Never Mind The Botox: Rachel (13 page)

‘Well, good luck sorting out the alarm. See you tomorrow,’ said Rachel.

‘Good night, Ms Altman,’ said the security guard. ‘And it should be sunnier tomorrow.’

God, I hope so, thought Rachel.

Chapter 10

The next evening, Rachel was sitting down in a wine bar not far from Beau
Street with a bottle of wine and two glasses when Rowan arrived.

‘You look exhausted,’ she said.

‘Not sleeping well,’ Rowan replied.

‘Naomi still waking you up?’ Rachel asked.

‘Actually, she’s sleeping quite a bit better now,’ said Rowan. ‘I’m just having problems getting off − you know, lots on my mind. Typical, isn’t it? Just as Naomi starts sleeping better, something else comes along to stress me out instead.’

Rachel resisted saying that he only had himself to blame. But he’d sounded pretty stressed when he rang, which is why she’d agreed to meet when she should have been working late.

‘Has Laura noticed anything?’ Rachel asked.

‘Only me falling over myself to be nice to her,’ said Rowan. ‘Sometimes I think she should be able to smell the guilt on me, it feels that obvious. But she just thinks I’m making an effort, which I guess I am.’

‘So you haven’t told her?’

‘No, not yet anyway. I’m going to see how it goes. Hopefully I can get things back on track without having to.’

Rowan didn’t look that optimistic.

‘I’m sure you can,’ Rachel said. ‘Did you speak to her about going away?’

‘Yes, actually I did. She was surprisingly positive about it. In fact she seemed totally amazed that I’d even suggested it and when I gave her the spiel about wanting to spend more time with her on her own she was totally bowled over.’

‘You see, not hard, is it? I should become a relationship counsellor,’ said Rachel.

‘You might still need to,’ said Rowan. ‘Long way to go yet. Anyway, the reason I wanted to see you was to ask a favour.’

‘Shoot,’ said Rachel.

‘Well, Laura was fairly happy about leaving Naomi at Mum’s but was a bit concerned that, well, sometimes Mum can be a bit dippy. She’d feel a lot happier if you were there as well.’

‘Me! I don’t know anything about babies. Why would she want me there?’

‘She just thinks that you’re smart and organised and that you’d be a big help to Mum − you know, check that she sticks with the schedule, pays attention, that sort of thing.’

‘She managed to bring both of us up just fine,’ said Rachel, suddenly feeling rather protective of her so-called dippy mother.

‘Apart from when she left the back gate open and you ended up playing in the road by yourself until one of our neighbours brought you back. You were only four. Or when she forgot to get me from school and went to play bridge with her friends. It took the school three hours to get hold of someone to come and get me,’ said Rowan.

‘Alright, fair enough,’ said Rachel, nodding. ‘When were you thinking of going?’

‘This weekend. Strike while the iron is, er, hot, so to speak.’ Rowan realised he hadn’t chosen the best expression.

‘I’ll need to take some work with me,’ said Rachel, thinking of her report deadline.

‘I’m sure that would be fine. Mum will be looking after Naomi most of the time.’

That might work quite well, thought Rachel. It would give her a chance to get plenty of work done away from the distraction of Harry.

‘Okay, no problem. I’ll go.’

‘Thanks, Rachel, I’m really grateful,’ said Rowan.

‘I spoke to Shali, by the way, told her that you didn’t want to see her again,’ said Rachel.

‘I know, she texted me,’ said Rowan.

‘She didn’t! When?’

‘The next day,’ said Rowan.

‘What for? What did she want?’ Rachel asked anxiously.

‘Oh nothing much, just to say sorry and check how I was.’

‘Did you text her back?’

‘Of course I did. I’m not that rude. Anyway, it was just pleasantries, nothing more.’

You don’t know Shali, thought Rachel. She was furious. Shali needed to back off and leave Rowan alone.

‘You’re not going to see her again, are you?’ Rachel asked.

‘No I’m not, stop worrying. It’s all about Laura now.’

