Paul smiled and wondered why such a beautiful girl would want to spend her time picking up empty bottles and scrubbing toilets, when she could be out there doing anything she put her mind to. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, Kate, but why exactly do you want to work here? Obviously Goldie’s is a great place to work, though.” He laughed. He didn’t want to say that cleaning was beneath her. “You could do pretty much whatever you wanted,” he added.

              “I just need the money, Mr Goldie.”

Kate fidgeted in her chair. She had decided against telling him that she was pregnant, she thought that if she could get her foot in the door, she would tell him then, and hopefully by then he would have seen what a great worker she was and would let her keep her job. She really needed a break, and she wasn’t sure how the man sitting opposite her now would respond to her situation; most employers would rather do without the hassle, and then there was health and safety, etc.

              Paul wasn’t convinced that it was all about the money for Kate; there was something not quite right here; she seemed like an intelligent girl, why was she aiming so low? She was so young, didn’t she have greater ambitions?

              “So, do I have the job, Mr Goldie?” Kate interrupted his thoughts.

              Paul made up his mind. The girl intrigued him. “I’m sorry, Kate, I’m afraid that the cleaning position has already been taken.”

              “Oh!” Secretly, she was a little relieved, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

              “But, Kate, there is something else I could offer.” Paul grinned at her, and she could see his laughter lines, which made him more handsome.

              “Oh?” Kate was more than a little surprised, and she was starting to regret coming for the interview now. She hated lying and felt that Paul knew her secret.

              “I need someone to do some of the paperwork… make calls, help organise stuff a little better. I need an assistant.” The more Paul spoke, the more he realised that he could do with things being a bit more organised. There were piles of paperwork and contacts scribbled on bits of paper lying around the office, so many things that he didn’t get round to doing himself. There was just something about Kate that made him want to help; something in her tone that was more determined than desperate. She sounded as if she could do with good luck.

              Kate’s eyes lit up. This was so much more than she could have expected.

              “There is one condition though, Kate, and it is quite an important one,” Paul said seriously.

              Go on, thought Kate; what’s the catch?

              “You must call me Paul; all this Mr Goldie is making me feel really old.” He laughed now, and relieved, Kate laughed too.

              She left shortly afterwards, and Paul was surprised at how grateful Kate had been, she had seemed over the moon at getting the job.

Paul smiled, feeling very happy all of a sudden. Kate was starting on Monday, so he could leave all his paperwork until then, seeing as he was going to have to find things for her to do. He was still smiling, as he locked up as he left, thinking: if this is how it feels to do a good deed, I should do one more often.

 

 

18

Jay lost his grip on the sill and fell back down onto the muddy verge beneath him. It was dark now, particularly around the warehouse where there were no street lamps. He got to his feet once more, pulling himself up again to the window. He swung his leg up and this time he was in: fancy having electric gates and fancy alarm systems set up and then going and leaving a window open. Jay tutted; he’s almost invited me in, he laughed, although it was more of a nervous giggle. He knew he had to get in and out quickly, because if Billy or one of his lads turned up he would be dead this time.

              Looking around, he didn’t know where to start. He hadn’t really had a plan; he had been getting high with a couple of mates at one of their flats, and on his way home had kind of just stumbled this way. The open window had seemed a sign, enticing him in; too easy, he thought.

              The warehouse was huge. Looking at all the boxes and containers, he could see that the men must be busy. He knew the lads did run a legit business, shipping goods overseas and providing a courier service and storage. But Jay also knew that if he looked hard enough he would find out the not-so legit goings on, then he could play Billy boy at his own game.

Billy had put the word out on Jay, he had been collecting information on him, but unfortunately for him he had pissed a few people off himself along the way, and not everyone was as loyal as he would have liked to think. Lifting up the lid of a big box, Jay whistled. It was full of what looked like very expensive jewellery. Dipping into the box, he picked up a long gold chain with a butterfly pendant embedded with crystals. Jay put it in his pocket, hoping to get cash for it later. He put the lid back on and then made his way to the office. Jay looked about, impressed. The office was every guy’s dream workplace, decked out with the state of the art gadgets, a big plasma screen on the wall, leather sofas, expensive Macs.

Jay was envious. There were days when he would be rolling in dough and other days when he had to trawl through shit to get what was owed to him. He had cash stashed away, but nothing that could set him up like this. This was what he wanted. Billy must be rolling in it; his legit business alone must be bringing him and his lads in a fortune. There was a lot about Billy that Jay envied, not that he would admit that to a living soul.

Billy had had a proper family growing up; he had his lads to back him up, ones that he’d been friends with since he was a boy. You couldn’t buy that kind of loyalty. He had all of this, too. Jay looked out to the warehouse floor once again. It was filled from floor to ceiling with all sorts of things. But most of all, what Jay envied the most was that people feared Billy; respected him. Jay could scare people, he could bribe and blackmail them, threaten and rob them, but that was as far as it went. He was a dealer, and no-one respects a low-life dealer, they feared him but they had no respect for him. People were only nice to Jay when they wanted something, and if he was honest with himself he would admit that he used them too. Even his dad had used him, teaching him all sorts of corrupt stuff, putting him in dangerous situations as a child. His dad hadn’t encouraged him to do well at school, or have a better chance at life in any way, but to act as his own accomplice, and now he was dutifully following in his old man’s footsteps.

Jay sat down on an office chair and booted up the Mac. He spent the next half an hour going through files, looking for something that Billy had not hidden, but the boy was good and he couldn’t find anything. Billy had what appeared to be a lucrative warehouse. Whistling to himself, as he switched everything off and made sure that everything was exactly as he left it, he made his way back to the window, which was ajar. He would have to come back another time. Jay would stop at nothing until he had it. Let them all think what they like, he thought, because that would be their downfall.