The choc-E-bar Girl  (English, Paperback, Haves Barry)

On leaving the Army, Robert Bond found work at the Eastern Regional Headquarters of the Government Bureaucracy Corporation (GBC), in the monstrous concrete-and-glass Stellar Tower. Army life was straightforward but here things were not always what they appeared - and he began to think there was something odd about the building itself. He'd recently been through an acrimonious divorce and 'fell for' the beautiful receptionist, Drusilla, a 'resting' actress. In her youth Drusilla had found fame as the 'choc-E-bar' girl in TV adverts, but her career had been blighted when she was charged with the murder of her husband, although she had been acquitted. Her second brief marriage to a GBC Director ended with his sudden death from a heart attack which led to certain speculation, and she became known to some of her colleagues as the Black Widow. Robert liked his new job and liked his colleagues, and began an affair with Drusilla, but it transpired that Andrew Worthy, head of the Communications Department in which Robert was employed, also wanted Drusilla. In a forthcoming departmental re--organisation Robert suspected that Worthy was going to get him transferred away from Stellar Tower, but Worthy's sudden death solved this problem. The relationship flourished and the pair became engaged and lived together in Drusilla's flat, but she was reluctant to marry Robert, which he thought was due to her previous marital problems. Drusilla still wanted to 'tread the boards' professionally but meanwhile took part in local amateur productions. Eventually she obtained work on the West End stage but at first came home after the show every night, then she started 'staying with a friend' occasionally and Robert became suspicious. Meanwhile the Government pruned the staff of GBC and Robert was lucky not to be made redundant. GBC was later privatised and Robert survived that also, but in a later shake-up he lost his job and Stellar Tower was sold and demolished, to be used as a supermarket car park. Robert suspected that Drusilla was having an affair with somebody in London...