Pinstripes (17 page)

She started planning how to get rid of Tim, but before she had made any decisions, he called her and told her that he was on his way. She got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. She pulled her hair back. She looked positively ordinary.

When Tim arrived, she was prepared. He entered the house, moved straight into the lounge and sat down. She stayed silent.

“
I need to talk to you,” Tim said. He wasn’t shouting as he had been the day before.

“
Fine.” Clara felt her resolve falter, but she knew that after he said what he had come to say she would tell him it was over. She hoped he wouldn’t do to her what he had done yesterday. For the first time, Clara felt afraid of Tim.

“
I’m leaving my wife for you. I realise that you only slept with Stephen so you could get my full attention and now I’m going to give it to you. But first you have to resign from SFH.”

Clara nearly threw up. Her heart started beating faster and faster and she felt as if her insides would explode. This was not what she had wanted or expected.
“Tim, I can’t resign. I love my job.” Her job was the only thing she could cling to. It was all she had.

“
Clara, we all know why you got that job. It was because you gave great head. I gave it to you in exchange for what you gave me. Now I’m offering you the position of being with me full time. A highly coveted position. You can leave your job for me, just like how you got it because of me.”

Clara felt her heart slow down. She was angry. He had never said that before. He had never said why he had promoted her. She could not leave her job and she didn
’t want him.

“Tim,
I think it’s time to call it a day. You have a wife and kids and they need you. I’m young and I have a career. I don’t want us to break up, but I don’t want this. This is too much. I don’t want to become your next wife.”

Tim stood up and started pacing the room.
“You don’t mean that. You need me.”

“
No. I need my job. I don’t want this anymore.” Clara felt very tired.

“So,
what are you saying? You don’t want me to leave my wife. You won’t give up the job?” Tim looked almost panicked.

“That’s
what I’m saying. Please understand.”

“
No, I fucking won’t understand. I’m not letting you do this. You will resign and you will become my full-time girl.”

“
I won’t.” Clara couldn’t take this anymore. She needed out.

“
Right. I’m not sure I understand. You love me.” Tim sounded almost like a small boy.

“
I don’t love you. We have fun. That’s what affairs are for, not for leaving your wife for or making me leave my job. Tim, I really love my job and I want to be successful. Please, you can’t take that away from me.”

“
Actually I can. Remember that. What I gave I can take away. I will see you in the office on Monday. You can give me your decision then, but I expect you to come round to my way of thinking. Remember what I’ve said.” Without glancing at her again, Tim walked out.

Clara looked at her wooden clock. She stared at it and watched the hands move. She moved with them, but she stayed still. It wasn
’t long before she was crying again.

She knew that Tim couldn
’t sack her without good reason. He couldn’t take her job away from her.

She couldn
’t remember the rest of Saturday. She needed coke to calm herself down. She went to the shop and bought vodka and cigarettes and she ordered a pizza. She couldn’t remember in which order they came; she just remembered the objects. She ate somehow, she drank and she had more cocaine. She awoke on Sunday morning on the sofa. The panic was still there as she put on her brightest smile and prepared to meet her brother.

PART THREE

BLACK THURSDAY

Chapter Twelve

After another encounter with Jim, her personal trainer, Ella went to work on Monday. It was as painful as all the others had been, except it was her last. She had spoken to Jackie at length about Johnny, her job and her life, and Jackie had advised her to loosen up a little. If she wanted to make management, she would have to deal with people like him, and she would have to make him show her some respect. She also realised that she could get rid of Jim without feeling it meant that she didn’t fit in. The facade had been in place for too long; it was time to start letting go. That morning she told him she would no longer be training and she was amazed at how good that felt.

Now she had the support of her team she felt she could relent a little; she deserved that. She even smiled at Johnny when he arrived at the desk and almost fainted when he smile
d back.

***

Johnny smiled at Ella, safe in the knowledge that she was about to fall from a great height. He had made an appointment with Jeff and he had his story worked out.

“
Johnny. What can I do for you?” Jeff wasn’t welcoming: he was expecting a new list of complaints. Every time Johnny had ventured into his office, it was to complain about something. Jeff was tired of him. He was also loyal to his team and, so far, he had no time for the new boy. He had already decided that he would make a point at the meeting on Thursday, and he hoped he would be able to persuade the others to back him in his quest to move Johnny to another department.

“
Well, it’s a bit awkward, really.” Johnny was playing coy.

“
Fine, well, why don’t you just tell me what’s on your mind?”

“
Well, it’s Ella.” Jeff had been expecting another complaint about Ella.

“
What about her? She’s a highly respected member of our team. One of the best traders we’ve ever had.” Jeff was firm.

“That’s
why this is awkward. You see, my father is a friend of one of the dean’s at Durham University and he was visiting this weekend. I happened to mention that Ella was my mentor and I asked him if he knew her. As she’s obviously a smart girl, I thought he would remember her.”

“
Where’s this going, Johnny? I’m quite busy today.” Jeff looked at the man standing in front of him and felt nothing but contempt.

“
He’d never heard of her, and, well, he knows all the students. It’s part of his job.” Jeff looked at Johnny uninterestedly.

“
No one knows every student at a university. I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”

“
No, what I meant to say – gosh, this is embarrassing – is that he heads up the humanities department and Ella mentioned she did history at Durham and, well, she definitely didn’t. My father’s friend would have known her if she had.” Johnny was red-faced. This wasn’t going as smoothly as he’d hoped.

