Evelyn seemed hesitant, but Cooper was too introverted to want a new boss.
“You starting up a small agency seems like a good idea to me. Will you have partners? I have some money I could invest…” Cooper proposed.
“Well…that is a surprise. But I don’t have a penny to spare. I’m saving up to buy a house,” said Evelyn, taken aback by Cooper’s offer.
“I don’t want partners yet, but it would suit me to have someone else get involved in the business. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about spending as much time as I need to in New York. It’ll make the whole project run smoother. And as for you, Evelyn, don’t worry—you’re still irreplaceable. The best support that Cooper could have. But before we start anything I have to talk to Roy. I’ll see if I can meet him tomorrow.”
“If you’re going up to the county I’ll take you. I was thinking about going this afternoon after lunch. I haven’t seen my parents for a while,” Evelyn suggested to me.
“Perfect, I’ll call Roy right away.”
—
Evelyn was a good driver, though her car was hardly built for speed. It was small, comfortable, and practical, decent enough to get us to the county in good time. Roy had insisted we have dinner together. Suzi had left with the children to spend the weekend at her parents’ estate, where he wasn’t welcome. They wouldn’t be back until Sunday night. The kids liked to enjoy the countryside and ride horses.
Roy was waiting for me at the hotel and barely gave me time to take my bag up to my room. He seemed eager to have somebody to talk to.
He took me to the best restaurant in the county on the outskirts of the city, an old windmill converted into a Michelin star restaurant.
“I’m bored of being alone, Thomas. It doesn’t matter so much during the week, but I don’t know what to do with myself on the weekend. I insist on the party having meetings, but they aren’t always willing—they all have families and their wives complain if they’re left alone on Saturdays.”
“You have to try to rebuild your life with Suzi.”
“There’s no point. She hardly speaks to me. Only the bare minimum so that the kids don’t feel too uncomfortable. The other day Ernest—my eldest—he told me how worried he was getting, seeing us like that.”
“You can’t separate—it would be a disaster for your political career.”
“I know that. But how much can I put up with?” asked Roy, as if I had the answer.
“She won’t leave you, at least while her father’s still alive. She knows that we’d leak the story about him.”
“The old man’s in bad health and he’s really been affected by the gas plant. The fracking is already wreaking havoc on their land.”
“We always knew that was going to happen. That’s not news.”
“We did, but some of the landowners are starting to complain. They’re saying they feel cheated.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this? We have to counteract whatever these men are saying.”
“I called the lawyers a couple of days ago. They told me that Schmidt would send someone to deal with it.” Roy lowered his head. He knew that I would feel betrayed.
“So that means you’re going to keep on working with GCP, and that means you won’t need another adviser. I don’t understand where this is coming from, Roy—I don’t know why you’ve decided to get rid of me. You’re leaving me out in the cold.”
“It’s not my decision. You know that without Jones or Brown I never would have gotten this far.”
“I don’t understand those goddamn lawyers, or that lackey Schmidt. The only reason I’m forced to remain tied to GCP seems to be to deal with you. Why is that?”
“I don’t know. I asked, and they told me that from now on you won’t always be the one taking care of matters in this county. They didn’t want to give me any explanations. And I swear I insisted.”
“You know you wouldn’t have gotten where you are today without me. I was the one who got the other candidates out of your way.”
“But Schmidt and the lawyers were the ones behind you. That’s how things are. I can’t go against them, Thomas, not even for you. I want my seat in Parliament. I don’t understand why they don’t want to put you in charge either.”
“I’m going to set up an agency here, just a small one. Cooper and Evelyn will still be working with us. I’ve also thought about expanding the business to New York, dividing my job between the two cities. And I was counting on you, Roy.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Thomas…I’d like to say that you can count on me, but it’s up to the lawyers,” Roy said regretfully.
“You know something? I thought you had them in their place. I thought that you weren’t the kind of guy who lets himself get pushed around by just anyone, much less become some kind of grateful slave,” I said with contempt.
Roy looked at me, hurt. He wasn’t expecting such a low blow. I held his gaze. He lowered his eyes, looking at the tablecloth as he searched for the words to respond. He waited a few moments before looking at me again.
“I was the one who insisted that you work for GCP. I pushed for it, in spite of what Bernard Schmidt thought. He didn’t see the need to have you around.”
“Oh, so you think you did me a favor? You and I have always talked about setting up an agency to handle your business outside the lawyers. You were the reason I ended up agreeing to join GCP. And then your friend Schmidt treated me badly by sending me to Spain. I did that goddamn job to regain my freedom, because your friends wouldn’t let me break my contract if I didn’t. Make no mistake, Roy. Meeting those lawyers and Schmidt was not a good move for me—quite the opposite. You’ve sold yourself to them to achieve your ambitions. I’m not judging you—that’s your business—but you should at least keep some independence and not just get dragged along. Otherwise they’ll look down on you and will wash their hands of you as soon as they can. Pieces of shit are always disposable.”
