by Gina Blaxill
‘You bet,’ I said, and told McIntyre about my club and our recent matches.
Cherie rolled her eyes and started typing. ‘You’re meeting Malcolm in the lab at half ten,’ she said pointedly to Mr McInytre after we’d been chatting for a few minutes. ‘The briefing pack’s on your desk; it’ll take fifteen minutes to go through it.’
McIntyre sighed. ‘We’d best get to work, Reece; we can talk cricket later.’
He went into the other office and closed the door.
‘Well, you’ve found the way into his good books,’ Cherie said. ‘Dog racing, cricket, snooker – take your pick, he loves them all. Smart move.’
I was surprised by how quickly the morning went. Cherie had stuff to get on with so she handed me over to HR. After filling in various forms and having a health-and-safety talk, I was given a tour of the site. There were certain areas I wasn’t allowed to go into. Even the post room required a security pass. We weren’t allowed to peek into the labs, though we did pass right outside them. I could hear what sounded like dripping water within. It was all very mysterious. Though my interest in pharmacy was fake, I couldn’t help but be impressed by how much went on behind the scenes. Maybe if I never made it in cricket, one day I’d be working for a business like this.
At half twelve I was shown back into Cherie’s office.
‘Good morning?’ she asked, pressing the key command to lock her computer.
I nodded. ‘Learned a lot.’
‘Good. I’ll show you the canteen in a minute – we don’t tend to go out at lunchtime. Too much of a security faff, and there’s nowhere decent round here anyway.’
‘You don’t have to.’ I’d been secretly hoping to get a chance for a poke about while everyone else was at lunch. ‘Wouldn’t want to mess up your routine.’
‘You aren’t,’ Cherie said, and I decided I’d best leave it. Maybe I’d have more freedom tomorrow.
The canteen was bustling. The rows of tables gave me an idea of how many people worked here. As we were queuing, I caught sight of Aiden a little way ahead. He was wearing glasses and work clothes but I recognized him instantly. Good job I was here rather than Sophie. There was no way she could have stayed unseen.
‘Word of advice: stay away from the soup,’ Cherie whispered, making me turn my attention away from Aiden. ‘It’s always a regurgitation of the previous day’s leftovers. And today’s Monday – even worse!’
Once we’d got our meals – a jacket potato for Cherie, and a plate of chips, a protein bar and some cake and custard for me – we went to sit down. To my horror, Cherie headed straight for Aiden’s table.
Shit! I thought, quickly realizing the flaw in my plan. If Cherie mentioned to Aiden that I was Sophie’s friend, I’d be totally blown! This was such a failure of planning that I wanted to smack myself. How had Sophie and I not anticipated this?
‘Hi, everyone.’ Cherie placed her tray on the table. ‘Let me introduce Reece – he’s on work experience from Berkeley Boys’ School, thinking of studying pharmacy at uni. He’s only been here three hours and he’s already charmed the boss with his cricketing know-how. Reece, this is Aiden – he’s a research assistant. That’s Lottie, who keeps our admin ticking over, and the other two are Leroy and Amit, from the labs.’
‘Hi,’ I said, flashing them a smile that hid how uneasy I felt. ‘Hope you don’t mind me gatecrashing.’
Cherie sat next to Leroy. I took the last chair, between her and Lottie. Lottie started asking me polite questions about my school and family. When I said I had a three-year-old sister, she made cooing noises. Cherie, who’d overheard, rolled her eyes at me. I resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment. This could be significant. Wasn’t ‘Lottie’ short for ‘Charlotte’? OK, so she was mousy-looking with one of those droney voices that made you want to fall asleep, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be the Charlotte in the emails. She was lunching with Aiden, after all.
I noticed that Aiden had stopped eating. He was stirring rice around on his plate, eyes on me. I began to feel uncomfortable.
‘What makes you interested in pharmacy?’ Aiden asked when there was a lull in the conversation. His tone was deadpan, impossible to read.
‘Chance to help people,’ I said. It was the first thing that came into my head. ‘Drugs change sick people’s lives. It’d be great to be able to contribute to that.’
