How to Catch Butterflies (41 page)

Then she was hit by the centerpiece of the expansive Lobby of the ‘Crown Towers Hotel’. It was a chandelier, which was part of the subtle interior design. The furnishings, carpets and lower table lamps all contributed to the overall scheme.

The fitting is intended to be viewed from below and laterally from the upper Mahogany entry level. It was composed of delicate ‘chains’. The entire structure was suspended from a single point at ceiling level. The chandelier fanned out delicately forming a wide drum type shape. It was a great mass but it worked harmoniously with the voluminous lobby without over dominating the space. For this reason the open fanning structure and filigree gave it a sumptuous appearance in the Lobby. The chandelier was the result of fine details working together. Curved reflectors at the back of each lantern box captured the surrounding spaces and incidental movements which stretched the light and architecture like parlour mirrors. It was simply breathtaking a glittering lobby paved in solid black marble.

They took the lifts to the 15
^th
floor, and walked to their suites with the understanding they would have dinner in one of the many restaurants housed in the huge complex. Although she was fit for bed, she knew they had to eat. She really didn’t fancy eating on her own, especially on her first night here. The agreement was to meet in an hour or less, he would knock for her.

She closed her door and walked into the suite, placing her handbag onto the desk as she made her way to the sofa with the corresponding ottoman and slumped down. As her feet hung over the edge, she looked at her feet still encased in her shoes. She thought momentarily about kicking them off, before remembering that if she did so, could she be bothered to put them back on again?

She looked at her watch. It was 18:30, and already she felt the flickers of her tired eyes and it was too early to call Jackson as it would only be 5:30 am London time. ‘
Damn having to eat’
she thought, but she knew it had to be done. She wiggled herself off the ottoman, and headed for the door grabbing her key and made for Mr. Nichol’s door giving it a loud knock as her knuckles hit the solid wood doors.

“Sorry to disturb you Mr. Nichol’s, but I’m crazy tired, do you mind we eat now ?” she asked him having stopped herself from yawning a few times. He smiled at her

“No problem Rebecca, I’m feeling pretty tired too, if you grab what you need we can go now.”

She nodded her head and went back to her room to get her purse and off they set. By the time they returned to their suites it was gone 8am London time. As she undressed the tiredness hit her like a tsunami.

She crawled into the bed, she had every intension of calling him, but once she got into that fluffy bed, she was out like a light.

Thursday and Friday rolled into one. As the elevator ascended to the 15
^th
floor they spoke about the day’s events.

When they reached the 15
^th
floor housing their suites, Mr. Nichol’s had suggested they go to the casino that was in the Hotel complex. She had never been to a casino; gambling really wasn’t her thing. David had loved playing poker, he also loved the horses. No it was not her idea of a good night.

“I’m sorry Mr. Nichol’s but I have reports to complete for this case, actually there’s two cases in particular I would like to discuss, but I would like to prepare them first if I may?” she asked.

Mr. Nichol’s stood there almost pulling a duck pose face as he chewed the inside of his lip deep in thought.

“Hmm okay, that’s interesting. When do you wish to discuss this? Are you free tomorrow morning?”

“I am, is 11am good for you?” she asked him as he nodded his head in agreement.

“Right, I will knock for you tomorrow morning, and don’t work too late” he smiled as they each reached they’re prospective doors and entered.

Her routine for coming in was to place the bag on the desk on route to her bedroom. In there, she would peel off her clothes throwing them onto one of the armchairs, in preparation her shower. Once showered, she would adorn one of the fluffy robes, and the complementary slippers and then lay on the bed while speaking to Jackson.

She would often fall asleep while he was talking cooing sweet nothing to her, and what he would do to her the next time he saw her.

For her, this case couldn’t finish quick enough. After their weekend together, and then this separation, just seemed to bring them closer together, maybe that saying of absence makes the heart grow fonder’ was true. Jackson was really into her, and she him.

After speaking to him she rose from the bed still attired in her robe and sat at the desk pulling out the notebook from her bag and started to work.

Out of the fourteen people she saw that day, two raised red flags, and those two cases were the ones her report was going to highlight. It was after 1am that morning when she became re-acquainted with her bed and another call to Jackson to talk her to sleep.

Chapter 26

‘Right here; Right now’

You could literally set your watch by Mr. Nichol’s. Sure enough, the knock on her door signaled it was 11 a.m. She had been up early that morning finishing off the reports crossing t’s and dotting i’s. If she was correct, she was on to something big,

She opened the door and sure enough there was Mr. Nichol’s, looking as serious as always.

