Samantha Michelle Davies
[At the offices of a Sunday Newspaper in London]
The Editor had called one of his reporters in to see him.
“Kim, very well done for your last story it went down very well. The reader feedback was very positive.”
“Thanks Sandy. It was touch and go for a bit but I got to the bottom of it in the end.”
Sandy Wynn, the Editor smiled back at his reporter.
“Are you ready for a new assignment?”
“As I’ll ever be? What is it all about?”
Sandy leaned back in his chair with the tips of the fingers of both hands touching.
“We have reason to believe that an engineering company in Kings Lynn is doing something very crooked. Money Laundering, shipping drugs or something else, we are not sure. We’d like you to go up there and get a job with them. The assistant to the MD is taking maternity leave. We have arranged for you to rent a flat in the town for the duration. You have an interview at ten next Tuesday.”
Kim tried hard not to look disappointed. This was hardly an assignment worth of her status as the leading investigative reporter on the paper. As the only one left it still felt rather beneath her but a nice easy in and out job would do nicely after the last story had nearly gone horribly wrong.
“Why do we think that they are doing wrong? What evidence do we have so far? What if I don’t get the job?”
Sandy pushed a buff folder over the desk towards Kim.
“It is all in there but to summarise, less than two years ago, the company was losing money hand over fist. Then it was taken over by some offshore company that so far, we can’t trace who owns it. That is rather suspicious in its own right. As I said, they were in danger of going bust. After the takeover, they installed this former Cambridge Academic as boss and well, the company is not losing money but making a good wedge. This Academic has no experience running a business. After he left Cambridge, he went to work for a Formula 1 racing team in Milton Keynes or some place around there. His role was of a Mathematician. How can he run a business so well if… Well, it all sounds rather fishy to me and also to the powers that be if you get my meaning.”
The editor smiled.
“As for getting the job, you know what you need to say and how to act in these situations. You are very good at getting people to come around to your way of thinking.”
“Interesting. On the surface, he is totally unsuited to be MD let alone turn the company around and make shed loads of dosh and we want to know why and how he is doing it?”
said Kim.
“Yeah, that just about sums it up.”
Then he looked at Kim with sad eyes.
“You really went through the wringer with your last case. This should be an easy way to get it, get the lowdown and write a report. Two weeks max I think and we should have the MD’s head on a platter for the Bank Holiday Edition. I’ve already reserved the front page for you.”
Kim thought for a moment.
“If I can’t get the story that quickly? What then? What if they see through me? After all how many people suddenly decide to quit the golden paved streets of London for some town in the back of beyond of Norfolk?”
“You know the form with puff pieces like this. Make it up so that is seems real.”
“What about him? His family?”
“Who cares really? It is all about the ratings my dear, the ratings.”
Sandy picked up new file. That told Kim that the interview was over. She picked up the folder he’d given her. Then she left the editors office and returned to her desk.
She sat thinking for quite a while. The folder lay unopened on her desk. Something didn’t add up. She’d never been told this blatantly to make up a story before. She wondered if this is what respectable journalism had become in the latter part of the second decade of the twenty-first century. For half a second, she wondered if the universities had started teaching ‘Hit Piece Journalism 101’ in the five years since she’d left.
With a sigh of resignation, she opened the folder and began to read. There wasn’t a lot of detail inside. Much of what she read just confirmed what had already been explained to her. There were a few sheets of information about the company and what it made along with a table showing the published results of the company for the past five years. All in all, there wasn’t much data at all to be going on with. The change in financial fortunes were there in front of her in black and white. Perhaps it was down to nefarious dealings or perhaps for once in a blue moon, there was nothing bad with the company at all and that all it needed was a change in leadership? She realised that didn’t know much at all at that point.
Kim started a new folder on her laptop and then began to research the company and if possible the people behind it.
A quick search of the Companies House records revealed that the company was not quoted on any exchange. This confirmed what her Editor had said. That also meant that the amount of financial information that has to be reported is quite small. That meant that a lot of guesses had been made in the preparation of the table. From past experiences, she knew that they could just as well be right as wrong.
A few hours more work and Kim realised that the financial data that she’d been given was almost totally wrong. Something wasn’t right with the data and the reporter in her told her to put all that to one side for later. By the end of the day, she was determined to get to the bottom of the story good or bad. There was an itch that needed to be scratched.
She went home to prepare to go away on assignment with that itch getting a bit bigger the more that she thought about the job.
[the following Tuesday in Kings Lynn]
After a lot of dithering about what to wear which for Kim was very unusual, she decided on a pair of black trousers and matching jacket with a light-yellow top underneath. A pair of black flats and she was done.
By the time she reached her car, she regretted wearing those shoes as they were brand new and were already rubbing her heel. She looked at her watch.
“Shit,” she muttered to herself.
There was no time to go back and change them. She carried on hoping that she could get through the next few hours without them hurting her heel too much.
Right on time, she arrived at the factory where the company was based. She mentally smiled as she was able to park in a ‘visitors’ spot that had just been vacated. The rest of the car park was pretty full. To her this was a sign of a place of work not where evil deeds were being carried out. Then she thought, ‘perhaps it was all an elaborate hoax and indeed all sorts of nefarious and therefore illegal operations were being carried out inside at that very moment’?
With a hopefully not too plastic smile on her face, she went into reception.
“Hello, my name is Kim Greene. I have an interview at ten?”
“Oh yes Ms Greene. We are expecting you,” said the receptionist.
Kim looked around the reception area. Nothing looked out of place yet apparently something was going on here since the current Managing Director and his backers had bought the company for what looked like a pittance as it was supposedly on the verge of bankruptcy and turned it around in financial terms quite dramatically.
She’d read the briefing notes countless times before heading to Kings Lynn from London. There were a lot of lingering doubts about what she was getting into in Kim’s mind. This was not the sort of story that she normally covered but put those to the back of her mind given the frankly harrowing time she’d had with her last story. She reasoned that perhaps she needed a simple, in, get the story and out again operation but even as she told herself that, she knew that it wasn’t right. There was a lot more to this story than the notes revealed. It was up to her to expose it for the world to judge.
Even so, she felt that there wasn’t much of a story let alone one for the front page on a future edition of the paper. But, once again, she had to look at both sides of the coin. The word ‘Hoax’ came into her mind once more. If this was a den of iniquity, then this façade would be the perfect cover for their operations.
Any further musings had to be curtailed because she was called into the office of the Managing Director, Brian West.
“Please take a seat Ms Green,” said the MD as he closed the door behind Kim.
“Thanks,” replied Kim hoping to sound a bit nervous.
Her first impression was if this man was a master criminal then she was a Monkey’s Aunt. Then her second thought was that appearances could be deceptive.
[half an hour later]
“I have one last question for you. Why are you leaving London? The best salary we can offer is considerably lower than your current position at Chelsea and Fulham Vintners.”
“I’m a country girl at heart and London is just so noisy, busy and the pollution is pretty awful so I’m looking at getting out before I get stuck and unable to move away. Jobs that aren’t in the tourist industry are few and far between where I grew up in Cornwall so this seemed like a good as place as any to see what life was like outside the Capital.”
Brian West smiled and nodded his head.
“I don’t think I have any more questions Kim. Do you have any of your own?”
Kim paused for a second or so before asking.
“I was wondering about the dress code? If I came to work here, it would be useful to know things like that before I arrive for my first day.”
Brian West smiled at her.
“Certainly,” he replied and opened a folder that was sitting on his desk.
As he handed Kim a single sheet of paper he commented.
“Here you go. It is pretty simple really. It is all the work of the staff not the management. It is also from before my time in the hot seat, as well. It was working well so there really was no need to change it when I took over the running of the company.”
The last part of his statement startled Kim. She’d never encountered a policy like that before.
She glanced at the sheet. It all seemed fairly sensible.
She folded the sheet in two and put it into her handbag.
“How long before I can expect to hear about the job?” she asked.
Brian smiled.
“How about now? When can you start?”
Again, Kim was startled by his directness.
“Eh?”
“I said earlier that I don’t like sit on the fence when it comes to making decisions. I’ve made one. I like what you have said and how you have presented yourself which are far better than the other candidates… Can you start either Friday or on Monday or do you need some more time to consider the position?”
As he said those words, he pushed an envelope across the desk towards Kim.
“The full job offer is inside. It says pretty well everything we have discussed so there should not be any surprises.”
Kim was shocked by his directness. She’d never had a job interview like it.
“Can I think about it for a day or so?”
Brian smiled.
“Naturally but don’t leave it too long. But, as I said, when I decide to make changes, I generally like to execute them quickly and smoothly.”
Kim smiled and stood up.
“I won’t. I’ll let you know by close of business tomorrow.”
“That will be perfect,” replied Brian as he put out his hand.
Kim was momentarily startled.
She shook his hand. It was firm but not overly so.
“Until tomorrow then?” said Brian.
“Yes.”
Kim returned to the small one-bedroom flat that had been rented for her by the paper and sat thinking for quite a while. She ignored at least six calls to her phone and even more text messages.
In the end, she switched the cursed thing off and after putting on her coat and grabbing her bag, she left the flat and walked the half mile or so to the Railway Station and bought a ticket to London and luckily, she was just in time to get the next service to Kings Cross.
Upon arrival in London, Kim went straight into the Newspaper Offices and after a bit of badgering, she got a few minutes with her Editor, Sandy Wilson.
‘Hi Sandy,” said Kim trying to sound cheerful and positive as she was ushered into his office.
“Don’t you ever answer your phone? Or look at your messages?”
“Not last night I didn’t. I was trying to think and piece things together. I did have a job interview to go to today if you remember?”
“Oh good. Does that mean that you have the story already?”
“No, I don’t and there may well not be one. Either way, it is far too early to say. I spent less than an hour in the plant and only in the offices at that.”
“Don’t give me that. There is always a story. If we are short of a few things then we just invent them.”
“That’s just it, Sandy. There is at this point in time no story and we have to consider that there never was and that the turnaround was just good business.”
“Gone over to the dark side already?”
“No! I have not gone over to the dark side as you put it. I’ve met the MD, Brian West and he struck me as a pretty honest direct sort of person.”
“Honest? Really. That’s a load of crap and you know it. No businessman is truly honest. Well, none of those who run decent sized businesses or turn around a company that lost a cool five million into a profit of nearly ten million in under two years. No way. He’s crooked and I want his head on our front page and soon.”
“I’m trying to look at both sides of the situation which is what a proper reporter does or have you forgotten the rules of objectivity now that you are in charge?”
“Kim… Objectivity in the British Press died the day people like Robert Maxwell and Rupert Murdoch and the like took over the media.”
Kim shook her head.
“If you do invent even one word and add it to my story then I don’t want my by-line anywhere near it. Understand?”
“Yeah, yeah,” remarked Sandy.
“I’m just trying… I’m trying to understand why this man? This Company? Have they done something to you? You never gave me the full details of what made you decide to target this what could turn out to be a perfectly innocuous company. Well, what about it?”
Sandy looked hard at Kim.
He sighed.
“Very well. This does not leave the building understand?”
“Ok.”
Sandy got up from his desk and went to a locked filing cabinet. After unlocking it, he opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a green folder.
“I want this back within the hour. Understand!”
“I understand,” replied Kim.
“No giving it to my secretary either. You are to bring it back before four thirty. After that I’ll be in meetings to plan the supplement for the week after next.”
“Ok boss. Message understood.”
Kim took the folder to her desk and after getting a Coffee and a Chocolate bar which would have to do as a poor substitute for a very late Lunch, she began to read the documents that it contained. The reasons for the investigation soon became clear. Now she knew why it was on the hit list but didn’t think that it was justified or ethical.
As the word ‘ethical’ crossed her mind, she shuddered and remembered Sandy’s word of just a few minutes before.
What little ethics existed in British Journalism had pretty well gone the way of the Dodo by the time of Robert Maxwell. Rupert Murdoch and his ilk had just finished off the job of burying it for good. Now it was dog eat dog and papers did the bidding of their owners in ways that even Lord Beaverbrook would have found distasteful. Most of the daily papers were in her opinion very right wing. It was left to a few Sunday only papers to carry the flag for investigative journalism but this story seemed to possibly sound the death knell for even what little was left.
After a second read of the folder, it didn’t take very long for Kim realise that the reason for her investigation went far beyond what had been told to her at the outset or even what was in the documents in front of her. There were clearly several other actors in play here but at that point in time, she had no idea who they were.
She was troubled by the fact that it was obvious that there was a lot more to this than even what the papers in the folder were saying. What they said all made perfect sense but as had been hammered into her as an undergraduate, there are always at least two sides to every story. None of those other sides had made themselves known at that point in time.
Her initial research into the company in Kings Lynn had told her a certain amount about them and how they worked. The information in the folder had added to it but only slightly. It was full of inferences rather than real hard facts. It was the sources of those inferences that intrigued her. They were noticeable by their redaction. They were there but the originals had been redacted with a black marker and she was looking at a copy. She felt that there was someone else pulling the strings both at the paper and possibly at the company in Kings Lynn. One thing was clear and that those strings were being pulled by different people.
She sat back at her desk and thought for a while. She remembered what one of her University Lecturers saying about building a story. He used the saying ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’. He went on to say that it could be re-written as ‘every identifiable source has a reason to be identified’ and also ‘a reason to not to be identified’. In other words, ‘every picture has many sides and just as many ways of looking at it’. He recent story had been successful because she looked at it in a different way from others.
A picture of the story was starting to form in her mind and at that point in time, it was most certainly not the one that the paper wanted.
On her way back to her Editors office to return the folder, she visited the Ladies toilet. As far as she knew, there were no security camera’s in there. Once she was sitting in a cubicle, she used her phone and photographed every piece of documentation that was in the folder. Then she uploaded it to her private cloud service before deleting every image from the phone. If someone at the paper was hiding something then Kim wanted to cover her backside in the event of things going pear-shaped.
“Thanks for the folder,” Kim said to Sandy Wilson a few minutes later.
“Did it answer your questions?”
“Sort of… There are still lots to find out which is why I need to get back to Norfolk and accept the job offer.”
Sandy just smiled.
“Don’t let me delay you any longer. Don’t forget to report in every other day. Remember Kim, the clock is ticking and there is an empty front page with your name on it.”
“I won’t,” replied Kim as she forced a smile onto her face.
For the first time since Sandy had taken over as Editor, Kim felt rather unclean after the encounter with him. The fairly slow train journey back to Kings Lynn allowed all sorts of thoughts and feelings to pass through her mind and body. This was something that she’d never experienced before on an assignment.
As the train slowed for its final stop in Kings Lynn, she was in no doubt that there was more to this than met the eye. She laughed at herself. She’d lost count of the number of times just that day that she’d said those very words to herself.
Quite what that was had piqued her interest she wasn’t entirely sure but it was more than enough for the time being.
[to be continued]
“Welcome to the company Kim,” said Brian as Kim walked into the building the following Friday Morning.
Kim was a little startled to see the Managing Director, Brian West sitting at the reception desk.
He saw her the look of bewilderment on her face.
“Our usual receptionist Joanne, is at the Dentists. She should be back in an hour or so and Lesley is on holiday today. Her eldest son is competing in an athletics event in Birmingham this weekend. So… here I am. At least I’m here to greet you in person,” said Brian smiling.
“Oh! I get it. Having to fill in for others is part and parcel of working for a smallish company.”
“Exactly.”
“Now that you are here, I can begin by going over your duties in detail as my assistant. Lesley will be back on Monday so you can start the handover from her. I’ll miss her but as the business has grown, I need someone as an assistant who is not tied down by a family.”
“You are not sacking her, are you?” asked Kim remembering something about a pregnancy in her briefing notes.
Brian smiled.
“Oh no. Far from it. I helped her get a job at a company in Sheringham, for after she has had her baby. It is a lot nearer to her home and offers flexible hours so everyone wins.”
What Brian had said was, if true totally against the description she’d read of how he ran the business in the documentation provided by the paper. Those few simple words if true had really swung the pendulum of ‘story/no story’ well over to the ‘no story’ side. Either way, someone somewhere was not telling the truth.
“I understand. I would not feel right in replacing someone like that.”
“I totally agree. It isn’t fair all round but you can ask her yourself on Monday when she is handing over to you about how she feels about leaving.”
Then Brian added,
“Why don’t you go on through into the main office and hang up your coat. Lesley has had a desk setup for you for the duration of the handover. She left a load of documents for you before she left last night. It is mostly Health and Safety stuff I’m afraid, but they need to be read and one copy signed for our records. You will soon discover that Hinder and Stop rules are a bugbear we all have to live with. A necessary evil of Industry I’m afraid.”
“Oh, and the coffee pot is full, or it was an hour ago if you want some.”
Kim smiled.
“Can I bring you one?”
“Not for a while. I’m trying to limit my caffeine intake a bit. I’ll have one at lunchtime though.”
Kim wandered into the office where she’d be working. A second desk had been added since her last visit. After hanging up her coat she sat down and picked up a folder that was lying on the desk.
She started reading a document but her mind was not on it even 1%. All the information that had been fed to her said that Brian West was really a tyrant who treated his staff badly and would do anything to appear to make money from the operation.
So far, Kim had to accept that this was not the case. Far from it. More like totally the opposite.
After a bit of effort, she went back to reading the documents. Most of it was exceedingly boring but as Brian had said, she needed to sign one of the two copies. She read that she needed to put on protective glasses and footwear if she went onto the shop floor during normal business hours and that all injuries at work, even the most minor ones need to be logged. It was all pretty standard stuff.
Kim had been in the office for almost two hours before Brian appeared with Joanne.
“How was visit to the dentists?” asked Kim.
“Not bad but I hate going. At least it was just the Hygienist this time.”
“Yeah. The Dentists in one of my least favourite places to visit even on a good day,” echoed Kim.
With the introductions over, Joanne grabbed a cup of Coffee and headed back to reception.
“Joanne does a lot of the typing of letters for me. I’m a bit old school in that department I’m afraid. I find it quicker to dictate them than to type them myself. I’m not the world’s greatest when it comes to keyboard with more than one finger,” admitted Brian.
“Sometimes it is better to write something and then review it later. You find all sorts of errors in documents that way,” replied Kim.
Brian smiled.
“Yeah. That way of working has saved me a few major foopahs in the past.”
“I’ve read all the HR documents and signed them,” said Kim changing the subject.
“It is always good to get them out of the way sooner rather than later. I’ll get the production schedules and we can go over them before lunch. We have a major new product line coming on stream in a few months and we have to manage the change-over from the old to the new. It is in effect a totally new area of business for us and involves a lot of technology that is new to many people here.”
This was news to Kim. Once again, the background information she’d received before starting on the assignment was nowhere near being accurate enough.
At the end of her first day, Kim went home to her flat in the town even more convinced that she was on a wild goose chase.
The feeling of a wild goose chase deepened almost every day the following week.
The charges of product plagiarism and possible money laundering seemed totally farcical. So were the claims about mistreating the employees. She’d spent almost half a day in the R&D department and unless her eyes were deceiving her they were developing a new leading-edge system right there in front of her. As for the money side of things although, she wasn’t a forensic accountant everything tallied at least for the previous three months. Everyone in the company were highly motivated and their increase in productivity was right there in the figures for all to see.
She reported by email to her editor every other day but by the end of the week, she was running out of new things to say.
Kim emailed off a full weekly report to her editor late Friday evening. She’d written it at least ten times before she finally sent it with a final flourish.
The words ‘wild goose chase’ appeared several times in the early drafts of her report. Later revisions used a less direct form of saying the same thing.
She wasn’t sure how it would be received in London but it was done and she had decided that she would stand by what she’d written after all, it was the truth. She fully expected to be pulled off the story over the weekend.
What she wasn’t expecting was a phone call at 01:23 the next morning. Kim knew this because her phone was on the bedside cabinet right next to a LED Clock.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hello Sandy. Do you know what time it is?”
“Yes. I wrote it after all. What I wrote was the truth. This whole thing is a load of shit. Someone is out to stitch someone up for reasons other than wrongdoing. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to so far.”
Sandy went ballistic. He let rip down the phone.
“Are you done?” asked Kim when he’d run out of steam.
“No, I won’t retract it. How many exposes have I done for the Paper? And how many were based on lies? Don’t bother answering. The answer is none. I have some integrity. That’s my by-line and I don’t intend to deviate from that now. People see my name on a piece they know that it is the truth. You have backed me up in the past so why not now?”
“Yeah, pressure from above? Who exactly above Henk or is that beyond your pay grade?”
“No, I can’t make it on Monday. I’m going to Germany with Mr West on business and I won’t be back until late.”
“Why? Well, we are meeting with one of the company’s biggest customers to discuss a huge increase in orders. I need to go so that I can hopefully get to the bottom of which of the competitors wants the knife put into this company. That good enough for you?”
“I said I would not be back until late on Monday. Our flight does not land until just before ten in the evening.”
“We are flying into Norwich Airport from Schiphol. Changing my flights to use London City or Heathrow would be very suspicious if not impossible. Then there is the small fact that I won’t be taking my car to the Airport. Let’s make it Wednesday. I’ll come into the office and you can read me the riot act in person although I’m just doing my job to the best of my ability.”
“No Sandy I’m not coming down to London this weekend. I’m going to a wedding tomorrow… sorry this afternoon in Edinburgh.”
She looked at the clock and did a mental sigh.
“Speaking of which, I really do need to get back to sleep. I have a train to catch from Peterborough just after eight. That means leaving here just after six thirty.”
“Sorry Sandy. Goodnight.”
Kim hung up the phone and immediately switched it into ‘flight mode’ and tried to get back to sleep. It didn’t worry her one little bit that she’d lied to her boss. There was no wedding in Edinburgh or anywhere else that she was going to attend. She just wanted time to think.
Further sleep proved elusive for Kim and not long after dawn she gave up and got out of bed. Once she was dressed she left her home and went for a drive in her car.
There wasn’t much traffic at that early hour and she found herself on the coast road heading towards Hunstanton. She felt her body give a little shiver when she saw the sign telling her that she’d arrived in the seaside town. She had memories of several family outings to the place as a young child. All she could remember was how cold the place was even on a very hot day. She recalled playing on the beach as a child fully dressed in the middle of August. Then she remembered going for a paddle and lasting less than a minute because the water was so cold. Those thoughts caused her to shudder. That was the last holiday they’d had before… before her father had died.
With one final shudder at the memories, she carried on around the coast towards Cromer. Almost immediately, she felt warmer. As she was passing through one small coastal village, she saw a man wheeling a barrow of mussels across the road. This piqued her interest so she stopped.
There was a small shop attached to the building. Kim headed towards it only to find that it was shut.
This prompted her to look at her watch. That was her ‘Doh!’ moment of the day. She got back into her car and looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was telling her that it was just a few minutes after seven. That explained the lack of traffic and movement of people in general.
Kim sat in her car and began to cry.
She felt so out of her depth here. It was obvious now that there were powerful forces and people involved with this whole thing. It had been staring her right in the face for days but the reaction of her editor to her report proved to her that the outcome of her work was already decided and nothing she could say or do would alter that.
It hurt her to think that she’d fallen right into this virtual trap hook line and sinker.
What hurt her even more was that she had absolutely no idea about how to not only get out of it and to make sure that none of the people she’d been working with for the last week didn’t get hurt.
Eventually, Kim got herself back into some sort of near normal state. The rumbling of her stomach told her that she had missed breakfast so she went in search of a Café.
A few miles along the coast she saw some signs advertising a Craft Market in the small town of Burnham Market. There would be somewhere to get something to eat there so with renewed determination, she headed for the market.
A delicious cup of coffee and a large bacon sandwich proved just the job and Kim wandered around the market in a much better frame of mind. She even bought a few things. A bit of retail therapy really helped her get her mind into some sort of order.
It was after midday by the time she reached her flat in Kings Lynn. There were fifteen missed calls and a similar number of messages on her phone. Normally, she would have dealt with them there and then but today, she decided that they could wait.
After a quick wash and brush of her hair, she left her home and went out. Unlike her dawn wandering along the coast, this time she was on a mission.
During her breakfast in Burnham Market, she had decided to come clean to her boss, Brian West. She knew that he lived with his two children in the small village of Rougham, which was about ten miles to the east of Kings Lynn. She wasn’t sure where he lived but she hoped that she’d see his car parked outside the house.
After a bit of searching and getting lost in the narrow Norfolk lanes, Kim found Brian’s home. Kim parked her car in the drive behind his and got out. After taking a deep breath and composing herself, she walked up to the front door and rang the bell. She heard it ring from somewhere inside the house. Kim waited for a bit but no one came to answer the door. As she waited, she realised that she could hear laughter coming from behind the house so before she chickened out she walked around to the rear of the cottage.
She saw Brian and stopped dead in her tracks. Kim realised that this was not the Brian she worked with. Here he was at home and with his children. He was attending to a Barbeque. Then. This was a totally different person to the one she’d spent hours if not days with over the past week.
At the same moment Brian saw her. He smiled and waved for her to come into the garden.
Any hope of escaping was gone so she walked over to where he was cooking the food. Kim was totally unsure about what to do next. All the plans that she’d gone over in her mind disappeared in a puff of smoke the moment she saw him.
