Oisin
gone but not forgotten
I've had some time on my hands (again), so here's a long, long one:
Ms WOODALL
Kate had been with us for a couple of weeks before I got the opportunity to make sure she was settling in okay. I knew I was under Ralph’s surveillance, so I had to wait until he was out of the office. Taking advantage of a slack period, I caught Kate making coffee for herself in the kitchen.
‘So, how’s it going?’
‘Great.’ She beamed at me in the doorway. ‘Coffee or tea?’
It was that look – the one I’d clocked it at the interview. It seemed familiar and yet it wasn’t.
‘Er.. yeah, coffee, please - milk no sugar,’ I frowned, ‘but I really wanted a word with you.’
She paused, kettle under the tap. ‘Oh no! Don’t tell me I’m in trouble.’
‘Far from it,’ I was mildly amused by the horrified look in her eyes, ‘we’re more than pleased with your work. I want to make sure you’re happy with us.’
‘Well everything’s fine from this side.’ She picked up on my hesitation. ‘Is there something else?’
‘Er… yes.’ I wanted to avoid sounding anything more than casually curious. ‘With your qualifications, I’m still mystified as to why you chose to work with us. It’s not exactly glamorous stuff, is it?’
‘It’s convenient,’ she said.
‘Convenient - because you live local? Surely you wouldn’t have to travel far to…’
‘That’s true, I suppose,’ she replied rather sharply. Then she grinned, ‘and perhaps I shouldn’t be saying this, but the pay’s a lot more than I expected for this type of work.’
‘So what else keeps you around these parts?’ She was astute enough to sense I was interested in knowing more about her than her reasons for taking the job. I was stupid enough to make it seem like I was prying. ‘I know you’re not married. Are you in any sort of relationship?’ My clumsy attempt to backtrack only made matters worse. ‘I just wondered why you used the word ‘convenient’. I mean, why is it so important to be around these parts.’ I could’ve bitten my tongue off.
She gave a deep-throated chuckle. ‘No, there’s no one in particular at present. I live with my mom. Unfortunately, she has health problems so, as the eldest, I feel obliged to look after her. Least I can do after all the sacrifices she’s made for me since the old man buggered off.’
It wasn’t any of my business and I really didn’t want to know but she seemed keen to tell me how her stepfather had taken off with some floosie, leaving his disabled wife to fend for a young Kate and even younger twins on her own.
Now I was thoroughly embarrassed. ‘Oh!’ was the best I could manage. I knew she wanted to continue but I felt awkward and searched for something to change tack. When it came it sounded just like that. ‘Have you always lived around here?’
‘No,’ she said thoughtfully.
‘So where did you move from?’
‘Bearwood.’
‘Really. I used to live there, close to the park. Where were you?’
I wasn’t sure but I thought I detected a hint of hesitation before she answered, ‘Lightwoods Hill.’
‘Not far from the Woods, eh?’
‘Yes,’ she said with a distant expression, ‘we had to move to a bungalow when Mom’s arthritis made it too difficult for her to climb stairs.’
She was about to go into full flow when we were interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing in the office. She jumped up to answer it. I stopped her and went myself.
* * *
Kate settled in far more quickly and far better than I expected. I often amused myself by watching her cast her spell: Both on the phone and face-to-face, suppliers and customers, all seemed mesmerised by her. I reckon, if she’d really turned it on, we could’ve bought in supplies for half nothing and doubled our installation charges.
Although I can put my hand on my heart and swear I never saw Kate Woodall as anything other than an ultra-efficient employee and work colleague, it was easy to see how she could wrap most men around her little finger. It seemed she had everything any young woman could wish for – intelligence looks, confidence and that certain something that can’t be pigeonholed.
She didn’t smoke or chew gum in the office. She didn’t talk incessantly on the phone to her ‘mate’ about the bloke she’d met the previous night. She didn’t turn up late, dressed for Glastonbury. She didn’t slobber coffee or smudge chocolate on the paperwork. She was always punctual and would work late, when necessary, without whingeing.
