Pinstripes (23 page)

They arrived at Clara
’s after a silent journey, and resumed their positions round the table.

“
I guess we should go back to talking about Isabelle,” Ella said.

“
Yes, absolutely. Now, where were we?” Clara tried to sound enthusiastic.

“
Well, we were talking about her love of money and how we could get her on some sort of insider trading thing,” Virginia said.

“
Mm. But how?” The trio lapsed back into silence.

Clara lit a cigarette and Ella did too. Virginia looked uncomfortable.

“You don’t mind if we smoke?” Clara asked.

“
No,” Virginia said, although she hated the smell.

“
Good,” Clara said, a little harshly. “I don’t suppose you’d like one?”

“
No, thanks.” Virginia could see that Clara wasn’t going to give up baiting her altogether. She decided she would have to grow a thicker skin.

“
Clara, stop. Now, back to Isabelle. Christ, I didn’t realise this was going to be so hard.”

“
I need the bathroom.” Clara made for her bathroom and her cocaine.

Ella looked at Virginia.
“Don’t mind her. She’s just a bit... well, you know.”

“
Yes, she’s horrible. But she’s right, I don’t say much.”

“
No, but if we all went on as much as Clara, we’d be in trouble.”

“
I suppose.” Virginia wished she could talk the way Clara did. She didn’t spend hours worrying that whatever came out of her mouth would sound stupid, or that she would be laughed at, or not even heard. Neither did Ella. Virginia wanted some of their confidence.

Clara took two lines of cocaine to fortify her. She was losing enthusiasm. She had thought it would be fun to plan and plot, but she hadn
’t thought out the details. She would have to spend more time with the two girls than she wanted, and she didn’t want to spend
any
time with them.

She went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine out of the fridge. If she was going to get through this, she needed alcohol as well as coke. She also hoped that the others might become more interesting if they were drunk.

“Drinks time,” Clara announced, and poured out the wine.

“
Isn’t it a bit early?” Virginia said, and immediately wished she hadn’t.

“
No, it’s six o’clock, which is a respectable time for drinking. Anyway, I think we need the inspiration.”

Ella leant over and took another cigarette as she sipped the wine.
“Sorry, Clara, I haven’t smoked in years. I just fancy it. I’ll buy you some.”

“
Don’t be silly. Help yourself – I’ve got loads.”

“Thank
s.”

“
Cheers, girls. Let’s hope the wine gives us some idea of what we can do about Isabelle.” Clara prayed to the god of alcohol.

Again, silence ensued.

Ella knew what she thought they should do; she just didn’t know how to figure out the logistics. They needed to give Isabelle some information saying that a company about to go bankrupt was to be taken over. Then she would buy stock, recommend it to clients and think herself very clever. The stock would go up briefly, then down before the company announced bankruptcy. It was simple, but it was also complicated. First, the information had to be rock solid: Isabelle wasn’t stupid and it had to come from a source she would trust. And the company had to be going bankrupt: it was unfair to cause an innocent company to go out of business. That sort of information wasn’t easy to get hold of. It was impossible to mastermind.

Virginia was thinking the same as Ella. If they could find a dead company with worthless stock and start the rumour, Isabelle would fall for it. She was so greedy and hungry for power that she would not only recommend it to her clients but she would personally buy it. And she would talk to the bosses about it. However, it seemed that putting this plan into action would be difficult, if not impossible.

Clara was wondering how they could use sex in the plan. She thought Isabelle looked as if she didn’t get it very often. What man would be brave enough to try to seduce her? She was one scary woman. The others might have been thinking about insider dealing, but Clara thought sex was the answer.

The bottle was almost empty before anyone spoke again.

“Are you sure this insider trading thing is the way forward?” Clara asked.

“
I don’t know,” Ella said.

Virginia felt things slipping away.
“It is. I know it. But we need to figure out how to do it.” Virginia sounded surer of herself than ever before.

“
OK. Let’s review what we have so far.”

