Chapter 10: The East London School of Economics

“Mrs. Villier, we have the office ready for you. If you will follow me, it’s towards the River front.”

“It’s Mrs. Verkade, but show me the way.”

Iris stepped into an office that looked as if it had never been used before. There was a huge, empty desk and a monstrous chair with leather upholstery behind it. The walls were decorated with prints of hunting scenes, and the floor was covered with expensive rugs. So this was their UK office. Some cost cutting might have to be applied.

“Whose office is this normally?” she asked Tim Collins, Villier’s regional representative.

“It’s the executive office, Ma’am,” Collins answered, slightly puzzled. “It’s been like this forever. Your grandfather used it whenever he visited.”

Iris let it go for the moment, but it was a waste of money to have a plush office reserved for the two or three visits per decade the President of VPI paid to London. It would be far more useful to have an administrative assistant for the RR. It would be good for her current tasks too.

“Listen, Mr. Collins, I’ll be quite busy here in the next two weeks, and I’m going to need somebody local as assistant. Do you have anyone on the staff who can do admin assistant?”

“Nobody comes to mind, Mrs. Vi ... Verkade. Ms. Carlisle could have done it, but she’s on maternity leave until September.”

“Call a temp agency. I want somebody local with secretarial training and organization skills. Tell them it’s for a month. If he or she works out we may extend the stint. We need somebody to run this place when you’re on the road.”

“I’d need authorization from Finance for that, Mrs. Verkade, and I cannot see that happening.” Collins sounded unhappy.

“No, you don’t. My office staff is exempt from Moran’s control,” Iris answered sharply.

“Are you certain? We received a memo from Finance just last week...”

“Collins, whom do you want pissed off at you? The CEO or the CFO? Besides, that little controversy will be resolved at the next shareholder meeting.”

She was not even aware of the steel in her voice, but Collins shrank back visibly.

“I’ll call Finley’s. They’ve provided temp staff for us in the past.”

“You do that. Sorry that you have to pick sides here, but I need to know on whom I can count.”

Finally, Collins understood. “I better make that call quickly then,” he said with a lopsided grin, already pulling his iPhone from a pocket.

“I’m glad we have an understanding,” Iris answered with faux sweetness.

It was in the next morning. Iris was sitting behind the huge mahogany desk in the executive office trying to get an idea of the schedule for the next days. There was a knock on the door and Collins stuck in his head.

“Mrs. V., the temp assistant from Finley’s is here, Mrs. Heather Morgan. Should I send her in?”

“Sure,” Iris returned, shaking her head a little. Of course she would have to see the woman if she was to be her assistant for the next two weeks. She also noticed how Collins avoided calling her Mrs. Verkade, using the neutral “Mrs. V.”.

The woman who entered was late twenties or early thirties, with slightly wavy chestnut hair cut in a bob. She smiled shyly at Iris.

“Mrs. Villier?”

“It’s Verkade. You must be Mrs Morgan, or is it Miss?”

The woman grimaced slightly. “It’s Mrs.”

“Oh! Divorced?”

“I wish. He up and ran seven years ago, and I haven’t seen hair or hide of him since then.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You have secretarial training?”

“Yes, Mrs. Verkade. I also have a degree in office management.”

She handed over her resume and Iris studied it briefly. Looking up again she saw that the woman’s hands were clenching nervously. She also saw that her clothing while clean and neat was at least three or four years old. Money problems. That might be a problem. Iris decided to be a bit watchful with her.

“You do seem to have the qualification we need. Your job for now will be to steer me through the next two weeks of meetings and negotiations. I need you to make sure I don’t miss meetings, but also to prepare minutes for us. Lastly, you must remind me to make daily phone calls to my family. Do you have any time constraints?”

“No, Mrs. Villier. I can work overtime whenever needed.”

She sounded hopeful saying that, confirming Iris notion that she needed the money.

“I’m afraid there will be some overtime, but I’ll make sure that you’ll get paid for it. I’ll be here for two weeks, and for the remainder of the month you will help out Mr. Collins and the other representatives. I don’t have to tell you that confidentiality is required in this position?”

“No, Mrs. Verkade.”

“Fine. Let’s try things out for today. First order of business: familiarize yourself with our company. I have PDFs of our brochures and our organizational structure on that laptop. That laptop is yours to use for the next weeks. If you have questions, ask.”

“Is there a desk for me somewhere?”

Iris looked around. The monstrous desk she was sitting at easily measured 40 square feet of polished mahogany. She had to grin.

“Think you can fit the laptop on this desk?”

Heather Morgan smiled for the first time and nodded. “I’ll find a swivel chair outside.”

For the next hours, Heather worked through the files Iris had pointed out. She asked a series of questions when she was ready, referring to a list written down in a neat longhand. That finished, Iris sent her out to find somebody to create email accounts for them. It took only twenty minutes before Heather returned balancing a cup of coffee sweetened to Iris’ liking. Somebody outside had tipped her off.

“I called Miss Darlington in Philadelphia,” Heather explained the coffee.

“Thanks. Now let me send you my schedule for this afternoon. You will be accompanying me and taking notes.”

Within five minutes Heather had synched both their email accounts and looked over the afternoon meeting schedule. Iris had three appointments with NHS officials over the possibility to have their products offered to UK residents. Heather tapped her teeth going over the schedule.

“We may have a problem getting to the third appointment in time. You see, that’s rush hour, and we’ll never make it by taxi cab.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize that. What do you suggest?”

“Either we can leave Mr. Westbury earlier...”

“Westbury is important,” Iris maintained, “and Mrs. Horris does not have time later in the afternoon. I checked already.”

Heather’s face brightened. “Would you mind taking the Tube?”

“What the heck, why not?” Iris answered. “You think we’re faster that way?”

“It’s only a few steps to the nearest stations. Five minutes walk on either end, and a twelve minutes ride. With a car it can take up to an hour that time of the day.”

“Okay, sold me on it. Let us skip out for lunch now. Oh, how would you prefer to be addressed? Mrs. Morgan or...”

“Heather, if you don’t mind. I’m not fond of my current last name.”

“All right, Heather. Quid pro quo. If it’s just the two of us, call me Iris.”

They found a Starbuck’s around the corner and Iris sprang for bagels and more coffee. While they ate, she filled Heather in on the purpose of the meetings and on what she knew of their counterparts. Iris noted with satisfaction that Heather was quick on the uptake. She asked only a few questions but those showed a good grasp of the situation.

Once the main points had been discussed Iris tilted her head.

“I don’t mean to pry, Heather, and if it’s none of my business, just say so. I’m just a little puzzled. You do seem to be very competent and attentive. Why do you work for a temp firm? And forgive me for being nosey, why the money crunch?”

Heather blushed deeply and looked down on her hands. Feeling bad, Iris reached out and put her hand on the woman’s arm.

“Just tell me to mind my own business, and no hard feelings, okay?”

Heather looked up, still blushing. “When my husband disappeared seven years ago, he did not disappear alone. He stole my entire savings and maxed out our credit cards. I’m still paying off the debt. He also stole information from the company laptop I had at home and used it to embezzle money from my employers. The police investigated me for almost a half year as accomplice before I was cleared. I was fired and blacklisted. Now I can only get temp jobs, and because they don’t pay well I need even more time to pay back the debt, not to mention the interest that is still adding up.”

“You’re still married to that man?” Iris asked nonplussed.