Tuesday 5th November
Catherine took her coat off, hung it in the hall and walked in to her
living room. She set the business card
down beside the house phone. She had spent much of the morning so far trying
to decide if she should call the number on it and, if so, what she should
say. She opted to give herself a little longer to think about it.
She had tried to speak to Colin, her Jobcentre work coach, first thing, after
receiving an unexpectedly blunt text message the previous afternoon, informing
her that she was in breach of her claimant commitment for failing to attend an
appointment with him the previous Friday and that there were likely to be consequences.
This was the appointment which she had already explained clashed with work and
which she had offered to reschedule. Catherine replied as soon as she saw
it, explaining that she had already advised him she could not make that date.
She let him know she was free all day on Tuesday - although she had made plans,
they could be changed - and had expected a message with a new date and time,
not what she actually received. A separate, standardised message
informed her that she would face a seven day sanction plus additional days
until she complied with the requirement to arrange an appointment with her work
coach. This would wipe just over ten pounds per day from her Universal
Credit. Catherine quickly calculated that, unless Colin accepted she was
back onside before her next payment was due, it would be at least one-hundred
and seventy pounds short. It could not be. She needed her full payment if
she was going to pay her rent in full when Mr Stevens expected it. She phoned the Jobcentre and was promised a
call back. She updated her journal to
include the fact that she had called and the promise of contact. She called again. After several minutes of Vivaldi, she sent
Colin another text.
‘This must be what it’s like trying to contact a boyfriend who’s decided
to dump you!’ she complained.
Later that same afternoon, she had been weighing up the pros and cons of
asking for an advance on her wages, when the doorbell had sounded.
'Mrs Collier?'
The man standing on her path was a little younger than herself, dressed
in a chic winter coat, undone to show off a well-cut suit.
'If you're selling double-glazing or similar, I'm not interested,' she
said shortly. 'This is a rented property.'
He laughed good-naturedly.
'It's nothing like that,' he said. 'Doorstep salesmen are a pest,
aren't they?'
'And people peddling their faith,' Catherine answered shrewdly.
'It isn't that either,' he assured her. 'I'm Leo's father.'
'Leo?'
'Leo Finn. He's in the same years as your daughter - Alex, isn't
it?'
'Yes, I believe he is.' The name suddenly dropped into place. Catherine decided she had things to say to
this man about his son’s conduct. 'Come in, Mr Finn.'
'Please, call me Nigel.'
He had a salesman's firm, trustworthy handshake. Catherine led him
to the kitchen. She didn't want him to make himself too comfortable.
'Tea or coffee, Nigel?'
Catherine was quietly glad when he declined.
'I take it this is about Alex selling some of her things to Leo?' she
said.
'I'm sorry?' he said, seeming genuinely surprised.
'Alex was trying to get some money together to pay the deposit for the
school skiing trip, despite the fact I'd told her she couldn't go. We
lost my husband this time last year and...'
'My sincerest condolences, Mrs Collier. Leo told me that. He
didn't mention that Alex had sold anything to him, simply that she really
wanted to go and that he understood things were rather...' he paused. 'A
little difficult for you. Financially, that is.'
Catherine was not best pleased that Alex had been sharing their money
troubles with her friends, although she might have guessed this Leo boy must be
in the know.
'It has been hard but I'm working again now.'
'So Alex will be able to go on the trip?' Nigel Finn appeared
delighted. 'Leo - and the rest of their friends - will be pleased.'
'I didn't say that. In fact, I've made it quite clear to her that
she can't think of going. It's not just the cost of the holiday, it's the
clothes, passport, luggage...'
'It doesn't pay for itself, I know.' Nigel Finn gave her a sympathetic
smile. 'It would mean such a lot to her, though. They're a very
close, cliquey group. If Alex is the only one who misses out, she's
likely to take it quite badly. That's why Leo asked me to come to see you. He was hoping we could help you.’
‘Help me?’
‘Help you financially, with the cost of the trip, so the friends could
all go on holiday together, before they have to really knuckle down for their
exams.’
‘Mr Finn…’
‘Nigel…’
‘Mr Finn, I’m sorry but there’s absolutely no way I could possibly…’
Nigel Finn put a hand to his forehead.
‘I knew I’d get it all wrong.
I’ve offended you now. Absolutely
the last thing I wanted to do.’
‘I’m sure you’re acting with the best of intentions, but I can’t
possibly accept your money and I must ask you to have a word with your son, and
stop him encouraging Alex to think she can win me round or that he can pay for
her. We all have to get used to things
being rather different to how they used to be.
