John Eider - Late of the Payroll

A phone rang, and Cori watched as both secretaries’ heads rose momentarily; before Gail got up to walk towards the far end of the office, and an area separated from the main space by a head-height partition. Cynthia’s own head sunk back to its prior position, taking no interest in the dramas taking place around her. I’ll go and speak to her soon, thought Cori, if I have the chance.

Just then Gail emerged from behind the glass partitioned, ‘Inspector,’ she called, the receiver clutched to her chest, ‘I think you ought to take this call, or perhaps Mr Pitt?’ The two men looked at each other, then rose and walked together toward the sectioned-off space. ‘Hold on, please,’ they heard her saying, ‘I’m just fetching someone to speak to you,’ before she handed it to Grey without a word.

‘This is Inspector Rase, who am I speaking to?’ he asked, Keith Pitt only a respectful distance away.

‘Inspector?’ answered the caller. ‘What is happening? Where’s Alex Aubrey?’

‘I’m afraid Mr Aubrey is away on a business trip’

‘Then… what’s happening there, Inspector?’

‘Please don’t be alarmed, Mr?’

‘Foy, Frank Foy.’

Grey repeated the name aloud.

‘He’s the bank manager,’ Keith Pitt interjected. ‘Could you put him on speakerphone?’ Which Grey promptly did.

‘We are here making investigations into various matters,’ continued Grey down the line. ‘As I say, Mr Aubrey isn’t here to take your call.’

‘Then what about Thomas? He’s usually very helpful.’

Grey felt a sudden lump in his throat, ‘I’m afraid he isn’t here either.’ Grey sensed the man at the other end of the line was as lost for the right words as he was. ‘Could I ask why you are calling today, Mr Foy?’

‘We… we’ve just had an alert flash up on the system — a request for an electronic transfer that cannot be met. It appeared to come through from Aubrey’s. Is there anyone there who would know about this?’

‘It was me, Mr Foy. Keith Pitt, from IT Consultants. I’ve been called in to run the payroll in Alex’s absence.’

‘Hello Mr Pitt.’ They seemed to know each other, perhaps from previous similar dealings supposed Grey. ‘Then perhaps you don’t know. I thought it had been agreed when I spoke to Thomas on Monday, that the payroll process wouldn’t be attempted again until the transfer of funds Alex Aubrey had promised us last month had been completed. As I told Alex then, and Thomas on Monday, it was impossible to release the money with the balance in its current state. This is a not inconsiderable shortfall we are talking about here, Inspector… Hello, are you there?’

Now it was Grey’s turn to go quiet, his mind closing in on itself for the split-seconds it took to figure out exactly what had happened here on Monday evening.

‘What time did you speak to Thomas, Mr Foy?’ asked Grey, ignoring the financial aspect a moment.

‘About six o’clock. He had tried to run it twice by then. The second time I had to call him.’

‘And how did he seem when you spoke to him?’

‘Frustrated at first, a bit nervous perhaps? Look, this isn’t really my field, Inspector. But he did say he was just about to call the bank himself and find out what the problem was. He was worried though, when I told him about the bank balance.’

‘So Alex hadn’t told him the money wasn’t there?’

‘It didn’t appear as though he had.’

‘And how did you leave it?’

‘That he would speak to Alex in the morning, and wouldn’t try the process again before then. I had been planning to call them today actually, to see how they were getting on in their efforts to raise the funds. The workers are meant to be getting paid on Friday.’

There was a pause before Mr Foy of the First National Savings amp; Loan continued,

‘So can I ask, if the police are involved, then does that mean there has been any… impropriety? If so, it really would be beneficial for me and the bank’s directors to know.’

‘No one’s suggesting anything like that, Mr Foy,’ answered Grey absent-mindedly.

‘Can I speak with you a moment?’ Keith Pitt asked Grey quietly, aware of the sound-snatching aspect of a telephone set to speaker.

‘Mr Foy. Stay by the phone please. We will get back to you soon.’ Grey hung up to hear what the financier had to say.

‘It’s the oldest story in the book, Inspector. You will have been there yourself, we all have at some point — it can be as simple a thing as a card gone out of date or a cheque not signed. The message is always very polite, “Please check with your bank as there may be a problem”. Of course, what it can mean, and does turns out to mean a lot of the time, is that the money simply isn’t there. But try telling that to an irate, embarrassed customer, swearing blind the cheque cleared their account that morning.

‘This is the same, only on a larger scale, and I expect that however it was broached when they spoke last month, our branch manager was as embarrassed to be having to tell Alex Aubrey that the coffers were bare as Aubrey was to be told.’

And then on Monday, Grey mused, his still exterior belying a mind in overdrive, there must have been a part of mild-mannered Mr Tay that was furious at Alex Aubrey, for making him have to call and explain all this again. And then again today, well…

‘I wonder, Mr Pitt, can we co-opt you this afternoon, to meet with Foy and go through the bank accounts.’

‘This afternoon?’ the man looked up at the clock.

‘Well, it might stretch into evening.’

Keith Pitt considered, not appearing to hurry his actions, ‘I’ll need to speak to Foy anyway, in my capacity as hired by Mrs Marsh. I’ll get off over there now.’

‘Once you’re there, have Foy call Superintendent Rose. He’ll give him any reassurance he needs. Go through this income account, find out why it’s empty,’ Grey instructed the financial expert as though he needed to be told. With the briefest word of reassurance to Gail Marsh that this would soon all be sorted out, Keith Pitt paused only to take his tweed jacket from the back of the chair as he left the office.

‘Are you okay to go with him?’ called Grey to Gareth, he loving every minute of being involved in something with a taste of what his investigative colleagues at the station were more accustomed to.

‘You are trusting that Keith Pitt with a lot here.’ This was Cornelia, reminding Grey that it was part of a Sergeant’s role to check their Inspector.

‘He seems a clever fellow, and we need all the help we can get.’ Grey turned to the twinkling red warning light on the screen, and clicked the button to Cancel it into submission.

‘Are we authorised at all to look at the firm accounts?’ she queried.

‘I can’t see the Aubreys being in any position to say no, can you? Darting off to London pretty sharpish just as things are getting serious. In rushing off he left Mrs Marsh in effective control, and we have her accent. Besides, I am not convinced Alex Aubrey is either thinking straight or acting in anything like good faith.

‘This is bigger than just Thomas Long now. If this place goes down, as I can’t help fearing it will be any day now, then we will be the front-line. There are five hundred men and women down there,’ he looked to the floor as if through it to the busy people and machines below, ‘who have mortgages on homes, payments on cars, and standing orders for flat-screen televisions which are not going to be met this month.’

He could be quite poetic at times Cori considered, admiring his little speech. She didn’t really need to test his actions, for she would follow his whims and ways till Judgement Day.

They turned to leave, to find Gail Marsh stood at the door, she and poor sad Cynthia Field alone again in their empty room with not a clue of what was occurring, only certain that it wasn’t anything good. Grey thought Gail looked dismayed yet stoical, if such a combination were possible. She spoke,