He nodded modestly. ‘Yes.’
‘So who is the ultimate owner?’
‘Mind Over Fatty Matter. In other words, Sue Fisher.’
‘Ah,’ said Mrs Pargeter. ‘Now, that is interesting.’
Chapter Thirty-Three
‘I cannot think of anything I would enjoy more,’ said Ellie Fenchurch when Mrs Pargeter tentatively made the proposal. ‘I’d love to see that cow squirm.’
The journalist dropped everything the minute Mrs Pargeter’s call came through. She deferred the long-set-up telephone chat with Madonna and cancelled the interview with J. D. Salinger, who was at the time travelling incognito in England. Ellie Fenchurch had never had any doubt where her first loyalty lay. When she thought of all that the late Mr Pargeter had done for her…
Gary once again delivered them in front of the blanched Mind Over Fatty Matter headquarters. There was no delay; they were ushered immediately into the presence of the boss (no doubt known within the company as the ‘senior co-worker’). Whatever Ellie had said on the phone when arranging the encounter, it had worked. Sue Fisher looked defensive, a rare posture for her, and one that she clearly wasn’t enjoying.
She began with professional coolness, however, as if the meeting was nothing out of the ordinary. ‘I gather there were a few details you wanted to check up on for your profile, Ellie.’ She invested the name with poisonous gentility.
The journalist went straight for the throat. ‘I don’t think you’d want the details I’m after to appear on any profile, Sue.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Lissum Laboratories.’
They could see the name’s impact on Sue Fisher’s face in the split second before she covered up. ‘I’m afraid I still don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Don’t bother with all that,’ Ellie Fenchurch snarled. ‘We’ve traced the ownership. There’s no question that you own Lissum Laboratories.’
‘Well, what if I do?’
‘There are things going on there that don’t fit in very well with the squeaky-clean image of Mind Over Fatty Matter. Certain experiments are conducted at Lissum Laboratories that don’t accord with the high-flown ethical principles you keep banging on about, Sue — or with those self-righteous little slogans which are plastered all over your products.’
‘I’m sure that’s not the case. I can guarantee that nothing being developed at Lissum Laboratories is tested on animals.’
‘No,’ Ellie agreed.
‘Well then, I don’t see-’
‘But some of it’s tested on humans.’ Sue Fisher seemed unable to think of an appropriate response to this, so Ellie went on, ‘Now, I know in this country, that’s very much a secondary consideration, way down in the scale of things. So long as beagles aren’t being forced to chain-smoke and little pussycats aren’t being injected with cancer cells, most people aren’t that fussed about what happens to mere human beings. Mind you, I think if details of what has gone on under the Lissum Laboratories umbrella were published, you still might get a bit of reaction.’
Sue Fisher remained silent. Mrs Pargeter watched her closely. The woman was under attack, but by no means defeated. The formidable will that had built up the Mind Over Fatty Matter empire was not easily broken.
‘I have very good lawyers,’ Sue Fisher announced eventually. ‘If you try to publish any such allegations, we’ll take your paper for millions.’
‘Even if I have detailed research to back up what I’m writing
…?’
Sue Fisher grinned, sensing a recovery of control. ‘I said they were very good lawyers. They’ll have injunctions out before your article hits the streets. And even if something did somehow creep out in print, they’d get you.’
‘Even if what I’m printing happens to be the truth?’
Sue Fisher, now considerably more relaxed, laughed out loud. ‘I didn’t think you were that naive, Ellie. We’re talking about a libel case here — the truth doesn’t come into it. My lawyers always get the results they’re paid to get.’
The journalist nodded, accepting the inevitability of this, and Sue Fisher pressed forward her advantage. ‘I would also like to point out that I serve on a government environmental committee with the owner of your newspaper, Lord Barsleigh. And that Mind Over Fatty Matter has put a great deal of money in the paper’s Save the Rainforest Initiative. As you know, it’s an issue about which Lord Barsleigh is particularly concerned — as anyone would be who is desperate to divert public attention from the number of trees which are cut down daily to provide the material on which his paper is printed.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying if I were you, I wouldn’t push my luck, Ellie.’ Again the name was infused with saccharine venom. ‘Lord Barsleigh might well be more willing to sacrifice one journalist than the Mind Over Fatty Matter investment.’
‘I take your point.’
Sue Fisher stretched out her perfect body preeningly in her chair. ‘So I don’t really think what you’re talking about poses that much of a threat to me or my company, do you?’
Ellie Fenchurch conceded the point. ‘No, publicity about a few dodgy experiments in some far-flung department of your empire is hardly going to bring the whole edifice tumbling down, is it?’
‘I’m so glad you understand that.’
‘Oh yes. I mean, after all, what could I do — if I was lucky, find a couple of women who’d had an allergic reaction to some cosmetic they tested for Lissum Laboratories…? And probably by the time I found them, the rash would have faded… Just be their word against yours, wouldn’t it? And who’s going to believe some disgruntled little housewife against the might of an institution as clean and as green as Mind Over Fatty Matter…?’
‘Precisely,’ said Sue Fisher, her confidence flooding back.
‘But it’d be rather different if someone were to die from the effects of some product they’d tested for you, wouldn’t it?’
If Ellie had been expecting a reaction of appalled horror, she must have been disappointed. All she got was a light laugh and ‘Yes, if that had happened, the situation would be very different. Since it hasn’t happened, I don’t see that I really have a problem.’
To Mrs Pargeter, alert for signs of lying, the reaction appeared completely genuine. Sue Fisher did not know about the death which had taken place at Brotherton Hall, or if she did know of it she had no suspicions of its possible connection with drug-testing.
‘It has happened…’ said Ellie Fenchurch quietly.
‘What!’ The shock in this monosyllable confirmed Mrs Pargeter’s conclusions.
‘And a product developed at Lissum Laboratories was definitely implicated.’
The confidence in Ellie’s tone belied her lack of proof, but it still had the effect of draining her opponent’s confidence. Sue Fisher looked deeply shaken as she asked, ‘What are you proposing to do about it?’
‘Well… I’m not a vindictive person,’ Ellie lied genially. ‘I think we should come to an arrangement.’
‘What kind of an arrangement?’
‘An arrangement of mutual benefit. I agree not to publish any of the material I have on you — indeed, to keep Mind Over Fatty Matter’s name out of any investigation that might emerge… in exchange for certain information.’
‘Why should I give you further information? You aren’t well known in journalistic circles for your discretion. How do I know you won’t just print anything I tell you, in addition to the material you’ve already got?’
‘Because I want to keep my job. You’re right — if Lord Barsleigh was given the choice of losing me or losing the money you’re putting into his righteous environmental endeavour… I’d be out, no question. My feet wouldn’t touch the ground. On the other hand, if I was out… I’d have nothing to lose, so I’d get my findings published somewhere else — some environmental publication maybe… What’s the name of that one that’s always banging on about all the wonderful stuff your company’s done to save the planet…?’
Sue Fisher recognized the potency of the threat. ‘You’re saying that to keep you quiet I have to give you more potentially damaging information?’