“Hello Kim,” said Brian without a care in the world.
“Hungry?”
Kim was dumbstruck. She was totally lost for words.
She nodded her head.
“Good. Let’s get us both something to eat and then we can talk. I guess that is why you are here isn’t it?”
Once again, Kim was lost for words. All she could do was nod her head.
[to be continued]
“Cat got your tongue Kim?” asked Brian as he dished up some food fresh off the Barbeque.
“N… No…” stuttered Kim.
“Welcome to our home. That’s Roberta or Bobby for short on the swing and Monica giving her younger sister a push.”
“But…”
“Oh,” remarked Brian.
“I guess that you are wondering about how I’m dressed?”
“Y… Yes I am.”
Brian smiled.
“When I’m at home I like to dress like this at weekends.”
He was wearing a flowery dress that came down to mid-calf. On his feet were a pair of wedge sandals.
“Before, you ask, I’ve been wearing women’s clothes since I was about ten years old. I just love the colours and choices. It gets pretty boring being a man in business. I also hate wearing suits which is one of the big drawbacks of not working in Academia. Wearing something like this allows me to switch off entirely from work.”
“Y… you look very nice,” replied Kim.
“Bollocks and you know it so if I may be brutally honest Kim, I look like a man in a dress so cut the crap with the comments. I am what I am and that’s fine. I just love wearing bright colours and wearing a skirt or a dress gives me a feeling that nothing I could wear as a man could give but I expect you know that…”
Kim was really a trouser sort of person. She tried to remember the last time she’d worn a dress or a skirt for pleasure. It was a long time since she’d done that. As for high heels… She and them didn’t mix yet here was Brian walking in a pair of cork wedges with a 5in heel as if he wore them every day. The thought that ‘sometimes life sucks’ went through her head.
Brian called out,
“Grub up Kids!”
Kim was introduced to his children by Brian. As he did so, she could feel them looking her over as if they were wondering if she was going to date their father. Kim knew that he’d divorced a few years previously and it appeared that there was no other woman in his life at that point in time. She wondered if his dressing was one of the reasons why an attractive and on the surface successful man would not be dating someone. Then she thought that it might be the fact that he had two children. They could be a big downer when it came to starting a new long-term relationship.
Brian dished up a plate of food for Kim and then did one for himself. He led her to a small table where they sat down. The children had taken theirs close to a small paddling pool. They were clearly enjoying the warm weather. Kim almost wished that she was right in there with them. She’d been an only child so had not had the chance to mess around in a pool with a sibling.
“There is some beer in the cooler behind you,” said Brian as she became aware of where she was once more.
“Could you get me one?” he added.
Kim turned and opened the cooler. She pulled out two bottles of Adnams’ ‘Ghost Ship’.
Brian opened the bottles.
“Cheers!” he said as if nothing had happened.
Kim tasted the beer. It was different to other beers that she’d had and was sure that she had never drunk it before. It tasted nice and had lemony overtones which she found unusual but very refreshing. Kim also made a mental note to make sure that she would only have one as she was driving.
Kim used to think that she could read people but she’d totally lost the plot when it came to Brian.
“Other than how I’m dressed, what was it that brought you here in this lovely day?”
“It wasn’t how you are dressed although that is an interesting point, I need to come clean,” said Kim after a short hesitation.
“Oh, about you being a journalist for the Sunday Herald?”
If Kim had been standing up, you could have knocked her down with a feather.
“Yes… but?”
“I employed you and have shown you everything about the company. And… you have come to the fairly obvious conclusion, that there really isn’t a story to be had until you came around the back of my home. Is that about it?”
Kim felt like she was back at school and about to be told to go and sit on the naughty step.
“I feel like such a fool,” muttered Kim.
“A fool who had been suckered into something that is just crazy.”
“Don’t feel bad. It seems to me that you have been setup to fail.”
Kim had to agree with that.
“It looks that way,” she admitted.
“There are other actors in play here that as they say on TV, ‘above your pay grade’.”
“I think that I’d better leave. You seem to know everything that there is to know about why I’m here…”
Brian smiled.
“Far from it Kim. There is a lot that you don’t know and then there is the question of what you are going to do next?”
“Eh?”
“Given the fairly volatile nature of the Media and especially the press, it does not take a genius to realise that you will more than likely find yourself out of a job if you return to London without a story. Then, it does not take very much searching on the internet, to reach the conclusion that your employers are cutting costs and your paper is going downmarket very, very fast. That sort of publication really does not need investigative reporters like you. Am I right so far?”
A stunned Kim just nodded her head. That was about all she could do as her mouth was full with a really delicious Lamb Kofta.
“To me, that means that in the future they’ll get the majority of stories just by monitoring social media and having a few stringers out and about just waiting for celebrities to be caught doing something they shouldn’t. The only people with a future will be sports reporters and that even they could be on the endangered list as more and more stringers with smartphones get into the business. That’s the way of the world these days I’m afraid. However, it does mean that you are already or could be surplus to requirements. To me that says that if you don’t come up with the goods, you will be let go. Have I summed the situation up as you see it?”
Kim felt herself go red in the face. She couldn’t look at Brian. Her gaze went everywhere but towards him.
“What’s up?”
“Eh? I’m looking for the naughty step,” she said desperately trying to look for an even slightly dignified exit.
Brian laughed.
“There is no need for one. But the question remains. What is it that you want to do next?”
“Eh? I don’t follow?”
“Do you want the unique chance to put one over on your employers for screwing you up over this assignment?”
Kim thought for several seconds before replying.
“I’m not sure what I can do? You seem to hold all five Aces, don’t you? My pair of two’s is hardly worth anything now is it?”
Brian took another swig from the beer bottle. Kim hadn’t touched hers after the first swig.
“Was one of the questions that you were asked to investigate was possible money laundering?”
“Yes. How do you know that?”
“That’s simple but let me ask you another question. Your editor also wanted to know how I turned the company around and made it very profitable again?”
“He did want to know exactly that.”
“Unfortunately, the answer is a mixture of both simple and complex components. I don’t think that I can answer everything that you want to know here and now. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I can explain it all but I can’t prove it. For that I’m going to need the help of some other people. The success of the company that you have seen the inner workings of is down to the people working for me and the trust and support of some people who prefer to remain in the background. Without all of us there would be no company left by now. It would have gone to the wall well over a year ago.”
Brian finished his beer and stood up.
“Enjoy the beer, I need to make a couple of phone calls. I shouldn’t be long.”
Before Kim could answer Brian disappeared into the house.
Kim looked around and saw Brian’s children enjoying themselves in the paddling pool. Their pet dog, a long-haired terrier was getting a bath. At that moment, Kim decided that Brian was right and that she wanted to get her own back on her bosses in London.
Almost ten minutes later, Brian returned.
“Have you got anything important lined up for the rest of the weekend? Before we go to Germany on Monday that is?”
“Eh? No, I’m not. All I had on my mind was coming here, telling you the truth and then heading back to London with my tail very much between my legs.”
Brian smiled.
“Well, you have done the first part. What about the rest of the weekend?”
“Not a lot really. I made some excuse to my editor that I was going to Edinburgh for the weekend when he called me in the early hours so I don’t have anything vital to do. It is probably just as well as my brain is all mush at the moment and will probably need the rest of the weekend to recover. As for going to Germany? Do you still want me to go with you?”
Brian laughed.
“I like the very good use of the word ‘mush’. I must remember that. As for going to Germany, if what I have in mind for the weekend works out, it will be the icing on the cake so to speak. Yes, I really do want you to come with me to Germany.”
“Ok but I still have no idea what you want from me and where we are going? Before going to Germany if I’m reading between the lines of what you are saying to me?”
Brian gave her a smile that made her go all fuzzy inside.
“We have a plane to catch. The flight leaves at seven this evening. As you are coming to Germany with me, I know that you have valid passport. However, do you have a valid US ESTA visa waiver thingy?”
“Me? Yes, I do but why?”
“If you really want to get to the bottom of the reason for you being here then we are going to have to go to New York. Luckily for us, the people who are really behind this operation are gathered in one place for a few days.”
Kim sat there stunned. So much for getting her mind straightened out. It was even more ‘mushy’ now.”
“I’ve booked us two seats on the last flight of the day out of Heathrow to JFK.”
Kim was visibly shocked.
“But, what about going to Germany on Monday?”
“If all goes well then we will still get to see the people in Germany on Monday. Provided that our return flight is on time then we can easily make the connection to Dusseldorf.”
Then he chuckled to himself.
“Now that I think about it, that visit may well turn out even more appropriate than I’d originally planned.”
Kim’s mind was all a tizzy. For several seconds, she just sat there. For the second time that day, she couldn’t focus on anything in particular. She just felt helpless.
After a bit of a struggle. She replied.
“Ok. I’m game but I’m still very much in the dark.”
Brian smiled.
“That’s why you need to hear the truth directly from the people involved. These people don’t mess about and as you have been with me, they will give it to you straight. No PR Speak, no denials through lawyers. None of that. The principle player is a very plain-speaking man. He hates people who prevaricate and people caught lying to him get shown the door in a flash.”
Before Kim could answer, Brian added.
“It is also time for me to come clean. I’ve actually followed your career for some time. You have demonstrated an ability to sort out the facts from the lies, bluster, innuendo and downright fakery. The piece you did on modern slavery made me and a lot of people sit up and take note of you.”
“Just do that again and you will get the real story. Then you can make up your own mind about what I’ve done and not done. When you are clear in your own mind then we can talk again about what to do next. Do you agree with that plan?”
Kim’s admiration of Brian had risen considerably. He was calm and collected when other people could well have blown their top. She still felt rather used by both sides but he was offering her a way out.
“How will we get to Heathrow? It is nearly two already?”
“Our flight is just before eight so we need to be at the Airport by six so we have an hour to get things together at this end. I don’t want to have to face the M25 traffic so I’ll organise a car to take us to Peterborough. We can take the train to London. Then is it the Tube and Heathrow Express.”
“What about your children?”
Brian smiled.
“My neighbour will look after them. She is their mother after all.”
Kim was stunned again. Another revelation that would make great tabloid headlines even if there was no real substance to the supposed story but, she would not be the one to tell them.
“Say something?” asked Brian.
Kim realised that she’d been staring into space again.
“Sorry. I was miles away.”
“And we have to be miles away very soon. The clock is ticking.”
Kim suddenly stood up.
“I’d better get off home and pack.”
She took two steps and stopped.
“What sort of clothes should I take if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Do you have something like this?” replied Brian indicating the dress he was wearing.
“We will be meeting some people for Lunch tomorrow and if I know them at all, we’ll be eating outside provided it isn’t raining naturally. Our Host is giving a sort of a garden party in the afternoon. More than a few well-known people will be attending that event but it will be lunchtime where you will get all the best contacts. We can’t stay long after four as we have a plane to catch.”
Kim’s face told Brian that his request was going to be a problem.
“Is this going to be a problem?”
“I have to be honest and say, ‘I really don’t have anything to wear’ that will be suitable for a garden party. I’ve never been to anything like that before…”
This didn’t throw Brian in the slightest.
“Then we shall have to stop off at the Mall on our way to Lunch in the morning, then won’t we?”
Then he reached out and took Kim’s hand. She was about to take it away but just in time she realised that it was nothing more than a move of re-assurance.
“I know that this is all a bit of a shock and there is a lot to take in all in one go but I think that by the time we get back here on Monday evening, you will have a much better picture of a whole raft of things. Then you will hopefully be in a much better position to decide what you want to do next.”
He gave her hand a little squeeze before letting it go.
“I’d better get off home.”
“I’ll pick you up in an hour from now. Ok?”
“Yes. That will be fine.”
Kim heard Brian call out as she turned the corner of the house,
“Don’t forget your passport!”
Why would the apparently so secretive company have opened up like this so easily? Her boss, Brian had known about her mission from the start yet was opening up to her without issue. Something was not right. It was her chance to get to the bottom of things but words like ‘being led up the garden path’ were never that far from her mind.
With that bit of positivity in her mind, Kim stood up and started to pack an overnight bag always keeping one eye on the clock.
After all her initial dithering she hadn’t realised how much time had passed. After a slight moment of panic, she carried on packing. Kim had only just closed up the small case that she was taking with her as Brian’s taxi drew up outside.
Kim breathed a sigh of relief as she gathered her coat, handbag and case and headed down the stairs to where Brian was waiting. Halfway down the stairs, she stopped. In another brief moment of panic, Kim checked once again that she had her Passport with her. It was there in her handbag along with some twenty-four dollars which remained from a boozy weekend she gone on the previous year. It was her cousin Zoe’s stag party and for some reason she’d said yes to flying to Vegas, getting rat arsed, playing a load of slot machines and flying home again in four days. It had taken her another four days to recover.
Kim took a deep breath before continuing down the stairs.
As she emerged from the building, Kim saw Brian’s smiling face. She wondered once again if she was being a total plonker in doubting his intentions.
Putting her best foot forward, she put on a brave face and got into the waiting car still wondering what the hell was going on. She was well and truly outside her comfort zone.
[to be continued]
“Well, we made it,” said Brian as they walked into Terminal 5 at Heathrow a few minutes after 6pm that Saturday Evening.
Kim didn’t say much. She hadn’t had much time alone with Brian since he’d picked her up at her home some three hours earlier. For one thing, her lack of sleep the previous night didn’t help. She wasn’t looking forward to delaying getting to bed for another eight or nine hours especially after being in a crowded aircraft and suffering the horrendously uncomfortable seats.
Suddenly, she became a lot more alert as Brian steered them towards the Business Class Check-in.
“We can get some sleep on the flight. You look as if you need some,” he commented.
Kim just grunted her agreement. Her mind was totally on getting some sleep-in preparation for the garden party that Brian was taking her to the next day.
Both of them managed to get at least a few hours of sleep on the flight but having to get up and go through US Immigration and Customs at what was effectively the early hours of the morning according to their body clocks was not the best way of starting a new day.
Nevertheless, they both cleared the last bit of ‘officialdom’ and walked out of the terminal into a warm and humid New York night. Brian hailed a cab which took them to their Hotel on Long Island.
Just before 02:00 local time, Kim said goodnight to Brian and went into her room. She literally fell onto the bed fully clothed and fell asleep. She remained there until Brian knocked on her door some six hours later.
“Go away,” she called out.
“Kim? Breakfast in half an hour,” came a voice from beyond the door.
Kim didn’t say anything. She just remained on the bed with her eyes tightly shut. Eventually, the call of nature intervened and she had to move.
When she saw the haggard face in the mirror she recoiled in horror.
“Enough!” she cried.
“Good morning, Kim,” he said as she sat down.
“It isn’t morning and it isn’t good,” came her grumpy reply.
Brian chuckled.
“I take it that you didn’t sleep very well then?”
“I slept all night but I was still wearing the clothes I travelled in…”
“You really were pretty dead on your feet by the time we got here.”
“Well, it was some ungodly hour wasn’t it? Plus, I’d not had much sleep the night before thanks to my editor calling me in the small hours.”
“Humph!” replied Brian with a grin on his face.
Kim was beginning to understand Brian’s body language but this time, his reaction totally confused her.
“How does this look?” asked Kim as she tried on the fourth dress in the Nieman Marcus department store.
“That’s more you,” replied Brian.
She could see that he was enjoying her trials and tribulations of getting a dress suitable for the next four or five hours. She could not see herself ever wearing it again but it did look nice. The price was nice as well. She did a quick conversion from USD to GBP. The price tag was more than three hundred pounds but Brian was paying for it which made it a little more palatable. She’d never spent more than one hundred pounds on any item of clothing in her life. Her usual haunts were more at the Primark/Matalan price level than the decidedly up market store they were now in.
She managed a smile before saying,
“I’ll take it.”
Then they moved to the shoe department and the game began all over again.
With the purchases made, she headed for the Ladies Restroom to get changed and apply some makeup. She hoped that the bags under her eyes would be covered by the small amount of concealer that she’d brought with her. If they weren’t then there was little that she could do about it.
Putting some polish on her nails would have to wait for the cab ride. She only hoped that it wasn’t too bumpy.
Half an hour later, they walked out of the Mall ready for the meetings ahead. She’d spent another hundred and fifty pounds of Brian’s money on a pair of high heeled sandals. They were already playing havoc with her feet but she gritted her teeth and managed a smile whenever Brian looked in her direction.
He hailed a cab and gave the driver an address.
“That’s at the other end of Long Island. It will cost you?”
“That’s fine,” said Brian.
He gave the driver a fifty-dollar bill to make sure that he was interested in taking them to their destination.
Kim resisted asking Brian who they’d be meeting. She knew better than to talk shop in a cab, on a train, bus or plane. Instead she got him to hold the bottle of polish while she tried to put some on her nails. Her hand was shaking so much that Brian took pity on her and did it for her.
“I used to do this for my ex,” he muttered quietly.
It was soon evident that he was telling the truth. The end result was far better than she had ever done on the rare occasions that she wore anything but clear polish.
As the cab drove off, the front door of the house opened and a man of more mature years emerged.
“Brian! So glad that you could make it,” he said as he shook his hand.
“And you must be Kim. Brian has told me so much about you. Welcome.”
Kim looked a bit bewildered. The man standing in front of her was none other than Garth Samson. She guessed that he was possibly the tenth or eleventh richest person in the USA. He was worth billions, many, many billions. He was also a man that eschewed journalists with a vengeance.
“Mr… Mr Sansom, pleased to meet you,” stuttered Kim.
“Garth please. We are all friends here,” came his reply with a smile on his face.
“Come on through. Lunch is almost ready.”
Kim tried to remember if he had ever given an interview to a reporter. She singularly failed to recall one at direct quote from him in the past ten or so years. Then she had a bit of a panic attack as she wondered if Brian had told him about who she worked for?
After a deep breath, she followed him deeper into the house. It was getting a bit late to back out now.
They were led by their host through the huge house, and out into the back garden. The place was landscaped to within an inch of its life. Not a blade of grass was out of place and a weed would be asking for trouble if it dared poke it’s head above ground.
There were three women sitting at a table on a terrace waiting for them. Kim recognised one of them. She wondered why a former supermodel would be here.
“Kim, please meet Natalie Deschamps and this are her good friends and neighbours, Hélène Harris and her wife Isabelle.”
For the second time in as many minutes, Kim was struck dumb.
[1]
“Hi Brian,” said Hélène.
“We are glad that you could make it. It was fortunate that we were still in the country. We are going back to France tomorrow.”
“You must be Kim. We have been expecting you,” said Isabelle.
Kim felt totally out of her depth. These people were all A+ list celebrities. There were a lot of people at ‘The Herald’ who would give their right arms to be where she was standing right now. Getting an interview with Hélène Harris was… well an impossibility. The only in-depth interview she’d ever given was to her now wife. She almost pinched herself to see if she was still fast asleep in their Hotel.
Still in a daze, she sat down. Brian sat opposite her. Their host Garth, sat next to Kim.
“I don’t normally let Journalists set foot inside my home but Brian tells me that you are somewhat different. After his call yesterday, I looked up your bio and you have a reputation for getting to the truth. In this day and age of fake news, that is an admirable quality. It is a real shame that you work for the Sunday Herald. They have really gone down into the gutter these past few years since the previous owners sold out.”
He smiled at Kim who was still feeling totally out of her depth but she felt relieved to know that he’d done his homework on her.
“Don’t worry Kim these are all good friends of mine. I hope that you will become one as well given time.”
She’d already realised that Brian was well connected but had no idea that these were the people behind the company. Suddenly a load of things that had been a total mystery started to become an awful lot clearer.
Then she pinched herself for thinking like she was on an assignment. No one would believe her if she told them where she was and who she was with. She decided to enjoy the moment and not let the reporter in her cloud the day.
“I was a student of Hélène at Cambridge. She wrote a book on Mathematics in Production Engineering. I helped out a little bit with the research which earned me a Masters. When she revealed herself at the Oscars, I was there in the Audience as one of her guests. Garth was sitting in the row behind us with his late wife. Together, they rescued some of our party from the hordes of press who were acting more like a pack of wolves in the chaos at the end of the event. He was ever so kind to give us a lift to the Airport in his Limo. Ever since that night, we have all been friends.”
Kim looked at her host. She knew that Garth was infamous in his hostility to the press which made at least some sense given the group of people sitting around the table with her. Hélène had been the target of a lot of people after she’d come out to the world at the Oscars.
After that momentous evening, she’d simply disappeared off the face of the map after the event. As she ate her first course, she also remembered that she’d made a very brief few appearances on TV over the three or four years since that day but had remained an intensely private person. All requests for personal interviews had been firmly denied.
Then she realised that Garth was not much different from her when it came to privacy. Their being friends was not that strange once you knew the facts about their dislike of the media.
Brian carried on.
“Two years ago, I was working in Automotive Industry at a Formula 1 Racing Car company who had a base not far from Silverstone. My marriage was breaking up and I was bored trying to make a car go a tenth of a second faster every two weeks when Garth gave me a call out of the blue.”
He looked at Garth who took up the story.
“Brian got on the next flight out here much like you two did yesterday. He came to listen to a business proposal that Hélène had pitched to me. Naturally, Hélène wanted to keep out of the limelight as much as myself. These days, most of my investments are done on the quiet. I think you Brits have a very good expression for this. ‘Softly-Softly’ you call it which is far better than our ‘QT’. Anyway, the company that you both work for and that he is the boss off was about to come onto the market and Hélène here thought that it would be a great platform for the new safety system. A type of new black box but with a load of special stuff inside that makes it unique in the world. She’d designed it and built a prototype that when she showed me a video of a trial literally blew my socks off. It was all done in her spare time I might add yet she was still producing one Novel every twelve to fourteen months. Amazing.”
Then Hélène pitched in.
“I knew that with enough capital we… as in the three of us could buy the company and put the device into production. I also knew that an American company was working on something similar but were, to put it bluntly, years behind where I was. By years, I mean at least three or possibly four and that, if they got wind of what we were doing before we were ready to go public, they’d move heaven and earth to not only slow us down but make sure we never went public. Before you say that this is fantasy, the man behind that company has a well-documented but, as yet, unprovable record of doing just that in the past.”
Garth took his cue.
“The company in question is owned by a shell company based in the Bahamas, which in turn is owned by another that is based in some goddam tiny island in the Pacific. But, the real owner of this organisation and I have locked horns many times over the years. I know only too well from first-hand experience how he works. He has indeed cost me many millions over the years but that is not the issue here. Business is Business but their way of doing business is not business especially if it means Intellectual Property Theft and asset stripping in a big way. This thing, that Hélène has designed, has been protected by patent applications, but that won’t stop them from doing their utmost to stop us getting the device to market.”
Then he looked Kim right in the eyes.
“The thing is Kim, that company is also the one that owns the shell company in the Bahamas, that in turn owns your newspaper, the Sunday Herald.”
Lightbulbs started to go on in Kim’s mind. Her reaction was visible to everyone around the table.
“I guess from your reaction Kim, at least some of this starts to make sense?”
Kim just sat there wide eyed and not for the first, second or third time that weekend she was dumbstruck.
Brian carried on with the story.
“That weekend, we came up with a plan to buy the company and install me as the boss and then take over the development, production and marketing of the new black box.”
Then Brian added,
“But all those good intentions went up in smoke when I got home, I found that my wife had left me. She’d taken our children to my Mothers and disappeared into the night. My sudden departure for the USA was the straw that had broken the Camel’s back in our relationship. My old job meant that I often went to race meetings at short notice even though I tried my hardest to get out of it. Then I thought that this plan might just save my marriage. It didn’t and we divorced on amicable terms. We are still friends and as you know she lives next door so we share the care of our children which is why I was able to drop everything and come here with you.”
Garth carried on the story.
“I have an associate in England who is very much like me in that he works in the background investing in companies as a form of shared ownership. I struck a deal with him and via a company I own in Ireland, he received the money to buy the company on my behalf. I guess that is where the thing about ‘money laundering’ came from. The money I used is perfectly legit, kept offshore but inside the EU for tax reasons. It does mean that I can invest overseas without breaking all sorts of Federal Tax Laws and importantly having to make the dealings public in my filings to Wall St. The only people outside my organisation who know about them are the Tax People.”
“Once the deal was done I took over and brought three good, no, make that brilliant engineers from the racing car company with me. They do all the hard work but I’m the boss,” said Brian.
“Who is this associate?” asked Kim who was suddenly back on the boil.
“His name was Adrian Forsythe.”
“Was?”
“Sadly, he died at the back end of last year. Hélène, Isabelle, Natalie and I went to his funeral. His wife, Maxine has taken over the business. She is a formidable woman. I’m sure that Brian can arrange a meeting if needed, but she shuns publicity as much as I do if not more so.”
“How did you find out about him and let alone meet him if he shuns publicity as much as you do?”
Garth let out a small laugh.
“A few years ago, Adrian was involved in a deal to buy a Hotel in a place you call Devon from a certain business rival of mine. Anyway, he put one over on my rival which made him one of the good guys in my opinion. When I was over in Europe about a year after that, I made a point of looking him up. That business rival is none other than the owner of the company that is trying to make the same sort of device as we are and is your current employer a few times removed.”