Roy was an open book, and an expression of disgust had been creeping over his face, until he suddenly burst.
“We’re even. We don’t owe each other anything. At no point did you do anything that you didn’t want to do. The truth is you love living on the edge and you were dying to meet the men who pull the bloody strings of this world.”
“Those two lawyers are worthless. They’re underlings, just like you.”
“Enough, Thomas! You think you’re better than me? You aren’t—you’re made of the same old shit.”
We fell silent, each looking at the other. I think we were both weighing what more we could say.
I asked the waiter to bring me a whiskey. Roy ordered another. We waited a few minutes before either of us spoke another word.
“At least keep Evelyn,” I asked, unconvincingly.
He sighed. He seemed tired, not so much from talking to me but from all the changes to his life he’d had to deal with since dedicating himself to politics. The break with Suzi had left him bereft.
“I’ll talk to the lawyers. I’ll tell them that we’ll go back to square one. That I want you in charge of my campaigns and my business. I’ll take on this fight for you. I hope you won’t object to keeping them in the loop about how you’re going to handle my affairs. That’s the agreement. They’ll know what you’re doing, but you’ll take the reins.”
“I’m sick of these people. I don’t know why I should have to tell them what I’m going to do when I’m acting in your interest.”
“They’re your interests too. I can’t fight them too hard, Thomas, you know that. If I do they’ll drop me. Suzi is lying in wait to tear me to shreds. If she figures out there’s nobody behind me she’ll finish me off. What I’m suggesting here is a good deal for both of us.”
“But I don’t want Schmidt hovering over me. When you need my services I can tell them what I’m planning to do, but I won’t ask their permission to go ahead with it.”
“When are you going to New York?”
“It’ll still be a couple of
days—I have to take care of a few things. Evelyn will handle you exclusively. She knows the county as well as you do, and she knows which buttons to push and when. You’ll be in safe hands with her. I think the best thing is for her to move back here.”
“The party does have a communications team…”
“And she knows them all, there won’t be any problem there. You’re our main client, Roy, so Evelyn will always be at your disposal. I don’t want her to leave your side. You’ve got to start gearing up to win the seat. They say the prime minster might hold early elections.”
“All right.”
“Evelyn is intelligent and ambitious. You can trust her as much as you trust me.”
“And you?”
“I’ll come back to England once a month. I’ll meet with her, meet with you, we’ll analyze the situation, decide what to do…And if there are any problems, any crises, I’ll come right away. You’re my priority, Roy, I promise you.”
I was lying. I don’t know if he knew it, but if he did he didn’t show it—he seemed to believe me. Perhaps it’s what he wanted. I wouldn’t have.
He shrugged. He seemed suddenly older to me. I examined him carefully and noticed the many wrinkles around his eyes, his reddish hair spotted with white strands. He’d gained weight. He was getting a double chin. He’d lost that aura of strength and stability from when we’d first met. There was no trace of that stubborn, overpowering man who had practically forced me to work for him.
“You have to face up to the situation,” I told him. “Life doesn’t end with Suzi.”
“You can’t understand, Thomas. Suzi is the only person in the world who I can be myself with, who I don’t have to pretend with. I can tell her anything, talk about my dreams, know that she’ll always be there…”
“But you were wrong about that, Roy. Everyone has their limits, their personal boundaries. Suzi’s limits are her family and those fields, the ones with the flocks of sheep that don’t seem to be giving birth or producing milk anymore because of the fracking.”
“It wasn’t worth it. That’s the worst part of all, that the price I’ve paid to be mayor absolutely was not worth it.”
“Tell her that, and beg forgiveness.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to me. She refuses.”
I was beginning to get bored. I had gotten what I was looking for—keeping Roy as a client—and his marital woes weren’t of particular interest to me. But I knew that the only way he’d feel connected to me was for me to listen to him. And that’s what I did for another hour, until we were the only people left in the restaurant and I volunteered to walk him back home. When we got there he invited me in for a nightcap. I was forced to accept and continue listening to how much he loved Suzi.
On Monday morning Cooper called me. A friend had rented us a place near Piccadilly. One hundred square meters at a decent price.
I had a hard time convincing Maggie to keep working with us. She didn’t trust me and didn’t seem to have much faith in Cooper either.
“The thing is, Thomas, I just don’t trust you.”
“I’ll pay you a little extra if you come with us.”
“And what guarantee do I have that you’re going to behave? I’ve spent many years in the ad industry, and you do hear things…You’ve made a name for yourself, but not for your skills as much for your to-ing and fro-ing. First you messed Cathy around with Green. Then Scott and Roth invited you to pack your bags. Now you’ve left GCP with no explanation…Too many changes, even for an industry like ours.”
“Two hundred more per month than you were earning at GCP. Agreed?”
“The rich boy always getting his wallet out,” she remarked, as greed flashed in her eyes.
“Agreed?”
“Only with a guarantee. A five-year contract. If you shut down the agency you pay me the time remaining. Down to the last penny.”
“Anything else?”
