The Planner(61)

‘Great,’ said Jane. ‘Could you copy me in on that?’

‘And me please,’ said Henry.

The meeting ended, as all meetings must. There was a series of action points that Alex had noted, almost all of which were assigned to James. The others left, but Lionel signalled with two stubby fingers for James to wait behind.

‘God,’ said James, ‘that Alex Coleman is such an irritating little shit.’

‘Never mind him,’ said Lionel. ‘He’s just the latest young know-nothing from Comms. He won’t be the last.’

They sat together in silence for a minute. James looked carefully at his manager and mentor, looked into his small mild eyes. Erosion wasn’t always a gradual process. Cracks happen. Things break. You can unravel in so many ways. Synapses fizzle out, cell walls disintegrate, organs stop. Bones calcify, the juices drain drop by drop and then, one day, they snap. Was something similar happening to Lionel? Had he suddenly started dying faster? His hands looked smaller than ever.

‘Are you all right?’ said Lionel at last, in his soft, fat-weakened voice. ‘I’ve been a bit worried about you.’

‘Yes, I’m fine,’ said James. ‘What’s up?’

‘You seemed more than a little absent-minded just then. And you’ve not really been on it these past few weeks, not like you usually are. You don’t look great now, to be honest. Is everything okay?’

The reason James had a hangover was because he had drunk five pints of lager in a pub while watching a football match on the television. He had done this with Matt, his foolish, clumsy flatmate who had short hair and big ears and worked in marketing and whom James had never had a fully successful conversation with until last night. It was a revelation but, as Felix had told him, once you knew about football, once you knew enough to talk about football, which wasn’t actually all that much, vast social opportunities opened up. James had taken conversations he’d heard about the Chelsea midfield, reapplied them to an analysis of the Arsenal defence, and sat back as Matt had vigorously nodded his head and warmly expanded on his theories. It was a lot like drafting a masterplan.

‘I’ve got quite a lot on my mind at the moment, but don’t worry: everything is okay,’ said James. ‘There’s just a lot going on, that’s all. You know – with work, Sunbury Square, housing commitments and everything else.’

Lionel looked at him carefully, his eyes ponderously scanning James, like an analogue security system in a domestic airport. He was getting scrutinised, possibly even disciplined. It was difficult to tell for sure – it had never happened before, and it was coming from Lionel who had little emotional range and was a poor communicator, reluctant to speak directly but with no mastery of subtext.

‘And I noticed you were away for a couple of days – you missed a Friday and then a Monday the other week. That’s not like you.’

‘No, I know – I had that bug that was going around.’

‘So you weren’t just gadding about town then?’ said Lionel, forcing a stunted laugh into his voice.

James flinched. That wasn’t a joke. It was the type of joke Lionel would make, but in this case it wasn’t one – he knew. Surely Ian Benson hadn’t said anything? No, he was a fucker, but not that kind of fucker. Maybe he or Alex had been blathering about it in the office? It didn’t sound very likely – but there again, what else did those goons talk about? And would Lionel really have overheard them? More likely, someone else would have told him. After all, he worked in government, he had enemies everywhere.

‘God no, I felt awful. It’s not like me at all – I think it’s the first time I’ve ever missed work since I’ve been here.’

Lionel nodded. ‘Yes, that’s what I thought. Not like you at all.’

The only sickie he had ever taken and somehow he’d been caught out. There was probably a lesson in there.

‘I’m fine. It was just a bad bug, that’s all. I actually thought I’d shaken it off by Friday evening, but I was laid up all weekend.’

‘Well, let me know if anything’s up. I’m sure we can work something out if you’re struggling.’

‘Don’t worry. I’m feeling much better now.’

‘Good,’ said Lionel. ‘Because I need you to be at one hundred per cent at the moment. I can’t do everything round here. You know it’s a small team with more cuts coming, and I need to be able to rely on every member.’

‘Don’t worry, I’m completely on it,’ said James. ‘I won’t let you down.’