My confidence in Kate’s abilities grew to the stage that I trusted her with handling all the day-to-day running of the office. She was dealing with everything, including the banking, contractors’ wages and all the other routine money matters. Such was the amount she took off my shoulders; I decided it was at last time for me to start easing up on things.
For… I couldn’t remember how many years; Sophie had been nagging me to take a long holiday to see her brother in New South Wales. Now, with Kate at the helm to keep an eye on Ralph, the timing seemed ideal.
* * *
It was good to leave an English February for the warmth of the sun. It was like Paradise - a long postponed honeymoon. For the whole of the long eight weeks Sophie and I spent in Australia, I can honestly say I didn’t consider what was going on in the real world more than a couple of times, and then only for the briefest of moments.
When we landed back at Heathrow, I dropped down to earth with a bump. I suspected something when I spotted Ralph waiting in Arrivals. We had arranged for him to pick us up but I could tell he wasn’t his usual self. For a start, he was too keen to help with the baggage trolley.
It wasn’t until we were speeding along the motorway that I took advantage of a break in Sophie’s travelogue to ask Ralph how things were back at the office.
‘You and Kate cope okay then?’
‘Pardon?’
I knew he’d heard perfectly well but repeated the question anyway. ‘Everything ticking along all right with the business? Has Kate looked after you and the shop okay?’
I watched the blood drain from his face. ‘Well I was kind of hoping I could wait until you’d settled back before I told you.’
Sophie exchanged a concerned look with me. The atmosphere dropped to about minus twenty.
‘Come on, Ralph, what is it?’ I urged. ‘If it’s that Broughton’s job, it doesn’t matter much, I was half expecting that to fall through.’
Ralph shook his head. ‘No, that’s going okay – started a week or so ago.’
‘Is Kate okay?’ Sophie stepped in. ‘She hasn’t had an accident or anything, has she?’
The penny suddenly dropped. ‘She’s handed in her notice. Well we had a good run while…’
‘Kate isn’t with us anymore!’ Ralph blurted out with a long exhalation of breath, his face twitching nervously in the driver’s mirror.
‘Oh, so it is worse than I thought. She’s worked her notice and left?’
Being more than keen to finally get the whole lot off his chest, Ralph sucked in an even deeper breath. ‘She didn’t work her notice. In fact, she didn’t even say she was going. She just disappeared two weeks ago. Didn’t turn up one day and I can’t contact her.’
Reluctant to accept the worst, I attempted to maintain my flippancy.
‘Bill Gates must’ve made her an offer she couldn’t refuse, with the proviso she start immediately… Bugger it!.. Here we go on the bloody recruitment circus again.’
My humour cut no ice with Ralph. ‘I’m sorry to hit you with this, Ed, but it’s much worse than that.’
The cogs began to whirr; I couldn’t imagine a worse scenario.
‘How could it be?’ I asked calmly, refusing to be fazed.
I could see Ralph’s hands shaking on the wheel.
‘We’re beginning to have cheques returned due to insufficient funds.’ He lifted a hand to give his chin nervous rub. ‘Honestly, Ed, I had hoped to put this on the back burner until you’d at least recovered from your jet-lag, but I think we’re virtually bankrupt.’
I felt the blood drain from my face.
‘There must be some mistake,’ I stumbled, ‘I’ll sort it out on Monday.’
Ralph’s head twitched with a shake of impatience. ‘I’m sorry, Ed, there’s no mistake.’
‘What do you mean, no mistake?’ I felt the blood roar through my ears. ‘’Course it’s a bloody’ mistake! What else could it be?’
Ralph’s eyes danced with apprehension but despite the tirade of abuse, he remained cool enough to explain quite clearly, ‘I’ve had Alec in. He’s been through the books with a fine-tooth comb. She’s taken us for a right ride and legged it. It’s a right bloody mess.’
That was it. I was sunk. I knew that if our accountant couldn’t straighten out the crisis there wasn’t much hope of me resolving anything.
* * *
As fortune played it, once I was back at my desk, I didn’t have to wait long for a development. At ten past nine on Monday morning, my phone rang.
I picked it up and barked impatiently, ‘Yes!’
It was Kate.
‘Good holiday?’
