Girl Targeted

by Val Collins

  *

  Aoife was on hold for almost ten minutes before Detective Moloney took her call.

  ‘I understand you have something to tell me.’

  ‘Yes. I just remembered Karen drank from my mug while she was waiting for me to finish my phone call. She said something about the tea being very sweet. Antifreeze has a sweet taste, doesn’t it? I don’t think anyone intended to harm Karen. I’m the one they were trying to kill.’

  ‘Why would someone want to kill you?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it happened again last night. I was crossing the road and a man tried to run me down with his car.’

  ‘Was this man wearing a black hoodie?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You did report that a man in a black hoodie was following you?’

  ‘Yes, but that … that was a mistake.’

  ‘There was no man in a black hoodie?’

  ‘There was a man in a black hoodie, but he wasn’t following me.’

  ‘A completely different man is trying to poison you?’

  ‘Not just poison. He also tried to run me down.’

  ‘Did you get his licence number?’

  ‘No. It all happened too quickly and his headlights were switched off.’

  ‘What type of car was it?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Right. Well, all incidents of dangerous driving should be reported to your local Garda station.’

  ‘OK, but someone is trying to kill me.’

  ‘I’ll note your concerns. If there are any future incidents of a similar nature, let me know.’

  ‘That’s it? You’re not going to do anything?’

  ‘I can assure you, I and every member of my team are devoting one hundred percent of our time to this incident. If we find any evidence that suggests you are in danger, we will contact you immediately. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I had to leave an important meeting to take this call.’

  *

  Several hours later Aoife remembered Eilis. She had to see her immediately. It was the least she could do after causing so much trouble. She was nervous leaving the house, but it should be safe enough during the day. Nobody would attempt to run her down in broad daylight.

  Unfortunately it was Thursday, Maura’s day to meet the girls for lunch, and she couldn’t ask her to miss it again. The hell with it. Jason could take care of his daughter for once. Too bad if it was inconvenient. She would arrive at his office at one o’clock, have lunch nearby with Eilis and be back by two to collect Amy. Aoife pulled on her new jeans. They were a bit tight, but the sales assistant had assured her they would stretch. She wore a sleeveless t-shirt and pushed a jacket into the back of the buggy. At exactly one o’clock she wheeled Amy into the lobby.

  ‘Oh, she’s so cute!’

  It seemed every female in the building gathered to coo over the baby. Amy gnawed at her teething ring, staring at them passively. A few men joined the crowd.

  ‘Aoife, hi again. Is this your daughter?’ Niall barely glanced into the buggy. ‘She’ll be a real looker, just like her mum.’

  ‘What are you doing here, Aoife?’ The first words Jason had spoken to her in weeks.

  ‘Hi, darling,’ she said, ignoring his scowl. ‘I have a last-minute lunch emergency, so I’m leaving Amy with you. I’ll be back at two. Nice seeing you again, Niall.’

  ‘What do you mean lunch emergency? Who are you meeting?’

  Pretending not to hear, Aoife hurried away.

  *

  ‘I’m so sorry, Eilis. I should never have asked you for help.’

  ‘You couldn’t have known. No sane person would react that way. I thought Robert was reasonable, but when I told him I was looking for agencies for you he went off his head. All the colour drained from his face, and he shouted, “I don’t ever want to see you in this building again”. He took my key and marched me to the door, just like you. I’m in Marketing now. Laura said she’d try and delay taking action long enough for me to find another job.’

  ‘Did he react to you looking at the accounts or to you helping me?’

  ‘He was angry I was looking at the accounts, but he lost it altogether when I mentioned your name. That reminds me…’ Eilis fished in her pocket and pulled out a list of about ten names. ‘This is as far as I got. I’ll have to start ringing them myself now. I tried Advanced but I couldn’t get a reply either. My problem is most of my experience is in accounts, but I’ve no accounts training.’

  ‘I feel so bad. If there’s anything I can do, let me know.’

