Chapter 3

The following morning my alarm clock went off at its usual time and I was halfway out of my warm bed before I realised that I had nowhere to go. Get up and maintain my daily routine or an extra hour in bed? No contest! I climbed back under my welcoming duvet, only to lie awake wondering what the future now held for me.

Mid morning, I was not too sure when, as I'd decided to leave my watch off and revel in a place where time was immaterial, my mobile phone rang.

It was Julie Thompson. "Hello David!" She said confidently, "I believe we need to talk."

I had no thought that the company's H.R. chief was making a personal call, so I asked. "Why? I didn't think I worked for GHK any longer."

"You do until I say so, as I'm pretty certain you know. Can you come in this afternoon, say two-thirty?"

"I'll just check my diary." I said trying, and failing to make light of the situation.

"No need to be facetious, David. Will you be here?"

"Sorry, yes, of course I'll be there."

As I thought about it, I was not too surprised, in this, the age of litigation, companies needed to ensure that the correct procedures be followed. This made me consider my own situation, I probably had a good case for wrongful dismissal, but the more I thought about it, GHK had been good to me on the whole, and if I did sue then it would be the company that footed the bill and nothing I could do would affect the arsehole behind it. I didn't consider reinstatement for I knew company policy was always to back management in their decisions.

Unlike the previous day, the drive in to the office proved event free. I arrived, oddly enough, quite relaxed. As I entered the building I passed Sam in the reception and judging by her smile and simple nod, news of my dismissal had not circulated very far. Looking back, I was pretty certain that Jill would have at least phoned had she known. I was ushered into Julie's office immediately, something almost unheard of normally; not for power reasons that some managers utilised, simply that she was a very busy woman.

Her smile was genuine but also a little forced if that isn't a contradiction.

"Thank you for coming in." She started. "We have already held a quite thorough investigation into yesterday's events, but before we decide what to do, we would like to hear your story."

I didn't pick up on the 'we' until she picked up the phone and after tapping a four digit internal number said. "We are ready."

Less than a minute later, Philip Bates swept into the room. Our Managing Director was a big man in every sense of the word; physically he was very large, a continuation of his days playing International Rugby; he was a dynamic person, the company had grown around his acumen and he also had a reputation with his staff as a thoughtful employer; an unusual and very powerful combination of attributes.

I had never actually had a one-to-one with him, and if he was here then something big was about to come down.

Even though there was absolutely no need, he still introduced himself. With Philip listening I felt a funny urge to justify everything. I started with what had happened to my wife and that the previous day had been the second anniversary. I explained the motorcycle accident on my way to work, the discussion I'd had with Teresa McGinnis. Philip had looked at his notes at this juncture and had then asked a couple of questions, which I answered as honestly as my memory allowed. Both looked quite shocked when I repeated Teresa's comments about my wife. I then explained why I felt it necessary to leave the building in order to cool down. Both my interviewers nodded at the wisdom of that. It was only when I explained the policeman's arrival and subsequent questioning that I noticed a change in Philip's mood, he obviously didn't like something about the incident. I also felt the need to explain why I always sat on that particular bench, before going on to tell them of my meeting with Steve Vickery. Again I was honest, telling them of my insults and dismissive behaviour to him. Julie commented that I obviously didn't like him, to which I answered that liking had little to do with it; I, and most others under him, had no respect for him. Raised eyebrows were the M.D.'s only response to my accusation.

"Thank you for what was obviously an honest assessment of yesterday's events." Julie said when I'd finished, "and I'm glad to say that it pretty much agrees with what we believe happened."

Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. I hadn't expected Steve's official version to bear any resemblance to the truth; maybe I had underestimated the man.