The Candidate (4 page)

The biggest job in making the place habitable had been the floors. She’d ripped up the vile polyester carpet and the hard, sweaty work had been rewarded when she saw the timber underneath. It would need a full restoration at some stage but for now, she threw down a selection of rugs and mats and tried to remember to take off her heels.

The flat was minimalist, she told herself, not empty. And it was hers. She was building something here. A home, a business, a life — and on her terms.

Grabbing her keys, bag, phone and a banana, she was down the short flight of stairs and into her office in moments. Firing up her computer, she was soon ready for a solid couple of hours’ work.

Just before nine Ginny heard the street door opening, the distinctive bang as it closed, and footsteps coming up the main stairs. Her assistant, Ange, hauled open one half of the glass doors that led into Shine Consulting.

Ginny sighed with pleasure at Ange’s outfit for the day. Whenever she tried op-shopping she struck the aqua polyester house-dresses. By comparison, Ange uncovered pieces of beauty and style at shockingly cheap prices and teamed them up to create wildly sophisticated outfits.

‘Oh, you’re wonderful, thank you.’ Ginny reached for the coffee and muffin Ange handed her.

‘No problem, boss. I thought you could do with a bit of sustenance. I put it on your tab downstairs. Do they actually pay you any rent, or do you eat it all?’

Ginny grinned. ‘Just about, but not quite. This is delicious — did you get yourself one?’

‘Not today. You sprung for the coffee, though.’ Ange raised her own cup to take a sip.

‘How did the date go?’

‘Shocking. A complete debacle. His profile claimed he worked in banking, which turned out to mean he’s a teller. And it sure as hell didn’t say anything about the bald spot.’

Ginny snorted. ‘You’re never going to find the man of your dreams on the Internet. I keep telling you.’

‘Yeah, well, I don’t see your methods being any more successful. What do you need me to do this morning?’

Ginny thanked her lucky stars for Ange. A PhD student specialising in something to do with Antarctic plants, she was outrageously smart, quick to pick up on how the recruitment process worked and willing to try and fit her uni work around Ginny’s requirements, which were growing. Ginny dreaded the fact that they would soon reach a tipping point — due to her need for a permanent employee, or to Ange completing her doctorate and starting her own career. Either would spell the end of their easy and enjoyable collaboration.

‘Well, all pretty standard really.’ Ginny picked up a sheet of notes. ‘Phone, of course, but that should be light. I need the shortlist for the product manager role sorted so if you’ll print and collate those applications, I can go through them tonight. I haven’t heard back from Calvin at Forsyth and Co yet about whether he likes the ad so please could you chase that? If he says yes, shoot it through to AdMaster,’ she said, referring to the advertising booking agency she used. ‘The only other thing is getting hold of Simon Crofts’s last referee. He was going to call him last night so if we haven’t heard by the time I leave can you follow him up?’ She puffed out a breath. There was more there than she’d thought.

‘No worries, Ginny, sounds good.’ Ange tucked back her hair as she reached for the list. A mass of bright-red crazy curls, Ginny knew it drove Ange nuts but she coveted the untamed look. Short and curvy, Ange believed her full mouth to be her biggest asset, habitually painting it a shocking red half a tone short of a clash with her hair. Deep-blue, nearly violet eyes in an angelic face hid a razor-sharp wit and a shrewd mind.

Having waved Ange off to her own desk, Ginny finished her breakfast and opened up her proposal for RK Investments and Strategy. Reading through it again, she tried not to skim over the details. Had she got her fee schedule right? It wasn’t exactly on the light side, but not as high as it could be, knowing what she did of Robert’s business.

However, she wanted the account so had quoted slightly low. Robert was way too smart not to see when he was being scalped, so if she could come in a bit lower than the other contender, it should count for something.

She reviewed the candidate specification. Robert had provided further information since their first meeting and it a trickier mix than she’d initially thought. The scale and type of projects the ideal candidate needed to have had exposure to made it clear that if she won the job she’d be working pretty damned hard for her fee.

Ginny put away her notes. There was no more preparation she could do.

‘Ange, I’m off.’

