Lisa moves across to the desk, where an elegant jug – crystal? - is perched on a tray with four upturned glasses. She fills one and takes it to the table.
Sue takes it wordlessly, drinks a few sips; puts it down.
“Vultures.” She sighs, looking up at Lisa. “They're vultures, those men.” She gestures for Lisa to sit, at the chair to her left.
Lisa sinks into it, unselfconsciously.
“They just wait for my company to roll over so they can peck the carcase clean.” Sue sighs. “It won't, you know.”
She gestures, her voice weary. “This company is strong. It's seen worse over the last ten years, and remained strong. It will do it again.” She looks down, her eyes on memories. “It's just...it's tiring, is all.” She sighs; her weary out-breath catching on a stifled sob.
Lisa cannot help it. She reaches out, covers the delicate hand on the desk with one of her own.
“You're strong, too.” She says. “Very strong.” Her voice smiles, thinking of their confrontation. “And I'm here for you. We will defend this company.”
Sue sniffs, weakly. Smiles. There are tears on the edges of her eyelashes.
“It's been a long time since someone has offered me a hand.” She says, her voice low, cracked and achingly tired. A voice that sounds like it has fought hard and alone with no respite. “It would be...remiss not to thank you for your support. Supper?”
Chapter 5
The old Lord Nelson hotel has a truly elegant restaurant. On Tuesday night, as every open night, the wide diningroom is packed; alive with beautiful people and a small army of waiters and waitresses in tailored black uniforms, enlivened with the music from a discreet violinist in the corner. It is loud with the clink of crystal on glass as champagne is poured; sweet music and conversation; and scented with cologne and wine and the sharp twist of lemon, spice and the pale night air.
Sue is seated at her usual corner table, by a tall window overlooking a balcony. Lisa comes through the main door; sees her seated there, facing into the room. The pale light washes over Sue from the blue evening; lighting the almost-white blonde of her hair, rolled into an elegant rolled bun; and shading the creamy texture of her skin. She is wearing a pale blue dress, an airy white jacket draped loosely over the back of the chair. Her hands are under her chin, and those wide blue eyes are lost in a reverie.
Lisa lifts a hand in greeting; smiling hesitantly as she crosses the room.
“Susan?” She greets her; trying out the name.
The scent of Chanel washes across the air between them as Sue reaches out a hand to shake Lisa's. The sweet smell washes over Lisa, making her senses swim. She shakes the hand that is offered; the soft skin warm and slight damp. Lisa is surprised to feel her heart respond to the contact; a jolt like electricity flowing through.
“Lisa.” Sue greets her. “Good that you could join me.”
Lisa smiles, takes a seat. Her hands straighten the mustard wool of her evening pants as she sits. The colour of the trousers and blouse bring out the spice-red of her hair; make her look alive and vital. The shirt underneath is yellow-white silk; the top button undone. Despite her inclinations to casualness, Lisa took time over the outfit. Not just because of the stylish restaurant, she reflects, as she sits down. Something in her would not want to disappoint this elegant woman before her.
“So.” Sue begins, smiling archly. “I think we must have a lot in common, Ms Marsden...Lisa.” She smiles. “We both work at the top of our game, after all?”
“Not yet.” Lisa smiles frankly. “My boss would need to leave first.”
“Would you want him to?”
Lisa pauses. “No...There's enough for me to do, without being head...it looks...demanding?” She smiles at Sue.
Sue laughs, a bitter tone to it. “You think so? You've seen the easy part!”
“Well, I don't want to see the hard part.” Lisa smiles, her eyes warm.
She cannot help it; she likes this woman. It has been years, since Prudence, that she has felt like this for anyone. It is wonderful. Elating. And terrifying.
The waiter appears; takes their orders.
“The hard part came before...fighting my way up the corporate ladder.” Sue continues, her voice low as she remembers it. “But then, I think you know that. You've faced discrimination, I think?”
“Tell me about it!” Lisa rolls her eyes. Both women laugh.
The waiter returns, bearing dry white wine for Sue; dry red for Lisa.
“To...fairness?” Sue proposes, raising her wineglass; a toast.
“Fairness.” Lisa agrees. They drink.
After a pause for reflection, they continue. “I must say, I valued your support yesterday.” Sue ventures. “It is not every day I have someone offering support.”
“It must be lonely.” Lisa offers.
“It is. Things are much..easier, with support. Yes?” She lifts her eyebrows; questioning.
“I think so.” Lisa nods. The memory of Prudence still hurts.
“I wouldn't know.” Sue says, frankly. “I've been fighting on my own, for so many years now.”
“You're single?” Lisa asks it, suddenly.
She blushes at the surprise in her voice. “Forgive me. I had...I assumed you were married.”
“I was.” Sue's voice has dropped a register. Lisa is surprised at the well of bitterness in her tone. She pauses.
“What happened?” Lisa asks it, gently; when Sue remains silent. She does not want to pry, but it sounds like the other woman has pain that would be eased if she could air it.
