Page 31 of Mistaken Identity

“England.”

“Oh?” I hadn’t expected that. I’d assumed she’d say she was going to work somewhere else, or maybe that she was retiring.

“My daughter and her husband live there, and they’re about to have my first grandchild, so I’m going to stay with them for a few months.”

I nod my head, just as the doors open and we both step out. “Is it going to be a boy, or a girl… or don’t they know yet?”

“It’s a girl,” she says, beaming. “They’re going to call her Phoebe.”

“That’s pretty.”

She tilts her head. “I wasn’t sure about it to start with, but it’s growing on me.”

We get to her office, which I guess will be mine soon, and she waits, letting me enter ahead of her. The door to Hunter’s room is open, but there’s no sign of him, and I walk over to Doreen’s desk, unsure what to do. I don’t feel as though I can sit down, not when she’s still here, but she solves the problem for me.

“If you want to leave your purse in the bottom drawer, along with mine, I’ll take you on a quick tour of the offices.”

I’m not sure why she didn’t give me the tour on the way up here, but I’m not about to question anything she does, and I just smile and say, “Okay,” before I go around to the other side of the desk, depositing my purse as instructed. Then I straighten my jacket and follow her back out into the hall.

“When Theodore Bennett first started the company,” she says as we walk along, “he just rented the room that’s now Hunter’s office.”

“Did you work here, even then?”

“Not straight away. I joined after about a year, but I was Theodore’s first full-time employee, and to start with, I had a desk in the corner of his office. It was my first job, too. I was straight out of college and I’ve been here ever since, except the few months after my daughter was born.” It’s obvious that leaving is going to be a wrench for her, but before I can say anything, she continues, “I was grateful for the work when I first came. I knew nothing about advertising.” That sounds reassuring. “I was engaged, too, and my fiancé and I were saving for our first home. Theodore needed an assistant, and luckily, I seemed to fit the bill.”

“The company’s obviously grown since.”

She smiles. “Yes. For the first few years, he outsourced everything. Then, slowly but surely, he brought it all in-house and took over the entire building.”

“And does TBA own it now, or is it still rented?”

“Oh, no… the company owns it.” We stop at the top of the stairs, by the elevators. “This is the executive floor,” she says.

“Miles Hampton explained that when I came for my interview.”

She nods her head. “I’m sure he did.” She sounds very dismissive of him, which makes me smile. “The executive officers can be a little self-important, but don’t let them get to you. Hunter’s in charge, and you work for him, not them.”

I nod my head, and she puts her foot down on the first step before she turns back to me.

“I forgot to say, there’s a board room further along the hall. They have quarterly meetings of all the board members, and you’re expected to take notes… but don’t worry about it; they’ve only just had one, so you’ve got a couple of months to get used to who’s who and what’s what.”

I feel like I’m being thrown to the lions, but try not to show my trepidation as we head down the stairs, stopping at the floor below.

“The account executives and administration staff hang out here,” Doreen says, looking at me with a smile.

“Account executives? Shouldn’t they be on the fourth floor?”

She smiles, shaking her head. “Account executives are responsible for looking after the clients. Essentially, they’re the sales force of the business. That’s over-simplifying their role, and they’d probably all walk out in protest if they heard me describing them like that… but that doesn’t make it any less true.”

“So, they’re kinda self-important, too?”

“You could say that. Don’t get me wrong, the company couldn’t function without them, but they never let you forget it.” She says those last few words under her breath, and I have to chuckle.

Making our way down another floor, she explains that this is home to the design teams, that there are several of them, and that they each have different functions.

“Don’t look so worried.”

I hadn’t been aware that I was. “There’s a lot to take on board.”

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