Crimson (42 page)

“But nobody should have all their capital invested in one sector of the market, as you have. You should sell some shares for cash and invest that money in other areas. Arrange a nice, well spread portfolio for yourself. It’s about time you saw some financial reward for your work and responsibility.”

“How many SUPPLY KITS shares would I have to se lIT “Legally, twenty-five per cent of the shares have to be made available to the public. The new directors will y abI be pleased to sell their incentive shares for such a ‘k profit, so you should only lose ten per cent of your W present holding. If we issue new shares, you’ll end up with seventy-five per cent of the business and a large sum of cash.”

“I’d like the staff to be able to have shares,” Miranda aid, “to benefit from the success of the business.”

“We can certainly arrange that, should SUPPLY KITS -go public “I’ll’think about it.”

Adam said, “It will take at least six months to organize, so think fast.”

FRIDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 1966

Four months after Clare opened her toy shop, her bank manager advised her to close it as quickly as possible, because she was losing money at a steady and frightening pace. He advised her to sell the shop and deposit the money in the bank. She had better not invest it in the stock market, because she couldn’t afford to lose a penny and there was no such thing as a safe share.

Over supper at the basement flat, Clare discussed her woes with Kathy, her former nanny.

“It was apparently doomed from the start,” Clare explained sadly, over the baked beans.

“The sort of people who can afford handcrafted learning toys don’t shop at the wrong end of the Pimlico Road.” She scraped out the dish.

“I concentrated on toys for pre-school children because I thought I knew about them. But those children didn’t want well-made, tasteful, pale wood Swedish toys. What they wanted was cheap, bright, plastic toys from Hong Kong, and I didn’t stock those.”

“Couldn’t you sell Lego and stuff like th at?” “I had plenty of Lego, but what they really wanted were the expensive toys they saw advertised on children’s TV.”

“Well, couldn’t you have sold a few of tho seT “By the time I realized that, I had no spare cash,” Clare explained.

“And that wasn’t my only problem. The importers weren’t reliable, and neither were the craftsmen, especially those who persuaded me to pay them in advance. Then I got in a financial muddle because I didn’t keep my bookkeeping up to date.”

“It sounds like a nightmare,” Kathy said.

Clare shuddered.

“The worst problem was theft.” Her entire gross profit for the first four months had been negated by shoplifting tots. The first time Clare caught a little girl hiding a rag doll up her knickers, she angrily threatened to call a policeman. The child burst into tears. Clare, contrite, gave her the doll as a gift.

At the beginning of October, Kathy, who had again been invited for supper, arrived at Clare’s apartment to find that nothing had been cooked. Clare, wearing a dirty dressing gown, was sitting on her unmade bed, staring into space.

“Where’s Josh?” Kathy asked.

“I put him to bed early. It’s good for him.” Kathy made two cups of tea and said firmly, “You aren’t yourself, Clare, and you haven’t been for months.” I’m still depressed about the Red Rocking Horse,” Clare replied vaguely.

“This started before that toy shop closed,” Kathy said.

“I think it’s those pills you take. Why not stop th em?” “Don’t be silly my doctor prescribed those tranquillizers,” Clare said.

“He’s a qualified doctor and you aren’t, Kathy.”

“But I know you better than he does! You aren’t the same person since you started taking those things, Clare. You don’t listen to what I’m saying. You don’t play with Josh like you used to you just sit! You’ve even stopped working for CND.” i’Jvould easily do without the pills,” Clam said crossly.

not just yet.” She started to weep drearily.

“I don’t 0, to be successful at anything. I used to be such a smug little prig. I was so sure I knew what was right, so critical other people. Now I’ve found out how hopeless I am on wn … Y u’d be a lot less hopeless if you were thinking Kathy advised.

“Why don’t you get away from move to the country.? You’re always saying you .“M’sAmlied you still lived in the country. And you could live in ‘the country on what you’re wasting in rent for this dump!” She looked around the room with distaste.

“Go to that Vlace where you grew up and tell a local estate agent you want the cheapest thing he’s got. Try to get it before Christmas, because I’ve got a bit of time off then, and I’ll help you settle in.” Mrs. Gooden agreed to let Josh stay with her until Clare sorted out her problems and found somewhere to live.

The day he left, Kathy said to Clare, “I’ll come round every evening and you can phone me any time I’ve asked my boss.” To Clare’s horror, Kathy then flushed the pills d” the sink drain.