“Maybe. I’ll think about it.”
I hired her. There was no question I would. I knew that when it came to Maggie it was only ever a question of money. But she was worth it. She was more than a personal assistant. Only she could handle the management side properly and had the skills to put my business in order. She knew it all.
We bought the office furniture from Ikea. I didn’t want to invest too much in the agency, which we simply named Global Communication.
Schmidt called me, and even though I could tell he was in a bad mood, he didn’t let it show during our conversation.
“Mr. Parker has expressed his wish that you be put in charge of appeasing the people clamoring against the gas company in Derbyshire. He was very insistent, and the lawyers eventually gave in.”
“Against your better judgment, I suppose. Why did you want to separate me from Roy?”
He didn’t bother to answer my question.
“You will inform Mr. Lerman how you plan to proceed with this task.”
“I don’t work at GCP anymore and Lerman is no longer my boss. Why should I?”
“Do us all a favor, Spencer, and try not to provoke anyone. You know that you’re still tied to GCP, we’ve only modified the contract.”
“I’m starting up my own agency.” I told him this as if it would come as a surprise to him.
“You know what you’ve signed. You’ll have to consult with us on what steps you’re going to take and for which clients. If there’s no conflict of interest then we don’t care. You just have to keep us informed. Try to get campaigns selling colognes or toys, and leave the sensitive work to us. That’s in everyone’s best interest.”
“Roy will still be my client.”
“We’ll decide who is best equipped to handle his issues as they occur. Get used to the idea that it won’t always be you.”
“But you’ve already had to give in once.”
I thought I heard the distant sound of Schmidt’s laughter before he spoke again.
“Lerman is waiting to hear your action plan. Don’t delay. We have to cut off these dissident voices as soon as possible.”
—
I was annoyed that I couldn’t go back to New York as I’d planned. But I was the one who’d compelled myself to take on more work for Roy. Cooper seemed delighted when I told him.
“I’m pleased you’re staying. It’ll be better for the agency that you’re here, at least at the beginning. It was too soon for you to be going to New York.”
Evelyn wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about being assigned exclusively to Roy. She didn’t want to go back to the county. I convinced her by explaining that she could keep her apartment in London. We still had several months to go before the elections and if Roy got his seat he would have to travel regularly to the capital, and she’d go with him.
“But I want to work on other things…I’ll go crazy if I have to be with Roy all the time, listening to him whine about Suzi.”
We agreed that she’d be allowed to look into other matters. It was a way of pacifying her. I didn’t want her to quit. I needed someone whom Roy and I could trust to stay with him. There was no one better than Evelyn.
Getting the agency set up kept me busy the rest of the week. Arranging the furniture, buying filing cabinets, and lunching with five journalists—selected by Cooper—to announce that we had set out on our own, but still had a working agreement with GCP. The aim was to get them to publish a line or two about us in the papers. We got that. By Friday the space we had rented was nearly ready, allowing us to get to work the following week. Cooper had drawn up a list of potential clients to whom Maggie sent a letter offering our services. As for Evelyn, even though we hadn’t even installed our computers yet, she started work at her apartment on the campaign.
“Thank goodness it’s the weekend. I’m sick of hanging paintings and rearranging furniture,” complained Maggie.
“Well, you can rest until Monday. I’m going to the country, to stay with some friends,” remarked Cooper.
On hearing them make their plans
for the weekend I felt another wave of loneliness. What could I do until Monday? Suddenly I remembered that little Nataly had promised to give me information on Yoko. Nataly went to Madame Agnès’s on Tuesdays and Fridays, so I now had something to do that night. This cheered me up.
When I arrived there were already a number of men present, talking away. Only one of the girls was talking, with a guy who looked Eastern European—I thought he must be one of those Russian millionaires.
Madame Agnès welcomed me with the same deference as on previous occasions, offering me the usual glass of champagne that I’d later have to pay for. It was part of the game.
“My dear friend, how wonderful of you to visit us! Champagne? Of course, there’s no better way to begin the evening than a glass of champagne and some good conversation. I’ll introduce you to one of the gentlemen who is with us this evening. He asked me to let him know if you came. He read in the papers that you’ve started your own agency and he’s interested in meeting you.”
I followed Madame Agnès to a group of men. At that particular moment they were discussing whether Europe could maintain its current growth rates, or if it was instead on the verge of a new recession. Madame Agnès motioned to a man whom I guessed to be between forty-five and fifty years old. He stood up and held out his hand, introducing himself: “Anthony Tyler, I’ve been keen to meet you. You’re a very promising young man. Have you met these gentlemen?” Tyler proceeded to introduce me to the other three men in the group and brought me into their conversation. I had to force myself to get involved. Their opinions about what Her Majesty’s government might or might not do didn’t interest me in the slightest. I was concerned. Nataly still hadn’t made an appearance and I didn’t want to get distracted. If any of Madame Agnès’s clients got to her first I wouldn’t be able to talk to her. Yoko wasn’t there either.