“Nah, I'm not angry. I'm pissed you didn't tell me, but I get it. Fuck her around Heath and then you'll see angry." I warn.
Anyone dating my sister is going to piss me off, but if it's someone I know and trust I can't really interfere. She's an adult and I guess she has to learn from her own mistakes. But if he so much as hurts a hair on her head, mate or not, I'll fucking kill him.
“Um, well this is all starting to feel a little awkward so I'm gonna go and stick some clothes on. I'll be back in five. Oh and Max..."
“Yeah?" I ask as she turns to face me.
“I love you."
“Quit with the soppy shit, I've got plans to make and I need both of you on this okay?"
Jess
I finally land on home turf after what feels like an eternity. All I want is my own bed and that's exactly what I'll be doing as soon as I leave this airport. Heathrow is bursting at the seams as usual and it smells like home. I didn't bring any luggage so at least I don't need to faff about waiting for anything. As soon as I'm past customs I call for a taxi to pick me up. I would have called Jen or George but it's six in the morning and I can't be bothered running through the drama straight away. When they chew my ears off later, I need to have some strength in me.
Everything looks just the same when I walk through the door. It even smells the same and a feeling of happiness swims through my body. I don't think twice as I step into my bedroom and dive into my ready and waiting bed. It's been a long thirty hours and as soon as my head hits the fluffy pillows I feel myself drifting instantly as I allow the darkness to consume me.
My eyes are heavy and sore as I try to open them. I don't know how long I have slept for, but it doesn't feel long enough. It takes me a few seconds to figure out where I am. As my eyes slowly adjust to the room around me, I realise that I'm home. I stretch out in my own bed and it feels bloody good. Well it does until I remember why I've come home. Ugh I don't know where I'm going to start. Do I tackle Amelia first or should I at least call Tim to let him know that I'm back and we can create some kind of plan.
I drag myself out of bed and my muscles ache so bad. I don't think I'm built for this jet lag shit and to make it worse I don't have Max to hold my hand this time. Oh fuck. At the thought of Max, I feel a pang of regret at just ditching him without a moment’s notice and not saying goodbye. He's going to flip his shit. Well it’s not like I have to face him for a while and it's highly unlikely that he'd fly halfway across the world to give me a stern telling off anyway.
As the hot water sprays down on me, I try to devise a plan but I'm coming up blank. I'm praying we can just get one of the I.T guys to retrieve the file and have done with it, but something tells me it's much bigger than this. Surely it couldn't have been an inside job. How else would the client have found out if they hadn't been given a tip off? As harsh as it sounds, I don't even think we have anyone with those kind of brains at Stanton's. If we did, then they’ve done a bloody good job of hiding it.
"Hey Tim, its Jess. How's things?"
“Oh Jess, what are we going to do? The client is making some pretty hefty demands and I don't have a fucking clue what to do about it."
“Well I'm back now. How about you come over to mine and we can try and figure something out. Who knows maybe there could be a trail of some sort to lead us to the culprit?"
“Wait, you think someone has done this deliberately?" I don't know why he sounds so shocked.
“Tim we live in a very competitive workplace darling, and sometimes competitors will take you by the balls no matter what the consequences."
“At times you scare me with that mind of yours, Jess. I'll be over within the hour."
As I wait for Tim to arrive, I spend my time going through the mail that has collated on my door mat. When I got in this morning I didn't even notice it, but now there's easily thirty or so letters to get through. No doubt most of them will be junk, but I've got to get through them eventually.
Well that's half an hour that I'll never get back. All my mail consisted of bills for Josh and takeaway menus and not forgetting the latest deals down at gala bingo over the next month. Maybe I should save that for George when I see him. He'd bloody love that. I can't wait to meet up with those two; I just need to get this situation under control first of all before I can enjoy some downtime with my besties.
When Tim turns up, I actually fall in love with him all over again. As he walks through the door my eyes dart to the Starbucks bag in his hand.
“I take it you haven't had a chance to grab something to eat and I know you don't function without coffee."
“Tim, remind me why we're not married." I laugh as I remember how bare my cupboards are.
“Oh Jessica love, if only you had the right toolkit." I lean in for a hug, suddenly realising how much I have missed him.
“I'm sorry you've had to deal with all this shit on your own Tim. I wish you would have called me sooner you know."
“You know me Jess. If there's one thing I hate, it's admitting defeat. Especially when it's something major that I have been entrusted to look after." He passes me my cappuccino along with a ham salad and my stomach grumbles, letting me know that it is in desperate need of some fuel.
“You know that no one, least of all Mal is going to blame you for this? Whatever it is, we'll get to the bottom of it so I wouldn't worry too much. As long as we stick both of our heads in right, we'll get to the bottom of it. Mal doesn't know about any of this, by the way."
We eat in silence for a while, or at least Tim allows me to eat before he fills me in on what's been happening since I've been away.
“So, she's just been turning up as and when she pleases?" I say in disbelief. It's completely out of character for Amelia to hang her career on the line like this.
