Chapter 6

Tuesday was a really interesting day for me as, during the morning, I watched events unfurl, then later was told to take charge until things were sorted out.

I didn't see the actual police raid, as that took place outside by the skips. The first sign most saw was when police and auditors entered the office area, going first to Mr. Trent's office and then to all others. No reason was given and everyone around seemed worried and confused. I took the opportunity to watch the reaction of those around me. Two seemed extremely worried, even scared. I asked Karen who they were and then as surreptitiously as possible rang Natasha with the details. No doubt that she then passed this information on as within a few minutes both were being interviewed by the police. Mr. Trent, I learned a little later, felt that he had been set up by one of his colleagues and was determined that he wasn't going to take the blame on his own. He named another dozen people that had some involvement in the fraud. Considering that there were only thirty four people who worked at the site that would prove devastating.

'You?' Karen asked accusingly, though with no real ire.

'Sorry, but yes, ' I replied, not too surprised at her insight but shocked at her reply.

'Great! I could kiss you.' She said bubbling with joy, then seeing my reaction explained. 'As you've noticed, I hate it here and those bastards at the top have made it like that. I don't know what they've done but it's obviously more serious than feeling up the women here. They deserve everything they get.'

Just then on of the older auditors approached me cautiously. 'Excuse me young man, are you Mr. Powell?'

When I nodded, he added, 'phone call for you in the main office, a Miss Kopolova.'

I followed him and Karen followed me. I thought about stopping her but couldn't really see the need just yet, I could always send her out if the need arose.

I picked up the phone. 'Hi Natasha, how are things your end?'

I listened as an unusually excited Natasha updated me. The real shock was right at the end when she told me to take over at this end and work out where we went from here. My initial protest regarding lack of experience was waved away with laughter. 'Well gain the experience now. You are our troubleshooter, so troubleshoot.'

I immediately spoke to the auditor who had brought me in and asked for the senior man. He pointed me to woman in her late thirties. 'Oops!' I thought at my sexist question. I went over to the woman, who was immaculately dressed in a pinstripe business suit, and introduced myself and what my new role was. She seemed shocked when she took in my age and appearance, but that was soon hidden behind her professional smile. I asked her what I could do to help and was told that there was very little I could do other than keep everyone away from filing cabinets and computers. I had an idea and a quick call to Stephen Kenny ensured that no one at Stafford would be able to log on until further notice. Again I seemed to surprise her, this time with my actions but again she got over it and thanked me.

I then went to find the senior police officer on site. This proved more difficult as unlike the professional auditors the police could not see beyond my age and scruffy appearance. Eventually I managed to talk with an Inspector who basically asked for the same things as the chief auditor. When that was done I noticed that I still had my shadow. As Karen was more familiar with the layout and with the remaining staff, and I was confident that I could trust her, I decided to use her as my liaison.

She proved excellent at that. I was impressed that she never asked why to anything I said, even though her inquisitiveness was obvious. I spoke to all the senior personnel, at least those not already arrested as well as the secretaries. There were three of the latter and it was soon clear that although I doubted any implicit involvement they were aware of what was happening. Once I pointed out that loyalty to the company should come before loyalty to an immediate boss, all three offered to resign. I tentatively accepted on the company's behalf, though did stress that it was up to the board to make the final decision, which might be instant dismissal.

Not too surprisingly, no work was done that day. Natasha had told me to do whatever needed to be done to put things right but as the day went on I found it difficult to continue from where we were. I sent Karen away for a while, whilst I sat down with a large black coffee to decide what to do. I wasn't trained or experienced in this sort of thing, so I decided to put two plans to Natasha. Once I'd formulated them I rang my boss.

'Hi Natasha, I know you told me to handle things here, but I feel that it's just too big for me to take on without checking with you first.'

'That's sensible.' I heard a deep male voice say.

'Father is listening in on the extension, ' Natasha informed me.

'Good! I need all the advice I can get.'

'Run us through what you have found and then what you propose to do about it.' Natasha said calmly.

I explained everything that had happened, repeating what I'd already told her, both as a refresher to us and maybe new data for her father.

'That doesn't sound very good at all.' Mr Kopolova said at the end. 'What solution do you have?'

'I have two proposals, neither of which I like for differing reasons.'

'Go on.' Natasha ordered.

'The first is to bring in new people to replace those involved. The biggest problem is that it seems that everyone who knew how the plant worked was involved. I'm sure that we would have to close the site down for a while until we could get the new people properly trained up. I'm certain that you have a better idea than me as to what that would entail.'

'And your second.'

'My second thought is to close the place down and move its order book to our Stoke site. I'm sure that with minimum rearrangement, Stoke has the capacity.'