Ella looked at Clara, who took a gulp of wine, lit a cigarette and glanced at the notebook.
“She plays squash in Ella’s club, so we have a venue for getting to her: Mind you, I can’t play squash, can you? No, I don’t suppose you can. She likes money, craves power and probably doesn’t have much of a sex life. We want to set her up to lose a lot of money, but we don’t know how. Shit! This is shit!” Clara jumped up and fetched another bottle of wine.

“There
has to be a way.” Ella felt a challenge coming on and she loved a challenge. She was beginning to embrace the idea of revenge. She knew there would be a way around this, but after a couple of glasses of win,e she didn’t think she would be coming up with it.

“
I agree. We’ll think of something.” Virginia looked pleadingly at Ella.

“
OK. Perhaps if we talk about something else, we’ll be able to come up with an idea,” Clara suggested, as she poured more wine. The others looked at her warily. “It’s OK. I don’t expect you to talk, I mean, you two have nothing of interest to say. Or, if you do, you keep it quiet. I’ll tell you about Tim Pemberton, managing director of SFH.” The others exchanged glances.

“Tim
fancied me the minute he saw me. But, then, most men do. Women too, sometimes. Anyway, I got the job as his secretary and as his mistress. He was such a sleaze and dreadful in bed. Actually, he wasn’t that bad, but he was very demanding and kinky – God, I could tell you things that would make your hair curl, but I don’t think Virginia’s old enough. Anyway, he slept with me as often as he could and he always brought champagne round. Then I told him I wanted to be a salesperson and he promoted me. I made a rotten salesperson, but I realised I wanted to be a success so I started working hard. And I was getting there. But then Tim sent me out with the client and you know the rest. He fired me because I didn’t want him to leave his wife and move in with me. Really, that was it. And, well, I slept with the client, who was old and fat, because well, I’m addicted to sex.” Clara stopped talking and looked at the others. They were open-mouthed.

Ella thought Clara was a drama queen. She had told the story with glee. She had enjoyed telling it. And the sex addiction? Ella didn
’t believe it for a minute.

Virginia had never met a sex addict before.
“You’re really addicted to sex?” she asked Clara.

“
Yes. If I meet a man, I sleep with him. I can’t control it. Something comes over me and I’m powerless. That’s my problem.”

“
Why don’t you go into therapy to cure it?” Ella asked.

“
I don’t really mind being addicted to sex,” Clara admitted.

“
Even if you sleep with fat old men?” Virginia asked.

“
Well, I don’t care who I sleep with as long as I get it. And some girls only get to sleep with fat old men.” Clara shot Virginia a look, which she missed.

“
Clara, are you sure about this?” Ella asked.

“
Yes, of course. I think I’d know if I was addicted to sex, wouldn’t I?” Clara drained the rest of her glass and went to the bathroom again.

“
I don’t know what to think,” Virginia said to Ella.

“
She’s mad, that’s all. Shit, I’m hungry. Are you?”

“
Yes, I am.” Virginia was a little tipsy, and she felt braver. “Shall we get a takeaway?”

“
I was thinking more about going home,” Ella said, but instead she lit another cigarette. God, she loved how it felt. The first puff, the taste in her mouth ... she loved everything about smoking. “OK, why not? I guess if we’re going to spend time together, and it looks as if this could take a while, we should eat together.”

Clara returned and sat down. She lit a cigarette.

“We thought we might get a takeaway,” Virginia said.

“
Oh, what fun. I guess this is probably the social highlight of your year. I’ll get the menus.” Clara stalked off again. Virginia went red.

“
Ignore her,” Ella said. Virginia shrugged.

“The
sad thing is she’s right,” she said, in a small voice.

Ella wasn
’t sure she was ready to handle these two, Clara with her fictional sex addiction, Virginia with no life. What had she done to deserve this? But she knew the answer to that.

