Impossible to Forget(96)

‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ hissed the client. ‘It just isn’t good enough. It’s just one problem after another. I’m starting to regret using this firm in the first place and you can expect that I’ll be looking for a discount on my bill for all the cock-ups.’

Maggie could see that Mark was really angry now and battling to control his temper.

‘None of this is our fault, Tim,’ he said calmly.

‘Oh no? Well, whose fault is it? Because it sure as hell isn’t mine.’

‘Well, if you’d been prepared to spend a little more on . . .’

Maggie could stand it no longer.

‘Excuse me,’ she said.

Neither man took any notice.

‘Excuse me,’ she said a little louder. ‘Have you tried Professor Vanessa Quinn? She’s based at York St John’s. She’s quick and efficient and extremely good at coming up with solutions for this kind of problem.’

Both men turned to see who had spoken.

‘I’m assuming that you uncovered a skeleton when you were digging the foundations,’ Maggie continued. ‘The contract should cover that kind of delay. It’s got the standard warranties and indemnities, right? But if you get Professor Quinn in then you may find that you can sort the issue out and move on nice and quickly. She’s not cheap, mind you, but considerably cheaper than laying off the entire site and potentially losing all your sub-contractors.’

The client was staring at her and then he shook his head. ‘Who the hell are you? My fairy bloody godmother?’

The old confidence that had flowed through her a moment ago was now leaking out of Maggie as if she was a sieve, and she dropped her gaze.

‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered. ‘I’m sure you have it all under control.’

‘No,’ said the client. ‘We haven’t. And what you just said is the most sensible, and practical, thing I’ve heard all morning.’

Maggie gave him a tight-lipped smile. ‘I can make the call for you,’ she offered, and then, when she saw Mark’s face, added, ‘or give you her number.’

‘That’d be great,’ said the client. ‘Let’s see if we can get her to start straight away. I’ll pay what it costs.’

Maggie saw Mark’s eyebrow rise.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘I’ll get my PA on it straight away.’

‘Bugger your PA,’ said the client. ‘I’d go with your receptionist. What did you say your name was?’ he added.

‘Maggie Summers,’ she said.

His eyes narrowed, as if the name meant something to him, but then he offered her his hand to shake and headed for the door.

‘Get it sorted, Mark,’ he called and then disappeared through the revolving door, leaving the two of them.

Maggie was aware of the awkwardness as keenly as if it had been sitting on her lap and stroking her hair.

‘I hope I didn’t overstep the mark,’ she said. ‘I just thought it might help.’

Mark was still staring at her. ‘Maggie Summers,’ he said. ‘Why do I know that name?’

‘I used to be at Brownlows,’ she said. ‘I was a partner in the commercial property department.’

‘So, what the hell are you doing as my receptionist?’ he asked.

Maggie shrugged. ‘I just fancied a change.’

‘I’ve just spent all morning arguing with that bunch of idiots about a whole range of crap and all the time I had you, just sitting there watching,’ he said.

Maggie worried that he was about to explode at her, but he seemed to think it was funny.

‘Do you know how much I pay our solicitor?’ he asked.

‘I could hazard a guess,’ replied Maggie wryly.

‘And you have been more help in five minutes than he has been all morning. All he’s done is block my ideas and come up with reasons why we couldn’t do things.’

‘Then might I suggest you have the wrong solicitor,’ Maggie replied.

‘Yes! You might very well suggest that,’ said Mark. ‘Right. Well, if you can let me have that number, I’ll get on to Professor . . . ?’

‘Professor Quinn,’ offered Maggie.

‘Professor Quinn. Unless, of course, you fancied making the call for me. There’s a lunch in it for you,’ he added. ‘And then we could talk about how someone like you has ended up working at my reception desk.’

Maggie had no intention of sharing her personal history with him, but she was happy to make the call. ‘That’s fine. Can I ring her now?’ she asked, conscious that to do so would take her away from her reception duties.

‘Please do,’ said Mark with a sweep of his arm. ‘And thank you, Maggie.’

He walked across to the lifts, shaking his head as if the whole experience had been slightly too surreal for him.

Maggie dug her mobile from her bag, retrieved Vanessa’s number and made the call.





50


Later, when she had made her dinner and rung Leon to tell him about her minor triumph at work, Maggie settled down with her laptop and began to scroll through the jobs pages. It was something she hadn’t done for a while. At the beginning, it had been too painful to even look at the details of job after job when her dream role had only just been snatched from her. Then, as the months and now years had gone by, she had gradually stopped looking. She was too long out of the game, she assumed. Things, people, the world in general had all moved on and, run fast as she might, she was never going to be able to catch up.