Jigsaw Lovers (6 page)

‘I haven’t decided whether I’m staying.’ he puffed a cloud of smoke in her general direction.

‘What do you mean?’ She was standing still by the door. ‘Whys that? What’s the matter?’

‘Actually, I was on my way to see you to tell you that I’ve had another offer of employment.’

‘Another offer? Who from?’ The false smile had completely vanished from her face.

‘I’m not prepared to tell you that, but suffice to say it is a very tempting offer, with substantially more remuneration than I get at present.’ He watched her wince.

‘How much more?’ she almost shouted, finding it very difficult to control herself.

‘More money and
,’ he played his trump card, ‘a car.’

‘Only managers are allowed cars.’

‘In that case I suppose this is my last day then.’ Now this was a gamble.

‘You must consider that money isn’t everything. This is a secure working environment. We’re part of a big multi-national.’ She was clutching at straws. ‘I thought you seemed very happy here. That you enjoyed the work, and the atmosphere of the department.’

‘I’m aware of that but I take the view that if you have to work you might as well work for the most amount of money.’

He resisted the temptation to tell her that he thought the department bore a close resemblance to a mausoleum, and that most of the people in it were bordering on fossilisation.

She was clearly very flustered. This was not the outcome she had expected when she walked in five minutes previously.

‘I think I should discuss this with Roger. Maybe we can come up with something. Will you wait?’ she asked.

‘Sure. I’ve got plenty of time. So long as its sorted out today.’ He smiled as she scuttled off. He could see his horse heading for the winning post with the rest of the field way off behind in the distance.

They obviously needed him more than he needed them, for they came back to him with more money and a car, which they were able to justify by inserting the word senior in his job title. Ian felt very satisfied by the whole episode, especially since the offer he’d received from the other firm was actually for less than he’d been getting originally.

Diana telephoned Knight three days after their encounter at the races. He was a little surprised and considerably flattered that she had actually called him, and delighted that she was happy to take him up on his offer of dinner. He arranged to pick her up at her hotel that evening.

Later they had dined very well at a little French restaurant just off Sloane Square. The conversation had been very general; the usual questions that two people who don’t know each other ask. Diana told him that she was working abroad in Canada, doing historical research for a publisher, about Quebec, and that she was only in London for another day or two. He told her about his company and was pleased that she seemed so interested in it.

‘My sister also started a market research company a few years ago.’

‘Really. What’s her name? Maybe I know her.’ he asked.

‘I doubt it. The company didn’t last very long.’

‘Why was that? Did she have problems?’

‘Yes. One big problem. Apparently she found it virtually impossible to secure any worthwhile contracts because, she said, it seemed that she was expected to pay incentives.’ Diana sipped the excellent Burgundy that Peter had chosen.

‘I found it hard to believe that what she said was the case. But she was quite insistent that it was, and was worried that her company would go under as a consequence. I told her she might as well pay a few bribes if that meant her business would work. I know its wrong, but sometimes you have to be a little flexible.’

‘And did she pay these bribes?’ he asked.

‘No. She went on about how she had a certain sense of business ethics
that wouldn’t allow her to countenance such things. I think she was rather stupid and just deluding herself. Unfortunately I was proven right. Her company folded after six months.’

‘Yes, I agree with you. Sometimes it can be very costly to have too strict a sense of ethics, as your sister learnt.’

‘What do you think, Peter? You’re big in market research.’ She paused as if considering the next part of what she was going to say. ‘Do you pay bribes or incentives,’ she asked mischievously, ‘or do you subscribe to a code of ethics that prevents you from taking advantage of a situation.’

He was in two minds whether to be honest or to lie, but she was so captivating and so obviously a supporter of the free market, that she would probably be impressed by the truth.

‘Well to be perfectly candid I have actually made arrangements with one or two of my clients.’ He lowered his voice and looked around the room in a mock conspiratorial fashion as he spoke.

‘Do you mean you bribe them? Gosh, how exciting!’ She whispered loudly and looked at him with a gleam in her eye, such that he couldn’t resist telling her more. He felt he could take her into his confidence, even on such short acquaintance, and, after all in a few days’ time she would be far away.

‘When I first started I found that to get the big accounts it was expected to make a payback to whoever was handling the account,’ he said.

‘So my sister wasn’t making it up. It really does happen.’

‘This wasn’t necessarily the case with everyone. It was more likely to be the really big companies. For instance, our kind hosts of the other day at the races, Amalgamated Magazines. They’re my biggest client and the only way I secured that account was by paying for it.’ He paused to light a cigarette.

‘This is fascinating. Do tell me more,’ she prompted eagerly.

‘I approached them because I had a friend from university who was working for them in their research department. When he found out about the type of business I was trying to start he invited me in for a chat and to see if he could help. During the course of that meeting he indicated that he could give me as much work as I could handle, but he made it abundantly clear that he would want a cut, in return for his help.’

‘How did he do that?’

‘Oh, he was quite blatant. He just asked “What’s in it for me?” I wasn’t sure that I’d heard him correctly, or if I had that I believed what I was hearing. When I asked him what he meant he said fifty per cent of every contract he put my way should be all right.’

‘That’s incredible. I didn’t think things like that happened in real life.’

‘I can assure you, they most certainly do.’

‘What was you reaction?’ she asked.

‘Like your sister I was suitably outraged and went on about it being dishonest and illegal, and how I didn’t want my company to be built on that sort of behaviour. I told him that I didn’t want my reputation and good name to be tarnished if people were to find out. I thought that if people found out they would never do business with me again. You know, the usual sanctimonious, holier than thou, bullshit that people come up with when they’re young and innocent.’

