‘Oh no, he wasn’t there at that time — he’s been in and out of the office a lot lately; meetings, you know.’
‘So would anyone have been here who might have seen him leave; just so we can follow his movements?’
Gail Marsh suddenly looked worried. ‘Well, you can see,’ she made a sweeping gesture with her arm, ‘we’re rather thin on the ground at the moment. What with the holidays, and the sunny weather.’
‘Yes, I did notice the empty rooms.’
‘Oh, they’re being emptied to be redecorated. Don’t pay any attention to them.’
Cori didn’t need her experience in the job to tell her when she was being lied to, and by one so poor at it. But it was a good lie, a kind lie, a joshing, covering lie. The woman had pride in Aubrey’s, and in her colleagues, and didn’t want the cracks to show behind their wallpaper.
Into the second’s silence Cori’s cogitating caused, young Cynthia, sad throughout, had produced a hankie and looked ready to resume the tears of earlier that day.
‘Poor love. You’ve had a horrible morning, haven’t you pet,’ Gail burst in. ‘I could curse myself, picking this morning to take poor Reggie to the vets,’ lamented the older woman.
Knowing this was an area the Inspector would be sure to have wanted her to have asked about, Cori took her chance,
‘So, Cynthia, Mrs Long told me you had spoken to Mrs Aubrey this morning?’
‘Yes, she was upset too.’
Speaking slowly and directly to Cynthia, Cori asked her to try and remember just what Mrs Aubrey had said, without thinking about the things that made her upset; no feelings, just the words.
‘Well,’ the girl began hesitantly, ‘she was trying to be calm at first, talking as if Mr Aubrey might just be a bit late in. But then she was sobbing and saying, “he’s hurt, he’s hurt.” And then… she got a bit more upset, and I didn’t know what to do.’
‘You’re doing brilliantly, keep going,’ Gail encouraged, before saying herself,
‘But the upshot of it all is he’s gone straight of to London today, when if I’m honest, we could have done with him being right here,’ a glance around the room bare of people making clear her feelings.
‘So, what’s he like to work for?’ continued Cori.
The women looked at each other in uneasy silence.
‘Please don’t think you’re betraying anyone by answering,’ the Sergeant plugged on. ‘Have there any difficulties with the staff lately, any arguments, disputes with the boss?’
But still there was no answer.
‘There must be something,’ Cori urged. ‘Grumbles, whispers, gossip on tea breaks?’
‘Well, I’m sure it is the same at companies the world over,’ answered Gail Marsh at last, slightly defensively though, as if Cori herself with her questions wished to drive a wedge into the heart of their company unity. ‘There will always be someone saying something about the management. Mr Aubrey is a good boss, firm but fair. He’s always done right by us.’
Cori decided to risk it, the one last big question, ‘So, there’s no truth then in the rumours of job cuts?’
‘And who’s been rumouring that, I wonder?’ Gail Marsh was on the warpath now. ‘I learnt long ago not to trust half of what people say they know about such things as they weren’t in the boardroom themselves to hear.’
No closer to knowing if the men in the pub really lost their jobs, and sure that this line of questioning was getting her nowhere, Cori returned to safer ground,
‘What would really help us is if you could tell me some more about Thomas.’
‘Of course,’ assented Gail, her tone instantly lightening.
‘So, how long have you worked with him?’
‘Oh, I’ve been here forever it feels like. Cynthia’s been here about two months, isn’t it love?’
The girl nodded in agreement.
‘You’re helping us out, aren’t you,’ said Gail to Cynthia, before turning back to Cori. ‘All the other girls left, claimed they were being worked to hard, but Cynthia here’s been a little Godsend; does the work of two others, doesn’t mind staying over.’
‘And so Thomas has worked here a while now?’
‘Five or six years. Started as a boy. I think it’s the only job he’s ever had.’
‘And has Tom always had his same job here?’
‘Yes, he runs the office with me, but he’s the best on the computers. Between you and me, Alex Aubrey wouldn’t know one end of a laptop from the other.’
‘And in that time has Tom had any troubles or issues?’
‘Tom? No, never. Straight as a die. The only trouble he ever has is when any of the lads downstairs get restless… and as I say, that’s just in fun.’
‘And does he see it as fun?’
‘Well, perhaps not as much as the lads do, but it’s very rare and if I’m here I send them off.’
‘Has anything like this happened in say the last couple of weeks?’
‘You know… well it wasn’t anything really.’
‘Go on,’ urged Cori, intrigued.
‘Well as I say, Tom always gets a bit stressed when its payroll week, the last in each month.’
‘Tell me a bit about that.’
‘Well, he’s the best with the computers. Alex hasn’t got a clue, and I’m not much help I’m afraid. But he’ll be head down over the keyboard, making sure he gets it exactly right, because if he gets it wrong…’
‘The staff aren’t paid enough?’
‘Or too much, which is just as bad.’
‘And this has happened before?’ Cori guessed so from Gail’s tone.
‘Yes, about a year ago. Tom doesn’t make many mistakes, but when he did, wow. He somehow paid a whole team — about thirty men — two months’ salary instead of one. It went through on their payslips, and the bank transfers had happened before we discovered it. He was so embarrassed. We told them right away, but a few of the men made a play of not wanting to give the extra back. Alex had to step in and tell them to stop playing silly beggers; and it was only that Tom would have taken a rollicking so badly that held Alex back from giving him one.’
‘It must have really upset Thomas?’
‘Oh, it did Tom a lot of harm, he was quiet for days after, and the next month he was a bag of nerves, triple checking everything, here till seven one evening.’
‘And have there been any problems since?’
‘No, and there had never ever been before, it was complete one-off.’
‘And Tom was running these same processes this week?’
‘Yes, he would have been.’
‘And how did he seem?’
‘Well, he’s always occupied by it, it takes over his day. And later on Monday I think one of the lads was up here, asking him for their payslip.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘Well, we start the inputting and checking on Monday, then during the week payslips are printed and handed out, and then the money arrives in all our accounts for Friday. But sometimes some of the lads come by early to see if the payslips are ready yet.’
‘Even on Monday?’
‘Yes, if they are working late enough. If all goes well we can start printing them as early as that afternoon.’
‘And someone was here asking for theirs late on Monday?’
‘Well, it was just Chris from the shopfloor. I passed him as I was leaving. I can’t think of any other reason why he’d be coming up here at that time.’
‘And you didn’t hear the conversation?’
‘No, as I say, I was on my way out, I already had my bag and coat.’
