‘Yes, Duggie’s been very fair, but I do feel a bit nervous about answering questions at the board meeting. Duggie told me not to worry.’
‘He’s very good like that. He’ll jump in and answer any awkward questions for you. John Toddleigh the chairman is also very good. You’ll know all the directors apart from the non-execs. Lady MacDonald is lovely, but Sir Ken Allerby is a nasty piece of work.’
‘Won’t the board have to ratify my appointment?’
‘It’s a done deal. Travel Plan is Duggie’s baby and he wants you as sales director because he recognises talent and doesn’t want to lose you. On the other hand, he can be quite ruthless; Sally was trying to rock the boat. Duggie doesn’t like that.’
‘So, you don’t think it was anything to do with the Dynamic leak?’
‘Don’t think so. Let’s go and see Pauline and see what she’s been able to dig-up.’
At 11.35am, Phil Stammers began to type the minutes of the Travel Plan Extraordinary Board Meeting on his battered old Imperial typewriter.
“Attending: J L Toddleigh – Chairman: D B Lummox – Managing Director: B J Main – Finance Director: B R Billingsgate – Sales Director: P A Sykes – Personnel Director: Non Executive Directors: Sir Kenneth Allerby: Lady Sophie MacDonald. Company Secretary: P G Stammers. Absent: S V Barnard – Marketing Director.
The Chairman opened the meeting promptly at 11am, thanking everyone for attending at such short notice. The reason for the meeting being that Sally Barnard the Marketing Director had tendered her resignation. Managing Director, Douglas Lummox informed the meeting it had come to light that Sally Barnard had defrauded a company she had previously worked for and lied on her CV. When confronted with the evidence she tendered her resignation which was accepted. Sir Kenneth Allerby questioned why the board had not been informed before the resignation was accepted. A note detailing the extent of the fraud was passed to Sir Ken, who, on reading it, agreed that the right course of action had been taken.
The note was subsequently read by all members of The Board, who concurred.
Sir Ken expressed concern that this now left the company without a Marketing Director at a very important point in the business cycle. The MD agreed, which is why he proposed that Barrie Billingsgate should be promoted to fill the vacant position of Marketing Director. Pauline Sykes seconded the proposal which was carried unanimously. The MD then proposed that due to her excellent record in Dynamic telesales, Samantha Derby should be promoted to Sales Director. Following a general discussion as to her suitability for the post, Basil Main seconded the proposal which was carried with one abstention. Samantha Derby was immediately called into the meeting to take her place on the board.
Any Other Business: Pauline Sykes told the meeting that thanks to some detective work by Samantha Derby and Barrie Billingsgate, substantiated by the chance overhearing of a conversation in a local restaurant, the data theft from Dynamic was almost certainly carried out by someone from ProClean, the company responsible for the daily cleaning of the Travel Plan offices. ProClean was recommended to the company by Sir Ken. Sir Ken told the meeting that he had known Lucinda Lovebrace for many years and that she owned a group of very successful companies. He was sure there must be some mistake. Pauline replied that she had positively identified two other companies owned by Lucinda Lovebrace. – Lovebrace Property and Lovebrace Antiques, both Limited Companies with a non executive director by the name of Helen Benningham-Smythe, who is also on the board of several other companies, including a travel company called Top Dynamic Travel Limited, where she is Managing Director.
Sir Ken interjected to say that the Benningham-Smythe name is well regarded in Private Banking and it is not unusual for a member of the family to hold board positions with several different companies. Was Lucinda Lovebrace on the board of Top Dynamic Travel Ltd? Pauline replied that she was not, but Top Dynamic Travel Limited shared an office with Curzen Travel, which is owned by Lucinda Lovebrace. Lady MacDonald asked if they should call in the police to investigate. The MD proposed that to save any adverse publicity, the best course of action would be to contact Lucinda Lovebrace and attempt to recoup their losses privately. Sir Kenneth Allerby volunteered his services. The MD suggested that under the circumstances it might be better to make an informal approach by someone in the company who understood sales and the loss suffered by the Company. He proposed Barrie Billingsgate. The proposal was seconded by Basil Main and passed unanimously.
Douglas Lummox informed the board that a personal relationship had developed between himself and Penny Betts his Personal Assistant. The Chairman suggested that he should leave the meeting whilst they discussed the implications. In his absence it was decided that this new relationship would not be detrimental for the Company and it was unanimously agreed that the services of Penny Betts as PA to the MD should continue. When Douglas Lummox returned to the meeting he thanked the meeting for their decision.
There being no other business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 11.29am.”
Traffic into London moved well, allowing Lucy and Julie to make up for some of the time lost in their unscheduled lovemaking. Lucy played her Billy Holliday CD’s all the way, so when she parked the Mercedes in her reserved space behind Lovebrace Antiques in Chelsea, they were still unaware of the Meltcon fire. Lucy called through the door to tell Sophie, her old school chum, that they would be back later.
The black cab pulled up outside Coutts in Cavendish Square, with two minutes to spare. They were shown into a large oak panelled room; Julie was impressed. Lucy was treated like royalty by the Coutts manager who said he was delighted that Miss Lovebrace had found someone she could trust to help run her business empire. Well managed, significant turnover and extremely profitable were phrases he used throughout his discussion with Lucy, as Julie signed document after document, including one which made her a signatory on all Lovebrace company cheques.
They left the bank at midday to walk the short distance to Lucy’s travel business in Mayfair. In Bond Street she took her into a jeweller and bought her a diamond encrusted watch to mark the occasion. As they left the shop she whispered. ‘If we had walked via Soho it could have been a diamond encrusted dildo.’ Julie giggled. ‘Now, that really would make my eyes water.’ They giggled like naughty schoolgirls as they sauntered arm in arm, pausing occasionally to look in a shop window. Julie felt very happy all her doubts blown away. Having decided that she would never get involved in that other side of Lucy’s life again, the disturbing image of her lover enjoying anal sex with Mervyn Turner no longer played on her mind, she would explain her decision to Lucy later, she was sure to understand. As for Suzy, well, it wouldn’t hurt to have her own gorgeous little bit on the side whilst Lucy was indulging her need for men.
It was Julie who spotted the dramatic headline ‘BLAZE AT MELTCON FACTORY’ on a newspaper stand as they walked past Green Park Underground Station. She bought the midday edition of the London Evening Standard and gasped in astonishment when she saw the picture of her husband running out from the blazing Meltcon factory. The bundle he was carrying, a female colleague wrapped in wet overall. Peter Bunford was hailed as a hero. The caption over the picture read. ‘RUGBY STAR IN DRAMATIC RESCUE.’ Further coverage of the story appeared on page 6, with a picture of Peter scoring a try during his rugby playing days, set alongside a repeat of the front page picture. The woman he rescued was named as Lydia Baxter, both had been admitted to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and Peter Bunford was receiving treatment for burns. The paper did not say how serious they were. Lucy suggested they carry on walking to her travel company, which was only a couple of hundred yards where she would get someone to contact the hospital.