Maserov realised he was going to have to introduce her to Betga. As Jessica, smiling the smile of someone starting their big day, got closer, it occurred to Maserov that her meeting Betga was a bad idea for a number of reasons, some of which he could feel but not yet articulate.
‘Jessica Annand, this is A.A. Betga.’
‘Very pleased to meet you, Ms Annand, Jessica, is it?’ said Betga, holding her hand instead of shaking it and looking at her as though she were lunch.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ said Maserov.
‘Think about what?’ asked Betga ingenuously.
‘Are you working on the sexual harassment, Mr Betga?’ said Jessica, withdrawing her hand.
‘For all he’s worth,’ said Maserov.
‘Yes, I am.’
‘In what capacity?’ Jessica asked.
‘Betga considers himself a ladies’ man. He’s incorrigible. Just ignore him,’ Maserov tried quickly to commandeer the conversation, to head it off at the pass.
‘Well, I have a few capacities,’ said Betga, ignoring Maserov. ‘Lawyer, life coach. Today I’m here in my capacity as a private investigator.’
‘Yeah, which was totally news to me,’ said Maserov, still fuming quietly.
‘You need to relax, Maserov. Everything’s going well. You’re a very tense man. Do you find him tense, Jessica?’
‘Betga, I need you to get out of here,’ Maserov whispered.
‘Out of respect I’m going to adhere to your request but we will talk later, possibly with Ms Annand present if we’re lucky, and you’ll see everything is going to be fine. Good day to you, Ms Annand,’ said Betga, reaching for her hand before Maserov pushed Betga’s hand away from Jessica.
‘He’s overwrought,’ said Betga, turning to go. ‘More wrought than he should be. “Should” not in a moral sense but in the sense of a warrant for wellbeing and for the situation,’ he added, heading towards the elevator.
‘Who’s Betga?’ Jessica asked.
‘I’ll explain later. Torrent’s going to call me back in when he gets off this call —’
‘Why does he dress like it’s 1946?’ Jessica said, looking down the hallway to where Betga was just entering the elevator. There was no denying he made an impression, especially on women. No one but Betga could carry off Betga quite so well.
‘Betga? I told you, ignore him. Torrent’s going to call me back in when he finishes with this call and then I’m going to broach the topic, the topic of changing the culture.’
‘You haven’t talked to him about it yet?’
‘I’ve been heading towards it . . . in the general direction.’
‘Does he know I’m here . . . to see him?’
‘No, not yet.’
‘Have you mentioned me?’
‘Not in so many words.’
‘Stephen!’
‘I’m going to do it now. I had to make sure Betga didn’t blow us all up. I’ll go back in and . . . I’ll talk to him, tell him I need you . . . to work with me on this . . . when he gets off the . . .’ Maserov’s mouth was dry but under his arms and along the ridges of his spine were thin beads of water mixed with ammonia, sugar, salt and urea.
Malcolm Torrent spoke without looking away from the screen he was squinting at as Maserov sat down. ‘Sorry, Maserov, that call took a bit longer than I expected.’
‘Oh, no problem at all.’
‘No,’ interrupted the older man, ‘I mean I no longer have time for you to sit down. What else did you want to talk to me about, other than your private investigator?’
Maserov stood up. ‘Well, sir, I think these cases and the matter generally, and the culture surrounding it . . . I think we’d benefit from a woman’s perspective.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘There’s someone, someone that you already employ, that I’d like to have working on this; a woman.’
‘We don’t have any women working here, do we?’
‘Um, in Human Resources you do.’
‘Oh yes, there are women there. What do you want the woman to do?’
‘A couple of things; it might happen that there could be some kind of face-to-face negotiation, not just between lawyers but with the plaintiffs there. We wouldn’t seek that but it might be a condition precedent to settling, letting the women air their grievances in a secure environment. And having a woman there as part of our team could make the difference. A softer presence, seeming perhaps almost like an ally, expressing understanding, something along those lines.’
‘So, if the women or their lawyers want a meeting, yes, of course, you can take one of the girls from HR. Not likely to happen though, is it?’
‘It might and we need to be ready, so I’d like to have the female HR representative fully briefed and up to speed on each of the cases. Additionally, and now I’m thinking longer term, even if we can get rid of these particular cases —’
‘Even if?’
