Terminal Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  ‘Oh, yes, Bob, his wife died recently. In fact, I was going to mention him to you. His wife’s estate is being handled by one of our junior solicitors, it’s quite straightforward and he came in today to hand in some papers. Then all of a sudden he flew off the handle about something minor, started ranting and raving, then he broke down in tears and we had to take him on one side and try to calm him down. Siobhan also burst into tears as she was so upset, so we had a right carry on.’

  ‘Shit, that was embarrassing,’ said Brett, ‘the same thing happened to me actually, he thought I was criticising him about something and he went berserk. He should be signed off sick, he’s not safe to be in work.’

  ‘Well he was in no state to drive so we packed him off home in a taxi, I think Hugo is going to phone Piers, he knows him from the golf club or somewhere.’

  Brett thought about Bob, if he was at work tomorrow he would need to speak to Piers, there was going to be a serious incident if Bob carried on like this.

  Chapter 38

  Nick had texted Mark to say he was on his way and that he was just parking up so when he entered Barista Nuovo there was already a pint of lager waiting for him. Nick drank down a third of the pint before speaking, Mark spoke first.

  ‘Bit strange to hear that you were coming by car, you normally walk’ commented Mark.

  ‘It’s a long story,’ replied Nick, ‘I’ve so much to tell you I don’t know where to start.’

  ‘Well you better tell me all,’ replied Mark, ‘as long as you keep me topped up with lager I’m all ears!’

  ‘I’ll tell you, but first, how’s your family, kids keeping well?’

  ‘As well as they ever do, they’ve both had colds recently, then Tanya came down with it, but I’m made of stronger stuff,’ he joked. ‘No seriously, work’s OK, no further graffiti so it looks like they’ve found somewhere else. Normally these animal rights people don’t give up so easily.’

  ‘Well I can do without having to run the gauntlet of animal rights idiots, I’ve got enough problems,’ and Nick continued to give Mark a rundown of his vandalism incidents, the anonymous letter and the person he believed was the cause of all his troubles. Mark stopped him at one point, indicating his empty glass and Nick went off to the bar to get him a refill and himself a coke. Mark was horrified that Nick and Polly were in the middle of a campaign of hate at their home and even more shocked that Polly was being hassled at work. He would never have realised that fraud was so rife at the university, nor that the procedures were so lax.

  ‘I feel sick that people have treated Polly like that,’ said Mark when Nick returned with the drinks, ‘cheers mate!’ and he took a generous measure from his second pint.

  ‘Well hopefully, after today things will improve for her, I’m just glad they took it seriously. It’s been an awful couple of weeks.’

  ‘Well fingers crossed,’ indicated Mark, ‘do tell her I’m thinking of her. But I can’t get my head around what you said’s been going on at BioQex. The cheeky sod creaming off goods from the company and selling them on. He’s been lucky to get away with it for so long,’ and he paused, ‘how long do you think it’s been going on for?’

  ‘Well I can’t be sure but I think it’s when he escalated how much he was nicking that I started to notice, he just got too greedy. Wait a minute, listen to this,’ and he found the recording on his phone. Mark had to listen very hard as the sound quality wasn’t brilliant and there was a lot of background noise in the bar.

  Mark handed back the phone and pulled a face. ‘Well, I can see from what you said that it does suggest he’s talking about gloves and dust masks but he doesn’t actually say so. You’ve interpreted it as gear from BioQex but he could just deny that and say it was, I don’t know something else, anything, really.’

  ‘That’s what Polly said, I got a bit over enthusiastic as I knew what he was talking about from my previous investigations. The thing is from my conversation today he knows I’m on to him, he hinted that he’d seen me following him.’

  Mark laughed at this point and said,‘well he’s probably trying to unnerve you, saying that he’d noticed you’d been following him.’

  ‘Well that’s just it, he wasn’t joking, he could well have seen me following him. I followed him as far as Sidz garage on the Bellworth industrial estate, where he did the exchange on Monday evening.’

  ‘Shit, Nick, you’re going to get yourself in trouble, what were you thinking?’

