There Must Be Some Mistake (1975) by Marian Babson

Author:Marian Babson [Babson, Marian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XIV

'This is a terrible thing,' Harvey said. 'Terrible.' He looked around the room earnestly, but avoided meeting Karen's eyes. There was nothing unusual about that. No one had even looked directly at her, far less into her eyes, since they had all arrived.

'No one is disputing that, Har-vee.' Simone flicked him an impatient glance. She seemed to be deeply occupied with thoughts of her own - more probably, calculations.

Derek had been pouring and handing round drinks. Not even Lydia had felt able to suggest coffee this time. Now he poured a final drink for himself and perched on the edge of a chair, ready to move again the instant he got a signal for a fresh drink from anyone. Apart from accepting a drink, Simone still appeared to be ignoring him.

'Now, the way I see it - ' Vernon Vandergreit had reassumed his Boardroom manner. 'We need only deal with the immediate problem. I mean, we don't want to cloud the issue by dragging in any extraneous details when the police question us. If they question us - and I don't really see why they should - they're only going to be interested in Grace. We want to keep our answers short and to the point. We don't want to volunteer any information they're not aware of.'

In other words, we don't mention John, bearer bonds or embezzlement.

'Grace was not a happy woman,' Lydia said tentatively. She seemed to be trying out the words to decide how she liked the sound of them. 'I always felt there was something unsettled . . . disturbed . . . about her. I can't say I'm surprised at this development.'

'She was worried about her job,' Harvey embroidered upon the theme. 'We're in the midst of a pretty thoroughgoing reorganization here. There was going to be no room for dead wood - and she knew it.'

'I wouldn't call her work outstanding.' Derek seemed hesitant about his contribution. He offered it diffidently and looked around for approval.

'Grace was not a happy woman.' Ignoring him, Simone picked up the refrain smoothly. 'She was not especially young, she was not pretty. She had nothing but her job and - '

'We try to be fair.' Vernon Vandergreit shook his head slowly. 'But we are in an expansive, go-ahead cycle and some people just don't have what it takes to keep up with the others. It's very unfortunate but, for the good of the company, these changes have to be made. I'm afraid Grace was smart enough to see what was coming - '

'The handwriting on the wall,' Lydia said. 'And she simply couldn't face it, poor thing.'

It was smooth, effortless, inexorable. Even as they talked, they were moving from rehearsal to full performance, convincing each other, convincing themselves. As they would convince anyone who questioned them in the morning. There were just a few little snags, but they weren't aware of those yet.

Beside her, Karen heard the sharp intake of Ian Feltham's breath and braced herself for the explosion which was to come.

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