Chapter 10
10
‘Morning,’ Kate spoke cheerily as Hermione opened the door to her on Monday morning.
‘Ooh, someone sounds happy. What did you get up to yesterday? Any more television shows I should know about? Hello, Bethan sweetie,’ Hermione greeted, lifting up the little girl and giving her a kiss.
‘God no, no I spoke to Matthew on Saturday night and briefly to his new girlfriend,’ Kate stated in a matter-of-fact manner.
‘Daddy,’ Bethan suddenly announced at the mention of his name.
Kate swallowed and ruffled her daughter’s hair, a pang of hurt tugging at her. If only she knew.
‘I have a grapefruit tea infusing; come into the kitchen. Brook! Can you take Bethan to do drawing with you for a minute, please?’ Hermione asked her daughter as she appeared in the hallway.
Kate followed Hermione into the kitchen and sat down at the table.
‘So what happened? Why did you phone Matthew? I thought you two hadn’t spoken for months,’ Hermione said as she prepared the tea.
‘We haven’t. He hadn’t paid in Bethan’s money this week; there was nothing from him in my bank. I thought it was an oversight or a mistake at his end but no, I phoned him and he told me he doesn’t intend to pay anything towards Bethan’s care. In fact, what he said was he didn’t see why he had to pay for something he never wanted in the first place, or words to that effect,’ Kate explained.
‘Oh Kate!’ Hermione exclaimed in shock.
‘Nice thing to say about your daughter, isn’t it? Well, I cried and I cried and then I ripped up one of our wedding photos and felt mildly better and then I thought, what a complete and utter bastard, how dare you. How dare you treat me and Bethan like that, like we don’t matter. So I got on the internet and I made an online application to the Child Support Agency. I don’t care if he can’t make ends meet; I am having some of what he does have for my daughter,’ Kate spoke firmly, her eyes flashing with determination.
‘Good for you, it’s only right,’ Hermione agreed, putting a cup on the table in front of Kate.
‘And I have been far too sentimental about him for far too long a time. There was nothing there from him; he couldn’t care less about us now. And after what he said about Bethan…’ Kate said, tears welling up.
‘So what are you going to do about money in the meantime? If waiving my fee for a while will help then consider it done,’ Hermione spoke.
‘No, I won’t hear of that; don’t even think it. You do too much for me already giving Bethan a cooked meal every day and treats she can’t have at home, no. I phoned my Aunt Jess yesterday, I told her the situation, every sordid little detail, and I asked her for a loan. I didn’t want to do it, I mean we don’t really get on, but I have to think of Bethan and not my stupid pride. And, as I suspected she was more than happy to lend me the money and that should tide us over for a bit,’ Kate explained.
‘And the long-term plan?’
‘Promise you won’t laugh or say I told you so.’
‘Would I ever? ’
‘I’m going to go to the next round of Knowing Me Knowing You , I’m going to get through to the finals and I’m going to win. I am going to win that hundred thousand pounds if it kills me,’ Kate announced.
Hermione let out a scream of laughter and put her hand to her mouth.
‘I know I said I would rather die than do anything like that again, but I have a daughter, I have a shit for an ex-husband and I need the money. Think how much that would pay off my mortgage,’ Kate explained, taking a sip of her tea.
‘I think it’s a marvellous idea and it sounds like you’ve thought it all through.’
‘I’ve done nothing but think about it all night.’
‘Now, I don’t want to put a dampener on your good mood but doesn’t Knowing Me Knowing You require a couple?’
‘Yes of course, that’s probably going to be the hardest bit. I’m going to have to call Elite Escorts, speak to Joel and try to persuade him to enter into this mad scam with me. I don’t even remember getting home the last time we went out so I don’t expect him to be pleased to hear from me,’ Kate said.
‘And will you be able to pay for his time? I mean, there’ll be two weekends at least, plus other nights out to go over questions and things.’
‘Hmm, that’s another stumbling block I’ve got to get over. I have to get him to do it all for a cut of the prize money, a very small cut and no guarantee of us winning. How do you think that’s going to go down?’ Kate asked her friend.
‘How about a different way to raise some cash? How about having some candle parties? Or becoming an Avon representative; lots of my ladies do that for a bit extra. I mean, game shows are…’ Hermione began.
