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‘Did your informant also tell you Gillett had been dismissed?’

So it was true. Even while she was wondering what Mr Gillett had done to warrant instant dismissal, her interrogator was asking if she knew why the Company’s Secretary’s services had been dispensed with, and when she said, ‘No,’ he was insisting:

‘You’re sure you have no idea?’

Crawford Arrowsmith was treating her as if she was a criminal—as if whatever it was Mr Gillett had done wrong, she had been party to it. To have her integrity questioned was something Gerry wouldn’t lie down for, whatever the consequences.

‘What is this?’ she snapped hotly, her calm flying in all directions as she jerked to her feet, her eyes meeting his in a blaze of sparks that fairly flew from her dark brown eyes. ‘If you’re accusing me of doing something wrong, I demand to know what it is.'

For a moment he seemed arrested by the sudden beauty of her as Gerry forgot herself long enough to reveal a warmth hidden deep inside of her. Then his eyes frosted over.

‘You demand, do you?—Would you mind telling me by what right you feel I should not be allowed to question someone who worked closely with a man I had thought was one of my most trusted employees—but was a man who turned out to be a cheat and a thief?’

At his harshly delivered words, the heat left her. Ridiculous though it might seem, she had the oddest notion that this hard man standing in front of her had been thoroughly sickened by the whole business.

‘I didn’t know,’ she said quietly, trying to drag the remnants of her calm together. ‘I ...’ The question had to be asked, but she was so afraid of the answer—Mr Gillett had been secretive about some of his work, but who would believe she hadn’t known what was going on? ‘Are you saying you think I was in league with Mr Gillett in his dishonesty?’ She looked Crawford Arrowsmith directly in the eyes as she asked her question, and refused to look away even when it seemed his eyes would bore into the very soul of her.

After what seemed like minutes, but was in all probability only seconds, he told her, ‘It had crossed my mind, I admit—but since you didn’t always open the post, and it seems likely that the fraud was perpetrated through the post, I’m forced to give you the benefit of the doubt.’

Gerry looked away. It wasn’t very satisfactory. She felt there was still some doubt clinging to her good name, but she had no way in which she could prove her entire innocence. People would think she had been up to her ears in cahoots with Mr Gillett, especially when she left— despite her reason for leaving being called redundancy.

Feeling physically sick, and unable to bear being in the same room with this hard, cold man any longer, she stepped round the desk and walked steadily back to the office next door. Once there she began emptying the drawers of the one or two personal items she in turn had collected during her time at Arrowsmith Electronics.

She had her dictionary, a spare pair of tights and her calculator assembled with various other pieces on the top of her desk when she became aware that Crawford Arrowsmith had followed her and was watching what she was doing. Tears came to the backs of her eyes and she desperately-wanted to cry, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her break down. There would be no chance of giving way when she got home either—all her strength would be needed to bolster Teddy up when she told her the news; Teddy had been so happy when she’d left home this morning. She closed a drawer and turned her mind determinedly away from thoughts of Teddy. The most important thing at the moment was to get away from the head of Arrowsmiths without breaking down.

‘Would you mind telling me what you’re doing?’

His words reached her, quietly spoken, but with an
authority that demanded an answer, A semblance of control she had thought lost for ever came to her aid. 'I was under the impression I was leaving You did say I was redundant.’ Pride was rearing up inside her, and she was just about to add that nothing would induce her to stay on a minute longer when he broke in:

‘Redundant from being P.A. to Gillett—but I’m sure we can find you a job somewhere in the organisation.'

Relief that she hadn’t told him what to do with his job flooded through her. She wouldn't have to go home and tell Teddy that she had no idea where the next month’s rent was coming from. Still, the question was forced from her.

‘You’ve said you’ll find me another job—yet you still doubt my honesty?’ Oh, if only she wasn’t in a position where she had to accept his offer! It upset her greatly that she had to keep on working for him with him giving her honesty the benefit of the doubt.

‘Your eyes tell me you’ve never done a dishonest deed in your lire,’ he surprised her by saying. Then any wonder she was left feeling at that remark disappeared as he walked to the door that led into the corridor, saying, ‘I shall of course expect you to be here at nine sharp every morning —perhaps it might be an idea to curtail your love life.’