‘When, when we’ve dealt with these cases, after we’ve dealt with them, we need to address the culture of the corporation to prevent these things from happening again.’
‘Well, boys will be boys, but you can draft a memo telling them to keep their hands in their pockets, not that they will, and I’ll be happy to sign it. That it?’
‘Not quite,’ Maserov continued. ‘In the event that anything remotely like this surfaces and reaches the market, the media, the shareholders, even the public, we want to be on the front foot with this.’
‘Meaning?’
‘We want to have a well-worded, carefully drafted anti-sexual harassment and anti-discrimination policy ready to put to everyone and anyone we need to show it to.’
‘Do we have to enforce it?’
‘It would definitely help if we can show that we took steps to enforce it.’
‘Okay, make it look like we enforce it. What do you want exactly?’
‘The same woman from HR whom I brief on these current cases can help me draft the policy and even, if necessary, be the public spokesperson for the company on these issues.’
‘That’s smart thinking, Maserov. Well done. Okay, get the head of HR, Aileen van der Westhuizen, to help you with all of this.’
‘No, she isn’t the one I have in mind.’
‘Who’ve you got in mind?’
‘Jessica Annand.’
‘Which one is she?’
‘She’s got a background in psychology, very well-spoken —’
‘Is she the um . . . the brown one, tall, big attitude in her . . . chest?’
‘I wouldn’t say she’s tall.’
‘Brown?’
‘She’s Indian.’
‘Oh yeah, I know the one. She’s a looker, alright.’
‘She’d make a very good human face for the company should it ever come to it.’
‘You’re right.’ Malcolm Torrent was thinking. ‘But I don’t want to put Aileen’s nose out of joint. After all, she’s the Indian girl’s boss.’
‘Yes, but my thinking was that Aileen needs all her time to run the department and this is going to need the relevant HR person to put aside everything else.’
‘Really?’
‘I think so.’
‘Maserov, this whole MeToo thing; it’s big, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not going to go away.’
‘No, the change it’s ushering in could well be profound. Torrent Industries needs to be on top of it, especially because it’s a construction company. The potential for public relations disasters in a male-oriented industry is enormous, a minefield, really. You need to be ahead of the curve. Torrent Industries should become the poster child for correct practice in this area.’
‘You really think it’s that important?’
‘I do, Mr Torrent. The world is changing.’
Malcolm Torrent sat back in his chair and glanced out of his floor-to-ceiling window as though checking whether he could see the world changing. His view was partially obscured by cranes with his company’s logo on it.
‘Well, Maserov, you’re a younger man, younger than me and younger than Hamilton. I’m paying you to tell me what’s up ahead.’
‘You are, sir.’
‘But tell me, Maserov, do you think there’ll be a backlash against all of this MeToo stuff?’
‘There probably will be,’ said Maserov.
‘Couldn’t we be ahead of the curve on that?’
‘On the backlash?’
‘Yes,’ said Malcolm Torrent, confirming Maserov’s understanding.
‘No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Leaving aside the legal implications, because of course judges and juries walk into court with unstated preconceptions about different corporate entities before any evidence has been led, and leaving aside any moral implications, there are of course share price implications from these sorts of things.’
‘Yes, of course, you’re right, Maserov. And you think the Indian girl should be the human face of our response to this, should we need one?’
‘Should we need one, yes.’
‘Hmm, just between you and me and the lamppost, Maserov, Aileen, her boss in HR, she can be a pain in the arse when she gets her nose out of joint. You know what I mean; that classic female passive aggression? Can be a real bitch at times. She can’t get to me directly, of course, but she pisses off my secretary.’
‘I do, Mr Torrent, entirely. But then there’s the anti-discrimination aspect of all of this. You could tell Aileen van der Westhuizen that for public relations reasons it would be better for the firm to have her lieutenant in the role, not to mention the benefit arising from the business the company does directly with India.’
‘To hell with it, Maserov, you’re right! Let’s go with the Indian girl. If Aileen gets her rag we’ll tell her she’s simply not an Indian.’
‘Oh and I’d like to draft a memo from you, if I may, that makes it clear to anyone in any department that this work is Jessica Annand’s priority until you say otherwise.’
‘Jessica, that’s the Indian girl?’ Malcolm Torrent said, picking up his phone to begin talking to Joan Henshaw about something else entirely.
‘Yes.’
‘Do it, I’ll sign it.’