Garth smiled again.
“Adrian turned out to be quite a character. Getting one over on my rival piqued my interest so I did my research and I was very impressed by what I found. His way of doing business was pretty unique in my eyes. As time went on I realised, that while I had more than enough money to last a dozen lifetimes, his way of investing was still a way of making money, but in a different and less visible way. With my hatred of the media and my record of taking companies private just so the gamblers of Wall St can’t bet on my failure, I’ve adopted his methods for a lot of my dealings now. On the bright side, his widow is carrying on the good work and is, if anything, going to be a lot more successful than he ever was.”
Brian saw Kim’s eyes light up.
“As Garth said, she is even more publicity shy than her husband ever was so don’t go getting any ideas about a scoop.”
Kim looked at him.
“I don’t think that I’m going to be in the media business for much longer. Remember that I was summoned down to London?”
“Even so, don’t go getting any ideas. You know the sort of thing I mean… A blockbuster exposé as your parting gift or something like that.”
“I won’t, don’t worry. Writing an expose of anyone is about the last thing on my mind at the present moment. No one at the paper would believe me if I said who I was having lunch with. They’d all think that I’d taken some form of illegal substance if you know what I mean.”
After, briefly looking down at her hands she said,
“Thank you all for sharing everything with me. When Brian told me yesterday… Yes, it was only yesterday that we were coming to this neck of the woods, I wondered if we were going on a wild goose chase. It has most certainly not been the case. For that I thank you all.”
Garth stood up after looking at his watch.
“Our other guests will shortly be arriving. Hélène, do you need to prepare?”
Kim looked a bit puzzled.
“Hélène, is giving a reading of her latest thriller, ‘Crime does pay. Sometimes!’. All the proceeds are going to a local women’s shelter. That was Natalie’s idea I’m afraid.”
Kim looked at her watch and then at Brian as if to say, ‘don’t we have a flight to catch?’.
“Didn’t Brian tell you?” said Garth.
“There seems to be an awful lot that people are not telling me at the moment,” said Kim in a matter of fact manner but with a smile on her face.
Hélène laughed.
“You have found a good one there Brian.”
Brian glared back at Hélène.
“Mr Reynolds will be landing here for you at five. You will be at JFK in less than twenty minutes. The LIE, can be a nightmare on Sunday evenings.”
“LIE?”
“Long Island Expressway. The main road that we used to get from the Mall to here.” answered Brian.
“Thousands of New Yorkers come up to this part of Long Island for the weekend. They will be heading back to the city at around the time we need to be going in the same direction hence the need for an alternative way to get to JFK.”
“Ok, but who is Mr Reynolds?”
It was Garth who replied.
“He’s my Helicopter Pilot. If my Lear Jet was not undergoing its annual service, I’d let you borrow it to fly home. So, the least I can do get you to JFK in time for your flight.”
Kim felt rather inadequate. These people moved in circles that she could only dream about or read about in a Tabloid Newspaper or on Social Media, when they had been caught doing something wrong.
“Come on Kim, let’s get some seats for the reading?” asked Brian.
She followed him with a bit of a wobble in her heels. She swore to herself that she’d never wear heels like this again especially on grass.
Despite her previous misgivings, Kim enjoyed the reading. It was hard to reconcile in her mind that Hélène had once been a stuffy University Professor let alone a man. She had the audience in fits of laughter as she read part of her book where the heroine falls flat on her face in a terribly embarrassing event but still manages to come out on top. Kim listened avidly to it and realised that she could very well be the heroine in the story given the way things were shaping up. She knew that it couldn’t be and that the prose must have been written months before but it was an interesting end to the afternoon.
Her regard for Hélène grew and grew as the story unfolded. Kim now knew that there was no way on earth that Hélène deserved the hostile reaction to her and her coming out had had in some parts of the world. Then she remembered the framed picture that hung proudly on the wall in her Editors Office. It was the front page of the paper Sandy worked for at the time. It was dated from the day after the Oscars. It had been a feeble attempt at a character demolition. It backfired miserably and led to Sandy being fired from the paper.
Watching Hélène read from her latest book made Kim admire her even more. To be so good in two fields was truly amazing. Then she thought, not amazing but exceptional.
At the end of the reading, Hélène gave her a couple of signed copies of her book.
“Keep one of them for yourself. Let it always be a reminder that you were not dreaming on your lightning trip to this part of the world.”
Kim took the volumes and looked inside. She was surprised to see that Garth had added a note to the dedication stating the time and place of the reading.
All too soon it was time for their journey home to begin. Kim watched Long Island beneath them and the Pilot was following the ‘LIE’ towards the City. It was indeed very busy with traffic heading towards the city. The views of the New York skyline as it got closer was even better. It had been a weekend to remember in so many ways but the trip that they were on was only half over.
“Well Kim, what do you think of Garth, Hélène and everything? Do you have a story?” asked Brian.
Kim chuckled.
“I have lots of stories but none can be told. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Brian grinned.
“I thought it might be something like that. But… wasn’t it better for you to hear things from the people involved than just for me to tell you something that you may well not believe.”
“Yeah. You got me there. I would never have believed what we’ve experienced today in a million years.”
Brian was patiently waiting. Kim eventually got the message.
“Ok, I admit it. I was sent on a hack job. I had my suspicions right from the start so don’t go gloating about it?”
“Me? Gloat?” asked Brian in a slightly hurt voice.
“Yes you!”
Brian wiped the smile off his face.
“What are you going to do next?”
“I’m going to get on that plane and take these sodding shoes off. That’s what. Then I’m going to get changed and hopefully get some sleep before we get to Heathrow.”
“I happen to think you think you managed those shoes very well.”
“Well, Mr expert, you wear them then!”
Brian laughed.
“Fair enough. Why not come over and spend the day next Sunday and I’ll get some like yours but in my size. The only condition is that you will wear that outfit including the shoes. Do we have a deal?”
“You just won’t give up, will you?”
“Sorry my dear, I won’t. Do we have a deal?”
“You forget one thing. I have a job in London.”
“And for how long eh? From what you said your bosses are none too happy with you. Why not give them the finger and come and work for me. I happen to think that we make a good team. How about it then Kim? Want to get a steady job and an escape from the dirt and noise of London? After all, those were almost the words you used in your interview with me, weren’t they?”
She didn’t reply straight away so Brian did it for her.
“There is no need to give me an answer right away. The offer is on the table. Just remember that when you go into to see your boss on Wednesday.”
Just then, they were asked to board the plane. As they lined up to walk down the gangway, Kim said in a virtual whisper,
“Thanks Brian. I won’t forget.”
[to be continued]
[Note 1]
These are characters from “Promises Can Get you into Trouble”.
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/46574/promises-can-ge...
[Note 2]
Adrian Forsythe and how he does business is the subject of the ‘Forsythe Saga’ Stories.
Wednesday came around far too soon for Kim.
It seemed that she had not stopped for more than an hour or two since Saturday when she arrived at her London home late on Tuesday evening. The only thing to greet her was her answering machine. It told her that there were twenty messages. The ‘time remaining’ counter said ‘0’. There could have been more but... She smiled for a moment. That was tiny compared to the absolute deluge that had been left on her mobile phone.
Kim just ignored all of them. She knew what they were about without listening to them after the first one. For a moment she panicked but then remembered that she’d called the paper on from the train to London on Saturday afternoon informing them that she would be in the office on Wednesday and that she was taking some days off in lieu which she was due after her previous investigation and that she hadn’t used up.
Apart from clearing her desk, she’d thought that there really was little point in going to face the music in person. That was until on the drive back to King Lynn from Norwich Airport, Brian had asked,
“Have you decided how you are going to tell the paper to get stuffed yet?”
Kim hadn’t a clue but after a bit of gentle persuasion, she’d warmed to the idea of not just sloping off but actually appearing surprised as being summoned but the deluge of contact attempts from the paper soon put a stop to that idea.
The element of surprise was a dead duck soon after they’d landed at Heathrow on the Monday morning. A message summoning her to the office ‘without delay’ was waiting for her as soon as she’d switched her phone on. It had been sent in the small hours of that very morning. Someone at the paper was burning the midnight oil. She did wonder if word had reached the paper of her little trip across the Atlantic. That was all supposition so she didn’t mention it to Brian.
[The previous Monday Morning]
While they were waiting for their flight to Dusseldorf at Heathrow, Kim sent a second text to her editor explaining that she would be in the office as promised on Wednesday ready to start a new assignment now that her current one was a non-story and reminding him how many times he’d urged her to take the days owing before she lost them. She almost added that she would be turning her phone off until Wednesday morning... She didn’t but switched her work phone off anyway.
She sat looking at it for several minutes. The phone belonged to the paper so she made a mental node to reset the device before handing it back when she was inevitably fired on Wednesday.
Brian saw the frown on her brow.
“A penny for them?”
“Eh?” remarked Kim.
“Oh sorry. I was thinking about when I go into the office.”
“Ah. I get it. Are you going to go meekly or with a bang?”
“I don’t know. Going with a bang would probably burn all my bridges with the media. I’m not sure what I’m going to do next to be honest.”
Brian’s expression told her that she’d said the wrong thing.
She managed a small smile and said,
“But, I have not forgotten your offer.”
Brian didn’t reply straight away but did a few operations on his phone.
“You had better read this then. It might just help you come to a decision.”
He handed her the phone.
It was and email from Garth to Brian. She read it as soon as she saw her name in the subject line.
“Brian, make sure that Kim accepts your offer. We need someone like her on board. If she does not want to work for you, then tell her that I need someone to lead my new European operation. Salary is not an issue. Start at 100. G”
She read it not once but three times.
“Is this for real?” said Kim as she handed the phone back to Brian.
“I told you that you had made quite an impression on everyone yesterday especially Garth. In the time that I’ve known him, only one other person has done that and that was his late wife.”
Instead of feeling empowered, Kim felt rather small and totally out of her depth.
“This may not help but if I were in your shoes, I’d give them hell and tell your bosses exactly what I thought of them even if it does nothing more than to make me feel better. Then I could walk out of there with my head held high knowing that I’d done the best job I could have done and it also shows that their little games were just that ‘little’.”
“Then what?”
Brian smiled.
“I’d take some time out and take stock knowing that there were two job offers on the table should I want them.”
Kim looked at Brian.
“You’d let me go just like that?”
Brian smiled.
“Yes, I would if it is what you wanted. Neither Garth nor myself would want someone working for us unless they really wanted to. When I first met him, I was a bit overawed by his fearsome reputation but after a few hours we realised that we were both practical people at heart. He put a lot of trust in me and a considerable amount of money into the company. We see eye to eye on so many levels that it was as if we had been friends for years and years. That’s why I know what he said in that email is genuine. Yes, I’d be sorry to lose you but if you went to work for Garth, I know you’d succeed.”
Kim closed her eyes for several seconds.
“Why can’t you be like other people?”
“What do you mean?”
“Damn it Brian, you are so likeable it hurts.”
It was Brian’s turn to go red in the face.
“Thank you for the comment but I’m serious.”
“I know and that is the problem.”
“Then, as I said, take your time to decide what you want to do.”
He looked at the departure gate.
“It is time we made our way onto the aircraft,” Brian said effectively ending their discussion.
Slightly weary Kim joined the queue to get on the flight to Germany.
“Thanks…”
As she got out of the car she hesitated before saying,
“Thanks for taking me to the States. It cleared up a huge number of things but also raised a huge number of others. Today was just mind blowing and a total eye-opener. I think I understand what you are about now and what you are trying to do here. I don’t know if I’ll have any answers by the morning or even Wednesday morning. But thank you for doing… everything.”
After a deep breath she added,
“After today, I can now see why the stakes are so high for this system. It answered a lot more questions. Now I need some time to let it all sink in. Thanks again for the weekend and today.”
Then she leaned over and gave Brian a kiss on the cheek.
“See you tomorrow,” she said as she closed the door.
Brian sat in the car for several minutes before he started the engine and drove home. As he did, he wondered what Kim would decide. Deep down, he wanted her to choose him. He’d not felt this way about someone for a long time.
Brian smiled.
“That’s ok. You had a lot on your mind when I dropped you off last night.”
Kim nodded.
“Before you ask, I’ve not decided yet. Well apart from one thing and that is what I’m going to do tomorrow. They are going to get both barrels and I’m going to record it just in case.”
Brian smiled.
“Good for you. They really dropped you in it when they sent you here. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when you let rip. Getting that out of your system may well clear your mind and allow you to think about your future. I hope that whatever you decide is either with me or Garth.”
Once again, Kim thought… “Why can’t all men be like him?”
When she switched the phone on, there were more than seventy messages waiting for her. Kim skimmed the list of senders. Most were from people at the paper. She deleted the lot without listening to any of them. Her mind was made up so there really was nothing anyone at the paper could say or do to change it. She’d been setup to fail by her employers and when she didn’t deliver the ‘fake news’ they wanted, it was time to get rid of her. Another word came to mind and that was ‘Betrayal’. She’d given the paper everything they’d wanted from her stories and… and now, after being given a very poisoned chalice of an assignment they wanted their… Well, she didn’t know exactly what they wanted but it was probably going to end in her being ‘let go’.
By the time the train was approaching London, she’d emptied her email account of messages and the phone had been reset twice. The details of a few key contacts had been transferred to her personal phone before she switched both of them off.
On the way to her home in Catford, Kim had a drink at her favourite bar in Borough Market. Normally, she would have eaten there as well but for some reason she didn’t feel like it so she took the short walk to London Bridge Station and caught the next train to Catford. As the train rattled over the points at New Cross, Kim looked at her fellow passengers and felt rather sad for them. It was then that she finally made up her mind about how she was going to handle going into the paper the following day. It would soon be time for the bravado to end and to stand up and be counted.
That happy feeling didn’t last very long as she’d hardly started eating then her front door bell rang.
At first, she didn’t move but the caller was determined and carried on ringing the bell.
Kim picked up the intercom.
“Who is it?”
“Kim, it is Claire!”
Claire was one of the editorial assistants from the paper.
“I need to speak to you before you go into the office tomorrow.”
There was a sense of urgency in Claire’s voice.
Kim buzzed Claire in.
“Hello Claire” said Kim as Claire came up the stairs.
“I’m in the middle of eating so I hope you don’t mind me carrying on. Grab yourself a glass. There is a bottle of Chianti on the counter.”
“Thanks Kim.”
Kim sat down and took another mouthful of the food. Suddenly she didn’t want it any more and left it alone. Her good mood had disappeared into thin air. Claire would not be here without good reason.
Claire sat at the small table opposite her.
“This had better be good Claire,” remarked Kim.
“They are going to sack you tomorrow. It is the only item of gossip at the paper. People have been trying to call you for days to warn you but you don’t answer. It was almost as if you had vanished off the face of the earth.”
Kim managed a small smile.
“That’s probably because my work phone has been switched off.”
“But…”
“I know that they are going to fire me. That has been obvious for days if not longer. This whole assignment just sucked from the outset. There never was a story. The truth is that I was sent in to uncover some dirt that our lovely American owners of the paper could use in their business. There was no wrongdoing or accounting issues. It was a load of old cock. I was setup to fail.”
Claire sat back and looked at Kim.
“You seem remarkably calm… considering?”
“I wasn’t until a few hours ago. My mind was a total mess but on the train from London Bridge… Well, I suddenly saw the light and what I needed to do.”
Before Claire could answer or ask her what she was going to do, Kim asked.
“Who put you up to coming around here tonight?”
“There was a sort of meeting… unofficial you understand. Well, a number of us got together yesterday evening after work, at the Feathers. None of us want to see you go but the way that Henrik is steering the paper… Well, you can see for your own eyes.”
Kim noticed that Claire was gripping her glass tightly.
“And you got volunteered as you live in this neck of the woods? Is that it?”
Claire nodded.
“Henrik’s boss flew in from the States this morning. He was locked in a meeting with Henrik and Sandy and almost everyone from Legal. They were still at it when I left tonight.”
Kim guessed that word of her trip to the USA had got out.
“It figures,” replied Kim in a matter of fact tone.
“What figures?”
Kim thought for a moment about telling Claire but decided not to.
“I can’t tell you at the moment. I can’t trust you to keep your mouth shut until tomorrow.”
Kim saw the look on Claire’s face.
“I’m not saying that you’d go blabbing to the management but you know how things get out and spread. Who is expecting you to call tonight?”
“Jeremy Phillips.”
Kim laughed.
“Ah, the leading office gossip? Are you serious?”
“It was him who got everyone together at the pub yesterday.”
Kim looked Claire straight in the eye.
“How you don’t know that he is a snitch for Sandy is beyond me. That’s how Laura’s brush with the law got her fired. Even though she was not charged or even arrested, just helping the Police with their enquiries was too close to the mark for our new management. He was outside the club when he saw her being put into a Police Car. That was enough for them to can her as Society Columnist and get her out of the paper. Everyone has to be squeaky clean these days.”
“I didn’t know.”
“He’s probably standing in the shadows outside as we speak. I don’t trust him one inch and neither should anyone else. I’d get out as well if I was you.”
“What are you going to do tomorrow?” asked Claire totally ignoring what Kim had just said.
“Get sacked. Pure and simple.”
“What are you going to do? You know for a job and everything?”
“Me? Oh, I’m sure that I’ll get another job in due course,” replied Kim trying to be a bit cagey.
“I think that you have something already lined up!” stated Claire.
“A couple of verbal offers. You know the sort of thing… ‘Give me a call if you become free. We need people like you.’ That sort of thing. Nothing concrete at the moment. I might be that I even give up Journalism completely. You never really know what is around the corner until you turn it do you eh?”
Claire took that as a sign that she should leave.
She finished her glass of wine and stood up.
“Please spread the word that I don’t want any fuss tomorrow. Just business as usual. Anything else will get back to those who pull our strings. I don’t want my leaving to cause any problems for those I leave behind.”
“I understand but you are very sanguine about all this. I’m not sure that I could be as calm as you.”
“It is all a façade believe me. Being the type of reporter I am and have been at the paper, you have to be able to live a double life doing your job. Showing any weakness can lead to you losing a story or getting your cover blown. I learned how to apply the stoney face look very early on. What you see is my calm stoney face. Inside… I’m a bit of a mess.”
Then she added,
“I have this place to think about as well. That’s why I have to be sanguine about tomorrow and move on. Be positive about the future and all that. This past week or so may have been a total disaster but it has at least shown me what the paper has become and a glimpse of where it is going since the last change of ownership. The future does not look very good from where I stand. If I am to get the boot tomorrow then there is very little I can do about it now is there eh?”
Kim showed Claire out of the front door. There was no sign of anyone watching Claire but that was no proof that someone hadn’t followed her to Kim’s home.
Kim went back upstairs and after throwing her now cold and almost untouched meal into the bin, she went to bed.
Now that she was settled in her mind about what she was going to do she slept very well indeed. She had been pretty clear about what she was going to do even before New Cross and Claire’s visit but, those two events just made it even clearer about what she should do not only the next day but for the long term.
[to be continued]
Even after a good night’s sleep, Kim’s resolution about the validity of her plan for the day ahead had not changed one little bit. Claire’s visit had actually strengthened her resolve not to leave without at least firing a few salvoes of her own. As she lay in bed that fateful Wednesday morning, she wondered how much she’d get for her home after paying off the mortgage. It was clear now that she was done with the newspaper industry. Of that she was certain. Proper Journalism was dead and just waiting to be buried and the current newspaper business model was on its last legs anyway. Unless you were an online scandal and gossip sheet there was little future in the industry.
The rise of online news and social media was making their work harder and harder. Getting an exclusive was next to impossible and had been for some considerable time. People just could not keep a secret any longer especially when it seemed that everyone in the world would sell out their loved ones for their personal fifteen nano seconds of fame.
Kim walked into the Head Office of the Newspaper just before ten that morning. She could feel everyone looking at her but at the same time trying not to show it. She held her head high.
She had hardly sat down when another woman came up to her desk. She recognised April Caine. She was the P.A. to the Editor of the paper, Sandy Wynn.
“Kim, the Boss wants to see you.”
“Which Boss? Sandy or Henrik?”
“Henrik,” replied April.
“That sounds like trouble. I’m either getting a raise or fired. As no one gets a raise these days it sounds like I’m being let go,” said Kim lying through her teeth.
April didn’t react.
Kim stood up saying, “Oh well, I’d better go and get this over with.”
She reached down under her desk and pulled out a cardboard box. She began to stack her personal possessions into the box. Since the last round of blood-letting at the paper, all the journalists had bags or boxes secreted away for the time when the almost inevitable axe fell in their direction. It was jokingly called ‘the exit bag’. Kim’s one was an old laser printer paper box.
All those sitting around her stopped work and looked at her for a few seconds before getting back to work. To a ‘man’ they looked sad.
They all knew that Kim was the best investigative journalist on the paper. She was also one of the last of her kind on the paper. One by one they were all getting the chop as the publication became more and more populist and almost totally celebrity driven, the need for real journalism was rapidly approaching zero.
Once Kim had loaded all the personal items that differentiated her desk from all the others into her ‘box’ she walked towards the lift with her head held, high carrying her ‘exit bag’. None of her colleagues said anything or did anything such as applauding Kim off the floor. A recent edict from ‘above’ had made it clear that any signs of empathy towards those departing would not be welcomed one little bit.
“Go on in Kim, he’s expecting you,” said the Editor in Chief’s Assistant as Kim stepped out of the lift on the 23rd floor. The views of the City were particularly good but this day was even better than normal.
Kim put down the box holding her belongings to one side of the lift and after taking a deep breath, she went into the adjoining office.
“Ah Kim,” said the Editor in Chief.
“Please take a seat. I need to get this email off to New York.”
Kim looked around her. The door to the ‘inner sanctum’ meeting room was ajar. She guessed that someone was listening from the other side of the door.
After a flurry of keys, Henrik sat back and smiled at Kim.
That smile went right through her.
“Do you know why you are here today Kim?”
Kim felt sick to the pits of her stomach. Even all the hours she’d spent preparing her for this moment were nowhere near enough. It was like being hauled up before the headmistress at school.
“You are going to let me go because the so-called story was not a story but you are going to make up something anyway and Journalism be dammed. Is that about it?”
Henrik smiled back at Kim.
“That’s about it in a nutshell.”
“You didn’t need to send for me to tell me that,” exclaimed Kim.
“Indeed, but I want to know why you didn’t invent something as you were instructed to by Sandy?”
“Does it matter what I say?”
After a brief hesitation, Henrik said,
“Not really.”
“Fine. I take it that I am no longer on the books.”
“No, you are done here.”
Kim stood up and said,
“Then I’ll save my explanation for the lawyers.”
“Lawyers?”
“Oh yes. I’m going to give a deposition just in case you print a load of lies about some people who have done nothing wrong to anyone. If you do, then I hope that you get taken to the cleaners and that you personally are made liable. Of course there is the little matter of constructive dismissal to consider? I’m sure that you will be hearing from them very soon… If you are still here that is?”
“Get the hell out of here before I call security!” exclaimed Henrik.
“Gladly.”
As she reached the Office door, she turned and said to Henrik,
“May you rot in hell!”
Then she added.
“To whoever is listening behind that door and is too much of a coward to face me, everything that Garth Emerson told me on Sunday is true. You see, I did get to the real reason why you sent me on this story. It was nothing to do with money laundering or any form of wrongdoing. It was just ‘Business’. You were prepared to ruin the lives of hundreds of people just to get your hands on some Intellectual Property. You need have not bothered as within six months, it will be made free for everyone to use. There are some people with a conscience left in this world. I don’t want to be associated with the dregs of humanity any longer. The term ‘gutter press’ is wrong by the way. I’d use ‘sewer press’ or ‘swamp press’ as that is where those who run it belong.”
The sound of a glass or cup being knocked over reached her from behind the open door. What she’d said had obviously hit a nerve or three.
On her way to the lift, she literally threw her company phone at the receptionist.
“Here you go. My company laptop is locked in my desk. Here are the keys.”
She tossed a small set of keys and her paper ID at the secretary.
Then she headed for the lift.
On her way down to the ground floor, she realised that she’d left her ‘exit box’ on the 23rd floor. She said to herself,
“Nah! I don’t really need anything in it. Let them throw it out it will save me having to do it when I get home.”
Kim walked out of the building feeling elated but dirty at the same time. When she’d joined the paper, ethics had meant something to her. Getting the truth was what it was all about. With the advent of ‘Fake News’ that hardly mattered any longer.
The bright sunlight streaming through a gap in the tall office blocks blinded her for a moment. It was if she had been born again.
A rejuvenated Kim went home and began to clean and clear out things she no longer needed. She’d picked up the habit from her mother. Kim smiled when she remembered that. Then she felt a bit guilt as she realised that she hadn’t called her mother for over a week and it had been three months since she’d seen her. It was time to rectify that. She didn’t have a job to go to after all so using ‘work’ as an excuse for not visiting her was now even more limp and worthless than before…
“Hello Mum,” said Kim when she called her mother.
“Yes, it has been a while. Too long.”
“How about tomorrow? Is that too soon?”
