How to Get Ahead Without Murdering your Boss (8 page)

She leaned towards Yasmin and her voice was sympathetic. "I guess I was just wondering how close you were. This must be terrible for you."

Yasmin's eyes filled with tears. "Yes, what will I do now?"

Lou handed her a tissue.

"You feel alone?" Lou prompted.

Yasmin looked into her eyes and lowered her voice. "Well we had an arrangement. We were very discreet. He's separated from his wife and it's been very hard for him. We're going to be married as soon as he can get a divorce."

Behind Yasmin's head Paul rolled his eyes and Lou frowned at him.

"So you were with him last night?"

"Well I went to check on him, you know, he had quite a bit to drink. But when I got near his cabin I heard him arguing with someone and I didn't want to go in and I didn't want to stand in the rain so I left."

"Could you tell who it was he was arguing with?"

"No," Yasmin bit her lips. "It was dark and noisy with the storm. I actually thought it was a woman but then I can't be sure. It didn't sound like Nathan. He and Arnold are always arguing about something."

"This was later, after I saw you?" Paul interrupted.

Yasmin took a while to reply.

"Yes I went back again later." Yasmin stared at her shoes. "What is going to happen now?"

"Well we have to wait out the storm but hopefully we might be able to get you back home tomorrow as planned."

"But what about Arnold?" Yasmin wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Paul and I have just been around and checked all of the buildings so he's not here. The police aren't going to do anything now, not with the cyclone hanging around."

"And not after the last time we called them," Paul added under his breath.

Lou tried to add a brighter note. "We'll be getting dinner soon and then we'll have an early night." Lou steered Yasmin towards the door. "Hopefully the cyclone will have passed and we can have a better look in the morning. Okay?"

Lou firmly shut the door behind her. Paul was still seated with his arms crossed.

"So?" he pressed.

"So I don't think she's telling the truth. I think she's more worried about her job than her boyfriend. She's got too much to lose. Besides, I don't think he's quite as separated from his wife as she makes out.

"I wonder if Ms Perfect knows that?"

"Well if she does she's putting on a great performance." Lou sighed and hauled herself to her feet. "It's getting on and there's nothing much else we can do about it. I'd better go and see what we can put together for dinner."

"Mmmm food. My favourite word." Paul followed her out the door and they set off down the shadowy corridor towards the kitchen.

Clara obviously hadn't started her preparations yet and the kitchen was cold and gloomy in the half-light cast by the cyclone.

"So what do you think?" asked Lou as she tried to light the gas lamp.

"About?" asked Paul, taking over.

"About Arnold. Do you think he could be in trouble? Or do you think he might be crazy?"

"Does the word 'obsession' mean anything to you?" Paul leaned towards her but she ducked under his arms.

"Doesn't it concern you that we might be trapped in a cyclone with a…?"

"A nutter is the word you are looking for. No actually I'm more concerned that we are trapped in a building full of boring business types." Paul started opening bottles and poking into cupboards. "Anything to eat around here?"

"Here" Lou thrust a bottle of biscuits at him.

"Thanks," said Paul grabbing a couple and wolfing them down. He stopped chewing. "What, you okay?"

"There's someone out there," whispered Lou, staring at the kitchen door.

"Where?"

Lou grabbed his arm and turned him to face the glass door that led outside. "I saw someone out there."

"In that storm? You're crazy."

"Shh!" Lou turned down the lamp and pulled him against the wall.

They stood there silently and watched as the door handle began to turn. Paul grabbed for a frying-pan. The knob stopped turning.

"It's locked," whispered Lou.

Paul nodded. "Stay here." Paul slowly moved towards the door. Lou crouched behind him and followed.

The wind suddenly dropped and the room became silent. The door rattled. Lou gasped as a rock shattered a pane of glass. A hand came through to unlock the door. The lock turned, the hand retreated and then the door creaked open. Paul gently pushed Lou behind him. The shadows moved and a figure slunk into the room. Paul crept between it and the door and then lunged. In the half light the two figures fell to the floor and rolled around, grunting. Paul got on top, punched the other twice and then hauled the figure to its feet. Lou turned up the lamp and the light bounced off a familiar face.

