Terminal Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  He was brought back into the present world by a beep from his laptop signalling the arrival of an email. Piers was returning the document regarding the dosing for the clinical trial saying that he’d only had time for a cursory glance but all looked fine, but the final decision was Bob’s as he had more experience. Bob, laughed to himself, well that wasn’t entirely unexpected. No doubt Piers would tell people he’d become de-skilled in science due to his elevated role as CEO. So it looked like it was all down to Bob, as usual, he thought, to carry the responsibility. He would check the figures once more this evening then send them off tomorrow to the clinical unit handling the trial.

  Chapter 31

  Polly was already at home before Nick as she’d asked him to stop off at the supermarket to pick up a few items. Nick arrived home a little after 7 p.m., removed two bags from the boot and locked his car. He checked all four tyres before entering his block of flats telling himself he was now becoming paranoid about his tyres after his recent puncture.

  Unlocking the door, he shouted, ‘Hi, I’m back!’ but there was no reply.

  He could see Polly’s shoes and bag in the hallway so she must be back home, he shouted again, ‘Polly, where are you? I got everything, I’ll just put the oven on!’ Polly still didn’t reply so he went to their bedroom, he saw her lying down on the bed on her side her legs brought up to her chest so she was in the foetal position. ‘Polly, are you not feeling well?’ asked Nick and he went round to her side of the bed. She was clutching a tissue and it was clear she’d been crying.

  ‘Hey, what’s the matter, are you feeling ill?’ and he felt her forehead, ‘why are you so upset? Bad day?’

  ‘Yes, crap day, as always in this new job and it got crappier when I got home,’ she said her voice breaking.

  ‘Why? I don’t understand,’ asked Nick frowning.

  ‘Go and look on the coffee table, there’s a piece of paper for you to look at.’

  Nick duly complied starting to panic that perhaps Polly had received some letter about a medical investigation she’d not told him about, he just couldn’t fathom what it was. On the table was a white envelope with their flat address on it, yet no name, and next to it a folded sheet of paper. He picked up the paper, and read the message written in bold large letters.

  MEDLING CAN BE BAD FOR YOU. WATCH OUT

  ‘Fuck,’ said Nick, unable to believe his eyes, and noting the spelling mistake. No wonder Polly was in tears, she must have been so shocked to open this when she got home, it was menacing, like something from a film. This must be directed towards himself, that bastard Kevin, he wanted to kill him right now, beat him to a pulp. How dare he hand deliver something to his home address. Had he followed him here one evening, he wasn’t aware that he’d ever told him where they lived, but perhaps he had? Kevin had often involved him in conversation in the past and the trouble was you tended to switch off and not listen. Or he could have got it from someone else like Caroline or Kirsty? This was a nightmare. He thought back to his puncture yesterday, was Kevin responsible for all that?

  Nick went back to the bedroom, climbed onto the bed next to Polly and held her in his arms.

  ‘I’m so sorry Nick, it’s all my fault’, sobbed Polly. ‘I should never have taken this new job, I hate it.’

  ‘Shush, shush,’ said Nick, ‘no you’ve got it all wrong, it’s my fault, not yours, this letter is directed against me,’ and he continued to hold Polly but she was struggling out of his embrace and pulling herself to a sitting position.

  ‘Nick, what are you talking about, how can this be your fault? I’m the one who’s upset colleagues at work, remember my sandwiches full of salt? I told you about Phyllis and her new phone, and Luke’s brother getting that contract, they know I’m suspicious of them,’ she was speaking agitatedly now, looking directly at Nick, ‘and I’ve not had a chance to tell you about the latest which happened this afternoon.’

  ‘Why what happened,’ asked Nick sounding concerned.

  ‘Well when I came back from my meeting this afternoon someone has spilt some coffee on papers I’d left on my desk, my chair had been altered and the seat was at a funny angle. Actually, the lever seems to have been jammed or broken so I can’t alter it, I’ll have to find a spare one tomorrow. Also, that orchid you gave me for my desk has had the stem snapped, it’s awful, I can’t take any more of it. I’m going to speak to the Head of Finance tomorrow, report them both for harassment, and now this latest threat, this is intimidation.’

  ‘Polly, listen to me, that’s awful about your work, I want you to stay at home tomorrow,’ Polly shook her head.

  ‘No way, I’m not being intimidated, I’m taking this piece of paper to the police, they might fingerprint it!’

  ‘Listen, you need to hear what I’ve got to say,’ said Nick holding her hands.

  ‘Those things that happened at your desk must be those guys at work but this sheet of paper could just as well be for me as you,’ he paused and Polly frowned.

  ‘But who have you upset, you’ve not said anything about problems at work,’ queried Polly.

  ‘No, I’ve not because you’ve been so busy with your new job and I didn’t want to worry you, I wanted more evidence.’

  ‘Evidence? You’re beginning to scare me, oh God, it brings back memories of Zac. Please tell me you’re not getting involved with anything dangerous again Nick, why didn’t you tell me?’ Polly was shouting now and pacing around the bedroom. She looked so different from her usual professional self, her face was blotchy, her hair in disarray and she was flushed to a high colour.

