"Archer, Jeffrey - twelve red herrings)txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Archer Jeffrey)

himself in somewhere else for the night." My father would have been
proud of such thrifty use of the company's resources.

I lay on the hotel bed, quite unable to sleep, my anger rising as
each hour passed. Although ! no longer had a great deal of feeling
for Rosemary, and even accepted that perhaps I never had, I now loathed
Jeremy. But it wasn't until the next day that I discovered just how
much I loathed him.

The following morning I rang my secretary, and told her I would be
driving to the office straight from London. She reminded me that there
was a board meeting scheduled for two o'clock, which Mr. Alexander was
pencilled in to chair. I was glad she couldn't see the smile of
satisfaction that spread across my face. A quick glance at the agenda
over breakfast and it had become abundantly clear why Jeremy had wanted
to chair this particular meeting. But his plans didn't matter any
more. I had already decided to let my fellow directors know exactly
what he was up to, and to make sure that he was dismissed from the
board as soon as was practicable.

I arrived at Cooper's just after .3o, and parked in the space
marked
"Chairman'. By the time the board meeting was scheduled to
begin I'd had just enough time to check over my files, and became
painfully aware of how many of the company's shares were now controlled
by Jeremy, and what he and Rosemary must have been planning for some
time.

Jeremy vacated the chairman's place without comment the moment I
entered the boardroom, and showed no particular interest in the
proceedings until we reached an item concerning a future share issue.
It was at this point that he tried to push through a seemingly
innocuous motion which could ultimately have resulted in Rosemary and
myself losing overall control of the company, and
therefore being unable to resist any future takeover bid. 1 might have
fallen for it if I hadn't travelled up to Leeds the previous evening
and found his car parked in my driveway, and the bedroom light on.
Just when he thought he had succeeded in having the motion agreed
without a vote, I asked the company accountants to prepare a full
report for the next board meeting before we came to any decision.
Jeremy showed no sign of emotion. He simply looked down at his notes
and began drumming his fingers on the boardroom table. I was
determined that the report would prove to be his downfall. If only it
hadn't been for my short temper, I might, given time, have worked out a
more sensible way of ridding myself of him.

As no one had 'any other business' to raise, I closed the meeting
at 5.4, and suggested to Jeremy that he join Rosemary and me for
dinner. I wanted to see them together. Jeremy didn't seem too keen,
but after some bluffing from me about not fully understanding his new