Lou couldn't believe her eyes. "Arnold?"

"So the idiot has returned," Paul held tight as Arnold struggled.

"Take your hands off me." Arnold may have been wet, dirty and looking the worse for wear but he still managed to sound like he was in charge.

Paul pushed him away. "With pleasure mate. But in a few minutes you might be grateful to have only me to face instead of the others."

Arnold scowled at them both and tried to smooth down his crumpled clothes.

"What were you doing out there?" Lou was still having trouble reconciling the shivering figure in front of her with the man she met off the ferry. In the semi-darkness it seemed as if Arnold had had a rough day.

"I was just doing my job. Leading my team." Arnold sank into a chair and rubbed the water off his pale face.

"By making us think you were dead? Scaring and upsetting the people you work with?" Lou shook her head.

"If I know them they won't have shed a tear. They will have been dividing up the kingdom within a few seconds of learning of my demise." Arnold snarled as he stretched back against the wall.

"So what was the plan Arnold? To do crises role-plays to see how your team reacted?"

Arnold stood and strode over to the shelves where he found the bottle of biscuits Paul had been eating. "Something like that."

"That's crazy," said Lou shaking her head.

"You can't talk to me like that. I'm a guest and I will be treated with respect."

"Just like you've treated us with respect," Paul advanced towards Arnold with his hands curled into fists.

"Paul please," Lou stepped between them. She turned to Arnold. "So is that it Mr Strong? Game over or should we anticipate any more problems?"

Arnold paused between mouthfuls and sized up Lou and then Paul standing behind her.

"No that's it. I'll be going to my cabin now to have a shower and change of clothes and I'll be back for dinner. I'm still in charge here Ms Able. And don't you forget it. I still pay the bills."

Paul looked at Lou. "What does he mean?"

Lou placed hand on Paul's arm. "Just leave it please. I'll explain later."

"No why don't you tell your boyfriend here the story now?" Arnold settled in, enjoying himself. "No? Well let's see. Lou here had already taken the loan out from the bank using her Father's house for collateral only to find that he had gambled it away right from under the family and left them with nothing. And then he took off leaving Lou with huge debts, a half finished building and no way to finish it. My company stepped in and provided enough capital to see the project finished."

Arnold strolled over to the refrigerator and took out a carton of juice. He took a swig from the carton and smiled. "Still cold. Why else do you think I would have dragged my team all the way up here for a weekend? I wanted to check on our investment. And I find that it is being very poorly managed. Arnold placed the half empty carton on the benchtop and headed for the door. "I might need to mention my concerns to the rest of the investment group."

But Lou was not totally beaten. "You mean your wife?"

Arnold's face was instantly red and he yelled. "It's my money, not hers and don't you forget it girlie." He flung open the door. "I'll be expecting dinner in an hour." The door slammed behind him, shattering the glass further.

Paul said nothing as he tried to wedge the door against the wind and placed a bread board over the hole in the glass. He turned and looked at Lou. "You work for that guy?"

"Not technically. Sorry it's a long story and I would have mentioned it but..."

"Hey," Paul held up his hands. "None of my business."

Lou straightened her shoulders. "You're right. It's not."

Paul stood for a moment, watching her. He walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You don't need to tell me anything but if you want to, I'll…"

"Shhh," Lou turned suddenly towards the door to the hallway. "Did you just hear something?"

Paul shook his head.

Lou strode to the door and flung it open revealing nothing but a dark, empty hallway. "I could have sworn I heard someone." She turned back to find Paul looking at her, puzzled.

"Now you think I'm crazy."

"I think I'll reserve judgment," he smiled.

"Well while you're doing that, I'd better start dinner. Could you find Clara for me and ask her to come and help?"

"You sure?"

Lou turned with such a look of exasperation that Paul put up his hands in protest. "I'm going, I'm going. Just scream if someone else tries to break in." And he was gone.

