Chapter 1

My name is Jimmy Hargreaves. I am a hybrid: American father, English mother, educated in Scotland. My dad worked in the oil industry (still does, but sits in an office these days). He was sent all over the world, but my Mom wanted to live in the UK, so we were based in Edinburgh, which was much cheaper than London but provided similar facilities. I attended Fettes College for my schooling, as Dad could afford the best, and then university the other side of the Firth of Forth, at St Andrews (the university Prince William and his wife attended: Mom was a fan of the monarchy, so I had to go to the same university). At the age of twenty, at Dad’s insistence, I moved to the USA to complete my university studies and learn how to become an American, but by then my written language was solidly British English.

I planned my career assiduously. I got excellent grades from Fettes, performed well at university and gained a good business degree, then I embarked on the world of work. I found a position in an engineering group, well above the basic level in the hierachy of employment, aiming towards a higher level where I might acquire shares in the business, and finally be able to relax with a stable financial future.

That would be the point where I might engage in a matrimonial contract with a suitably compliant woman, and start a family to succeed me. A good life plan to aim for, I decided.

All went well for the early stages, and despite occasional pleasurable interactions with the opposite sex, survived with no emotional entanglements to speak of.

There had been three companies that were willing to take me on in an administrative post that I might enjoy, but the remuneration level counted heavily with me. When the other two were not able to match my aspirations (we agreed to differ in my value to them), the third company gained me as a senior member of their human resources department. It was part of Yeats Engineering Group, a package of apparently profitable companies. My abilities in handling personnel with sensitivity were what counted, and it seemed that my job interview gave them confidence that I had that ability and was worth the salary we agreed on. My vacation employment while at university provided me with letters of recommendation to future employers, and that made a considerable difference in their decision.

Having started with high hopes, I worked with care to avoid many of the more obvious pitfalls, such as antagonising my immediate bosses, and I cultivated good relations with other managers at my level within the company. Human Resources was not just those below me that we were managing; it was those working with me, or for whom I was working and reporting to. All were within the department’s data, which was useful to me.

The staff I managed were also part of my planning. I did some necessary research and attempted to use loopholes and lesser-known company policy to reward those that deserved rewards, and that device worked to my advantage. My reputation as a fair man who could be relied on to help where I could, did nothing but good for me in the company hierarchy.

Within a year, my activity had been noticed to the extent that when the head of the department moved to another job, I was offered his post and his larger salary. I accepted the offer with alacrity. Of course, that did not stop my progress in establishing my reputation, but now I had to establish my reputation with the executives at the top of the company.

What I did was take a close look at how the company structure functioned, and what was achieved at each level of the organisation. University, despite some personel failings, taught you to think analytically, and I applied that expertise to the company I worked for.

Before long, I found myself comparing departmental financial results with those of managers who were responsible for getting these results, and some were performing better than others. I also noted some anomalies, such as high expenditure levels for the poorer performing managers. To my mind, the entertainment costs for one or two suggested more time spent entertaining possible clients than making profits for the company. The question was whether the clients being entertained were actually placing good orders with us afterwards.

I cultivated the accountant who dealt with staff expenses, and was finally able to see submitted bills for who was being taken out to lunch, for which company. That allowed me to examine the business deals with these companies, to see if the entertainment budget was justified by results.

For certain cases, it wasn’t. I began to see that this was a case of treating friends to lunch, not cultivating buyers to place more orders.

Time to act.

I did it in a roundabout way, which was much safer for me. I wrote my report to the accountant who supervised the expenses budget, suggesting that there was a possibility of misuse of company funds. In the dated report, I carefully advised him to report the facts farther up the hierarchy rather than taking direct action himself. I pointed out that there might be mitigating circumstances that he was unaware of, and therefore someone at a higher level was better placed to take the requisite action, on his recommendation.

I made certain that my input was clear at every point, indicating that I was acting for the benefit of the company, not for myself. I did not seek any reward in my report. I implied that he should take the same approach. A written report, with a copy to me at Human Resources, was not something that his line manager should be able to claim as his own efforts.

