The Milieu Principle Read online



  The Milieu Principle

  Malcolm Franks

  Milieu Publishing

  Copyright ©Malcolm Franks

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-0-9566944-0-9

  Other titles by this author

  Milieu Dawn

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1-The Constant Caller

  Chapter 2-The Dinner Guest

  Chapter 3-Packages

  Chapter 4-Rendezvous

  Chapter 5-Flight

  Chapter 6-Rosa Cain

  Chapter 7-A Warm Night in Canada

  Chapter 8 -The Greyhound Run

  Chapter 9-Sumac Pacha

  Chapter 10-Victoria

  Chapter 11-A New Life

  Chapter 12-Settling

  Chapter 13-Day Trip

  Chapter 14-Growing Up

  Chapter 15-Found

  Chapter 16-Admissions

  Chapter 17-The Returning Past

  Chapter 18-High Anxiety

  Chapter 19-Vancouver Dash

  Chapter 20-Alaska Run

  Chapter 21-Clarence, Henry and Willow

  Chapter 22-Canadian Courage

  Chapter 23-The Voyage

  Chapter 24-Welcome to the Wolfgangsee

  Chapter 25-Lakeside Incident

  Chapter 26-First Aid

  Chapter 27-Choices

  Chapter 28-A Capital Adventure

  Chapter 29-The Appointment

  Chapter 30-A Fugitives Tale

  Chapter 31-The Hope of Uncertainty

  Chapter 32-Mountain Retreat

  Chapter 33-Emergence of Truth

  Chapter 34-The Deceiver

  Chapter 35-My Name Is

  Chapter 36-The Question

  Chapter One

  The Constant Caller

  It was the sheer ferocity of the sudden downpour which tempted his wearying eyes away from the screen. The sheets of water didn’t as much hit the ground as pummel away at the lush topping of the large, rectangular lawn. He’d only recently raised the horizontal blinds covering the wall of glass hoping that a rabbit, or some other form of harmless wildlife, would innocently meander across the green and provide a temporary distraction. This torrent of rain was strangely more interesting. He likened it to a reflection of the current economic climate; dank, dark and mercilessly unforgiving. He shivered amidst the murky light and his mind catapulted into whinge overdrive at the ever increasingly unpredictable weather. One minute the office was bathed in sunshine, attracting too much heat, the next it was darkened and miserable. Begrudgingly he returned his eyes to the screen, with only the loud thrashing of the rain against the windows to keep him company.

  Mike used to enjoy looking at the accounts, black numbers everywhere. Now they were mostly coloured red, a truly dispiriting sight.

  The gentle tap at the door was succeeded by Tina’s round face appearing through the opening at the end of the room. Her dark hair was scraped back against the scalp of her small head in the ponytail setting she mostly preferred.

  “Mike, we’re away now.”

  “Okay,” he replied, checking the Rolex.

  “Is there anything you need before we leave?”

  “Nothing thanks. I’ll see you on Monday.”

  His attention moved back to the wide computer screen, sure in the knowledge Tina would disappear to start her weekend. The sound of the deep sigh drew him back to the open door.

  “Doing anything special this weekend?” she asked.

  “No, nothing special,” he replied shaking his head.

  Tina’s second sigh prompted him to push the keyboard to one side. Turning in the swivel chair to face her he wondered what was on her mind. If nothing else, her call for attention offered an excuse to not do what he was supposed to be doing.

  “What is it Tina?”

  “You’re going to spend all weekend in here again.”

  “Keeps me out of mischief,” he replied with a smile.

  “Taking a couple of days off wouldn’t go amiss. Why don’t you go away for a night or two?” she said, moving towards the end of the oval shaped meeting table.

  He narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

  “I take more than enough holidays.”

  “Making hourly international calls back to the office does not constitute a proper holiday, no matter where you are. It’s time you had a real break, one where you gave your mobile to me for safekeeping and left the laptop at home.”