‘You don’t think he’ll do it. ’
‘I think you might have to spend some time on your pitch,’ Hermione told her.
When Kate arrived at Randall’s, everyone she said hello to or passed in the corridor looked at her with a wry smile on their face. She checked her reflection in the lift mirror expecting to see Marmite on her cheek or felt pen on the collar of her shirt, but there was nothing odd about her appearance that she could immediately identify.
However, when she walked into the Probate room, she was greeted by all her colleagues stood around her desk, cheering and whooping. The desk itself was covered in heart-shaped confetti, balloons and streamers and there was a big banner on the wall proclaiming, Well Done Kate .
‘God, what did I do? Don’t tell me, we got the IHT refund on the Whitchurch case,’ Kate said, putting her jacket on the back of her chair and admiring the decorations.
‘Nothing to do with work, as you well know. I’ve been telling everyone who wasn’t at the Peterson Finance dinner about your amazing performance on Friday night in Knowing Me Knowing You ,’ Miranda spoke, coming out of her office and standing with the group, toying with the ends of her hair.
‘Oh, that, hmm,’ Kate replied, not really liking all the attention.
‘She was marvellous, and so was her partner, the lovely Joel. I have to say, I’m an incy bit jealous of you, Kate, having bagged a gorgeous hunk like that. Honestly girls, you will not see a more honed pin-up, not even on the cover of Men’s Health , and he was such a gentleman too,’ Miranda explained.
‘He snores and he leaves the lid off the toothpaste,’ Kate said hurriedly, smiling at her workmates .
‘Anyway, we just wanted to say well done Kate for your success and for getting into the next round. If there’s enough interest, we will arrange transport to the next show in Bournemouth and we just know you’re going to do equally well there,’ Miranda spoke in her well-practised head of department tones.
Everyone clapped, much to Kate’s embarrassment.
‘Right, perfect, back to work everyone. And Kate, when you’ve got a minute, could you come through,’ Miranda asked in a serious tone.
‘Yes, of course, I’ll just clear some balloons,’ Kate said, pulling out her chair and making confetti fall on the floor.
Miranda saying ‘when you’ve got a minute, could you come through’ always filled everyone with dread. She didn’t tell you what it was about, and because she didn’t tell you, it made you think of all the awful things it could be, like getting your P45, having her point out a mistake you had made on something that was too late to rectify, etc. And she knew this, which was why she didn’t elaborate; it was all about power and control. Miranda loved nothing more than control.
Kate knocked on Miranda’s office door and waited to be summonsed.
‘Come in,’ she called, like a high court judge directing barristers to enter Chambers.
Kate opened the door and offered her boss one of her ‘yes I’m absolutely fine, thanks for asking’ smiles.
‘Would you like to sit?’ Miranda offered, saying it like an order rather than a request.
Kate sat down and her eyes were immediately drawn to the file on Miranda’s desk which had red pen scrawled all over a set of accounts.
‘I was just looking at the Prestwick file,’ Miranda said and she ran her manicured fingers over the spreadsheet on top of the file .
‘Oh yes,’ Kate replied, racking her brain and trying to remember the details of the case.
‘I have to say Kate, the accounts you supposedly finalised for me are very shoddy,’ Miranda stated.
Kate didn’t know how to respond. The words hung in the air. She was sure she had checked the Prestwick accounts thoroughly, even for space between columns, full stops in the right places, underlining. All of which were usually more important to Miranda than the numerical accuracy.
‘They don’t even balance,’ Miranda added.
‘They do,’ Kate snapped back immediately and slightly unexpectedly.
If there was one thing she knew, it was that they would balance. She sweated blood over every set of accounts until they were right to the last penny. She’d never presented an unbalanced set to Miranda in her life.
‘I’m afraid they don’t; see for yourself,’ Miranda spoke and she passed Kate the file for her to look at.
Kate could feel Miranda’s eyes boring into her as she checked her figure work. Miranda was right; the accounts didn’t balance. She couldn’t understand it. She had spent hours on them; everything had been perfect. She was certain they had been absolutely faultless the last time she looked at them. But maybe she was wrong. She had been distracted lately, not on top of her game; maybe she had missed something.