I covered myself by copying both my report to him and his reply to me, and sealing them in an envelope which I posted to myself at my office, and when it arrived, I ‘misfiled’ it in the wrong drawer and under the second letter of the title, instead of the first, so that anyone looking to steal it could not find it. Then I waited to see what might happen.

Nothing; at least it was nothing for a while. Then my accountant friend came to me to inform me that his superior had claimed to have discovered a fraudulent use of expenses funds and reported it to his superior, resulting in the responsible sales manager being dismissed.

“I had to come tell you, Jimmy, for this is completely unfair, both for me and for you. We did all the work, and he is claiming the results. What can we do?”

I cautioned him, “Softly, softly, Tom. What did you do with the report I sent you?”

“I copied it to include it with my own report that went to my line manager.”

“No. What did you do with the original?”

“Oh. Let me think ... oh, yes, I put it in my coat pocket to take it home to study. It is probably still in my desk at home.”

“Fine. What you do now is put that in an envelope and post it to the company C.O.O., marked, ‘Private’. With a bit of luck, he will read that, note the date on it, and see where you were advised to write a report on the facts for submission to your line manager – the guy who is claiming it as his own work.”

Tom’s face lit up, and he left to return to his own office.

Several days later, my secretary, Sandra, told me that someone had broken into my office and rifled through a drawer of my filing cabinet, but nothing appeared missing. I expressed concern and told her to report it to the company security officer if she had not already done so.

“I did report it, sir. Mr Brotherton came and did a thorough examination this morning. He said there was no sign of fingerprints, so the perp must have worn gloves. He said something that puzzled me: ‘I wonder if that pretend camera is real?’”

“Real?” I exclaimed. “You mean the fake camera that is there in each room to scare off intruders?”

“Yes, sir. Why would he think it was real?”

“He probably knows me quite well by now and feels that I might be sneaky enough to do a double bluff. He is right.”

I fetched a chair and reached up to the ‘decoy’ camera in the corner of the room. I opened it and took out the sim card and slipped it into my pocket.

“Sandra, you didn’t see that and you have no ideas about that camera; right?”

“Right, sir; nothing seen or heard. Will you be visiting Mr Brotherton shortly, purely a social visit?”

“I will do that right away. If anyone asks, you don’t know where I have gone. You can, if you feel it appropriate, suggest my outing might be to the C.O.O.”

“Yes, sir.”

I went straight to Brotherton’s office and he was sitting at his desk, on the phone. I waited while he finished his call.

“You have something for me, Jimmy?” he asked with a smile.

“Curiously, yes. I would like you to check through a sim card to see if there is anything interesting on it.”

“I like that idea. Do you want to sit in for the viewing?”

“If you can please skim through all the routine stuff that it picks up, yes. There is a possibility that an intruder might be caught on screen.”

“Well, among my security equipment there is a machine able to read almost any sim card, so let’s see what we can find.”

I sat down with him at his monitor and we watched as he zoomed through all the routine recordings of every time I or my secretary entered the office, as the camera was triggered by movement. Finally there was a strange figure who surreptitiously entered and went straight to the filing cabinet. I know most folk assume we have dispensed with filing cabinets, but there are always documents such as contracts, specifications, tenders, etc. that you have to keep in paper form for legal reasons such as verifiable signatures. In my case, we also kept H.R. documentation on staff; documentation that we don’t want to lose to a computer failure. It leads to me having a well-filled filing cabinet.

The raider seemed interested in sections labelled Accounts or Expenses, for some reason. The reports of real interest were in fact filed in a lower drawer under X for expenses. That drawer was untouched.

The raider himself was mostly viewed from behind for most of the recording, but when he turned to leave, his face showed clearly.

“Ah,” exclaimed Brotherton. “That is the head of Accounting.”

I replied in wonder, “Now why would he be digging through my files?”

“Exactly my question,” said Brotherton. “Would you have any idea?”

I pretended to think, then revealed, “There was a report that one of the accounting staff said he had sent up to his line manager – this man, it would be. It was a report about a misuse of expenses. He was in my office the other day to say that his boss was claiming to have discovered the facts for himself. He seemed quite upset.

This man” I pointed to the man on screen, “ may have thought I had a copy in my files, for I had sent correlations worth comparing and mentioned a copy.”

