AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smell a trap, so I consider my words carefully. ‘She seemed nice enough. Why?’ I reply eventually.
‘OK, so you probably know that she’s in charge of this site, not Chris. Round here, she’s known as the Evil Bitch Queen, or EBQ for short. You’ll struggle to find anyone who has a good word to say about her.’
‘Oh. Tell me more.’
‘I’m going to make some assumptions, based on what Andy told me just before he left. She’ll have screwed you down to the lowest salary she thought she could get away with, but promised you milestone bonuses to compensate. She’ll also have made a big deal about your so-called free accommodation, otherwise known as the caravan of shit. Am I warm?’
‘Obviously, I can’t share the precise details of my contract with you, but you’re not a million miles out,’ I tell him. This sounds ominous.
‘On top of that, everything that we do has to be approved by her, and she’s negotiated a “preferential contract” with a firm in Leeds, so everything has to be ordered from them.’
‘Everything? Bricks, cement, windows…?’
‘Yup, it all comes from Leeds. And they’re the most unreliable bunch of fuckers you’ll ever come across.’ He claps his hand over his mouth as soon as he realises what he’s said. ‘I’m really sorry,’ he tells me, looking mortified.
‘So you fucking should be,’ I smile. ‘Swearing at a lady like that.’
He laughs. ‘You’re OK, you know that? Anyway, the number of lorries that have “broken down”, or drivers that have “gone off sick” unexpectedly has to be seen to be believed. So, the way it works in reality is this. You’ll do all your clever project planning and lining up of resources and all that other stuff you talked about before, but you’ll still miss every single milestone because the materials we need to actually build the bloody houses don’t turn up half the time. When we do get a delivery, it’s quite often the wrong stuff anyway, so we have to get it collected and reorder, which causes more delays. I know he hasn’t impressed you so far, but Andy was a good guy who knew his way around a building site. He just couldn’t take any more of Deborah, and that’s why he left. I don’t want to be rude, but don’t you think it’s odd that you got the job when you don’t know anything about it?’
My hackles rise again, just when I was beginning to trust him and let my guard down. ‘What do you mean?’ I ask.
‘I know for a fact that they advertised both locally and up north for a new project manager. I’d also happily bet you twenty quid that nobody applied. Everyone round here knows how toxic she is, and none of them would touch her project with a barge pole, and I expect it’s the same up there. I hate to break it to you, but you were probably the only applicant.’
‘So why are you working for her?’
‘Because I’m on a daily rate, same as pretty much everyone else on site, so, although it’s bloody annoying when things don’t turn up, I don’t end up out of pocket. Also, I don’t have to deal with her directly because that’s your job. And finally, I’m not living in the caravan of shit. Even still, if she takes on another site round here, none of us would sign up for it unless we were on the breadline. You’re looking a bit shell-shocked. Do you want another drink?’
‘No, I’d better not.’
‘Suit yourself. Come on then, let’s get you back.’
After he’s dropped me back at the caravan park, I wait until his van is well out of sight before jumping into my car. It’s clear to me that I’ve been played for an absolute fool and, as soon as I’ve had a decent night’s sleep, I’ll be heading back up north. This was going to be hard enough, but the pigsty caravan and the fact that I’ve obviously been set up to fail is enough to convince me that Atkinson Construction will have to find themselves a new project manager, because this one is quitting.
16
Having been absolutely certain that I’d be heading north as soon as I woke up, things look a little different this morning. When I’d got to the hotel last night, I’d checked my phone and seen a message from Lee. From the timestamp, he’d sent it at lunchtime, but I was obviously driving then.
Hi Els, just been contacted by the bank because the landlord tried to take the rent payment and there wasn’t enough in my account to cover it. Your half doesn’t seem to have come in. Can you sort it ASAP before it becomes a problem?
I’d read it a couple of times before carefully typing out my reply.
Hi Lee. I’ve moved out, so won’t be paying my half any more.
I would estimate that fewer than ten seconds elapsed between me sending the message and my phone ringing.
‘What the fuck, Ella? What do you mean “you’ve moved out”?’ he’d started.
‘Exactly what it says. I took the construction job down south and that’s where I am now.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve had a stressful day and I’m not in the mood.’
‘I’m serious.’
‘Oh, come on. You won’t last five minutes on a building site and you know it. Is this some point you’re trying to make because I really don’t get it. Is it some kind of cry for help? You’re not having a breakdown or something, are you?’
‘What on earth makes you think I’m having a breakdown?’
‘Well, you have let yourself go a bit. I’ve tried to be patient, because of your job and everything, but you’ve got to admit you’ve become a little…’ he pauses to search for the word, ‘…unkempt lately. Are you depressed?’
