We arrived at the office, and Liz organised coffee in the boardroom, and opened a polystyrene box she'd carefully carried from the hotel. The smell of bacon and egg butties filled the room. "Breakfast," she grinned, "you must eat - I'm sure it'd be doctors orders."
I laughed, "He wasn't very enthusiastic about fried breakfasts, but did say eat in the morning. You're a quality woman Liz."
"Now, carry on with the contracts."
We had achieved another hour further when Betty interrupted saying she had Steve on the phone for me. Liz was using the speaker phone.
Liz said, "Put him through. 'Morning Steve, Liz here, how are you?"
"'Morning Liz, fine. Congratulations on your appointment. We got your letters this morning on the 'Net. Thanks. It's saved a lot of questions. Unfortunately we have a problem, and I think we need Graham's help to solve it. How necessary is he to you up there?"
"Essential, but then sacrifices can be made. Talk to him."
"'Morning Steve. Is it the cables?"
"Well, that's some of it. How does an admin. block, gatehouse, road system, emergency generator house, HT switchyard, and a four articulated-truck secure-store grab you? Oh, and by the way we're in for street-lighting, drains, water services, and telephone and optical fibre trenches."
I banged my fist on the boardroom table in frustration. "Oh holy shit. We can't fit that lot in the same time frame as the rest, besides it must, what double the cost?"
"Boss we haven't the time to do an estimate of that size down here, we have a site to run, and without you we don't stand a earthly. There's thirty four drawings and twenty sheets of specifications."
"No, of course not. Steve, how did the paperwork arrive?"
"Whirlybird dropped in. U.S. Army Sergeant, polite, said 'Don't ask me what's in it, I'm just doing the U.P.S. bit', and went back north west. Letter inside from Carlton, addressed to you saying 'Drawings enclosed required to complete your contract.' No reference to costs or schedule.
"Now, I've had another talk with my friend who did the aerial foundations at Harrogate. What we were given with the bid documents were prefix U drawings. They are universal to every site of this kind. What we were not given were SS drawings. Those are Site Specific - things that are unique to each site. Someone goofed at bidding stage on their side and didn't tell us the full story."
"Look. Steve, this is way out of the scope of an ordinary site alteration. Get the whole lot couriered up here, and I'll deal with it. What you have to do is get as much done as you can of our current work so it's obvious to the meanest intelligence that we were up to, or ahead of programme when this was dropped on us."
"Oh, we are."
"Well, just ensure we keep it that way. Oh, and and take a full set of digital photographs of the whole site today whether there's something on it or not."
"OK. Will do. See you."
Liz asked, "What's it all mean?"
"When we get the drawings we'll be able to see better, but it sounds as if we've started building the big bits on the site and there's now to be a lot of detail to be put in between, which is going to cause nightmares because it will interfere with site traffic, and we'll need more site staff so we'll need more offices, and so on and so on. It will all have a major impact on what we are doing now, and it will require much thinking to get it into a coherent programme of works, particularly as we are now looking at a continually moving target. All in all, it will be very difficult and costly.
"The client won't understand that concrete will cost twice as much to pour because we'll be building and dismantling temporary bridges across trenches, to get trucks in and out.
"We won't get our money for months whilst we argue the toss about how much it is, and so our cash flow and profit-take goes out the window. So we need to keep more money in the company. So whichever management group I'll be reporting to will think we're nitwits, so I'll have that argument to deal with as well. Bugger it - it'll be just like any other major cock up."
"Well, you won't get grumbles from me."
"You'll be long gone. You'll have your legs under some smart desk in the City. This means we won't finish for another year. I was looking to get out in August, and go do - whatever - discover myself? What the hell do I tell Ruth? I kept talking about a six month time frame."
"In six months could you get the job re-organised so Steve could run it?" .
"Oh yes, he's good, that isn't the problem. It's the endless argument about the money. Steve just doesn't have the will for that. You ask him to work out why something's cost what it has and he's excellent. The report will be first class. What he can't do is get someone who doesn't want to pay, to change his mind."
"Well, maybe we could just employ you as a consultant rather than put you in an in-line position. Look, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's wait until we have the drawings and things - mmm? Now, current contracts. Please?"
