The Nudists by Guy Bellamy

Author:Guy Bellamy [Bellamy, Guy]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2020-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Feeling no more than usually embattled, Ben Brock drew a red ring round 6 August on his desk calendar, and phoned Nick Bannerman.

“I suppose that the cheque for one hundred and ten pounds that you will write out today to Ben Brock Advertising will present no problems to a famous author?” he said.

“You sound desperate for the money, Ben,” Nick suggested.

“I am. Don’t miss the post.”

“What are holidays like? I’ve never had one.”

“Well, you sit around in the sun, sipping exotic drinks, and when you get too hot you stroll into the sea. Evenings you dine out.”

“I could put up with a lot of that.”

“Do you think Simon and Wendy can afford this jaunt? He’s been out of work a while now.”

“Are you kidding? He won forty-five thousand pounds on a horse the other day.”

“He didn’t tell me that.”

“I was there when he came back from the bank.”

“You were where?”

“In Morsels, Wendy’s sandwich bar.”

“And what were you doing in there, Mr Bannerman?”

“I was chatting up Wendy.”

“I see. It should be an interesting holiday.”

“That’s what I thought.”

The news that Simon Venables had quietly stashed away a small fortune proved so interesting to Ben, obsessed as he now was with money, that it was some time before he could get back to his wobbling empire. When he did, he found that Cliff had left him a morning newspaper which carried the headline: KILLER DRUG STILL ON SALE.

“A drug which has been withdrawn by its maker because of links with deaths in Britain and abroad is being freely dispensed in chemists’ shops,” said the report. “An investigation has revealed that there were more than 800 prescriptions for Preil, the anti-rheumatism drug, last month – after it had been withdrawn at the insistence of the Government’s Committee on the Safety of Medicines. Our investigation shows that doctors are prescribing the drug against the advice of Government advisers and the British Medical Association. A BMA spokesman said: ‘While ignorance may account for some prescribing of withdrawn drugs, in other cases doctors choose to ignore the expert advice. They say that for their individual patients the drugs work well and that the risks of adverse effects have to be put into perspective.’ ”

Ben had no trouble putting everything into perspective: he was the wrong man in the wrong industry in the wrong year. He buzzed Cliff.

“Does it mean that this inept government can’t even ban dangerous drugs and we are all back in business?” he asked.

“I think not,” Cliff told him. “Preil say the drugs were imported from Europe at enormous cost. It’s all part of the joys of belonging to the EEC.”

Ben pulled his desk diary towards him, but his heart wasn’t in it. “What’s happening today?” he asked.

“Marvin Maher are giving us a definite answer on whether they want to buy the agency.”

“At our price?”

“They haven’t said, but they’re the people who have shown most interest.”

“They’re a big agency. It would make sense for them.”

“Keep your fingers crossed.”

Ben had spent so much time lately

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