  ‘Shush, you’re shouting, people are looking,’ said Nick looking around nervously.

  ‘Yes, but that estate you mention is a really rough sort of area, you’ve no idea the type of people you’re dealing with. You need to report him and leave it to the company to sort him out, don’t put yourself at risk,’ advised Mark, finishing his pint and pointing at Nick’s empty glass. Nick shook his head so Mark went off to get himself a third pint. Nick had time to reflect on what Mark had said and he realised he was right but with the spat this afternoon it was now a case of his word against Kevin’s. Mark returned and they sat in silence for a moment.

  ‘Well I hear what you say but something happened this afternoon,’ Mark raised his eyebrows secretly dreading what was coming next. ‘Kevin came into my lab, accused me of shopping him to our finance department. I had no idea that they’d started an investigation but I did mention my suspicions to Stefan. So they’ve been asking to look at his invoices but then he turned even nastier and got in my way. As I tried to get past him he pretended that I hit him and fell over just when he knew there were witnesses. He rolled around on the floor claiming I’d assaulted him,’ Nick stopped, shaking his head whilst Mark wide-eyed tried to take it all in. ‘So you see he knows I’m on to him, he said I shouldn’t meddle, which was the word on the anonymous letter, he incriminated himself. He’s definitely the one, and I’ve reported him.’

  ‘To your manager?’ asked Mark

  ‘Well yes, to Billie, and to someone else.’

  ‘Who?’ asked Mark.

  ‘The police,’ replied Nick.

  ‘Fuck, Nick, are you serious? What did they say?’

  ‘Well they can’t charge him, but they can issue a PIN notice, make him realise he’s been rumbled.’

  Mark was horrified. Nick had no firm evidence that he was responsible for the vandalism, or the note. This could make the situation even worse. If it were Kevin he might want to retaliate even more. ‘Nick, don’t you think you’ve been a bit hasty. What if Kevin ramps up his vandalism against you, it could be dangerous.’

  ‘It’s time he realised he’s in the wrong and I’m not going to be intimidated,’ said Nick firmly.

  ‘Yes, but it doesn’t work like that, and now he’s accused you of assaulting him, he’s already fighting back. You also haven’t got any concrete evidence of his dealing in knocked off goods from the company.’

  ‘No, well that’s where I need some help,’ replied Nick looking at Mark.

  ‘What? Oh, no, leave me out of it,’ said Mark shaking his head furiously. ‘I mean we’re mates but I’m just not getting involved in this, no way. It should never have got this far.’

  ‘Look I just need you to make sure you are patrolling more round BioQex when you’re on duty, you might see him putting things in his car. Also before you go on shift next Monday I thought we could drive round to Sidz garage and we might catch him, I could take some photos if you’re driving and he doesn’t know your car,’ Nick looked imploringly at his friend.

  ‘Look, Nick, sorry, the answer is no. I don’t want to be harsh but I got involved before and I nearly lost my job and my family. My advice to you is to drop it and first thing tomorrow morning or tonight if you can get in touch with the police, tell them not to issue that PIN notice, it’s just madness, believe me, you could get into some serious shit. Kevin’s friends could be really nasty guys. You might really regret what you’ve done. Please, think of Polly and step back from this,’ and Mark got up and walked out of the bar leaving Nick alone
and fretful.

  Chapter 39

  Polly had enjoyed her evening with her friends although at times she’d felt rather uncomfortable. She’d noticed a guy hanging around at the front of the university whilst she was waiting for Libby, he was wearing a hoodie despite the mild evening, and she made sure she stayed close to the entrance until her friend arrived. She was surprised to see that Libby arrived along with Megan so they had lots to talk about as they headed off to the pizzeria. After their meal, they’d moved on to a pub for a few more drinks where the rest of their group were waiting as they’d not been able to go for a meal but just wanted to have a few quick drinks. The pub was quite busy and noisy and Polly was able to forget her troubles for a while. However, when she’d left their table to visit the loo she’d been slightly disconcerted to see the same bloke who’d been hanging around outside the university. She couldn’t swear to it because now his hoodie was down and he was wearing a baseball cap. However, she felt sure it was the same person. It could be a coincidence but could he be a stalker? Was it someone who was a friend of Luke, or Phyllis? She was being paranoid she told herself and she needed to remember she wasn’t alone tonight. Also, Nick was going to come and collect her, she was perfectly safe. She returned to her table.