"OK - I'll take you through another one and then I must do some phoning."
Leaving Liz, who by now was able to manipulate the data herself and was making a list of questions, I telephoned Kenny about the cottage in Dovedale.
I told him we didn't want the cottage. He was quiet for some seconds.
"I'll pay you on top of the deposit if that's a problem," I said.
"No, no, I regard these weekends as a bonus, I don't advertise, just use it for friends. No, I was recalling you and Ms Howard. I quite often see couples coming to the cottage perhaps to try to resurrect a relationship, or start a new one, and you two looked so very happy I couldn't help but think your return was an absolute certainty. There's nothing wrong is there?"
"No, well, not in the way you're thinking. We're still an item."
"I'm so glad. Well I do hope I meet you two again. There seems to be so little real contentment these days that it's rewarding to contribute to some, even if it's just providing an inglenook fireside and some peace."
I examined the Yellow Pages for Burnley on the terminal, and called a house clearance company, and a car auction firm, and made appointments for the Saturday, and on Sunday for a gardener. My heart was hammering. I had thrown my muscles into wielding the first axe cut at the tree that was my previous twenty odd years of living.
Betty came in. "Liz said - oh Graham, you look pale, are you alright?"
"Yes - I've just had to wind myself up to do something and done it. Flight or fight reaction that's all."
"Liz says she wants to carry on through lunch and to get you and her some sandwiches. Any preferences? She's said salmon salad and an apple."
"That'll do me fine, thank you Betty. How are you finding Liz?"
"She's great. You ask her a question, and she gives you a solid answer. Or if she doesn't know she always asks the right questions to get to the right place. No, this one's a treasure. I'd keep her as MD."
I passed Betty a fiver for the sandwiches, "No, Liz said you bought lunch yesterday. She gave me some money. See? She even remembers whose round it is."
Liz came into William Edward's old office which I was using for my calls. "I thought we'd have our sandwiches in the board room. How are you feeling?"
"Oh, OK, I have a strong constitution."
"Fit to answer some questions?"
"Yes ma-am, brain engaged."
In the boardroom, Liz paced restlessly around me, her desirable white-clad figure and long legs, looking wholly at odds with the concentrated look on her face, which spoke only of power and money and commerce.
She waved a sandwich in her hand, a triangular white baton, "I'm in some difficulty, Graham. When I started I was looking at a one way take over. Foot grabs Wolfendale's assets and discards what it doesn't want, including most of the staff. So we have the information on people at Foot and not much else.
"Now we're saying, and don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely in agreement with you, we've bought the better animal, it's leaner, fitter and more intelligent, so let's run with it. Trouble is I have to get Foot's information like you've shown me here, and their data is all in mounds of paper files, or in individual's PCs. You can't surf a network there. What the hell can I do? Help me,Graham I'm sinking.
"And what's more they're not a company that has lost its top people. They're in place and able to make things difficult if they realise they're for the chop."
"Liz, I think you may have been hypnotised by our system. It can give you in depth information on any topic you care to pursue down to the last nut and bolt. You don't need that detail for the decisions in your report. We ran this company on a fully manual system ten years ago and all we've done is reduce the costs of running the company.
"I still say take Rosemary into your confidence, and further, take her with you to Foot's, and let her direct your digging under the guise of her being an accountant. She'll tell you the information she needs."
Liz stopped her pacing, and sat opposite me.
"Are you trying to get me out of your hair?"
"No, I genuinely think Rosemary is your man for this next phase of the job. I'm so used to managing with this system I've forgotten what a paper based operation works like. Rosemary as an analyst knowing the objective, will get what she needs, and only what she needs. I would seek more because I'd instinctively be looking for what our system gives me. Much as you were complaining of just now. Another thing, several of their staff know me as a senior member of this company. They see me working with you, and they'll smell a rat. Rosemary is such a backroom girl they'll probably not know who the hell she is. We can even give her a false business card."
"Would she do that?"
"Tell her a good reason and she would. She's done it for me before."
"OK, Graham, you've sold me. Lead me to her."