‘I assume this didn’t have any effect on him.’

‘Well it did, but it wasn’t the effect I had hoped for. He just laughed and told me I was a naïve fool. If I didn’t do it there were many others who would, that he was more than happy to work with. He wanted to work with me because we were friends and he wanted to see my business succeed, and for that to happen I must be realistic. He told me to think about it and come back to him in a few days.’

‘So you gave it some thought and decided that moral principles don’t pay bills,’ she laughed.

‘Something like that. Basically, the long and short of it was that if I didn’t do it, somebody else would, so why should I lose out? We started working together and the arrangement has been very beneficial to us both. I’m able to employ ten full-time and fifty casual staff, and make a reasonably good living without too much effort. He’s had the benefit of considerable amounts of cash, skiing holidays, Caribbean cruises and a house that would be way beyond what his salary could command.’

‘Sounds like you’ve both ended up with quite a good deal,’ she mused.

‘Oh yes, but there’s also another aspect which is interesting. He points my research in the direction he thinks it should go. In the early stages he even moderated his own focus groups.’

‘Focus groups?’ she asked.

‘You recruit a supposedly random selection of people who read the magazine, sit them around a table, give them free drinks to loosen them up a bit, and then have a group discussion about various aspects of the magazine and the advertisements in it. The advertisers are concealed behind a two-way mirror and observe what goes on. The moderator is meant to chair the discussion impartially, but he was able to lead it subtly in the direction he wanted them to go, to arrive at his predetermined position.’

‘I understand.’

‘Invariably, as far as his superiors and his advertisers are concerned, my independent analysis backs up a position he’s been advocating. Therefore he looks good to them and has gained rapid promotion within the company, and the advertisers go away thinking their budgets are being well spent targeting exactly the type of person they were aiming for. He’s now the youngest member on the board of directors.’

‘That’s very clever.’ she sounded impressed.

‘Of course everything’s above board.’ He was pleased with this assertion and honestly believed it. It justified his position to think that he was competing on equal terms. ‘I quote for every job along with a number of other competitors. The difference is they put their quotes in before I do, and my friend tells me what price I should come in at. Therefore I’m always competitive and always get the work.’

‘You seem to have it very well worked out. It seems foolproof,’ she smiled at him and finished her coffee.

He sat back smugly, lit a cigarette and asked for the bill.

As they left the restaurant Diana didn’t notice the man sitting at a side table twist the top of his pen and remove the hearing aid from his ear. The pen was a very sophisticated directional microphone that had picked up and recorded the entire conversation between Diana Johnston and Peter
Knight.

From a copy of Amalgamated Magazines’ annual report James learned that the youngest board member was called Colin Hurd. He was the marketing director, which would tie in with
Knight, but to make absolutely certain that this was their man he had some additional checks made on him.

It turned out that he lived in a house in Surrey, which even someone on twice his income would be hard put to afford. Every year he and his family would spend two weeks skiing in one of the more fashionable Swiss or American resorts, and had enjoyed several beach holidays on Antigua.

Investigation of Knight’s travel accounts showed that his company had paid for similar trips each year, at the same time as these were taken. Coincidence maybe, but highly unlikely when coupled with the fact that Hurd and Knight had been at university together. James was convinced that this was the bribe taker.

Due to the ineptness and lack of understanding of his managers Ian Hamilton was able to accomplish the work that was delegated to him for a week, in two, sometimes one day. This left him with a considerable amount of spare time which he used to good effect learning other aspects of programming, in particular aspects associated with the design and production of
computer games software.

One morning he was engrossed in rendering a three-dimensional room on his screen, when the telephone rang.

‘Is that Ian Hamilton?’ a voice he didn’t recognise asked.

‘Yes, it is.’

‘This is Michael Winder. I’m the manager who handles your personal bank account,’ he started.

‘I see. Is there a problem?’ Hamilton knew he had been a little overdrawn recently but his salary should have been paid in by now.

‘No, not at all. The opposite in fact.’ he continued. ‘We’ve been looking through our accounts recently and we see you only have a basic cheque account.’

‘Yes, that’s right. It’s about all I need at the moment.’

‘Well we also noticed that you earn quite a high salary, have a company car, and an annual bonus. These factors qualify you to take advantage of one of our special privilege accounts for people who are above average achievers.’

‘I see, and how much will it cost me for the privilege of having one of these accounts?’ In Hamil
ton’s experience banks were all thieves, trying to find new ways to siphon off their customers’ money, with numerous diverse service fees, exorbitant interest percentages, and many other commissions for things you wouldn’t normally expect to pay.

‘Nothing.’ he laughed. ‘In fact it will save you money in many ways. For instance we see you have a mortgage bond with us. If you have one of these accounts then the bond rate drops by half a percentage point for you. There’s no service fee if you keep a minimum of five hundred rand in the account, and your cheques are guaranteed to a thousand rand.’

‘Sounds too good to be true. Where’s the catch? Banks don’t give things away for nothing.’

Winder ignored the hint of sarcasm and cynicism in his client’s voice, and carried on as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

‘We’ll also give you a new loan account, for three times your monthly salary, and a credit card with a ten thousand rand minimum limit.’ So that was the catch. Put temptation in the form of easy loans in the way, and people would spend money they didn’t have, and the bank would make money from the high rates of interest they charged. It was institutional mugging. The customer was being relieved of his money just as surely as if he had been hit over the head on some darkened street, by a thief in the night. The only difference was that the thief in the street was probably more honest about it.