Tall Poppies (43 page)

‘Sorry, Lil,’ he said, ‘I quit.’

‘Don’t be a jerk.’

‘Whatever you think we have, we don’t. I’m sorry. And nobody telling me about Nina Roth - I don’t like being played for a schmuck. Or manipulated.’

‘If you go,’ Lilly said meanly, propping her fat torso up

on her elbows, ‘you’re breaking contract with me. Your work on our research becomes my copyright, and you’ll lose all your royalties and points from Dragon. Do you get that? You’ll lose everything.’

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TII lose this project.’ Harry shrugged and reached for his overcoat.

‘You’re bluffing! What the hell will you do?’

He turned at the door and gave her a quick, dazzling smile. ‘What I always do, Professor. Land on my feet.’

Elizabeth took the keys from the housekeeper on Tuesday night and signed the papers Wednesday morning. Tony’s lawyers came by at nine a.m., on the dot. That was no surprise. She knew he was as eager to be shot of her as she was to go.

She had got Walgrave Road lock, stock and barrel, so she spent a morning checking it out. Dragon’s corporate hospitality people were very efficient. There was everything a fat cat could wish for, from a power-shower to a study that came complete with IBM, home printer, copier anal fax machine. There was a Quotron terminal in one corner of the room. Elizabeth checked the share price: up three points. Tony must be confident he could never be beaten. The garden was as pretty as she remembered, the refrigerator, freezer and wine cellar were fully stocked, and there was a small home gym in the basement. Elizabeth looked at it dispassionately. She could only use arm weights and a stationary bike now. If there was any point.

She arranged to have all the bills transferred to her name and called Coutts & Co., where a smug functionary confirmed the deposit of fifty thousand pounds. Then she went to the Lloyd’s round the corner and picked up an account transfer form. Stuffy pomp and Circumstance were behind her now.

‘We’ll handle that for you, miss,’ said the teller. ‘Name?’

‘Lady Elizabeth Savage,’ Elizabeth said, and smiled briefly as he gave her a quick, embarrassed stare.

‘Yes, milady, right away.’

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She wondered idly if that was really her name. Tony didn’t think so. But Tony was wrong about a lot of things. In the end it didn’t matter: Savage or not, she was out on her own.

Nina flicked through the pages of American Scientist and tried to pay attention. She knew she should use dead time to keep learning and improving, but it was no good. She dropped the glossy on to her desk and looked at her reflection in the switched-off computer screen.

Yesterday she’d gotten her first break. Peter Meyer, president of a small bottling plant, had returned her call. She’d had dealings with him at Dragon. Meyer had been impressed then and invited her in to head office. His firm was in trouble: one of their biggest clients was about to cancel a longstanding order, switching bottling function to their own firm. He knew Nina was a lateral thinker; maybe, he said without enthusiasm, she could come up with something. He’d tried every option he could think of - discounts, increased productivity - but their finance guts weren’t going for it.

Nina hadn’t needed asking twice. She had extensive notes on both Meyer and the client company when she’d showed up this morning, wearing her most businesslike charcoal suit and carrying a mobile phone and a briefcase. In a meeting with Peter and Linda, his secretary, Nina went over the options.

‘In the short term, I can fix this,’ she said confidently.

‘In the long term, you’ll need to diversify.’

‘What do you mean?’ Peter asked her.

‘You can’t die of hypothermia every time Tropex sneezes. They may want to cut costs again. You need other options.’

‘And your firm can supply them?’ Peter Meyer asked sceptically.

‘We can indeed,’ Nina said, ignoring the secr.etary’s

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sniff. ‘If you’re not satisfied, you pay nothing more than expenses.’

‘Thank you. I’ll think about it,’ Meyer said.

She had gone back to the office on a cloud of hope. It had lasted all of two hours. That was when Linda called her back and said the board were minded to turn down the proposal.

‘We’ll give you a final answer by the end of the day, but I can’t see them changing their minds.’

‘I see.’ Nina struggled to control her disappointment. ‘Thanks for letting me know.’

