The picture of her friend dressed in a tangerine delight and sitting next to Percy at Mrs Taylor's tea table made her smile. If Percy could survive that encounter he could survive anything.
Chapter 8
The office was decorated with a few sprigs of holly pinned above the glass-panelled door. Four small faded decorations that might once have looked seasonal, hung in each corner of the room. Several decades after their purchase the red crepe paper was brown at the edges and dust had worn down the edges of the limp bells and sad bows.
Bella gazed around her at the bowed heads of her colleagues and counted the minutes to leaving. Four whole days of undiluted pleasure stretched ahead. It was Christmas Eve and Micky was calling at seven and taking her and Terry to Piper Street. Joyce was going to be there this year, celebrating the start of the holiday. Bella was going to wear the dark green dress she had bought especially for the occasion at Cox Street.
'You'd better make certain the first week of January's paperwork is in order,' Evelyn warned as she leaned across to Bella's desk. 'It's a very busy time for Dixons. Don't forget to change the date on the top of all the invoices, as if we write in the old year incorrectly we have to do the whole thing over again.'
'Don't I know it,' Bella sighed heavily, then nodding to the fat ledger beside her she smiled. 'I've also ticked the respective customers off in the book so there's no mistake.'
'You shouldn't do that till they're posted,' Evelyn complained as she folded a sheet of paper and slid it into the envelope. 'Miss Conway's going through all our work with a magnifying glass since … well …' Evelyn pulled back her shoulders and sniffed.
Bella ignored the hint at her inefficiency and continued with clearing her desk. She had never been able to prove it was not her work that had been at fault and she had stopped trying to understand why the staff at Dixons were so pathetically childish. It was evident none of them expected someone like her to be capable of using their brain and their fingers at the same time. It was patently obvious the other girls disliked her but Bella wasn't about to let that spoil her day.
Putting away her books, she collected her work and went through to Miss Conway's office. It was empty, though she could see Miss Conway's small, stout figure through the frosted glass of the next office. She left her file in the desk tray.
Bella glanced at the big round clock above the door. Three minutes to six. She returned to her desk and noted the other girls were leaving theirs. She heard their voices as they passed through the outer office and Miss Conway's in reply.
Bella took her coat and bag from the hook and glanced one last time at the room that might as well have had prison bars attached to it. How long would she have to work here to be accepted? And even if she was, could she stand the monotony of the next few years? As she buttoned up her coat and slid her bag over her shoulder, Miss Conway appeared.
'Miss Doyle, before you leave…'
Bella looked expectantly into the hard, humourless face. Perhaps this was a seasonal acknowledgement and she smiled in anticipation.
'You dealt with the Harrington account this week, did you not?'
Bella nodded disappointedly.
'Lord Harrington has decided to change his instructions. Unfortunately I can find no record of the original order.'
'But I put my work on your desk not two minutes ago,' Bella protested glancing over Miss Conway's shoulder.
'You may well have, but the Harrington file isn't there.'
'But that's impossible …' Bella stepped aside. 'I'll look – '
'I already have, but see for yourself if you must.'
Bella hurried into Miss Conway's office and searched through her work. She double-checked and felt her heart sink. Was it possible that she had mislaid such an important order?
'Well?'
'It's not there,' Bella said helplessly as she drew her hand over the top of her own desk. 'I just don't understand.'
'Neither do I.'
Bella stared around the room as if expecting to suddenly see the missing file appear. There was only one other explanation and it was one she didn't want to acknowledge. The other girls had left before her. It would have been easy to slip a random file into a bag or under a coat without Miss Conway seeing.
'Please take off your coat and come into my office.'
'But it's Christmas Eve – ' Bella was cut short.
'Indeed it is. And because of your inefficiency Miss Doyle, both you and I will be spending the last hours of it rectifying a foolish and unnecessary mistake.' She thrust back her shoulders and turned away, her flat heels squeaking on the polished floor.
Reluctantly Bella removed her coat. The buses would be far and few between this evening and a walk back to the island would take her forever.
Swallowing her disappointment, she followed Miss Conway into the outer office and prayed that Micky would wait for her.
'Terry been waiting.'
Bella walked into the empty cottage. Her mother and Jack were long gone to the Rose, but Terry stood in the dark passage, his smile wide when he saw her.
'Terry been waiting, Terry has.'
He followed her into the room they still shared. A curtain made of heavy chintz defined two sleeping areas. Her bed took up the largest part with a small wooden chest of drawers standing at the foot. On the other side of the drape, a mattress lay on the floor. A faded dark blue candlewick bedspread was tucked over it, with Terry's clothes folded neatly into a pile on a small wooden chair. His jacket was threaded around it, his boots tucked underneath. The broken mirror had been returned to