‘Now I know things haven’t been easy for you lately and I can’t begin to imagine how hard it is to bring up Bethan without a father there, but you really have to start paying more attention to your work. Perhaps, now your personal life is on the up, we can expect a little more dedication?’ Miranda said mockingly.
Bitch.
‘Miranda, I don’t know how these accounts got like this. They were finalised, they balanced, I did the memo and put them in your tray,’ Kate tried to explain, feeling desperately inadequate.
‘Yes, I have the memo; it was attached to these haphazard, unbalanced accounts,’ Miranda replied.
‘Well, I just don’t know what to say.’
‘There’s no need to apologise, I’ve called the client and explained the delay. Perhaps you could prioritise them for today, together with the Lawrence papers, I need those by lunch time,’ Miranda said with a smile that could advertise Max Factor.
Kate looked at her boss, not knowing how to respond. And then Miranda tossed her hair backwards and for a brief second, all Kate could think of was whether or not the blonde mass of hair really was a wig. She knew she was staring but she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t know whether it was her turn to talk; she was too focused on the follicles.
‘I’ll leave it with you then,’ Miranda said, making it clear their conversation was over.
‘Yes, OK, fine,’ Kate replied, getting to her feet and turning to the door.
‘Perfect,’ Miranda ended, turning her back on Kate.
Kate stepped back into the main room and let out a deep breath as she hugged the Prestwick file to her chest. She wasn’t relishing looking at the accounts again; they had taken her long enough to sort through in the first place. Plus she hadn’t started on the Lawrence papers yet. Since when had they become urgent?
‘Everything OK?’ Lynn Charles asked, stopping opposite Kate as she took another deep breath, hoping to force in oxygen and force out the realisation she was going to be looking at figures for the rest of the day.
Lynn was Kate’s secretary. She was a young, slight blonde who was extremely efficient in everything she did. It was Lynn’s organisational skills that had got Kate through the trying time when Matthew first left. She had screened all Kate’s phone calls, arranged only the most urgent appointments and taken on anything else she could to help. Despite being an excellent secretary and a reliable friend, Lynn did tend to talk the back limb off a mule, usually around the water cooler where the whole world could hear. Discretion was an unknown entity to her.
‘Yes, fine – well, actually no,’ Kate admitted, turning to head back to her desk.
‘What’s the Lady Dragon said now?’ Lynn questioned in a loud whisper, following Kate.
‘Shh! Don’t call her that; someone else will hear you and you’ll get in trouble and then I’ll get in trouble and then we’ll both be in big trouble,’ Kate spoke, her eyes wide as she looked around to check no one had heard.
‘Sorry.’
‘Do you remember the Prestwick accounts? You did the memo for me?’ Kate asked, showing Lynn the file as she put it down on her desk and splattered more confetti on the floor.
‘Yes, I remember, they were thirty-seven pages long – took me ages to photocopy because the Lady Dragon can’t have even a hint of a paper crease on them,’ Lynn responded.
‘Yes, well, these thirty-seven pages weren’t the thirty-seven pages I finalised, I’m sure of it,’ Kate told her, passing the information over.
‘I can easily check; I save a copy of everything I do in a separate directory. So even if the main directory has been changed, I’ll be able to compare the two,’ Lynn said.
‘Oh Lynn, you’re a life-saver; could you have a look? I mean, it could be that I’m imagining I ever finalised them but I’m sure I spent at least three hours of my life staring at these figures.’
‘I’ll have a look. The Lawrence file is there, by the way; the Lady Dragon said you’d need it,’ Lynn spoke .
‘Great,’ Kate answered sarcastically.
‘So, I hear you have a new boyfriend,’ Lynn commented.
‘Shh!’ Kate exclaimed, looking over her shoulder at her colleagues in the hope they were all too busy working to pay any attention to Lynn’s loud voice.
‘I think the Lady Dragon is bristling about it. Word in the office is that Colin Sykes is dating one of the trainees,’ Lynn spoke in slightly more hushed tones.
‘Really! Now that will have got her back up for certain. She’s been sniffing around him since he became a partner.’
‘Mm, so expect a foul mood for a few weeks, until she sets her sights on another victim. My money’s on Andrew Kent,’ Lynn said, speaking of one of the other partners in Randall’s and touching her nose with her finger.
‘Isn’t he married?’ Kate enquired.
‘Wife left him last summer. Watch this space.’