“Now you know you’ll have to manage she said firmly. without’ em During the first day without her pills, Clare grew increasingly depressed and agitated. By the evening, her mouth was dry, her hands had started to shake, and she felt dizzy. She didn’t sleep at all that night. Her hands trembled too badly to cook and she sweated as if in the tropics. Frightened by these bodily reactions, she collapsed on the sofa and cried.

The following evening, when Kathy came to check on her, it was obvious that Clare blamed her for the shape she was in.

“If you go back to the doctor for another prescription,”

Kathy told her, “we’ll only have to go through this again later. Now eat this stew I’ve brought.” By the fifth morning, Clare’s hands no longer trembled. On the eighth day, she felt her normal, clear-headed self again. Deeply grateful to Kathy, she said, “Tomorrow I’m going to pick up Josh, take the train to Warminster, and look for a place where we can start all over again.”

Applebank Cottage, made of local soft Bath stone, was damp and cold, but as the agent pointed out, what did Clare expect for two pounds per week? All it needed was some heat.

From the garden gate to the front door, a herringbone brick path divided a neglected vegetable garden. Apple trees grew on either side of the double-sided small house, and behind it the land rose smoothly to a small wood that followed the ridge of a hill.

Clare moved in just before Christmas, with a minimum of furniture bought second-hand at an auction in Warminster. She hoped that Kathy was right, and that once away from the city, with enough money, for her simple everyday needs, she would gradually find herself able to cope again.

SUNDAY, 25 DECEMBER 1966

Neither Annabel the hostess at a big charity children’s skating party at Rockefeller Center nor Clare not invited was present at Elinor’s 1966 Christmas Day luncheon at Saracen, but Miranda and Adam were there, both arriving with bulging briefcases of work papers,

After the traditional turkey and Christmas pudding made by Buzz, for Sylvie thought the recipe ludicrous, everyone left the table for a siesta. A few minutes later, Miranda sneaked to Adam’s bedroom.

After they made love, Adam lay naked on the bed, stared, contentedly at the ceiling. Beside him, Miranda felt too to think, too tired to move. She wondered how long .00 Fould be able to continue at her present pace. A,dam picked up a yellow legal pad and scribbled on it. iie murmured, “Can you manage that dinner at the Mansion House next Thursday?”

If you insist.” Miranda yawned. Miranda was the promiPLYKITS floy displayed figurehead of the SUP on, planned for three months ahead: she had become the corporate identity of the company; her face, clothes, style had become the visual embodiment of her busiMiranda was publicly perceived as an intelligent, modern woman on the move the new sixties woman, not oontent to sit at home and wait for things to happen to her Because of this, Miranda, who hated being photo-W,aphed or interviewed, had been obliged to entertain important people: pension-fund managers, stockbrokers, bank and financial journalists. These business obligations,gtmade her feel impatient and frustrated: she would have ?,““Tgefeffed to spend her time working in her cosmetics busiam. KITS needed much more of her attention than it had Jbeen getting recently, and was now in a disturbing financial i1vtosiffion; it didn’t look as if the company would make a “profit in 1966.

Although Adam pointed out that a profit was projected or the whole group, and that the group, expansion had phenomenal, Miranda felt a wistful longing for the ““Vld, less comfortable days not so very long ago when “KITS had been her brilliant baby. Now Adam interrupted Miranda’s reverie by saying, ” y the way, Paul Littlejohn says that the trustees regretfully must turn down your request for funds to redecorate your -house. Apparently there have been big extra bills for Saracen this year; this place costs a fortune to run.”

“Blast,” Miranda mumbled into her pillow.

“The trustees are only doing their job,” Adam soothed.

“After all, you can’t expect them to go on saying yes for ever.” He turned away from her as the telephone rang.

“Hello? Mike? Had a good Christmas? So it arrived on time … A Harley-Davidson Sportster was exactly what you wanted… Of course I can afford it … No, the panic’s over … Happy New Year, little brother … I know you’re thirty-four years old … Then I won’t in future … We’re coming back tomorrow, in Miranda’s plane … Ciao.”

The day after Christmas, at six a.m.” when it was still dark outside, Elinor stood in the entrance hall waiting to say goodbye to Miranda and Adam. Buzz, only half awake, wore an old Jaeger dressing gown that now looked like something from a dog basket.