  ‘If you hear of any suitable jobs, actually any jobs at all, ring me immediately. My savings won’t last long. Not when I have to fly to Spain every month.’

  ‘Of course. Do you have Tom’s mobile number?’

  ‘Why? You’re not going to get him fired as well, are you?’

  Aoife winced. ‘He’s known Robert the longest. He might have some idea what Robert has against me. If I knew what the problem was, I might be able to fix things for you. Don’t worry. I’ll be very careful. I won’t even meet Tom in case anyone sees us, and I’ll wait until after work to phone him.’

  *

  It was three minutes to two when Aoife returned to collect Amy. Jason and Niall were sitting in the lobby while one of the receptionists jiggled the screaming baby. Aoife rushed to the receptionist, apologised and soothed Amy whilst glaring at Jason. Why wasn’t he taking care of his child?

  ‘Where were you?’ Jason said. ‘Who did you meet?’

  ‘Darling, why don’t you get back to work? I’ll get Amy settled and take her home.’ Aoife gave a false smile for Niall’s benefit.

  ‘But where—’

  ‘It’s after two. You don’t want to be late.’

  Jason glared at her, then headed for the lift. Stopping abruptly, he said, ‘Niall, aren’t you coming?’

  Niall was leaning back in his chair, arms dangling over the side, feet resting on a low table that held an assortment of newspapers and magazines. ‘I’m waiting for a client.’

  ‘What client?’

  Niall swung both feet to the floor and leaned forward. ‘Jim O’Reilly, why?’

  ‘No reason. I’ll wait with you.’

  ‘Why would you do that?’

  ‘I… I… I mean I’ll wait with Aoife. Help her get Amy sorted.’

  ‘Right so.’ Niall settled back in his chair.

  Aoife busied herself settling a reluctant Amy in the buggy. She waited for Jason to speak, but he stood beside her staring into space.

  ‘Bye, darling,’ she said, again for Niall’s benefit. She could see Jason’s reflection in the door as he stared after her.

  *

  ‘Tom, it’s Aoife. I hope you don’t mind me phoning you at home.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Tom said, but his tone was wary.

  ‘I feel really bad about what happened to Eilis and I wondered if there was anything I could do to help. It seems the thing that really annoyed Robert was that Eilis planned to give information to me. You’ve known him the longest. Do you have any idea why that would upset him?’

  ‘I don’t think it’s you specifically. He’s always had a thing about confidentiality. In the old days, everybody was in and out of the head office. Half of Dame Street had a key, but Robert put a special lock on the main door so keys can’t be copied. Only people who work in Stephen’s Green have a key now. Then Dan sent an e-mail saying Dame Street were hogging our meeting room and they weren’t allowed use it any more. I’m sure Robert put him up to it. And I bet he got him to say no stranger was ever to be allowed work in Accounts. That’s why I was so shocked at his reaction to you working there. We always take staff from other DCA sections.’

  ‘Why’s there such a need for confidentiality? I didn’t see any sensitive information.’

  ‘I’ve never seen any either, but unless Robert’s paranoid, it must be there.’

  TWENTY-SIX

  The more she thought about it, the more convinced Aoife became that Rober
t, and probably Dan, were doing something illegal. It was the only explanation for Robert’s reaction to a stranger getting access to the accounts. It explained how they could live like millionaires. Actually, it explained all the odd things that had happened recently. Shortly after Robert had discovered Aoife had been allowed access to the accounts system, Karen had been poisoned, having drunk from Aoife’s mug. Then Robert had learned Eilis was giving information to Aoife and another attempt had been made on her life. She would have to cut off all contact with everyone in DCA, even Laura and Eilis. Poor Eilis. She’d got her fired and was now abandoning her, but it couldn’t be helped. She wouldn’t contact the police again, and when word got around DCA that Aoife wasn’t returning anyone’s calls, it would be obvious she was no longer a threat. She’d have to forget her career plans, but she couldn’t risk ending up like Delia.

