Never Mind The Botox: Rachel (26 page)

‘Yes he has, Mr Duffy. We made sure of that, and we’ve taken his pass away. Terrible business.’ Fred shook his head gravely, but Rachel had no doubt that he was secretly relishing all the excitement.

He took out a small piece of wire and fiddled for a few moments with the lock. After a few goes he turned the lock and the drawer opened.

‘Wow, Fred, where did you learn how to do that?’ Tom asked.

‘Misspent youth, Mr Duffy,’ said Fred, grinning, and he winked at Rachel.

Rachel looked in the drawer and, to her huge relief, the black leather book was there. She took it out and flicked through the pages.

‘These records only go back about three years. That’s fine for our presentation as we’re only focusing on the last few years, but it won’t give us the full extent of the money that he may have taken. Shall I have a hunt for some more?’

‘Yes, thank you, that would be helpful,’ said Tom. ‘We’ll need to catalogue everything that’s here as part of our investigation, so don’t take anything away, will you.’

‘No, of course not,’ said Rachel.

‘I’ll be in my office if you need me,’ said Tom.

Rachel felt very odd going through Lloyd Cassidy’s desk, even though this time she had permission to do so. She quickly searched the other drawers to see if she could find any other record books, but there were none − just medical journals, research papers, patient notes, that sort of thing. She really wanted to find something that showed Audrey had known what was going on, but she didn’t really know what she was looking for, which didn’t help.

She opened the filing cabinets and started working her way through the hanging folders, all neatly labelled by Audrey. At the back of the second drawer she found a file marked ‘miscellaneous’. Inside was a confidential memo to Lloyd Cassidy from Charles Sutton on the possible tie up with Equinox and copies of three different proposal documents from PR companies, including one from Cavanaugh PR. On the front covers were scribbled notes in Audrey’s handwriting, comparing the fees from each one. On the cover of the Cavanaugh document Audrey had written ‘needs to drop £5k’. So slimy Clive had been given a helping hand! Rachel bet that Audrey had told him exactly what was in the other proposals and what he needed to do to win the work. She wasn’t sure exactly why Audrey would want to help Clive, but she bet that it wasn’t simply because they were old friends.

She took the file down to the photocopier and took copies of all of the notes. They would be good insurance in case Clive started getting a bit too chatty about his days as a university governor.

Rachel finished going through the rest of the files but could find nothing else that grabbed her attention. Unless she found records going back further they wouldn’t be able to tell how long Lloyd had been taking cash bookings or how much he’d skimmed off over the years. And she also couldn’t find anything that showed that Audrey had known about it. Damn it!

She sat down and rubbed her forehead. She was sure that Audrey was up to her neck in it. They just had to prove it. She bent down to pick up her bag and noticed that her phone was flashing. Yet another text message from Harry.
Thought you were going to ring me?
He had then typed sorry so many times that Rachel got tired of scrolling down to read them.

She didn’t reply and she had neither the time nor the energy to call him. She needed time to think, time when she wasn’t flat out lurching from one work crisis to another, if that was possible on this project.

Chapter 20

Rachel left Lloyd’s office and walked wearily back to the project room. As she
entered the room, Carl stood up to leave. She looked across at AJ and Rosa, who both looked a bit tense.

‘I have to go,’ said Carl. ‘Do you have what you need to redo the presentation for Monday?’

‘Yes,’ said Rachel and waved the black book at Carl. ‘That was all pretty unpleasant, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, very,’ said Carl.

Much to Rachel’s frustration, he seemed reluctant to discuss it further. She had so many questions. Should they try to find the link to Audrey?

‘There are a few things I could do with talking through with you, if you have a minute,’ said Rachel.

‘Sorry, I can’t stop now. I have another meeting to go to. Perhaps you could call me later?’

‘Oh, okay, no problem,’ said Rachel as Carl walked out past her.

Rachel shut the door.

‘Has Carl told you what happened?’ Rachel asked AJ and Rosa.