Gerry was glad the door was closed and she had the office to herself. Had he stayed another second she had an idea she would have hurled something at him. It was important to her that no one at Arrowsmiths see beneath the calm exterior, though she recalled she had been quite heated with him earlier, so he must know she was far from the cool being she would prefer him to think she was. Still, with a bit of luck he would be gone in a few days, and since on his subsequent visits he wasn’t likely to bother with lesser mortals, she had probably seen the first and last of him. Her mind drifted on to what job he would find for her—and to the more worrying thought, would it pay as much as she was receiving now?

Since work still had to go on with or without the presence of a Company Secretary, Gerry knuckled down. She was familiar enough with the work to deal with routine matters, but anything she was unsure about she put to one side. She would know soon enough when she would be required to quit her office—until then, she’d work to leave it as clear as possible.

Basil Dyer poked his head round her door shortly after eleven. ‘The rumours were right, then,’ he said, coming in and closing the door. ‘Mr Gillett’s been thrown out on his ear.’

Basil probably knew far more about it than she did, so it was useless to attempt to cover up for Mr Gillett. The news of his dismissal would be buzzing all round the building by now.

‘I’m still not sure what he did,’ she confessed. Crawford Arrowsmith had said something about fraud, but that was as much as she knew.

‘Apparently, so the story goes,’ Basil qualified, ‘old Gillett has been putting work out to tender and making sure his pals got the order.' Gerry had no idea how such a fraud could be worked other than that Crawford Arrowsmith had said something about it being worked through the post, and the puzzlement she was feeling showed in her face. ‘It’s easily done,’ Basil went on to explain. ‘All you need is to have a P.A. who doesn’t get in on time to open the post.’ Gerry gave an inward groan—did everybody know about her bad time-keeping? ‘When the tenders came in all Gillett had to do was to ignore the lower tenders—regardless of their merit—accept the tenders from his cronies, and receive a nice fat rake-off.’

‘You mean ...’

‘I mean,’ Basil put in as Gerry seemed incapable of continuing, ‘that our erstwhile Company Secretary must have salted away thousands this past year alone.’

‘And he was able to ... do this because I wasn’t always here to open his mail?’ Gerry gasped, all pretence of being the cool efficient P.A. gone by the board at Basil’s mention of the enormous amount of money involved. She was glad she was sitting down—she doubted her legs would have held her.

‘Strewth, it’s not all down to you, you idiot,’ Basil looked down at her kindly. ‘It helped him, I suppose—but I imagine he had some correspondence addressed to him personally?’ Gerry nodded dumbly. ‘There you are then— I expect those would be the higher priced tenders. For all we know, though, they might not even have come through the mail—he could have had them delivered to his home and brought them in with him.’

As Basil went on talking in the same vein, Gerry began to feel better, but only slightly. She wouldn’t, she knew, be able to lose this feeling of guilt in a hurry. It seemed to her that, however indirectly, she was in part responsible for Arrowsmith Electronics being defrauded out of thousands of pounds. Perhaps Crawford Arrowsmith even thought she should have been more alert to what had been going on.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Basil could see how hard she was taking it, and was trying in his own way to comfort her, ‘Mr Arrowsmith is loaded—I don’t suppose he’ll miss a few thousand.’

‘Is he going to prosecute, do you know?’ For all the wrong Mr Gillett had done, she couldn’t bear to think of him being taken to court. He could even go to jail, she realised.

‘Shouldn’t think so—Mr Arrowsmith isn’t a vindictive man. He would have been as mad as hell, of course, to have his trust broken, but since he’s taken the action of chucking Gillett out—and let’s face it, he couldn't very well keep him on after what he’s done—he’s got to have a man he can trust in that position—I expect he’ll let it go at that.’ Basil went on to tell her whom they were tipping to take Mr Gillett’s place. It seemed there were three men in the running
as far as office gossip went, but the general opinion was that Crawford Arrowsmith would not drag his feet over appointing the new man. Basil said nothing about her role as P.A. to the new Company Secretary, so word couldn’t have got out yet that she was being found another position in the firm. Her pride prevented her from acquainting him with this piece of news. She liked Basil, he was a pretty uncomplicated sort of person, but she knew once she’d disclosed that piece of information it would be all over the building in half an hour.

