Chapter 28

“Not much, Jimmy, for I have little of my own left in that house other than my sewing box that had been my grandmother’s. It was tucked away in a cupboard. I would like to have that box, for I didn’t think of it when we cleared the house earlier. All I could think of at the time was photos and other memorabilia and essentials in the food line.”

“Well, according to Captain Thomson you have free use of your house, but you will need to see our lawyer again, about when and how to sell it. A house sells more easily when it is furnished, as it looks more like a home. You can ask at the time of sale whether the purchasers want the furniture to stay or not. Our home is fully furnished except for baby things. If it is a young couple buying your house, they may want to save having to buy stuff, but some couples already own furniture.”

“I plan to do that, Jimmy, but do you mind if I change the subject?”

“No trouble; go ahead.”

“The girls gave me another pregnancy test this morning and it agrees with the earlier positive result. It looks like I am pregnant with our baby, Jimmy.”

“Wonderful! You must be so pleased to be having a child again.”

“I am. But does that mean we have to stop having sex?”

“Not if you are happy to continue. I am happy to keep up with that, if I can manage to keep up with you all!”

“Oh, I don’t need to have sex every day; as long as I can get sex once or twice a week, that would do me.” She paused before saying, “Another thing, Jimmy. It is too early for Isabella to show up pregnant, so don’t mention my condition until she shows pregnant. I can announce my pregnancy then as if it was new. I don’t want her to feel second best.”

“A wise decision, Elizabeth. Warn all my women to keep it quiet for now, will you?”

A day or two later, an unexpected visit from Captain Thomson at my office was greeted as a friendly call in to see what we were doing, but he soon revealed his real reason for being there.

“Our over-friendly children’s home owner has indicated through his lawyer that he is disputing all claims of interfering with his charges. I was wondering if you were still in a position to reward a criminal trying to go straight?”

“I am sure that the general conception of a punishment fitting the crime is an apt one, Captain; just as rewarding criminals for attempting to go straight is a similar proposition worth pursuing with a financial inducement.”

“Thank you, Mr Hargreaves. I will communicate these principles to people I know.”

I thought he had finished, but he continued, “Remember that break-in at the warehouse?”

“Yes,” I responded, wondering what he was getting at.

“Well, the local press asked about that event and what was so special about that warehouse, but I wouldn’t give anything away, so ... don’t be surprised if you have the local paper asking you about the warehouses.”

I laughed involuntarily.

“Captain, we would be delighted if they show an interest. Any story about Copies warehouses will be good for our business. They showed limited interest when we announced our takeover of the old air base for an industrial estate, apart from their business section. A story about us with a popular theme – crime – will be nothing but a boost to the public knowledge of our businesses here. We have a distribution company started here as well, so they will benefit also.”

“That’s okay then. I was worried you might feel I had sicced the press on to you.”

Sure enough, later that day Mr Emerson called through to me.

“Jimmy! The local paper are sending a reporter to get details about that break-in at Copies. I want you to meet him or her, while I check if Chairman Yeats wants to be part of this.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied. “When is this reporter coming?”

“The paper say their reporter is on the way, so you had better warn the gate guard to let us know when he arrives.”

“I am on to it, Mr Emerson.”

I phoned George and told him to direct the reporter to Warehouse One, where I would welcome them. George, affable as ever, replied, “Yes, Mr Hargreaves. I’ll do that.”

Twenty minutes later, he phoned back to say that the reporter was on her way. “Good-looking lass, Mr Hargreaves. Don’t be swayed by her feminine charms!” he advised.

Sure enough, a small red sports car drove up to our warehouse door and this young and well-dressed woman eased out of it like a gazelle leaving a thicket, and just as long-legged. My eyes widened at this vision, and I just knew that I needed my wives to be handy for protection from her wiles.

I introduced myself.

“Hello. I am Jimmy Hargreaves, of the Yeats Engineering Group, the Group that owns the warehouse that was targeted by the thieves.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr Hargreaves. My name is Jessica Laverne of the Gazette, our weekly local paper.”

“In that case, please accept our welcome to Copies, a division of Yeats Engineering Group, Mz Laverne. This is the building that was entered before we sounded the alarm with the local police force.”

She looked up at the huge structure, and recognised it as a former aircraft hanger.

“You call it a warehouse; I would call it a hangar, if my eyes serve me right.”

“Your eyes do not deceive you, Mz Laverne, but it changed its designation when our Group bought the entire airbase as an industrial estate and relocated our business here.”

“Oh. My God; that must have cost a fortune! That explains the gate and the security guard to protect your assets. If you have such good security, how did the thieves manage to get in?”

“They used a pedestrian gate well away from the vehicle entrance; but used ladders to climb over it, as it was locked. We have beefed up our security measures since the event, adding more surveillance cameras. We learn by our mistakes, Mz Laverne.”