Towards three in the afternoon, we'd briefed Rosemary, and Liz had arranged for them to go to Foot on the Thursday. Wendy had brought some questions to be asked about the personnel files from Foot, and she and Liz seemed to work well together.
Liz said, "I still feel you're packing me off so you can curl up somewhere for some peace or worse, oblivion. Promise me you'll be OK."
"Yes, I just. hit a couple of lows at the same time last night. Silly at my age, I ought to be stronger."
"What has age to do with it? It's the crap life throws at you sometimes. We've all had some."
"You seem to me to be free of that problem, Liz."
"Don't you believe it. I'm just better than most at throwing it back. Come on, I'm not for telling you my life story. Take me through your last five year's company accounts."
The courier came at four with the drawings and specifications for the Doncaster job. Betty who was holding the drawing tube and brown A4 envelope said, "Do you want me to take them out to William's office, Liz?"
"It's Graham's now," said Liz gently, "we have to make the change Betty. I'm sorry we can't put the clock back. No, I'd like to see what this means for Graham. We'll look at them here."
Betty went out.
"Graham, I won't say I'm the little woman and these are just squiggles on paper, but I'd like you to tell me the significance as you go through them, I can appreciate drawings, but I'm no engineer."
"This is the site layout. Pass me those Post-it things. I'll mark those bits that we're doing already."
I stuck a label on the big octagonal slab, the perimeter fence, and the control room block, and the main road into the site and a section leading to a car park and hard-standing."
"So none of the rest is currently in your contract?"
"No, and its worse."
I took other Post-it notes and sketched our site offices, reinforcement store, bending shop, shuttering store and carpenters shop, diesel tank and vehicle park, and stuck them where they were currently placed.
"Oh shit," said Liz, "you need to reorganise all that before you can start. You couldn't be in a worse place if you'd tried."
"No it's even worse still. These trenches are drawn as they look when finished. These main ones are two meters deep. They want them concrete poured in situ, so the thing will be open for a long time and instead of being a meter and a half wide it will be getting on for four some of the time, and while we're digging it add the width of a truck picking up the spoil and a safety zone for the digger to swing around in."
"And all these other drawings are just progressively more detail of what's to be built?"
"Yes. Let's have a look at this admin block, first. Oh holy smoke, there's a huge sub-basement. That's another excavation."
"Well," said Liz, "I reckon that what's here is more than you're doing already, so under the conditions of contract you are entitled to a re-price and re-schedule."
As so often, she flat footed me with the depth of her perception. It seemed if she read a document, it was there in her head ready to scroll through.
I said, "Let's see if his letter is correctly written that way. Nope. He's sent it as a transmittal of information to site, not as a contract notice. It's what he'd do. We'll send him one."
"What will we do now?" asked Liz
"We'd be foolish to provoke him to get someone else to do the job. This is like having another contract and no marketing costs. We'll start estimating it. We'd best be getting a Quantity Surveyor to run his rule over this lot to get quantities out."
Liz was closely examining a drawing with acute concentration. "Graham, does the QS literally run his ruler over this paper to get quantities?"
"Well, yes, unless it's one of our own drawings. Our system holds an electronic model of an object, rather than the data to merely form a picture of an object."
"But this is a computer plotted drawing, you can always tell. So the numbers must be somewhere."
"Liz, not necessarily unless these guys run a compatible system, but you could be right. It's certainly worth a try to see if San Francisco are using a modelling technique like ours, and not just a computer based drawing programme."
I grabbed the phone. "Ellen, if you're not going home right now could you spare me a moment? Liz and I'll come down."
After some phoning to get a name I reached the project manager in San Francisco. I introduced myself to the quiet spoken Joe Tucker and explained my role in the project, and what had happened. "So we've had all this work suddenly arise, and I was hoping we could get your model data on board our system rather than going back to square one and picking quantities manually."
"See here, Graham, I'd like to help you, and I'll certainly get my design chief to talk to yours to ensure our computer protocols and vocabularies are compatible, but to transmit the data I need the authorisation of my client, and that Sam Carlton ain't the easiest guy to do business with."
"Tell me about it. Right. Is your design chief there?"
"Sure."
