Tina outside work and they go out drinking together. Christ, I only have to cough and she's up out of her seat wanting to know what I'm doing and why I've stopped working.
'What bloke?' Daryl shouts back.
'Out on the street on the way to work.'
'Which street?'
'The high street, just outside Cartwrights.'
'Didn't see anything.'
'You must have.'
'I didn't. I didn't walk past Cartwrights. I came the other way this morning.'
'There was this bloke,' Kieran explains regardless, 'you should have seen him. He went absolutely fucking mental.'
'What are you on about?'
'Honest mate, he was wild. You ask Bob Rawlings up in Archives. He saw it. He reckons he practically killed her.'
'Killed who?'
'I don't know, just some old woman. No word of a lie, he just started laying into her for no reason. Stabbed her with a bloody umbrella I heard!'
'Now you're taking the piss...'
'I'm serious.'
'No way!'
'You go and ask Bob...'
I usually ignore these quick-fire conversations (most of the time I don't have a clue what they're talking about) but today I can actually add something because I was there. It's pathetic, I know, but the fact that I seem to know more about what happened than either Kieran or Daryl makes me feel smug and superior.
'He's right,' I say, looking up from my screen.
'Did you see it then?' Kieran asks. I lean back on my seat in self-satisfaction.
'Happened right in front of me. He might even have gone for me if I'd been a few seconds earlier.'
'So what was it all about?' Daryl asks. 'Is what he's saying right?'
I quickly look over at Tina. She's got her head buried in a pile of papers. It's safe to keep talking.
'I saw the old girl first,' I tell them. 'I nearly tripped over her. She came flying past me and smashed up against the window by the side door of Cartwrights. I thought it must be a group of kids trying to get her bag off her or something like that. Couldn't believe it when I saw him. He just looked like a normal bloke. Suit, tie, glasses...'
'So why did he do it? What had she done to him?'
'No idea. Bloody hell, mood he was in I wasn't about to ask him.'
'And he just went for her?' Daryl mumbles, sounding like he doesn't believe a word I'm saying. I nod and glance from side to side at both of them.
'Never seen anything like it,' I continue. 'He ran at her and stabbed her with an umbrella. It was gross. It went right into her belly. There was blood all over her coat and...'
Tina's looking up now. I look down and start typing, trying to remember what it was I was doing.
'Then what?' Kieran hisses.
'Idiot turned on the rest of the crowd. Started hitting out at the people around him. Then the police turned up,' I explain, still looking at my screen but not actually doing anything. 'They dragged him away and shoved him in the back of a van.'
The conversation stops again. Murray's on the move. For a moment the only sound I can hear is the clicking of three computer keyboards as we pretend to work. After looking around the room and staring at me in particular she leaves the office and Kieran and Daryl immediately stop inputting.
'So was there something wrong with him?' Daryl asks pointlessly.
'Of course there was something wrong with him,' I answer. Christ, this bloke's an idiot at times. 'Do you think he'd stab an old lady with an umbrella if there wasn't anything wrong with him?'
'But did he say anything? Was he screaming or shouting or...?'
I wonder whether it's even worth answering his half-asked question.
'Both,' I grunt.
'Was he drunk or on drugs or...?'
'I don't know,' I say, beginning to get annoyed. I stop and think for a second before speaking again. In my head I can still see the expression on the man's face. 'He looked absolutely fucking terrified,' I tell them. 'He looked like he was the one who was being attacked.'
Chapter Two
There's a girl who sits on the other side of the office called Jennifer Reynolds. I don't know her very well. I don't have much to do with her from day to day. In fact I've only spoken to her a handful of times since I was transferred into the PFP. She's not here today and I hate it when she's out. When Jennifer Reynolds isn't here her duties get shared out between the rest of us, and the job I have to cover today