LITMIR.BIZ

      There was a knock on the door, and it opened immediately to admit Cecil Williams, who strode in saying, ‘Good morning, Elizabeth. You’re here early.’

      ‘To catch the worms,’ Elizabeth said, using one of Kat’s old-fashioned sayings. ‘And it’s certainly a memorable day, isn’t it, Cecil?’

      ‘Indeed it is.’ He sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of her desk, glancing at the old map hanging on the wall behind her. ‘I’m happy to see that back in its proper place. Do you know, I remember it from my childhood, when my father worked for Henry Turner, your grandfather.’

      ‘I’ll never know why Mary had it removed,’ Elizabeth remarked. ‘But then I’ll never understand some of the other things she did when she sat in this office. Here’s the bank transfer.’ She took the piece of paper out of her briefcase. ‘Robin wants me to show it to you, then take it home.’ She handed it to him.

      ‘Good idea,’ Cecil remarked, and looked down at the transfer, pursing his lips. He lifted his head, stared at her. ‘I can’t be sure until I look into it, but I think these might have been funds she transferred from her personal bank account.’

      ‘It’s still my money, whichever account it came from,’ Elizabeth announced, her tone brisk. ‘Anything and everything she had was inherited from our father and therefore it was mine as well as hers. And she had no right to give it away.’ Leaning forward over the desk, her expression intent, purposeful, she asked, ‘Can we get the fifty million euros back?’

      ‘To be honest, I don’t know, Elizabeth. I have to go through every single file Mary kept, and the books, and hopefully I will find the relative documents –’

      ‘If there are any,’ she interrupted peremptorily.

      ‘Only too true. I’m afraid there might not be. After the meeting I’ll start digging. And by the way, I’ve decided to bring in an outside firm of auditors. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is absolutely necessary.’

      ‘It certainly is. I think we should get as much information as we can, and as quickly as possible, in order to make the right moves.’

      Cecil nodded. ‘And which particular moves are you thinking about?’

      ‘Sweeping clean, Cecil. I’ve been considering that for days, and I believe we have to let five hundred people go, globally.’

      ‘Five hundred. In one fell swoop?’

      ‘Not necessarily all at once, no, but there’s a lot of dead wood at Deravenels. I knew that when I was working here and Robin has confirmed it. It’s people who should be retired. Mostly.’ She frowned. ‘You seem surprised. Don’t you like the idea?’

      ‘I feel the same as you do, Elizabeth, but we must be careful. I don’t want to create a stir in the City. There are those who might think we’re in great trouble. Sacking a lot of employees all at once tends to make people nervous, and they end up thinking the worst.’

      ‘I realize that we should do it in the best way, the nicest way. We don’t want to provoke gossip. Early retirement will appeal to many.’ Elizabeth paused, and there was a momentary hesitation before she added, ‘We have to cull the offices around the world as well, don’t you think?’

      ‘I do,’ Cecil replied without hesitation. ‘We only touched on it briefly last week, but I’m well aware we’re top-heavy with staff. Maybe I’ll put Sydney Payne to work on that particular problem. He’s such a marvellous diplomat, and it’s a situation that’s going to need careful handling. As I just said, Deravenels cannot look weak, at risk, in danger of going under.’

      ‘Yes, I understand. Last Thursday, when we were driving back to town, you said Deravenels needs an infusion of money. Where do you plan to get it from, Cecil? Or haven’t you thought that through yet?’

      ‘I have. Partially, at least. I think we should attempt to get all those euros back from Philip Alvarez. And I would like to sell off certain parcels of our real estate, but we can go over those points this afternoon in more detail, if you wish.’

      ‘I’d like that. But I just wanted to say this … I could give Deravenels some money.’

      ‘Never.’ Aghast, he gaped at her. ‘I will never permit you to give Deravenels money, not ever, Elizabeth. Although there might be a moment in time when you could lend them money. Or buy somebody’s shares. But give? Not on your life. That’s absolutely a no-no. I would never agree to such a rash move on your part. Now, here’s the list of board members, which you can look at whenever you have a moment. Don’t forget, the board meeting is not for two weeks.’

      ‘Any changes about this morning’s meeting?’ Elizabeth asked, settling back in her chair.

      ‘No. All of those invited are coming.’

      ‘I wasn’t planning to invite any of them to lunch. Were you?’ Elizabeth murmured.

      ‘No, I’m afraid not. There’s far too much work,’ Cecil pointed out. ‘This is my first day back in almost five years. I have a feeling I’ve a lot of catching up to do.’