Cambridge Blue - Alison Bruce [6]
Lorna slapped her hand on the oak counter-top. ‘Morning. Are you from the agency?’
The woman nodded and introduced herself as Faith Carver. That figured: nothing more glamorous would fit.
Lorna smiled, reached over and shook her hand. ‘I’m Lorna. I do the accounts through there.’ She pointed at the frosted-glass panel behind Faith’s chair.
‘Oh, good. I have lots of messages for you.’
Lorna swung up the hinged end of the reception counter and slid back the glass partition which led to her office. She worked alone in a twelve-foot-square space that contained two desks, two phones, two chairs and one kettle. ‘Give me a minute to sort myself out and I’ll be with you. Tea or coffee?’
‘Not for me, thanks. I’ll wait until eleven.’
The corner of Lorna’s mouth flickered with the hint of an ironic smile. That made a change; a temp with a work ethic.
Though Faith remained on her side of the open door, Lorna chatted to her as she organized her morning drink. ‘When I first worked here, I thought Excelsior sounded like a brand of condom. After a while, I realized how appropriate it was too.’ Lorna stole a quick glance at Faith’s ring finger and saw that she wore a wedding band. ‘This business is all about sex,’ she added.
Faith raised an eyebrow. ‘Is it?’
‘Yup. I’ve been here two years and nearly every treatment that we perform is cosmetic. The dental department does caps and whitening, the eye clinic does laser treatment so people can chuck out their glasses, and that’s nothing compared to the surgery lot. Have you heard of Botox?’
Faith shrugged. ‘I’ve heard the name.’ She sounded vague.
‘It costs three hundred and fifty quid for a ten-minute session. And for that, Mr Moran injects them, paralysing their facial muscles with shots of purified botulism. It’s nearly all women, and they roll out of here feeling like sex kittens.’
Faith picked up a notepad and tore off the top sheet. ‘Dr Moran is one of your messages.’
‘It’s Mr, not Dr,’ Lorna corrected and carried on cheerfully, ‘I think there’s nothing like tossing money around to boost a woman’s libido.’ Mr Moran’s schedule lay on the top of her in-tray. She checked it: no cancellations. She ran her finger down the list, making a rough total of the bills to be issued. Almost £12,000. ‘Same tomorrow, too. Twelve grand for one day’s work.’
Faith shook her head. ‘I don’t think I need to know all of this.’
Lorna paused. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound indiscreet, but I find it fascinating. Besides, you work here now. And I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve his success. He often works ten-hour days so he can see people who travel up from London after work. And everyone says he’s very good.’
She looked across at her post tray, stacked deep from a single delivery. Her job included issuing neat bills in crisp, tamper-proof envelopes and banking the personal cheques which, in his case, arrived by return of post. No one kept Mr Moran waiting for payment, not when his diary was full two months ahead, and trustworthy consultants were so hard to find. ‘Very, very good,’ she added.
Faith nodded. ‘Don’t mind me, I just have some old-fashioned views and I’m sure they don’t count for anything in the world of business.’
They each turned back to their respective desks. Faith’s note was written in her own style of shorthand, with names and single words separated by commas. ‘Dr Moran, moran, redhd.’
Lorna frowned, rolled her chair towards Faith and passed the note back to her. ‘What does it mean?’
Faith glanced at it and explained, stressing that ‘Mr Moran rang twice. Wanted to know where you were and said you had to ring the second you arrived.’
Lorna cut in. ‘What did he say?’
‘Just that. And then a nurse stopped by.’
‘Victoria?’ It was a redundant question since Victoria was the only person in the building who looked remotely nurse-like.
‘Again, I don’t know. To be honest, she was pretty rude. She looked rather out of sorts when I said you weren’t in. Swore several times, in fact.’
‘A slim redhead?’
Faith nodded. ‘Skinny and rude.’
‘She’s all right, she just gets stressed and