Glass Ceilings (21 page)

Verity was speaking again. ‘It’s n
ot having to sack a
high level
employee
that’s bothering
me.
Issue
s like
this
come with the territory,
I’m reconciled to that.
And I doubt there’d be many who’d argue against it in
this
case.’ She threw Claire a significant look. ‘
Bu
t I can’t unde
rstand why
the board’s
chosen
now
to lay this on me. W
hile I’m still finding my feet.
’ Her voice rose.
‘
While I’m up to my ears in work. While I’m preparing for another big test, my first EC meeting.
’

Clai
re
didn’t say anything
for a few moments
.
She was
b
us
y mulling over what Verity
had told
her
. S
he
felt the
slow burn of an
old anger in her belly. She still
considered
the
board irresponsible for
being too slow to act
against Reardon
.
As one of his many victims, she felt justice should have been done well before this.
But s
he didn’t want the
satisfaction
of seeing that
finally
happen
if it came
at too high a price.

She looked enquiringly
at Verity.
‘Why didn’t they get
Clyde to
handle
it,
right
before he retire
d? That would’
ve been the perfect opportunity
,
he wouldn’t have had to put up with the fallout for long
, and his leaving shortly afterward
s might’
ve proved to be
something of
a buffer
. And w
hy
the
big
rush
now
to do what
they should’ve done a long time ago
?’

‘I don’t know, but I can’t help feeling like the timing’
s been carefully chosen.
’
Verity rose to her feet and paced
the floor. ‘To be honest, i
t reeks of a set-up
.’
She paused and s
hook her head. ‘If they want
me to
fail, why did the board make
me
CEO
in the first place?’

‘Is failure
such a certainly
?
’

‘
I
t
can’t end well.
’
Verity shook her head ominously.
‘
N
o matter how many scenari
o
s I consider, t
hey all lead to
a nasty
legal battle
. And
because I have to bypass the prescribed disciplinary procedure, I have no ammunition for that war
.’

‘But w
hy
do you have to bypass the procedure
?’

Verity went over to stand in front of the window
again
, close enough
for her breath to condense on the glass
in fleeting, hazy circles.
‘
That’s another reason why this is so upsetting
, Claire
.
T
he board
can’t—or won’t—give me the necessary jus
tification for Reardon to be
summarily terminated
.
’ She
spun around
to face her friend
.
‘
I’m being hung out to dry. H
is lawyers are going to eat me for breakfast!’
A harsh edge crept into her
voice as the words tumbled out.
‘I wasn’t consulted on this, or given any
background, I was simply told
to do it, a
nd it
’s blatantly obvious
I’m going to be
judged on the way I handle it
. I
f it goes badly, and I do
n’t see it going any
other
way, I suspect
it might
be judgement day
.’
She
added gloomily
, ‘And this is, of course,
all highly
confidential
,
so I know you’ll keep it to yourself.’

‘Oh yes
, that goes with
out saying! B
ut be c
a
reful nobody else hears
about this
,
’
cos Reardon’s go
nna
explode when he finds out.’

Claire
knew what it felt like
to be
on the receiving end of that
famous short fuse.
When
she’d become a subject of
his unwelcome advances, her hasty rejection
had
earned
her
a br
ief but frightening explosion,
followed by
a period of
sulky disp
leasure
. Now Reardon
simply ignored her
and
she acc
epted
that most
cheerfully, thankful to be
off his radar and
able to
put the
bad-tasting
incident behind her
.

O
thers hadn’t been so fortunate.

Claire pulled a face
, thinking
of the
young
receptionist who’d been bullied into silence b
y Reardon, until an EEO officer
heard about it
and pursued
the case.
Not that it got very far
. When it came down to the victim’s
word
against his, Reardon,
the
practiced liar with the support of some powerful colleagues
, always had the upper hand
. So the young woman
cut her losses, found a position elsewhere, and RCL sacrificed yet another good employee to Reardon’s
lechery
.

Verity
came over to flop
beside her
.
‘How the hell am I supposed to prepare for
this
?
A
confrontation with a man few would choose to displease
, and fewer
still
would go head-to-head with
?’ She
raked
her hands through her hair
and
sighed.
She was quiet for a bit
, and then turned
to ga
ze at her friend. She said
wonderingly, ‘You know what I did this morning?’

Claire shook her head.

‘I almost
turned left at the crossroads.’

Claire gave an uncer
tain frown.

‘
You know
, the T junction on the edge
of town,
where we turn right to come out
here
or
left to head
to the coast
. And we all promise
ourselves that one day we
’ll
go left and never come back.
’

Claire chuckled, ‘Oh yeah, I know the one
.
And I a
m SO doing that one day!
’

Verity
only
managed a brief smile
. ‘Well,
this morning,
with
so much going round in my head about
all
this crap I have on
at the moment, my hand
actually
hovered over the indicator. For a second
I was tempted to
do it. To
drive
away from RCL and all my responsibilities.’

‘But you’re here.’

‘Yes, but
it
was close
for a while there.’

‘Close, shmose,’ Claire chided, ‘you came, that’s all that counts.’

‘
Well,
’ and Verity gave a resigned sigh,
‘
I didn’t take this job just t
o throw it in the
second
things got
a bit tough.
’
She
smile
d grim
ly
and
mutte
red
,
‘
And
I should be thankful for small mercies.
A
t least Reardon
doesn’t kno
w what’s coming
.’

Claire regarded her
anxious
ly.
‘So
you’re sure it’s a set-up?’ It was more a statement than a question.

‘
Pretty sure
.’

‘By anyone in particular?’

‘Oh ... I don’t know
,’ Verity cried,
throwing her hands in the air,
‘o
ne of the directors, maybe even the whole
board
. Let’s make it
easy. How about we list the people who
wouldn’t
like to see me crash and burn. That would take a lot less t
ime.’

‘OK,
calm down. S
o
,
who di
d you say told you to do it
?’

‘Peter Connell
.
And he gave me the directive verbally,
so there’s nothing
in writing
. But he
made s
ure I knew it had come from
the board
.
’

Claire grunted sourly.
‘
That sounds like him
, butt
-coverer extraordinaire that he is
. And
, knowing hi
s reputation and past
battles with
Miss Sharpe, I reckon he’s the main contender
for
Big C
hief
Trouble-
maker
. I
f you
, her protégé,
were to take a fall so early in the piece
, i
t would make a nice bit of revenge
,
don’t you think?’

Verity sucked in a b
reath. ‘V
ery true. If I nose-dive
,
Brenda
might
be dragged down with me
.’ She
brooded
for a moment before adding thoughtfully
,
‘And
if I succeed, it’s still a win for
the board
’
cos they get rid of Reardon
. R
egardless of the outcome,
they stay safe from the flying debris
. I’ll be their
shield
against the frontal assault
.
’
She frowned, her mouth
a tight line. ‘Very c
lever.
I wouldn’t have thought
Connell had enough
brains for a scheme like this.’

‘You’ll probably be surprised at just
what
some people can come up
with.’
S
omething
in Claire’
s som
bre tone and downcast eyes
made Verity look
at her sharply.

‘
Claire, what wa
s
it you came
to see me about, before I unloaded all my troubles on you
?’

‘Verity, I....’ She shook her head.
‘No. L
ook, you’ve got enough to th
ink about at the moment. This’
ll keep, it’s not
that
important.’

‘Oh
no, what
now? I can tell
it’s not good news.’ Verity sank into the chair,
turned her face to
wards
the ceiling,
squeezed
her eyes shut
, and
gave
a long-s
uffering sigh.
‘Let me have it.’