“Mr. Nichol’s, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taking the liberty of ordering room service. I’m afraid we’re a little late for breakfast by an hour, but they said they will sort something out for us. It’s just there’s a lot to tell and I would rather not speak in a public place, if that’s okay for you?”

Mr. Nichol’s moved towards her, as while she had been speaking she had walked to her desk. He joined her, intrigued; her hand was on two brown envelope coloured document files. As she spoke her fingers tapped them, her nails producing a lite tapping noise.

“Mr. Nichol’s, I’ve interviewed two people yesterday which I have red flagged. One is leaving next week, ‘they have their dream job’. The other has just handed his notice in at the beginning of the week. Funny he ‘too has his dream job”.

Mr. Nichol’s was listening intently his arms sort of cross his chest, one arm extended to under his chin, one solitary finger extended up towards tapping his check, his thumb under his chin ,fingers clenching over his lips, listening to her every word.

“Now this last chap, was a gobby chap, you know the kind” she looked at him as he raised his eyebrows nodding.

“Well, gobby couldn’t stop being the big ‘I am’. “Rebecca laughed “And I let him, I believe if you give people enough rope they will hang themselves” she looked again at him, his stance still hadn’t changed.

“And what did Gobby, as you call him say?” he enquired, he was delighted with his prodigy, she was on the ball.

“Well gobby was telling me about his new position, in short. I’m afraid the recruitment is still in me.

I asked him where he was going, and how he got this new position.”

Mr. Nichols still kept the same stance, he was closely listening to her every remark.

“Well it so happens he not only got his new placement via a specialist agency, it happens to be the very one that got him this one”.

There was a knock on the door, Rebecca carried on speaking as she walked to the door and opened it. She stopped speaking when the food trolley was pushed into the room and two butlers set up the table for them, setting down two silver cloisters opposite each other. Mr. Nichol’s tipped the two chaps and they departed the room allowing them to continue. As the two sat down and started to eat.

“Well I called our London office this morning, and asked them to do a search on a company” she said as she sipped her tea.

Mr. Nichol’s lifted the napkin he had placed on his knee and dabbed his mouth before he spoke.

“And may I ask ‘Why call London? His voice had a hint of sarcasm. “Just over two placements… Really Rebecca?”

She continued to eat ignoring his disapproving look from across the table.

“Yes Mr. Nichol’s, I also called H.R. regarding their last 5 years of suppliers and the personnel records of the staff that have left. The funny thing is, Just one company seems to have fantastic results”.

Mr. Nichol’s was now sitting upright in the chair almost more ridged than normal. She had now arisen from the table and headed for the desk, his eyes following her.

“Yes, everyone whose left, have been placed into this company, have worked between 6 to 8/9 months. Talk about insider trading, they are getting a placement fees for placing them here. Once the terms of condition (TOC) expire,. They, then place them elsewhere, so they are effectively getting a double hit on placement fees. It’s a dirty thing to do in this game. That alone could and should finish that company. I can’t believe they’ve been conducting business like this for five bloody years with this company alone. It makes you wonder how many
other
companies they are doing this to” you could hear the disgust in her voice as she spoke.

“So I called London this morning, asking them to put a trace on this company” she was walking to him with a single sheet of paper in her hand. She placed the paper on the table in front of him.

“World Class Executive Appointments Inc
.
hmm, what do we know so far?” he asked, a rare smile formed across his face that only this well-chosen apprentice seemed to bring.

“Nothing concrete yet, except they
are
based in Singapore. They have off shore accounts dotted all over the place including Geneva, Caribbean; I could go on and on. Let’s just say London is on the case. The only problem is; we haven’t got enough info on who’s who. All we can do is to identify this issue with senior management.” Mr. Nichol’s was nodding his head.

“Yes, we can talk to them on Monday, Rebecca, some nice detective work there,” he was smiling again.

He stood up dropping his napkin into his empty plate and headed for the door. As he opened the door he spoke again.

“Bloody good work Rebecca, enjoy the rest of the weekend and I will see you on Monday”, as he closed the door behind him, returning to his room.

She stood there feeling very proud of herself.

Monday morning arrived, and as usual, they left with the driver who brought them to the head office of the company. Neither she nor Mr. Nichol’s uttered a word to each other whilst they had been in the vehicle. Rebecca remembered that on the briefing, any talk should be idle chit chat, like the hotel, weather. As the car pulled up she suddenly felt nervous.

Over breakfast Mr. Nichol’s had suggested that she inform the company of new training programs, incentive schemes, who should be put on the list for future redundancies etc. For now they would have to keep their findings to themselves, they needed the proof. London was still going thru the obvious maze that had been set up for instances like this.