“Not to begin with. Some day’s she'd be fine and others she would be an emotional wreck. I heard her arguing on the phone a few times to her boyfriend or whatever she wants to call him. To tell you the truth, if someone makes you cry like that, no way should they have the title of boyfriend attached to them. He sounds like a complete head fuck."
“Yeah, I think she was having a few problems with some guy before I left. The poor girl. I told her if she ever needed to talk to come and find me. So where is she now?"
“Who knows? You never know if she's going to make it in or not. Sometimes she comes in and then goes back home without a moment’s notice. I can't cope with it anymore Jess, but I don't have the power to start any kind of disciplinary meetings and she knows she has me by the balls, or at least until Mal finds out anyway."
“Try and get hold of her for me. I think it's high time we had a little catch up. I just want to get to the bottom of why she's being so out of character."
Stanton's is dead. The whole vibe that I used to get a buzz off every day has vanished.
“Jeez Tim, it feels like it's sucking your energy from your body. How the hell has it gotten this far? When was the last time the cleaners came out?"
“The last I heard, they turned up and Amelia sent them away because she had to head off in a hurry." Fucking hell. Old magazines are scattered around reception and it feels cold and dark.
“You, go stick that kettle on and fetch some bin bags and we'll make a start on trying to get this place back to normal." I try to call Amelia but yet again I have no luck. The longer this goes on the more pissed off I'm becoming.
As soon as I get into the swing of things, I feel my mood improving somewhat.
"Have meetings been taking place here in this state?" I ask as the thought suddenly dawns on me.
“I've tried to make sure that all meetings have been offsite until I could arrange someone to come in and sort it out."
“Well it's done now, at least." I'm still baffled how an office can get so disorganised in such a short space of time. "I think we need to buckle down and decide who actually wants to work for Mal and keep his baby soaring."
“I agree." Tim says as he plonks his arse down o
n a reception chair. "I meant to ask, but I thought I'd give you some headspace for a while."
“Ask away..." I say, fully aware of what's going to pop out of his mouth.
“How was Oz? Why were there no snaps on facebook?"
“Because my dear friend, I was too busy working to be talking selfies. But in all honestly, it's amazing. It's completely out of this world. I mean who do you know that wakes up to a beautiful beach every morning?"
“Alright bitch, you don't need to rub it in that much. What's happening with tall dark and handsome?"
“Who Max? It's hard to tell right now. We're both still kind of figuring out where we want this to go. Well at least we were until I came back home without telling him."
“I bet he's one pissed off puppy. How many times has he been on the blower?" Tim's comments remind me that I actually haven't heard from him at all since I left. He must be really pissed at me to not even call. Normally if I've made him angry my phone is blowing up with calls and texts.
“I've not heard from him. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Well I've got this to keep me occupied for now."
“The least you could do is drop him a quick message to let him know that you got here safe." Good point, maybe I should.
I pick up my phone and type out a quick message to him. Hopefully Liss puts in a good word for me.
“Have you been onto the I.T guys?" I ask Tim, quite anxious to get the ball rolling. Josh would have been the perfect guy for the job, but no matter how much I want to get this resolved, there's no way I'm going to be asking him for help.
“I logged it last night as an urgent case, so hopefully they'll be in touch with an update soon.
“Let's hope so. What's happening with the accounts? I think I'll tackle those next." I'm fully centered in my to do mode and can't seem to stop. When I get hold of the person responsible for this, and yes I'm adamant there is someone behind this, god fucking help them.
“Right well, if you need me I'll be in the office." I leave Tim by reception and set of in the direction of my office. Thankfully this seems to be in one piece. It could do with a quick dust, but I guess that can be done later. I fire up the computer and bring up the programs that I need. Shit, should I even be using this if it's been hacked?
“Tim." I call out. He's at my door in seconds. "How many accounts has this happened to? Maybe I shouldn't go into the server in case something else gets taken?"
“As far as I'm aware, it's just one of the major ones and nothing else seems to have been affected."
“Do you think I should open it or wait 'til I.T. get back to us?"
“I'd definitely play it safe and wait until I.T. come back to us. If we have been hacked we could potentially be opening ourselves up to all sorts of shit."
I make a few calls to see if I can chase anything up, but everything seems to be going in slow motion. How hard can it be for bloody professionals to get to the bottom of such a critical incident? Deciding that nothing else can be done today, I head out to grab a much needed coffee and I'm overjoyed when I hear the voice of one of my faves.
“Princess." George comes barreling towards me as I walk through the door at Joes. I'm picked up off my feet within seconds and whirled around so fast that I feel dizzy. "Why didn't you tell me you were home? When did you get back?"
“I've missed you too." I say as I wait for him to lower me back to the ground. "Early this morning. I haven't has a chance to tell anyone yet. Let's just say the shit has well and truly hit the fan."
“Am I gonna have to work these muscles on some bell end from Australia?"
“No, not that kind of drama. Purely work stuff."
“Well I’m about to take a break so I'll bring your usual over, go get yourself a seat."
I look around and see that my favourite seat is available, tucked away in a little alcove next to the windows. I used to love dropping in here just to watch the world pass by.
