Changing Roles
By Julie Dawn Cole
Chapter 13

As we took the lift to our floor, I felt Louise looking me up and down and I tried to look away but it was impossible in such a confined space.
‘Well Julian, I must say you have totally shocked me today. Is that why Emily switched the meeting to her office, so you don’t leave the building and meet strangers with your more feminine look?’
‘Sort of I suppose but she was short on time, and she just came over a long conference call with our Chairman and two group directors. She is very good at managing her time and far better than I ever was.’

‘Well Julian, is that how you like to be called because it seems strange, I think you were always prompt in our meetings and well prepared so don’t underestimate yourself.’

‘Thanks that’s kind of you to say so but I do have weaknesses and I’m trying my best to deal with them. Emily seems very capable and soon got on top of things. It’s been amazing watching her in action.’

We arrived and walked through to Emily’s office, and I knocked, and we entered. After the introductions I made some tea and joined both at the meeting table.’
Emily thanked Louise for coming to her office and that she had about an hour if that was ok with her. Then she explained about the situation with Rao’s company and what had happened in the 3 meetings earlier. She didn’t think that Bill was involved in any corruption or misdemeanours, but she’d be keeping an eye on him. I was asked for my opinion, and I agreed without hesitation.

‘Well Emily I think we took the right course of action to put these two on the back foot. In some ways I hope they do involve lawyers and try to claim unfair dismissal, but I don’t suppose you want a fuss and the press getting involved. They don’t always tell the whole truth and usually they put a spin on things and take the side of the employee with the company as the big bad wolf.’

‘Well, we don’t want any publicity if we can help it because I have no doubt Rao’s company is not the only one who they have persuaded to pay for their services.’

‘Certainly, that seems to be the case from the PI report, but we need more concrete evidence. If we take them to court, they may get scared and admit to their crimes. This is serious business and not a case of suspending them and just smacking their hands. It could unearth who else might have been involved so you have a choice to make. How far do you want this to go? It’s no problem for us either way.’

‘I’ve spoken to our chairman and he is determined to get to the bottom of this and expose all their crimes.’
‘Well, it might not look good for Julian here or indeed for your former CEO. He is under suspicion and I’m certain that he is involved. What about you Julian? You were under suspicion along with the 2 staff who have been suspended but neither I or Emily believe that you were even though you needed money. Can you confirm that we were right to discount you from this gang?’

I was speechless for a few minutes. I worked hard for the company and I never did anything wrong in my whole life. Mum would have put me over her knee and stopped my pocket money for a month. She was a devout Christian and I went to church with her every Sunday. ‘Look please believe me Louise I never stole a thing in my whole life. I daren’t ever do anything wrong or break the law. Mum and Dad taught me to be grateful with what I had and to respect others. Please believe me.’

Emily chipped in before I broke out in tears. ‘Jules, I made my own judgement about you before I offered you the job as my PA. You are the sweetest and kindest person I’ve met in a long time and I could tell how shocked you were when I confronted Rao and then Jack Henshaw and Ricky Robinson. I like to think that I’m a good judge of character.’

‘Thank you, Emily, it’s a big relief. I can’t afford to lose my job let alone go to jail. I have 3 people depending on me.’

‘Well, there is another person under suspicion and maybe you can help by helping us checking them out.’

‘But I’m not a private detective and I guess that I’m too trusting. I find it difficult to believe that George Garside did anything wrong. He was always kind to me and he was my mentor.’

‘Yes, Jules you were too close to him and I have a feeling he was taking advantage.’

‘So are you going to report him to the police or threaten him or something.’

Louise spoke up. ‘Jules it would be good if we had a little more concrete proof and all we have is a big black hole where lots of money disappeared. We are talking hundreds of thousands of pounds or even a few millions. The financial reports don’t stack up and I don’t know how the company auditors missed it.’
‘But I was involved in the audits along with the financial staff. Sure, we had some bad debts and a lot of people owed us money but everything was signed off.’

Emily responded. ‘Yes but somebody did a good job of convincing them that bad debts were temporary and the money would be received. Some of the audit staff were changed and a lot of the ones checking numbers were young and inexperienced.’

‘How come you trust me with all this information?’

‘That’s Emily’s judgement not mine. She has convinced me to trust you and we have a task for you to carry out if you want to really prove your innocence beyond all reasonable doubt.’

‘I am not sure because this seems too much for me to absorb at the moment. What does it involve?’
Emily responded. ‘Let’s do a conference call with Pamela Parkinson first. She wants to update us on her findings. Are you OK with that Louise?’
Louise nodded her agreement and had apparently already met with Pamela and Emily so there was no need for introductions other than with me. Emily confirmed that I was the former MD who was now her PA and that I was settling into my new role but still had a lot to learn. She smiled at me as she said it and said she was happy with my progress and that she was confident my experience would be of great benefit. It seemed that they’d discussed my role together before Emily took up her role. Pamela wasn’t even an employee at that stage, yet he was involved in deciding my future.

Pamela gave an update. ‘Well Emily I’ve been able to find out some interesting information through my contacts. It all needs confirmation, before any action is taken that is the difficulty. It confirms the Chairmans suspicions were correct, and I think that we should keep the pressure on.’

‘So, you mean that George Garside is involved?’