“No Mum, I don’t have to work. I’m unemployed.”
“No, I didn’t leave. They gave me the sack but it wasn’t for something I did so my conscience is clear.”
“No Mum, I can’t come until tomorrow. I have to see my Solicitor about filing a claim for wrongful dismissal in the morning. Then I’ll take the lunchtime train down.”
“My car is not in London. It is in Kings Lynn. It is a long story. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”
“No Mum, I’m not involved with anyone. Don’t forget twenty past four at Truro station. Last time you went to Camborne and watched as the train went straight through.”
“I will Mum. See you tomorrow. Bye.”
Kim hung up and let out a great sigh. There was no going back now. She had to tell her Mother everything. That wasn’t going to be easy. If past episodes were anything to by, her mother would see right through whatever she tried to gloss over. At least she had 24 hours to get what she was going to say straight in her mind. Finding Brian wearing a dress was certainly not on the agenda. He mother would just not even begin to understand so she’d better leave that little item out of her story. If Kim knew her mother, the fact that Brian had been married before and had two children would be more than enough to condemn her to eternal damnation.
With a date with her mother all set up Kim spent the rest of the day sorting out her flat and preparing it for sale. If all went well, she’d be putting it on the market before very much longer.
Kim’s visit to her Solicitors the following morning was pretty uneventful. The recording of the episode with Henrik and all her notes helped move things along quickly enough.
That allowed her to reach Paddington Station in plenty of time for her train to Cornwall. She was so early that she even helped an American family take photos of the famous bear that the station is named after. Well, that’s what the six-year old boy thought and she wasn’t going to tell him otherwise. As she saw them looking so happy, she realised that for the first time in years she was happy as well. She did wonder if this was due to not having a deadline or an angry editor on her back but whatever it was she was glad that it wasn’t there.
Her good mood continued when she found that she had a table for two all to herself. She’d treated herself to a first-class ticket so that she could spend some time going over her story in the hope of not falling foul of her mother’s inner sixth sense. She’d inherited that from her mother. It had helped her spot people who had been lying to her when she’d been on assignment and also sense when her cover might be at risk. The problem was that her Mother’s version was honed to a far sharper edge than hers.
A good lunch, a glass of wine and some stunning scenery along the south Devon coast all helped the time go by until it was time to meet her mother.
Any hope of pulling the wool over her mother’s eyes vanished the moment that she saw her waiting on the platform at Truro. The train was half an hour late due to some idiots trespassing on the track at Teignmouth. Apparently, they’d been caught by the tide on the section of the line that runs right along the coast.
Kim had tried to call her Mother but failed to get an answer from her home. As her mother flatly refused to get a mobile phone there was no way to let her know about the delay.
The look told Kim that her mother was not amused.
“What time do you call this eh? I have things to do, people to see. You can’t expect me to hang around here all day waiting for you, you know!”
“Hello Mum. I tried to call you at home but you had obviously left.”
“Pah!” came the reply.
“Well, don’t just stand there!”
Kim just knew that from that moment, her visit would be short and not sweet.
Once their evening meal was over Kim’s mother sat at the head of the table with her arms crossed and a very stern expression on her face.
“Now! What have you got to say for yourself eh? Getting fired? I’ll bet that there is a man behind this. You mark my words.”
Kim sat there silent.
“Cat got your tongue eh?”
Then came her next salvo…
“Are you expecting? I wouldn’t put it past you living in that den of iniquity that is London. In my mother’s time, any girl who got with a child and without a man on her arm was called a slut and for good reason.”
Kim suddenly had visions of her mother morphing into her grandmother right before her very eyes. It was not a pretty sight.
“No Mum, I’m not pregnant and I’m not involved with a man.”
“Well? What caused you to get the sack eh? I have to say that I never approved of you becoming a reporter. Lowest of the low if you ask me…”
Kim had heard all of this before, at least ten times.
“I was sent undercover to a business in a place in Norfolk called Kings Lynn. There was no story at all. I told my editor so and they didn’t like it. He wanted me to make something up instead and I refused.”
“There has to be more to it than that? You don’t get fired for telling the truth!”
“Mum, life is not as black and white as you think it is. I was sent to do a job and I failed. In the course of failing I found out a lot about myself thanks to two wonderful men.”
“There I knew it. A man is involved and you have to get involved with two! I bet they are both married! You mark my words, this won’t end well!”
“Mum! Would you stop jumping to conclusions that don’t exist anywhere but in your mind.”
“Pah!” said her mother.
“One of the men was married and has two children but before you ask, there is nothing going on between us. The other is a billionaire who lives on Long Island. That is close to New York City.”
“Married I suppose?” said her mother.
“Widowed and before that divorced. Oh, and he’s also old enough to be my Father and I have no interest in him.”
“If he lives on Long Island how did you meet?”
“We went to visit him last Sunday. He was hosting a charity reading. I did get you a signed copy of the latest Hélène Harris novel. I know how much you like her other work.”
“What? You did what? How on earth did you get to see her let alone get a copy of her new book? People were queuing all night at bookshops here on Monday when it went on sale. It was on the TV news the other day.”
“I met with a bunch of people who didn’t treat me like some numpty from the back of beyond or someone with the plague which is how many of my former colleagues are regarded. None of them had an axe to grind or anything else. It was then that I realised how low the journalism profession has sunk.”
“I told you that it wasn’t a career all along, didn’t I?”
“I know that now but it was the only thing I ever wanted to do and until very recently I loved every minute of it so please don’t go on about it.”
“And what about starting a family eh? The clock is ticking you know.”
“It takes two to tango and I’ve never found anyone that I’d even think twice about settling down with. Before you mention Martin Keen, I always said that he was strange and… well you know very well what he tried to do to that poor woman he shacked up with. Living next door to someone for most of their life is no way to judge how someone will turn out.”
“I’m just saying…”
“No Mum, you want some grandkids to gloat over with when you meet up with all your friends for Bridge or Church or Flower Arranging or whatever…”
Before her mother could reply Kim said,
“I’m going to bed and then I’m going for a long walk tomorrow. I need to get the fug of the city out of my body.”
That was a lie but the walk down to the coast was one of her favourite places to go.
“The forecast isn’t good. Rain from before dawn clearing in late afternoon,” came her matter of fact reply.
“It does not matter. I need to get some sea air and some silence. London is a really noisy place to live and work in. It just never stops.”
Kim’s mother just glared at her daughter. Kim was of the opinion that she was a disappointment to her. She’d tried to get Kim married off to a number of locals before she left home to go to University. Since then she’d dated a few men but never found anyone who really clicked with her.
Kim got up very early the next morning. Her mother was still asleep when she left to go on her walk. That pleased her no end.
Her route was one that she’d done many times over the years. It took her down to the coast and along the coastal path towards the Lizard, through the edge of Helston and then back home. A distance of just over six miles. Her mother was right in that there was a squally wind coming in off the sea which had quite a bit of rain with it. Kim was glad that she was wearing her not only warm but waterproof jacket.
Kim didn’t meet anyone for more than an hour which suited her mood perfectly. The stiff breeze had cleared out the cobwebs from her mind. Things started to become a bit clearer.
Kim’s path led her onto the old road down to the Lizard where there was a Café. It was a welcome sight and a chance to get out of the wind and rain for a bit.
After a good breakfast, Kim carried on with her walk. She was feeling a lot better in body as well as in mind.
When Kim returned home, she found that her mother had gone out. After a bit of thought, she realised that as it was Friday, her mother was playing Bridge at the British Legion. There was a lunch laid on and her mother was not one to miss a free lunch and an hour of gossip with her friends if she could help it.
Kim felt renewed after her walk which was the aim of the walk. She’d decided in general terms on her return journey what she was going to do next. Now it was time to tell someone. That someone was her mother.
She made herself a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table wondering which of a dozen things that needed to be done would be done first.
Kim was about to call Brian when she stopped and thought a bit more. She’d remembered a name that came up in the discussions on Long Island. She smiled when she realised that it was less than a week ago that she was tottering around in a dress and heels in the company of some very wealthy New Yorkers and a former supermodel and an internationally famous novelist”
After some time thinking, she went to her bedroom and retrieved her laptop. Then she returned to the kitchen. Her old company one had most of her research notes on going back the past few years. The backup she’d taken was in London so she had to work from memory as she started searching for information.
Gradually a picture started forming in her mind of just who this other party was that Garth was modelling his business activities on for now and the foreseeable future. She needed to know who, what and how this unknown person had caused one of the richest men in the USA to change his whole way of doing business.
She’d never heard of this company, ‘Lorelei Investments’ before. That in itself was hardly surprising. There were thousands if not a million or more companies operating in the UK that she’d never heard of before but that was no reason not to investigate.
As time went on, she realised the reason for this way of operating. The nature of the businesses that they invested in were hardly high on the radar but the way that they invested got her really interested. All the time the words that Garth had spoken were in her mind.
A whole different world opened up before her very eyes. Many of the things that had been worrying her from the weekend started to fall into place. Her natural inquisitiveness that had been honed working as a journalist soon took over and for a while she was in her element.
She realised that if Garth was indeed changing the way he was doing business that would be a story worthy of a front-page headline on the Financial Times.
After a couple of hours Kim sat back and smiled.
What she’d uncovered in that short space of time was also right up the street for some of the Tabloid Press. She even thought that her old employer would be interested in it. A hatchet job on this company would get the paper some sales but would ruin lives.
Kim shook her head. These people did not need exposing like that. They were not doing anything wrong or illegal, far from it. Lorelei Investments was providing a service to companies and people that most other investors would not give time of day to in a million years. With most companies looking for returns within a year, Lorelei’s method of partnership for the long term was certainly not mainstream.
Kim took a break and made herself some tea. So far, the day was turning out to pretty good. Spurred on by this she returned to her investigations.
It did not take her long to find out that there were other organisations doing similar things for small businesses but none were putting up the sorts of Capital that Adrian was working with and then taking an active role in running those companies but without taking them over. That alone impressed her.
Kim sat back and smiled. The fresh sea air had worked it’s magic once again. There were a lot of loose ends to not only tie up but she was sure that there were more leads to discover. One thing had become clear to her from the visit to Cornwall and was that her future was in Kings Lynn.
Kim was sitting in the kitchen with a small smile on her face when her mother returned.
“How many times have I told you not to do your work on my kitchen table? Are you going to clear up this mess? I want to start dinner,” exclaimed her mother as she walked through the door.
There was no ‘how was your walk darling?’ or other greeting from her mother. Instead, she received a rebuff that made her feel ten years old again. Then she recovered her composure.
“Hello Mum. Did you have a good afternoon at Bridge? Who did you trump this week?”
Her mother was briefly taken aback by the assertiveness of her daughter’s comments. Kim saw her opportunity so she carried on.
“I’m not staying for dinner. I’m going back to Kings Lynn.”
“Why would anyone go to that place? What is there that makes it so important that you go right now? Why all the rush? Didn’t you come down here just to escape the hustle and bustle of the City?”
Kim smiled and calmly said,
“Why am I going to Lynn? Because the man I’m more than likely going to marry lives there.”
Kim’s mother was left open mouthed. She had clearly lost the ability to understand her daughter. Her immediate thought was that living and working in London had changed her daughter for the worse, far worse than when she was her little baby.
[to be continued]
Kim’s mother was speechless. Hearing that her one and only daughter was going to get married had knocked the stuffing out of her.
“But…?” she muttered.
“I’ve arranged for some people to come over for dinner tonight now that you are back from London.”
“Mum, you didn’t ask me if I wanted company and I made it clear that I was only staying for a few days at the most. As it happens, I have things I need to do but not here.”
Then Kim’s mother slowly realised what she’d said.
“Marry? You? Don’t make me laugh. Who would do that especially now that you are on the dole? How will you carry on paying the mortgage on that ridiculously small place you call home now that you have no income?”
Those words hit Kim hard.
“Yes Mum, marry. I didn’t realise it until a little while ago but going to New York with him last weekend allowed me to see the real man. Now that I have met his family, I am even more convinced.”
“How long have you known him? Less than a month? And he has a family? Good god Kim, you are just asking for trouble. Think what happened to Cecilia Barker when she married an older man with a family? The family didn’t accept her one little bit. It was no surprise to anyone at the W.I. that she ended up like she did.”
Kim remembered only too well. Cecilia drove her car into a lamp post after taking a huge overdose of Paracetamol.
“How long were you and dad going out before he popped the question to you eh?”
“Don’t bring your father into this. Besides it was different. He was going off to fight the Argies. He asked me the night before his ship sailed from Plymouth knowing that he might not come back.”
Kim had to change the subject otherwise they’d begin to argue. Once her mother got going on the subject of her father there was no stopping her. She regretted bringing it up in the first place.
“I’m going to get packed. I’ll book a berth on the sleeper to Paddington while I’m packing. That way, I can be in Norfolk mid-morning tomorrow.”
Then her closing note was:
“I’m going to sell my flat. I should even come out about fifty grand to the good so you have no need to worry about how I will live. No need at all!”
Kim walked out of the kitchen carrying her Laptop and notebook. She’d made a point of not washing up her cup and saucer. Her mother was a champion ‘neat freak’. Kim was often totally the opposite probably because of her mother’s incessant nagging all through her childhood and her determination not to end up like her.
She also felt good for the first time in her adult life for not letting her mother have the last word in a conversation about her and her future. Far too many times in the past she’d been literally bullied by her mother into doing what her mother wanted her to. Going away to University and then getting a job in London had only deferred her nagging at everything she said or did.
Once Kim had packed her bag and arranged her travel, she went to find her mother. She was laying the table for dinner. There were six places set for the evening.
“Mum!”
“I said that I’m not staying. I’ve called a taxi to take me to the station. I’ll eat at the Pub next to it.”
“But… I told you that I have invited some people to come over for tonight.”
“Let them come. I won’t be here. I have places to go, people to see and none of them are here.”
Kim smiled to herself for using one of her Mother’s favourite expressions back at her.
Before her mother could respond Kim heard the horn of the Taxi.
“Look Mum, I’ve got to go. I know that you will like Brian. He is a genuinely good man. He was a Professor at Cambridge,” said Kim trying to curry favour with her mother one last time.
It didn’t even go in one ear let alone out of the other so Kim left her mother to prepare the meal that she’d serve to her friends later that evening.
Kim arrived in Kings Lynn a little after 10:30 the following morning and took a taxi from the railway station to her rented flat. As soon as she stepped inside, the realised that she had just over a week left before she’d have to leave the place. Now that she was no longer employed by the paper they’d stop paying the rent as soon as they could. She knew that the rent was paid up to the end of the following week which happened to also be the end of the month.
With that settled in her mind, she dumped her luggage inside the front door and grabbed her car keys. Thereupon, she drove to one of the supermarkets on the eastern side of town for a late breakfast.
Once she was suitably refreshed, she did some shopping at the supermarket and then headed into the centre of the town. She hoped that what she was after was still for sale.
Luckily, the Charity Shop still had a pair of lovely Jimmy Choo sandals in her size on display. At a knock down price of £35.00 she went home happy. She’d seen them in the window when she’d walked to the Station a few days before. With all her purchases made, Kim returned to the flat to get ready to go out.
Kim emerged back into the sunlight just before midday. She was wearing a cheap dress that she’d bought at the supermarket and was carrying those Jimmy-Choo’s. She’d made a real effort with her hair and makeup which was almost unheard of for Kim when not working. It was the weekend and Brian had invited her to come around so that was where she was going.
The only thing that could thwart her plan was if Brian was not at home but he’d made it clear to her during their brief trip to Germany that Saturdays were generally spent at home with the children.
Kim breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Brian’s car parked in the driveway.
After exchanging her driving shoes for the new sandals, she got out of her car and headed towards the house. She felt her heart going like the clappers. It all seemed so easy when she was in Cornwall but now it was crunch time.
As before, she got no reply from the front door so she walked around to the back just like she had done almost exactly one week before.
Kim walked around the back of the house and got a shock. She fully expected to find a similar situation to that of her last visit. Instead, she saw Brian embracing a woman who from her memory could only be his ex-wife, Simone.
Kim stopped dead in her tracks and let out a small cry. A look of horror spread onto her face. She turned around and started to almost run back to her car. As she turned the corner of the house, she fell off one of the heels. In a fit of anger, she ripped it off and did the same to the other one and threw it away as she ran as fast as possible towards her car.
She didn’t see Brian coming after her. Nor, did she see him pick up her discarded shoes and wave them at her.
Kim got in her car and somehow managed to get the keys in the ignition, start the car and attempt to reverse out of the drive and failed, miserably.
She backed right into the gatepost and stalled the car.
Kim broke down in tears. As she cried, she pounded the steering wheel of the car and cried out,
“How could I be so fucking stupid!”
Her virtual stupor was only broken when Brian opened the driver’s door of her car.
Kim looked at him and cried.
“How could you!”
“How could I what?”
“I saw you with her!”
Brian started to understand.
“Oh!”
Kim dived into her handbag in search of a handkerchief. Brian’s hands went to his pockets only there were none as he was wearing a dress.
After a bit, Kim quietened down.
“Sorry about that,” she said once she’d dried her eyes.
“It was very rude of me to interrupt you like that.”
“It wasn’t rude of you at all. I told you that you are always welcome here.”
Kim got out of the car and immediately regretted it. The driveway was gravel at this point. She quickly put on her driving shoes and went to inspect the damage.
“I made a bit of a mess of that,” said Kim as she looked at the pile of bricks that was once a gatepost.
“If you would get someone to rebuild it, I’ll pay for it.”
“Don’t be silly. You aren’t the first person to hit it. You just delivered the fatal blow.”
“I insist.”
Brian just shrugged his shoulders.
“I think I owe you an explanation.”
Kim looked at him with wide eyes.
“No, you don’t. It was clear to see that you are back with you ex despite what you told me last week.”
“It is her birthday today. I’d just given her a present and she kissed me back. Nothing more.”
Kim’s eyes sank to the floor.
“I feel like such a fool.”
Brian took hold of her hand and gave it a brief squeeze.
“You can never be a fool. You are far too intelligent for that.”
Before Kim could object he added.
“Why don’t you park your car again and come into the house. I’ll pour you a drink. From the look of you, I think you need it.”
Brian handed Kim the sandals and walked into the house deliberately leaving the front door open for her.
Kim didn’t object and soon joined Brian in the kitchen. She could see the children playing in the garden with their Mother.
Kim sat down as Brian put a glass of wine onto the table in front of her. Then he sat opposite her and waited.
She took a sip of wine.
“This is nice.”
“It is nothing special but very drinkable.”
After a few seconds, Brian asked.
“Why did you drop around today?”
“I had what I was going to say all worked out but it has all gone from my mind.”
Brian smiled.
“Why not start at the beginning?”
She took another sip of wine.
“I think I owe you an answer to a couple of questions, don’t I?”
She took a deep breath, let out a sigh and said,
“I don’t think I can work for you but I would like to work for Garth as long as I’m based here.”
Brian didn’t react except to say,
“Why here?”
Kim looked him right in the eyes.
“Because I’m falling in love with you. I know that I’m being a stupid fool and everything so if you tell me to go then I’ll get out of your life for good but being with you all last weekend made me feel… well different in a way that I’ve never even remotely felt before.”
Brian looked startled at what Kim had said. Totally out of character for him, he froze on the spot.
Kim took this as a sign of rejection.
“I think I should leave and you won’t see me again,” she muttered trying to hide her disappointment.
She left Brian rooted to the spot and got in her car and left.
She managed to keep the tears at bay until she got to her home. Then it all came out.
Soon she was swearing once more. What had come up to Kings Lynn in three large bags had somehow grown into more than four. That was one more than would fit into her very small car.
“Bugger!” she swore under her breath when she saw the pile of things that simply would not go into her bags. What was worse was that the size of the bags meant that they would simply not all fit into her tiny Fiat 500. It might have been perfect for London but not for moving house.
Kim had just picked up her car keys and headed for the door when the bell rang.
She stopped dead in her tracks. It was her turn to freeze. She wasn’t expecting anyone to call.
Then a voice came from the other side of the door.
“Kim, this is Simone, Brian’s ex-wife.”
Kim unfroze but didn’t move towards the door.
“Kim? Please? I really need to speak to you. It is about Brian.”
This time, Kim opened the door.
“You had better come in.”
Simone came into the flat.
“As you can see, I’m packing. In a few hours, I’ll be gone for good and you can have him back.”
Simone looked at Kim with some sorrow in her eyes.
“I don’t want Brian back. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love him but we can’t live together. You need to know this.”
“I don’t need to know anything of the kind,” retorted Kim.
Simone sighed.
“Kim, I’ve seen how Brian reacts when her talks about you. He goes all gooey eyed. He did the same when we first got together. He’s in love with you. I saw that today. I don’t think he expected you to come around and tell him like you did. You put him at a disadvantage and that is his weak side. When he was at University, it was fine but… There is a lot more you need to know before you leave...”
Kim sat down. Simone did the same.
“Things started to go wrong between us when I got really bad PMT after the birth of Monica. It developed into something a lot worse and in the end, we had to separate. Almost right away I got better. But as soon as we got back together we started fighting again. I left and all was right again. It didn’t take a genius to work out what was wrong so we came up with this plan. We got divorced very amicably and when Brian got the job here, we made sure that we could live next door to each other. That way we can be there for our children, but free to date again. That means when Brian or I go away on business like you did the other weekend, the other one looks after them. We don’t fight if we restrict being together to small doses. About half a day is about the maximum we can be together in one go before something pops and we try to kill each other verbally. As you can expect, that really isn’t good for us and especially our children.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“As I said, Brian is in love with you. When he got back from Germany I saw it in his eyes and how he talked about you, how you dressed and how you handled yourself at the reading in America and everything. From what he said, he put you right on the spot and you handled it very well. I know Garth and he is a tough man to please so you did very well indeed. Brian could not stop talking about you. Then you come and tell him that you have feelings for him and he was totally put on the defensive. When that happens he just shuts down. That’s what he did when I laid into him before… He let me work out my anger on him and to his credit he didn’t lift a finger to stop me. Every time I let rip, I’d feel so bad afterwards that I’d try to make up with him but a week or so later it would all happen again. That’s why we can’t live together. Then you came into his life and he suddenly has purpose in his life again.”
She took a breath before continuing.
“He needs someone in his life who can give him the things I can’t. That’s what he was like when I came into the kitchen just after you’d left. I guessed what had happened but it took me half an hour to get it out of him. In the end, he told me where you lived and here I am.”
“I didn’t know how he felt.”
“That’s because he never shows his true feelings like most men I’m afraid. I have to say that I’m to blame for at least some of that. Something goes bang in my mind and bang I can’t bear being in the same room as him after more than five or six hours. In the end, he just shuts down and let me rant and rage at him. Oh sorry. I’m ranting again.”
Then Simone said something that Kim didn’t expect.
“It would really help me if you could make a go of it with him.”
“Eh?”
Simone smiled.
“I am in a bit of a relationship with someone at work. He’d like me to move in with him which might mean moving to Norwich at some point in the future.”
“What happens if it does not work out for Brian and me?”
Simone couldn’t answer that.
“Does Brian know you are here?”
She shook her head.
“No, he’s with the children. Once I extracted your address from him, he seemed to get back to normal so I made an excuse to leave and I left it a while before I left home and came here.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“That’s down to you. I just wanted to let you know about Brian and me. He’d never tell you unless you had a knife to his throat. He’s that sort of person really.”
Kim nodded. She’d tried to get him to open up on their trip but he’d remained tight lipped.
After a few seconds silence, Kim asked,
“What is it with him and dressing as a woman?”
Simone smiled.
“He’s been doing it for years. It helps him relax.”
“Is that all?”
Simone hesitated.
“Do you want the truth?”
“That’s for the best isn’t it?”
“I think he could pass as a woman. I tried to get him to go out dressed once. I did his makeup and everything but he chickened out at the last minute.”
“What about the children?”
“They’ve grown up with their dad putting on a dress or a skirt at weekends. He only does it at home. If their friends come around, he’s back to normal and their dad. They love both of us dearly and hate it when we fight. Their father wearing a dress at weekends is chicken feed to them. They know he loves them just the same no matter how he is dressed.”
“He looked so comfortable. Not awkward at all?”
Simone smiled.
“Yeah. That’s what is so bloody frustrating about the whole thing. I’ve seen a good number of Trans people in my job and Brian beats most of them hands down when it comes to femininity. He refuses to see it or at least admit it. Most of the time he goes out of his way to hide it. I’m sure that you have seen that he is a different person at weekend. I think he’s scared that becoming his real self would make him a lesser person in Business. He had a hard time adapting to the real world after being in the academic one for so long. Another huge change is very, very scary to him.”
“What is your job? How do you know all this?”
She smiled.
“I’m a Sociologist. I work at the University in Norwich.”
Kim’s mind was racing.
“Kim. please don’t leave Lynn. I think that you two would be good together. He needs a good woman in his life and I happen to think that you are it.”
Kim did not know what to say at this ringing endorsement by Brian’s former wife.
As was becoming common in recent weeks, her mind went to mush and into overdrive at the same time. She was in no fit state to leave at least until the following day.