‘No, he’s hardly said a word. He seemed really stressed when he came back and just paced up and down. He just said that Lloyd had been suspended and we needed to get on and prepare for Monday,’ said AJ.

‘We didn’t dare ask him any questions; he seemed too cross,’ said Rosa.

Rachel looked at her watch. It was just gone four p.m. She was sure when she’d spoken to Carl’s PA to arrange the meeting she’d said that Carl was free all afternoon. So where was he going? Could he be meeting Audrey? Should she follow him?

When she’d seen Audrey leaving earlier she’d been too slow to react and she was determined not to make the same mistake again.

‘I think I’ll just grab some fresh air − bit of a headache coming on. Won’t be long,’ said Rachel, and she walked quickly out of the project room after Carl.

She caught up with him as he waited for the lift and they got in together.

‘Just popping out for some fresh air,’ said Rachel.

Carl just nodded.

‘It was a real shock to see Lloyd Cassidy shouting and swearing like that, didn’t you think? I thought Charles handled him pretty well,’ said Rachel.

‘Yes, he was very calm considering,’ said Carl, shifting slightly uncomfortably. Rachel got the impression that he really didn’t want to talk about the meeting anymore.

As they left the front of the offices, Rachel said goodbye and walked away in the direction of the nearby park. She looked back over her shoulder to see Carl walk off in the other direction. If he was going back to the office he would have got in a cab. She turned around to follow him.

As she darted in and out of doorways and peered into shop windows trying to look inconspicuous, she decided she would make a rubbish private detective. Fortunately, Carl was marching ahead with hardly a backward glance, making him pretty easy to follow. They walked for about ten minutes until Rachel realised they were getting close to The Brook Hotel. She hung back a little further and watched as Carl crossed the road and headed into the hotel. A minute or so later, Rachel followed.

As she entered the foyer she quickly checked the reception desk. A tired looking business man and a Japanese tourist stood waiting patiently in the queue for the next available receptionist. Carl wasn’t in the queue or at either desk. Rachel looked towards the sofa area and she couldn’t see him there either. She walked tentatively across the foyer towards the bar, conscious of the fact that if she wasn’t careful she’d probably walk straight into him. She looked into the bar and there he was, sitting with Audrey Fox. Damn him. She’d been right!

She went over to the sofas and chose a seat where she could see into the bar and sat down. She picked up a magazine and pretended to read it while watching Carl and Audrey.

They were sitting face to face at a small table covered by a white tablecloth. At Audrey’s side was a bottle of wine in a silver wine cooler. The waiter poured Carl a glass of wine as Audrey put her hand across the table towards him. He took it and they sat for a few moments holding hands and talking. Carl then leaned across the table and kissed her. Not for long, but long enough for Rachel to know for certain that they were definitely not just old friends.

Rachel felt furious. Carl had lied to her and made her feel terrible for questioning him. What a shit! And no wonder he’d found that meeting so difficult.

She put her magazine down and openly sat watching them together. She didn’t care now if Carl saw her. If he did, she would give him a piece of her mind. However, they were far too engrossed in each other to notice her sitting out in the foyer and the conversation seemed to be getting heated. Audrey was sitting back with her arms folded and was shaking her head, looking really quite unfriendly all of a sudden. Carl, on the other hand, was leaning forward with his hands outstretched towards her, almost like he was pleading with her. What was going on?

Rachel sat forward, intrigued. It was clear that they were arguing. Then suddenly Audrey got up, grabbed her handbag from beside her and stormed out of the bar. Her knee-length, black boots clicked loudly on the marble floor as she marched across the foyer and she flicked her scarf around her neck, throwing her head back at the same time, as if she deliberately wanted to complete her dramatic exit in style.

Rachel looked back at Carl. He was sitting at the table with his head in his hands. Eventually he sat up and looked around and waved to the waiter. Rachel expected him to get the bill but instead the waiter got out his pad and a few minutes later brought Carl what looked like a large whiskey. He sat nursing it between his hands, staring straight ahead.