"Well put him on. Our lass is Ellen. I'll try and get an instruction sent to you, and hopefully our two will be able to make it happen. Thanks for your help. It'll make things much easier. Just one more point. Is there a design reason for in situ poured trench walls and floors? I'd surely like to use precast pieces and drop them in the hole we dig."
"I'd like to check, Graham, before I answer. Can I drop you an E mail on that?"
"Yes please. Thanks and goodbye. Here's Ellen."
Back in the boardroom, I said, "Liz I have to write to Carlton a good old fashioned posted letter. Give me half an hour, so as I can get it in the post. There's a last collection at 5 o'clock at the box round the corner."
I wrote formally that we had received his instruction to proceed with new works as defined on the drawings, and copied his letter and list back to him. I said we were interpreting this as a large variation to the contract and that we would give him a price and programme for the whole contract. I would advise a date for the submission when he had considered my request for data transmission from his San Francisco consultant. I put the relevant contract clause numbers that I was using within the text of the letter.
I returned from the post box in a shower of drizzly rain with dusk falling, the streetlights reflecting orange sheen on the pavement, and homebound traffic swishing by. I went into the shed like building. Nearly everyone had gone home. A few stragglers were working at terminals or shuffling last papers. The grey floor, grey cabinets, and furniture under the flat pinkish fluorescent lights depressed me. My mind returned to the flickering firelight in the inglenook at Dovedale, embracing Ruth's dear form in it's warmth and orange glow.
Liz's brisk step in her hard heeled walk was audible even on the carpet squares, approaching me from behind.
"Dreaming? Oh - Sorry. Why tears?"
"It's alright. I seem to be very unstable emotionally these days. I get caught unawares, when I haven't anything in front of me to do."
"Right I'm going to give you just that. Take me through your site personnel and sub-contractor strategy."
I took hold of myself, and gave her a smile. "Aye, aye, ma-am."
It was another evening where Liz's single minded determination to get to grips with the job wore my brain to a standstill. For eight hours in the day I found her stimulating and fun.
But in the evening I wanted some lightening of the perspective. I felt I couldn't take four weeks of it. The only thing she seemed to like apart from work was swimming, and west end theatre. She had very disparaging views on the possibilities of the local theatres, and as we worked into the dark every evening we couldn't even take advantage of the magnificent Yorkshire Dales scenery that a short car drive would have opened to us. She seemed to have no taste for looking at the Minster which would have been restful, and would perhaps interrupt the continuous stream of questions and probing. She liked her food and wine but it didn't seem to interest her.
As I shut my door behind me and leant against it I determined to find a swimming pool. She couldn't talk whilst swimming. It wouldn't do me any harm to have some exercise anyway.
Ruth's voice, quiet, calm, low-pitched fell like liquid balm into my ears even as compressed by the radio link.
"Just talk to me my love, about anything that isn't to do with contracting or corporate take overs."
"Is she that bad?"
"No she's not really. But whereas you and I have spent sixty hours together at a stretch and wanted more, I can't take more than eight or so of Liz without wanting to hide under a pillow. It's just she's so single minded, and unless she's hiding herself from me for some reason of her own, she has a very narrow range of interests. But, she's a very generous person in many ways."
"Poor darling. You do have a hard life."
"Why do I get the feeling you don't quite mean that?"
"Well I had this picture from your mind, legs and all, when you described her, and I think of you in the luxury of the Dean Court Hotel with this extraordinarily glamorous woman on your arm as you float down to dinner. Pardon me if I can't feel too sympathetic."
I laughed, "Well it's true we've never had to book a table. The maitre-dee just falls apart under her aquamarine-eyed gaze, and says, 'Certainly, now, madam?' and everyone is exquisitely polite to us.
"Oh Ruthie, I wish it could be you."
"I know, I know, pet."
"I've done something positive today about us, or me."
"What, my love?"
"I've called a house clearance company, a car auction firm, and a gardener, and made appointments for the week end."
"That was brave. You must have felt bad. Wouldn't you have done better to have done it stage by stage. You're going to be put through an emotional wringer."
"No, I think I'd rather get it over in one go. Ruth do you or the girls want any of Claire's clothes, or jewellery"
"Oh, I hadn't thought about that. No - unless - unless, oh, I wish we were together I could pick the feelings from your mind. I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't hurt me whatever you say."