‘Don’t come that. What the hell are you playing at?’
‘Playing? Who’s playing?’
‘Kate, I don’t know what you hope to achieve. With your qualifications you had a brilliant career ahead of you, now that’s gone and for what? When word gets out you’ll never get another job anywhere, unless it’s in a prison kitchen.’
‘I don’t know what you’re going on about. I haven’t taken anything that isn’t mine by right. In fact, I think you’ve got off lightly.’
‘You what? You…’
‘Save it!’ She cut in. ‘I’ve got some propositions to put to you and we can’t do it on the phone.’
I was mad but I realised she had the whip hand. ‘So where do we meet? I assume that’s what you’re suggesting.’
‘Oh no.’ She actually giggled. ‘I’m not daft enough to give you the chance to lead me into the long arms of the law.’
‘So what are you proposing?’ I was rapidly losing patience.
‘Nothing straight away. Just check your email when you get home. I promise you, you’ll see things in a differently then, and maybe we’ll be able to come to some sort of understanding.’ There was a click in my ear and Kate was gone.
Dialling 1471 brought up the message, ‘Caller’s number withheld.’
I would’ve liked to go home right then but had to spent the rest of the day fending off creditors and contractors looking for money.
By the time I got home and sat in front of the PC, I was practically exhausted. I had fifty-three emails. Skipping through all the different invitations to enlarge my penis, or to see some slapper on her new web cam, I eventually came to what I was looking for. The subject line merely stated, ‘Why’.
I opened it. It read:
'I knew wouldn’t be able to get this message over to you without interruption on the phone. I trust the following will be self-explanatory to our business negotiations:
‘Edwin William Taylor, born 11:06:1961. Lived with parents in Park Road, Bearwood until moving out after meeting and later marrying Sophie Wells in 1984.’
Well that wasn’t much of a revelation, so what had she got to blackmail me with?
It continued:
‘Prior to your courtship with Miss Wells you had a relationship with an Elizabeth Collins.’
Elizabeth was a local girl. She and I had been an item for some time but she had dumped me unexpectedly. It was something I had never understood but where had Kate gleaned even that much was a mystery? I couldn’t recall Beth ever coming into any conversation I’d had with Kate, nor with Ralph for that matter.
‘What’s that you’ve got?’ Sophie interrupted me with a cup of tea. I jumped like a schoolboy caught smoking.
Sometime in the past, I guess I must’ve mentioned Beth to Sophie. There was nothing to hide but the mail was getting personal and I felt rather embarrassed.
‘Oh just an email about an old school mate on Friends Reunited.’ Well it was half true - I had gone to school with Beth.
Sophie placed the mug on my desk and nodded at the screen. ‘The weekend you were up in a heap because you couldn’t get things sorted quickly enough. Now you spend your time communicating with the past while the present crumbles around you.’ She walked away muttering, ‘One of these days I’ll fathom you out.’
Once she was safely out of the door I continued reading:
‘Did you ever wonder what happened to Elizabeth?... No?.. Well I’ll tell you: She eventually married and had two children by a right waste of space. All this was after she gave birth to one illegitimate child.’
God! That hit me like a ton of bricks.
The email ended:
‘Do not attempt to reply to this message. Meet me at The Cross in Moseley Village at 9 p.m.’
Having made my excuses to Sophie, I left in good time and walked into the bar of The Cross right on the dot.
Kate was sat, waiting with a dry white wine in front of her, as calm and in control as ever. I took a seat opposite her. In a panic I attempted to spill out my defence. ‘I think you should know, Beth finished it, not me. I couldn’t work out why at the time… If I’d had any idea…’
‘Save it,’ Kate snapped. ‘Let’s not beat around the bush. If you want your business back it has to be re-registered as Taylor and Woodall with the profits split fifty-fifty. I think that’s fair, don’t you? Just think what you’ve saved by Mom never pestering you for a penny all these years… Oh and that Ralph will have to go. He’s a bloody liability. If he’d kept his eye on the ball instead of my legs he might have spotted my sleight of hand. We can’t afford passengers like that.’ She held out her hand and smiled. ‘So, is it a deal, Dad?’