They decided on Chinese and Clara rang through the order. When it arrived, they all dug in and ate it, although Clara had ordered the oddest things. Four portions of rice, sweet and sour pork and prawn crackers. Virginia ate a lot, Ella ate as much as she could stomach, and Clara ate hardly anything.

“So, do any of you two have any stories to tell?” Clara asked, bored again.

“
Not really,” Ella said.

“
I guess not. You’re not terribly interesting are you?” Clara said.

“
No.” Ella said.

“
Well, I wish I could have got stuck with two more interesting people.”

“
I wish you could too,” Ella retorted.

Virginia was drunk. She decided she wanted to be interesting.
“I’m a virgin,” she said.

“
We’d worked that out,” Clara said, but she smiled almost kindly.

“
I had a boyfriend. He was a Christian. He left to study in America. I never heard from him again.”

“Sounds
like the best place for him,” Clara said.

“
Yes, but I wish I’d, you know, done it before he left me.” The others giggled.

“
He wouldn’t have been any good. Christians never are,” Clara said.

“
You’ve slept with one?” Virginia asked.

“
I have no idea, I don’t expect so. If they don’t believe in sex before marriage, they’re hardly going to sleep with a sex addict,” Clara pointed out.

“
I just wish I wasn’t such a freak.” Virginia looked sad.

“
You’re not. Sex isn’t everything,” Ella said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“
It is to me,” Clara said, before breaking into hysterical laughter.

They left at nine, because Virginia was drunk and Ella needed to get out. Ella gave them Jackie
’s address and telephone number, telling them they could contact her there. They had arranged to take Sunday off and meet again on Monday.

Chapter Eighteen

The telephone woke Clara. She crawled out of bed to answer it, fighting the panic that engulfed her every morning.

“
Hello.” She hoped she didn’t sound as bad as she felt. She had stayed up late, taking cocaine and drinking until she passed out. Her flat was a mess and she had a monster headache.

“
Clive, it’s Toby.”

Clara sighed.
“Hi,” she said.

“
Listen, sorry I didn’t call you on Friday, but I think we should meet. Can we have a drink?”

‘s
ure, but why?”

“
I’ll tell you later. I thought you should know what a certain person said at that meeting we had.”

“
OK. Why don’t you meet me in Oriel’s, next to Sloane Square tube?”

“
Fine, I know it. About seven tonight?”

“
I’ll see you there.” Clara hung up. Then she telephoned Ella and Virginia and told them she had to go out that evening, so they should come round at two.

***

Virginia had spent Sunday hungover. She was getting used to hangovers. They were the only thing in her life that made her normal. She spent the day in bed. Monday morning she went to the library and borrowed a novel about insider trading. She took it home and lay in bed, reading.

By the afternoon, she had an idea of how they could make the plan work. Virginia almost felt proud of herself.

***

Ella had breakfast with Jackie, who was delighted with the progress they were making.

“What a riot. These girls sound priceless.”

“
Bloody hard work, more like. Jackie, what have I let myself in for?”

“
Have you got any ideas for the first revenge?”

“
Actually I have a great idea. I’m just clueless as to how to make it work.” Ella sipped her tea.

“
OK. Here’s what you should do. You outline your idea, let the others do the same, if they have any, then watch as it all comes together.” Jackie smiled.

“
You really think it will?”

“
Of course. Ella, there’s a bigger reason why you and those two met. I don’t know what it is, but I do know that until you get the plans actioned you won’t know either.”

“
Is this more hippie shit, Jack?”

“
Of course it is. But it is bloody good hippie shit. So do as I say.”

“
Where would I be without you?”

“
Your life would be so much worse,” Jackie replied.

“
Christ, you really think it could get any worse than this?”

***

Virginia arrived early again. Instead of facing time alone with Clara, she walked around the lush grounds of the flats. It would indeed be a wonderful place to live. When she saw Ella drive up she went to meet her. “Hi,” she said. “Hello. I guess we’d better go in.”

Clara opened the door wearing a skimpy top and incredibly tight trousers.