‘It’s not all about helping people.’
‘Really? I thought that was what pharmaceuticals were for.’
‘They are. But it isn’t easy. And sometimes, in developing drugs, there are problems. Not very nice problems. Sometimes we get it wrong and people end up worse off.’
I stared at him. Aiden returned the gaze, his face composed and unreadable.
‘Aiden!’ Cherie said, a reproving note in her voice. ‘We’re supposed to encourage youngsters, not scare them off! Got out of the wrong side of bed this morning, have you? Go and get some pudding and sweeten yourself up.’
‘Just giving the kid my insight,’ Aiden said. ‘Wouldn’t want him to think all this is a walk in the park.’
He looked directly at me. For a moment it felt as though the temperature had dropped several degrees. But then one of the other guys cracked a joke about the food and the mood lifted. I stuffed chips into my mouth, avoiding meeting Aiden’s eyes. Maybe worrying about him sussing me was paranoid. He was probably always moody and miserable.
As we cleared the plates Lottie said, ‘Don’t let what Aiden said put you off. He’s normally such a lovely guy. I think he’s just a little tense; we all are, with the trial results for the new drug coming back any day now. Aiden’s team have worked so hard. If they’ve got it right, this drug’ll have a huge impact.’
This was the first relevant thing I’d heard all morning. I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Everyone else was so tight-lipped. Lottie was either careless or a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. ‘New drug?’
Lottie looked suddenly uncomfortable. ‘It’s nothing.’
Cherie touched my arm. ‘Come on, back to work,’ she said, then, in an undertone, ‘Lottie’s a terrible gossip; don’t listen to a thing she says. Once she gets talking there’s no escape.’
‘Back to work’ turned out to be Cherie dumping four different trade periodicals in front of me and asking me to highlight any articles about research. Not what I wanted to be doing on a hot afternoon. Still, I’d asked for this. I had plenty to think about anyway.
SOPHIE
I kept checking my phone, hoping for news, but Reece didn’t text. It was so mean – he’d promised! I messed around with my sewing kit, feeling increasingly annoyed.
‘Where’s Mr “Alternative to Prozac” today then?’ Julie asked when I went downstairs for a drink.
I shrugged. Then, because that seemed rude, I said, ‘Reece is doing work experience this week.’
‘Smart boy.’ Julie handed me a cup. ‘We could look into something for you, if you were interested. Summer’s not over yet.’
‘What would the point be? I don’t even know what I want to do.’
‘Who says you need to? Just because Reece might have everything figured out doesn’t mean you have to. Very few people really know what they want to do at sixteen. No need to be so hard on yourself.’
Julie had got the wrong end of the stick about Reece’s work experience, but somehow the conversation made me feel more positive, and we even spent an hour together online looking up jobs and university courses. It didn’t make me feel any less annoyed with Reece though. By the time I set off to the meeting place we’d agreed – McDonald’s in the retail park ten minutes from Vaughan-Bayard – I was all set to lay into him. If he was trying to build my sense of anticipation or something, it wasn’t funny – or fair. After all, I was the one who’d fixed this up. I’d sent Cherie a Facebook message and she’d given me a ring. We’d chatted a bit about Dani before I’d brought up work experience.
‘It’s such a shame she�
��s gone,’ Cherie had said. ‘There were so many things she wanted to do.’
This made me feel uncomfortable. Dani had never mentioned ambitions to me. ‘I sometimes think I didn’t know her that well,’ I admitted. ‘Like, if someone asked me what her hobbies were, I’m not sure I could answer.’
‘Oh, Dani had loads,’ Cherie said breezily. ‘Shopping, cinema, soaps, dowsing crystals . . .’
Crikey, I thought. Dowsing crystals? Dani had always been scathing to me about that kind of thing. Evidently I really didn’t know her at all. But then, people could surprise you.
It was ironic – I’d been hoping there was more to Dani’s death. There had certainly been more to her life than she’d ever let on.
Reece was late. I was starting to wonder if he’d stood me up. There was only so long I could sit by myself in McDonald’s before it started getting embarrassing.
