Better Together Read online

  He stood up. “It’s time I was getting to work.” The driver was due to pick him up at eleven.

  Francesca got to her feet. “I’ll come with you. I might as well leave my car here and travel back with Gareth tomorrow evening.” She bent and kissed her father’s forehead. “Look after yourself.”

  The car was waiting in the drive, and the driver emerged to hold the rear door open for Francesca. Aiden climbed in the opposite side.

  Once the car glided onto the main road, she turned to him. “How’s it going? Are you enjoying being in charge?”

  Aiden ignored the edge to her voice. “The place is a disaster. How’ve you all let it get into that state?” Why should I be tactful? She certainly isn’t. He was tired of her not-so-passive aggression.

  “What do you mean? Are you talking about the police yesterday?”

  “It’s not just that. It’s the whole atmosphere in the place. People clock watch, everyone looks bored, and the senior management team haven’t a clue what’s going on.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “I thought you were part of the team. Where were you at the last meeting?”

  Francesca flushed, and he guessed she’d deliberately stayed away. “Some of those meetings are completely pointless.”

  “So, you don’t bother turning up?”

  “Aiden, you have no idea how frustrating it is. Every time I suggest doing something even slightly different from the way it’s always been done, I get shouted down. I think Father would pat me on the head and tell me not to worry if he didn’t think he’d lose the hand.” Her voice rose at the end of the speech.

  “It’s that bad?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve no idea why you wanted to be in charge then. It sounds like a poisoned chalice. At least I’m not going to be around for the fallout.”

  “It’s my company,” Francesca hissed. “I want to sort it out.”

  “Then you should turn up at the meetings.”

  They lapsed into silence.

  “You’ve got a busy day?” They were walking up the steps to the main entrance before she spoke again.

  “I want to talk to some of the staff about the drug thing,” Aiden said. “You heard what the police said?”

  “I heard a rumour that something was going on and saw your email. What happened?”

  “Davy Tollington-Rees.” Aiden said, kicking at the step as he paused outside the doors. “My last assistant was a drug lord. You know his mother’s a friend of ours?”

  “Nepotism.” Francesca shook her head sadly, ignoring the fact that she’d benefited significantly from her family connections.

  “What about you?” he asked. “What are you up to today?”

  “I’ve a site visit. A new development out past The Isle of Dogs.” Francesca’s background was in architecture, and she played a major role in the design of some of the developments, overseeing the teams of in-house architects employed by the firm.

  Aiden knew there was no way she’d have that sort of position, if her father hadn’t been the chief executive and major shareholder in the company. Mind you, there would be no way I’d be occupying the chief executive’s seat, even on a temporary basis, if not for my father.

  He parted from Francesca and headed for his office.

  ~ ~ ~

  Tallulah’s desk was unoccupied and her computer locked, but there were signs that she was around. A long lilac linen scarf was wound around the back of the chair. He glanced at his watch. It was twelve thirty; she must be at lunch. He realised he was hungry himself and decided to check his emails before going out for a sandwich.

  He scrolled through his messages until he came to one from the head of security. Davy had been tracked down by the police and would apparently be charged. The email confirmed he was at work, so if Aiden wanted to see him, he could. According to the security head, the hospitalised girl was from the contracts department. Aiden decided he wanted to have a word with her colleagues.

  He leaned back in his desk and closed his eyes, wishing that he was back in New York. His company didn’t have such problems. His company only employed thirty people, and he knew them all. He’d been involved in the recruitment of every single employee; he knew their names and quite a lot about their lives and viewed most of them as friends. His company was exactly the right size.

  He picked up the phone and called security. “Paul? It’s Aiden Marlowe. Thanks for letting me know where we are.”

  He listened while Paul told him what the police had said.

  “I’ll talk to Davy this afternoon. I’ll get Human Resources in. I want him off the premises.” He could feel his blood pressure rising and he’d only been in the office for five minutes. He put the phone down and headed back out into the heat of the street to find some lunch, thinking that Tallulah should have been around to do that. What was the point of having an assistant? He bet his father never had to get his own lunch.

  As he walked out of the main entrance, she walked in. He recognised the mass of silvery hair piled on her head and secured with a scarlet and blue scarf. Even though she was shorter than practically everyone else, she stood out.

  She wore a close-fitting, knee-length dress made of some sort of stretchy material. It was pink, with one enormous flower on it. He squinted, trying to make out what the scarlet flower was. A poppy? There was something odd about the centre. He looked closer. Is that Spiderman crouched in the middle of the petals?

  She coughed, and he realised he’d been staring at her midriff for too long to be polite.

  “Where do you get your clothes?”

  She raised her eyes to the murky blue sky in disbelief. “What—”

  “Satisfy my curiosity? Please?” His temper had improved.

  “I make them.” She sidestepped to get past him to the building, but he stepped in front of her.

  “I’m going out to get some lunch.” He’d forgotten that he’d decided that was her job. “I’ll be back in half an hour. Do you have enough work?”