  *

  Aoife was driving down the motorway, radio blaring. She forced herself to sing along to each tune but her heart wasn’t in it. It had been a miserable month. The police hadn’t been in touch, but she thought it was unlikely they had dropped her from their suspect list. She missed Laura and Eilis. She couldn’t even risk contacting Irene, although she had explained the situation to her. Irene had agreed they must both drop the investigation immediately.

  Jason still wasn’t speaking to Aoife. He took the car every morning, leaving her stranded in the house. He rarely returned before midnight, and last weekend he hadn’t come home at all. Aoife had signed up for the dole, but she had to skimp on baby supplies, and although she made sure Amy was properly fed, she could only afford one meal a day for herself. Each day she checked Jason’s bank account. Each day the balance was nil. She was pretty sure Jason would give her money if she asked, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. As far as he was concerned all her income was going straight into the bank, but still he left his account empty. She took care of his house and his child. Why should she have to beg him for money? Aoife had taken to sitting on the stairs from 10 p.m. every night, keys in hand, waiting for Jason to come home. Today it had happened. At 10:50 his car pulled up. As he opened the front door, Aoife pushed past him and raced to the car. Thank God! The Tesco card was still in the glove compartment. She couldn’t make it to any Tesco in Kildare, none were open after 11 p.m. It took forty minutes to drive to Dundrum and five minutes to park and run to the lift. That left her twenty-five minutes before the store closed. She made good use of every second. The boot, back seats, passenger seat and every bit of available floor space were stuffed with shopping. She wouldn’t have to worry about food for a while, but she felt no sense of triumph. How the hell had she ended up living like this?

  Aoife had been vaguely aware of a car behind with its lights blaring, but now it was so close it was blinding her. Why didn’t he pull into the fast lane? She slowed to forty miles per hour to force the driver to change lanes, but he kept gaining on her. He was almost on top of her when she realised he wasn’t going to stop. She pulled into the hard shoulder. He followed her. What was he doing? For one dreadful moment, she thought he was going to crash into her, but at the last second, he pulled slightly into the slow lane. As he sped past, he was so close she could have touched his window.

  ‘You bloody lunatic,’ she screamed. Then she heard the bang. It felt like someone had yanked the steering wheel out of her hands. The car shot into the slow lane, then skidded into the fast lane, heading straight for the metal barrier.

  *

  Aoife’s foot was about to jam on the brake when she heard her father’s voice. “Never touch the brake if a tyre blows out.” She took her foot of the pedals, hit the hazard lights, gripped the steering wheel firmly and tried to keep it in a straight line. As the car slowed, she felt herself regaining control of the vehicle and was able to ease it into the hard shoulder. Her hands were trembling so badly it took three attempts before she managed to phone the AA. Forty minutes later they arrived.

  Jason was standing at the front door when she pulled up.

  ‘The tyre’s gone. Leave me money and I’ll get a new one tomorrow.’

  He didn’t reply. Nor did he help her unload the shopping, but the following morning the car was in the driveway and one hundred euros was on the kitchen table.

  *

  ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’ The man in her local garage looked up at her. ‘What the hell did you do to it?’

  ‘Nothing. I was driving down the motorway. A car drove too close to me and I had to pull into the hard shoulder. I must have hit a pothole.’

  ‘There’s no way that tear was caused by a pothole. You sure it wasn’t a truck that passed you?’

  ‘I couldn’t see properly because its lights were blaring, but it definitely wasn’t a truck. Why?’

  ‘Sometimes trucks have spikes fitted to their hubcaps. They’re usually plastic, but the odd one has steel spikes. I’ve seen some that are four inches wide and I’ve heard they can be a lot wider. It’s the only thing I can think of that would cause a tear like that, but no truck driver would be mad enough to get that close to a car. It’s lucky you weren’t driving fast. A blowout like that at normal motorway speeds would kill anyone.’

