AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Don’t try to pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.’
‘I honestly have no idea. Why should I?’
She sighs theatrically. It’s obvious she doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.
‘Fine,’ she breathes. ‘I’d hoped you would be more forthcoming, but I can see we’re going to have to do this the hard way. As well as embarking on a clandestine relationship, you and Lee worked together on the NHS trust proposal, didn’t you?’
‘I drew up the project plan, but I do that for a lot of projects. Lee was the Customer Relationship Manager.’
‘Don’t be pedantic. You and Lee both worked on the proposal.’
‘Yes.’
‘And where is Lee now?’
‘He’s away for the week, seeing a new client.’
‘Is that what he told you?’ Jonathan laughs bitterly. ‘Unbelievable.’
‘Just tell me what’s going on,’ I plead. ‘What am I supposed to have done?’
‘We got the email from the NHS trust at seven o’clock on Friday evening,’ Jonathan tells me. ‘We didn’t get the contract. They’ve awarded it to Harmony.’
I’m not sure what to say. Just that news on its own would normally be enough to ruin my day, but it’s obvious that this is just part of something much worse.
‘By eight o’clock on Friday, I’d received Lee’s resignation, with immediate effect,’ the HR woman continues.
‘What?’
‘You’re either a very good actress, or your boyfriend has pulled the wool over your eyes extremely well,’ she observes. ‘As far as we know, Lee is starting his new job as we speak.’
‘At Harmony,’ Jonathan slots in the final missing piece of the jigsaw.
‘No. I don’t believe you. He said he was visiting a new client. He’d have told me if he knew we hadn’t got the contract.’
‘Did he ask you to bring his laptop in today?’
‘Yes, he said it was playing up and the IT guy was going to look at it.’
‘Interesting. In the email to me, he said he would give it to you to hand in on his behalf.’
A lot of memories are clashing together in my mind and a horrible picture is emerging. Lee spending so long in the car before coming into the pub on Friday night. Was he sending his resignation while I was sitting at the bar chatting to Nathan? Why the hell didn’t he tell me? I just believed him when he said his laptop was playing up, but then why wouldn’t I? It never would have occurred to me that he would do something like this. One thing is for sure: we are going to have a very uncomfortable conversation as soon as I can get hold of him. As I’m putting together the sequence of events, I realise that there is still a part of the story they haven’t told me.
‘You mentioned a breach of conduct?’ I ask.
‘Look at the facts, Ella,’ Jonathan says, wearily. ‘You and Lee are a couple. You and Lee worked together on the proposal. We’re up against Harmony and, within an hour of Harmony securing the contract, your boyfriend announces that he’s leaving us to work for them. It stinks to high heaven, wouldn’t you agree?’
‘Lee wouldn’t…’
‘You can’t say that. The evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. He must have been talking to Harmony during the sales process, lining up the job, attending interviews and so on. His motivation for us to win the contract would be very low, don’t you think? Maybe he inflated a few figures here and there to make our proposal seem less attractive, who knows. I admit that it’s possible he could have played it straight, but the way he’s behaved makes it seem vanishingly unlikely, doesn’t it?’
‘What are you going to do?’ I ask.
‘We will go through his laptop with a fine-tooth comb, obviously,’ the HR woman says. ‘We will look at every email, every presentation, every file, and every instant message. I had to disturb Ian’s weekend, but he assures me he will be able to recover most of the deleted files, so we will go through those as well. If we find even the merest shred of evidence that he skewed our bid to make Harmony successful, we will consult with the legal team about launching proceedings against both him and Harmony. He may not work here any more, but he is in a lot of trouble, trust me.’
‘And what about me? You said I was implicated?’
‘Of course you are. You’re his lover!’ She practically spits the last word. ‘You are associated with him personally, professionally, and you worked with him on this bid. There’s every probability you were in on it.’