  Motioning her to one of the black leather seats surrounding the meeting table, he took the adjacent seat. He could see more of her long brunette hair now. Accompanied by the bright red colouring on her lips, the choice of appearance made her look a little older than he knew her to be. Then again, Tina had always been mature beyond her years.

  “What’s this all about?”

  She seemed hesitant to speak. Her dark brown eyes flickered down towards her clasped hands before returning to look at his face.

  “You’ve been getting more and more irritable with each passing day this week. I thought the way you barked at Joanne this morning was unnecessarily harsh, even by your unique standards.”

  “There are mistakes and then there are totally avoidable basic errors. Which one of those descriptions do you think best suits the circumstance?”

  “It was a genuine mistake and far from deserving that kind of venom. You get like this when you’re tired and grumpy. Why don’t you go away for a couple of days? I promise we’ll all still be here when you get back, as will the office.”

  He took some time to reflect on her well intended advice. Tina was motherly by nature, a calming influence, and the reason why she was popular amongst the staff. She was also a gifted office manager, which is why he found her so indispensable.

  “Have you spoken to her?”

  “We’ve had a little chat and she’s feeling a bit better. But it would mean a lot more if you spoke to her as well, show Joanne the better side of your nature.”

  “I’m her employer not her nursemaid, this isn’t a finishing school.”

  She shook her head.

  “What?” he said impatiently.

  “Mike, all of the girls are unsure of you, because they don’t know you like I do. Hilary has no idea you’re the mystery donor who paid for the mini-coach for her daughter’s playschool. And Alison can’t understand how the last year of her student loan debt was suddenly revoked.”

  “They were tax deductible,” he shrugged.

  “You know what I’m talking about. Would it undermine your position so much to be a little friendlier every now and again, instead of wearing this permanent Mr Unapproachable expression? It’s not totally beyond the realms of possibility they could end up liking you. And I’m the one that has to pick up the pieces, like some sort of surrogate mother figure.”

  “Good cop, bad cop,” he replied with a smile. “It always works, and you make an excellent good cop. You are perfect for the role.”

  “But it’s you they should be looking up to, not me.”

  “They’re staff, Tina. I pay them to do a job, that’s all.”

  “If they were just staff then you wouldn’t have bothered to ask me about Joanne. Why you insist on
keeping people at arm’s length I’ll never understand. Even the people we do business with say you’re difficult to read.”

  “You seem to read me alright,” he replied with a slight grin.

  She shook her head in frustration.

  “You are one of the most infuriating of men. It’s no wonder the women in your life have never stayed around for long.”

  The resulting silence was deafening.

  “I’m sorry Mike. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  He struggled to keep the grin in place.

  “You’re absolutely right. You shouldn’t have said that,” and his eyes narrowed.

  The side of Tina’s mouth twitched nervously on rising to move to the door.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you,” she said, turning quickly. “Amy called again, the third time today. I told her you’d gone into another meeting. Are you and Amy back ...”

  “Thanks,” was all he said to cut her short, and the nervous smile reappeared as she left.

  Mike darted for the door of his top floor apartment in an attempt to avoid exchanging pleasantries with the two neighbours, chatting animatedly on the well-lit stairwell. Entering the large open plan space he tossed his jacket over the back of the long leather sofa. After throwing the post onto the glass coffee table, he headed straight for the kitchen area to start the coffee machine.

  His left hand prised open the door of the steel coloured upright freezer, searching for a ready-made offering for the evening meal. He narrowed the choice down to either the beef or pork Sunday platter and, for no particular reason, decided upon the latter. It would take twenty five minutes according to the instruction label and he muttered at the inconvenience of having to wait so long for what was, after all, meant to be a convenience meal.

  Impatiently he strode over the wood flooring, past the first of the two oval shaped pillars placed on either side of the main living area, and inspected the flashing telephone icon.

  ‘Four new messages’ it read, so he pressed the replay button to check if they were of any importance. The first was from Amy, asking Mike to give her a ring.

  “Give me strength.”