‘Hey,’ he called as he came through the door. ‘With you in a sec. Need fuel.’
Impatiently I watched him go to the till and pick up a large pack of fries and a Kit Kat McFlurry.
‘So much for keeping me up to speed!’ I said as he sat down. ‘I’ve been dying for details! I suppose you were having such a great time I slipped your mind?’
‘Gimme a break!’ Reece replied. ‘They took my phone – top-secret research facility. Only got it back when I left.’
‘Oh.’ I felt a little silly for getting so worked up – and for convincing myself that Reece would let me down.
‘If you’re wondering why I’m late,’ he said, dipping one of the fries in ice cream, then in ketchup, ‘Cherie kept me talking. I was all set to make my getaway, but then she made me a cuppa and started chatting about my supposed interest in pharmacy. Couldn’t really scoot. She asked tricky questions – maybe she was trying to check I wasn’t spying on them for a rival company or something. My brilliant blagging skills got a proper grilling.’
‘Sorry,’ I said in a small voice.
Reece pulled a face. ‘What for? I’m not mad at you. Anyway, didn’t find out too much today, though someone did tip me off that they’re waiting for trial results to come back for a big new drug they’ve been developing.’
Now that was interesting. Surely those had to be the results Aiden had referred to in his email? And could the data Dani had been getting be to do with the new drug too?
I said this to Reece. He nodded. ‘That’s what I thought. Sounds like this drug could have a huge impact if all goes well. Maybe I should ask Stalker Aiden about it. We had a bit of a close encounter today.’
He described what had happened at lunchtime. I crunched an ice cube and swallowed it, not sure what to think.
‘D’you reckon he was on to you? Sounds a bit threatening.’
‘Too right. Hardly the kind of small talk you expect the researcher to make with the work-experience kid, is it? But it was cool.’
A deep sense of foreboding stirred inside me. ‘Reece, I don’t think you should be doing this. I’d hate you to get hurt because of me.’
‘I’ll be fine!’ Reece said, sounding impatient. ‘And even if Stalker Aiden does suspect, which he doesn’t, what can he do about it? Whisk me down to the labs and melt me in acid?’
He looked up, expecting me to laugh, but I didn’t. I wasn’t worried about Reece getting into trouble at work – it was outside that concerned me.
‘I may have met Charlotte from the emails too,’ he continued. ‘One of the others at lunch. Calls herself Lottie, but seems friendly with Aiden, plus she’s the only Charlotte at V-B. I know that cos I took a look at the company Address Book in Outlook while I was doing a bit of database work on a spare laptop. Lottie’s mentoring me tomorrow, so I’ll try and find out for sure. Tracing Patrick might be more tricksy. No Patricks in the Address Book. Maybe he’s left – or never even worked there.’
‘We need to find out what Dani was doing,’ I said. ‘Until we know what they were involved in, we’re not going to get anywhere.’
‘Hey, I did OK for a first day! It’s not like I had much freedom of movement.’
‘Sorry, that came out wrong. It’s just frustrating for me, sitting about waiting for news.’
‘And that is why I knew you would hate this plan.’ Reece scooped up his remaining fries and stuffed them in his mouth. ‘Chill, Miss Bossyboots. I’m on the case.’
I smiled, but I wasn’t convinced.
REECE
Day two at Vaughan-Bayard started with me bumping into Mr McIntyre in reception. We discussed yesterday’s match. It had been a draw, as predicted. To my surprise, he had with him an album of old photos, taken at cricket matches over the last thirty years. I was touched that he’d brought it in just to show me. Some were even from overseas, in Australia and the West Indies. Despite being old, McIntyre was definitely on my cool list.
He also invited me to a barbecue at his house on Saturday.
‘I always host a get-together around this time of year for the company as a bit of a celebration,’ he said. ‘The work-experience students too. I know you’re only on your second day here, but I might forget to mention it nearer the time.’
Now I felt flattered. It wasn’t often people in authority took to me. Usually I rubbed them up the wrong way. ‘Thank you. I’ll see if I can come.’
McIntyre picked up his briefcase. ‘And if you’ve got a girlfriend . . . feel free to bring her too.’
