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Two weeks later...
The senior team were again at the crematorium just outside Persford. Only a few weeks earlier they had been to support Bob at his wife’s funeral. It was scarcely believable that in such a short space of time they would witness his coffin being committed. Naturally, his son and daughter with their partners were distraught, the simple service heart-wrenchingly moving. They had tragically lost both parents within a few weeks of each other. Annabelle had insisted on accompanying Brett although she hadn’t known Bob personally. She linked her arm through Brett’s during the service, a solitaire diamond ring visible on her ring finger. The day after the explosion Brett had been discharged from hospital and that evening had proposed to Annabelle and she’d accepted without hesitation. They had no idea when they would officially tie the knot but they were now a proper couple. Brett was still having nightmares after his ordeal and as he woke thrashing and shouting about fire and smoke she held him in her arms until he settled.
As part of Verdi’s requiem played the congregation filed out into the autumn sunshine leaving Bob’s immediate family alone with their memories. Brett kissed Annabelle goodbye and made his way back to BioQex’s building. After a thorough investigation the office areas were deemed to be structurally safe, along with the biology labs. The chemistry labs were unusable due to damage to the services supplying these labs. The company had managed to secure a couple of labs to rent in the StourMed building as they had some spare capacity after downsizing a year or so ago. Nick was back at work and had been charged with overseeing the transfer of chemistry effort to the new premises. The senior team had decided that he shouldn’t be involved in any practical work for a while as he was still getting headaches and had developed some back pain as well.
**
Polly had made considerable progress in her investigations in the university finance department. Luke Wharton had been dismissed for manipulating the tendering process in order to favour his brother’s company. This hadn’t been the only contract with which he’d acted fraudulently. Phyllis herself had actually not been acting for personal gain, they could find no evidence of illicit spending of university funds. Her husband, however, was employed in the fees department and had been running an operation of double billing, the second payment being immediately diverted into his own account, and should the student ask for a refund he would immediately refund with university money. So in many cases, the university was in the red as they received no money for those students’ courses. In what was a relatively short time Polly had been able to save the university a six-figure sum and her work was still not finished. As a result, they had begun to tighten their payment processes, there was now much more stringent accountability in all areas of finance. They also listened to her concerns that they needed to rely on all staff being able to report colleagues without fear of reprisal and Polly was actioned to draw up an effective whistle-blower policy.
**
Kirsty had resigned as she felt she couldn’t face the workforce any longer as she still blamed herself for the accident. It was true she had been negligent but she would have to decide what she wanted to do from now on and the company felt that it would be cruel to make her work her notice. Consequently, they had paid her a month’s salary and she had left with immediate effect not even staying to say goodbye to her colleagues. Perhaps in time, she would contact them, for the moment the emotional wounds were just too raw.
**
The company share price had suffered a severe knock as a result of the accident and the disastrous clinical trial. However, Participant Four recovered to full health after a few days in hospital. There was no evidence that she had actually become ill as a result of the dose of BQ-561, one theory being that she’d suffered some sort of violent allergic reaction to a latex condom she’d been exposed to as a result of an affair she’d been conducting. She had failed to tell her extra-marital partner that she had an allergy and he’d opted for the cheapest make of condoms available. This became apparent after she improved markedly and then suffered a relapse after being examined by a latex wearing medic. Perhaps her husband at one point had been hoping for some financial gain from BioQex as compensation from the clinical trial, time would tell as to whether he was going to continue to be her husband. Thus once the financial markets became aware that their prototype BQ-561 still had potential the investors started to come back. Quite fortuitously the trial had basically demonstrated that the compound was extremely safe as the participants had been inadvertently exposed to quite a high dose with a much smaller safety window than planned.
**
All plans for expansion at BioQex were now on hold, it was a period of consolidation and damage limitation. Their finance model had now reverted to the one developed by Frank Stevens. Melanie Granger was still CFO but her new vision was shelved for the moment. Secretly she was looking for an alternative post, unwilling to remain in a company which seemed destined to tread water under a conservative approach as she saw it.