‘No worries, boss. Go get ’em.’

Chapter 2

At the converted warehouse in Parnell, Ginny walked up the staircase and Camilla showed her to the boardroom.

‘Ginny.’ Robert rose to his feet. ‘Good to see you again. Let me introduce you to my colleague, Jackson.’

Ginny leaned across the table and shook his hand. ‘Nice to meet you, Jackson.’ He grunted in reply. Unfazed, she turned back to Robert. ‘Where would you like to start?’

And so it began. Rapid-fire questions were shot at her, but mercifully limited to the proposal both men had in front of them and which Ginny knew inside-out. Surprised by how much she was enjoying the grilling, she leant forward, crossed her ankles under her chair and dived right in.

Primarily, they wanted to discuss her plan of attack for finding the person they were after. She explained her two-pronged campaign: online and print advertising, locally and in Australia, and supporting this, hard graft search, or headhunting. The latter would focus primarily across the Tasman, although she supposed Robert would have a few contacts in the UK she could add to the hit-list.

‘If we don’t think the person is in New Zealand,’ Jackson frowned, ‘what’s the point of advertising here at all?’

‘Deciding not to is risky. It’s not unusual for someone to see an ad here and think of someone suitable offshore. You have to think of advertising as an information broadcast strategy.’ She smiled at Jackson, and he didn’t smile back. ‘Also, Kiwis are coming home all the time, particularly at this time of year. You never know who’s going to get off the next plane.’ She flicked Robert a quick look, acknowledging his line.

Jackson nodded, but didn’t look convinced.

‘If we go ahead with what you’re proposing, Ginny, I’d prefer to keep the RK brand and name off any advertising material, and I’d need you to undertake any search without mentioning who we are. At least, not straight off.’ Robert leant back, crossing his hands over his stomach. ‘We operate in a fairly small space in this part of the world, and it wouldn’t look good to be seen poaching the rising stars of a firm we may want to collaborate with at some stage.’

Ginny nodded vigorously. It was in her best interest to run the ad without the RK brand, or ‘blind’. Not only would it give interested candidates no choice but to go through her, it would also keep other recruiters from waving their applicants under Robert’s nose.

‘Of course, Robert. I understand perfectly. If you hadn’t requested we handle it that way, I would have recommended it. This is a critical recruitment project for your business, and the tighter we manage it, the better the result.’

Jackson took the lead again and went over some old ground, asking about her experience, the types of clients she worked with, how long she’d been in business for herself, and how many people worked for her.

‘At this stage it is just me at Shine, Jackson.’ She looked at him unflinchingly; she was proud of her business, regardless of the size. ‘I have an excellent assistant to help with the admin associated with this type of project. However, when it comes to the work itself, I’m it.’

Robert cleared his throat. ‘I think we’re less concerned about your ability to do the work than about your capacity to manage something of this scope, in the timeframes required, alongside other projects you may have on the go.’

‘Without sounding too direct, Robert, that’s my problem. I’m confident I can deliver results for you, and keep my business afloat, if that’s what you’re asking.’

Robert looked across at Jackson, and they exchanged a small nod. Signalling they were finished, the two men closed their copies of her proposal.

Robert pushed back his chair and got up. ‘Thanks, Ginny, that’s all we need for now.’

‘Great, well, thanks, Robert … Jackson.’ She shook their hands and, slightly wrong-footed by the abrupt ending, turned and made for the door.

Ginny nodded to Camilla and headed for the stairs. She didn’t have a clue how that had gone. Couldn’t call it either way. It was Wednesday today — surely, she’d hear by the weekend?

Reaching the bottom floor, she started as the main door opened. She stepped aside to give way and then looked up in surprise when a familiar voice spoke her name.

‘Miles,’ she grimaced. ‘Hello.’

‘Good to see you, Ginny. Although I have to say I’m surprised you’re here. How did it go?’ His smile was still charming, although she knew for a fact what made it so attractive was several thousand dollars’ worth of cosmetic dentistry.

‘Fine, thanks.’ She made for the door as he stepped closer. ‘Good luck,’ she threw over her shoulder, heading outside.

