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‘Thank you. I’ll give Gavin a call and get back to you.’
‘Well?’ Noah asks as soon as I disconnect the call.
‘Williamsonsisfucking us over,’ I tell him angrily. ‘They called and delayed the order! Not only is there no shortage of the bricks we need but, get this, they’ve been coming direct from Sittingbourne to here all along.’
‘Of course they have.’ He looks nonplussed. ‘Where else would they go?’
‘Williamsons have been charging us haulage from Leeds on the invoices.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. So that looks like a fat bung going in someone’s back pocket, doesn’t it? I wonder if Deborah knows.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going to talk to Gavin and get my bloody bricks.’ I bash the number that Colin gave me into the phone and, after a few rings, Gavin answers.
‘Colin’s right,’ he tells me once I’ve explained the situation. ‘There’s no way I could get them to you today, but I can probably jiggle the schedule and get them to you tomorrow afternoon if that’s any use?’
‘That’s brilliant, thank you, Gavin. Let me just get the paperwork squared, and I’ll call you back to confirm.’
Noah is looking surprisingly uncertain when I hang up the phone.
‘How are you going to sort this today when the Bitch Queen isn’t available?’ he asks.
‘I’m going to try an experiment,’ I tell him. This latest fiasco has planted a nasty thought in my head, and I’m going to try something risky to see if I’m right. I don’t have the next number I need stored, so I have to do a bit of internet searching to track it down.
‘Atkinson Construction, Abby speaking. How can I help?’
My mind is instantly cast back to the day of my interview and the young woman who let me in. This is Christopher Atkinson’s daughter, and I remember the way she looked at Deborah. At the time, I thought it was odd, but now I think that she may have been on to something.
‘Hi, Abby, it’s Ella from the site in Ashford. You probably don’t remember, but we met briefly when I came for interview.’
‘Of course I remember you!’ Her voice is warm. ‘How’s it going?’
‘Not great. Is your father around, by any chance?’
‘Yeah, he’s here. Do you want me to put you through?’
‘Please.’
It doesn’t take me long to explain the situation to Christopher, leaving out my suspicions, and ask his permission to place the orders with the factory and haulage company directly.
‘Of course,’ he replied. ‘Just get them to send the invoices to Deborah, and I’ll explain to her what’s happened. I’m impressed with your resourcefulness, Ella. Well done.’
As soon as I’m off the phone to Christopher, I confirm the order with Colin and Gavin, and they assure me that the bricks will be on site before 3p.m. tomorrow. There is just one more job to do.
‘Williamsons, Ross speaking. How may I help?’
‘Hi, Ross, it’s Ella.’
‘Oh, hi, Ella. What’s up?’
‘You know the order for the bricks that you were telling me about earlier?’
‘Oh, yes. I really am sorry about that. I’ve had another word with the factory, to see if there’s anything that can be done, but they’ve assured me that’s the fastest they can get them to you.’
You’ve got to hand it to him, he does lie smoothly.