THE END
Ms WOODALL
Kate had been with us for a couple of weeks before I got the opportunity to make sure she was settling in okay. I knew I was under Ralph’s surveillance, so I had to wait until he was out of the office. Taking advantage of a slack period, I caught Kate making coffee for herself in the kitchen.
‘So, how’s it going?’
‘Great.’ She beamed at me in the doorway. ‘Coffee or tea?’
It was that look – the one I’d clocked it at the interview. It seemed familiar and yet it wasn’t.
‘Er.. yeah, coffee, please - milk no sugar,’ I frowned, ‘but I really wanted a word with you.’
She paused, kettle under the tap. ‘Oh no! Don’t tell me I’m in trouble.’
‘Far from it,’ I was mildly amused by the horrified look in her eyes, ‘we’re more than pleased with your work. I want to make sure you’re happy with us.’
‘Well everything’s fine from this side.’ She picked up on my hesitation. ‘Is there something else?’
‘Er… yes.’ I wanted to avoid sounding anything more than casually curious. ‘With your qualifications, I’m still mystified as to why you chose to work with us. It’s not exactly glamorous stuff, is it?’
‘It’s convenient,’ she said.
‘Convenient - because you live local? Surely you wouldn’t have to travel far to…’
‘That’s true, I suppose,’ she replied rather sharply. Then she grinned, ‘and perhaps I shouldn’t be saying this, but the pay’s a lot more than I expected for this type of work.’
‘So what else keeps you around these parts?’ She was astute enough to sense I was interested in knowing more about her than her reasons for taking the job. I was stupid enough to make it seem like I was prying. ‘I know you’re not married. Are you in any sort of relationship?’ My clumsy attempt to backtrack only made matters worse. ‘I just wondered why you used the word ‘convenient’. I mean, why is it so important to be around these parts.’ I could’ve bitten my tongue off.
She gave a deep-throated chuckle. ‘No, there’s no one in particular at present. I live with my mom. Unfortunately, she has health problems so, as the eldest, I feel obliged to look after her. Least I can do after all the sacrifices she’s made for me since the old man buggered off.’
It wasn’t any of my business and I really didn’t want to know but she seemed keen to tell me how her stepfather had taken off with some floosie, leaving his disabled wife to fend for a young Kate and even younger twins on her own.
Now I was thoroughly embarrassed. ‘Oh!’ was the best I could manage. I knew she wanted to continue but I felt awkward and searched for something to change tack. When it came it sounded just like that. ‘Have you always lived around here?’
‘No,’ she said thoughtfully.
‘So where did you move from?’
‘Bearwood.’
‘Really. I used to live there, close to the park. Where were you?’
I wasn’t sure but I thought I detected a hint of hesitation before she answered, ‘Lightwoods Hill.’
‘Not far from the Woods, eh?’
‘Yes,’ she said with a distant expression, ‘we had to move to a bungalow when Mom’s arthritis made it too difficult for her to climb stairs.’
She was about to go into full flow when we were interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing in the office. She jumped up to answer it. I stopped her and went myself.
* * *
Kate settled in far more quickly and far better than I expected. I often amused myself by watching her cast her spell: Both on the phone and face-to-face, suppliers and customers, all seemed mesmerised by her. I reckon, if she’d really turned it on, we could’ve bought in supplies for half nothing and doubled our installation charges.
Although I can put my hand on my heart and swear I never saw Kate Woodall as anything other than an ultra-efficient employee and work colleague, it was easy to see how she could wrap most men around her little finger. It seemed she had everything any young woman could wish for – intelligence looks, confidence and that certain something that can’t be pigeonholed.
She didn’t smoke or chew gum in the office. She didn’t talk incessantly on the phone to her ‘mate’ about the bloke she’d met the previous night. She didn’t turn up late, dressed for Glastonbury. She didn’t slobber coffee or smudge chocolate on the paperwork. She was always punctual and would work late, when necessary, without whingeing.
My confidence in Kate’s abilities grew to the stage that I trusted her with handling all the day-to-day running of the office. She was dealing with everything, including the banking, contractors’ wages and all the other routine money matters. Such was the amount she took off my shoulders; I decided it was at last time for me to start easing up on things.