It was no good. Rachel had to sort this out once and for all. She took a deep breath, got up and walked into the bar.

‘Hello, Carl.’

Carl turned round in shock. ‘Rachel, what are you doing here?’

‘I followed you,’ said Rachel.

She sat down in Audrey’s seat. The waiter hurried over, trying not to show any reaction to the change of woman at the table.

‘Can I get you a drink, madam?’

Rachel looked at Carl’s drink. ‘I’ll have one of those, please.’ She smiled politely at the waiter and then at Carl, who was still sitting open-mouthed at the shock of seeing her.

‘I’ve been sitting in the foyer watching you for the past twenty minutes, so please don’t insult my intelligence again and give me all that crap about you and Audrey being just good friends,’ said Rachel. ‘How long has it been going on?’

Carl looked down and shook his head miserably. ‘Nearly two years,’ he said eventually.

‘Two years! Carl, you should never have taken on this project. You know that we can’t have relationships with our clients.’

‘The thing is, I kept telling myself that I would finish it, but somehow I never quite did,’ said Carl. He looked visibly upset and took a large swig of his whiskey.

‘It looked like you were arguing just now,’ said Rachel.

‘Oh Christ, I’ve been such a fool.’ Carl rolled his eyes upwards and put both hands over his mouth. ‘I’ve been giving her money and lots of it.’

‘What for?’ Rachel asked.

‘Nothing in particular. She told me that she was really in debt, finding it hard to make ends meet on a nurse’s income. So I gave her money, for clothes, holidays, that sort of thing. I even bought her a car,’ said Carl.

‘Wow, lucky her,’ said Rachel.

‘Well, when you told me about this scam Lloyd had running, at first I couldn’t believe that she’d be involved. But the more I heard, the more I was sure she must be. Anyway, I confronted her about it.’

‘Did you tip her off that we’d told Tom Duffy?’

Carl nodded.

‘Carl, no!’

‘I thought I was doing the right thing, trying to protect her. But as it turns out, I didn’t need to. She had Lloyd Cassidy to do that for her. It was a total shock when Tom Duffy mentioned that he thought they were having an affair, and I didn’t think for a minute that it would be true. But when I warned her about the meeting, she went all mysterious and just told me not to worry and that she’d sort it out. And then, in that meeting, when the first thing he did was to get her out the frame, well then I knew.’

‘Knew what?’ Rachel asked.

‘That Lloyd is sleeping with her too. Did you see how flushed she was? I bet that was down to her using her usual charms to get Lloyd to do what she wanted.’

Carl had clearly been on the receiving end of Audrey’s persuasive manner at some point too.

‘So I asked her just now, straight out, whether she’s been seeing him too. And well, her response was pretty clear. She couldn’t begin to understand why I might have thought we were in an exclusive relationship. She also said that I shouldn’t forget that I’m the one who’s married whereas she’s a free agent, perfectly entitled to see who see likes, when she likes.’

‘Well, I guess that the definition of an exclusive relationship when one person is already married is a bit of a grey area,’ said Rachel, and then quickly realised that probably wasn’t helpful.

To her horror, Carl looked quite close to tears. ‘She’s probably been seeing him the whole time, for all I know,’ said Carl. ‘And to think, I nearly left my wife for her.’ His chin trembled slightly as he spoke.

‘Shit, Carl.’ Rachel couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. He looked like a broken man.

She waved at the waiter. ‘Two more whiskies, please.’

‘Do you think Lloyd also gave her money?’ Rachel asked.

‘I’m sure he bloody well did. I know what she’s like. If there was money floating about, she’d make sure she got some.’

Rachel was sure that was true. She’d always thought that Audrey Fox looked like trouble. It suddenly occurred to her that Clive Steele probably had money too, despite his less than polished appearance. He did own a PR business, after all.