“Here you go princess." I take my cappuccino from him as he pushes a chocolate chip brownie my way too. "What’s a bit of gossip without chocolate?"
I laugh at my best friend. No matter what the situation he's always there to help me, plus with the mention of gossip it's hard to keep him away.
“It's good to be back, but I'm bloody shattered."
“How come you're not still living the life of Riley? I didn't expect you to be back for quite a while, to be honest."
“You know me George, I can't go for long without good old drama creeping up and biting me on the arse sooner or later." I wait for a smart arse comment, but nothing leaves his mouth. Instead he nods his head as if to say "go on..."
“I received a call from Tim the other day and he was in a right state and I couldn't work out why he was calling at first. When he finally calmed down he told me that Stanton's had landed deep in the shit. One of the major client’s files has gone missing from the server along with all its super sensitive information on it. I haven't got a clue what I'm going to do about it and to make it worse, the client has somehow found out and are now threatening to out Mal and Stanton's."
“Shit. What took Tim so long to call you?"
“Oh I don't know. Maybe he thought he had everything under control or something. He's petrified of Mal finding out, that's why I ended up coming back as soon as I could."
“You know he's going to find out sooner or later, princess." He states.
“I know. I'm just praying for a miracle before that happens." As if I don't already know that I'm fighting a losing battle. Jeez George is supposed to be on my side.
“So come on then. Don't keep me waiting in suspense."
“Hmm." I ask completely oblivious to what he's asking me. My minds all over the place and I can't stop my mind from wandering off and over thinking things.
“The mystery woman, you know the who is she scenario. I'm guessing it wasn't his wife after all. I bloody hope it wasn't because I would have expected this conversation to have happened much sooner than now.”
“Oh, you mean Stella?" Her name leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. I hate the thought of that vindictive bitch being around Max while I'm gone, patiently waiting to try and sink her claws into him once again.
“Judging by that face, I'd say you're a huge fan?"
“Seriously George, she's bloody vile and I've never hated someone so much in all my life. She's just got one of those faces that you just want to ram into a brick wall, but you just know it won’t do enough damage that you want it to, you know?"
“What's her deal in all of this then?"
“Seriously, I wish I bloody knew. She's supposed to be Max's PA, yet I've never once seen her working while I've been over there. She just turns up whenever she feels like it for no apparent reason. In fact the only time I ever saw her there was when she was making my life hell, or taking advantage of a fragile situation and chose that moment to make a pass at Max."
“Nooo..." George shouts before his hand flys up and clamps over his mouth.
“I'm telling you, she's a fucking fruit cake and she sure as hell wouldn't last two minutes with Jen around. Actually, speaking of Jen, how is she? I haven't gotten around to calling her since I’ve been home yet."
“I reckon she'll be pretty made up to see you actually. I think you've come back at just the right time." His face pales as he gives my arm a quick squeeze.
“What did you mean?" I ask, slightly confused. "What's happened? Is she okay?" George glances at his watch before standing and reaches out for my cup.
"I hate to do this princess, but I've gotta get back to work."
“George Matthews!" I shout. "You best tell me what's happened right now."
“It's really not my place to say. Just call her okay? You'll understand once you've spoken to her."
What the fuck. Surely nothing serious could have happened to her. I only spoke to her last week and she seemed absolutely fine. She's always the first to tell me if something's wrong.
I quickly stop in at
Stanton's on my way back from lunch to let Tim know that I'm calling it a day, but I'll be available on the mobile. It shouldn't surprise me that Amelia's AWOL again. Something really needs sorting about that. You can't run a business with people who are happy and willing to take the piss constantly. One thing I am certain of is that it needs nipping in the bud, and fast. There is no way she would have acted like this while Mal was here and if Mal left Tim in charge, then she shouldn't be acting any different.
I can't get what George said out of my head. When I come to think of it, I've not actually heard from Jen since our last Skype session. Normally I'll get at least a few texts throughout the day about random shit, but I've had nothing. I quickly check my email to see if she's responded to the last email I sent her the other day but nada, nothing is there. Deciding to give her a call, I make my way to the tube. It's just as busy as I remember with everyone trying to get from A to B on their daily commute. One thing I haven't missed is the obscene amount of smelly armpits being shoved in my face. It's bloody horrid. People don’t need to concern themselves with pepper spray, all they need is to be armed with a can of deodorant to fend of these people. They’ll end up shrinking away like a witch does to water.
I arrive at Jens within half an hour and instantly I know that something is off. For a start her blinds are shut. The last time this happened, she'd completely closed herself off from the world while she overdosed on Ben and Jerry's and re-runs of friends when Alex, the then, love of her life decided that she no longer had the right tools for the job, much to George's amusement.
I haven't got a clue what's happened since I spoke to her last, but I swear to god if that knob has fucked her over, heads are going to roll.
“Jen... Jen it's me." I shout through the letter box. "Jen, bloody hell, I know you're in there. I can hear the tele." If she doesn't open this door in the next two minutes I'm going to boot it down. "Answer the fucking door Davies, right now!"
Down Under Complete Trilogy Box Set Page 31