Now she sat here facing the facts. The Meyer call was the first bite she’d gotten in weeks, and now the fish had almost wriggled off the hook. She’d offered him a no win, no-fee deal and he still wasn’t interested. If Peter Meyer didn’t think it was worth the effort, even at zero cost, Nina-stood no chance. She was going to have to give up. Pack in the office and take some menial job, entry level like the ones she’d been offered before. If, indeed, they were still open. Or maybe she should go back to America …

No! Nina thought. No! I can’t let him win! She couldn’t, couldn’t quit! She jumped up from her chair and kicked the desk in a rage. There were no options, but she couldn’t accept that. Her mind was dashing against

the brick wall like a bee.trapped by a windowpane— There was a knock on the door.

Nina stopped dead. Somebody must have got the wrong address. Or really be looking for the psychic next door.

The knock came again, louder, impatient.

‘Hold on,’ Nina called. She walked over to the door and opened it.

Elizabeth Savage was standing there. She had lost the golden tan and about a stone, and she looked thinner and tireder than when Nina last saw her. She was still

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beautiful, skinny and tall, however, the kind of figure Melissa Patton and her cheerleader buddies had always idolised back at St Michael’s. The startling blondeness of her hair framed the sharp cheekbones like a glossy halo. She was wearing tailored slacks, a close-fitting military jacket and a pair of heeled boots. Nina couldn’t help but notice the boots, glancing down involuntarily.

‘No, you heard right,’ Elizabeth said wryly. ‘I did lose

a foot.’ She banged her left leg on the cracked linoleum.

‘Hear that? It’s a prosthesis. Plastic.’

Nina opened her mouth to say something but nothing

came out. Attack Savage? She could do that, but not to a cripple. It was like speaking ill of the dead or something, although Elizabeth, slim and blonde and designer top to ‘toe, didn’t look like your average zombie. Offer her sympathies? No way, that would sound as false as it would feel.

‘Come in,’ she said neutrally. ‘I guess you had a reason

for coming here, Elizabeth, unless you were in the neighbourhood and felt like dropping by.’

‘You guess right.’ Elizabeth walked into Nina’s office

and looked round.

‘It’s not the Stock Exchange,’ Nina said defensively.

‘It must rent cheap.’

‘Well, that was the plan. Did you come here to gloat, milady? If so, you can just leave the way you came in. Or is it a message from Tony?’ Nina’s brown eyes glittered with distaste. ‘Because the answer is no, no, and no. Whatever it is.’

‘Neither one. Can I sit down?’ Elizabeth asked, gesturing to a secondhand black leather chair.

Nina’s eyebrows arched. She looked hard at the other

girl. ‘I’m busy, but you can have ten minutes.’

‘Sure, you look busy,’ Elizabeth wanted to say, but bit

it back. ‘Nina.’ She sat down and brushed the hair out of

her eyes. ‘I don’t like you, you don’t like me. Fine, that’s

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a given. But you’ve got something I really need, and vice versa. I was thinking we could help each other out. On a

purely business basis. A pact of convenience.’

‘Go on,’ Nina said.

‘I have fallen out with my father. It’s been brewing for a while but now it’s final. I’ve left Dragon - I was kicked out, or as good as. I’ve moved out of the family home. He expects me to live off the pocket money I’ve got in exchange for that, but I have other ideas. I want to make money myself and I want revenge.’

Nina laughed. ‘You expect me to buy that? Why would he do that to you? You’re family!’

‘He hates me,’ Elizabeth said intently. ‘Look, I can prove it to you. He took all the Dragon Gold stock off the market. He incurred millions in losses just to spite me. I swear it’s true.’

‘I know.it’s true. I saw the memo,’ Nina said slowly. Something about Elizabeth’s face was convincing. The look in her eyes was one Nina recognised. She saw it every time she looked in the mirror.

‘When I came out of recovery, he told me I could only work in Corporate Hospitality, Events Organisation, or Promotional Literature.’

Nina snorted. ‘Might as well type the letters.’

‘I said exactly the same thing. Come on, Nina, you knew him, you slept with him. He disliked me intensely.

You must have been aware of it.’

‘Yes, I was.’

‘Then you should believe me. He destroyed my life.’ ‘He let you ski.’

‘Because it suited him. Skiing was the one thing I did he could approve of-it fitted the great Robber Baron image. You used to hate me because I went to finishing school, I had no real education. I wanted to - you have no idea how much - and I wanted to work, but he wouldn’t let me do either. That way he could control my

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destiny, can you understand that? No degree, no experience, I was qualified for nothing. Except winning races. The marketing skills I always knew I had, I studied in my spare time, I read Campaign, even those fucking boring stats you made me learn.’