[to be continued]
Kim managed to get at least part of her mind working again. Simone was patiently waiting for an answer.
“Do… Do you really think that we would be good together?” said Kim in a very hesitant way.
Then Kim managed a small smile.
“And it is nothing to do with the fact that you want to move to Norwich? You said that very thing yourself?”
Simone smiled.
“I see the reporter side of you surfacing for the first time.”
“Fuck that!” said Kim.
“I won’t just get hooked up with someone just so that you can swan off and live with your lover. Just who do you think you are?”
Simone laughed.
“There is no one in Norwich. I said all that just to get you to stop pitying yourself. I think it worked.”
Kim clenched her fists a couple of times before she relaxed.
She managed a small smile.
Simone stood up and took a step towards the door before stopping and turning towards Kim.
“Brian really is a good man. From what little I know of you, I think you need someone good in your life. Then I know that he likes you. Go to him and make up. By all means tell him that I was here. As I said, I still love him but we are not good for each other. You have the opposite effect on him that I do. I know that you two will be good together for the long term.”
Then she left Kim alone.
She sat there for some considerable time. Eventually, the afternoon turned to evening and then to night. Kim sat there staring into space. She found it hard to think of anything but seeing Brian for the first time at home, wearing a dress and heels and being himself. As much as she tried, she couldn’t imagine herself as part of his family. This was totally the opposite to how she'd felt down in Cornwall. A few hours and her vision of her new world had turned upside down... again.
Kim did what she always did when stressed like this, she began to write it all down. It was her way of trying to bring some sort of order to a total mess of facts and feeling.
At first what she wrote down was total gibberish and gobbledegook but as the hours passed, it all began to fit together.
Dawn came and went and Kim carried on collating all the events and thoughts and feelings she’d encountered since she’d arrived in Kings Lynn.
When she felt that she was done, she started it printing off while she made herself some breakfast.
After some Coffee and a Bacon Sandwich, Kim began to feel a lot better and mentally ready for the task ahead.
Kim went and had a brief wash to freshen up. Then she sat down and began to read her story.
As she read it, a smile grew on her face. Finally, she laughed.
“Call that a story? That’s not a story! It is an Epic!”
Then the ‘what next?’ question raised its ugly head. This wasn’t unusual at this point in her journalistic investigations.
Kim put down the sheaf of paper and contemplated life, the universe and everything.
After an hour or so of contemplation or meditation, she read her story once more and slowly her options clarified themselves in her mind.
She could as they say, ‘head for the hills’ or in her case, London or she could talk to Brian and thrash things over like two normally sane adults.
Kim had to admit that she was attracted to Brian and after some reflection and especially writing things down, Simone’s story had started to make sense.
The problem was that Kim had never really had much success with the male of the species.
Her education and then her career had always come first and Kim was never someone to have a long-term relationship with men mostly because they wanted more from the relationship and faster than she did at that point in her life.
She knew that she had a chance of a proper relationship with a man for once in her life but it wasn’t the sort of relationship that she’d dreamed of over the years. Brian had a family and … he like to wear women’s clothes at the weekend.
Kim chuckled to herself when she imagined someone saying to her, ‘I know this guy… and I think you might like him… oh, by the way he has two children and likes to wear a dress at weekends.’
She’d would have run a mile if that had happened even a month before but there was something about Brian that made it different.
Kim sat back and looked at the story again. Something else was troubling her. She dived into what she’d written and discovered a big hole in it. That caused her to start another investigation on the Internet.
She stopped her work only long to get some food, copious amounts of coffee and to take a few of natural breaks but, shortly after three the next morning, her printer came to life again and Kim relaxed. She’d been awake for nearly two days with only a little sleep so it was not long before she fell asleep where she sat. The job or so she thought was done.
After a slightly frantic few minutes Kim realised that she didn’t have any more paper in her flat. She cursed herself for not thinking to bring some up from London with her. Then she felt slightly silly for over thinking things. There would be plenty of paper at the supermarket.
Without thinking about her appearance, she picked up her handbag and car keys and left her flat. A few minutes’ drive away, there was a supermarket with a café. This was the same one where she’d had breakfast only a few days ago. She’d missed lunch so she just had some coffee, a sandwich and some cake. This made her feel a lot better. Before leaving the shop, she bought two reams of printer paper plus a few groceries and went home.
With the printer replenished and doing its’ job, Kim took a much-needed shower, did her makeup and put on some clean clothes before returning to the small kitchen where her laptop was setup.
She collated the output from the printer and also copied the now vastly expanded story onto a USB stick before heading out of the flat again. She knew exactly what to do next. The journalist part of her mind was in full control and she was loving it. Any thoughts of a personal nature were temporarily blanked from her mind.
It didn’t take her long to get to the Factory. She could see Brian’s car parked near the front door so she took another deep breath and walked into the reception.
Dianna, the receptionist smiled as she saw Kim.
“Hello Kim. I didn’t think we’d be seeing you today?”
“Neither did I until a couple of hours ago,” replied Kim lying through her back teeth.
“Is Brian free?”
Dianna smiled.
“He said to send you right in if you came in.”
“Thanks.”
Kim walked into Brian’s office. His door was never closed unless it needed to be for reasons of privacy or security.
“Hello Brian,” said Kim.
Brian looked up from what he was working on and the huge smile that spread across his face told her that he was pleased to see her. Kim on the other hand remained stony faced.
“Nice to see you Kim. Simone told me that she’d been to see you. I was going to come around after work but… seeing as you are here?”
“I can’t stay long today. I have to go down to London. There seems to be a problem at my place.”
“Oh?”
“I want to give you this,” said Kim as she gave him the most recent printed copy of her story and the USB stick.
“and can you please send a copy of it to Garth. I have a number of questions for him and I didn’t get his contact details when we visited him.”
The smile disappeared from Brian’s face.
Kim managed a small one in return.
“Don’t worry Brian, this is something I have to get out of my system before I can about any personal stuff. Please read what I have written and let me know what you think?”
She saw the look of concern on Brian’s face.
“I know that I said that there really wasn’t a story but there is and it was right there under my node all the time. It won’t be published unless you and Garth agree so please don’t worry but I had this itch that needed scratching. It has nearly gone but not quite if you get my drift.”
Kim’s bravado has just about run out by now.
“I’ll let you read the story and I can be reached on my mobile. Anyway, I need to go. I have a train to catch.”
With that she left Brian holding her story with his mouth wide open and wondering what the hell had just happened…
Kim almost ran back to her car. When she got into the driver’s seat, she was shaking. She sat motionless for several minutes before she moved off.
Instead of heading for the local railway station, Kim navigated the slightly mad, and in her opinion, dangerous roundabout at the eastern end of the by-pass and took the A10 South.
Part of her felt rather guilty about not bringing Brian fully into what she was doing but Kim was determined to follow the plan that she’d hatched while writing the story.
As she left Kings Lynn behind her, she hoped that it would only be a few days before she returned. She was going down to London to start cutting her ties to the place. Whatever happened with her and Brian, she was done with London.
About 10 miles south of Kings Lynn, Kim realised that she’d left the groceries that she’d bought earlier in her Flat. For a moment, she panicked and even thought about turning around and going back for them. Then she laughed and told herself not to be so stupid. There were plenty of supermarkets near her home in London.
With a smile on her face, she carried on driving south.
After the usual sales pitch from Gavin about an iffy market and a dearth of buyers, Kim said,
“Please cut the crap Gavin. It was you who sold me the place three years ago and I know that one just like mine just down the road, was sold last month by your good selves for four fifty after less than a week on the market, and you are saying three seven five for mine? That’s less than what I paid for it as you should know. I can go to another agents if you like?”
Ten minutes later she walked out and mouthed ‘job done’.
She’d bullied the agent into agreeing to send someone around to do the valuation later that afternoon. Kim had stressed the need for a quick sale but there was no way that she was going to give the place away. In her opinion, the best ‘quick sale’ was a cash sale. She’d impressed on Gavin that being part in a long chain of properties was to be avoided if at all possible.
She estimated that after paying off the mortgage and other costs, she’d clear nearly £70,000 after three years in the flat if it made the same as the one two doors down had done recently.
Her next port of call was the supermarket. She was determined not to let the little incident from the previous day affect her shopping. Her fridge was bare so a few ‘ready’ meals would have to do for the next few days while she sorted things out and got the place ready to sell.
The man from the Estate Agents turned up late that afternoon to do the valuation and after the usual humming and tut-tutting, he gave her a valuation.
“I think you should get four sixty in a quick sale,” said the man after going through the place thoroughly.
“That seems reasonable and a far cry from the three seventy your boss quoted earlier.” replied Kim.
The man just smiled. It was that sort of smile that tries to be sincere but fails miserably.
“I’ll be in the office tomorrow morning to sign the forms and leave a key for viewings.”
That evening, Kim began sorting out her ‘stuff’. She surprised herself by filling six large black plastic bags with things for the recycling centre.
She smiled as this was the second time in a week that she’d done this. First in Kings Lynn and now here. She chuckled to herself as she filled yet another plastic bag with items for recycling that she was getting better at sorting the junk from the things to save for the time being.
As they say, the ‘best laid plans’ and all that, Kim returned from the Council Tip to find her phone ringing. She’d forgotten to carry it with her which was most unusual.
She looked that the Caller ID. It said ‘Number Withheld’. With a sigh, and thinking that it was someone wanting to scam her out of some money, Kim answered it.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hello Garth. This is an unexpected pleasure. What can I do for you?”
A smile appeared on her face as she listened to what he was saying.
“Yes, I know it. Well, I’m sure my SatNav can find it?”
“Friday morning is fine by me. Does this mean you are coming over to this side of the Pond?”
As soon as Kim asked the question, she felt rather foolish. Garth wanted a meeting and had suggested a place in Suffolk for it so it was obvious that he was travelling over from the USA.
“I take it that you read my story?”
“Yes, I know that there is a lot missing. I was sort of hoping that you could fill in the blanks?”
“Good. I look forward to seeing you on Friday. Bye.”
Kim hung up the phone and looked rather pleased with herself. She’d hoped that it would provoke some reaction but this was way more than she could ever have hoped for.
She also knew that what she was doing could backfire in a really big way but was in no doubt that there was a story that needed telling and telling properly.
Then she felt rather sad. Once again, she’d bought a load of shopping and once again, it looked highly unlikely that she’d be around to eat it. Kim sighed to herself. The sooner she had just the one place to call home the better.
After seeing how much a room in Southwold would cost, she looked a bit farther afield. It didn’t take long to find a room in a Pub that was a lot cheaper than in Southwold.
Kim had stayed the previous night just across the river in the village of Walberswick, and had walked over using the footpath that used the old railway bridge that connected the two places. A walk along the beach the previous evening which combined with the fresh sea air and some excellent food in the Pub where she was staying had allowed her to get a very good night’s sleep and clear her mind. An equally excellent breakfast had put her in an even better frame of mind ready for the meeting with Garth.
She saw Garth waiting for her in the reception area of the Hotel.
He smiled at her when their eyes met.
“Hello Kim. You are looking well.”
“Thanks Garth. You seem more relaxed than the last time we met.”
He laughed.
“I only put on those reading things because my late wife did them. Most of the people who come along are only there to be seen by their peers. They are all boring little people if you want my opinion…”
Kim smiled.
Garth laughed
“Go on Kim, you feel the same way yourself… Admit it?”
Kim’s opinion of Garth went up a few notches there and then.
“Well… Yes, they were pretty boring and really didn’t want to speak to me but only did so out of kindness simply because I was your guest. But… it did allow me to meet a few other people as well didn’t it?”
“Yes, it did. That’s one thing that we can agree on.”
He looked down at Kim’s feet.
“Good. I see that you are wearing sensible shoes. Shall we go for a walk and talk at the same time?”
Kim had a pair of low-heeled shoes in her fairly cavernous handbag but wasn’t going to let on about that unless she had to. All part of her ‘be prepared for every eventuality’ that had been instilled in her by her late father.
Garth led the way out of the Hotel and through the almost picture-perfect town of Southwold towards the sea. It was a lovely day so a walk was ideal. As it was fairly early, there were very few tourists around at the present. A few locals were out in the sunshine and walking their dogs.
“I read your story with interest and was fascinated by what you had discovered about me. As you know I do try to keep a low profile with the media but even so, I was very surprised indeed. I hadn’t realised that my little brush with the law back when I had just turned sixteen had made it onto the Internet.”
“Oh, and thanks for including all the references. They were very useful.”
Then he stopped and turned towards Kim.
“You do know that this story can never be published, don’t you?”
Kim appeared to be shocked by what Garth had said.
“What do you mean can’t be published?”
Garth smiled.
“There are two reasons. Firstly, as you well know, there are a lot of bits missing. We can work together towards filling them in. All of what happened when we moved from Atlantic City to Kentucky is almost totally absent as is the reason why. Knowing them is very important if you are to show the sort of person I was and what I’ve become and why I was a total bastard in business for more than thirty-five years. Then there is real story about my often turbulent, relationship with Frederick Mangan. All of that is missing. Unless you had travelled to my hometown and spent a few weeks talking to people you won’t have the truth. It is a very local dispute.”
“And the second?”
“I don’t want the publicity while I’m alive.”
Kim didn’t say anything.
Garth smiled again and turned to a marked page in her story.
“You said and I quote, ‘The new Garth now works very much under the radar. People don’t want to talk about his help. This isn’t because of threats but out of gratitude for his help in more ways than just providing money. This is a huge change from the Garth Samson of the 1980’s, 1990’s and Naughties and even as recent as five years ago.’”
“If what I do and how I do it becomes public knowledge then what do you think will happen?”
Once again, Kim didn’t reply.
“It will be as if I’ve won the Lottery and posted my name and phone number on a billboard in Times Square. The people I work with and have done for in recent years don’t ask me for help, I approach them with a deal that mostly they don’t refuse because it is tailored to their business and their situation. Putting those sort of deals together needs a lot of research. I have a whole team of people doing that for me. People in general with think of me as just another Vulture Capitalist and the media keep on cultivating that image which I don’t fight. There is little point. They have a job to do. I am not and have never been one of those leeches on society. I’m done with the old takeover way of working I gave that up more than three years ago but I don’t want the world at large to know just yet. I say let them think that the old Garth is still there and working as normal but there are some really important things I need to do before we start correcting my public image.”
“I think I get it,” replied Kim hesitantly.
“I don’t think you do… Well, not fully anyway. Until you are clear in your own mind.”
“What are we doing here? Why Southwold?” asked Kim trying to get some time to think.
Garth laughed.
“I like this place. This place is also beside the sea but is about as far removed as you can get from where I first grew up as a child… The contrast of this place and Atlantic City is huge. This place wins hands down. Don’t you like it?”
Kim was surprised to be asked a question. Wasn’t she supposed to be asking them?
“Well, it is a lot slower than London or even Kings Lynn if that is what you mean?”
“Not quite but it will do… For now.”
They carried on walking but not talking for a bit. They turned away from the small harbour and headed towards the Pleasure Pier and the famous Beach Huts.
“Do you have a problem with not publishing the story? I have to admit that I’d never considered having an authorised biography written about me but I’m warming to it but I hope that in time you can respect why I don’t want any publicity of the sort that would come with a biography of a billionaire hitting the streets without his approval. One thought that crossed my mind as I read your story was that I can consider myself lucky that I have not had an unauthorised biography written about me before now. Perhaps there is someone writing a hatchet job as we speak, I simply don’t know. But, I do know that I can’t really stop you publishing it if you really want to, but from reading a good number of your pieces, you have at least some desire for the real truth unlike so many people today who publish fake news and get a kick out of it and hang the consequences. To your credit, I could find nothing fundamentally wrong with your story other than the things I’ve already mentioned.”
Garth stopped and looked Kim square in the eyes.
“I saw something in you when you came to the reading. You handled yourself very well when you were clearly way out of your depth. And what was even more remarkable, none of my guests realised that you were a journalist. If they had known, they would have kicked up a stink and left in their droves. That is the sort of people they are and what is more important, it shows that you are a good person hence my email to Brian. I assume he showed it to you?”
“He did and thanks for the glowing words.”
“You deserve them.”
“What happens next?”
“Are you booked to stay wherever it was you stayed last night for another night? From the lack of creases in your clothes, that is fairly obvious that you didn’t get up at the crack of dawn and drive up from London to be here at nine.”
Kim laughed.
“No, I stayed just across the river in the village of Walberswick, and no I’m not booked in for tonight. I checked out before I walked over here. It is at least an eight-mile drive otherwise. My car is parked over there. There is an old railway bridge that connects the two communities.”
Garth laughed.
“Brian told me you were special. Now I know it.”
Kim ignored his words so he carried on.
“If we walk back to the Hotel, I’ll checkout and if it isn’t too much trouble, I’d appreciate a lift over to Brian’s place if you are going that way?”
Kim was taken aback by his directness.
“Yes… Of course.”
“Good,” replied Garth.
Then he stopped walking. Kim stopped after two paces and went back to him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing really but Brian could use someone like you in his life.”
Kim went a bit red in the face. Garth noticed her embarrassment.
“Sorry about putting you on the spot like that. His former wife is not a bad person but she can’t make Brian happy. There is something in you that I saw the moment we first met that made me imagine you and him being happy together. In my life, I’ve met a lot of people and all sorts of people. Most of them are bland and boring wannabe’s who will do everything they can to become either famous, climb a greasy pole to the top or get a meal ticket for life. You are clearly not like that. Every so often I meet someone who makes an immediate impact on me. Brian did and so did you. I hope that I’m not digging my grave too deep but it is how I feel? Plus, you know that I do love speaking my mind. I think you mentioned it at least ten times in your story…”
Kim tried hard not to, but in the end, she had to smile. She admired his directness and honesty.
“No, it isn’t very deep at all… And thanks. I like your directness. Most people who have dealt with you in recent years appreciate it as well.”
Garth laughed.
“And before my epiphany, I was a pretty horrible person to live with and even worse to do business with. You got all that right down to a ‘T’. Some of those references you dragged up were totally new to me. You are very, very good at getting to the bottom of things. That’s why I need someone like you on my team. Your slightly cynical view of the world which I might add is natural for a proper journalist is perfect for me. There are too many ‘Yes-men’ and the vast majority of them are men in this world. Just promise me one thing Kim. Just keep on telling me as you see it.”
Garth chuckled.
“To be honest Kim, I see a lot of me in you. Don’t get me wrong. That is a compliment of the highest order believe me.”
Then Garth took her arm and linked them together.
“I think we can not only be friends but work very well together as long as you never ever tell me what you think I should hear but always the truth no matter how bad it might be.”
Kim relaxed when she realised that Garth wasn’t coming on to her but just being friendly in a fatherly sort of way. She realised that he was also laying down the ground rules for their working relationship.
“Shall we go?” he asked in a soft yet commanding voice.
“Yes,” replied Kim not at all sure what she was letting herself in for.
Garth’s confession to her was most unlike him and she was not really sure why he’d exposed himself like that to her given her background.
The walk from the Hotel in Southwold to where her car was parked in Walberswick allowed her at least a few minutes to digest what he’d said. It seemed that either Garth was going mad or he really was going to change his ways. Kim decided to wait and see before coming to any firm decision.
A little over two and a half hours later, Kim drew up outside the Kings Lynn Office. Their trip had been one long conversation about a whole load of things but one revelation shocked her to the bone.
“I’m winding down my activities in the US. With the current President going farther and farther to the right and clearly stark raving mad plus his vested interests, sorry donors to his election campaign wanting payback, it is getting hard to do what I want to do with my money. Yes, he has reduced taxes mostly for the rich which is wrong in my opinion, but the whole business environment has changed. I know all about BREXIT and the challenges it faces but there is a lot more opportunity over here for what I want to do in the rest of life. Everyone is far more suspicious back home about everything and conspiracy theories abound. I’m moving to England but no one knows about that yet, not even Brian knows the details. I’d like you to setup my operation here and… well run it if you want to. If you recall, I mentioned the figure of 100 in my email to Brian. That’s thousands by the way. That would be your starting salary plus benefits naturally.”
Kim had nearly crashed the car when he said that. She had to stop and recover for a few minutes.
“I’m not qualified for anything like that and you know it?”
Garth laughed.
“On the contrary, you are actually ideal for the role. The work you did in a very short time uncovered a number of things that I’d forgotten I ever did or happened. Getting to the bottom of things is very important for a Philanthropist Investor. If I have any doubts at all about a project I now just walk way. In the past I would have dropped my price by 50%. If they still said no then and only then would I walk away. Your skills as a reporter make you pretty well the ideal person to head up my UK Operation. You know how the media works and how to get to the bottom of things quietly and very efficiently. I know that I’m repeating myself but I want to make sure you understand how serious I am about wanting you on board and at my side. You would be the public face of my European operations. The initial five-year budget for my European operations will be in the order of two hundred million Euros. This is not funny money or anything. It is money I have made from selling several of my long-term acquisitions on the quiet over recent years. All above board and all taxes paid. Well, not quite. There would be more to pay should I take that money into the USA. I’m not going to do that. The funds are in mostly on deposit in Dublin with some more in London and Paris. Again, this is all legit and above board. The money is from the sale of some of my European Assets over the past few years. I don’t use accounts in tax havens or move money through them like some tech companies I could mention, if that is what you are thinking.”
“But…?”
“There will be people behind you naturally. Lawyers and accountants and the like, but it is clearly not easy to lead someone like you down a blind alley. You said before that you had doubts about the assignment that brought you to Kings Lynn in the first place but you came and had those concerns confirmed. That makes you the sort of person I want on my side.”
“I don’t know what to say?”
“Say nothing for a week. Then let me know. I’ll send my plane to pick you up. Then you can tell me to my face what you have decided. I’m the sort of person who likes to look people in the eye when they tell me important things. That way, I know if they are being sincere, telling lies or worse, just trying to buy favours from me. Many people we encounter in business are charlatans pure and simple. You will have met many just like that and probably worse in your career and can probably sniff out the good guys from the baddies at twenty paces. That is the sort of person I want at my side from a business point of view.”
Then he sighed.
“There I go… repeating myself again. It is a bit of a bad habit that I have gotten into.”
His words had stunned her. Apart from the directness, his openness to her was amazing.
Then he added,
“Besides, coming to work for me will allow you to keep your biography of me right up to date won’t it. As I said, I don’t want it published during my lifetime and preferably never at all but to have it all written down as you have done is remarkably sobering. I’ve read what you wrote at least twice. You are dammed good. No, make that brilliant. That’s why I want you on my side.”
He sighed again.
“There I go repeating myself again. I’d better shut the hell up before I embarrass myself even more.”
“Thanks Garth. I know that what you have said comes from the heart.”
“Good. Now how are we going to give the bad news to Brian?”
“But I haven’t said yes yet?”
Garth smiled.
“But to which question?”
“Do you have any good reasons why you can’t say yes to him? I think you want to say yes but don’t want to appear too eager… Am I right?”
Kim didn’t say anything.
“Even thinking about putting your home on the market tells me that you want to say yes but on your terms.”
Kim knew that he had her right by the balls if she had any that is.
“Yes Garth. You are right.”
“Brian is a sharp cookie. He’ll probably guess what is about to happen the moment we walk into his office together. I’ll say just hello. I have a real-estate guy picking me up soon. He’s taking me to view a place near Fakenham. Brian is a great guy. You will be perfect for him.”
Then he laughed.
“And yes, I know all about his dressing in women’s clothes at the weekend. Like you I discovered it by accident. It was a bit of a shock at first but it is clear that he is happy and his family accept it so in my eyes, there is nothing wrong at all. Until three or four years or so ago and my reaction would have been very different. Remind me to tell you about some of the Trans people I have working for me someday and the other person who shocked me right out of my comfort zone. She’s also British by the way. There must be something in the water. Two no, make that three lovely British women have somehow managed to get me to change my life entirely and for the better I might add!”
Kim was wondering who the other two were after Helene Harris. It didn’t cross her mind for an instant that one of them was herself.
“Shall we go in?” asked Garth not letting Kim have a chance to respond.
Her only thoughts as they headed for the entrance to the factory was ‘doesn’t he ever slow down?’. Then she managed a smile as she realised that this was the real Garth and if she was going to work for him then she had better get used to it.
[to be continued]
[Kim and Garth have just arrived at the factory in Kings Lynn]
“Hi Brian,” said Garth as he walked into his office. Kim followed on behind him.
Brian was in deep thought looking at some schematics. The drawings more than covered his desk.
“Oh, hello Garth.”
Then he saw Kim.
His face brightened up considerably.
“Hello there Kim.”
Then he wiped the smile from his face.
“Garth, I’m sorry that this is not a good time for a visit. We are in the middle of testing the new software release and I’m afraid that either it or some of the electronic sensors are not working correctly.”
Garth looked at Brian and then at Kim and then back at Brian.
“That’s fine. Are you still on track for a release on the 14th?”
“Oh yes. We are done with that. That’s in soak test. This testing is for the release after that. This is the one that support the new type of accelerometer.”
Garth looked relieved.
“We won’t keep you from your work. We just stopped by to say Hi. I’m being shown a couple of houses this afternoon. The realtor is meeting me here in a few minutes.”