Ginny hurried out into the hot sun and took a deep breath. It may have taken her several years to work it out for herself, but Mac had been right: Miles was indeed a prick. He was still reputable in the Auckland market, and although she had long since given up trying to work out what the captains of industry saw in his style, Ginny had to acknowledge that she had fallen for it once, too. Her own mistakes aside, she would think a hell of a lot less of Robert and the enigmatic Jackson if they fell for Miles’ backslapping bonhomie.

Ginny walked away from Parnell and back towards the city. It was a bit of a walk up and over the hill, especially in heels, but she had time before the afternoon’s interviews. The sunshine and fresh air might help shake off the disquiet of bumping into Miles.

Everyone was entitled to one truly awful mistake when it came to the opposite sex, and Miles had certainly been hers. With the beauty of hindsight and a few more years in her own skin she could appreciate that she had been too naïve and lacking a strong-enough sense of self to realise that Miles was nothing but bad.

He’d shown his true colours soon after he left his wife and they had moved in together. Lazy and possessive, with a nasty temper she hadn’t previously seen, he quickly isolated Ginny from her friends and increasingly wore her down with the arguments that characterised their relationship. By the time her dad got sick, Ginny knew there wasn’t much good in what they had, but she couldn’t see her way out of it.

Miles had proposed after a couple of years and, believing his offer to be as good as she could expect, Ginny had accepted. Leopards, however, rarely change their spots. Soon after her dad died, suspicious of his sudden increase in texting and phoning behind closed doors, she found an incriminating message on his phone to another woman. Incensed, but not entirely surprised that he was playing the game he’d played with her, she finally saw their relationship for what it was: destructive, ridiculous and a massive waste of time. Ginny called him out on the affair and Miles flipped out. Shocked and scared by the way he reacted, Ginny was left in no doubt that she had to get the hell away.

More sure of herself than she could ever remember being, she quit her job, hocked the engagement ring and bought a one-way ticket to London. Her brother and his family were there, and some time with them was exactly what she needed to get her life back on track.

Julian had planted the seed of Shine Consulting. Listening to her ramble on about all that was wrong with the Auckland recruitment market, he asked why she didn’t put up or shut up. The idea had germinated and taken root as she travelled around Europe before coming back to London. Not ready to go home, she’d stayed a few more months. But she hadn’t stopped thinking about the business, her business. Eventually, her energy for it grew too big so she packed up and came home — and hadn’t looked back.

Ginny had bumped into Miles a few times since she started Shine. Auckland was a small place and although he was established at the senior end of the market, she was chipping away at the space between. She hadn’t yet won an account from under his nose but it was coming, she promised herself, as she made her way up the steep steps through Alten Reserve.

At the top, Ginny took a breather. The streets were quiet; this late in the university semester there weren’t many students on the sprawling campus. Passing the entrance to the Law School, Ginny wondered, as she often did, how he was. Where he was.

It was two years before she’d seen Mac again. At first, she was too tied up with her own life to think much about his. And after their last night out together she’d been left uncertain whether the parameters of their friendship had been altered and, if so, by how much.

Eventually, the silence got too much and, missing him, Ginny tried to get in touch. He didn’t reply to her phone messages, then an email was similarly ignored. Believing he had simply ditched her after failing to get her into bed, she tried to put him out of her mind.

And then her dad had died, and it felt as if everything was spinning slowly yet inevitably out of control. Julian had flown in from London, but could only stay a few days; he had a young family and a career to get back to. Miles was still on the scene, but only just. The flaws in the relationship were ridiculously obvious, and even something as monumental as her father’s illness hadn’t made him step up. Stressed and on edge, she’d felt alone and horribly unsure.

Her father was buried on an unseasonably cold day in late March. As they lowered his coffin, Ginny looked up and saw a figure approach through the headstones. Keeping a respectful distance, he stopped just behind the small group gathered at her father’s grave.

She looked again. Surely not. But she knew. As the service finished she snatched her hand from Miles’ and broke into a run. Reaching him, she flung herself at Mac. The relief had been overpowering; as strong and as real as the sadness she felt at losing her dad. He was here. Back. At last.

