Page 7 of All the Right Words
‘Brenda’s hard work, isn’t she?’ Olivia said easily.
Harper smiled. ‘Well, I’ve worked with easier; let’s put it that way.’
‘But the womancanwrite crime.’
‘That she can,’ Harper agreed.
Olivia switched gears. ‘Look, I know why you’re here. You’ve heard the news.’
‘The news that Michael isn’t on sick leave in France?’ Harper said with a half-smile.
Olivia held up her hand and gave it a pantomime slap. ‘I apologise for lying. That morning that you came, we were in freefall. Michael was arrested about half an hour before you arrived. We didn’t know what the hell was going on. As far as we knew, it might have been a misunderstanding. Iwantedto tell you the truth. Had Brenda not tagged along, I would have done.’
‘Oh?’ Harper asked, surprised.
‘You know how it is with something like this,’ Olivia said conspiratorially. ‘It can topple a company in the blink of an eye. We were keeping it quiet. But I get the feelingyouknow when to keep quiet.’
Harper thought of themanytimes she had to bite her tongue around Brenda. ‘It’s part of the job.’
‘Yes. Brenda often needs… assuagement. So I was forced to fib. I hope you can forgive me,’ Olivia said. She sounded a bit less slick than usual, a little vulnerable even.
‘Of course I can,’ Harper said. ‘Though it would be great to get the straight scoop now.’
‘Absolutely. Michael…’ She paused, gathering herself. ‘This is hard because we were close. He taught me everything I know about this business.’
‘I hope he didn’t teach youeverything,’ Harper joked.
Olivia laughed. ‘He left off some stuff. But yes, he did wrong. I don’t think he’s getting out of it.’
‘But he stole from you as well, right? The company, I mean.’
‘Over the years, he stole a lot. I’m not going to lie,’ Olivia confessed.
‘Any chance you might get any of it back?’
‘I’m going to look into that. But I don’t know.’
‘OK. And how does this affect the future?’ Harper asked, getting to the crux.
‘I take it you saw the press conference?’ Olivia asked.
‘I had a quick look. You really sold your leadership.’
‘And you don’t want the sales pitch. You want to know if you need to break the contract?’ Olivia asked plainly.
‘It had crossed my mind.’
‘The truth is that it might be the last straw for us if Brenda leaves.’
Harper took a long pause. ‘I asked for honest.’
Olivia smiled sadly. ‘We’re in crisis, but I think it might be alright. As long as we don’t lose our biggest author, that is.’
‘But if we stay with you, you might still go under?’ Harper posited.
‘You could always resell Brenda’s new title. We wouldn’t quibble about that. Why would we if we were done?’ Olivia said reasonably.
‘That’s not what I’m worried about,’ Harper told her. ‘Going somewhere else is fine; I’ve got relationships with many companies. But Brenda, for all her threats to leave, she’s happy here. And I’m sure you know that it doesn’t do much for their productivity when you throw an author into chaos. It could end up costing her a lot of money.’ She looked off into the distance, trying to imagine Brenda worse than she was now. ‘That’s a lot to deal with.’