Lou started to sort through the supplies for dinner. She kept herself busy but she was unable to get the thought out of her mind that someone had been listening to their conversation. Arnold seemed to go out of his way to get on people's nerves. She stopped and leaned against the counter, thinking about Paul's face when he heard what Arnold said. She sighed "Well, too late now." She could hear Clara coming down the corridor, the unmistakable thump of her doc martins against the wooden floor. They'd better get started on what was going to be a memorable meal. As she banged a couple of pots on the stove she wondered how the Medivalue team was going to react to their boss suddenly turning up for dinner.

16

An hour later the fire in the lounge was burning brightly, casting shadows over the faces of Ed, Yasmin, Kylie and Nathan as they sat, drinks in hand. Lou was serving at the bar and trying to stay out of their way. She was unsure whether or not to tell them that Arnold had reappeared. They were a cheerless, silent group, not helped by the raging wind and rain outside. The candlelight, howling winds and the unpleasant events of the morning created a suitably gothic mood that was going to be hard to lift. Lou secretly hoped that Arnold would decide to stay in his cabin and they would all go to bed early.

She quickly turned away to the wall to hide a yawn and gathered a tray of canapés. She walked over to the group and offered them the tray. "It's been a long day, hasn't it?" she tried, but only Ed made eye contact and smiled at her. He nodded. Lou pressed on. "I am confident that your cabins will be safe in this weather but I would still recommend that you all consider sleeping in this room tonight, with the staff and me, just in case the weather should get worse."

Nathan stirred. "I can't believe that idiot Arnold dragged us up here in the middle of a cyclone."

"You wouldn't say that to his face Nathan," Yasmin's face was flushed. Lou noticed she was already on to her second glass of wine. "You don't have the guts to speak like that to his face."

Nathan stared coldly at her. "I don't need a critique of my behaviour from a secretary, thank you."

"Nathan, that's enough," said Kylie shaking her head. "This weekend's been bad enough without us attacking each other as well.

"No, that's your job, isn't it?" Nathan raised his voice. "Doing whatever it takes to get to the top. No matter who you have to step on to get there."

Lou escaped back to the bar, relieved to see Paul appear. He frowned as he looked over to the group at the fireplace, still arguing.

"Sounds like feeding time at the zoo," he smiled.

Lou looked over his shoulder. "And just wait, it's about to get a whole lot noisier, I think."

Arnold's voice cut across the group's rabble. "Well, thank you all for gathering to welcome me back from the dead." He sidled through the doorway leading to the dining room and leaned against the bar, enjoying the expressions on the faces that were now turned towards him.

"Arnold?" Yasmin hesitated.

Arnold moved behind the bar, pushed Lou out of the way, and helped himself to a large shot of whiskey. "Yes, my dear? Something on your mind?"

"Well there's something on mine," interrupted Nathan, walking across to the bar. "What the bloody hell have you been playing at? We nearly killed ourselves climbing down that cliff this morning to save your ungrateful ass."

"The country air agrees with you Nathan," said Arnold. "It seems as if you have developed a backbone."

"Well I discovered that I don't want to be your deputy any more and I have no ambition to ever becoming a CEO if it means turning out to be a carbon copy of you."

"Don't worry Clearview," snarled Arnold, "you weren't going to be offered the job anyway. On my recommendation, the board was reconsidering whether to renew your contract after your weak performance with the Chinese investors."

"But it was my work that got us that deal." Nathan looked genuinely astonished, then angry. "You took credit for all of my work, you bastard."

Kylie placed a restraining arm on Nathan as he lunged towards Arnold across the bar counter.

"I wish it
had
been you at the bottom of the cliff." Nathan spat.

"Whoa boy." Arnold placed his hands up in the air in mock terror. "Forgive me for just trying to teach my team something about themselves. You should be thanking me for what I tried to show you."

"If you wanted to teach us something, I think there are more appropriate ways to do it Arnold," Kylie was managing to keep her cool but her voice betrayed her anger. "I had a whole weekend planned of..."