Josephine Cox 3-Book Collection 1: Midnight, Blood Brothers, Songbird. Josephine Cox

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      Looking up at the monstrous glass-and-steel building that was Curtis Warren Motors, for a moment Jack felt tiny and insignificant. Even now, he found it hard to believe that the company had put such trust and belief in him. Here he was, Manager, and him only just past thirty. Jack was well aware that there were many other men, older and more experienced, who would have jumped at the chance to take on this responsibility.

      ‘Mr Redmond!’ A small, wiry fellow came rushing out of the main door. ‘I saw you pull up. I know you’ve only just arrived, but if you can spare a minute, there are a few things I need to go through with you.’

      Jack had already met the caretaker-cum-maintenance-man, and found him to be well disciplined, proud of his work, and with a pleasant character into the bargain.

      ‘Hello, Steve, how are you?’ They shook hands and entered the building together. ‘How’s it all going?’

      ‘Everything is just fine. Except we did have a problem with the alarms.’

      Everything’s sorted now. Only last night I had to camp in one of the offices, as I couldn’t get hold of the security people until this morning. Fortunately they sent a man round first thing, and he had it all up and running in no time at all.’

      Apparently, he found spiders in two of the sensors, but he cleaned and secured them.

      Jack was surprised. ‘I still don’t understand why they wouldn’t come out earlier. As far as I know, they are on a twenty-four-hour call-out.’

      ‘I’ve no idea, guv. I tried several times to contact them – right through the night, in fact – but there was no one answering . . . except for some posh answerphone voice giving me the office hours.’

      ‘That’s odd. I understood they had issued an emergency number, should they be needed at any time of day or night. Did you try the other number I gave you?’

      For a moment, the little man looked at him as though he had no idea what Jack was talking about. When light dawned, he began frantically scratching at his ear. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Mr Redmond – I forgot all about that other number! Oh, dearie me! Oh, I’m sorry. Of course, I have the all-hours emergency number in my drawer – I completely forgot about it.’

      He was distraught. ‘That’s an unforgivable mistake.’ His voice fell to little more than a whisper. ‘That’s me down the pan, isn’t it? I’ve lost my job, haven’t I?’

      Jack felt for him, but his first loyalty was to the company. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t use that emergency number,’ he told him sternly. ‘There must be well over a million pounds’ worth of vehicles at risk here, let alone the value of office equipment, garage machinery and everything else. Not to mention the crucial fact that if intruders had entered the premises, your own safety was at risk!’

      Steve was acutely aware of his serious lapse of duty. He had no doubt that it was a sacking offence. ‘I’m sorry I let you down,’ he told Jack solemnly. ‘I’ve no excuse, except that there’s been so much to do these past weeks, it’s been manic. But I made a serious mistake, and I understand the consequences.’ He gave a little nod. ‘I’ll collect my things.’

      As he turned away, Jack called him back. For a long, tense moment, Jack battled with his conscience. His head told him he was right to consider letting Steve go, because he well deserved it. But his heart saw the look of despair in the other man’s eyes and something struck home. He knew himself what it was like to make a mistake. He also knew what it was like to let someone down; to be turned away when all you wanted to do was prove yourself. He recalled the days when he was just starting out, when no one believed in him.

      He also knew he would not be standing here, on the threshold of his greatest achievement, if someone had not taken a chance on him; if they had not trusted their instinct that he was a good and loyal employee, in spite of earlier mistakes.

      ‘It was a bad mistake, Steve,’ he said firmly, ‘and yes, it is a sackable offence. You put yourself at great risk, and left the premises unsecured, because you did not fall back on a simple emergency procedure as instructed. Even calling the police for assistance would have been better than nothing.’

      Feverishly scratching his ear, Steve looked up, expecting and deserving the worst.

      ‘If I didn’t sack you,’ Jack went on, ‘and it got out, or anything like this happened again because you did not follow proper procedure, then of course, I myself would be held responsible.’ He sighed.

      ‘Look, Steve, I believe you’ve learned a valuable lesson. You were hired as someone we could rely on to keep this place up and running, and safe at all times. You must always have back up on security. Never leave anything to chance.’

      ‘Yes, I know that, Mr Redmond, and I’ll make sure I don’t neglect my duties again.’ The little man was visibly nervous, constantly shifting from one foot to the other.

      ‘There’ll be no sacking today,’ Jack concluded decisively. ‘You made a mistake, but I do believe you’ll СКАЧАТЬ