I have to be careful, economical and independent and, much as it’s
terribly difficult for her, Alex needs to start learning these skills too.’
She didn’t want to offend Nigel Finn by suggesting that Leo’s motives
might be other than altruistic. Alex
didn’t tend to attract the wrong sort of attention from boys, unlike her little
sister, but there was something unsettling about this supposed keenness to
include her in the skiing trip.
Catherine could remember the names of most of Alex’s closest friends and
her daughter occasionally mentioned boys in her classes. Catherine could not recall Alex, nor any of
her friends, mentioning Leo Finn until the matter of trading electronic gadgets
for the school trip deposit had come to light.
‘You’re a wise woman, Mrs Collier,’ Finn agreed. ‘I suppose we do indulge our kids, when we
can, a little too much. They’re young
for so short a time, aren’t they? Leo’s
already worrying about tuition fees if he goes to Uni, whether he’ll be able to
get a decent job, buy a house – all the things our generation took for
granted. I suppose that’s why I try to
reward him, when he works hard and stays out of trouble.’
‘Alex gets her rewards too,’ Catherine protested.
‘I don’t doubt it, Mrs Collier.’
Without being asked to leave, he moved towards the door. Reaching into the breast pocket of his suit,
he took out a business card, setting it down on the sill of the little window
beside the front door.
‘In case you change your mind,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’
She closed the door behind him a little more hastily than was entirely
polite.
The smell of what was probably a very good cologne still lingered as she
inspected his card. That it was for a
company called Lifebuoy Financial Services caught Catherine by surprise. It seemed that Mr Finn was a financial
advisor of some sort. In an area like
this, he might have a prestigious client group, although, as she turned it over
in her hands, she felt it was odd that it didn’t have Nigel Finn’s name on it,
nor a job title, nor an address, merely a mobile phone number and an
exhortation not to drown in debt. Catherine had never been a money adviser, but
she had an idea that anyone giving financial advice should be licenced and that,
if for no other reason than good practice, details of that licence should be on
cards and correspondence.
Minded to do some detective work, she had settled down at her computer,
but been interrupted by a telephone call.
It was Ralph. He had another odd
day of annual leave booked for the following day. He had done all the chores he needed to at
his allotment and the weather forecast suggested too nice a day to waste it sat
at home writing out Christmas cards. He
wondered if she would like to join him for a walk and a pub lunch.
‘That would be lovely, Ralph, but…’
She absolutely could not afford another meal out.
‘If you’re busy, we could make it just lunch?’
‘I can’t really…’
‘Or the walk and no lunch.’ He
sounded sad. ‘It’s a shame not to get
out and about while the weather’s so bright.’
‘I’ll probably have to go to the Jobcentre,’ Catherine explained. ‘I don’t know what time.’
‘Then let me give you a lift and either treat you to lunch before your
appointment or after it, and we’ll have a walk too, if there’s time. Riverside Park is nice, or the Itchen
Navigation.’
‘Don’t be silly, Ralph. You
didn’t book a day off to spend it hanging around waiting for me outside the
Jobcentre. You have a nice day out in
the New Forest or the Meon Valley, or up on the Portsdown Hills or…’
He was absolutely right not to want to waste the day. Catherine could not afford to waste it
either. She needed to track down Colin
and come up with a plan to pay her rent.
‘Let me know if you change your mind,’ Ralph said, trying to sound
upbeat but not making a very convincing job of it.
‘I promise.’
Catherine knew she couldn’t borrow through most conventional
resources. William had seen to
that. She had no access to money of her
own for the last seven years of her marriage so had no credit reference
history. She had no credit card and
little chance of getting one at this address, due to Will’s history of
problematic borrowing. She could
approach her bank. She would do so, when
she was next in town, although she doubted they would be willing to help with
her income so low and precarious.
‘Don’t Drown in Debt!’ she instructed herself, reading Nigel Finn's card again.
It was half-past ten on Tuesday morning when Colin from the Jobcentre
called.
‘What’s all this about a sanction?’ Catherine asked him. ‘I told you I couldn’t come in on Friday
morning, because I was working.’
‘Sorry. I forgot.’
‘Is that why you didn’t arrange another appointment?’
‘It is, yeah. We can do that now,
if you like.’
‘I’m free all day today.’
‘I’m not. What about Wednesday
morning?’
‘I’m working Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning. I told you.
I put that on my journal.’
‘You did, yeah.’ She guessed her
was checking his diary. ‘Next Monday?’
‘I can do any time next Monday.’
‘Nine o’clock?’
