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glasses and is holding a very expensive-looking briefcase.

Wow. He looks like a million dollars.

Graham Hillingdon and the others are all outside by now, lined up on the steps. They shake

his hand in turn, then usher him inside, where Cyril is waiting.

'Welcome to the Panther Corporation UK,' Cyril says fulsomely. 'I hope your journey was

pleasant?'

'Not too bad, thanks,' says the man, in an American accent.

'As you can see, this is very much a normal working day…'

'Hey look,' murmurs Katie. 'Ke

Ke

and baseball boots, not knowing whether to come in or not. He puts a hand to the door, then

retreats a little, then comes up to the door again and peers uncertainly inside.

'Come in, Ke

designers, Ke

mind!' He pushes a bewildered Ke

irritation.

'Come on,' says Katie, 'we'd better go.' And, trying not to giggle, the three of us hurry up the

stairs.

The atmosphere in the marketing department is a bit like my bedroom used to be before we

had parties in the sixth form. People are brushing their hair, spraying perfume, shuffling

papers around and gossiping excitedly. As I walk past the office of Neil Gregg, who is in

charge of media strategy, I see him carefully lining up his Marketing Effectiveness awards on

his desk, while Fiona his assistant is polishing the framed photographs of him shaking hands

with famous people.

I'm just hanging up my coat on the rack when the head of our department, Paul, pulls me aside.

'What the fuck happened at Glen Oil? I had a very strange email from Doug Hamilton this

morning. You poured a drink over him?'

I stare at him in shock. Doug Hamilton told Paul? But he promised he wouldn't!

'It wasn't like that,' I say quickly. 'I was just trying to demonstrate the many fine qualities of

Panther Prime and I… I kind of spilled it.' Paul raises his eyebrows, not in a friendly way.

'All right. It was a lot to ask of you.'

'It wasn't,' I say quickly. 'I mean, it would have been fine, if… what I mean is, if you give me

another chance, I'll do better. I promise.'

'We'll see.' He looks at his watch. 'You'd better get on. Your desk is a fucking mess.'

'OK. Um, what time will my appraisal be?'

'Emma, in case you hadn't heard, Jack Harper's visiting us today,' says Paul, in his most

sarcastic voice. 'But of course, if you think your appraisal's more important than the guy who

founded the company-'

'I didn't mean… I just…'

'Go and tidy your desk,' says Paul in a bored voice. 'And if you spill fucking Panther Prime

over Harper, you're fired.'

As I scuttle to my desk, Cyril comes into the room, looking hassled.

'Attention!' he says, clapping his hands. 'Attention everyone! This is an informal visit, nothing

more. Mr Harper will come in, perhaps talk to one or two of you, observe what you do. So I

want you all just to act normally, but obviously, at your highest standards… What are these

papers?' he suddenly snaps, looking at a neat pile of proofs in the corner next to Fergus

Grady's desk.

'That's the… um… artwork for the new Panther Gum campaign,' says Fergus, who is very

shy and creative. 'I haven't quite got room on my desk.'

'Well, they can't stay here!' Cyril picks them up and shoves them at him. 'Get rid of them.

Now, if he asks any of you a question, just be pleasant and natural. When he arrives, I want

you all at work. Just doing typical tasks which you would naturally be doing in the course of a