  Having already refused to take her calls at the office today it was obvious she hadn’t taken the hint. He began to wonder how many more times he would have to snub her attempts to contact him, berating himself for electing to let her down gently the way he had. Mike played the second message, it was from Amy, as were the third and fourth. What could she possibly want from him now?

  He wandered over to the patio doors fronting the waterside balcony, and gazed upon the slow moving river while he toyed with the idea of returning her numerous calls. The water was peaceful this evening, rippling gently down towards the concrete bridge spanning the waterway, before meandering further downstream. The traffic crossing the man-made structure was heavier than usual for this time of night, and he supposed this was due to it being a Friday.

  Mike thought about switching on the plasma screen then decided that the view in front of him would probably be more interesting. He listened to the pitter-patter of the gentle rain, beating rhythmically against the window. It prompted him to reach for the hi-fi remote control to spark the incumbent CD into life. A melody soon filled the open plan floor. Although not a favoured tune it was preferable to the previous silence in the apartment.

  The quietness of his surroundings disturbed him this hour. He felt subdued and tentative, more than a little irritable, as Tina had astutely noticed. The mood had enveloped him since he first rose this morning. It always happened on this day of the year.

  His thoughts returned to Amy’s rash of telephone calls. It had been many weeks since they’d last spoken, leading him to believe that this episode in his life had finally ended. There really wasn’t anything left to say and he reasoned it better to keep some distance between them.

  The problems with the business began to occupy his mind. According to Government statistics the UK was officially out of recession. It didn’t feel like it to Mike. With the credit crunch showing no signs of abating things were beginning to bite, and bite hard. Debtors were piling up. Soon, his own business would reach the point of defaulting; the top of the slippery slope.

  Bank lending was prohibitive and Mike had no idea where the next meaningful order was going to come from, to ease the downturn in cash flow. Someone had told him once that when money gets tight all you have left are business acquaintances rather than friends. How prophetic that simple phrase was proving to be. Had he kept more cash reserves in the company, instead of frittering money away, things would be easier.

  The gentle hum of the mobile alerted him to the incoming text, stockbroker confirmation the sale had gone through and the money was in his account. He grimaced at the news. Those shares were meant to be his nest egg, the golden goose to keep him comfortably placed in retirement. Bad enough he had been forced to sell when the market was at rock bottom, worse that it offered temporary respite at best.

  He had so far resisted any notion of entering the business into administration or insolvency. While this might have suited other company directors, Mike didn’t do failure. The stigma followed a man round like an unwanted stench. He had refused to employ someone once because the man’s business had collapsed. He remembered telling Tina he didn’t want any deadbeat losers working for him, and the guy had overheard him.

  The phone rang and he ambled over to peer at the flashing LED screen, recognising the mobile number immediately, Amy yet again. He decided to let the answer phone pick up the message.

  “Mike, please pick up. I know you’re there because I saw you standing at the window.”

  His anger rose at the thought she had been watching him, stalking him even, and he considered picking up to yell a couple of light obscenities down the phone. It was one way of making sure she would finally get the message.

  “Mike, it’s your Dad’s anniversary today and I know how it makes you feel. I had to call to make sure you were going to be alright. Please answer, even if it’s just to say you’re okay.”

  Her words threw his mind into temporary confusion. An unexpectedly thoughtful gesture and one he appreciated. He hesitated; then picked up the phone.

  “Amy,” he answered. “It’s nice of you to ring but I’m due back out soon.”

  “That’s fine,” she replied. “I only wanted to call in case you needed anything, or anyone, for company.”

  Mike walked over and looked out across the river, at the walkway of the shopping precinct on the other side. He could just make out Amy’s figure standing alone and she waved at his appearance by the patio doors. The memories came flooding back.

  “I’ve made some coffee,” he said. “There’s probably time for one cup before I go.”

  “I’ll be two minutes,” she replied and the line went dead.

  He watched her dart along the walkway, umbrella in hand, onto the pavement of the bridge. She scurried through the rain, towards the apartment.

  “What have I done?” he murmured.

  Chapter Two

  The Dinner Guest