  ‘Look, it’s nothing like the Zac affair, that’s behind us, but I’ve been keeping an eye on Kevin and he’s stealing from the company.’

  ‘Kevin, who’s Kevin, you’ve not mentioned a chemist called Kevin before, is he new?’

  ‘He’s not a chemist, he’s the storeman. And he’s got a little enterprise on the side supplying disposable gloves, tissues, things like that to local garages. That’s why we’re so short of things like that at work and he spins a tale of problems with deliveries all the time and them sending the wrong order and he’s taking it out by the back door and selling it on.’

  ‘Are you sure, have you seen him doing this? Have you got evidence, you’re not reading too much into this are you,’ asked Polly realising she’d touched a nerve after previously accusing Nick of an overactive imagination.

  ‘Yes, I’m sure, I overheard him saying something today and I recorded it. Wait I’ll get my phone.’

  Polly’s eye’s widened at this point. Too much was happening this evening, she was having trouble taking it all in.

  Nick replayed several times the conversation Kevin had with his friend and waited for Polly’s response. Polly shrugged.

  ‘What are you doing that for?’ asked Nick and he mimicked Polly’s body language.

  ‘Well it’s not proof,’ she said, ‘in my opinion that is.’

  ‘What? It is, wait a minute, listen again,’ and Nick played it once more for her to hear.

  ‘It could have been something like T shirts he was talking about, or hats, or something for a kid’s party, it doesn’t actually say what he’s trading. You’ve interpreted it as that because of your suspicions, he could say what I’ve said if challenged.’

  Nick felt deflated, he’d not considered this and he had to admit Polly was right. ‘Yes but he mentioned Sidz,’ said Nick.

  ‘So, Sid’s, that’s the name of his friend’s house, isn’t it,’

  ‘No, it’s not Sid’s with an s, it’s S I D Z and Nick spelt it out. It’s a garage over the other side town.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ asked Polly with incredulity.

  ‘Because I followed him, last night when you were at your class,’ replied Nick rather sheepishly realising this conversation was now taking a turn for the worse and he was going to be accused of putting himself at risk.

  ‘Jesus, Nick! I can’t believe this, you’re putting yourself at risk, agai
n!’ she added, emphasising the again. ‘Have you any proof that’s what they were doing?’

  ‘No, I couldn’t risk taking a photo as I was on my own and didn’t want to get spotted.’

  ‘Good,’ said Polly, starting to calm down a bit, ‘so without a photo and this one-sided phone conversation you’ve only got your observations of the stock levels then?’

  ‘Well no, I’ve phoned up the supplier and they confirmed that no orders have ever been sent back like he said, he used that excuse to explain the lack of an order.’

  ‘Yes, but you’ve said yourself that there’s no proper record of orders as your systems are so antiquated, it’s going to be difficult to prove just on that evidence, he’ll have thought of something.’

  They both sat in silence on the bed, trying to absorb the awful situations they were both experiencing at work. Polly was the first to speak.

  ‘Basically, we have no idea who is targeting us at home. We’ve had a nail in our tyre which after this latest event I doubt was an accident. We’ve been threatened in writing. I’m suffering low-level intimidation at work. It could be Kevin, Luke or Phyllis or a combination of them all. It’s a complete mess and I’m getting very scared,’ she looked at him and added, ‘for both of us.’

  Chapter 32

  Brett had enjoyed a good session at the gym and had then decided to go to a bar for a bite to eat and a pint of beer. He couldn’t risk drinking anymore as he was driving. He felt he needed to be around other people for a while rather than going home to an empty flat. Annabelle had texted to say she was very busy but would try to phone after 9 p.m. to hear how his meeting with his solicitor had gone. After the coolness of their exchanges recently Brett’s mood suddenly improved, he desperately wanted to hear her voice again. So it was after 8 p.m. when he arrived back home, to find a few items of post waiting for him, causing him to smile rather ironically and reminding him how stupid he’d been not to realise for ages that his post had been diverted. He poured himself a whisky and sat down to check his personal emails. He quickly went through the messages deleting the messages from eBay with latest offers, adverts about travel and holidays and all the other pointless messages which companies spent their time spewing out. There was also an email with the latest news from his old university along with notice of the next alumni dinner in London next month. Brett felt he had far too much on his plate at the moment to commit to anything not directly related to work or his current predicament. Sadly he had no idea how long his involvement with the FCA would be nor the outcome.

  He’d been so hoping that Annabelle would call tonight as he felt much more encouraged after his meeting with Emma, she had explained how these cases were notoriously difficult to prove and it was much more of a grey area than the FCA had liked to indicate. Their bravado at presenting such a damning view was often in the hope that it would force a confession, hopefully gaining the accused some clemency. His phone vibrated, it was Annabelle.

  ‘Hi, Annabelle, so good to hear your voice,’ said Brett sounding so relieved that they’d finally made contact.

  ‘How did it go today then?’ asked Annabelle getting straight to the point.

