Never Mind The Botox: Rachel (33 page)

‘Yes, we have plenty of data on that, Ryan. We looked at it when we stripped Lloyd Cassidy’s sales out of the numbers we showed you.’ Rachel turned to the relevant pages in Rosa’s pack and moved slightly so Tom could see them too. ‘There are several other doctors with sales levels very similar to Dr Cassidy’s and plenty of others with very positive growth rates. Take Stella Webb, for example,’ said Rachel, running her finger across the table of figures. ‘Her client base has grown by more than fifteen per cent over the last two years. I can send you the information we have, if it’s okay with Tom?’

‘Yes, please do, this looks very helpful,’ said Tom, nodding at Rosa’s carefully presented analysis. ‘And don’t forget, Ryan, we’re also working on those new income streams we talked about to replace Lloyd.’

‘Yeah, I know, but if you could email that data it’d be real useful too,’ said Ryan.

‘Of course,’ said Rachel. She didn’t know what new income streams they were talking about, but decided it probably wasn’t anything to do with her. That was for Tom and Ryan to sort out.

Ryan ran through a few more questions, all of which Rachel found she could answer easily. Maybe she did know what she was talking about after all.

‘Thank you, that was great, very helpful,’ said Tom when the call had ended. ‘I think we’re finally getting there. Equinox were naturally quite concerned about the whole Lloyd Cassidy débâcle at the outset, but when you showed them what the business looked like without him, they were much more relaxed. They were very happy with your full report too, very detailed,’ said Tom.

‘Oh that’s good,’ said Rachel, pleasantly surprised.

‘And they commented on the efforts you’ve all been to. Brenda Martinez in particular said she could tell how well prepared you were.’

Rachel went red with embarrassment. ‘Oh right, that’s good. Have they firmed up on their offer?’ she asked, quickly changing the subject.

‘At the moment they want to reduce their original offer to take account of our lower sales figures without Lloyd. But we’re trying to find some alternatives to plug the gap, and luckily Charles has managed to do a deal with Lloyd. We won’t involve the police provided he agrees to leave with immediate effect and doesn’t take any money from the sale of the business. So with a bit of luck, we might end up with an offer that doesn’t change that much,’ said Tom.

‘That’s really good news. I’m surprised Charles and Lloyd are even speaking, though,’ said Rachel.

‘I don’t think it was a very pleasant conversation, but in the end it made sense for both of them. We’re pretty sure that the money he’s giving up from his share of the sale is much more than he could have skimmed off over the years.’

‘I’m not sure you’ll ever know unless you find some more records. I didn’t find any when I looked. Are you close to agreeing a deal with Equinox then, do you think?’ Rachel asked.

‘Yes, quite close,’ said Tom. ‘Equinox have still got their legal investigations to finish, which aren’t proving exactly straightforward, and everything has to be approved by the board, so there’s still a way to go before it’s a done deal. Plus, we’ve got to work out how the businesses would operate together − who’ll do what jobs, all that sort of thing. That’s Stella’s job. But at least we’ve got the main valuation points agreed.’

‘I’m seeing Carl in a bit so I’ll tell him. I’m sure he’ll want to ring you himself. The team are just finishing up now. I think we’ll probably be done today or tomorrow, so we’ll be back at our own offices after that,’ said Rachel. ‘Once we’ve finished off a few square brackets in the report, we’ll send it round as final.’

‘Thank you for all your hard work,’ said Tom, smiling. ‘I know it hasn’t exactly been straightforward.’

No, it certainly hasn’t, thought Rachel.

In the taxi on the way to the office, Rachel reflected on the fact that Lloyd had done a deal with Charles. What would happen if they told them Audrey was involved too? Presumably they’d just quietly get rid of her too. But Rachel wasn’t sure whether they’d be telling Tom and Charles about Audrey or not. That would have to be Carl’s call, and it wasn’t going to be an easy one.

Carl was on the phone when Rachel arrived at his office. He waved her into the room and gestured that she should sit down. It sounded like he was talking to someone about a new project.

‘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.