  She was conscious of Libby saying, ‘Polly, earth calling Polly, are you receiving me?’

  ‘Oh, sorry, what did you say? I’m feeling a bit tired.’

  ‘I wondered if you’d spotted someone you fancied, you keep looking over to that corner, some hunk sitting over there is it?’

  ‘Don’t be daft, it’s just been a rotten week, I think I’ll text Nick to come and collect me,’ and she took out her phone.

  ‘Yes, I should be going,’ said Megan, Libby agreed as did the rest of her friends. Just then the guy with the baseball got up to leave and Polly told herself she was being silly, it had just been a coincidence. Nick told her he could come round straight away, Mark had already left to go home. She could tell from his texts that he seemed rather down, she hoped that they’d not had an argument.

  The others left and Polly went to wait out on the street, safe by the entrance to the bar. She had to move along a couple of times away from the smokers, but after about five minutes she recognised Nick’s figure and characteristic gait at the end of the street and she started to walk towards him. They met halfway down the road and they kissed briefly.

  ‘Where did you park?’ she asked.

  ‘Bridge Street,’ replied Nick.

  ‘Hey, are you OK,’ asked Polly, ‘what did Mark have to say?’

  ‘Oh, not a lot, he sends his love, by the way, he was sorry to hear you’ve had a tough time at work.’

  ‘I hope you didn’t tell him all about what’s been going on, the fraud, that’s confidential don’t forget.’

  ‘Of course not,’ lied Nick, ‘I just said you had some annoying colleagues,’ and they continued to walk back to the car. Nick turned around at one point as he was conscious of someone walking a bit too closely to them on an otherwise empty street but the guy seemed to be on his phone and unaware of where he was walking.

  ‘Well I had a good evening with the girls,’ said Polly, ‘took my mind off things for a while.’

  Polly took Nick’s hand and squeezed it affectionately. Just at that point footsteps approached rapidly and someone barged into Polly.

  ‘Hey,’ she shouted and immediately held tightly on to her bag, as she stumbled.

  ‘Shit!’ shouted Nick, ‘hey you! Watch where you’re going,’ and he started to give chase, but then stopped as he heard Polly calling him back. He returned to help her, she was standing up rubbing her knee and looking at a large hole in her tights.

  ‘I’m OK, look perhaps it was an accident, he lost his footing or something, just take me home,’ she said.

  ‘He was trying to grab your bag I’m sure,’ said Nick, ‘but let’s just get home.’

  ‘Just a minute, what’s that on the floor?’ pointed Polly to an envelope lying just in front of them.

  ‘He must have dropped it,’ said Nick picking it up. He turned it over and gasped. The envelope was addressed to him, simply Nick, it said. Acting on instinct he ripped open the envelope to reveal a single sheet of white paper bearing a single sentence.

  IF YOU LOVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND YOU BETTER LOOK AFTER HER

  He stood in silence, his heart pounding in his chest. Polly snatched it from his hand and cried out, putting her hand over her mouth.

  ‘Was that Kevin?’ she shrieked? ‘It wasn’t anyone I know unless my colleagues have enlisted help,’ and she started to pace around in a circle.

  ‘Kevin is at least six inches shorter and twenty years older than that bloke,’ said Nick his voice quavering. ‘Oh God, oh God,’ he said, pacing back and forth on the pavement. ‘Polly, I’m not sure, but I think I may have been a bit hasty, I’ve got something to tell you,’ and Polly stared at him with horror fearing the news he was about to impart.