“If you did, it is gone now.”

“Not according to the video. He doesn’t appear to remove anything from the cabinet, as far as I can make out.”

Brotherton ran the episode again, watching carefully.

“You are right. Damn, that means we can’t charge him with theft, just breaking and entering without permission.”

I made a suggestion.

“Mr Brotherton, perhaps the C.O.O. might be interested in seeing this video recording. You can add that there was a suggestion of a report that vanished after being given to him by a junior member of his staff.”

Brotherton looked at me speculatively, and asked, “Talking of which, there wouldn’t happen to be another copy of the vanished report somewhere, over and above your own note to the accountant? Another copy that the perpetrator was looking for?”

“Now that is an interesting speculation. Should it come to it, there might be a possibility of a second copy coming to light...”

“Ahh,” Brotherton exhaled. “That might be useful.”

I added, “Does that mean that another copy of the initial report has been found?”

“The C.O.O. yesterday did make a mention to me about receiving some relevant information that he might have to discuss with me.”

“Good. If it needs some verifiable and dated support, I might be persuaded to reveal my secrets...”

“Thank you, Jimmy. I’ll let you know. Knowledge is power, I have been told. I have found that aphorism to be true.”

The next day I was summoned to the office of the Chief Operating Officer, Archibald Emerson. He looked frazzled, but greeted me with a smile. He was middle-aged so was probably hen-pecked at home. That might explain his demeanour, but he greeted me heartily, using my first name though we had seldom met.

“Jimmy, welcome to my office. I have looked at your file, and was impressed at your obvious value to the company. You got promoted recently I see.”

“Yes, sir. I believe in doing my best for the company, in hopes that the company will do its best for me.”

“A healthy approach to business, Jimmy. You seem fit. Is your wife encouraging you to keep fit?”

“I am not married, sir, in fact not even attached in any way; free and clear, for the moment. My work is my priority.”

“I see. Thus, your interest in the probity of the company staff. You were the instigator of the investigation of one of our sales reps, I am told.”

“Part of my responsibilities as Human Resources, sir. Our staff should be treating the company well, not treating themselves and their friends well; that is how I see it.”

“A worthy trait in your job, Jimmy. Are you a bit of a planner?”

“A planner, sir? I suppose I am. I had ideas of career progression through my own efforts, certainly not by undermining other members of staff. This was something that came to me while I was looking at how the company was structured, and whether all posts were justified. This sales manager stood out as not performing well, despite high expenditure on cultivating prospective buyers.”

Emerson stated, “ A good observation. The sales manager has been dismissed. Do you think that was the correct move? Just an opinion, that is all I ask.”

“Yes, sir. The manager was not pulling his weight; in fact there might be doubt about replacing him, given the current lack of expansion.”

“That was another observation you made? You looked at the company accounts?”

“Of course, sir. You need correct facts to come to any sort of conclusion. The detailed figures are public knowledge, public within the company, that is.”

“Did you draw any other conclusions after examining our accounts?”

“Not exactly, for I was looking at them in the context of staffing, from a Human Resources standpoint. That is my area of expertise.”

“So you did not take a look at how our shares were performing in the market?”

“No, sir. These figures are too much influenced by exterior factors over which I have no control or even an interest.”

“To switch back to staff matters, the head of Accounting claimed to have discovered on his own the facts relating to the sales manager’s expenses. Do you regard this as truth?”

“No, sir. He had no direct input to how expenses were being controlled, therefore no legitimate method of coming to the conclusion he claimed to have made. That data was the remit of the accountant in charge of expenses. It would appear logical that this accountant would have brought the facts to his notice, and I quote from my own words, ‘in case there were mitigating circumstances known at a higher level’, such as bribing a competitor to our advantage. It appears there were no mitigating circumstances, and so the Head of Accounting should have given due credit to his staff for informing him of the irregularities. He did not do so, thus his commitment to this company is suspect.”

“Mitigating circumstances? What else might they have been, Jimmy?”

“It might have been that the company was using these meal treats as a means of eliciting commercial information of value to this company. If that had been the case, it could have been allowed to pass, but the accountant would be congratulated on his efficiency.”