‘Hmm, well make sure you don’t. I know what Shali’s like; she’d have you twisted round her little finger before you know it.’

‘For goodness sake, I’m not that easily led,’ said Rowan.

Rachel just raised her eyebrows at him and said nothing.

‘Anyway, I’m not seeing her, so let’s not talk about it any more. Will you call Mum and square off this weekend with her?’

‘Yes, I’ll call her tonight.’

‘Thanks, sis’, you’re a life saver.’

Let’s hope I’m a marriage saver as well, thought Rachel.

She called her mum later that evening. Her mum was over the moon at the prospect of having both her daughter and granddaughter for the weekend. Rachel also broke the news to Harry, who was much less enthusiastic.

‘What, a whole weekend again?’

‘Rowan really needs to take Laura away and try to sort things out. They really want me to help Mum, so I said I would. Plus I’ve got a stack of work to do, so I wouldn’t be much fun anyway even if I was here,’ said Rachel.

‘You and your work, honestly. Is it still that tits and arse job?’

‘Cosmetic surgery job, I think you mean, and yes it is. We’re reporting soon and there’s a lot riding on it. I can’t afford to miss the deadline.’

Rachel decided to tell Harry about seeing Francesca Hart. Perhaps if he thought the job was a bit more exciting he’d be less grumpy about her working on it all weekend.

‘Look, Harry, you really mustn’t say anything but you’ll never guess who I saw when I was out there,’ said Rachel.

‘Who?’ said Harry, intrigued.

‘Only Francesca Hart. She came in one evening for some sort of private appointment when I was working late.’

‘No!’ said Harry. ‘She’s a total babe already. What on the earth is she having done?’

‘A nose job, I think. It’s not exactly huge now, just a bit prominent. I guess she wants one of those little button noses instead.’

‘You should sell that story to the papers,’ said Harry. ‘It would be worth a fortune.’

Rachel was horrified at the suggestion. ‘Don’t be an idiot. I can’t possibly do that. Not only am I bound by about a thousand ethical rules at work but it would also be illegal.’

‘It’s not illegal, not if you have evidence to support it.’

Rachel thought fleetingly about the photocopied pages from the black book, but then dismissed them firmly from her mind.

‘Harry, we are not having this conversation. I only told you about it as a bit of work gossip. You are not to mention it to anyone, okay?’

‘Okay, keep your hair on,’ said Harry. ‘So what am I supposed to do while you’re at home beavering away on your “Celebrity doesn’t get a nose job” report?’ said Harry.

‘Honestly, Harry, I’ve never known you be short of things to do. Stop being such a drama queen − it’s only a weekend. And besides, I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon, so we can still go out Sunday evening.’

‘Alright, I guess I’ll live. So can we go to Jimmy Macks on Sunday then? They’ve got a band on I really want to see,’ said Harry.

Jimmy Macks was a scruffy pub turned club with beer on the floor and disgusting toilets. Rachel hated it. What a rubbish compromise.

‘If you like,’ she said.

‘I like,’ said Harry.

You would, thought Rachel.

As she lay in bed later, Rachel was still furious that Shali had been texting Rowan. She wasn’t sure why it annoyed her so much. Maybe she was being unfair. She knew she should be equally livid with Rowan, but somehow she just wasn’t.

She’d also found out from AJ that the venue had complained to Payne Stanley about ‘inappropriate behaviour by certain guests’, sending the office into a frenzy of rumours. What if the partners decided to launch an investigation? Would it matter that it was her brother? She didn’t know and didn’t want to find out. Maybe she should talk to Natalie, see what she thought. She was never short of an opinion.

Rachel got into Beau Street early the next morning so she could get enough work done to meet Natalie later on.

‘Good morning, Ms Altman,’ said the security guard as she arrived. ‘Sun was up just after five a.m. today, not long after you, I think.’

‘Good morning, Fred, busy day ahead,’ said Rachel.

‘You work too hard,’ said Fred, shaking his head at her.