  Chapter 40

  On Thursday morning Nick was again late into work as he’d had to detour round to the police station to cancel the notice he’d activated regarding Kevins’s campaign of terror which was now seriously in doubt. He’d felt a complete fool at having to retract his statement he’d made the previous afternoon but he was so relieved to find that it had not yet been issued. The sergeant he’d spoken to wasn’t available so he’d had to go through it all again with someone new but eventually they said they would get someone down to speak to him. He would need to sign some paperwork to say he was retracting his accusation.

  The atmosphere between him and Polly had been strained that morning. Neither had slept much after the events of the previous evening. Nick had refused to tell her what he’d done until they were back in the privacy of their flat. Not surprisingly he got a complete carpeting by Polly after his secretive visit to the police. All the tension from the previous weeks culminated in a horrendous slanging match which soon digressed from the subject at hand. Past events and mistakes were dredged up and weighed in the balance. By the end of it, they were exhausted and both in tears feeling thoroughly wretched and depressed. After separating into different rooms to cool down they both apologised and agreed not to let others come between them and destroy their relationship.

  Nick felt that it was best if Polly stayed over at a friend’s for a few nights and she’d phoned Libby to ask if that were possible. She had agreed without hesitation so Nick drove Polly into the university along with a small suitcase which should see her through the next few days. He hoped that in her absence he would find out what action was to be taken against Kevin at work and that he would be able to work out who else was bearing a grudge and enacting the malicious deeds against him.

  Nick waited in the grotty reception area, once again staring at the crime prevention posters and looking at his phone. He had again had to phone Billie to say he would be late, this time he didn’t lie and told her he needed to report something to the police. He also asked her to tell Kirsty not to do anything with the reaction they’d put on the previous day until he arrived. He detected a note of annoyance in her voice and was worried that he was going to be labelled as extremely unprofessional after the events of the week. Integrity and honesty were extremely important to Nick, he’d always upheld those two behaviours. It pained him that he was compromising his values by behaving like this. He just needed to keep in mind that he had been forced into this situation by the dishonesty of others. He hoped that once the company started to look at the accounts from the storeroom they would see how Kevin had been swindling the company. The problem could be that even if Kevin was dismissed he would have even more time on his hands to wage a war of retribution. Suddenly the door behind the reception opened and out strode PC Dave Martin. Nick recognised him immediately and stood up to shake hands.

  ‘Mr Thomas, please step this way,’ he said and ushered him through to the inner part of the police station. ‘There’s a room here we can use,’ he said opening the
door and showing Nick through. Thankfully it was a small meeting room rather than an interview room. Memories of the interview room immediately brought Nick out in a sweat.

  PC Martin had encountered Nick before and had trusted his judgement which had proven to be correct at least partly, and so he was sorry to hear that Nick had been on the receiving end of some anti-social behaviour. He listened carefully whilst Nick went through the whole sorry saga once more, emphasising this time that he’d jumped to conclusions and thus wanted to retract his accusations. Nick ended his account with the events of the previous evening which seemed to interest PC Martin.

  ‘Well he just brushed against us I guess, although Polly did stumble, banged her knee, but it all happened so fast.’

  ‘Have you still got the letter?’

  ‘Not with me, but I’m sure he was wearing gloves, and we’ve both handled it.’

  ‘Well, next time you are passing you could drop both letters in, make sure they are passed on to me, put them in a plastic wallet or something.’

  ‘OK, thanks, will do,’ nodded Nick.

  ‘And where exactly did this happen,’ asked PC Martin taking out his pad.

  ‘We’d turned onto Bridge Street, heading for the car park, it was about twenty yards before the entrance to the parking area. Then he ran off to the end of the road and then turned left, I can’t remember what the road is called where he went.’

  ‘I can check, thanks for that. And don’t worry about the PIN notice, it will be filed but not issued. Just sign here and it shows that you don’t want any further action.’

  Nick duly complied and PC Martin showed him out. Walking to his car through the sunshine, he felt a sense of relief that he had at least not aggravated the situation further. Perhaps finally I can concentrate on my work thought Nick. However, he knew that despite intervening to stop the notice being issued, the general problem of intimidation still existed and he was no further forward in solving it.