Above them, Albert was talking to a young lady behind the counter. ‘Can I speak with Victor, please?’ he asked.
The young woman, her age maybe eighteen or nineteen, Albert thought, showed surprise at the question. ‘Um, he’ll be in the kitchen,’ she replied, looking over her shoulder and through the window into the back rooms.
A man in chef’s whites came through the door at that point carrying a tray of clangers. ‘More pork and cider,’ he announced as another member of staff moved to unload the clangers to the glass display cabinet. He spoke more loudly than was necessary and his reason for it was obvious: there was a heated discussion raging in the backrooms and the raised voices carried through the door with him.
A dozen customers’ heads lifted to see where the argument came from, and the man with the tray of clangers pulled an embarrassed face. ‘It’s about to go nuclear in there,’ he muttered to the two members of staff within earshot. Albert was close enough to hear what he said, and close enough to recognise that the argument was between Victor and April.
‘I’m here to see Victor,’ Albert announced. ‘It’s about his sister and I think he needs to hear what I have to say right now.’
Albert thought the staff were going to argue for a moment, but the man sagged with relief. His tray empty, he placed it on a rack behind him and moved to the counter’s swing door. ‘Please,’ he beckoned Albert to come through. ‘Anything to shut those two up. They’ve been at it for an hour. Well, ever since April …’ the man waved his arm, searching for the right words, but gave up and said, ‘I’ll let you see for yourself.’
Led through to the back office where Albert checked over the books yesterday evening, he could have found them just by following the noise. It was mostly Victor doing the shouting, April’s responses were, for the most part, delivered in a calm manner. Pausing just outside the door, Albert whispered his thanks to the chef and chose to listen rather than interrupt the fight going on inside. However, a quick glance around the doorframe to see the two persons inside, instantly revealed what had Victor so hot under the collar.
April was wearing a suit. It was a skirt suit and looked brand new as if she had purposefully got it this morning or perhaps last night. They discovered Joel Clement had been killed three days ago, so however she came by it, she leapt on the opportunity before his body was even cold. The suit was a clear indication that she saw herself in the management role, but to chase away any ambiguity, on her left lapel she wore a badge which read April Saunders, Manager.
‘You have no position of authority!’ ranted Victor. Albert suspected he might have made that point several times already. ‘You cannot just declare yourself king and steal the throne. We work as a team here. Kate is the owner now, she will decide who runs the café, and I expect it will be her.’
‘Kate is on her way to jail,’ smirked April, making a joke out of Victor’s claims. ‘She’s no more owner than her stupid little dog. That’s another thing I will be changing. No dogs in the café.’
‘He never goes in the kitchen,’ Victor protested, failing to see that acknowledging her argument gave her more power.
‘He’ll not be coming onto the premises from today. I want him gone within the hour,’ snapped April.
‘You are not in charge!’ Victor shouted. ‘You have no position to demand or dictate anything!’
April’s voice was at normal conversation volume when she delivered her next line. ‘You’re a good baker, Victor, but that doesn’t mean you are irreplaceable. You will need to watch your attitude if you hope to keep your position here.’
Victor screamed his frustration to the sky. ‘You can’t hire and fire either, you daft cow!’
‘That’s it!’ she growled. ‘I won’t take that kind of behaviour from my staff. You’re fired.’
Albert heard a sound, a fast shuffling of feet, and worried it might be Victor moving to throttle the older woman, he stepped into the room. His sudden appearance in the room surprised both occupants, but Victor wasn’t moving to attack April, he was thumping his head against the wall.
‘Who allowed you to come back here?’ snarled April, her stern expression well at home on her face. ‘I’ll have their job too. Look at that dog! It’s unhygienic, that’s what it is. Victor, see him out.’
‘Really, April. I thought I was fired,’ Victor pointed out. He turned toward Albert, but reversed direction to deliver a parting message to the crazy woman in her power suit. ‘I’m going back to work. I don’t care what you do, but any orders you attempt to give will be countered by my own. The staff won’t fall into line behind you. You might not have noticed, April, but they don’t like you. Nobody likes you. You are a malodorous old bag.’
‘Popularity is not a requirement of leadership, Victor. If you were management material, you would know that,’ she countered with a smile, his insults failing to even register.
He’d been trying to end the argument, but it was back in full swing again. ‘Popularity might not be required, but respect is!’ he shouted, anger making him raise his voice. ‘You have neither. Which when we add it to the FACT,’ he hit the word hard, ‘that you have no authority, makes you the one most likely to be leaving the business.’
‘Kate isn’t coming back, Victor,’ April stated confidently. ‘The courts will nullify her ownership because she lured Joel into making her a partner. That will leave the business adrift.’
Albert watched the interplay, listening to April’s words with interest to see if
