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A hesitant cough sounds behind me and I hear, “Mr Harvey, sir, it’s an honour.”
Turning, I see the rather stiff floor manager, Mr Bennett, almost hyperventilating with excitement and my heart sinks.
I merely nod as he says with a slight stutter. “C… Can I help you, sir?”
“Possibly.” His eyes light up and I jerk my thumb in the direction of the grotto. “I understand there’s a new fairy who started yesterday. I need a word.”
For some reason he sighs and shakes his head with disapproval.
“You must be talking about Miss Taylor. I’m sorry, sir, she never returned.”
“Excuse me.” This is not what I want to hear, and he sighs, shaking his head in disapproval. “To be honest, I was quite relieved. She wasn’t, shall we say, suited for the role.”
“Why not?” Picturing the rather angry fairy, I can almost guess what’s coming, and he says with a sigh, “She was very abrupt and whatever she said to the children caused them to cry and fear meeting Santa. I had to move her to re-stocking the shelves instead and I suppose it was after she rugby tackled a customer to the ground that I knew it wasn’t going to work out.”
“She did what?” I’m actually horrified, and he wrinkles his nose in disgust. “Apparently, she broke up a fight between two ladies who wanted the same toy. Most distasteful, if I might add. No, Miss Taylor did well to stay away. She wasn’t cut out for fairyland.”
Despite the appalling scene he describes my mouth twitches as I picture it and wish I had seen it for myself. However, the fact she’s not here is extremely inconvenient because now I want to find her even more.
Turning on my heel, I walk away without explaining my departure to Mr Bennett and head straight to the top floor. There is only one person who can give me the information I seek and if she doesn’t have it, I will be looking for a replacement human resources manager before the day is over.
CHAPTER6
JESSICA
By the time the doors close for the day, I have alerted security to no less than ten shoplifters. Not bad for my first day on the job and bad news for the security team at Harvey’s. I can only imagine the loss this store suffers daily and I’m guessing if the tyrant boss at the helm found out about it, he would replace his team with a new one. I certainly would, and yet I’m more annoyed that I haven’t discovered any incriminating gossip concerning him and a reason why anyone would send him threatening Christmas cards.
It’s well known Mr Harvey is disliked. He’s definitely not popular, but that doesn’t cause me a moment’s thought. He doesn’t need to be popular to be in charge and from what I’ve seen today, he’s not strong enough in my opinion. His profits are disappearing faster than the countdown to Christmas and that’s just the things I’ve seen. I can only imagine the true value of loss and wonder if this store will survive another year at this rate.
As I grab my coat from the staff locker they assigned me, I feel like a failure. One day of snooping has given me nothing at all, and now my only chance lies in a pub across the road. It pains me to mix with the likes of Rory, but I have no choice. I need to go deeper undercover in order to solve the mystery of this vendetta against his boss and if a couple of drinks after work don’t do the trick, then I’m not sure where to go next.
The chill in the air surrounds me as I step onto the brightly lit streets of London where daylight turned to dusk hours ago courtesy of the long evenings and short dirty days. Nothing looks good in winter. The trees are naked against the frosty air and their only purpose is to house strings of fairy lights to create an atmosphere that leaves me as cold as the temperature outside. Rain drizzles down almost 24/7 and the passing traffic takes great joy at splashing the crowds as they hurry past on the narrow pavements. Shops are brightly lit with windows dressed to entice and loud Christmas music tries to add cheer to the disgruntled passers-by who would rather be anywhere else.
I reach the pub and push in through the shabby door, and the sound of false merriment causes me to shudder. The scent of stale beer and the sticky carpet underfoot makes me wonder if this place deserves its health and safety certificate. It appears that most of Harvey’s likes to congregate here because I recognise the uniforms of the various departments from the store.
As I pull my coat tighter around me, I glance around for the man who invited me here.
“Jessica!”
I peer in the direction of the voice and see Rory waving madly at me from his position by the bar. “Over here.”
With an irritated sigh, I force my way through the crowd and his cheeky grin greets me as I draw by his side. “What can I get you?”
I fumble in my purse for a ten-pound note and he waves it away. “You can get the next round. What’s your poison?”
“Um, a white wine spritzer please with soda, not lemonade, no ice and no lemon?”
He raises his eyes at the preciseness of my request and places my order with the bartender.
“So, you made it then.”
“So it would seem.”
I don’t like the way his eyes are running the length of me with considerable interest, and I pull my coat a little tighter around me.
He hands me the drink and clinks his pint glass to mine. “To another day in hell.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Somebody to his side muscles in and knocks his glass against ours and I stare into two brown eyes that gaze at me with interest.