‘Only as hard as I need to,’ said Rachel.

She worked on her report without stopping for five straight hours. She got all her sales analysis finished and most of the expenses analysis too. She’d expected to find looking at the Beau Street cost base quite boring, but in fact had found it fascinating. She’d been shocked at the mark-up on Botox: it cost much less to buy than she’d thought. God, what a swizz. She bet most people had no idea. The salary information had been quite an eye-opener too. The doctors all did very nicely, thank you. And there were the big bills for incontinence pants. What was that all about? Rachel didn’t know and didn’t want to.

Once she was done, she decided to have a look at some of the names she’d written down from the pages of Lloyd Cassidy’s black book. She obviously hadn’t said anything to Rosa and AJ about her spying on the Francesca Hart meeting or breaking into Lloyd’s office. Hardly role model behaviour.

‘Could I use the computer?’ Rachel asked Rosa. They’d been given a computer with access to the accounting records so they could run sample accuracy tests on some of the databases.

‘Yes, I’m done for the moment thanks,’ replied Rosa.

Rachel started with the Francesca Hart entry. She searched the client database for her name. Nothing. Maybe they hadn’t put it on the system yet; it had only been a day. She went to an entry from a month earlier: ‘Lisa Albrecht, June Mayfield, breast augmentation, 22 April, £6,850’. She vaguely recognised the first name, so she did a quick internet search. Lisa Albrecht was a children’s TV presenter. Rachel searched the client database for her name. Nothing. That was odd; her record should have been on the system by now. She searched again for the name June Mayfield. Bingo! A client record popped up on the screen. She looked at the details. The procedure listed was showing as ‘other’ and the invoice was shown as paid in cash. The doctor code was six-zero-two, Lloyd Cassidy.

Rachel was confused. What was the connection between June Mayfield and Lisa Albrecht? Why were they together in the black book? She didn’t get it.

She checked the employee database for both names. Maybe there was a connection there. Neither came up. She sat back in her chair and stared out the window. What was she missing?

She hurried out into the accounts department and pulled out the original invoice. It showed that June Mayfield had had breast augmentation on 22 April. What had happened to Lisa Albrecht? And then it was like someone had turned the light on − Rachel suddenly got it. They were the same person! Lisa Albrecht had been booked in under a false name. So that was the deal! Lloyd Cassidy was working for celebrities who would pay over the odds for total anonymity. By booking them in under a false name, there were no records that they’d ever had anything done. And that’s why they had to pay in cash. Credit cards or cheques would show their real names. Christ! It was all a bit grubby, as well as totally unethical.

Rachel felt a bit sick. Her gut feeling had been right. There was an issue, a proper big ugly deal issue that she couldn’t make go away. Shit, she would have to tell Carl, but if she did she’d have to deal with the Audrey question. Audrey was clearly right in the middle of some dodgy scam, and if Rachel was going to blow the whistle, she had to know for sure whether or not Carl was seeing her first. And what would they tell Equinox? No one was going to be happy. Fuck, fuck! What a nightmare!

Rachel needed some fresh air and decided to walk to meet Natalie. As she paced her way anxiously up and down the busy streets towards the tapas restaurant where they were meeting, she ran through her options. Maybe she should just do nothing. After all, no one else knew what she’d found or seen. If she did nothing then the deal would probably still happen. That would be better for her career. And if she did nothing, she wouldn’t have to ask Carl about his relationship with Audrey. That would be better for her career too! Doing nothing was definitely an attractive option.

But it would be going against every ethical standard she’d ever been trained in. She was a professional and that meant she should investigate the matter thoroughly and report her findings, whatever the consequences. That would be the right and proper thing to do. Equinox could find out anyway after buying the business and then try to sue Payne Stanley for negligence or something. That would be a disaster. She should report what she knew.

But what if she did that and it fucked up her career? She had the director promotion panels coming up. Shopping her boss for shagging a dodgy client and killing his big deal at the same time hardly seemed like ideal preparation.