Then Garth turned to Kim.
“Kim, perhaps you would like to accompany me? I’d value your input. You know far more about the building codes and the like in this country than I do.”
Kim seriously doubted that she did but she nodded.
“Ok. It is not as if I have a job to go to is it?”
All three of them laughed as Garth steered Kim out of Brian’s office.
The Estate Agent, a Mr Wood, was waiting for them in reception. After introductions had been made where Kim was given the job as Garth’s ‘PA’, he said.
“Your car or mine?”
“Mines a Fiat 500,” said Kim.
“And I’m with her,” added Garth.
Garth said nothing. Mr Wood looked rather disappointed. In the short time that they’d been in the factory, it had come onto rain. The warm sunshine of the morning and the walk in Southwold was a mere memory for the time being.
“It is very small,” added Kim after an uneasy second or so’s silence.
“My car it is then. I’ll drop you both off here when we are done if that is ok with you?”
His car turned out to be a Mercedes ‘S’ Class saloon. Kim thought that the estate agent was earning a good wedge even until she caught sight of a leasing company’s name on the number plates. It looked as if it has just come out of the car wash. She knew from bitter experience with cars in Cornwall that they don’t look like that for very long when the weather turns.
Then she relaxed and thought that for people in his line of work first impressions are everything. From her time at the Sunday Herald, she knew of some North London Estate Agents where value and type of the car they use would change between a five million quid property and one selling for one million. Suits, accents and even shoes would change as well. She hoped that this agent was not going try to oversell the property. Garth would see through that in a flash.
For Kim, it was nice to be driven for once and in a pretty decent car. There was plenty of room in the back for Kim’s long legs which got the nod from her. Garth sat in the front with Mr Woods.
The Agent started to sell the house that they were going to visit. Kim tuned herself out from his drone. She wanted to see the house without knowing its features that were flowing off of his tongue like there was no tomorrow. For Kim, first impressions and all that stuff meant something.
The property that the agent was taking them to was close to Fakenham Racecourse. During the journey both Garth and Kim had a chance to look at the sales brochure. She’d tried to ignore the agent but something he said got through her defences so she gave up and looked at the glossy brochure that described the house.
The first thing she looked at was the price. She managed to stop herself from reacting when she saw what it was on the market for. Then she calmed down as she remembered seeing tiny shoe box sized homes by comparison in London on the market for at least twice that figure.
As she read through the details, her intuition and what the agent had said all combined and was telling her that it was not right for Garth. Having seen the relatively modest home he had on Long Island when compared to other mega sized mansions close by she guessed that Garth was looking for somewhere unobtrusive and where he could remain relatively anonymous. When she read the details relating to the gardens, she instinctively knew that this property with its Grade 2 Listed status and twelve acres of garden was not for Garth.
‘Well’, she thought, ‘not the new softly softly Garth’. Perhaps the one from ten or fifteen years before would have bought it as somewhere to show off but the person she’d spent the last five hours with was not that sort of person.
Kim bit her tongue and while they were still travelling. She didn’t want to pour cold water on the property before Garth could see it. She spent remainder of the journey searching for other properties in the area that might be suitable for Garth using her phone. As she did so, she grinned to herself by thinking… ‘that’s what a PA does isn’t it?’.
It didn’t take her long to find a property that had just come onto the market at around half the price of the other one that on the surface looked as if it should be very comfortable for Garth. A big plus was that it had a separate annex that looked like it could be used as an office. The annex even had its’ own shower and toilet.
Garth was noticeably noncommittal as they were being shown around by the agent. He was asking a good number of relevant questions but it was obvious to Kim that he was not showing any real enthusiasm for the place. His body language told her that it was far too grand for him. His background was far more down to earth especially when you considered where he’d been brought up. The agent droned on about all the positives of the place ad nauseum.
At the end of the tour, Garth said,
“Can we take a walk around it on our own?”
As the place was empty there really was no objection. The two of them wandered into the extensive kitchen and closed the door behind them.
“This isn’t for you is it?” said Kim.
“No, it isn’t. I only agreed to see it as it was empty and both sides want a quick sale. This is far too grand for me and I’d get lost here.”
Kim was sure that he wouldn’t but she knew what he meant.
“How about this place?”
“It is a new listing and only a few miles away.”
Kim showed Garth her phone.
“So, this is what you were doing on the journey over here?”
She nodded.
“I took one look at the details and sort of guessed that it was not for you.”
“Sell it to me?”
“Eh?”
“This place on your phone. Sell it to me. Why should I view it let alone buy it?”
“It is a lot smaller. A barn conversion but with four decent sized bedrooms. Very modern internally but with a lot of the character details still there. There is little in the way of grounds so not a lot to do in terms of maintenance but importantly, there is an annex that could be used as an office. The annex has its own toilet, shower and a small kitchen. In the listing, it is described as a ‘Granny Annex’ or Holiday Let. The property is off the main roads so very quiet and only a few miles from where Brian lives.”
She paused.
“That do? For a ten second summary that is?”
“That will do fine. Lets’ go and give Mr Woods the bad news,” said Garth.
“It won’t be all bad news. His agency is selling this other property as well.”
“But it will result in less commission for him? He must be doing pretty well to be able to afford that Merc?”
“The Merc is leased. These people are all mouth and trousers in my opinion.”
Garth chuckled.
“I have no idea what it means but it does not sound like a compliment.”
“It isn’t.”
“Do you think we can get a viewing today?”
“Well, it does say ‘vacant possession’. To me that means the agents have a key available for viewings just like they did for here.”
Garth smiled back at Kim.
Then he shook his head.
“Your old employers must have been mad to send you up here on that wild goose chase and even madder to fire you. They really didn’t know what an asset you really are.”
Kim didn’t respond but said,
“Shall we go and break the bad news?”
“After you. You are my PA after all…” said Garth.
Kim took this as a sign that they were not only done here but that Kim should take the lead.
Kim showed him her phone.
“Ah yes. We have had a good deal of interest in that property.”
“Well then Mr Woods. The clock is ticking isn’t it?” said Kim.
He looked startled at Kim’s directness.
“I… I’d better call the office and get the key sent over. We may have to wait a short while once we get to the property. Is that acceptable?”
“It is. While we are waiting, we can always look over the exterior can’t we.”
A distinctly unhappy Mr Woods went off to make the call to his office.
While the agent was on the phone checking on the whereabouts of the keys to the property, Kim and Garth wandered around the small garden.
“How much?”
“Eh?”
“How much should I open with?”
“Are you going to buy this place?”
“Yeah. This will do fine.”
“But… You have not seen inside yet.”
“I don’t need to. Those photos are good enough. How long would it take to get to Norwich Airport from here?”
“Oh… around forty-five or fifty minutes.”
“That’s often less than from my home on Long Island to JFK unless I take the chopper.”
Garth just stood still and listened.
“Will you listen to that?”
“To what?”
“That’s it exactly. This is perfect. Quiet, secluded but not that far from Norwich and Kings Lynn both of which have a direct train service to London.”
Kim could not quite imagine Garth taking the train anywhere. Then she realised that people might be coming up from London to visit them.
Before Kim could answer, another vehicle drew up to the property.
“That must be the keys,” said Kim.
Half an hour later they emerged from the house having seen everything they had wanted to see.
“Well Mr Woods, I’d like to buy this place and pronto if you get my meaning,” said Garth.
“That’s good. What is your offer?”
“Ten over,” replied Garth.
“Ten over? I don’t understand?”
Garth sighed.
“Ten thousand over asking but the sale has to be done within three weeks. If you want, I’ll get all the funds transferred to your clients lawyers escrow account by close of business tomorrow.”
“Escrow?”
Kim took the lead here.
“Their solicitors clients holding account. Where the deposit is lodged.”
“Oh! I see.”
Mr Woods stood rooted to the spot.
“Mr Woods?” asked Kim.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Eh? No… I’ll contact the vendors right away.”
“Good. You be doing that. We’ll be right here. We aren’t going anywhere.”
Garth took hold of Kim’s arm and together they walked into the annex.
“Well Kim? Have you planned out the layout yet?”
Kim laughed.
“Not quite. How many of us will there be?”
“Just you and me for two weeks a month to begin with. Within a year I want to move my operations here permanently so we’d need some office space in Kings Lynn and preferably close to the Factory.”
Kim put her hand up to her chin and thought.
“My desk there, and yours there,” she said pointing at places close to two of the windows.
“Good choice.”
Garth reached into the small briefcase he was carrying and pulled out a folder.
“This contains all the details of my European operation as they stand today. There is my current transition plan for several of those businesses. There is also an envelope in there with your job offer. You know money and stuff. Take it home tonight and think it over.”
Kim took it gingerly.
“Thanks Garth but…?”
“Brian?”
“Yes. If he doesn’t…?”
“He will. Don’t worry. Give him time. Besides with you around his office nearly every day looking hot and you’ll soon have him eating out of your hand…”
Garth had a huge smile on his face.
Kim looked sad.
“The problem is … I’m more of a plain Jayne, blend into the background sort of person.”
“Then you need some help. May I suggest Brian’s ex?”
“Eh?”
Garth chuckled.
“I maybe an old man who has seen better days but much of how I got on in business is down to how I was able to read people. I can read Brian with my eyes closed but it is obvious that he loves you. In my eyes, there is no one better to help you get him to ask you to marry him eh? Despite all their problems when they are together she knows what makes him tick better than anyone else.”
Kim didn’t answer. She couldn’t. At least with something vaguely intelligible.
Mr Woods returned with a smile on his face.
“The vendors have accepted your offer. If we return to the Office I can get all the forms signed and give you the details of the vendors solicitors.”
“Thank you very much Mr Woods. If you drop me off where you picked us up, then my assistant will get all the details from you. I’ll be at my Hotel.”
“Garth? Can I have a word?”
Garth smiled.
“Please excuse us Mr Woods. We will only be a moment.”
The two of them walked out of hearing range of Mr Woods.
“Which Hotel? Don’t I get to know where you are staying?”
Garth laughed.
“I don’t have one yet. Why not book one for me when we are going back to town? Make that two rooms and I’ll take you out to dinner tonight to seal our little deal.”
Once again Garth had one over on her.
“But… My flat?”
“For how long is it yours eh? My guess is that your old employers paid for it and you will need somewhere to live for a while until Brian gets his brain into gear. Am I correct?”
“And then you are selling your place in… Ah, Catford. Why not stay at the Hotel until either Brian asks you or the deal for this place gets done? This will need furnishing and fitting out.”
“But the cost?”
“Kim… have you forgotten the email I sent to Brian?”
“No but…”
“Ah, you have a bit of a cash flow problem until your place in London is sold?”
Reluctantly, she had to agree.
“Then sign the forms in the folder and we’ll go to the bank tomorrow and get you some funds. I can’t have my number two homeless and short of working capital, now can I?”
“Thanks Garth but I shouldn’t.”
“Nonsense. I insist. There will be a good deal of costs involved in setting up my operation here. One hotel room for you for a few months is a small price to pay don’t you think?”
“Really?”
“Come on Kim, start enjoying life a bit. I spent far too much of mine being all about business, and it made me a sourpuss. All my friends told me that for years but I was too proud to listen to them until I met Helene and Brian. One of the things I’m going to do when I move over here is spend a lot of my time birding. Why else did I pick this part of the country to get Brian to setup operations? The North Norfolk Coast is a birding mecca and the peace and quiet allows me to unwind.”
“Are we good?” he asked.
“Yes Garth, we are good. This has been one hell of a day.”
“That’s why we can relax tonight.”
“This looks a nice place,” commented Garth as Kim drove into the Hotel Car park.
“I need a drink,” commented Kim.
“If you had forgotten, both of us have been on the go since breakfast and have not stopped for even a coffee since.”
Garth waited until she’d parked and switched the engine off.
“I’m sorry about that. I tend to get carried away when I’m enjoying myself and even more when I’m in the company of a not only pretty but intelligent woman.”
“Garth, flattery will get you nowhere. I need a drink, a shower and something to eat.”
“Dinner in an hour?” suggested Garth.
“And a half. It is easy for you to get ready.”
Garth laughed.
“Oh, I know that only too well. Liza, my first wife took hours to get ready for even just going to the country club to play tennis.”
“Shall we go?”
“Large G&T please and hold the T,” she said to the barman.
“Any particular gin?”
Kim was about to get angry but held it in check.
“Gin! Proper Bombay Gin and none of that new flavoured Gin shit! Got it!”
“Ok, ok,” replied the barman.
He poured her the drink and placed it on the bar along with some ice in a bucket and some lemon slices. He obviously did not want another outburst this early in the evening.
Kim took the drink and consumed half of it.
“Put it on my room,” she said as she gave him her room key.
She grabbed it along with her half empty glass and headed back to her room.
Once inside, she downed the rest of the gin and stripped off her clothes.
Ten minutes in the shower had done nothing to settle her down.
As she dried herself, she wondered what had triggered the thoughts she was having.
Then it came to her. They’d come upon two people out riding their horses at a place called Brancaster Staithe.
“Riding!”
“That’s it.”
“I am such a fool. I’m being taken for a ride.”
Then she collapsed on her bed and started to hit the pillow.
“I’ve been such a fool!” she cried.
Then she started crying.
When she stopped crying she wondered if this was an audition for her favourite TV Show, ‘Suits’.
Then she felt the rough edge of the folder that Garth had given her.
She opened it and glanced at the contents. Her brain was still mush.
Then she saw the envelope that supposedly contained her job offer.
Kim literally ripped it open to reveal the contents. There were two pieces of paper inside.
The first item was a single sheet containing details of her salary. Her salary was indeed going to be a hundred thousand a year plus bonus.
The other was a cheque that was made payable to her. A yellow sticky was covering the numbers. It read, “This is your sign on Bonus. Get a decent car!”
She tore it off and saw the numbers.
£50,000
That did it. Garth could not buy her body.
Kim got ready to go down and face Garth once and for all. She made sure that she had her car keys with her so that she could make an escape once she’d told him to his face what she thought of him. She wasn’t sure of the words but she doubted that it would be pretty.
With a final check of her hair in the mirror, she left her room determined to do this properly.
She’d reached the top of the stairs when she stopped and thought again. Kim returned to her room and grabbed her overnight bag. Then with a new determination in her step, she went downstairs and out to her car. After putting her bag onto the back seat, she headed back into the Hotel carrying Garth’s offer under her arm.
Kim entered the restaurant and searched for Garth. He wasn’t there. She checked her watch and it said that she was more than five minutes late already.
Then out of the corner of her eye she saw someone waving.
She looked over and saw that it was Brian. Her heart fluttered for a few seconds before calming down.
Still determined to have it out with Garth she walked over to Brian.
“Hello Kim,” said Brian happily.
Kim looked at him and then at the table. It was set for two people.
“Where’s Garth? I need to speak to him?”
“He’s gone into ‘Wells next the sea’, by Taxi. He thought that it would be nice if we could spend the evening together.”
Kim felt totally defeated. She felt that Garth must have seen this tirade coming and ducked out to avoid a conflict.
“I… I don’t understand? I thought that I was going to have dinner with him?”
“He called me just after five and suggested that I come here and have dinner with you.”
“Anyway, you are looking beautiful as ever so please sit down,” suggested Brian.
Half of Kim’s brain said that she should to a runner and the other half wanted to be here with Brian.
The latter half won.
Brian ordered some wine and as they perused the menu Brian asked,
“Why did you want to see Garth? It sounded important?”
Kim didn’t answer. Instead, she opened her handbag and pulled out the cheque and the note from Garth.
“He gave me this a little while ago. I’m not going to sell myself to him and help him make even more money!”
Brian looked surprised by her words.
“Did he give you anything else?”
“Yes, this.”
She pulled out the contract. She’d screwed it up so it looked rather crumpled.
Brian spread it out on the table in front of him and looked at it intently.
“Have you read this?”
“No! I don’t need to. I know what he wants.”
Brian tried to suppress a small chuckle. He failed. Kim noticed.
“This is no laughing matter.”
“Kim, I know that. Garth has more money that he knows what to do with. He’s not here to make more. He’s here to give it all away. Not at once but over time. He has no children so who is going to get it when he dies?”
He passed the dishevelled contract over to Kim.
“Read the third and fourth paragraphs.”
Kim read the words but her mind was such a mess that none of it made sense.
“You tell me what it says. In simple terms,” said Kim as she gave up and passed the sheets back to Brian.
Brian picked up the contract and read the relevant parts again.
“Garth wants you to head up a charitable trust that will distribute around one hundred million dollars or the equivalent amount in Euros or Pounds to worthy charities and not for profit organisations. That is per year by the way. The board of Trustees of trust will be Garth, yourself, Samuel Benson, his UK Lawyer and Jan Simpson, who is his UK Accountant plus one other as yet unnamed person.”
Brian looked at her. Kim had not reacted.
“You are to run the show for him. You are the boss.”
“But…”
“But, I know nothing about this sort of thing?”
Brian smiled at her. Kim’s heart skipped a beat.
“At the moment that is true. But you are brilliant at digging out facts and getting to the truth. Researching the charities that apply for grants is right up your street isn’t it? You will have others backing you up and I’m sure that there are experts out there that could be employed to assist you in the daily operation.”
Kim was still shocked by this.
“The contract goes on to explain that Garth is putting aside two million dollars a year in addition to the funds for distribution for running costs of the trust. This is all coming straight out of his pocket.”
Just then, the wine that Brian had ordered arrived. Neither of them said anything while it was poured.
Brian picked up his glass and offered a toast.
“To the most wonderful woman I have ever met and to the future!”
Even though Kim was still slightly bewildered by what Brian had said, she picked up her glass and completed the toast.
“Why me?”
“Because you have shown that you have lots of drive. You dig and dig and keep on digging until you get to the truth. In my eyes, you are perfect for this role.”
Kim sat back in her seat. All the anger of even half an hour ago was fast disappearing like the wine in her glass.
Brian reached over the table and took her hand.
“I think the world of you. You know that don’t you?”
Those were not the exact words that she wanted to hear but they were better than nothing.
She managed a small smile.
“Come on Kim snap out of this fug that you are in,” said Brian in a much sterner voice.
“What I’m trying to say is, will you marry me?”
Those words went right over her head. Her mind was whizzing around in a total morass.
“Planet Earth to Kim?” said Brian quietly.
“Eh? Oh sorry,” replied Kim slightly embarrassed.
“Kim, your mind is obviously on other things tonight. Why don’t you just go to bed and we’ll talk in the morning ok?”
“The morning? Won’t you be at home?”
He shook his head.
“No. Garth gave me his room for the night. As I said, he’s gone into Wells and is staying there.”
“But we haven’t eaten yet?”
“I’ll get the restaurant to send up a baguette or something. You are clearly not in the right frame of mind to eat something and enjoy it tonight.”
She sat there for nearly a minute.
“I think you are right.”
Kim stood up and looked at Brian.
“I’m sorry for being a complete pain tonight. You deserve better than that? Than me.”
Brian smiled.
“Kim, you could never be a complete pain in the arse and you are nigh on perfect in my eyes.”
Kim left him before she started crying again. She made it past the reception desk before the tears came flooding out.
It wasn’t until the middle of the night when Kim sat upright with a start.
“Fuck!” she cried.
“Oh Shit!” she said slightly quietly.
“Brian asked me to marry him and I totally dissed him!”
She turned over in bed and cried into one of her pillows and at the same time, she was punching the hell out of another one.
Kim was late for Breakfast in the morning. She’d literally cried herself to sleep after her nightmare of the small hours.
When she walked into the restaurant, Brian was just finishing a cup of tea.
“Brian, I’m so sorry for yesterday,” said Kim without even a good morning.
“Good morning Kim.”
“If you don’t mind me saying so, you look like shit.”
“I don’t mind. I do. My mind is going at a million miles a second.”
Kim sat down and looked at Brian.
“I’m so sorry for last night. I don’t know what I was doing. If I did something mega wrong then I apologise.”
“That’s all right. You didn’t and even if you did, you are forgiven.”
At that moment, Kim wanted to strangle Brian. How could he not be angry after what happened at this very same table the night before.
“Why are you so nice to me? I behaved, atrociously didn’t I?”
“Kim, as I said, you had a lot going on in your mind and I said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Please forget about it. Today is another day. Another day to be lived to the full isn’t it?”
Brian wiped his mouth with the napkin and stood up.
“Take your time today. I’m picking up Garth and taking him to the Office. He’ll be getting the purchase of the place you visited yesterday sorted out. Well probably just getting his legal people to start the ball rolling but you know what I mean.”
It was then that Kim decided what she was going to do next.
“Brian, if it is ok, I’d like to take the day off. My head is not in gear yet.”
Brian chuckled.
“It is Saturday remember?”
Kim had forgotten what day of the week it was. He shoulders visibly sagged.
“Kim, Garth is staying until at least next Tuesday. He obviously didn’t expect to find a place so quickly. We are having a Barbeque tomorrow afternoon. You are most welcome to come along.”
Kim hesitated. Brian saw her body language change.
“My ex won’t be there. She’s going away to a conference in Oxford this afternoon.”
“Thanks Brian. I might come along.”
“Good. Garth is chef for the day. If it is fine, he’ll be manning the ‘Barbie’.”
“Eh?”
“It was his idea. We talked about before he flew over earlier in the week.”
“Thanks Brian. I’ll think about it.”
Then she found that Brian had settled her bill which for a second made her angry but then she realised that was Brian being Brian. She could still not understand why he wasn’t angry at her from the night before. She’d behaved like a total plonker and a numpty rolled into one and yet he was so forgiving towards her. She’d never met a man who was anywhere near a nice as him.
Kim mentally kicked herself yet again. Brian was waiting for her to say yes to marrying him. Garth was waiting for her to say yes to a job that comes along only very rarely and she was dithering. She was dithering about saying yes to two wonderful men. She needed to… Kim could not decide what to do next.
[to be continued]
[1] Flint. The fields on North Norfolk are littered with it. Many buildings used it as a building material because it was there for the picking.
https://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/inspire/seven-natural-wonders...
Kim finally left the hotel in what was for her, a rather odd mood. She wasn't sure what to do next. For someone who was generally so sure of herself this mood/feeling was becoming far too common to be good for her.
The weather wasn’t playing ball either. A brisk north easterly wind was bringing rain in off the North Sea. It was decidedly chilly and a far cry from the lovely sun of the previous day.
She was glad to get in her car and start the engine to warm up the interior. After a few minutes, she switched it off. Once again, she had no idea what to do next or where to go.
That morning was the lowest of the low for Kim. She’d never felt like this before.
To put it bluntly, she was lost. Lost for words, lost for something to do. Uppermost in her mind at that very moment was ‘could what she’d done the previous evening made it impossible to for her to stay in Norfolk’? She just didn’t know one way of the other. There were for her so many loose ends and the investigator in her just hated loose ends.
Kim sat in her car for almost twenty minutes before she started her little car again and turned west onto the A149, the coast road. This would eventually take her to Kings Lynn. This wasn’t the fastest or the most direct route but it didn’t require making decisions about which way to turn if she wasn’t going to end up in Norwich. She’d already learned that in this part of the country all roads seemed to lead to Norwich and that was one place that she didn’t want to go that day.
Where she wanted to actually go was only present somewhere in her subconscious and as yet, this was proving very elusive like so many things in her life at the moment.
As she approached the totally mad roundabout where the A47 meets the A10 which meets the A149 and several smaller roads. If you get into the wrong lane you could end up going in the wrong direction and have no choice but to travel some distance before being able to turn around and return. Kim had made that mistake once. The next time, she’d gotten into the wrong lane heading towards the Supermarket and had been on the wrong end of a number of rude gestures from local drivers. After that, she’d managed to navigate it slowly but correctly.
Without really thinking which was probably not the right thing to do given her first few encounters with the intersection, and before she realised it, Kim found herself driving south on the A10. When she saw the sign showing the distance to Cambridge and London, for the first time that day, she relaxed. It seemed that her subconscious was telling her to go back to London.
She realised that she had not read all of the contract that Garth had left her and some of what Brian has said the previous evening was starting to filter through from her subconscious mind into reality.
A mile or so farther on Kim saw a place to stop that was well away from the numerous HGV’s that were rushing past every few seconds, she parked the car and fished the contract out of her handbag.
It was looking rather a bit worse for wear after being stuffed into her handbag a couple of times but it was all there so she started reading it again. This time her mind was working far more logically than she had done before.
Her body gave a little shudder when she remembered how emotional she’d been when she first read the contract. Her mind flashed back to a lecture at University that was on the state of mind and how it processes information at different levels depending upon your emotional state.
Kim resolved to look at the contract as if it was the first time she’d seen it.
Gradually, a lot more things started to make sense. But her naturally inquiring mind was already working at 200mph by the time she reached the end of the document.
Kim sat back and closed her eyes and counted to 1000. Then she read it again.
This time, an itch started nagging at her again. She thought to herself, ‘another of those loose ends that needs solving’.