“Nothing. Something. He...he didn't like that I was more...ambitious.” Sue begins. Her voice is bitter, cracked with old pain. “He...he wanted me to be below him on the corporate rungs. Couldn't bear that I was advancing. He was...violent...often.” Sue is looking at the plate of salad. Not making eye-contact. Lisa is silent. Inside, the anger wells up in her. The thought of someone committing violence against the fine, delicate woman before her fires her blood.
“You left him?” She asks, her anger making her voice rise in frequency.
“Yes.” Sue nods, her eyes welling with sudden tears. “Yes, I left him. But not...not without that absolute nightmare in the court. I hate courts.” She confesses, vehemently.
“This time, I'm your lawyer.” Lisa smiles.
Sue's hand moves across the fine white linen tablecloth, settles over Lisa's. “I know.” She smiles, a watery smile through tears. “I am glad.”
Both are silent.
“Steak?” The waiter has appeared, with main courses. “That's mine.” Lisa smiles.
“And pan-seared tuna with yoghurt sauce.” He smiles, and puts down Sue's course; takes away the salad.
The two women eat in silence for a moment.
Then, “He's not the only difficult memory of the legal system, though.” Sue adds. “I had a real nightmare with Hightower corporation a few years back. You know?”
“Hightower?” Lisa asks. The name sticks in her memory for some reason. “The construction people?”
“Yes. That's right. Engineering, actually. They do a lot of the surveying for me...the actual planning and setting up of the sites.”
“And?” Lisa prompts. This is sounding interesting, and she is involved, despite herself.
“Well, they had a court battle with me as well. There was a structural fault, and I took them to court about it. They made a counter-suit, claiming that I had demanded them to choose a certain site against their recommendations, and that the accident was my responsibility. I won,” she adds, “And they never forgot. They hate me, too, I think.” She sighs, swirls her wine in the glass; watches the patterns the green-pale fluid makes as the light catches moving liquid.
Lisa's mind is whirling. “The company still has a grudge?” She asks. Sue nods, distracted, lost in thoughts.
“Well, do they still do work for you?' Lisa asks. Sue nods again.
“Yes. They're still our chief partner for construction. This
latest excavation for the new vein, is all done in collaboration with them. You must have noticed vehicles with their insignia on outside, when you visited our offices?” Sue asks.
“Yes...” Lisa replies. “I did.”
Her mind is whirling. Surely this company, with their vendetta against Sue, could be responsible for the accidents on the mines? Could be setting things up to look like Sue's company is failing? She resolves to investigate it alone. She doesn't want to worry Sue unduly; respects that she has enough to face without Lisa casting suspicions on colleagues.
“Well, you need some partner to rely on.” Lisa smiles.
Sue looks up; smiles back. “Yes.” She smiles. “Yes, I do. Cheers?” She lifts a glass.
“Cheers.”
Their eyes meet; brown and iced-pale blue. This time, Lisa does not look away. They smile; a newfound respectful warmth between them.
Lisa feels herself floating; lost in the warmth of that blue gaze. Inside, she resolves to do extra work on this case. There is a lot about Hightower Corporation that she doesn't know, and she intends to find out more, as soon as she returns home. For now, though, there is the woman before her, the warmth inside her, and the beauty in the moment.
Sue is smiling at her, warmly.
“We should do this more often.” She says, a lift to her brows. “Same time tomorrow?”
Lisa feels the warmth spread through her body, suffusing every corner of her, making her head swim. “Same time tomorrow.” She agrees.
Chapter 6
“Titus! Morning.”
Lisa smiles at her colleague as she breezes into the office. For some reason, she cannot help the small bubble of joy lodged somewhere between her heart and stomach, which seems to have been there since her dinner with Sue Montmorency. Or maybe even earlier, since their first meeting. Lisa can't tell. She just knows she feels happier; constantly warm and alive.
“Morning, L.” Titus smiles at her; white teeth perfect in his dark-skinned face.
“The building stayed up?” Lisa smiles at him. “With all the craziness here, I expected it might have collapsed at any time.”
Titus smiles affably. “Well, it's still here, apparently. It hasn't been all that bad, actually. We settled down a bit yesterday. Our dear boss sent a memo from the States...he's doing well and will be back next week sometime. Our other boss is still missing in action. And Rochelle threw a fit about the accounts. But otherwise, nothing exciting happened.” He smiles. “We save the exciting stuff for when you're here.”
“Oh, thank you. Really nice of you.” Lisa rolls her eyes. They both laugh.
“So...what's on the menu today?” Lisa says to herself.
She sits down, takes her laptop out of her bag and turns it on. She prefers it to the work machine, since most of her documents are on it, so she can work at home.
“Titus?” She asks after a moment. “Is your Internet working?”
“Sure. Why?”
“I can't seem to access my emails. Could you have a look?”
“Sure.”