‘Well, I’d better go and do a bit more,’ Basil said at last. ‘With Mr Arrowsmith in the building, I’d better make it look as if I work here.’

He brought the smile, faint though it was, he had been hoping for from Gerry. It was well known that Basil Dyer worked harder than most.

Gerry had enough work to keep her busy that day. Teddy phoned during the afternoon as she often did. Gerry knew how lonely her sister felt—at home with the twins while she was away at work all day. Teddy seemed to have lost the art of mixing with people since her husband Mark had died, whereas before she had always been the life and soul of any party. Gerry spent some minutes in talking to her sister, assuring her she would leave the office at five sharp and be home before she knew it.

She had been expecting all day for Crawford Arrowsmith to send someone with instructions on which department she was to move into—he wouldn’t come and see her himself, of that she was sure—and as the hands of the clock neared five to five, she began gathering her things together. At one minute to five she put the cover on her typewriter and stood up. She hated clock-watching like this, but Teddy was going through a bad patch—rather a long bad patch, admittedly—and she needed the security of having her at home. The minute hand ticked over to the hour and she picked up her bag. At the same time the handle on the outside door turned, and as she paused, hoping against hope, the door was pushed open and she looked up to see Crawford Arrowsmith standing there.

Her spirits plummeted—no chance of leaving on time now. Teddy would be anxiously watching the clock at the other end, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about it if she wanted to be kept on at Arrowsmiths, and she desperately needed this job.

‘Still here?'

Sarcastic brute. ‘I don’t usually leave until five.' she told him, glad to find herself outwardly cool and calm at least.

‘Yesterday must have been an exception.'

Of course he would have expected her to be at her desk when he’d called to see Mr Gillett yesterday; trust him to comment on her absence. She didn’t answer him. It was nothing to do with him that Teddy had had to go to the dentist yesterday. Mr Gillett had been in his employ then, and he had not questioned her need to have time off. All the same, she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable as Crawford Arrowsmith stood there, obviously waiting for her to say something. He looked so sure of himself, so totally in charge as his eyes flicked from her face to her figure and back again, that she would have dearly loved to say something to jolt him.

‘Have you decided which department I shall be working in?' she found herself asking while trying to get a look at the clock. He had walked further into the room and the clock was partly hidden by his shoulder.

‘I shan’t keep you many minutes,' he said coolly, without turning round, seeming to know why her eyes were straying over his shoulder. ‘I’m sure your date will think you’re worth waiting for.'

Their eyes locked, his definitely challenging, hers refusing to back down and enter into any discussion with him that wasn’t about business. She had a feeling he was trying to draw her out, trying to get her to lose her calm air. But she refused to lose any of her outward cool, though inwardly she felt herself quivering with an unidentified feeling of alarm. It was almost as if her guardian angel was warning her to take care—this man was different from any other man she knew and could verbally annihilate her if she made one false move. Then suddenly some of her tension lifted and she had a feeling she had imagined he was trying to get a rise out of her, for he was saying:

‘I haven’t yet made up my mind what to do with you. For the time being you can report here at nine every morning.’

There had been a slight emphasis on the word
nine
that wasn’t lost on her. ‘Very well,' her tones were as cool as his. ‘Though I don’t know what I shall occupy myself with.’ She had spent today clearing up. It was going to be a long day tomorrow with nothing to do.

‘I shouldn’t worry about that, Miss Barton—I’m sure we’ll be able to keep you busy.’

It seemed he had nothing further to say to her—she daren’t look at the clock again, didn’t want to let herself in for another jibe about her date thinking she was worth waiting for—if he only knew, she hadn’t been out on a date for more than a year. She picked up the handbag she had deposited back on the desk when he had come in, and was surprised when he went to the. door and held it open for her. She halted briefly as she reached him and felt an unaccustomed jolt in the region of her stomach at his closeness when his voice arrested her.