For… I couldn’t remember how many years; Sophie had been nagging me to take a long holiday to see her brother in New South Wales. Now, with Kate at the helm to keep an eye on Ralph, the timing seemed ideal.
* * *
It was good to leave an English February for the warmth of the sun. It was like Paradise - a long postponed honeymoon. For the whole of the long eight weeks Sophie and I spent in Australia, I can honestly say I didn’t consider what was going on in the real world more than a couple of times, and then only for the briefest of moments.
When we landed back at Heathrow, I dropped down to earth with a bump. I suspected something when I spotted Ralph waiting in Arrivals. We had arranged for him to pick us up but I could tell he wasn’t his usual self. For a start, he was too keen to help with the baggage trolley.
It wasn’t until we were speeding along the motorway that I took advantage of a break in Sophie’s travelogue to ask Ralph how things were back at the office.
‘You and Kate cope okay then?’
‘Pardon?’
I knew he’d heard perfectly well but repeated the question anyway. ‘Everything ticking along all right with the business? Has Kate looked after you and the shop okay?’
I watched the blood drain from his face. ‘Well I was kind of hoping I could wait until you’d settled back before I told you.’
Sophie exchanged a concerned look with me. The atmosphere dropped to about minus twenty.
‘Come on, Ralph, what is it?’ I urged. ‘If it’s that Broughton’s job, it doesn’t matter much, I was half expecting that to fall through.’
Ralph shook his head. ‘No, that’s going okay – started a week or so ago.’
‘Is Kate okay?’ Sophie stepped in. ‘She hasn’t had an accident or anything, has she?’
The penny suddenly dropped. ‘She’s handed in her notice. Well we had a good run while…’
‘Kate isn’t with us anymore!’ Ralph blurted out with a long exhalation of breath, his face twitching nervously in the driver’s mirror.
‘Oh, so it is worse than I thought. She’s worked her notice and left?’
Being more than keen to finally get the whole lot off his chest, Ralph sucked in an even deeper breath. ‘She didn’t work her notice. In fact, she didn’t even say she was going. She just disappeared two weeks ago. Didn’t turn up one day and I can’t contact her.’
Reluctant to accept the worst, I attempted to maintain my flippancy.
‘Bill Gates must’ve made her an offer she couldn’t refuse, with the proviso she start immediately… Bugger it!.. Here we go on the bloody recruitment circus again.’
My humour cut no ice with Ralph. ‘I’m sorry to hit you with this, Ed, but it’s much worse than that.’
The cogs began to whirr; I couldn’t imagine a worse scenario.
‘How could it be?’ I asked calmly, refusing to be fazed.
I could see Ralph’s hands shaking on the wheel.
‘We’re beginning to have cheques returned due to insufficient funds.’ He lifted a hand to give his chin nervous rub. ‘Honestly, Ed, I had hoped to put this on the back burner until you’d at least recovered from your jet-lag, but I think we’re virtually bankrupt.’
I felt the blood drain from my face.
‘There must be some mistake,’ I stumbled, ‘I’ll sort it out on Monday.’
Ralph’s head twitched with a shake of impatience. ‘I’m sorry, Ed, there’s no mistake.’
‘What do you mean, no mistake?’ I felt the blood roar through my ears. ‘’Course it’s a bloody’ mistake! What else could it be?’
Ralph’s eyes danced with apprehension but despite the tirade of abuse, he remained cool enough to explain quite clearly, ‘I’ve had Alec in. He’s been through the books with a fine-tooth comb. She’s taken us for a right ride and legged it. It’s a right bloody mess.’
That was it. I was sunk. I knew that if our accountant couldn’t straighten out the crisis there wasn’t much hope of me resolving anything.
* * *
As fortune played it, once I was back at my desk, I didn’t have to wait long for a development. At ten past nine on Monday morning, my phone rang.
I picked it up and barked impatiently, ‘Yes!’
It was Kate.
‘Good holiday?’
‘Don’t come that. What the hell are you playing at?’