Had he winked at me? Yes, he actually had. I watched him head to the lift. McIntyre so didn’t have kids, else he’d have realized how totally cringeworthy that was! Maybe not so cool after all. But this barbecue might be interesting nonetheless.
I spent the day with Lottie in a small open-plan office on the second floor. As the building was a research facility there wasn’t a lot of admin, but apparently it was still important to know about. I could tell immediately that Lottie wasn’t going to be as hard a taskmaster as Cherie. But being with her was exhausting. That yawn-worthy voice droning on and on, fretting about whether the filing had been done. Had Aiden warned her I might be snooping? It was hard to tell.
‘In here,’ Lottie said, ‘we’ve got the admin team, HR, finance and our press officer. The IT guys are down the corridor. They’re really important because they maintain our network, databases and records. We might not have the most glamorous jobs, but without us the company couldn’t function.’
I wondered if she ever shut up. Lottie took me around, making introductions and pointing out fascinating little features such as the office snack box (very important, apparently) and the stationery cupboard. I wanted to ask her about the new drug, but after the office intro Lottie decided it was coffee time. I’d done some research last night about drug development, and apparently it took years. Whatever Vaughan-Bayard were developing would definitely have been in the pipeline when Danielle was here.
After coffee, Lottie asked one of the HR guys to talk me through record keeping. This turned out to be way more interesting than it sounded. I’d had no idea what a human resources manager even did. Not only did they keep tabs on everyone in the company, but apparently they conducted interviews, set policies, delivered training and investigated complaints. I quickly realized this might be a good opportunity.
‘My mate’s cousin used to work here,’ I said. ‘Danielle Hayward – did you know her?’
‘A little, yeah. Really sad what happened to her.’
I decided to chance my arm. ‘What was she like?’
I thought that question might raise a few eyebrows, but the man didn’t so much as blink. ‘Didn’t work directly with her, but she was always nice and friendly. Happy to give people a hand with computer problems. Messed us about by leaving so suddenly, but it seems off to speak ill of the dead.’
‘Talking about Danielle?’ A woman at the next desk leaned across. She looked the type who liked to gossip. She’d stopped typing the moment Danielle’s name had come up, so I knew she’d been listening. ‘She was all over the place, that last day at work.
Really stressed. Jumped sky high when I wanted to clear some forms with her.’
The woman paused, glancing over her shoulder. ‘I reckon she must have annoyed Aiden in some way. He came stomping in here black as thunder about an hour after she’d gone, furious about something. Nice guy, but such a drama queen! I do wonder if those two had something going on, y’know.’
The man I was with started to look uneasy. The gossipy woman opened her mouth to continue. Then her phone rang and the moment was gone.
This isn’t looking good for Aiden, I thought. The more I hear, the more obvious it is he’s up to his eyeballs in something. Maybe Danielle screwed up and knew he’d be after her unless she got out.
The big question was, what were they doing that had such high stakes? They’d evidently not been found out, else Aiden wouldn’t still be at Vaughan-Bayard. That made it likely that whatever they were doing hadn’t been completed yet. Stealing Edith made a lot of sense. Aiden must have been really afraid that Danielle’s files might expose him.
I absolutely had to get closer to Aiden while I was here. It was the only way I could see us getting to the truth.
It was Thursday lunchtime, so I had one and a half days left at V-B. I was running out of time.
Snooping wasn’t the walk in the park I’d thought it’d be. I was with people all the time, and most doors needed security passes to get through, and everyone went to lunch together, so there wasn’t ever an opportunity to slip off. I had however had a look at the labs. Mr McIntyre had asked me to help him carry some files across there. Thanks to that visit I’d discovered that Aiden had a desk in an office next to the labs for when he needed to use a computer. I knew from my session with the IT guys that all emails were strictly monitored, but Aiden’s desk would be worth checking out.
Sophie and I had even hatched an action plan.
‘Best chance is lunchtime,’ she’d said last night. We’d been at her house, sitting on her bed, sharing a bag of salted peanuts. ‘You say you’ve seen Aiden every day in the canteen?’