not considered to be valid claims by management. However, most shareholders will already know that any one of these claims could finish Plantation altogether.”
This produced further uproar as Grenville was heckled. Ashby again called for order and put the resolutions to a vote.
To the dissolution of the old board of directors and the appointment of Ashby, Wells, Meredith, Black and Grenville, the motion was carried although some in the audience were adamant that Black should resign.
Next was Ashby’s strategy of opposing each of the five claims. This was approved by everyone, with the exception of Black and some of the former directors from Stirling.
The final resolution was that the board should explore reversing the merger with Stirling. This was also approved by majority. At one point, Black got up and tried to justify why Plantation had no choice than to agree the merger. This only increased the rowdiness of the audience so that he
couldn’t be heard at all whereupon Ashby called for order, listed the resolutions passed and then called the meeting to a close.
After the room had emptied, Ashby said that he would join Meredith, Wells and the others upstairs in half an hour. Waiting for him at the back of the room was Erika. The thought of having to confront her about whatever was troubling her, was annoying. Nevertheless, he had to find out the reason for her sudden appearance.
Both of them went upstairs to his office in silence, the door was closed and he said, looking in her eyes, “You wanted to talk to me.”
“Yes.....yes, I did. I understand that father..”
“You mean, your step-father – my father,” said Ashby.
Oh, alright, my step-father.....made a will leaving all of his shares in Plantation to you. Is that right ?”
“Yes, correct.”
“And in the will, nothing was left to me – at all.”
“Yes, that’s also correct.”
“Well, as you can imagine, I’m very hurt by it and unhappy about it – in fact, I’m extremely angry. I was part of his family too. Why should I have been left out ? Mother left you a lot of money...”
“Almost nothing compared to what is in trust for you.”
“That isn’t the point. My step-father treated me like his own daughter and after all, I am your sister.”
“You needn’t remind me of that.”
“Why should I have been forgotten ? He loved me as his own daughter. He used to spend a lot of time with me when I grew up. He specifically told me that he wanted me to have an equal share in the company with you.”
“When did he tell you that ? You know it isn’t true.”
“It is true – he told me that himself, quite a few times. He said that was what he wanted more than anything – for us to share the company between us and run it together – as a family. That’s what he said.”
“Well, if he’d really wanted that, why didn’t he say anything to me about it and why didn’t he mention you at all in his will ? It seems very strange if it had been so important to him.”
“I agree with you. And that’s what I don’t understand. And what I want to know is – what are you’re going to do about it ?”
“What am I going to do about it ?”
“Yes – you.”
“Tell me.....why are you bothered about it, anyway ? When you worked here very briefly....for a few months, you weren’t interested in it at all and then left. And now, you think you could run the company with me ?”
“Why not ? You fancy yourself the greatest in the world at everything – well, I can do just as well as you can – if not, better.”
“Just tell me – what do you want ?” Ashby leaned back in his chair while looking at her intently. The conversation had exposed the distrust between them which stretched back as far as he could remember. She hadn’t changed and would never change.
“I want half of your shares in Plantation.”
“What ? You must be mad.”
“That is only fair.”
“All I can say is.....it’s completely out of the question. In fact, I wouldn’t even give you one of my shares – not one.”
“I’ve already seen my solicitor and I’ve been told that I would have a very good case if it went to court.”
“Then that is what you must do. Good day.”
“You’ll regret this, Robert.”
“Good day.”
And with that, she slowly stood up, having decided on her course of action, took up her bag and departed.
After she’d gone, he spent a few moments gathering his thoughts.
The threat hadn’t surprised him – he’d expected it. She’d always been a spoilt child. Now in her thirties, she was still as unsettled and changeable as she’d always been. Her jealousy of him remained unabated and she would undoubtedly follow up on her threat. The confrontation would merely re-open old wounds. Inevitably, he thought, there would have to be a final parting of the ways.
Plantation A Legal Thriller Page 113