The New Reality – Sandra 61

 

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.]

[Old back story is here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and other Sandra episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

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Tamsin downed her third mug of peppermint tea for the morning, removed the headphones she’d been listening to music through while coding and sighed. 

“Compeyson and Arthur were after me once,” she said. “For nothing at all.”

“Nothing at all? So it is all a big phishing exercise?” said Sandra.

“No,” said Tamsin, “I mean I didn’t do anything to them, and no one was paying them to do it, but the just decided they were going to come after me.”

“But they made up stuff?” asked Sandra.

“Oh, no, it was all true.”

Sandra watched Tamsin squeeze the peppermint tea bag between her thumb and forefinger to get the last drops out and wondered whether this was good or bad news. Frankie, sat next to her outside a cafe that was equidistant between the threes' homes, held her bag on her lap. A kind of defence against the world, but obviously not a terribly good defence. 

“So do you think whatever they’ve got on Rob might be real? True?” she asked.

“I’m not paid to think,” said Tamsin. “I mean I’m not being paid to think about that. You’re just paying me to make it go away.”

“Yes, but…”

“You know,” said Tamsin, off hand. “Reality isn’t reality at all. It’s just what you’ve made up and decided to be true.”

Sandra and Frankie shared a look. Sandra hoped that her look filled Frankie with confidence that Tamsin was going to make everything alright and not make her think that she agreed it was sometimes difficult to follow what the other woman said and meant. 

“It’s fine, no biggy,” continued Tamsin. “It just is. That’s why in this instance I have no opinion on whether what they’ve got on Rob is true or not. I haven’t made that decision and don’t need to. In fact it’s better that I don’t. That way I just concentrate on making it go away.”

“That’s…. deep,” observed Sandra.

Tamsin just shrugged. “Gotta draw the line somewhere,” she said. “Otherwise you spend you whole time trying to work out stuff you don’t need to work out.”

Frankie sipped her straight tea. Nerves had meant she couldn’t bring herself to go for anything more exotic or exciting. Sandra had gone for a more extravagant hot chocolate and cream affair, mainly to celebrate just being in a cafe. The weather had turned a little and there were clouds gathering overhead. Tamsin said it was her kind of weather – warm enough to be outside, cool enough to stay outside. 

“So,” said Frankie, just to be sure, “What exactly are you going to do? Just shut them down?”

“I can do a couple of things,” she said. “If you’re worried about what your neighbours and the PTA are going to say about everything I can get Compeyson and Arthur to shift their focus and go after a few of them as well. You have the name of the chair of the PTA? Easy enough to throw them into the C and A pit. That way everyone ends up fighting their own battles, covering their own backs and no one’s interested in what they have on you.”

“And the alternative?”

“Why are they targeting you and not Rob?” asked Tamsin. And then added after a pause. “And the answer is..?”

Sandra thought it didn’t look much like anyone was going to answer this so she interjected: “Does anyone know where Berkhamsted is?”

The other two looked at her gone out. “Midlands or something?” hazarded Tamsin. “Why?”

Sandra waved her phone with a new email on it. “Epstein’s wants me to go to their depot there in a couple of week’s time. They reckon they’re going to have an end-of-lockdown celebration.”

Tamsin stifled a laugh. “There is still hope in the world. Think they’ll have anything to celebrate? And can you celebrate anything at Berkhamsted?”

“Apparently you can and they will,” said Sandra. “Well, clearly I’m not doing anything else. Guess I’ll tell them yes.”

“It matters to me,” said Frankie, suddenly.

“Bingo!” said Tamsin and she struck a key with a flourish.

“That’s why they’ve sent this to me and not Rob," said Frankie. "I care, he probably doesn’t.”

“Right. He knows what they’re talking about. They’re banking on you not talking to him about it and being more worried about other people talking. So I’ve just sent a strongly worded statement about the case back to C and A, from a reasonably well respected firm of solicitors I just invented and told them to go and talk to Rob if the want to take the matter further.”

“Do you think it’ll work?” asked Frankie.

“Probably,” said Tamsin. “Maybe not immediately, but you’re paying me to make it work, whatever else is in the mix. If that’s all on this one I’ll get back to the day job.”

She replaced the headphones over her ears and dived back into the back end code of Together… Apart.

Sandra smiled at Frankie offering reassurance. Frankie took it, but didn’t give much back.