“Good morning,” he said. “Are you Georgia?”
“Yes, and you’re the pest from yesterday.” Though she smiled at him.
“I am.” Ru put the letter in front of her. “That’s my national insurance number.”
“You don’t have a P45 or P60?”
“What are they?”
“A P45 is a form from your previous employer saying what tax you’ve paid and the P60 is a tax statement for the year.”
“This is my first paid job.”
She blinked. “You do know about polo?”
“Horses, yes. Polo, not so much.”
“But you’ve worked with horses?”
“Yes, for room and board.” He supposed that was true in a way.
“Do you have any references?”
Ru thought about what his uncle might say knowing Ru wanted him charged for what he’d done. “No.”
“No one who could give you a reference?”
Ru shook his head.
“What about qualifications? GCSEs? A levels?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
I’m not stupid.But he couldn’t bring himself to explain why he’d never taken any exams.
“I’ll keep this letter for the time being and let you have it back once I’ve set everything up. I assume you have a bank account?”
Ru gave her the details. Ink had explained how to set one up and when things proved awkward, Sergeant Walsh had helped with what the bank called ‘special circumstances’. Ru had been given a cashcard but he still preferred to keep his money with him.
“Phone number?” she asked.
He told her.
“Here’s my number and Paolo’s. I’ll be giving him yours. You’re paid monthly in arrears. Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, ma’am.”
“I assume you have riding gear.”
“I don’t. But Paolo says I can’t ride. Not yet anyway.”
“What size shoe?” She stared at his already dirty trainers.
“Ten.”
“Wait here.”