With a newly determined look on her face, Kim pulled out her laptop and connected it to the Internet via her phone. Then started searching through the various documents she’d downloaded when she was putting the ‘bio’ of Garth together. After a few minutes, she found the two references she was interested in. She had to find out firstly if Garth was on the level and then how serious he was about changing from how he’d operated for most of his life.
The first reference led her to the contact details of an academic at Cambridge who had written a paper on benevolent capitalism which had cited Garth as an example of what not to do. The paper had been written some years before which meant that the reasoning presented in the paper was understandable for how he operated at that time. Kim wanted to know if the ‘Leopard’ that was Garth Samson could change his spots.
As she was heading for Cambridge and because the academic worked at the University, she took the chance and called the academic. The call was pure speculation and she might not want to speak to her or she might be out shopping.
To her relief, the call was answered on the second ring.
“Professor Jameson? My name is Kim Greene. I used to be and the operative word in used to be a reporter for the Sunday Herald.”
“That it perfectly correct. I am no longer working for them. They fired me last week. I’m actually calling about the paper you wrote almost five years ago about benevolent capitalism.”
“Yes, that’s the one. In it you cited Garth Samson and used him as an example of not the right way to do business. Have you by any chance been keeping tabs on him since. Your text alluded that you had been watching him and his business for a number of years?”
Kim listened to what the Professor had to say intently.
“Professor, I have a lot more information relating to what he is doing right now. Can we meet?”
Then as a carrot, she said,
“I was with Garth for most of the day yesterday.”
“Today if possible. I’m less than an hour from Cambridge. I’m north of the city at the moment. I’m near somewhere called Denver.”
“Yes, like most people, I didn’t know there were two of them until recently,” replied Kim with half a smile.
“Hold on, let me grab a pen. I’m sitting in my car just off the A10.”
Kim fished out a pen from her bag. After making sure that it worked she took down the details of where the professor lived.”
“Thank you very much Professor, I should be there in around an hour.”
Kim hung up the phone and briefly smiled.
“One down, one to go,” she muttered to herself.
Kim punched in another number and listened for it ringing.
“Ms Forsythe, my name is Kim Greene. I used to work as a reporter for the Sunday Herald.”
“No Ms Forsythe. I did say used to work. They fired me last week. I’m not writing any articles at the moment. I have a job offer that will involve me working for someone that you have had dealings with in the past.”
“Garth Samson.”
“He told me about you himself.”
“No Ms Forsythe, I was with him all day yesterday. As strange as it may seem, I helped him buy a house.”
“I wonder if we could meet. I have a number of questions about Garth that are still niggling me. I’d like to get them answered before I give him an answer to a job offer.”
“Later today if possible. Late afternoon perhaps? Say four thirty?”
“I’m in Norfolk at the moment and I’m meeting someone near Cambridge very soon then I’ll get the train down to your neck of the woods.”
“There is no need. I’m sure I can get a taxi if you would give me your address?”
Kim picked up her pen once more.
“Ok, go ahead.”
She wrote down the address.
“No, I have a flat in South East London. I’ll stay there tonight.”
“Ms Forsythe, thanks for agreeing to meet me. I’ll see you later this afternoon. If there is any change, I’ll let you know.”
Kim hung up and this time a proper smile broke out on her face.
A newly enthused Kim started her car and headed south on the A10 towards Ely and her first appointment.
The professor lived in a small house near the village of Soham which is south east of the ancient city of Ely with its magnificent Cathedral than can be seen for miles and miles as the surrounding countryside is as flat as a pancake.
Kim found the place just as the professor had described to her on the phone.
She parked her car and after sitting still for a few seconds in order to collect her thoughts, she got out and walked up to the front door.
As she was about to ring the bell, the door opened and a woman stood in front of her.
“Professor Jameson? I’m Kim Greene.”
“Ah yes. Please come in,” said the woman.
Kim went inside her home. There were books everywhere. Many had markers indicating some point of reference or interest.
“Come on through,” said the Professor.
“There is more room at the back of the house.”
“You certainly have a lot of books?”
“Far too many. Buying books is a little weakness of mine I’m afraid. One of these days, I’ll get around to having a clear out.”
Kim knew that this would probably never happen unless there was some extraordinary reason for her to move. The whole atmosphere of the house said to Kim, ‘I am very comfortable here’.
She had a chance to look at her host. The professor seemed to be in her late 60’s. Her hair was almost all grey and long enough to be plaited. She wore no makeup that she could see. She was also as thin as a rake. Not one ounce of extra flesh seemed to be the rule of the day for the professor.
“Please take a seat and tell me about Garth? How do you know him? He’s a pretty secretive man.”
Kim suddenly caught a bit of an American accent.
“As I said on the phone, Garth and I spent most of the day together yesterday. He has offered me a job here in the UK. He says that he’s moving here for a variety of reasons but one of them is your current president.”
The professor laughed.
“Ah him. He’s the subject of a paper that I’m writing at the moment. An interesting character but you do know that he’s mad, don’t you?”
“Well, I guess that a lot of people who don’t support his politics think that.”
“And a lot think that he is certifiable but that’s not the point of my paper. It is about the madness and total inconsistency of his economic policies. But you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble on about my former country. I have been here for almost forty years and I only finally cut the cord so to speak three years ago.”
“Cord?”
“I renounced my US Citizenship. I became a British Citizen more than ten years ago. As I’ve lived here far longer than I did in my country of birth it made sense to finally settle here.”
Kim nodded at her host and pulled out the contract of employment from her bag.
“I wonder if you could read this and tell me what you think,” said Kim handing her the contract.
“Sorry about the state of it. I only saw the numbers and nothing else. I sort of flipped my lid at the time.”
The professor chuckled.
“Numbers can do that to people especially large ones.”
Nothing was said for several minutes as the Professor read the contract from end to end twice.
She handed it back to Kim and smiled.
“The old fool is really going to do it then!”
“What do you mean,” asked Kim who was very surprised by her answer.
“Garth and I are… shall I say old… old acquaintances. We go back some fifty years. We grew up in the same small town in the middle of nowhere called ‘Hicksville, USA. We first locked horns when went to the same high school and were on the High School debating team.”
The professor smiled and seemed to gaze into space as she remembered those times.
“It was such a very long time ago.”
After a sigh she carried on.
“We had this one debate about giving to the less needy. His position was to support this and mine was the opposite. He knocked me out of the park with his arguments. He had all the facts at his fingertips. I was totally outgunned. That one event was 100% responsible for me becoming an Economist and being here today. Without him, I’d probably be some bored housewife in middle America. Instead… I’ve made something of my life.”
This surprised Kim.
“You don’t hate him then?”
“Hate is an emotive word. Not hate but I have certainly disagreed with a lot of what he’s done over the years. He has at times been downright brutal in business. But… if he had not been tough then a whole host of others would have walked over him and he was not going to let that happen. That is not how he was brought up.”
The professor thought for a moment.
“In this debate we had, he said that he’d make a fortune and give it all away. He’s made the fortune and it seems that he’s going to give it all away. What surprises me is why here?”
“Professor?”
“Margot please.”
“Margot, he’s buying a house in Norfolk. I was with him when we viewed it yesterday. His offer was accepted.”
“A mansion then?”
Kim chuckled.
“No, far from it. The first place went to see was a Georgian Grade 2 Listed place with twelve bedrooms and many acres of parkland and it was clear to me from within a minute of us arriving, that he hated the place. I could tell that from a mile off but the agent kept on trying to sell it to Garth. I’d taken a punt on the way there and found a place that was quite different. I mentioned this to Garth. He told me to sell it to him. He liked it so we went to visit it. This other place is a converted 18th Century Barn. He liked it and put in an offer on the spot.”
Margot smiled.
“It does seem that he is clearing the decks. How does he look? He’s not ill, is he?”
Kim chuckled.
“Far from it. He seems to be pretty fit.”
“But why Norfolk?”
“He has a business interest in a company that is based in Kings Lynn that is run by Brian West. He was an academic at Cambridge I understand? Then he says that he wants to go Birdwatching but somehow I can’t believe it.”
“Oh! So that’s where Brian ended up. Good for him. You know what, it all sort of starts to make sense.”
“This charitable trust he’s setting up and wanting me to run, is it kosher?”
“From the information I have it is. If you let me have the name and such, I’ll do some digging this afternoon if that’s all right. You have piqued my interest. Perhaps he really is following the Andrew Carnegie model as he promised all those years ago. I never believed he would. He pretty much dropped off the radar a bit after his late wife died. He surfaced for a while when he got one over on Frankie Mangan and then disappeared from view again.”
“This Frankie Mangan thing. This was to do with the hotels?”
“Yes, that’s it but it goes back a long, long time before that. Frankie Mangan was always a nasty bit of work. His family and Garth’s had land on different sides of the valley that led into town. They have been rivals for generations. Frankie tried to get me to go to the Prom with him and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Garth had already asked me and I’d accepted. I went to the prom with him but Frankie swore revenge. That night, they had it out on the middle of the dance floor. Garth whipped him them and has been doing that ever since.”
After a small sigh, she carried on.
“Frankie had long been of the opinion that he could have any girl in town and didn’t like it when I said no to him. As I said, I went to the Prom with Garth. Frankie arrived late and about the same time as Garth’s car went up in flames. Frankie came into the Prom and tried to take me away from Garth so Garth laid into him. He broke Frankie’s nose with his first blow. Like most bullies, that was all that was needed. Frankie ran out of the place where the prom was being held and got arrested for Arson. One of the Parents who was waiting for their child saw him do the evil deed. Frankie got two years of probation for that and the two have been mortal enemies ever since. The fight over me took their family rivalry to new heights. That was why when I got a scholarship to Brown University, I took it. I’ve only been back there twice since. The place has gone downhill since the Mines closed and the State severely restricted the Lumber Business.”
Kim smiled. Some very large chunks of what was missing from her bio of Garth suddenly fell into place.
“Thanks for that. It at explains a lot, it really does. I’m going to meet someone else this afternoon who met with Garth around that time. She and her husband Adrian, also got one over on Mangan’s Geo-Stay chain.”
It was Margot’s turn to smile.
“That wouldn’t be Maxine Forsythe by any chance?”
A visibly shocked Kim said, “Yes, it is! How do you know her?”
“I used the business that her late husband setup as an example of benevolent capitalism in the same paper where I named Garth. I didn’t name Adrian Forsythe or the company but about a week after I’d delivered the paper at a conference at Stanford University, I got a ‘thank you’ card from Garth. At the time, I didn’t know why he sent it but I later found out that he’d been in contact with Adrian at the time of the Geo-Stay UK Hotel liquidation.”
Margot shook her head and smiled.
“It all makes sense now. Please give my regards to Maxine and that if she’s ever up in this neck of the woods, she is always welcome. That woman is an absolute whizz with digging up financial information. In a bygone age she would have been an ace investigative reporter for something like the Financial Times.”
Then she looked over her half-moon glasses at Kim and said,
“You two are much alike in that ability.”
Kim looked surprised.
“Yes, I did look you up after your phone call. Your firing warranted two lines in last Wednesday’s Evening Standard. If it had not have tallied, I would not have answered the door to you. Back in the day, hacks would try everything to get a quote out of you. Now they just invent something.”
Kim laughed.
“I know what you mean. I was sent to do a hatchet job on Brian’s company and the editors didn’t like it that I would not make up some story about him. I didn’t know it then but I later found out that Mangan owns the paper or at least one of his shell companies does.”
“That is the world we live in today, sad as it may seem.”
Kim stood up.
“Thanks for seeing me today Margot. It has been most enlightening.”
“No. It should be me thanking you for updating me on Garth,” said Margot with a glint in her eyes.
Kim left the professors home in a far, far better frame of mind than she had been a few hours earlier.
Kim drove down to Cambridge and then on to the town of Royston. There was an air of determination about her that been totally missing from her just a few hours earlier.
Once she’d arrived in Royston, she found a place to park on a small industrial estate that was about half a mile from the station. She walked to the Railway Station and took the train down to London. Kim got off the train at Blackfriars where she changed onto another Thameslink train that was going to Brighton and got off at its Redhill stop.
A short taxi journey from Redhill Station took her to the address in Reigate that Maxine had given her over the phone.
Maxine’s home was totally different to the one of the Professor. The latter was probably two former farm workers cottages that had been knocked into one a few decades before. This place, was in her eyes, some Edwardian era monstrosity. That was probably Kim’s least favourite architectural style as her grandmother on her Father’s side had lived in one that was very similar in Bedford. She even remembered the address, Kimbolton Road, Bedford. For some reason, it had stuck in her mind all these years. She always hated going there as a child as the place always smelled of over-cooked Cabbage even on one of those rare days that allowed the windows to be opened and her grandmother was not paying attention. Just thinking about the place gave her goose bumps.
As she walked up the drive, she hoped that this place was different.
She rang the bell and waited.
A woman opened the door.
“I’m here to see Maxine Forsythe? I hope I have come to the right address?”
The woman opened the door to its full extent.
“That’s me. You must be Kim. Please come in.”
Kim was momentarily stunned. Maxine was wearing a dress that could have come straight from a period drama on TV. Her jet-black hair was pinned up and the all black floor length dress had a high collar. There was lots of lace frills again all in black and she heard the swish of petticoat’s as Maxine led her into a sitting room. A single cameo brooch with a white figure on a blue background was pinned onto the high neck of the dress. It was quite striking.
Kim wondered if Maxine had dressed like this just for her but the way she moved told Kim that it wasn’t the case.
Kim looked around the room It was quite a contrast from the way she was dressed as the room was furnished in a much more modern style.
“Please take a seat. Can I offer you a drink of some sort?”
“What do you have to offer?”
Maxine smiled and looked at the clock. It read two minutes past five.
“It is past five so I’ll have a small G&T. Yourself?”
Kim surprised herself by saying,
“Oh, why not, the same please.”
“Good. Make yourself comfortable for a minute, I’ll be back in a tick with the drinks.”
Maxine left the room making sure that her skirts didn’t get caught in the door. Kim saw that she was wearing high heels. They looked like boots and had at least a 4in heel yet Maxine wore them with ease. As the episodes at Brian’s and at Garth’s had demonstrated very clearly, heels and Kim had never really gotten on together. She’d lost more than one boyfriend who wanted her to dress up for special events and she almost always came in trainers or flat soled lace-up shoes. It was also true that Kim didn’t have a shoe fetish like many of her former school friends. Then she realised that the job that Garth had offered her would mean that she’d have to take a lot more care about her appearance. If the job itself was not daunting enough having to dress up was just as bad if not worse.
Maxine appearing with the drinks made her thoughts return to the here and now. She’d carried them into the room a silver tray. After putting the tray down on a side table and handed one to Kim.
Maxine then sat down once again making sure to sort her skirts out.
Maxine picked up her glass and said,
“Cheers.”
Kim responded.
“Cheers”.
Both women relaxed.
“I do like your dress,” said Kim.
“Thanks. I dress like this at weekends when I’m not going out. This was the last dress that my Adrian bought for me when we planned his funeral. I agreed to wear it at weekends. I’ve grown to like it now.”
“I could never wear anything like that especially those heels.”
Maxine laughed.
“If truth be told, Adrian had a bit if a fetish for high heels. I’d not worn anything of any height until I went on my first date with him. Believe me, I wobbled a lot at first. Now, they are second nature.”
“Rather you than me. I’d be afraid of falling off them.”
Maxine laughed. Not just a titter but a proper laugh.
“If it wasn’t for my sister doing exactly that, I’d most certainly not be sitting here today.”
Maxine took a sip from her glass.
“Now about Garth? What is it that you want to know? He speaks very highly of you, you know.”
Kim was momentarily startled.
“You spoke to him?”
Maxine smiled.
“Yes. About ten minutes after you called.”
“You were checking up on me then?”
“Not really checking up on you. I just asked him if he knew you. He said he did and that he looks forward to seeing you tomorrow so that you can sample his special BBQ sauce.”
Kim’s heart started to settle down.
“I also met with Margot Jameson earlier. She sends her best wishes.”
“Oh my, you have been doing the rounds. How is she? I must visit her sometime.”
“She looks fine and she told me to remind you that her door was always open to you.”
“Thanks.”
There were a few seconds of silence before Kim spoke.
“Garth has offered me a job. A very good job as it turns out.”
Maxine laughed.
“And you want to know if he is genuine?”
“More or less.”
“What does this job entail then?”
“Simply, I am to run a charitable trust that will give all his money away.”
Maxine really laughed this time.
“On the QT naturally? Well to begin with, I’d expect knowing Garth.”
Kim nodded.
“That sounds about right for Garth.”
Maxine took another sip from her glass.
“I get the feeling that you had some doubts about it?”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
Maxine nodded.
“Garth is not an easy person to read. He reads people as if they had their bio on a sign around their necks. Yes, he has people to research the people he’s going to meet but Garth can read you like a book when he gets you face to face. He knows how you are feeling, reacting inside. That’s is a great deal of what makes him a success.”
“Yeah. He likes people to give it to him straight.”
“He certainly does not suffer fools gladly that’s for sure.”
Maxine thought for a moment.
“Do you have anywhere to be tonight?”
After a moment of hesitation Kim replied.
“No, not really. I was going home to Catford when I leave here.”
“Then why not stay for dinner? I hate making it for one. I have more than one spare room. You are more than welcome to stay the night?”
“Are you sure that it won’t be too much trouble?”
“No trouble at all.”
Then Maxine grinned.
“There is one catch though?”
“I have to go and get the take-away?” suggested Kim.
Maxine chuckled.
“No. You won’t be getting off that easy. You do have to dress up. I get the sense that you don’t really take that much care in your appearance. Am I right?”
Kim sighed and nodded her head.
“That will have to change when you work for Garth. Oh, around the office it does not matter but when you are out representing him looks really matter. Especially around women. You know how critical we are of how other women dress? We give them the evil eye if we find the slightest thing wrong. Those poor men, just don’t have a clue do they?”
Kim’s shoulders sagged. She had sort of been expecting to dress up a bit but nowhere like to the level that Maxine was suggesting.
“Garth is paying you a decent wedge I hope?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I hope is includes a clothing allowance?”
“No. Well, not as far as I can see.”
With a grin on her face Maxine said,
“When you see him to accept his offer make sure to get at very good clothing allowance added to it. Adrian always baulked at my idea of a clothing allowance until I went and ordered a number of dresses and stuff for use on business. Once he saw them he gave in and from then on, I got what I wanted when it came to clothes, shoes and the like for use on business. Men have a hard time getting it into their thick heads that women need a far, far greater variety of clothes for business than they do. Adrian used to dress smartly but he only possessed five suits. Granted that they were made to measure but they were all various shades of grey. He had fifteen ties ten of which were identical. Boring, boring and boring but he would not change which was why I loved him so much.”
“I’d not thought of it that way so I’ll talk to Garth about getting an allowance. Thanks.”
“Good. That’s settled. Now drink up and we’ll go upstairs and get you something else to wear.”
An hour later, Kim came down the stairs very carefully. Not only was she wearing heels but she was also wearing a long dress with two petticoats. The Dress was a light blue silk with a black bird pattern embroidered on it. The scoop neck also showed a decent amount of cleavage which was something that Kim didn’t naturally possess. A couple of breast enhancers had solved that but it meant the Kim could not see where she was walking. That was a totally new experience for her.
She’d also done her makeup. She’d commented on Maxine’s eyelashes when they were choosing the outfit.
“All fake I’m sad to say. I get them done at a place in Horley called ‘BeaBeautiful’. Bea, the lady who runs it gave me the double works for Adrian’s funeral and I’ve kept them ever since. This many take a bit of getting used to but I love them. I never really had much in the way of length to my lashes in the first place so I used to wear falsies but these don’t need to be glued on every day.”
“They look fantastic.”
“Just give me a shout and I’ll get Bea to fit you in.”
“You’d do that for me?”
Maxine grinned.
“Well, seeing as I own a little over half of the business so yes.”
Kim looked a bit stunned.
“Bea was being kicked out of her old place. The landlord wanted to put a Turkish Barber in there instead. I’d been there a few times to get my hair done and liked what she did with it. To cut a long story short, I found some new premises and bought the freehold. Bea won’t get thrown out as long as I’m alive. Don’t get me wrong, this is business but Bea knows her clients and looks after them. I thought that it was a crying shame to see a good hard-working person put out of business over a few close shaves instead of a few perms and root jobs.”
Maxine went up a good number of notches in Kim’s estimation.
“Excuse me for a few minutes, I need to see to the meal,” said Maxine after briefly looking at the clock on the mantlepiece.
“Ah, just in time. Dinner is almost ready,” said Maxine as Kim walked into the kitchen.
Maxine was wearing a black and white checked apron over her dress. She was in the middle of dishing up something that smelt delightful.
“I hope you like Steak and Ale pie?”
“It smells lovely.”
Maxine finished dishing up and put the plates onto a small trolley.
“Shall we go through to the dining room?”
Kim wandered into the room next door. The table was set for two and a bottle of wine was open.
Maxine put the plates on the table and sat down.
“Please sit yourself down. Wine?”
Kim sat down while Maxine poured some wine.
“Cheers!” they said as the clinked their glasses.
“How’s the dress?”
“It feels strange.”
“But? Do you like it?”
Kim smiled.
“You know, I think I do. It is a real change for me.”
“How about the shoes?”
“They feel pretty good. I guess that I’ve not been wearing the right size.”
“Strange that I can’t see my feet though. That is a new experience,” replied Kim as she looked down at her cleavage.
Maxine chuckled.
“You can keep the enhancers. I don’t need them any longer.”
That told Kim that Maxine’s ones were permanent. They looked about right for her height and size.
They began to eat.
“This is great. Very tasty indeed,” said Kim after her first mouthful.
“It is very good to hear that. The beef comes from a farm less than twenty miles away. The Brewery is almost next door to the farm. It saves on the food miles. Before you ask, I do own a small stake in the Brewery and the Farm.”
“It’s a lot better than the Chinese Takeaway that I was probably going to have if I’d gone home,” remarked Kim.
Maxine served up some Cheese, Biscuits and some delicious Onion Pickle for desert.
“The Cheese is a bit strong. It is made on the farm where the milk comes from. They run a shop come café right next to the Brewery.”
“It is very sharp but I like it. Far better than what you get in the Supermarket,” commented Kim in between mouthfuls.
“If you do end up living in Norfolk, you will have some of the best food in the country right on your doorstep. I’d make the most of it if I were you.”
Kim remembered seeing the man with the wheelbarrow full of Mussels.
“I’ll be certain to start looking for good suppliers.”
As the end of the meal, Maxine said,
“I think Garth has chosen well with you… Provided you accept his offer that is.”
“I’m still trying to decide.”
Maxine smiled.
“I think that you now know in your heart that you will accept but are trying to prove it to your mind.”
Kim looked down at her empty plate. Maxine was right.
“I’ll get there in time.”
“I would expect that Garth might very well be looking for an answer tomorrow. He’s not a man to be kept waiting.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Then you know what to do then. Whatever your decision is be upfront about it. If you are, and even if it is no, he’ll respect you for it.”
“I know that. It is just…”
“Someone else?”
Kim nodded.
“He asked me to marry him last night and I totally dissed him. He does not deserve that.”
“Is he a sensitive person?”
“Yes… Yes he is. Why?”
“Then he’ll know.”
“Maxine! Please get to the point!”
Maxine laughed.
“Good. Some reaction from you at last.”
Kim glared at her host.
“He’ll know that you were thinking of something else. Just say yes to both of them and get on with enjoying the next phase of your life. Be daring. Be different!”
“It is easy for you to say.”
Maxine laughed.
“There I was out of work and with no visible prospects. Then my silly sister fell off her shoes and I went to a job interview in her place. I went in her place and here I am. A woman of independent means.”
“But you are a widow?”
“I am and I met and fell in love with a man that made me who I am today. Without him and some other extraordinary people I’d just be another person on the dole or earning minimum wage and with next to zero prospects. Don’t get me wrong, I miss Adrian every moment of every day. This is why I dress like this at weekends. Doing this means that I will never ever forget him and what he did for me. One day, I am sure I’ll find a new partner. They’ll have to accept my little foibles. Perhaps like you, they’ll embrace it and dress up like me.”
Kim didn’t say anything but looked at Maxine. Something clicked in her mind.
“Maxine, I hope you don’t get offended by this but are you Trans?”
If Kim was hoping for a negative reaction from Maxine, she was very much mistaken.
“Oh, dear it must be my Adams Apple giving me away again?”
Kim nodded.
“I must get that shaved. Adrian was always going on about it. But, yes you are right. I am Trans but I am fully a woman. The old me was a loser. Becoming Maxine in order to go to that interview made me realise who I really was thanks to the woman who interviewed me. She saw right through me in an instant but it didn’t matter to her. It was what was inside me just screaming to get out that intrigued her. It was she who introduced me to Adrian. Does all this make sense?”
“It actually does you know. You became Maxine and found your destiny. I became a reporter because I thought it was mine. But doing this job will give me a new purpose. I had not really thought of things that way before. Thanks Maxine.”
She smiled and raised her glass.
“To the future. Wherever it happens to lead for both of us!”
Kim could not answer where that might lead but wherever it was it was going to be interesting.
As they did the dishes, Kim said,
“That really is some dress you are wearing Maxine.”
“I love it. Adrian and I designed it and I had it made. Like the one you are wearing.”
“Oh! I didn’t know.”
“If I could get away going to some business meetings in it or something equally dramatic then I would but… Men rule don’t they so it is a business suit or something like that. That all changes if you are the boss though. You make the rules.”
“What do you mean?”
“Be bold. Make a statement. Don’t conform to their stereotypes. If this job entails people coming to you for money then make it clear that they need you more than you needing them so make them follow your rules. If they don’t like it then there is the door… Got it?”
Kim laughed.
“You know Maxine, I think I do. Thanks.”
“Are you going say Yes and Yes?”
Kim smiled.
“That tells me that you are. Good for you. You and Garth will make a formidable partnership. Just keep giving him the truth even if it is bad news. He loathes people who lie or are ‘yes’ men but he’s probably told you that at least once already. The old goat does tend to repeat himself a bit but you soon learn to roll with it.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence and, yes I know about giving it to him straight. He and I are much the same that way.”
“Well, to help you on your way here is a little gift,” said Maxine as she handed Kim a package.
“What’s this?”
Maxine grinned.
“Oh, only what you were wearing last night plus a chiffon wrap. You said that you had some Jimmy Choo’s at home? Well girl? What are you waiting for eh? Take this gift from me then go to Kings Lynn and knock those men dead.”
Kim dithered before taking the bag.
“Don’t be ashamed to look your best. Instead, think of those poor men who are forced to wear the same dull crap every day. Then think about how lucky we are to have so much to choose from eh? Dress to please yourself rather than conform to the expectations of others. After a while, I’m sure you’ll get to enjoy deciding on your outfits for the day ahead.”
Kim had no answer to that so she gave Maxine a peck on her cheek before literally fleeing down the steps of the house and into the waiting Taxi.
[to be continued]
After leaving Maxine’s home in Reigate, Kim travelled by train back to Royston where her car was parked. When she changed trains at Blackfriars, she nearly left the package that Maxine had given her on the train. For a moment, the swore at herself for being so absent minded. Then she laughed at herself. Absentmindedness was a family trait that she’d worked hard to eliminate. Kim wondered if the emotional trials and tribulations of the recent few weeks was finally catching up with her.
The second part of the journey gave her the chance to review the two meetings that she’d had the previous day. It didn’t take her very long to reach conclusion that really didn’t know what to make of Maxine. She’d never met anyone like her before. She was clearly one sharp cookie indeed and Kim knew that she’d never get the better of her in business. Some of Garth’s words about a woman in business that was really sharp came back into her mind. He must have meant Maxine even though he didn’t say so directly.
Maxine was also unlike any other trans person that she’d ever met and she’d covered more than one Pride Event in her time at the paper. The way she oozed confidence even when Kim had identified her as trans was amazing. It was truly as if she had really meant to have been born a woman. Far too many of the transwomen that she’d encountered were unsure of themselves and often preferred to hide away and not to make waves. Maxine was certainly not like that.
Kim laughed to herself as she thought about those at the other end of the spectrum, the Drag Queens. ‘Loud and Proud’ was the order of the day for them. She’d always admired them for having the mindset to go way out in their makeup and dress.
As she drove north towards King Lynn, Kim’s attention turned to what she was going to do when she eventually arrived at Brian’s home that afternoon.
She glanced down at the package on the front seat beside her. Maxine’s words about playing to her strengths or basically flaunting it were echoing around in her brain.
Those very thoughts brought Kim’s mind back to when she was at school. She’d never been in the ‘IT’ crowd. Her miniscule breasts had seen to that. It wasn’t her fault that her DNA was missing some essential sequences in the mammary department.
She shuddered as she remembered the bullying that she’d been on the end of from the gang of dumb blondes who called themselves the ‘C Team’ because they all had ‘C’ cups by the time that they were fifteen. Anyone who didn’t have in their eyes proper sized breasts was going to end up at working a checkout at the local supermarket. How wrong they were. The last time she’d been back to the town of Fareham where she’d spent her early teenage years it hadn’t taken her long to discover that at least some of the ‘C’ team that were working in shops and even slightly envious of her work as a journalist.
She chuckled to herself at the thought of going to the next school reunion. Saying that she was running a Charitable Foundation that was giving away a Billionaire’s Fortune would really blow their tiny minds. Then she realised that they’d never believe her. They were more concerned about the likes of the Kardashians and who was bonking whom on Love Island than giving money to good causes. She shook her head as she realised that they lived in a different world to her and… She decided that she wouldn’t be going back there anytime soon.
Kim tried to put those thoughts about her the past life out of her mind for the day at least.
Maxine’s words kept rattling around in her mind so that by the time she’d passed the city of Ely, she had decided to go full on glam for the afternoon. Her only regret was that her lashes were very poor in comparison to Maxine’s but she did have some ‘Extra Lash’ mascara that might do the job instead provided that it hadn’t dried out.
With renewed determination, she carried on driving north.
After a shower she began to get ready. She opened the package and discovered that Maxine had left a note for her.
“I added a few little extras to what you wore last night. Knock’em dead kiddo.”
Kim laughed. It was highly likely that she was older than Maxine but knew the sentiment behind the words.
The little extras turned out to be a pair of false eyelashes, a pair of sheer stockings and a suspender belt. Kim picked up the last item and remembered what Maxine had said, ‘it is all about the details. The little extras that show that you really care about how you look. You don’t want to be seen as mutton dressed up as lamb but someone who is a force to be reckoned with and not to be pigeonholed as the ‘token woman’ and ignored.’
Normally, Kim would have laughed all this off but Maxine’s words had hit a nerve. She was in a different league now. A league where not only what she said and did mattered but how she looked and conducted herself.
With a sigh, she headed for the bathroom and began to apply her makeup.
After three failed attempts to get the corners of the lashes to stick she succeeded. Kim now knew why Maxine and many other women paid to their lashes glued on properly every few weeks. Despite knowing that she could master the skill of applying falsies they’d never look as good as the sort of lashes that Maxine wore. Another job for the next few days.
Then her hair was a mess. It needed cutting properly and colouring. She’d found her first grey hair the previous week. That would just not do. Yet another job for the forthcoming week.
Eventually, she was finally ready to leave. After checking herself once more in the bathroom mirror, she decided ‘that’s as good as it is going to get’, she picked up her handbag and her Jimmy Choo’s and headed out of her flat.
When Kim arrived at Brian’s, the first thing she noticed was that the damage she’d caused to the gatepost the last time she’d been there had been repaired. For a moment, she was angry but once again, it was Brian being Brian. There were also a couple of strange cars parked outside. She hoped that there would not be a whole raft of people present. She had two key decisions to make public and it would be better if there were only Brian’s family and Garth present.
Slightly nervously, she changed into her heels. She made a mental note to get Brian to wear ones just as high if he accepted her answer to his proposal. He owed that much at least to her after all, he had goaded her before. The memory stopped her dead in her tracks. How long ago was that? She asked herself. It seemed an eternity but it wasn’t.
As she walked around the side of the house, she could hear Brian’s children enjoying themselves in the paddling pool.
Once she’d seen who was present, she let out the breath she didn’t realise that she was holding. She could only see Garth who was behind the Barbeque, Brian who was on his knees splashing water at his children and the children.
Garth saw her and waved. Kim smiled back.
“Come and get yourself a drink. The food will be ready in about fifteen minutes,” called out Garth.
Brian saw her and looked mightily relieved.
Then, to Kim’s surprise, Garth’s old friend, Professor Jameson emerged from the House carrying a tray of extras to go with the food.
She smiled at Kim.
“Hello Professor,” said Kim
“I was not expecting you to be here today?”
“Margot please. And no, I wasn’t but after you called, I started thinking and eventually, I started making some calls and eventually, I got hold of Garth and… well, here I am.”
“Nice to see you again.”
“You are looking really good. You seem in a better frame of mind than you were yesterday?”
“Thanks, and yes I am. Our talk was very useful indeed. Oh, and Maxine sends her regards.”
“You look… really nice.”
Kim looked a bit sad.
“Is that all?”
“Well, I was going to say ‘hot’ but I thought I might be going too far,” he whispered.
Kim smiled.
“I had some help but thanks.”
Then Kim took hold of Brian’s arm.
“Can we go somewhere a bit more private to talk?”
“Let’s go inside. Margot and Garth will keep an eye on the children.”
Brian let Kim go first as the went into his home.
“Go on through to the front room,” he suggested.
When they were in the front room, Kim turned to Brian.
“Brian, I am so sorry for the other evening. I… I was a total mess but that is no excuse for what I…”
That’s as far as she got. Brian stepped up to her and after wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her with Kim still in mid-sentence. The kiss went on for some time.
“Oh!” exclaimed Kim when they broke apart.
Brian laughed.
“I’ve never had anyone just say ‘Oh!’ after a kiss from me before.”
“Sorry. I was just surprised. I had everything I was going to say planned out but then I was interrupted.”
“Like this?”
Brian kissed her again.
As they kissed, Kim thought it slightly surreal for a father of two wearing a summer dress to be kissing a woman in his front room.
It got even more surreal as she noticed that they had an audience. Brian’s children were watching and dripping water onto the wooden floor at the same time.
Kim broke off the kiss to Brian’s surprise.
“Look,” she said pointing at his children.
“I’ll be back in a moment,”
Brian dashed off almost dragging the children with him.
The moment was gone.
Kim followed them out into the sunshine. Margot was helping Garth dish up the food.
She heard the oldest of his children claim,
“Uncle Garth told us to tell you that the food was ready!”
Brian’s anger didn’t last very long and everyone tucked into the food.
Kim was not normally a fan of BBQ food but this was something else entirely. Garth had obviously worked wonders with the sauce or marinade or both. Kim didn’t mind as it tasted wonderful.
The lack of conversation spoke volumes for everyone else’s opinion of the food.
Kim would just have to wait for her chance to get Brian alone again.
That opportunity did not arrive until late afternoon. The day was still warm and no one really wanted to be the first to start packing up and going inside the house.
In the end, Kim was able to get Garth alone first.
“Garth, I’ve been thinking about your offer,” she began slightly hesitantly and immediately that she’d put herself on the back foot.
Garth smiled.
“Brian told me about the other night. I’m glad you have got over the shock. It was shock wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was. Well that and my own self-doubts. It all got the better of me for a bit.”
“That’s what Brian said. The day was supposed to be rather different but never mind. As you say, that’s water under the bridge.”
“Garth, I’m going to accept your offer on one condition.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Only one?”
Then he laughed. He really was in a good mood. Kim had not seen him this relaxed before.
“Sorry, please go on. What is your condition?”
“If I am to do the job you want me to then I have to be able to do it my way. Once we agree some targets it should be left to me to get it done.”
Garth smiled.
“I would not have it any other way.”
Kim hesitated.
“There is one more thing?”
“I’d like Margot to sit on the board. She has all sorts of contacts that will be useful.”
Garth smiled.
“That won’t be a problem given that I’ve asked her to marry me. I should have done it fifty years ago but got scared. She was always the brainy one at school. I asked her earlier when we met up in Kings Lynn and she said yes. I have to thank you for going to see her. It was your visit that resulted in us getting in touch again.”
Kim felt slightly embarrassed. Garth noticed this.
“There is no need to feel embarrassed. I would have gotten around to finding her again before long. All you did was bring that forward. That was part of moving here. I knew that she had renounced her US Citizenship so it was useless of me to try to get her to move back there with me.”
“But Garth? Do you mean to say that you met her somewhere in Kings Lynn and straight away, asked her to marry you?”
“Yep. That’s about it. All I said was that I should have asked her something years ago and before I could answer, she said, ‘yes Garth Samson, I will marry you.’ That was it, the deed was done.”
Kim stepped over and gave him a big hug.
“You are a bit of a softie at heart, aren’t you?”
“Maybe yes, maybe no but don’t go telling anyone about this. I have to maintain my usual gruff reputation for a while longer.”
She knew what he meant.
“Ah, there you are,” said Brian.
“Planning to take over the world?”
Both of them laughed.
“No, I was telling Garth that I am going to work for him.”
Before she could answer, Garth said,
“I’ll go find the kids and leave you two in peace.”
Then Kim took her chance.
“Brian, I will marry you if you want still want me to that is?”
Brian answered her question by literally picking her up off the floor after wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her long and hard.
“But…” said Kim when he put her down again,
“You are going to have to decide one way or the other?”
“Decide about what?”
“Guess?” said Kim looking him up and down.
“Oh that.”
“Yes that.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Don’t go putting this all on me. I want what makes you the happiest.”
“Then it is Bryony then. Well not straight away but in time and with you at my side we can make it work.”
Kim leaned over and whispered into his ear.
Brian went red in the face.
“Ok?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied with a smile on his face.
“Good. Then on my wedding night you can make a proper woman of me but we are going to have such fun deciding on our negligée’s.”
Brian went even redder in the face.
Kim kissed him.
“That is for us alone.”
[Four weeks after Brian’s proposal to Kim]
“Are you ready?” asked Simone as she popped her head around the door.
Kim smiled.
“Yes I am. As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good, everyone is waiting. Maxine says that Margot is also ready.”
In the absence of her Mother, Maxine was going to walk Kim and Margot down the Aisle.
Kim’s final flourish was to pull the veil of her wedding dress over her face and arrange it properly. Her dress was a perfect match to Margot’s thanks to the Dressmaker that Maxine used. The alterations needed to accommodate her new breasts had been done in a matter of days. She’d even gone with Maxine and Margot the previous day to her hairdresser ‘Bea Beautiful’ for a full set of lashes and nails. Kim had also adopted a totally new hairstyle including colour. Her hair had gone from a slightly unkempt brown mess to a shorter but more manageable ‘bob’ in a radiant metallic bronze.
Earlier that morning Kim, had sighed as she looked in the mirror at the finished results. This would have to be how she presented herself to the public from now on. No more being in the background. No more blending in with others while on an undercover assignment. Now, she was to be the public face of Garth’s Philanthropic Enterprise. Thankfully, Garth had agreed on a clothing allowance for both Kim and Margot for when they were on Business for the Charity.
Kim had laughed when Margot had shown some reticence at having to dress up. After years as an Academic the only time she ‘dressed up’ was for the formal dinners and graduation ceremonies at her College. Even then what she wore was covered by her gown and she would be just one of many Academics. Now she had to attend engagements on her own.
Kim and Maxine had taken her to one side and given her a lot of support. Gradually, Margot had come around and was starting to accept that in her new life as Mrs Garth Samson, it would involve a number of public appearances and how she would look was often as important as what was being said.
At one point, Kim said,
“Margot, I’m much like you in that in my past life, I preferred to remain… remain part of the furniture. That is going to have to change now that we will soon be in the public eye. It will be a journey for both of us and I’d like to do it together.”
Margot laughed.
“You are making me sound like your mother?”
Kim smiled.
“You understand me far more than my own one does so what’s wrong with that eh?”
Margot could not answer that.
Kim’s only slight regret was that her mother was not there to see her get married. Brian and Kim had travelled down to Cornwall to give her the good news in person. Kim’s mother had reacted badly to the news that they would not be having children. She’d not responded to the invitation and despite Kim’s phone calls and another visit, her mother had refused to bless their marriage.
Kim and Brian were going to take the children and visit her mother a few weeks after their short honeymoon in the hope of mending the rather stormy relationship that Kim had with her Mother. Their hope that when she saw Bobby and Monica her opposition would simply melt away but deep down, Kim had her doubts. Her mother had a set expectations for what Kim would do with her life and so far, she’d failed to meet even one of them.
The subject of Brian becoming Bryony would most certainly not be on the menu during the visit with her mother. That was just one of the items that would take a lot of time and care to put in place.
Kim put those thoughts to one side and concentrated on the day ahead.
Since that day at Brian’s house, things had moved rapidly. After some effort, she and Brian as well as Garth and Margot were to be married in a joint ceremony.
The issue of where they would get married had been solved at a stroke. A big helping of good luck had come their way and they’d managed to get a cancellation at Cley Windmill.
How many people can say that they were married in a Windmill, let alone one as pretty as this one?
The wedding was to be a small affair. Just over thirty guests in total. Some of Garth’s closest friends had flown in from the USA and France to be there. When Kim had looked out of the window a little earlier, there was no evidence of the press which pleased her no end.
Kim and Margot had jointly prepared a press release that was going out to Reuters and the Press Association at the very time that they were due to say ‘I do’. The main subject of the release was the marriage of Garth to his childhood sweetheart, Margot. Kim’s marriage to Brian was not mentioned. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t important. Garth Samson getting married and moving to the UK was very newsworthy whereas Brian’s marriage wasn’t in the grand scheme of things.
With a final intake of breath, Kim began her last journey as a single woman.
Most of what happened in the next hour was a high-octane adrenaline enhanced blur. She managed to say the right words at the right time and she remembered Brian placing a ring on her finger and her doing the same to him so it must have happened.
Now she found herself standing with Brian, Margot and Garth facing a wedding cake. It wasn’t very ostentatious but more than suitable given the rushed nature and size of the event.
They’d all discussed who was going to cut it and eventually, it was agreed that she and Margot should do the honours.
As they cut the cake, the photographer they’d hired to record the event started earning his money. At Garth’s insistence, the man was hired for the day. He’d retain no copyright to the photos he took but had been paid well for his services. That way no pictures could be leaked to the media or worse to social media without a huge lawsuit heading his way.
The weather was perfect and the views from the Windmill out over the Cley Marshes reserve was clear and bright. Kim was sure that Garth would have loved to just say ‘I do’ and disappear to one of the Bird Watching hides that was literally just across the road from the Windmill. He’d been doing just that in recent weeks. He’d even taken Margot, Brian and Kim along on one of his early morning expeditions.
All thoughts of returning to a warm bed had disappeared in a flash when the four of them saw two Barn Owls hunting in the same field and flying silently just a few feet over their heads as they stood watching in awe.
Kim put the memory that very enjoyable day out of her mind and returned to the here and now.
Once the cake had been cut and a few words of thanks spoken there was a chance to mingle with the guests. Two of Margot’s nieces had come over to see their Aunt get married. They would carry the news back to their hometown. The Mangan clan would not be happy at the news but they were almost ancient history as far as Garth was concerned.
Helene teased Garth about his well-known hatred of the press only for him to employ one as his right-hand woman in his new venture.
“What better solution my dear. What better way of handling them eh? Didn’t some general say something like ‘keeping your enemies close’?”
“My dear Garth, it was the Chinese General Sun Tzu who said ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’” teased Helene with a huge grin on her face.
“Whatever, Kim is as close to me as Margot will allow.”
Everyone laughed at that.
All the newlyweds made sure that they met and talked with everyone at the reception. Some of the Academics from Cambridge were a bit stuffy towards Garth at first but Brian reminded them that there was a Professorship up for grabs now that Margot was leaving Cambridge to work with Kim on the Charitable Trust. That soon shut them up and gave them something to gossip about amongst themselves.
All too soon, it was time for the four newlyweds, to leave their guests and depart on their honeymoon. Garth’s plane was going to take them to Iceland. If the press wanted to find them once the news was out about his marriage, they’d have to search the whole island for them. Not that they’d find them there as they were heading to Prince Edward Island in Canada. On that leg, they were flying on a different aircraft that had been chartered from the company that Maxine Forsythe used from time to time.
[Two Days Later]
From their cabin on the beautiful shore of PEI, the two couples watched the reaction in the financial press to the announcement of Garth’s scaling back of his business interests and subsequent change of direction. Little was made of his move to Norfolk apart from some speculation that Margot would be not very welcome in the USA due to some Tax Irregularities with her final filing before she had given up her US Citizenship. That was of course complete baloney.
Margo laughed this off by saying that she had a letter signed by the then head of the IRS stating that her returns were all in order. Getting that statement had been part of the process of revoking her citizenship. The general consensus was that this was fake news that had been fed to the press by Frankie Mangan.
One afternoon, Garth disappeared to make a few Phone calls.
When he returned he was grinning from ear to ear.
“I think I may have put Frankie Mangan’s nose so far out of kilter he can see his ass.”
Everyone looked at Garth. Frankie Mangan had reacted to the news of his and Margot’s nuptials by sending a gift to his Long Island home. The gift was a short length of rope tied like a Hangman’s Noose. The only card said ‘Garth Samson – on the stairway to hell’.
The old rivalry was alive and kicking.
“I was impressed by the speed of the Internet here. That got me thinking so, I made a few calls to my people in NYC and arranged put in an offer to buy the local phone company from back home in Kentucky. I’ll put up a few million so that they can put Fibre Internet into every home in the County. I’ll also make it free for the next five years. Think of it as my first act of Philanthropy.”
There was silence in the room. No one moved an inch.
Then Margot picked up an iPad that was lying on the coffee table. After a brief flick through some pages she found what she was looking for.
She showed it to Brian who started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” asked Garth.
Margot showed the others what she’d found.
“There was a news item on the TV this morning about another county in Kentucky that has done pretty well what you just told us apart from the ‘free’ bit.”
This is the piece from the Lexington Herald Leader that was dated some two weeks earlier.
Garth took the tablet and sat down looking somewhat dejected.
“Garth…” said Kim softly.
“You must have heard it and registered it in your subconscious. Then it came to you later when you watched Brian talk to the factory back in Norfolk and it came back to you.”
Garth sat down and started to laugh.
“I thought that I was losing my mind for a moment.”
Kim smiled at him and said,
“There is no danger of that Garth, but I also heard the news item and thought that it would be an interesting technology area for the Foundation to start work. Seed money to bring Clean Water and High-Speed Internet to places that have had their water supply contaminated by things like Coal Mining and Fracking.”
Garth looked at Kim and grinned.
“I knew you’d some up trumps. That is exactly the sort of thing I want for the Foundation.”
“But what happens when the press find out? They’ll have a field day!” he complained.
“Don’t worry my darling. We are all adults and can take a little bit of bad publicity. It will soon blow over when the find some ‘D’ list Celeb bonking a supposedly gay man.”
“That’s the last of it,” said Kim as the office supplies delivery van disappeared down the lane after dropping off the desks and other equipment that Kim had brought for the Annex.
“Everything we ordered is here. There is just enough time to get it all stowed away before Bryony picks me up. We are going to the PTA meeting tonight.”
“Good,” replied Garth.
“Then tomorrow we can get down to some serious work. I have some leads to start the ball rolling but there is something you should know.”
“And what is that?”
“Four things actually.”
“Firstly, Margot says that my biography is done. Those rewrites that you gave her yesterday for editing were great. That completes Volume 1, ‘The Early Years’.”
“That’s good. Now I can concentrate on getting the Charity properly operational. Up to now it is nothing more than an empty shell. I’m sure that there will be hacks on both sides of the ‘Pond’ wanting it to fall flat on its face. We need to show some progress for those watching our every move and that has to be sooner rather than later.”
Garth laughed.
“You really have gone over to the dark side, haven’t you?”
Kim just grunted. She had been actually a little embarrassed by how easy it was to leave journalism behind until she realised that it was journalism that had left her behind.
Garth smiled.
“It hasn’t happened yet but the story of how I came to decide to give away all my money should be enough for the second volume. A lot of what you have written will form the core of that book.”
“Oh, I get you.”
“The second thing is that Margot’s house has been sold. She is donating most of her book collection to the University. Now that Volume 1 is done, she can start cataloguing the several thousand books. I expect her to move out at the end of next week. It will be nice to have her here full time.”
“It must be a bit of a wrench for her to leave all those books behind after all this time?”
“If I know one thing… Margot will not want to let them all go. Do you think that there is a corner of the factory where she could set up a small library?”
Kim laughed.
“I’m sure that room could be found. You can ask Bryony yourself when she picks me up.”
“Then there is the final volume. One that won’t be published until I’m dead and buried,” said Garth changing the subject slightly.
“Volume 3?”
Garth grinned.
“Mostly about who and what my… or rather our Philanthropy has helped. However, I think that the first chapter of Volume 3 will be written next winter.”
“Why next winter?”
“I’ll come to that in a moment. I’ve put a file on your desk. I think that the project it describes would be good for a first project for you to run with. You know one of the key players already… Maxine. She and her friends are planning on creating a totally carbon free Hotel and that includes the food chain as well. It might be good to have the foundation’s name on it. As it is relatively local you won’t have to spend much time away from Bryony.”
Kim was initially surprised at moves like this but she had soon realised that this was Garth being Garth.
Garth grinned at her slight unease.
“Finally, I’ve twisted a few arms and I’ve managed to get you a slot to present at the next World Economic Forum meeting at Davos. It will make a good opening for the book. Isn’t it what you writers call a ‘Hook’?”
Kim stood there dumbfounded. Her mouth opening and closing but no sound but for a strangled ‘eek’ seemed to come out of it.
“Just think back for a moment to when you were originally sent to Norfolk. Your orders were to get a story that simply wasn’t there. Then, well under a year later, you and Margot will be speaking to world leaders about Philanthropic Capitalism. Isn’t that a real story?”
Kim had to sit down before she fell down.
Garth was right. That was one heck of a story! But... she wondered who would believe it?
[The end]