Page 8 of Lie For Me

‘Here, let me take that.’

Jack took the tray from Kathy that balanced two steaming coffee mugs and two generous slices of Kathy’s homemade chocolate cake. Kathy’s motto was, a little of what you fancy does you good. Jack eyed the slab of cake and wondered if his waistline could take it.

‘I put a nip of sugar in your coffee,’ Kathy whispered to Jack, patting him on the arm. ‘You need the energy to get you through.’

Jack grinned. Kathy’s solution to most things in life was either a nip of sugar, a cup of tea, fresh air, or a tot of whisky. To be fair, she was mostly right.

‘Thank you, Kathy, you’re a marvel.’

She nodded sagely as she closed the door.

Jack took a long sip of too-sweet coffee and felt it burn his throat a little as it went down.

‘Okay. What do we have here?’

Jack clapped his hands and smiled broadly at Tim.

Tim, his head of design, was exceptionally gifted, and Jack was grateful every day that he continued to work with him. He was talented enough to work for any agency in any major city. But Tim had married a Yorkshire lass who would never be persuaded to swap the hills and countryside for city streets and parks. Something for which Jack thanked his lucky stars daily.

Tim spread out the draft logos and key brand identification points for a luxury bespoke furniture company, one of their newest clients.

Jack sipped his coffee and gave Tim his full attention as Tim described the thinking behind the colour palette, the logo style, the tagline, and the identity he wanted to create for the company.

‘As you know, they feel they’ve really outgrown their current branding, and it’s not supporting them in their expansion plans. They want visuals and messaging that conveys a sense of place and history, with high-quality build standards, but for a national audience.’

Jack nodded as he looked over the designs spread out before him.

‘Yes, okay. This is looking good. Really good. Have you spoken to Ellie about the social media key messages and the first campaign?’

Tim nodded.

‘Yes. And I hope all three of us can meet next week to finalise things before we go back to the client.’

‘Yes.’ Jack nodded. ‘We can fit that in.’

He wasn’t sure exactly how he would fit it in, not without another few hours in the day, but he’d make it work somehow. He opened his phone and started scrolling through his calendar.

There was a knock at the door, and Ellie, the social media strategist for their clients, stuck her head in.

She pulled a face.

‘So sorry to interrupt you, but we’ve got a bit of an issue. Can I bend your ear?’

She looked at Jack, eyes wide.

‘Of course.’ He swiveled to face her and smiled. ‘What is it?’

Ellie stepped into the room and glanced from Jack to Tim and back to Jack.

‘Well, Herberts are on the phone. They want extra support urgently to manage an emerging situation about some posts on X.’

Ellie looked nervous.

Jack leaned forward.

‘Go on.’

‘It seems they had an intern at their head office, and someone…’ she shook her head, ‘let the intern help with some of the social media. Only, it looks like the intern then forgot to sign back into their own private account, so they’ve posted a few things on X that now look like they have been shared by Herberts.’ Ellie paused. ‘At least one is a bit… explicit.’

---