“Nice of you to dress up for us,” Ella said, as she walked in.

“
Good God, it’s not for you two. I told you, I’m going out later.” Clara smiled, “How are you Virginia?”

“
Fine,” Virginia said, red-faced. Clara shrugged and sat down. She was jittery because she had taken more cocaine than she had intended today. She was worried about her rapidly depleting stock and about seeing Josh.

“
You remember telling us on Saturday you were a virgin?” Clara teased.

“
Yes,” Virginia replied, blushing.

“
Oh, well to be honest, it didn’t come as a surprise.” Clara was bitchy again. Ella decided to change the subject and get on with the business they were there for.

“
I’ve had an idea,” Ella said.

“Really
?” Virginia felt excited. “So have I.”

“
Well, I haven’t so why don’t you tell us yours?” Clara said, fiddling with her pen.

“The
problem was how we could set up a fake deal and get Isabelle to fall for it, right?” Ella began. The others nodded. She continued, “Well, I was thinking about a function I attended last month, a women-in-the-City thing, and Isabelle was there. Anyway, I met this woman who was a lawyer, involved in company takeovers and she said to me that the information they were privy to would make your hair curl. So there we have it. First we find a company, then we find a lawyer to plant the idea in Isabelle’s mind. It doesn’t even have to be a real lawyer, just a convincing actor. We could pay someone.”

“
Not bad. In fact I like it”, Clara mused. “So we set her up to meet this lawyer, who lets some information slip and she falls for it.”

“
But lawyers aren’t allowed to talk and Isabelle isn’t stupid,” Virginia spoke, turning tomato red. “I was thinking we could produce a document that said X company was being taken over by Y company and arrange somehow for Isabelle to see it. The lawyer would fit in. But we need to get a document. The thing is, money. I don’t have much.”

“
Virginia, I think you have something there. Christ, yes! Instead of someone giving her the tip, we make it more official and get a document. But the problem is still the lawyer. We need to make sure she really believes it. Don’t worry about the money, we’ll keep it minimal.” Ella was getting excited.

“
God,
don’t
worry about money,” Clara put in. “I’ve got plenty. Good idea, Virginia. And I have a contribution to make, but I can’t tell you until I’ve checked it out. It’ll have to wait for tomorrow. I suggest that you two work out how we’re going to get a company and how to get the document to look official. I will figure out how we’re going to get the information to Isabelle.” Clara stood up. She wanted to get the others out of her flat so that she could have a large vodka and another line of cocaine without having to sneak into the bathroom.

“
But how do we find a company?” Virginia asked.

“
There are
loads
of companies,” Clara said.

“
But Virginia’s right. We need to find a company that’s going to go bankrupt. We need a company that’s traded on the stock exchange, which means that no one will know if it’s going to go bankrupt or not. Christ, every time we get somewhere there’s another hurdle.”

“Maybe
we should rethink the whole thing,” Virginia said unwillingly.

Clara felt angry. A couple of good ideas were all they had between them. She might have to fill in all the blanks herself, with Josh
’s help, though he would probably think she was mad.

“
Listen, girls, I’ll sort out the lawyer and the company. OK?”

“
How?” Virginia asked.

“Does
it matter? Give me a day or two and I’ll fill in the details. I’ll call you tomorrow if I have any news so wait in, OK? I guess you know how to get a document forged, Ella.”

“
Yes, I do,” Ella said. Clara really was a first-class bitch.

“Then
leave it with me. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“
OK.” Ella didn’t feel confident. They had come up with such a rough framework and Clara was going to fill in the details. Left to her, it might turn out to be a huge mess. She got into her car, waved goodbye to Virginia, and, for the first time since she had been sacked, she made her way to her own flat.

Virginia was equally doubtful. The plan had seemed so easy in her head, but now it seemed impossible. She went home to her lonely bedsit and found a letter waiting on her doorstep. It was from her French teacher, reminding her she had missed the last couple of lessons. Virginia threw it into the bin. She couldn
’t think about the future right now and she didn’t need to speak French. She decided that she would never go again.