He comes over around the desk; sits on the low set of drawers where Lisa keeps her stationery. After a few moments and a few keys pressed, he looks up, bewildered.
“Have you been accessing anything you shouldn't?” He asks, after a while. “Like, corrupted files or anything? What have you been searching lately?”
Lisa thinks back, eyes closed. “Nothing scary...I had a look at some stuff about Hightower Consulting, the construction and engineering people. That's all.”
“That sounds safe enough.” Titus concedes. “Then I don't really know what's happened. Because...because it looks to me like you've been hacked.”
“What?”
“I think you've been hacked.” He repeats. “Okay, I'm not a computer guy, so I don't know for sure. But there are things not working that should be working, and it looks to me like someone tried to access your file system remotely.”
“Why would anyone do that?” Lisa asks, bewildered.
It is a horrible feeling. Invasive, threatening. The inconvenience of not having a working system for a few days is irritating, but the invasive feeling is more sinister. Threatening. And the implications make her head whirl.
“I don't know, L. Maybe some lawyer you beat in court? Someone trying to subvert you on some case? Someone trying to steal holiday photos?” He smiles. He can see she is worried, and wants to cheer her up – she and Titus have always been friends. But Lisa is too worried for that.
Someone trying to subvert you, he said. Could it be? The night before, she went looking for information on Hightower. After dinner with Sue, in fact. She read about them extensively; compiled a file. Found some very...enlightening information about some cases against the company, which were later withdrawn – cases involving malpractice. Cases not that different to the one that Sue brought against them those few years ago. And nothing came of any of them. Lisa saved all the information on her laptop. And now she has lost the saved file; along with plenty of other work too, it seems.
Lisa groans. Rests her head in her hands. “Why? Why now?” She asks. Not expecting any answer, just needing to say it.
“I don't know, L.” Titus rests a hand on her shoulder.
“The IT guys could help with this.” Lisa says. “Let's call them.”
“I'll read the number.” Titus goes over to the list of numbers he has, taped to the edge of his desk.
“It's zero two seven, zero four seven...”
Lisa dials the number as he speaks. Whoever did this, she will not be intimidated. This just means she could be right in her suspicions. Means she has to fight harder, to go further. For this case; for herself. For Sue.
By the afternoon, she is fetching her laptop from IT, restored to order. Nothing is going to stop her on this case; not while she has breath.
Chapter 7
“But, Lisa...are you sure?” Sue asks it, concernedly.
She and Lisa are seated across from each other at the same restaurant; this time downstairs. The room is darker, closer; just as packed with guests, but more intimate. It is late; dinner almost through; and Lisa has just told Sue about her problems earlier at work.
“I...I think so. I mean, I was hacked, the IT people confirmed it. That Hightower is responsible...that's conjecture. But...it seems logical?”
“Yes.” Sue's voice is certain. “Yes, it does. Which makes me think...you could be right, Lisa.”
“I think so, too.”
They are silent for a few moments. The waiter returns; takes orders for dessert. Fills their wine-glasses.
The two women sit for a moment; reflective.
“I had a look at their history.” Lisa starts. “Those people have...a history of shady goings-on.”
“I know.” Sue smiles, wryly. “I found that out later. Hiring them wasn't my idea. Gold Ridge has always done business with them, and I didn't see a good reason to change that; even after that last case. Nothing could be proved either way, after all.” She shrugs; looks into the wineglass.
She moves it between finger and thumb, contemplatively; the green-white liquid warmed to gold in the mellow light downstairs.
“I begin to wonder why.” Lisa says, equally wryly. “If they make it a habit to scare the prosecuting lawyer...It's no wonder they have got away with things.”
Surprisingly, Sue smiles; the warmth outshining the lighting. “I can't see them scaring you. I can't see anything much scaring you.”
Lisa grins; surprised at the compliment. “Well, you did.” The lighting and the warmth of feeling make her brown eyes glow, warmly.
“I did?” Sue sounds genuinely baffled. “How?”
“You're scary.” Lisa smiles. “Like ice. Intimidating. It's something about your eyes, I think. And your posture. It's...regal.”
Both women smile.
Sue giggles; a sound refreshing in its warmth. Lisa feels her heart dance.
Their eyes meet again, and the spark between them is obvious.
Neither look away.
“Chocolate fondant?” The waiter has appeared, with their desserts.
“Thank you.” Sue raises her hand; accepts a plate.
“And champagne-poached pears?” He places a dish in front of Lisa. She smiles.
Both women start on their desserts, which are every bit as good as everything else here.
“You know,” Lisa starts, swallowing a mouthful of sweet sticky pear, “I haven't said why I suspect these construction people.”
“You haven't, no.” Sue admits; smiling across the candles and the wine.
“Well, I have a reason to believe that they...exploit people. My father had an engineering firm.” Lisa begins. “He rose through the ranks; ended up running it. Five years later, Hightower had completely ruined his company. He never worked as an engineer again.”
I Stand With You (Gold Streaks Book 1) Page 3