‘Yes, almost 100% certain. He has 2 offshore companies in the Cayman Islands so financial information is limited, and I’ve tried to find out what I can from contacts at the Inland Revenue. No luck so far though other than they know he has a substantial US Dollar account that he has had for at least 10 years as well as a Euro account. His companies seem to have links to three UK companies that are registered in the name of Jack Garside. who I believe to be his son, but I’m not sure yet. He is the main shareholder and there are two other directors listed both of whom own some shares.’

‘So have you evidence to prove they have received orders and been paid for jobs that have no inventory and yet were delivered?’

‘Yes. Just to let you know that one of the other directors is related to Andrew Frobisher, my predecessor as Financial Director. His daughter according to my contacts.’

I was speechless and I found this hard to believe. I was sure that this couldn’t be right. Suddenly, I felt sick and dizzy, and I had to grip hold of Emily’s desk. All the colour must have drained from my face because Emily jumped out of her seat and came around to hold onto me. I gripped her arm feeling as if I was going to faint. Pamela gave me a glass of water to sip and then Emily insisted I lay down on the floor and she lifted my legs and rested them on my chair. I felt so stupid and weak.

‘Just take a few minutes and don’t fret. It just seems like a panic attack but there is no need rush back up. Take a few minutes and then sit up gently and sip your water.’

I was terrified because it now appeared like I was involved in the fraud and had panicked. As I sat staring ahead Emily held my hand and smiled to try to reassure me.’

‘I’m sorry Emily. I don’t know what came over me. It was the shock of hearing what was going on behind my back and that George might be involved.’

I was helped back into my chair and since the colour returned to my cheeks, I insisted that the meeting continued to avoid it taking place without my attendance.’

I sat quietly whilst the discussion continued, and Louise explained that it might be difficult to access information about the company In Cayman Islands and that George and his son were involved in the UK companies. No accusations were made against me that seemed strange.

As I recovered my composure I intervened. ‘George doesn’t have a son. He has a daughter so it can’t be true.’

Pamela seemed to take exception to her information being challenged and came back sharply ‘Are you sure because my contact sent me some information about Jack Garside, and he lived at the same address as George until a few years ago. My contact doesn’t make mistakes.’

‘George doesn’t have a son he has a daughter. However, she left home because she declared she was gay. I have seen her and now she dresses as a man. She is FTM so maybe that’s the confusion.’

Louise quickly cut in ‘What’s FTM if you don’t mind my ignorance? Is it a qualification?’

Emily knew so she explained it was an abbreviation for a person who decided to become male rather than her birth gender. ‘Oh I see. Have you met her. Sorry I mean him.’

‘Yes, before she started living full time as a man. He moved into his own place in Manchester away from home, but George managed to overcome his embarrassment and helped him as much as he could. Jack was born as Jacqueline Janice Garside, and she preferred the big city life and she liked the club scene there.’

‘You refer to her as he so does that mean her change in identity was recent?’

‘About a year ago as I recall. She dressed as a man for about 3 years and that’s when I met her at a club in Manchester which I visited with friends. George would never talk about her unless pressed so when I met her, she asked me not to say anything. She had a girlfriend at the time who owned the club.’

Penelope interjected. ‘So, about eighteen months ago is when the UK companies were first registered. Definitely it is Jack Garside in the documents I’ve seen. Je is male with a passport photo, and he has a beard. But we can’t use these documents as they are unofficial from a friend who would get into a lot of trouble.’

Louise then said this was useful information that we could work on and said that this was where I could help. ‘How about you try to meet her to catch up and have a chat about his dad and your concerns about his future. Maybe she still uses the same club. You could also meet George Garside to see if he’ll let something slip. He was fond of you as I understand.’

’Not exactly fond but he was a good friend as well as my boss. I’m OK to try to find Jack that she even used a school from what she told me. I met her when I was dressed and we had a few drinks and a long talk about gender related topics.

‘It would really help if you can confirm she was female when the UK companies were first registered. She must have changed her personal documents. Did she have a sex change?’

‘No as far as I know she just took hormones and her characteristics and she told me that her voice soon changed. I thought she was male when we were introduced and she actually asked me to dance. She had facial hair and her arms were tattooed and quite hairy and muscular. We had a few dances together whilst we were chatting.’

‘So do you think you can find out if she runs these companies and if they actually produce anything? They do have a website that I can share with you if you wish.
Emily asked for everything to be sent to her to keep me clear of any trouble and she suggested she go with me to the club if I could persuade Jack to meet me there.

‘But Emily this isn’t your scene and you’d stick out like a sore thumb.’

‘Let me worry about that Jules. I realise that it’s a gay club and it won’t be the first time I’ve been to one. I attended a girls college and we went to all types of club when we had chance. Lots of the girls preferred female company or gay men. Besides I trust you and I want to be certain nobody accuses you of being involved with Garside & Co.’

Louise seemed satisfied that we weren’t doing anything wrong and she had already drafted legal letters to be sent to each individual and a draft of what we would say to the police.

Emily wanted to know a little more about the venue. ‘So this club is frequented by a lot of the LGBT community in Manchester and Jack Garside is still a regular visitor?’
‘As far as I know. I would have dated her until I realised she was Georges former daughter.’

‘So do you have his contact details?’
‘Yes I have his mobile number and I’ve an idea where he lives.’