Later would be better but she could manage that, taking an early bus. ‘That’s fine.’
‘I’ll put that on your journal.’
‘So will I.’ It made sense not to
leave anything to chance. ‘I take it
that’s the end of the sanction issue?’
‘That’s up to the Decision Maker.’
‘You’ve just admitted it was your mistake!’
‘It’s gone to a Decision Maker, though.
I can tell them. I expect it’ll
be alright, although they’ll look at your work search too.’ She heard keys clicking. ‘You haven’t put much on your journal.’
‘That's because I’ve actually been working, Colin.’
‘Yeah, of course.’
Catherine had a sinking feeling that there might still be a problem with
her payment.
‘Colin, I need this payment to come through without a hitch. I can’t upset my landlord. Do you understand me?’
He insisted he did.
‘I’m going to put my working hours and the details of my rent due in my
journal too, so the Decision-Maker can see it, okay?’
Colin agreed she should. She
sensed he had no idea whether it would help.
By the time she put the phone down, Catherine was almost ready to make
her call to Nigel Finn. She made one
other first.
‘Thanks for coming round, Ralph,’ she said when her friend arrived. ‘I thought I ought to have a witness and some
moral support before I do this.’
She dialled the mobile number on the business card. Finn answered.
‘Mrs Collier! How nice to hear
from you!’
‘You may change your opinion about that, Mr Finn,’ Catherine advised
him. ‘I’m calling to ask that you never
contact me or my family ever again, or I will go to the police. I have spoken to the
Head at the school regarding both Alex’s false hopes of participating in the
skiing trip and Leo’s utterly unacceptable attempt to exploit her dream. I'm sure you will be hearing from the school in due
course, but I wanted you to be in no doubt as to whom had raised this matter
with them, and that they know the full details of the threats made against my daughters by your son.’
‘I’m shocked and disappointed, Mrs Collier.
Leo and I were genuinely trying our best to help…’
‘Arrant nonsense, Mr Finn. You
are no more genuinely trying to help
than you are genuinely offering
financial services. Why is your name and
address not on this card? Where are the
details of your FCA registration?’
‘I must have given you an old one by mistake.’
‘Your mistake, Mr Finn, was coming round here at all. I trust you will not repeat it.’
Finn started swearing. Catherine
left the telephone on speakerphone until he hung up.
‘Good day to you too, Mr Finn!’ she said.
‘Gosh,’ said Ralph. ‘He sounds
rather a nasty piece of work.’
‘He doesn’t give that impression when you first meet him. He’s all smiles and charm, when he thinks he
might reel you in.’
‘Reel you in?’
‘He’s a loan shark.’
‘Good lord!’ Ralph’s brow furrowed.
‘They can be jolly unpleasant, can't they? Are you sure you did the right thing to call him?’
‘Someone has to take a stand, Ralph.’
Catherine replied. ‘I wanted to
make sure he knew not to try his scams with me. He’s due a visit from the authorities following my visit to the school this morning already.’
‘On account of his son’s antics?’
‘And his own. I showed the Head
this business card. She said it confirmed
something that had troubled her about an incident involving another local
family, but couldn’t say any more about that to me.
There’s a national hotline to report loan sharks, so we called it from
her office and gave them all the information we both had about Finn.’
‘I say!' Ralph said. 'How terribly brave of you!’
Catherine didn’t feel brave at all, compared to her elder daughter.
‘Alex has been braver. If she
hadn’t opened up to me last night about what was happening at school, I might
not have spotted Finn’s game. In a way, although
it sounds dreadful, it was almost lucky that Leo scared Alex so much she told
me the truth and asked for help.’
‘What did he say?’
‘I’d rather not share that, Ralph.
It was rather distressing. Alex has been fantastic, though. As
well as owning up to deceiving me, which took a lot of guts, she’s had to face down the jibes of her
better-off friends and face up to missing out on her holiday.’
‘That must be grim.’
‘It was. On the plus side, however,
she’s got a better idea who her true friends are now and has earned their
respect. Most of them aren’t going on
this dreadful skiing trip either, so they'll have a better time while the snobs are away, she can stop trying to be someone she isn’t
and get on with being the lovely, bright kid she actually is.’
‘I’m sure that will make life easier for you both,' Ralph said. 'Now, after all that, would you still like to come out for lunch
with me?’
‘I’ve had rather a hectic morning, Ralph, and I still have to…’ Catherine smiled. ‘Actually, that would be lovely. Nothing too fancy - and you must promise to let
me treat you, when I can.’
‘You have my word on it,’ he replied.
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