“
Johnny, you know what you’re saying, don’t you? And I cannot take your word for this just because someone doesn’t remember her. I’ll get it checked out and I’m sure there’s no cause for concern. I would also rather you didn’t mention this to anyone else. I’ll speak to you later when I’ve investigated.”

Johnny felt relieved. He had wanted this to happen. Now Jeff would have to get someone to make the same call Claudia had. Then they would discover that Ella was a fraud. In addition, Jeff would never find out that Johnny had gained the information on purpose. He would think it was just a coincidence. Johnny was angry with himself for not sounding more convincing, but as he left the office, he knew he
’d won.

Jeff thought about ignoring the whole thing. He was not a fool and he knew that Johnny
’s accusations had to be a misunderstanding. Of course Ella went to Durham – she had a degree certificate from there. But he had to get everything checked out. If he didn’t, Johnny would make waves in the office. He couldn’t afford for this to get out – he couldn’t believe it was true. Ella was his best trader, the best the desk had. She was a natural, always making money, showing wonderful judgement. Jeff didn’t want to lose her. He knew, too, that Johnny had not been lying. He had probably asked some eighty-year-old professor about Ella and he hadn’t remembered her. University people were renowned for being old and out of touch with reality. Jeff asked himself why he was making excuses; all he had to do was get it checked out. He would take delight in proving Johnny wrong. Although he still didn’t believe that the accusation was true, he called Helena in Human Resources and asked her to look into it.

***

Virginia found work even harder than usual. She was counting the minutes until Thursday, and she was sinking under the amount of work she had. Isabelle was being nicer to her than usual, but that was the only good thing. She could hardly bear to breathe: she was so excited that her dreams might come true at last. On a number of occasions she found her concentration wavering, but that was only to be expected. She had a big decision to await. She had to try to remain calm.

Isabelle had decided to be nice to the rat. Make her think she could get away with going behind her back and trying to get another job. Well, soon she would find out that you don
’t cross Isabelle Holland. Especially if you were a stupid secretary. Especially if you were
her
stupid secretary. On Thursday David would make the rest of the board see that Virginia was a threat to the company and they would welcome her dismissal. They wouldn’t, however, welcome it quite as much as Isabelle Holland would.

***

As soon as she got into the office Clara went to see Tim.

“
You’ve made your decision I take it?” Tim asked coldly.

“
Yes, I have. Tim, the answer is no. I will not resign and I don’t want us to be together. I’m sorry, I’m really fond of you, but I need to succeed at this job. Please understand.”

“
You know how you got this job, don’t you?”

“
Of course, but I’m good at it. And, anyway, you would implicate yourself as much as me if you tried to sack me because of it. And don’t forget my family is a big client with this bank, which is really why I got a job here in the first place.” Clara had played her best hand. She hoped it would be a winning one.

“
So, your family will protect you, will they? I suppose they don’t know about our affair, or about how you sleep with clients, or your little cocaine habit?” Tim was angry.

“
Of course not, and you wouldn’t tell them. You have as much – no, more to lose than I ever do.” Clara was angry.

“
Fine, if that’s your final word you’d better get back to work.” Tim turned his back on her.

“
Is that it?” she asked, surprised.

“
Yes, it is. From now on you’re just another employee. “Bye.” Clara left the office. She could hardly believe her luck.

***

As soon as she had gone Tim picked up the telephone. He spoke to Helena in Human Resources and told her that one of his salespeople had slept with one of their best clients, which was against SFH policy and potentially damaging to the company. Helena asked him what he wanted to do and Tim explained that her family was a client. He told her who she was. He said that, despite this, there was no way they could risk her continuing to work for them, and that he was confident Clara would keep her dismissal from her family: she would never be able to tell them she had slept with a client. He said she had to go, and he’d square it at the managing directors’ meeting. Helena said she’d look into the implications of sacking Clara, although as she had broken the rules it was an open and shut case. The only problem would be in convincing Private Clients that this had no implications for them.

He smiled as he put down the receiver. He knew that Clara wouldn
’t blow the whistle on their affair – she couldn’t bear her family to find out. However, she would be sacked and she deserved to be. If she didn’t want to be with him she wouldn’t be allowed to work with him. No one rejected him without paying the price.

He felt justified because he was broken-hearted. He called up Heather, a prostitute he sometimes visited, and arranged to see her that evening. He explained he needed some tender loving care, and as he was payi
ng handsomely, he knew that would be exactly what he got.

***

Helena was having the day from hell. She had three cases in front of her, all from the fourth floor, all of which could lead to dismissal. She had been in conference with the head of Human Resources over this and the whole department was working on it.

By the end of Tuesday, the results were clear. Ella Franke had never gone to Durham University and her degree certificate was a fake. She would have to be dismissed, and to avoid any scandal they would have to ensure it was kept quiet. Helena called Ella
’s boss to tell him. He sounded close to tears.

Virginia Bateman had taken an order illegally. This was now a major issue and might have resulted in the firm being sued. Her bosses wanted her fired. She had no legal come-back.

Clara Hart had taken a client out to dinner and slept with him. Again, there were implications for a scandal. In a salesperson’s contract it said that relations with clients were forbidden. Especially married clients.

Files on all three cases had been prepared. The managing directors would meet on Thursday to discuss them and discuss damage limitation. That day, Helena developed another seventeen grey hairs.