  ‘Well, it went better than I had envisaged actually. Emma seems very efficient and knowledgeable. She thinks that because someone used my credit card fraudulently that adds to my case. The items were collected in London. Also, she’s sure my post was diverted maliciously, it wasn’t just someone stealing at random. I just need to work out how someone stole my identity. That’s what I need to focus on, then she might be able to make some headway.’

  ‘Well sounds encouraging, doesn’t sound like you’ll be locked up indefinitely,’ joked Annabelle.

  ‘Not funny, I’m fully intending to clear my name in all this and nail the bastard who’s caused me all this grief. Anyway, how’s your week going so far.’

  ‘Oh, fine, fine, I’ve got some news actually. I’ve been offered a full partnership, they’ve been really impressed with my work recently. It will show those old university colleagues who thought I should be working in London rather than Persford that not everything revolves around the big city. I’ve got a much better quality of life here in Persford, who’d want to be travelling by tube every day? All that congestion, the pollution...’ and Annabelle continued to chat merrily about her work and friends but Brett was no longer listening, something major had just occurred to him. It was Annabelle talking about her university friends and London, and the recent alumni email he’d had. Brett had suddenly found the missing piece of the jigsaw and he desperately wanted to get off the phone to check his diary. ‘Brett, Brett, are you still listening, you’ve gone very quiet, I just asked you a question,’ said Annabelle sounding slightly cross.

  ‘Er, no, well yes, I was listening but I’ve just realised something really important. I need to check my diary. I think I’ve worked out what has happened and who might be responsible for dropping me in the shit. Can I phone you back?’

  ‘Well yes, of course, can’t you tell me now?’

  ‘Let me check something and I’ll get back to you. Shit, I wish I’d realised earlier, now I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to tell my solicitor. God, what a complete fucking idiot I’ve been. I’m so angry, I want to go down to London and tear him limb from limb. What a complete and utter bastard!’ Brett was shouting now and pacing around his flat.

  ‘Look try to calm down, check what you need and phone me back, soon,’ asked Annabelle and she ended the call.

  Brett brought up the calendar on his phone and found the date of the alumni dinner. He also checked in his paper diary in case he’d entered it incorrectly. It had been at a busy time at work and when he agreed to it he had mistakenly thought it was actually a week later. His post hadn’t started going astray for a while after that but the dates of the fraudulent purchases were of course after his dinner in London. Everything had gone wrong from that point when he’d stayed over with Giles Wentworth. He’d thought back to that day and the rush for the train as he’d had a busy day. He’d taken some paperwork with him to read on the train and it came flooding back to him, the return journey. He thought back to boarding the train and deciding to read some notes from work, he remembered the momentary panic when he’d had trouble finding the sheet he’d wanted as it appeared to have got out of order in his briefcase.

  He closed his eyes and thought back to that evening. He’d known Giles was attending the dinner but he’d not been keen to make his acquaintance, it had been the other way round, Giles had sought him out. Despite saying he was happy to find a hotel, Giles had offered him the use of his sofa, not so much as offered but insisted, practically dragged him along. Brett then tried to relive the evening, where had he left his jacket and briefcase? In the hallway, it had been wet when they’d left the dinner and Brett had courteously removed his shoes and outer coat in the hallway, hanging it up on a stand to dry and he must have left his bag with it instead of taking it into the lounge. That would have seemed a bit formal and as if he didn’t trust his host. How ironic it seemed now, he’d trusted his host who’d pumped him for information about upcoming announcements from BioQex, little suspecting that the bastard would go through his things whilst he was asleep.

  Brett was absolutely fuming, not just at Giles but at his own stupidity and the fact that he’d let down his defences aided by too much alcohol. Despite those reminiscences, he poured himself another generous measure of whisky. The smarmy Giles had read about the positive test results on BQ-896 then used this information to deal shares prior to the announcement and had tried to frame him by setting up an account in his name leaving some residual cash to incriminate him. He must have got the details he needed from his wallet, which contained his photo driving licence with his signature and date of birth. That must have been enough to start this chain of events. What a complete and utter shit that guy is, thought Brett. Well, I hope you’ve got yourself a good lawyer, you’ll be needing one.

  Chapter 33

  On Wed
nesday morning both Nick and Polly had trouble waking when their alarm sounded. They’d stayed up late formulating a plan of action to protect themselves in the short term. Nick had wanted Polly to phone in sick but after much discussion, Nick agreed that it would only postpone confronting the problem until a later date. He would agree to Polly attending work but only if he accompanied her and he was going to stay until they had been granted an appointment with the head of department who they hoped would to agree to arrange separate office for Polly and allow her the chance to report her concerns about colleagues without any redress. Nick wanted an agreement that her findings regarding Phyllis and Luke be investigated without delay.

  Polly had also stipulated that Nick agree to her demands as regards his investigations into Kevin’s nefarious activities. He had to cease his sole crusade for the truth and to report Kevin to someone he trusted. They decided that Billie fitted the bill and Nick should discuss with her the best way forward. As BioQex was a small company it didn’t have any whistle-blower policies in place. Perhaps this was something which might be introduced henceforth.