‘Playing? Who’s playing?’
‘Kate, I don’t know what you hope to achieve. With your qualifications you had a brilliant career ahead of you, now that’s gone and for what? When word gets out you’ll never get another job anywhere, unless it’s in a prison kitchen.’
‘I don’t know what you’re going on about. I haven’t taken anything that isn’t mine by right. In fact, I think you’ve got off lightly.’
‘You what? You…’
‘Save it!’ She cut in. ‘I’ve got some propositions to put to you and we can’t do it on the phone.’
I was mad but I realised she had the whip hand. ‘So where do we meet? I assume that’s what you’re suggesting.’
‘Oh no.’ She actually giggled. ‘I’m not daft enough to give you the chance to lead me into the long arms of the law.’
‘So what are you proposing?’ I was rapidly losing patience.
‘Nothing straight away. Just check your email when you get home. I promise you, you’ll see things in a differently then, and maybe we’ll be able to come to some sort of understanding.’ There was a click in my ear and Kate was gone.
Dialling 1471 brought up the message, ‘Caller’s number withheld.’
I would’ve liked to go home right then but had to spent the rest of the day fending off creditors and contractors looking for money.
By the time I got home and sat in front of the PC, I was practically exhausted. I had fifty-three emails. Skipping through all the different invitations to enlarge my penis, or to see some slapper on her new web cam, I eventually came to what I was looking for. The subject line merely stated, ‘Why’.
I opened it. It read:
'I knew wouldn’t be able to get this message over to you without interruption on the phone. I trust the following will be self-explanatory to our business negotiations:
‘Edwin William Taylor, born 11:06:1961. Lived with parents in Park Road, Bearwood until moving out after meeting and later marrying Sophie Wells in 1984.’
Well that wasn’t much of a revelation, so what had she got to blackmail me with?
It continued:
‘Prior to your courtship with Miss Wells you had a relationship with an Elizabeth Collins.’
Elizabeth was a local girl. She and I had been an item for some time but she had dumped me unexpectedly. It was something I had never understood but where had Kate gleaned even that much was a mystery? I couldn’t recall Beth ever coming into any conversation I’d had with Kate, nor with Ralph for that matter.
‘What’s that you’ve got?’ Sophie interrupted me with a cup of tea. I jumped like a schoolboy caught smoking.
Sometime in the past, I guess I must’ve mentioned Beth to Sophie. There was nothing to hide but the mail was getting personal and I felt rather embarrassed.
‘Oh just an email about an old school mate on Friends Reunited.’ Well it was half true - I had gone to school with Beth.
Sophie placed the mug on my desk and nodded at the screen. ‘The weekend you were up in a heap because you couldn’t get things sorted quickly enough. Now you spend your time communicating with the past while the present crumbles around you.’ She walked away muttering, ‘One of these days I’ll fathom you out.’
Once she was safely out of the door I continued reading:
‘Did you ever wonder what happened to Elizabeth?... No?.. Well I’ll tell you: She eventually married and had two children by a right waste of space. All this was after she gave birth to one illegitimate child.’
God! That hit me like a ton of bricks.
The email ended:
‘Do not attempt to reply to this message. Meet me at The Cross in Moseley Village at 9 p.m.’
Having made my excuses to Sophie, I left in good time and walked into the bar of The Cross right on the dot.
Kate was sat, waiting with a dry white wine in front of her, as calm and in control as ever. I took a seat opposite her. In a panic I attempted to spill out my defence. ‘I think you should know, Beth finished it, not me. I couldn’t work out why at the time… If I’d had any idea…’
‘Save it,’ Kate snapped. ‘Let’s not beat around the bush. If you want your business back it has to be re-registered as Taylor and Woodall with the profits split fifty-fifty. I think that’s fair, don’t you? Just think what you’ve saved by Mom never pestering you for a penny all these years… Oh and that Ralph will have to go. He’s a bloody liability. If he’d kept his eye on the ball instead of my legs he might have spotted my sleight of hand. We can’t afford passengers like that.’ She held out her hand and smiled. ‘So, is it a deal, Dad?’
THE END
Jackie
John :lol: