Mackenzie shakes her head and folds her arms. ‘This simply isn’t a priority for us right now. Hudson are focusing on the new trade title launches, this is a diversion of resources and focus.’

Akila is scrambling for her notes. ‘I’ve been working up some new projections, pitches—this is beyond any of the targets you gave us, on the basis of this traffic we can rewrite the rate card…’ Mackenzie speaks over her. ‘Harri, this goes against everything we covered in our initial discussion. You know this.’

Harri must stay calm, she must not give into her instincts and hit Mackenzie or threaten to sit on her until she reinstates Giles. She wants this for The Know—and she really wants it for Imogen.

‘Mackenzie, syndication is really straightforward. The fee is considerable, and it would be a wonderful bonus for Imogen, and Hudson would stand to benefit from reprinting rights. I used to handle syndication requests for Panache all the time…’ As the words fall out of Harri’s mouth, desperately, uselessly, she begins to realise what she has resisted. Mackenzie isn’t slow, or old fashioned, or following peculiar practice, is she? She is deliberately blocking Harri.

‘But if you’re concerned about the…complications…’ Harri keeps talking. She wants to believe she can fix it still, stumble upon some magical combination of words that will cast the right spell, ‘…we could just think of this as a PR exercise. It’s a huge coup. We don’t have to do anything, they sort the translation, all of it.’

‘I said no.’ Mackenzie speaks in a perfect monotone.

‘But perhaps…’ tries Akila, her voice cracking with false hope. Mackenzie ignores her entirely. Addressing only Harri she says, ‘I have a meeting. I trust we’re finished here.’ It’s really odd to watch Mackenzie doing anything as human as walking. She looks as though she should be carried everywhere by sedan chair. Or coffin.

Harri and Akila look at each other for a long minute before Akila notices the stack of papers on the table. ‘Mackenzie! I think you forgot your…’

‘Fuck her,’ Harri says. ‘Fuck her, fuck her, fuck her. She’ll come back. Let’s not do her any favours. It doesn’t look that important, anyway, it’s just some sort of brochure. Whittaker-Chambers media pack.’ She reads, upside down. ‘Akila, can you pass that over?’

Harri scans. ‘Weird, Construction & Scaffolding Weekly is one of ours, but I don’t recognise most of these titles. All building, all property.’

Akila sighs. ‘Ain’t no party like a Construction & Scaffolding Weekly party ’cos…oh, I can’t be bothered. I hate it here. Let’s go back downstairs, where our people are.’

‘You mean, where Tabitha is dressed as a space cowboy and Imogen is writing about…I don’t know, golden showers?’

‘Yeah. Those are our Girls.’

Chapter Forty-Four

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Harri