‘You did that?’
‘Yes, we originally catered for his daughter’s engagement party, so he asked us back.’
Faye raised her eyebrows. ‘That was inHello!magazine, wasn’t it? Very posh do.’
‘It was and it put Liz on the map. She and my boyfriend, who’s also a chef, went into partnership and they combine private catering with the functions at Diva’s restaurant in Fitzroy Square.’
‘Isn’t that run by Roberto Bianchi?’
‘He’s a partner in it, yes, along with Liz’s husband, Alex Sinclaire, and Tia McIntyre, the interior designer.’
Faye drank the rest of the wine in her glass and got up from the table. ‘Do you want another?’ she asked. Emma shook her head. She’d only drunk half of hers and didn’t want any more.
When Faye came back from the bar, she asked, ‘So if you have all these connections in the catering industry, why did you choose to work at the Rosemont?’
‘I don’t just want to do functions, I want to learn about all the aspects of hotel management. I suppose I could have done that at Alex’s hotel. In fact, he did offer, but I wanted to do something on my own merit, not through my connections.’
‘Well, that’s good. And what have you learned so far?’
Emma paused, and thought carefully before answering. ‘Some of the paperwork has been quite interesting.’
Faye frowned as though she was trying to remember something.
‘Tell me, the health-and-safety database. Whose idea was that?’
Emma hesitated again and Faye answered for her. ‘By your silence I can only assume it was yours?’
Emma nodded.
‘And the recommendations following the collation of the customer-feedback questionnaires?’
Emma nodded again.
‘And did you know that Heather passed them off as her own?’
Emma tried again to formulate a diplomatic answer. ‘I suspected she might have done.’
‘I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but she’s done you a great disservice. She’s had us all believing that you are lazy and difficult to work with.’
Shocked that Heather had been bad-mouthing her so much, Emma took a large gulp of her wine and decided that it was now or never.
‘I don’t know what I’ve done to turn her so against me, and I don’t like to speak ill of people when they’re not around to defend themselves, but she’s the one who’s been difficult to work with. I’ve been unhappy for a while, so I’ve kept a notebook of all the things she’s said and done that have made me feel uncomfortable.’
‘You should have said something.’
‘I didn’t like to and I was hoping that, if I worked hard, things would get easier. But ironically, today she accused me of being a bully, so I decided to do something about it. I told her I was going to take the book to the general manager.’
‘But you didn’t?’
‘No. I needed to calm down first, so I went to the staffroom and that’s where you found me.’
‘And Heather suddenly developed a migraine.’
‘I suppose so, yes.’
‘It’s all beginning to make sense now,’ Faye said. ‘Thank you, Emma.’
‘What for?’