"Let the clothes go, but any of the jewellery you wouldn't mind seeing every day, keep, and I'd love a ring, a plain gold band if there is one. I'll wear it for you, and the girls have so little I'm sure they'd treasure a present."
"I'll buy you a new one if you want one."
"No, I'd like a simple symbol of your having passed into my love from Claire's."
"You have beautiful thoughts."
"Perhaps I'm inspired these days."
We finished the call fondly, and I managed to limit my night cap to one, remembered to set the alarm, and the TV was not so vapid, but still sent me to sleep.
I came down to breakfast. Liz was immersed in the FT as I approached, but gave me one of her brilliant smiles, and set the paper aside, "That's better, you look as though you actually slept last night."
"'Morning. Anything amusing happen in the world yesterday?"
"No, I was looking at the Foot share price. It's going up since the acquisition. Wolfenden is drifting down a bit but that's understandable. People will be profit taking."
"Hmm."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she said edgily.
"Well you have thirty or so pages of text about anything from war and finance to politics and art, and the most important thing you can tell me about is the share price of two bit players in the domestic civil construction market of a fifteenth ranking country."
"Well one of them pays your salary so don't you get too lofty about it," she snapped.
"Why are we quarreling?" she asked in a hurt tone, "I don't want this. Please?"
She put her hand on mine on the table.
"Sorry," I said, "Maybe I'm reacting to having to work in this business longer than I wanted to."
"One step at a time. We'll sort something out I promise, but don't take it out on me."
She looked at me with her always winning directness.
"Graham I know you think I'm shallow, but look at it from my point of view. If I shared my deeper thoughts with you, or if we went to the Minster together and saw the wonderful and lovely things that you've told me about, I'd be letting you into my private life. I daren't do that, because you are going to walk right out of it sooner or later. I don't want a great Graham shaped hole in it. So these four weeks are business only, and whatever needs be to make it work."
"I'm always guilty of under-estimating you," I said, "and for that, and anything else I apologise."
She smiled, squeezed my hand, and picked up her paper again, "Accepted. Now eat your boiled egg. We need to get on."
Betty met us as we came into her domain with a shocked and anxious expression on her face.
"There's been the rudest man, American, on the 'phone for you Graham. I'll take out every fifth word, it usually began with 'F'. He says why aren't you at the site getting things sorted, and what's the rubbish in your letter, and you're to get in touch with him but immediately. His name's Carlton, and I won't get him for you."
I smiled ruefully, "OK, Betty, thanks. And I apologise for him. Regretfully he is one of our esteemed clients."
I went to my office. Liz followed.
"Betty isn't a prude so he must have been really rough with her. We can't have that Graham. That's harassment. I'm not having my people treated like that."
I grinned, "I seem to remember a certain brunette telling her boss he was a little shit."
"That's different. He really was. Betty is completely innocent. Even if you'd been guilty of the worst contractual transgression Betty's an innocent servant of the company."
I said, "I'm going to phone him, and you can stay here and listen on the strict understanding you keep quiet. OK?"
"Yes."
The connection was made.
"Carlton."
"Wisheart."
"About fucking time. You should be building. Why the hell are you up there.
"Look, we have to do a re-estimate for the job. You've doubled the cost of it with this lot, and so we can't just wade into it. The whole site's wrongly laid out as well."
"Not my bloody problem. Jeesus, Bechtel wouldn't be wimping on like this."
Betty came in with some coffees.
"No," I said, exasperation having finally breached my control, "they'd have sufficient influence to make sure you were thrown off the project for incompetence, foul language, and abuse of innocent employees.."
"You come up here and say that, arsehole, and you'd better bring that fucking new managing director you mentioned with you, and I'll sort the bloody pair of you out."
I raised my eyebrows to Liz. With her eyes glittering, she put up her thumb and Betty grinned.
"Yes, I'll organise that. Say eleven o'clock."
"You bet."
The connection was cut.
"Betty do us a favour and get sales to make up a few business cards for Liz, pronto."
"Sure. I wish I could be a fly on the wall."