Clara had a line of cocaine and a vodka. She knew the others would be pleased with her when she outlined her plan. Josh Lambert, the man who would ensure that she never had a problem getting cocaine, was also a corporate lawyer. As the plan formed in her head, she knew she had been right. Sex was always necessary as part of any plan.

***

Ella walked into her flat and felt as if she didn
’t belong there. In fact she had never felt at home there. Her life felt empty; she was empty. She called Jackie. “Jack, could you use an extra pair of hands tonight?”

“
You want to work in the restaurant again?”

“
Just tonight. I fancy being busy.”

“
Sure, come over. A couple of really cute waiters are starting tonight.”

“
I’m there.”

Ella put on a skirt and a pretty top. She looked OK, not great but OK. She brushed her hair, applied makeup and left the house. She took a bus to the restaurant, not wanting to drive. She hadn
’t told Jackie that she had started to hate her own company.

She waited tables all night, the job she had done when she first moved to London. The restaurant was busy and she was glad of the distraction. After she had cleared the last table, she flopped down opposite Jackie.

“Christ, I’d forgotten how tiring this is.”

“
Good, so you won’t be asking for a job,” Jackie said.

“
Why? Aren’t I the best waitress you’ve ever had?”

“
Of course, But it’s not for you. Come over if you’re lonely, but don’t work here, just eat.”

“
Deal. Hey, how’s the arrangements for college going?”

“
Well, the course doesn’t start for months so I’m going to start looking for someone to manage this place full-time for me.”

“
I could do it,” Ella teased.

“
Or you could start college with me.” Jackie got up and went to get a bottle of brandy.

***

That evening Virginia’s mother called her.

“
Virginia?”

“
Yes, Mother?”

“
Where have you been? You haven’t phoned us for ages and we were worried.”

“
I have some new friends. I’ve been out a lot.”

“
Oh, really? I suppose they’re unsuitable types.”

“
No.”

“
Well, you were never a good judge of character. Anyway, I don’t suppose you’ve got any news so I won’t keep you. We do appreciate a call every now and then, you know.”

“
Yes, mother. Bye.”

Virginia felt angry as she hung up. Everyone treated her like dirt and she let them. Maybe she was as worthless as they all thought. She turned the lights off and sat in the dark, thinking about nothing and panicking about everything.

***

Clara was twenty minutes late to meet Toby. She had drunk too much, taken more cocaine and couldn
’t find her keys. She was trying so hard to hold it together but she was nervous about seeing Josh. Especially now that she needed so much from him. Toby was sitting at a table, looking from the door to his watch and nursing a bottle of beer.

“
Toby, I’m so sorry I’m late.” Clara kissed him on both cheeks before Toby had a chance to stand up. ‘do you want a drink? Oh, I’ll get you one anyway.” Before Toby had a chance to say a word, she had gone to the bar. Returning with a bottle of beer and a vodka and tonic, she sat down opposite him. “What’s up?” she asked.

“
Well, it’s a bit embarrassing, but Tim claims you slept with Stephen Lock and that’s why you were sacked.” He looked hurt and confused. Clara’s anger with Tim grew: why did he have to tell the rest of her desk that? Now they all thought she was a slut. Two could play at his game.

‘t
oby, if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone else?”

“
Of course.”

“
Well, I didn’t sleep with Stephen Lock. I went to dinner with him when Tim couldn’t make it a normal client dinner. But, well, the problem is Tim. When I started working for him he flirted with me. At first it was just fun, nothing serious, but then he became suggestive, kept touching me. He said if I didn’t sleep with him my job would be in jeopardy. And, well, it was, wasn’t it? He made the whole Stephen thing up but, you see, it was his word against mine. And he threatened to tell my family and, God, they would believe him and there would be a huge scandal, and I just couldn’t cope with it. So I left quietly.” A tear ran down her cheek.