  *

  It hadn’t worked. She’d stayed away from DCA, cut contact with everyone, and they were still trying to kill her. She’d have to take Amy and get as far away as possible. But where would she go? How would she pay for it? What if Robert followed her? Was it even safe to take Amy? Should she leave her with Maura? How long would she have to stay away? The hell with it. Nobody was separating her from her daughter. If Robert and Dan believed Aoife was going to turn them in to the police, she had two choices—convince them they were wrong or have them arrested. Aoife mulled it over for hours, eventually accepting there was no way to convince them she wasn’t a threat. She would have to get them arrested, and to do that she needed Eilis’ help.

  *

  Eilis looked around the dark, empty pub. ‘First you won’t return my calls, now you drag me to this dungeon.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Eilis. Really, I am. I was trying to protect us both, but now I think we’re in danger if we don’t get Robert and Dan arrested. After what happened last night I don’t think there’s any other way to stop them.’

  ‘I told you, Aoife. You’re overreacting. Every mechanic I ever met has tried to convince me he’s the only thing between me and certain death. It’s their sales ploy. Robert and Dan had nothing to do with your flat tyre and I don’t believe they’re stealing either.’

  ‘After I phoned you I rang every account on the list of agencies you gave me. One of them, Premier Recruiters, is exactly like Advanced Recruitment. There are lots of agencies with “premier” in the title but only one Premier Recruiters. Their website has no address and lists a mobile number that’s never answered.’ Aoife paused. The barman was glaring at them. ‘We’d better buy something. What would you like?’

  Aoife returned with two drinks and handed one to Eilis. ‘I looked them up in the company’s registration office and neither company exists.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘Robert could easily set up an account on the system, make up a name that sounded legitimate and get you to lodge money into it.’

  ‘Why would he do that?’

  ‘You’re lodging money into accounts that belong to Robert.’

  ‘The companies must exist. You’ve seen their websites.’

  ‘I’ve seen websites with mobile numbers that are never answered. The vacancies listed probably don’t exist or else they’re copied from other agency websites. If the company was legitimate, it would be listed with the Companies Registration Office.’

  ‘If Robert made the companies up, why didn’t he register them?’

  ‘It probably wasn’t worth the risk. Why would anybody check into the companies? I wouldn’t have if I didn’t believe my life was in danger. Registering the companies would create a whole set of other problems. He’d have to list directors and file
end-of-year accounts.’

  ‘If he’s paying company money into his own account, someone would have discovered it by now.’

  ‘Who? Dan’s in on it. Look at all the money he has. Robert’s the accountant and the only employee with any accounts training. Think about it. Before he took over the accounts department how many of the staff had accountancy qualifications?’

  ‘Most of them, I think.’

  ‘And he got rid of them, right?’

  ‘I’m not sure what happened. Some resigned, some took voluntary redundancy.’

  ‘And not only did he replace them with unqualified staff, but he took over roles normally done by juniors, like checking delivery notes against invoices. Robert’s the only one who sees invoices. Who’s to say any invoice was ever issued? He’s also the only person who knows how an accounts department should work. The rest of you have no idea what the correct procedures should be. He has total control over everything.’

  ‘Mmm. I’m not sure you’re right, Aoife, and I don’t believe anyone’s trying to kill you, but if we could prove Robert and Dan are stealing, whoever took over from them would have to give me my job back.’ She grinned. ‘Okay, I’m in. What do you want me to do? Go to the police with you?’

  ‘The police won’t do anything without proof, and I already have a record as a looney.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Long story, don’t ask. But if we want the police to do anything, we need evidence of theft.’

  ‘How are we going to get that?’

  ‘I got the idea from Delia.’ Aoife reached into a shopping bag and removed two extension leads, two biros, a calculator and two air fresheners. ‘You wouldn’t believe the things they sell on the internet. All of these are listening devices.’ She opened the biro, revealing what looked like a USB. ‘The extension leads are the best. They’re fully functioning extension leads, so we can replace the leads under Dan and Robert’s desks. They’re plugged in, so they don’t have to recharge, and they’re voice-activated, so they can record for twenty-four days at a time.’