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‘Ella, what a lovely surprise!’ Lee’s mother envelops me in her trademark hug, as if I were still her son’s girlfriend.
‘Hello, Kate. How are you?’
‘I’m fine, thank you. What brings you to this neck of the woods? Were you looking for Lee?’
‘No. He’s at work, isn’t he?’
‘Ah.’ She looks a little uncomfortable. ‘I’ve got to go, but Nathan can fill you in. Lovely to see you. Are you eating with us?’
‘Yes, I’m meeting my ex-boss for lunch.’
‘Family discount, Nathan, OK?’ Kate instructs as she bustles off.
‘What was that about?’ I ask Nathan.
‘I probably should have mentioned,’ he says, looking a little bashful. ‘Lee works here now. Don’t worry, we’ll keep him away from your lunch. He’s in the restaurant today, so if you and your ex-boss are happy with a table in the bar, he’ll never know you’re here. Why are you meeting your ex-boss anyway?’
‘I’m not sure yet. It’s a complicated story. Why is Lee working here?’
‘That isn’t a complicated story, but it does take a little while to tell properly.’ He leans forward and lowers his voice conspiratorially. ‘It seems that treachery doesn’t pay.’ Nathan’s eyes are sparkling with thinly concealed delight. He’s a terrible gossip, and this is obviously a big story for him.
‘What does that mean?’
‘What was the name of that place where you both worked?’
‘Orchestra.’
‘That’s right. So, do you remember that he left Orchestra rather suddenly for one of their competitors?’
‘Harmony. It’s engraved in my mind. That little stunt cost me my job, didn’t he tell you?’
‘No, sorry. So there he is, all happy at Harmony, when his new boss taps him on the shoulder and drags him into a meeting room. I don’t know the full ins and outs of it, but it seems someone at Orchestra had found proof that he’d been up to no good, and that Harmony could potentially be implicated. He swears blind he did nothing wrong, but Harmony couldn’t get rid of him quickly enough.’
‘They sacked him?’
‘They did.’
I feel a pang of guilt, remembering the recording that Ava sent in. I try as hard as I can to keep my face neutral.
‘But why is he here? He always swore he’d never work here,’ I ask.
‘Ah. So, after he got the push from Harmony, things unravelled fairly quickly. He’s a typical sales guy, Lee, so he’s got good patter and had little trouble securing interviews. But, and this is a big but, there was an issue with the references. Harmony weren’t going to give him one, given that they’d slung him out to avoid a scandal and possibly a court case, and Orchestra certainly weren’t going to, as he’d done the dirty on them. So, imagine you’re interviewing this promising-sounding candidate, and then he reveals that not just one, but two of his most recent employers are not prepared to vouch for him. Bit of a red flag, isn’t it?’
I’m reminded of my snotty email from Deborah. At least Orchestra would still give me a reference, I think. I make a mental note to contact them and check.
‘I can see that would make things difficult,’ I say to Nathan.
‘Indeed. And, on top of that, he’s got his posh car and the swanky apartment you were living in to pay for. With no income, that all crashed and burned fairly spectacularly. It was only Dad’s intervention that stopped him from getting evicted by the bailiffs. I don’t know how much Dad had to lay out to stop him getting a serious black mark on his credit rating, but given the late-night discussions I kept stumbling into, I think it’s a lot. So, he’s here until he pays back what he owes them and gets back on his feet.’
‘Poor Lee.’
‘Why are you saying that? It sounds like he did the dirty on you as well.’
‘He did, but I wouldn’t wish that on him.’
‘Well, him moving back here made someone’s day,’ he smiles, ‘so it’s not all bad.’
‘What do you mean?’
