Chapter 36

"Good morning, Mrs Evans," Nick greeted Meg the next morning. "Best behaviour this morning."

Sally snorted derisively. Meg looked at him questioningly, a slight smile playing round her lips.

"I'm expecting a call from the Chairman."

Meg looked suitably impressed.

"To tell him they've decided to send him to Siberia," said Sally, shrieked with laughter and darted into her office closing the door behind her. It opened two seconds later and two bright, laughing eyes peered through the crack. Nick growled. There was a further peal of laughter and the door slammed shut. Meg watched the pantomime with a broad almost maternal smile.

"He wants to visit us," went on Nick to Meg.

"Wow! That is an honour," she exclaimed. "That's the first time in my fifteen years here."

"He never came to Bristol while I was there either but then that was way short of fifteen years."

"What are you going to do with him?"

"Much the same as we did with the CEO. The Visitors' Book won't know itself with two high powered visitors in two months."

"The Queen next time!"

Nick laughed. "Fat chance!"

On the dot of ten o'clock the call came through.

"Good morning, Nick. Got your diary handy?"

"Good morning, sir. I have indeed."

"What does the week after next look like?"

"Fine, sir. I thought we'd do much the same as we did for Trevor which means that you come up the night before and we'll have a quiet evening. Then the following day we'll tour the sites breaking for a pub lunch at which the non-engineering and quarry managers will join us. A buffet supper for all the managers at home that evening and then a walk round the office the following morning. Sally will whip your wife away while we're going round the various projects and show her the delights of Liverpool. What she does the following morning is up to her: more sightseeing or a quiet morning at home."

"That sounds excellent, Nick. Now, Trevor tells me that he drove up so that there would be two cars. Would you like me to do the same?"

"Entirely up to you, sir. It's quicker to fly but the car would mean you were more flexible. If you'd prefer to fly we can easily hire a car for the occasion."

"No, no. We'll come up by car. I loathe airports anyway. Would you like us to come up on the Tuesday or the Wednesday?"

"Either, sir."

"Let's make it the Wednesday."

"Fine. One last question. Does your wife have any particular interests? Music, paintings, architecture?"

"All of those to a greater or lesser extent."

"OK, sir, we can organise something but she might like to have a look at the internet and see if there is something in particular that catches her fancy."

Sir Edwin chuckled. "She's not a great computer expert. Oh well, I can always earn my supper."

Nick laughed. "Good luck, sir, but don't sweat on it. Why don't I ask Sally to give her a ring?"

"Do that." He gave his home telephone number and his wife's mobile number. "What time would you like us to arrive?"

"Would between six and seven suit you?"

"It shall be."

"Thank you, sir. I'll let you have a full brief at least forty-eight hours in advance."

"Good. I'm looking forward to this. Don't hesitate to ring me if you have any queries."

"Thank you, sir. We look forward to seeing you both."

Nick sat back in his chair.

"This has got to be faultless," he thought. "I'm not worried about the Chairman although we need now to get an itinerary sorted and get the client big-wigs on side. It's Lady Marshall that has me worried. She mustn't feel she's just being trailed round Liverpool to be kept out of the way."

He dug out the itinerary for Trevor's visit. It hardly needed amending although there needed to be some changes in emphasis. Work had now started on the John Lennon taxiways and David's road improvement was concentrating on the area with the most bridges to be upgraded. He made some minor changes and then gave it to Megan.

"See what you can fix," he said, "but bear in mind we want the big boys this time. For example, at the liner dock we need to see Graham Dibbens as well as Trevor Knight and then at the container dock it would be good but not vital to see Roy Murphy."

"Got you, boss."

He went in to talk to Sally. He told her of his conversation with Sir Edwin and his worry about Lady Marshall. "Would you give her a ring tomorrow, Puss, and see if you can hatch a plan that appeals to her?"

"For you, my man, anything. I'll use Merry's programme as a basis and try to think of something else instead of the organ. Actually if she is interested in music she might like to poke round Philharmonic Hall and we can go to choir practice at the cathedral again."

"Thanks, Puss." He stood up, leant across the desk and kissed her nose. "Half a kiss. More later."

"Not even an eighth of a kiss. Lot's more later."

"With pleasure."

They smiled happily at each other.

Sally rang Lady Marshall at half past nine the next morning. The conversation did not go according to plan.

"It's very good of you to offer to escort me round, Sally, but you've got a buffet supper for umpteen people in the evening. You won't have time to trail round with me."

"Oh, that's no worry. The Damsels will take care of that."

"The Damsels?"

"The Domestic Damsels actually because there are also the Decorating Damsels."

"I'm fascinated. Tell me more."

Sally did and there was silence for a moment.

"Do you know what I'd really like to do? Meet these girls and their leader. I do a certain amount with Barnardo's already and am fascinated by it."

"You'll meet some of the girls at the party."

"Yes but they'll be busy. I'd like to meet their leader and see some of them at work."

"Leave it with me, Lady Marshall. I'll have a word with Gemma Norton who runs the Liverpool lot and see what we can work out."

"Thank you very much, Sally. I look forward to hearing from you."

Sally rang Gemma's mobile number as she was bound to be out and about.

"Gemma, it's Sally Braithwaite. We're going to want your girls to do another buffet supper on Thursday fortnight."

"Great. What sort of numbers?"

"Same as the one we had in May."

"OK. No problem. Same menu?"

"It'll be all the same people as last time bar two so see if you can dream something else up."

"OK. Still not a problem."

"Good! Now, I've got another favour to ask."

"Yeah?"

"Our guests of honour are our Chairman and his wife."

"Go on."

"She's involved with Barnardo's and is very keen to visit your girls at work. She'd also like to talk with you. Could she do that and would you like to have lunch with us afterwards?"

"'Course she could and yes please to lunch."

"Great. You might even get a donation out of it."

Gemma chuckled. "I wish. What does she do with Barnardo's?"

"I don't know but her husband's a Sir and she's Lady Marshall so I'd guess it's grander than working in a charity shop."

"Hmm," said Gemma thoughtfully. "Would you like me to see if I can get Becca to join us for lunch, then Lady Marshall would get the history straight from the horse's mouth?"

"That would be brilliant."

"OK. I'll give it a whirl and get back to you."

"You're an ace, Gemma."

"Nah. Queen of Spades more like. Cheers, Sally!"

Sally had to tell Nick straight away. She managed to pause long enough in Meg's office to check he was free and then dashed on in, plonking herself on his lap before he had a chance to stand up and giving him a smacking kiss.

"Success! Lady Marshall's with Barnardo's and wants to meet lots of Damsels. Gemma's going to fix it and try and get Becca, their founder, to come over from Leeds and join us for lunch. We can have a flexible programme for the afternoon and do choir practice at the cathedral."