Tell Me - Ashe Barker Page 0,32

a finger in Thea’s direction. She stepped back, out of his reach.

Tony placed himself between Thea and his disgruntled soon-to-be ex-employee. “May I introduce Mrs Richmond? She recently joined my team as Dart Logistics’ new Corporate Services Director.”

“Why do we need her? And why wasn’t I involved in making the new appointment? It’s my job, anything to do with finance. You know that.” David Lister’s voice had risen, he was almost shouting at Tony now. Thea was relieved to spot the security guard exiting the building.

Tony appeared unfazed. “I’ll let you know if we need anything from you, David. Now if you’ll excuse me….” He turned to the guard who had reached them. “Ah, yes. Mr Lister was just leaving. Could you make sure he gets away safely please? Oh, and David, if we could just have your electric key to the car park back, please…?”

“What? Why? I’ll be needing it.”

“In which case it will be returned to you in due course. Could you hand it over to security please, or if it’s easier for you we’ll just deactivate it.”

Silenced at last, David Lister glared at his boss. Tony seemed to consider this a good opportunity to make their exit, and placed his hand on Thea’s elbow to direct her towards the practical Ford parked in the bay marked CEO. Thea reflected that Tony must pay excellent salaries if his staff could drive around in BMWs. Perhaps she should look again at that contract.

*****

Thea opened her eyes and peered at the window opposite where she lay in Tony’s bed. Sunlight streamed through the curtains throwing golden pools across the dark blue carpet in the bedroom. She rolled over, and winced as her bladder gave her an insistent prod. She needed to get up. She squinted at the small clock on the bedside table. Three fifteen.

Three fifteen! Shit! She’d been asleep nearly all day. She needed to get up, she had work to do, an investigation to finish. And where the Hell was Tony anyway?

She shot out of bed and rushed across the room to the en suite loo. Her comfort restored, she charged back into the bedroom and started to throw on her clothes. Was her car still outside? She went to the window to check. Yes. Where were her keys? How long would it take to get to Dart’s offices?

Her phone buzzed in the pocket of her jeans as she jogged downstairs. She pulled it out. Caller ID told her Tony was on the line.

She answered it, breathless. “Hi. I overslept, sorry. Where are you?”

“At the office. You were spark out so I left you to get some rest.”

“You should have woken me. Or sent me an alarm call. Something. I’m just on my way.”

“Well stop being on your way. Everything’s under control here. You’ve earned a day off.”

“I can’t take a day off. I haven’t started work yet.”

“Oh. So who was it who turned in a twenty four hour shift yesterday then? It looked like you. Seriously, Thea, we’re fine. The police want to interview you, but I told them you’d be in tomorrow and they’ll come back then. They took your file. They seemed to think we could probably reinstate the finance team, with the obvious three exceptions. Would you agree?”

“Yes, if the police are happy I think that’d be fine. I collected all the evidence they’re likely to need and it’s important for you to get your company back to normal as soon as possible. You’ll need to put someone in charge of finance temporarily.”

“I was thinking I’d go to an agency.”

“Can I suggest Mrs Metcalfe? She’s been David Lister’s assistant for two years so she knows the job. And there’s no evidence linking her to his scam.”

Tony was silent for a few moments. Thea suspected he was trying to place the name. “She’s rather young…”

“Twenty four. She’s bright, and she’s honest...”

“Well that counts for something I suppose.”

“I think so. It’s your choice, but from what I’ve seen in her personnel file I’m happy to recommend her. And she could start immediately.” Thea made her way into the kitchen. She wedged the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she clicked the switch on the kettle and hunted up a cup and the caddy containing Earl Grey teabags. A few seconds later the gentle hiss of soon to be boiling water lent its own comforting tone to the silent room. Still, she couldn’t entirely reconcile herself to not appearing at the office at all that