  She gave him an incredulous look. “I’ve enough work for a month.” She still sounded angry with him.

  He let her pass, watching her body sway in the clingy jersey as she ran up the stairs.

  Chapter 10

  Tallulah settled down at her desk and unwrapped the pita pocket she’d bought. She wasn’t sure what to make of Aiden. He wasn’t impossible to work for, as Human Resources had suggested, but his mood swings gave her mental whiplash. She could have sworn he’d flirted with her when they’d gone to look at the apartment, but then he’d turned cool and friendly. She knew she should have been pleased; instead, she had to fight off a slight sense of pique. And yesterday, he’d behaved as though the problems in the company were down to her. I’m a temp for God’s sake.

  He had no right to snap at her. She forgot that she usually let that sort of behaviour go over her head. Dealing with difficult people was something she’d done all her life, starting with her mother, her siblings, her mother’s low-life lovers, and working through a whole legion of social workers. And that was before she entered the working world. She never let anyone get to her, so why had Aiden upset her so much? Maybe it was just as well he’d shown his darker side; she’d been altogether too comfortable with him.

  She finished her lunch and tossed the wrapper into the bin as Aiden arrived back in the office. He nodded to her and went through to his own desk. After a moment, he came out again.

  “Human Resources is bringing Davy Tollington-Rees up to see me,” he said. “They’ll stay in the office. You should be there too.”

  Why? She didn’t ask, just nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Don’t call me sir.” He paused. “I’m sorry I snarled at you yesterday. I was in a foul mood.”

  “No shit.” She was being uncharacteristically unprofes
sional. She didn’t care.

  “I can’t believe my father allowed that sort of thing to happen in his business, but it wasn’t your fault. I really am sorry.”

  “Okay.” It was a good apology.

  The outer door opened, and Davy strolled through, hands in pockets, stylish hair flopping into his eyes. The grin he sent in Tallulah’s direction was completely carefree. “Hi. You’re my replacement? Sorry we didn’t meet.”

  Pamela followed him, meeting Tallulah’s eyes and raising hers to the ceiling in exasperation. “You’re in serious trouble, Davy. You need to realise that.”

  Tallulah wondered if he was at all concerned about the girls who’d ended up in hospital or if he accepted any responsibility at all. His facial expression conveyed a complete lack of mental content. She stood up and followed them into the office where Aiden sat behind his father’s enormous desk, looking grim.

  “Davy. I believe the police have talked to you, and they’re going to prosecute.”

  Davy pushed the sleek hair out of his face. “I think they’ll probably drop it.”

  Aiden didn’t look convinced. “I assume you know the terms of your contract?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Aiden lifted the paper from his desk top and pointed to a line of print. “You’ll be sacked without notice in any circumstances involving gross misconduct.”

  “Gross misconduct?” Davy’s brow wrinkled as though he didn’t understand. “I didn’t do anything at work.”

  “That’s not what my head of security says. Apparently, you supplied cocaine to several people in the company.”

  Davy shrugged.

  “Who were they?” Aiden leaned forward.

  “I can’t remember,” Davy said. “I had a lot of customers.”

  “At work?”

  Davy smirked. “My solicitor told me not to talk about it.”

  Aiden turned to Pamela. “Get him his papers. He’s out this afternoon.”

  Davy stared. “You mean I’m sacked?”

  He was definitely stupid. Tallulah guessed he had a large vacant space where other people kept their brains.

  Aiden rose to his feet, resting his hands on the surface of the desk. “Get him out of my office.”

  Pamela jerked her head at Davy, and the two of them left, Davy turning back to give Aiden a puzzled look.

  “Can I go?” Tallulah asked.

  Aiden handed her a sheet of paper. “These people were friends of the girl in hospital. I want to talk to them. Could you get them up here and escort them into my office?”

  Tallulah glanced at the paper. “These are from my old department.”

  “Did you know them?”

  “Not well,” she said. “I was only there for a month. Cathryn sat next to me. Marc was a friend of hers. I’ve barely spoken to Liz. She was very quiet.”

  “Were they friendly with Davy?”

  Tallulah shook her head. “How would I know? I only met him today. He certainly didn’t hang out in the office.”

  “Okay.” Aiden waved her away. “Just get them up here. Cathryn first.”

  Tallulah returned to her desk and called Cathryn.

  “Aiden Marlowe wants to see me?” Cathryn’s voice rose in surprise. “What on earth does he want?”

  “I couldn’t say,” Tallulah told her. It all felt awkward and reminded her of why she liked to do short-term temping contracts. “I suppose you’ll find out.”

  Five minutes later, Tallulah showed Cathryn into the office and stood by the door. She hadn’t a clue why Aiden wanted her there. Is he using me to prevent his victims escaping? Her mouth twitched as she visualised herself tackling Cathryn as she bolted for the door.

  Aiden waved Cathryn into an upright chair in front of his desk. She perched on the edge, her hands tightly clasped together.