Ginny looked up at his face. He seemed older, harder somehow. His jaw was set, his mouth clamped. But his eyes, as they looked back at her, were as she remembered, and full of sympathy.

‘Where have you been?’ Her voice was shaky. ‘You just disappeared.’

‘I know. I’m sorry, Ginny. But I’ve been busy. Working.’

‘What does that mean? Everyone works, Mac — but only you find it necessary to disappear for two years. I tried to call you … email … I thought we were friends.’

‘Ginny.’ He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a casual gesture of a closeness nearly forgotten. ‘Of course, we’re friends. We’ll always be friends. But I couldn’t get in touch, it was just … impossible.’

She shook her head, unconvinced. ‘So you decided to rock up to Dad’s funeral instead? Isn’t that all a bit melodramatic, Mac? Couldn’t you just have given me a call like a normal person?’

He looked away. She wasn’t going to get the answers she wanted from him.

‘Mac.’

He turned to face her again.

‘Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you’re here. But it’s a bit of a shock.’ She paused. ‘How did you even know? About Dad?’

‘I caught up with some of the guys last night,’ he said quietly. ‘Paul told me about your dad.’

‘Right.’ Her voice was sharp; it stung that he hadn’t made contact with her first. ‘So it’s just me that you’ve disappeared on then? You still see the others?’

Mac blew out a breath. ‘I don’t see much of anyone. And anyway, I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me. After last time.’

They looked at one another.

‘I didn’t know where you were, Mac. I’ve missed you.’

He nodded.

‘So … are you back? Or …?’

‘No, I’ve only got a few days off.’

The relief she’d felt dissolved. ‘And then what? You just disappear again?’

He shrugged, and looked over her shoulder.

‘Ginny?’ Miles called. ‘Are you ready?’

Mac frowned. ‘He’s still hanging around then?’

Ginny shook her head. ‘Don’t be a prick, Mac. You didn’t answer my question.’

He looked back at her.

‘Are you planning on disappearing again?’

‘I can’t tell you, Ginn. I … can’t go into it with you.’

‘Can’t or won’t?’

He shrugged.

‘For fuck’s sake, Mac.’ She stepped away. ‘Why even bother then? Why didn’t you just stay disappeared if that’s the way it is now?’

‘Jesus, Ginny, it’s your dad’s funeral.’ His voice was rising. ‘I couldn’t not be here.’

‘I don’t see how you get to make that call, Mac …’

‘Ginny!’ Miles was impatient. ‘Hurry up!’

She half turned. ‘Wait, Miles. I’m nearly done.’ She faced Mac again.

‘Just go, Ginn. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come.’

‘Stop being so bloody magnanimous, Mac. It doesn’t suit you.’ She could feel tears begin to build. It was so unfair for him to just turn up like this, only to disappear again with no explanation, no promise of seeing her again. She couldn’t depend on him. He was making that abundantly clear, and it scared her.

‘Go then.’ She swiped at the tears. ‘Just bugger off.’

‘Ginn. Don’t be like that. I miss you, too. I wanted to see you, call — whatever. But I just couldn’t.’

‘Bullshit!’ She shoved against him as her sadness quickly turned to anger. ‘I needed you. And you weren’t bloody there.’

‘I told you, I’m sorry!’

She shook her head and turned away.

Mac grasped her hand then looked down, registering the diamond. ‘I don’t see why you’re so pissed off at me. It would appear Miles is looking out for you pretty well these days.’

He couldn’t be further from the truth. There was no one looking out for her, certainly not the man who had given her the ring. Furious and overwhelmed, grief-stricken at having lost both her dad and — apparently — her best friend, she wrenched her hand free and slapped him hard across the face.

‘How dare you! Coming here as if you have some right, some invitation to do so. And laying that shit on me after so long. You haven’t got a clue. Not a fucking clue. Just go, Mac. Leave.’

Behind them, Miles moved in. ‘Did you hear her, mate? Just fuck off. You’re not wanted.’

‘Ginny …’ Mac started.

‘No,’ she said, backing away. ‘I don’t want you here.’ And, turning, she walked back to where Miles was waiting for her.