Nina smiled suddenly, caught off-guard. It was so

funny to hear that cut-glass limey voice say ‘fucking’. ‘Dragon Gold was mine. I made something of it.’ ‘You did. It was pretty gutsy, faking Tony’s authority like that. He was so mad when he found out he dropped everything to fly home.’

TII bet,’ Elizabeth said softly. ‘You can imagine what

that was like. He did the same thing to you, and you were

his girlfriend.’

‘

‘Correction. I slept with him. When I no longer wanted

that to continue …’ Nina shrugged.

‘Then help me.’

Nina stood up. ‘Look, Elizabeth I don’t know what

you think I can do. If I could have hurt him, I wouldn’t have waited for your permission.’

‘ ‘So. You’ve got the same problems I have. No credibility,’ Elizabeth said shrewdly. ‘Once you’re out of Dragon, you’re a non-person. And to start anything up,

you need money, you need staff.’

‘You got that right.’

‘OK’ Elizabeth’s green eyes narrowed. ‘I’m not the president of your fan club, but I have money and I can sell this firm. You know I can, because you’ve seen me

work. We could make something together.’ Nina stared at her. ‘You mean that?’ ‘Every word.’

‘Look, Elizabeth.’ Nina sighed. ‘It sounds good, on paper, but I can’t take your money. There is no business. I got the first break I’ve ever had yesterday.’ She explained about Peter Meyer. ‘That phone’s going to ring any second to turn me. down, and it’ll be the first and last

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bit of business I ever do. I can’t afford to pour rent money down the drain any more.’

Elizabeth leaned forward urgently. ‘Let me call them,’ she said. ‘I’ve got an idea. If you’re going to fold anyway, what could it hurt?’

Nina shrugged. For a polished Sloany princess, she was certainly persistent.

‘OK.’ She pushed the phone across the desk. ‘I guess you can give it a try.’

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‘Come in,’ Peter Meyer said expansively, ushering them both into his office. He smiled briskly at Nina and shook hands with Elizabeth. ‘Nina, you never said Lady Elizabeth was on board with you.’

Nina nodded quietly. Meyer was grinning and bowing

like a nervous butler. He had agreed to another meeting

‘ right away, because he was terrified of Tony Savage.

That little deception got Elizabeth through the door,

but she’d need something more to get them any further.

‘This won’t take long, Mr Meyer,’ Elizabeth said. Her voice was rather cold. ‘I called as soon as Nina told me you were in negotiations. It’s just a good-faith visit, really.’

‘Good faith?’ Meyer repeated. Under other circumstances, he knew he’d have been admiring the view across the desk - one young woman dark and lush, the other slim and blonde, both gorgeous - but he couldn’t manage it. They were so well dressed, serious and relentlessly formal. Looks of twenty-five with an attitude of forty five. It was unsettling.

‘Yes. Lolland Jars have also replied to our pitch.’ Nina stiffened. Meyer sat upright and frowned.. Lol land Jars were his biggest rival; they had narrowly lost out on the Tropex contract. Now he feared they were going to have their shot at it.

‘They want to get their firm in shape for the future.’ Elizabeth’s smile was apologetic. ‘Knowing how tough it is for independents out there. So, we’d be obliged if you

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could sign the formal “no” from your board and give it to us, so we’ll be legally clear to start dealings with Rob Lolland.’

‘Wait a-second!’ Meyer said anxiously. He hated Rob, the guy ate into his customer base a little further every month. What had he missed here that Rob had seen? ‘You can’t work for Lolland if you’re in negotiations with me!’

‘I’m sorry.’ Elizabeth leaned back, an expression of confusion on her patrician face. ‘I thought you were turning us down.’

‘No, that’s not correct. We were just trying to rejig the budget,’ Meyer said hastily.

‘I’m afraid we do need a fast decision. Mr Lolland needs an answer, one way or the other.’

Meyer glanced at Nina’s briefcase. ‘Do you still have that contract you brought round before?’

‘Of course.’ Nina unclipped her case and handed it across to him.

Elizabeth added, ‘If you do want to hire us, we need expenses payments in advance. Two thousand for the first month.’