**
Jake and Theo decided to cycle some of their profits from the short selling of the stock back into BioQex shares. This was all above board and legitimate as they were investing based on a company press release. Giles had lodged a counter-accusation against them claiming that the offshore accounts in his name had been set up fraudulently, also that the documents bearing his signature were false. It was an extremely complex and clever web which Jake and Theo had woven with the help of Giles’ assistant Tamsin. She had been waiting for a while to get her own back on Giles due to his obnoxious behaviour, his bad moods and his wandering hands. So Tamsin had managed to trace the transactions showing that Giles had siphoned money from clients accounts. In busy periods she had managed to get him to sign incriminating documents setting up accounts in his name when all the time he thought the accounts were in Brett’s name. Jake had transferred the money to accounts in Giles’ name in order to incriminate him but the money had soon left and had made a circuitous journey back via various shell companies in which Jake was listed as a director. Thus he had managed to launder the money so that it could then be re-invested when an attractive opportunity presented itself. They were confident that the FCA would opt for the easiest victim, namely Giles. When they heard on the grapevine that Giles was about to be charged with fraud but that his solicitor was engaged in some sort of plea bargaining, they were even more confident that the FCA would be happy with that one conviction. By their calculations, to pursue a conviction against them would incur too much cost and effort. Additionally, had they looked on the estate agents’ websites in Fulham they would have noticed a flat recently being marketed for six hundred thousand pounds, and that inspection of the interior photos would have sparked memories of an evening some weeks ago where they had toasted their enterprise with champagne.
**
Ez Milburn wasn’t exactly toasting the future with champagne but with a diet coke as he was forbidden alcohol for the foreseeable future. He was engaged in an alcohol support group and taking medication to stabilise his mood following his nervous breakdown. He was still an inpatient but was soon hoping to be moved to some accommodation allowing him more independence, but still, with support should he need it. He had a long haul ahead but the signs were encouraging. There was also some good news via his solicitor, his brother’s estate would soon be finalised and the insurance company had decided to make a modest good-will payment which he’d accepted. It was nowhere near what he would have received under a normal in-service death benefit but he didn’t want to prolong the discussions any longer. He needed to draw a line under the episode if he were to move on in his life. He would have about thirty thousand pounds to allow him to make a fresh start.
**
Brett and Annabelle’s relationship was blossoming and they had started to make plans for their wedding. The only downside as far as Brett was concerned was that he would have to ask his mother’s new partner Rex whom he despised. Apart from the wedding, he’d been doing some serious thinking about his future. This he had so far kept from Annabelle but he felt he needed to talk it through with her. Over dinner at Annabelle’s house one evening Brett decided to bring his concerns out in the open.
‘Annabelle, there’s something I want to discuss with you,’ he said, topping up her glass of red wine. His fiancée looked worried, she had recently felt her life was about to enter a new and positive chapter after her painful divorce, were those hopes about to be dashed?
‘OK,’ she said, ‘should I be worried?’
‘Hope not, it’s just I’ve been thinking about my job and BioQex in general,’ said Brett, sipping his wine. ‘This might come as a bit of a shock, but I’m not sure I want to continue as CSO at BioQex.’
He paused to allow Annabelle chance to absorb his news, worried that she might be annoyed.
‘Why’s that?’ she asked quietly.
‘I don’t know, it’s just been such an awful phase and so stressful, Piers isn’t really interested in having much input into the company. He likes to make a few headline statements but I’ve felt I’m running things single-handed. It’s made me realise how much pressure Matt was under and why he decided to quit.’ Brett had kept much of his previous life from Annabelle, including his relationship with Matt. It was something he had banished to a previous era, not something he was in any way proud of. He continued, ‘Frank Stevens was a steadying hand, he’s gone, Bob’s no longer with us, Nick Thomas might decide he wants to quit. I accidentally saw a job application on Billie’s desk the other day. It’s going to be a long haul to get things back together again.’
‘I see, well you must do whatever you think is best for you, it’s no good if it’s all becoming too stressful,’ said Annabelle sensitively. She squeezed his hand affectionately, ‘you’re young enough to make a change, you should do something you enjoy, life’s too short.’
Brett smiled, continuing to sip his wine. ‘I’m not going to do anything rash, but I had to mention it to you.’
‘Now it’s my turn to say something to you,’ she said causing Brett to raise his eyebrows, equally worried about what she might be about to announce. Was she pregnant, oh god, that would be wonderful but fatherhood was something he would take time to get his head around. ‘I want you to put your flat on the market and move in here permanently.’
‘Really? Are you sure?’
‘Completely,’ said Annabelle, ‘we are a proper couple and it doesn’t seem so with you having a flat you can escape to at any moment,’ she joked.
‘Well, that’s er, that’s brilliant, sure, I’m so pleased,’ shouted Brett.
They clinked glasses to the future and adjourned to the sofa to relax.
