Джеффри Арчер - This Was a Man

‘That’s considerate of him,’ said Seb, ‘but then we have been a reliable customer for many years. What do you think we should do, John, if Victor fails to turn up?’

‘Call in Barry Hammond and instruct him to track Victor down wherever he is, because I’ve no doubt he’ll also find the girl there too.’

‘That has its own risks,’ suggested Arnold.

‘Outweighed, in my opinion,’ said John, ‘by the consequences of allowing her to milk Victor dry.’

‘An unfortunate metaphor,’ said Seb, checking his watch. ‘He’s cutting it fine.’

There was a gentle tap on the door and all three of them looked up expectantly. The door opened and Rachel entered the chairman’s office.

‘Some of the directors have already arrived and are waiting for you in the boardroom,’ said his secretary as she handed a copy of the agenda to Seb.

‘Is Mr Kaufman among them, Rachel?’

‘No, chairman, I haven’t seen him this morning.’

‘Then I suggest we join our colleagues,’ said Seb, after glancing at the agenda. ‘I propose that we say nothing about Miss Lombardo until we’ve had a chance to speak to Victor privately.’

‘Agreed,’ said the CEO and the bank’s legal advisor in unison.

All three men rose without another word, made their way out of the chairman’s office and headed for the boardroom, where they joined their colleagues.

‘Good morning, Giles,’ said Seb, who hadn’t called his uncle by his first name until he’d become chairman. ‘Am I to understand that you and my mother are no longer on speaking terms, now the NHS bill has been given its first reading?’

‘That is correct, chairman. The only discourse we will have in the future is across the despatch box.’

Seb smiled, but couldn’t stop himself from continually glancing towards the door. The other directors took their places around the boardroom table but the chair at the far end of the room remained unoccupied. Like his mother, Seb believed in starting board meetings on time. He checked his watch. One minute to nine. He took his seat at the head of the table and said, ‘Good morning, gentlemen. I will ask the company secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting.’

Mr Whitford rose from his place on the right of the chairman and delivered the minutes as if he were reading the lesson at his local church.

Seb tried to concentrate but kept glancing in the direction of the door, although he wasn’t hopeful, as he’d never known Victor to be late for a board meeting. When Mr Whitford sat down, Seb forgot to ask his fellow directors if they had any questions. He simply mumbled, ‘Item number one,’ and was about to call on the chief executive to present his monthly report when the boardroom door was flung open and a flustered deputy chairman rushed in.

Even before he’d taken his seat, Victor said, ‘I apologize, chairman. My flight was delayed because of fog. We must have passed over this building a dozen times before we were allowed to land.’

‘It’s not a problem, Victor,’ said Seb calmly. ‘You’ve only missed the reading of the minutes of the last meeting, and I was about to move on to item number one, the government’s new banking regulations. John?’

Ashley opened a file and looked down at the copious notes he had prepared and the precis he was about to share with his colleagues. ‘It seems that bankers,’ he began, ‘are now ranked alongside estate agents and Members of Parliament as the least trusted members of the community.’

‘Then all I have to do is become an estate agent,’ said Giles, ‘and I’ll have managed all three.’

‘What’s the bottom line?’ said Seb, after the laughter had died down.

‘We can expect further scrutiny into the bank’s daily affairs, and far tougher inspections from the regulatory bodies, along with a string of new regulations. Geoffrey Howe is determined to show he’s a new broom cleaning up the City.’

‘Conservative governments always are, but it’s usually forgotten after a few well-chosen homilies from the chancellor at the lord mayor’s banquet.’

Seb found his mind drifting again, as the directors began to voice their predictable views, the one exception being Giles, who even now he could never second-guess. He snapped back to the real world when he realized his fellow directors were all staring at him.

‘Item number two?’ prompted the company secretary.

‘Item number two,’ said Seb. ‘Lord Barrington has just returned from Rome, and I believe he has some rather exciting news to share with us. Giles?’

Giles briefed the board on his recent visit to the Eternal City, where he’d held meetings with Mr Menegatti, the chairman of the Cassaldi Bank, with a view to the two institutions forming a long-term partnership. His report was followed by a discussion among the directors, which Seb summed up with the recommendation that Giles, along with a select team, should take the discussions to the next stage and find out if a substantive proposal for a merger could be agreed on that both chairmen would feel able to recommend to their boards.

‘Congratulations, Giles,’ said Seb. ‘We’ll look forward to your next report. Perhaps now we should move on to item number three.’ But his mind began to wander again as he considered the only item that would be on the agenda when he later had a private meeting with his deputy chairman. Although he had to admit that Victor looked a damn sight more relaxed than he felt.

Seb was relieved when the company secretary finally asked, ‘Any other business?’

‘Yes,’ announced Victor, from the far end of the table. Seb raised an eyebrow. ‘Some of my colleagues may have been wondering where I’ve been for the past ten days, and I feel I owe you all an explanation.’ Certainly three of the directors agreed with him.

‘When I became deputy chairman,’ Victor continued, ‘among the responsibilities the chairman gave me was to look into how the bank dealt with its charitable donations. I’m bound to say I assumed that would not be a demanding task. However, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I quickly discovered that the bank simply doesn’t have a policy, and that by the standards of our competitors we’re not only found wanting but, frankly, mean. I would not have realized just how mean if Lady Barrington hadn’t approached me to ask for the bank’s support when she was running the marathon. When she produced her list of sponsors, I felt ashamed. She’d raised more money from Barclays, Nat West and Dr Grace Barrington than she managed from Farthings Kaufman. That also caused me to take a greater interest in the charity she was supporting.’

The deputy chairman had captured the attention of the entire board.

‘The charity concerned sends missions to Africa where its distinguished heart surgeon, Dr Magdi Yacoub, operates on young children who would otherwise have no hope of survival.’

‘What exactly is a mission?’ asked Mr Whitford, who had been writing down the deputy chairman’s every word.

‘A mission comprises five people — a surgeon, a doctor, two nurses and a manager, all of whom give their services for nothing, often sacrificing their holidays to carry out this vital work. Lady Barrington suggested I meet a Miss Candice Lombardo, who is an active member of the charity’s board, so I invited her to join me for dinner.’ Victor smiled at the chairman.

‘Why do I know that name?’ asked the company secretary.

‘Miss Lombardo,’ said Clive Bingham, ‘was voted the most desirable woman on the planet by the readers of GQ magazine and, if the tabloids are to be believed, she’s currently having a fling with Omar Sharif.’

‘I have no idea if that’s true,’ said Victor. ‘All I can tell you is that when we had dinner, it quickly became clear how committed she was to the cause. Miss Lombardo invited me to join her on a trip to Egypt to witness first-hand the work Dr Yacoub and his team were carrying out in that country. That’s where I’ve been for the past ten days, chairman. And I confess, I spent much of my time either fainting or being sick.’