She took up my invitation to enter the building, so I took her over to Reception, where Marjory awaited our arrival.

“This is our Reception team, who deal with our daytime visitors. The building is empty and locked at night. The lady approaching us is Marjory, our Head Receptionist.”

Marjory smiled pleasantly at the Reporter as they met, and said, “I presume Mr Hargreaves has welcomed you, miss, so I will not repeat that welcome, but if there is anything we can do to assist you in your visit, do let me know.”

“How kind of you, Marjory. Do you have any briefing notes on the business; staff numbers, business functions, and so on?”

“I took the opportunity to throw together a few details that might assist you in your write-up, my dear. I will go print them out while Mr Hargreaves shows you around and answers your questions about the break-in. He was here when the police arrived.”

“Thank you, Marjory. Have you been Head Receptionist for long, to have reached that exalted post?”

Marjory ignored the deliberate slight about her age.

“Not long, young lady. I moved from Copies to the Yeats Group when they absorbed the company recently. I enjoy meeting new people, especially the younger, less experienced ones,” she ended with a gracious smile while her eyes sent daggers.

“I enjoy meeting people in my job too, especially the handsome ones like Mr Hargreaves.”

I took her elbow and steered her towards the offices and away from the developing conflict, explaining, “We are still at an early stage of settling in, so our offices for now are mainly the cabins formerly used by the Air Force staff in their work. I will give you a short tour to show you what we do, then I can answer any questions you have, in our new Boardroom, which got priority for upgrading.”

I hurried her round the heaped stacks of shelving, pointing out the categories each section covered, and telling her of the database that our customers used to find what we had in stock that suited them.

“Our stock goes up and down in numbers every day, my dear, as some gets sold, and replacements arrive to fill gaps. It is busy, busy, busy all the time. We deliver to a wide area around our fair city, but we sell all over the country, so we use a distribution company to transport all the long-distance deliveries. Our newest tenant on the estate is taking over our nation-wide deliveries, so we have developed a close network on the industrial estate.”

Jessica stuck to her task.

“So how did your thieves manage to enter the hangar ... Warehouse?”

“We call it Warehouse One, as we needed two to house all our stock. You may wish to use the same designation in your report. The perpetrators broke the lock of our staff entrance and forced their way in. It seems they knew what they were after, and we have a stock layout that makes finding things fairly simple. They were able to direct themselves to their targets.”

“If there was no staff on duty inside, how did you manage to apprehend them so quickly and hold them until the cops got here? We are a long way from the city.”

“The security firm has a number of CCTV cameras around the base – Top Flight Industrial Estate as it now is – and they alerted me to the presence of intruders. Security are not permitted to enter our premises without express permission, thus I had to be here in case entry on our part was necessary. Once the culprits were outside the building, our security men could cuff them prior to the cops arriving.”

“How could you get here so fast? Were you on duty?”

“Very pertinent questions, my dear. I am resident on the estate; the former base commander’s residence. My duties include attendance as required at night and weekends, for occasions such as this.”

“But if you drove here, could the thieves not hear you coming?”

“Very perceptive thinking, my dear lady. I switched off my engine and coasted the final stretch for that very reason.”

“Now, I am told there were three intruders arrested. How could one man restrain them?”

“Security came along in their own vehicle shortly after I got here. They have a silenced motor vehicle for their essential duties, an electric one. They assisted me and we called to the men inside to give themselves up; there being no other available exit for them. Their spokesman was afraid we would shoot them, so I promised there would be no shooting if they gave up without a fight. They accepted our terms, and we were able to handcuff them just before the police arrived, all lights on and engines roaring as usual.”

“No shooting? That was a rash promise, surely?”

“I was unarmed, and the security team kept their weapons holstered. They seldom have recourse to shooting in their job, they tell me, and were happy to deal with the thieves without violence.”

“What were the thieves after? Do you know?”

“I gather they were searching for an item in our stock that was supposedly made of gold, but I can assure you that there was and is no item made of gold in our stock. We would have noticed, as gold is heavy, and we don’t include jewelry in our stock!”

“So what they were seeking was not there?”

“Exactly. Whoever sent them was working from wrong information. The cops will need to be your source if you want to ask about the ‘Mr Big’ who sent them, whoever he may be.”

She expressed astonishment at the wide range of goods we held, and I bragged a bit longer about our ability to provide for our clients’ needs: ‘a gold standard of service, but no gold items in stock’, then we got back to Reception. Marjory was there to hand over an A4 sheet of paper with facts and figures about everything she could imagine might be wanted for the story.

“Thank you, so much ... Marjory, was it?”

