Simmons’ regret and embarrassment at his earlier outburst had now been replaced by an anger that smouldered inside him as he watched the head of department get to his feet.
Graham Sutcliffe began in conciliatory tone. ‘I fully recognise the enthusiasm that some of you feel for Gavin Donnelly’s work,’ he said. ‘But I must emphasise that my first consideration as head of this department has to be the reputation of the department and, indeed, the university. It would be foolish for us to go over the top about something which is, at this point, little more than an interesting observation in a test tube. It was for that reason that I decided that Donnelly’s work will not be included in the BBC programme. I hope that after giving it some thought, you, my colleagues, will come to agree with me and not seek ill-advised publicity for what is after all —’
‘A thorn in Grumman Schalk’s side,’ interrupted Simmons in a level monotone.
‘I beg your pardon?’
Simmons’ gaze did not waver as he asked, ‘What was the threat, Graham? Keep the lid on Gavin’s work or you lose the block grant?’
There were gasps in the room and all eyes were on Simmons, whose unwavering and accusing stare at Sutcliffe suggested a man very sure of his ground.
‘How dare you!’
‘No, how dare you, Graham? I was prepared for Grumman Schalk’s interference in what we could or could not submit for publication if we accepted their money, but I didn’t expect them to start running the department before we’d even got it.’
Sutcliffe was almost apoplectic.
‘Will everyone please calm down,’ appealed Jack Martin, above the hubbub which had broken out.
As order was restored, Martin looked at Simmons and said, ‘That is a very serious accusation, Frank.’
‘And I’m waiting for a response.’
Martin turned and looked almost apologetically at Sutcliffe, who took a deep breath and got to his feet. ‘This is a total misrepresentation of the facts,’ he said, but his words lacked conviction and the room sensed it. ‘Quite understandably, Grumman Schalk, like me, believes that it is not in the interests of anyone to have publicity given to Donnelly’s work at this stage.’
‘Or any stage,’ said Simmons coldly. ‘Did they threaten to withdraw the offer of the block grant if you didn’t play ball?’
There was a long pause while it seemed to Simmons that Sutcliffe was trying to work out just how much he knew. ‘Not in so many words...’
All around the room eyes were cast downwards as Sutcliffe’s answer was seen as an admission.
‘Well, of course “not in so many words”, Graham. How did they dress it up?’
‘It’s not a question of dressing anything up,’ spluttered Sutcliffe. ‘The company simply feels that if Donnelly’s work were to be given undue publicity on such a programme as the BBC intends to produce, their refusal to put Valdevan back in production might lead to adverse publicity and — a misinterpretation of their motives — something that might well have financial repercussions for them —’
‘And lead to a withdrawal of the grant offer,’ completed Simmons.
‘Which is a perfectly understandable point of view to those of us...’
Who have to live in the real world, thought Simmons as he saw it coming.
‘Who have to live in the real world.’
Simmons left the room.
Eighteen
Simmons was sitting alone in his office, feet up on the desk, head back, staring at the ceiling, when Jack Martin put his head round the door. ‘So where do you go from here?’
Simmons sighed. ‘I don’t know, but I do know I’m not going to give up on this. If Sutcliffe won’t put Gavin’s work in the programme, I’m definitely going to seek exposure for it elsewhere.’
‘In which case Grumman Schalk will definitely pull the plug on the grant.’
Simmons looked at Martin questioningly. ‘What are you saying, Jack?’
Martin shrugged in a gesture of innocence. ‘I’m just making sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s not just Sutcliffe who desperately wants the grant, it’s the university. We’re talking big bucks here, and Old College is like a thirsty sponge when it comes to cash.’
‘Jesus! That’s why they blocked the patent application!’ exclaimed Simmons, as if suddenly realising it. ‘It had nothing to do with them risking precious university funds. They were dancing to Grumman’s tune too.’
‘I should think you’ll get quite a lot of fancy footwork for twenty million,’ said Martin.
‘And where do you stand on all of this, Jack?’ asked Simmons, watching his friend’s reactions. ‘Presumably, no grant means no personal chairs?’
Martin gave a resigned shrug. ‘Graham did make it pretty clear that they were dependent on the department getting Grumman Schalk money and expanding. Maybe I should get you to tell Lorraine the bad news instead of me. She was tickled pink at the idea of becoming the wife of a learned professor.’
The remark had been made light-heartedly but the message was there, thought Simmons. He took it as an early warning that Jack Martin had come as far as he was going to in the support stakes and could even be thinking about engaging reverse gear. He suddenly felt very alone. ‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m for home,’ he said, changing the subject. ‘It’s been one hell of a day.’
‘Fancy a drink?’
‘Maybe not tonight, Jack.’
‘So how serious is this?’ asked Jenny when Simmons told her.
‘It’s me and Gavin against the rest of the world.’
‘What about your drinking buddy?’
‘Jack’s starting to waver. Lorraine’s been telling her pals at the lunch club that he’s going to be made a professor.’
‘Oh dear. Well, for what it’s worth, I’m right behind you. I just can’t believe that all these people are putting money before a possible cure for cancer. It’s absolutely outrageous.’
‘Thanks, but I don’t think we should underestimate the strength of the opposition. Edinburgh may not be Sicily, but the Morningside mafia can hold their own with anyone when it comes to dirty tricks.’
Jenny ruffled Simmons’ hair as she passed by. ‘Right, so when the story breaks about you and the three call-girls in a bed...’
‘You’ll know I’ve been set up.’
‘Either that or you invented the whole cancer cure business to cover it up...’
‘Trust me to marry a clever woman.’
‘If it’s any help, I feel just as angry,’ said Caroline. ‘It’s beginning to sound as if everyone is really quite happy with the way things are, and you’re being cast in the role of troublemaker because you’ve dared to make progress and rocked their comfy little boat. How dare they!’
‘If it wasn’t for Frank standing up for me I think I’d be out on my ear and serving burgers in McDonald’s by now.’
‘So what are you two going to do?’
‘I spoke to him on the phone. He says the main thing to do is to get the results into print. He thinks there’s a good chance we’ll be able to get the paper into a really prestigious journal like Cell or Nature. Once it’s out there in the public domain things should get easier. We’re hoping there will be an immediate demand for the reintroduction of Valdevan and for trials to begin on the new treatment.’
‘You don’t think the opposition will attempt to block publication?’