“Buzz, please go and hurry Miranda!” Elinor said, smiling apologetically at Adam.

“It’s been a wonderful Christmas,” Adam said to Elinor as soon as Buzz disappeared.

“I’ve used this peaceful break to consider something very important to me, and last night I reached my decision. I am going to leave STG and start my own practice.” Elinor stared, astonished.

“But why, Adam? It’s your family firm…”

“Quite frankly, Elinor and in confidence STG has been handling too many criminal cases for my liking. I don’t think a respectable firm should take such a direction, however lucrative. I’m certain my father would never have allowed it. I’m not letting down STG there are now seventeen senior partners and I’m only one of them. And since my speciality is international tax law, I feel … somewhat regretfully..

.”

“How will your decision affect my business?” Elinor asked sharply.

36o up to you, Elinor. You will have to choose between and me … I shall carry the same professional inogrance as STG, by the way.”

“I wish you could have talked about this when we had more time, Adam.” Elinor was vexed.

“Until last night, I was undecided. You are the first n I have told, Elinor. I only wish that my father know that I’m at last setting up on my own … If want to stay with STG, I’ll be happy to arrange to your work handled by one of the other partners though it may take him a little time to be able to handle all, completely on his own without asking you a I don’t want to deal with some new lawyer. to change. I want my affairs handled prop without a lot of questions. And if you’re setting up own firm, I’m sure your dear father would want me help you start. So please arrange it.” The simplest thing would be for you to write to STG and say you no longer wish them to represent you. Ask them to submit their bill to date I’ll check it, of course nd. hand all your papers to me. No need to type the letter in fact, a handwritten note would perhaps be best.” Adam’s brown eyes looked sincere.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Elinor. I only wish that Dad could know of your loyalty.”

MONDAY, 26 DECEMBER 1966

On the morning after Christmas, peaceful demonstrations organized by the CND took place all over Britain.

In Bath, the march started from the courtyard of Bath Abbey, which demonstrators had been forbidden to enter; the beautifully carved golden stone entrance to the abbey was protected by police horses. They stamped impatiently, legs shifting and snorting breath visible on the crisp, thin air.

Clare, wearing an old red ski suit, stood in a crowd of about three hundred people. She had left Josh with Kathy, who was spending Christmas at Applebank Cottage. Clare’s banner, made from an old sheet kept taut by two broom handles, was painted with the red words BAN THE

BOMB.

At eleven o’clock, the demonstrators formed a line in front of the abbey and prepared to parade slowly through the streets of the historic Georgian city. They were watched by a straggle of housewives and schoolchildren, and a photographer from the local paper.

Clare took up her position on the abbey side of the line. Just as the column began to move, a schoolgirl, pushing a baby in a pram, accidentally backed into a police horse. The horse, trained to keep calm, hardly moved, but the schoolgirl shrieked in terror and let go of her pram, which ran into the column of marchers; it hit the man standing next to Clare, who stumbled heavily against her, knocking her sideways.

As Clare staggered, her arms dropped and her banner dropped around her head’. she could not see where she was tottered to her right, bumped into a police She hindquarters, stumbled against the horse, then screamed as she was pulled violently backwards by strong arm. Someone helped her to struggle free from her banner. looked up and saw the tallest man she had ever seen; curly black hair and black-lashed, dark brown eyes, 4 filled with worry. M man half carried, half pulled her into a nearby pub, -“The 1117,i4here he propped her in a Windsor chair and went to fetch water from the bar. Clare, who felt dizzy and tearful, wonTed whether she would ever again be able to move her Jaw” which had received a painful blow, probably from the “-troomstick of her own banner. She looked across the bar lethe back view of her rescuer: he wore jeans and an old ‘““Jnaroon suede jacket buckled around lean hips; his boots were muddy.

As the man returned with a glass of water, Clare stared his short, straight nose, above a mouth to write poems abo ut: it was full-lipped, finely chiselled, subtly curved. Michelangelo’s David come to life, Clare thought. She she had worn some make-up, then chastised herself .4br such a feeble thought. Her rescuer said impatiently, “Sorry I took so long. It’s impossible to get water in a bar since they don’t 4xiake any money out of it.” He poured water on his handkerOdef, then gently dabbed at Clare’s chin.