“You are welcome, miss ... Laverne, was it?” Marjory retorted in the same tone. “I trust you enjoyed your tour and learned a little about our business capabilities.”

“Indeed so, Marjory. Mr Hargreaves was most solicitous as my guide. It is nice to meet such a charming and helpful gentleman; good-looking, too.”

Marjory smiled sweetly back at her, saying, “Yes, I quite agree with you, Miss Laverne. That is why I married him.”

Jessica’s head whipped round to stare at me. “You are married to a Receptionist?”

“Happily so, my dear. Marjory is such a darling wife. Current employment status is not a factor in selecting a valuable life partner.” I thought she merited some support in this social battle.

Jessica Laverne subsided and turned formal again as she scanned the data sheet.

“Thank you again, Marjory. I wish you well with your husband.”

“I am due to become a mother in a few more months, so I think I have him suitably trapped in my evil clutches,” Marjory said with a satisfied grin.

At that retort, our reporter finished up as quickly as she could and I escorted her back to the little car. She thanked me for her tour and for answering her questions, “And tell your wife: thanks for the data. I am sorry I was catty to her, but don’t let her know that!”

“She won’t be bothered about it. She is a lovely and clever woman in every way. You’d like her if you got to know her better.”

We parted on friendly terms, and I returned inside to phone George that the press lady was on her way out. I then spoke to Marjory.

“Nice young lady reporter, Marjory.”

“Could be nicer if she tried, Jimmy. She has the looks, but needs a good man to help her tone down her brash image. Not you, of course!”

“Good God, no. Too flighty for me.”

I walked back to the cabin I shared with Emerson and his secretary, and put my head round the partition to ask him, “Was there any response from the Chairman, Mr Emerson? The reporter has been and gone.”

“Yes. He told me he wanted to steer clear of him or her, as he didn’t want his name associated with criminals; bad for his image. He seemed happy to leave that with you.”

“A reasonable position to take,” I agreed. “I just chatted and answered her questions about events as they happened, and Marjory provided her with a data sheet so she should not get any factual information wrong; you know how careless some news reports can be with the facts. The reporters can’t be bothered to go back to check their facts before submitting the story to their editor.”

Emerson’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t say anything about my girls?”

“No, of course not. Why should I? It was only after the police arrived and took over that my girls dispensed the hot drinks. It had no relevance to the break-in story.” I emphasized the ‘my’, to make clear the current relationship.

He growled, “Okay then; as long as they are protected.”

“Yes, Dad,” I replied cheekily, ending the discussion. “I will always protect them.”

He stopped talking at that, and diverted his attention to his computer screen, the matter now closed.

When I got home, I was told that the letter to Jenny’s parents was written and sealed inside another envelope addressed to Captain Thomson. That had been delivered by Sharlene to the police station and delivered in person. Jenny was now anxiously waiting for a reply from her lost parents.

We were again back to normal undressed style at home, but Jenny retained her clothing, being first of all a youngster and secondly a guest visitor. She was starting to get used to seeing naked women and one man, none of whom was a threat to her. This helped to orientate her viewpoint.

Marjory got a call from Ronald Craigmile, updating her on preparations for opening the restaurant on the estate. She gave me a shout to come to her, and she and Ronald told me that the new crew had got to the point where he wanted to test them in a real scenario. He wanted us to be the test subjects at the new place, so that we could give him the unvarnished truth on food, drink, décor, service, etc. before he opened to the public.

“Based on what we saw in the other place, Ronald, I will expect the truth, and hopefully the best regarding your new crew,” I told him. “When do you propose we turn up for dinner – day and time?”

“Can you manage tomorrow at seven? The decorators have got ahead of schedule and are finished except for some tweaking at the edges; touching up spots that are not perfect. They have a high standard, which helps their reputation.”

I looked at Marjory. “What do you say, Marjory? Will all the girls be ready for tomorrow evening, including Jenny?”

“Oh, yes; Jenny. Ronald, are you able to have us served completely by female waitresses? We have a recovering young rape victim with us and she is wary of men for now. Even your sommelier would have to be female, Mr Craigmile. Sorry.”

He sighed then brightened. “I have a female sommelier in training at the other restaurant, and she is quite adept already. I’ll ask her to come over for your visit, and that will stretch her horizon a little farther, as well as not disturbing your rape victim.”

I left Marjory to co-ordinate with the other ladies about tomorrow’s dinner. Later, Sharl told me that she and her sisters had gone into town to do a large grocery shopping, as the freezers in the house were emptying fast.

“I checked on the cost of another freezer unit, and Marjory says it is an essential purchase for the house, so she will spring for the cost. We propose to put it in the attached garage, as the existing electric sockets at the kitchen are near their rated capacity. We will use the freezer in the garage for things we only use occasionally, or extra loaves of bread, as bread freezes well.”