  “I wanted to talk to you about Davy Tollington-Rees,” he said. “You know Susanne, from your department, is seriously ill after taking some drugs he gave her?”

  “He gave her them?” Cathryn’s face flushed. “I knew she was in hospital.”

  “So you knew about Davy?”

  “Not exactly—”

  “Have you ever bought drugs from him?”

  “Not at work.” Cathryn’s voice shook.

  “Do you know if anyone else was involved?”

  “No. I went to some of the same parties as Davy, but I didn’t really know him well.”

  Aiden stared at her for a long minute without saying anything. She squirmed in her seat and chewed the lipstick off her lower lip.

  “Davy’s employment has been terminated. If I find anyone else doing the same sort of thing, they’ll be fired too. You can go.”

  Tallulah escorted her out, closing Aiden’s door behind her.

  “Shit.” Cathryn’s face was still pink. “He’s scary, isn’t he?”

  “He can be, I suppose.” Tallulah was glad she wasn’t in Cathryn’s position. “You should be careful what you buy in the clubs though. People die.”

  “Yeah. It’s awful about Susanne.”

  Tallulah didn’t have a very clear memory of Susanne; she thought she was the girl with the dark cropped hair in the office next door to the one she’d worked in, but she’d never spoken to her. How can anyone take some illegal substance they’d bought in a club? There was no guarantee it was even what they thought it was. Haven’t they got any survival instinct? She supposed there were a lot of stupid people in the world.

  When Cathryn had gone, she called Marc up to the office. Marc denied any knowledge of Davy’s activities, and Tallulah, for one, believed him. Marc was a sober, absolutely average-looking man, whose whole persona screamed earnestness. He was definitely ambitious.

  The last person on the list was Liz. Liz was tall and slender and the sort of person Tallulah would describe as highly strung, if she was feeling kind. If she wasn’t, she’d describe her as neurotic.

  She paused in Tallulah’s office. “What’s this about?”

  Liz dressed to blend in, wearing a black pencil skirt, a cream blouse, and a long black cardigan. She’d wrapped the sleeves over her hands and clutched the ends tightly.

  “I can’t say.” Tallulah repeated what she’d told the others. “Come on through. I don’t think it’ll take long.”

  Unfortunately, Liz’s nervousness made her look guilty, and when Aiden pressed her, she burst into tears.

  Tallulah gave Aiden a fierce look and helped Liz out of the chair. “Come on.” She glanced back at Aiden. “I’ll just take her for a coffee.”

  Aiden folded his arms; his scowl and lowered eyebrows giving him a satanic appearance, but he didn’t say anything.

  Tallulah took Liz to an empty meeting room and brought her a mug of tea. She took a sip and sniffed.

  “You know I had nothing to do with it,” she said. “Poor Susanne. How could he think—?”

  “He didn’t think you did it,” Tallulah said. “He was asking everyone.”

  “He was horrible.”

  Tallulah sighed, finding Liz a major annoyance. There was such a thing as over-sensitivity. “If you know nothing about it, then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  “Suppose I’m sacked? What if I can’t get another job?”

  “You aren’t going to be sacked. Davy’s the only one who’s going to be sacked.”

  Liz sniffed. “Poor Davy.”

  Tallulah glanced at her watch. Poor Davy? It was three o’clock, and she was behind with her work. “Why don’t you go home? I’ll have a word with Human Resources and say it’s come from Aiden’s office. I’ll say you weren’t feeling well.”

  “What will everyone think?” Liz turned frightened eyes on her, and Tallulah gritted her teeth.
/>   “They’ll think you’ve got sunstroke or something. And what does it matter?”

  “But—”

  Tallulah ran out of patience. “I’ve got to get back to work.” She steered Liz out of the room and towards the lift. “You’ll feel better once you get out of the building.”

  Liz sniffed again and Tallulah hurried away, the reasons she didn’t want a permanent job looming large in her mind.

  “Tallulah?” Aiden called from his office.

  She leaned against the doorframe. “Did you have to make her cry?”

  “She looked guilty as hell.” He stood up and came around to the front of his desk, resting one hip on the corner, his long body unconsciously graceful. Dark hair fell over his forehead, hiding his slanting eyebrows. His mouth tilted in irritation. “I’m sure—”

  “She knew nothing about Davy. She’s neurotic. An idiot could tell that.” Doesn’t Mr Beautiful have any people skills?

  “Are you calling me an idiot?”

  “Of course not, sir.” If the cap fits.

  “Don’t bloody call me sir.”

  “Sorry.” Tallulah clenched her jaw.

  “How am I supposed to know whether she’s involved if I don’t ask her?” Aiden folded his arms and glowered. “Are you sure she didn’t do anything?”

  “Absolutely sure.”

  “Everyone’s done something. And she—”

  Tallulah’s patience snapped. She took a step into the room, halted a foot from him, braced her hands on her hips, and glared. “You bullied her. That’s unacceptable.” She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Maybe you need an appointment with Human Resources.”