Fitting In

by Amanda Radley

  “She literally stood between the car and the centre,” the paramedic explained, a sigh coming soon after. “Someone thinks she’s invincible.”

  Heather blinked. “You… stood in front of the car?”

  “I made a tactical calculation that they wouldn’t attempt to use the car as a battering ram if I was in front of it,” Scarlett said.

  “And?” Heather demanded.

  “I was wrong,” Scarlett said simply.

  “They drove at you?” Heather felt the breath leave her lungs. She looked at the paramedic. “They drove at her?”

  “Apparently so,” he replied. “She’s got good reflexes, though; she jumped out of the way.”

  “Into broken glass,” Scarlett explained. She held up her hands, which were bandaged.

  Heather pinched the bridge of her nose. She’d rather the centre was robbed than a member of her team be injured. Why couldn’t Scarlett see that? Why put herself in extreme danger?

  “I believe these are yours, Miss Flynn.”

  Heather turned to see a police officer approaching, holding out a pair of broken glasses—Scarlett’s glasses. They were useless now, nothing more than scratched frames with shattered lenses. He placed them on an empty shelf in the ambulance and looked at Heather.

  “I’m Detective Inspector Armstrong,” he introduced himself.

  “Heather Bailey, centre director.”

  “Ah, excellent. I’m just getting some final details from one of my officers, and then I’ll be able to brief you on the situation.”

  Heather nodded. “I’d like to talk to my security officer first.”

  “Of course. Come and find me when you’re ready,” Armstrong said before moving away and talking to some of his officers.

  Heather turned back to look at Scarlett. It was shocking to see the usually immaculate woman in such a state of disarray.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Scarlett didn’t reply. Instead she looked toward the paramedic as if she wanted him to answer the question.

  He took it in his stride and replied, “Mainly cuts and bruises. Looks worse than it is, but she needs to be told no more heroics.”

  “She will be told just that,” Heather promised, giving Scarlett a soft glare for good measure.

  Scarlett just looked back at her, calm and unfazed by the whole thing.

  “We’ll talk when you’re feeling better,” Heather promised. “Shall I call your father?”

  “No, he is very busy,” Scarlett said.

  “I’m sure he’ll want to hear what’s happened and will be relieved to know that you’re okay,” Heather insisted.

  “He’s unaware of my involvement.”

  “But he should know. He’s your father.”

  “He wouldn’t be interested,” Scarlett said with a cold certainty that stopped Heather from arguing the point any further.

  Heather swallowed down any argument she might have had and simply nodded.

  “Very well. If he asks, I’ll have to tell him,” Heather said. “And he will ask, because I intend to investigate the possibility of suing them for attempted manslaughter.”

  “I stood in front of the car,” Scarlett reminded her.

  “And they chose to drive it at you,” Heather argued. “Anyway, I’m not going to get into this now. Follow the paramedic’s instructions.”

  Scarlett simply inclined her head, indicating that she agreed and that the conversation was over.

  Heather stepped away from the ambulance, not knowing what do or say or how to offer comfort to someone who seemed to not want any.

  She just couldn’t fathom Scarlett’s actions. Who put themselves in front of a car to protect a building? Why would Scarlett do such a thing when she seemed to have little care for the company or her co-workers? And why would she believe that her father wouldn’t care about her injuries?

  Heather shook her head and tried to focus on other things, like getting the centre in a state where it could be open for business in a few short hours. She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket and started to call her team.

  19

  Not Informed

  Ravi smothered a yawn behind his hand and shivered a little at the cold morning air that whipped around him. Thankfully the sun was now rising, and he knew the crispness would soon give way to warmer temperatures.

  The shattered glass had been cleaned away, and the emergency glaziers were working hard to get the large panels for the doors replaced. Ravi watched over them while also keeping members of the public away and directing them to the several other entrances available.

  Some people did as they were told, and some wanted to hang around and see what had happened. Ravi didn’t mind that so much, as long as they stayed behind his temporary tape barrier that fluttered a little in the wind.

  One thing that never ceased to amuse Ravi was the amount of people who seemed completely oblivious to their surroundings. At least three times in the last hour he had called out to people who had ducked under the emergency tape in order to enter the centre. Some people were just in a world of their own and didn’t seem to notice the police car, glaziers, abandoned car, and more.

  “Excuse me, sir!” Ravi called to an older gentleman who was walking straight for the door. “You’ll have to use the other entrance, up by John Lewis!”

  The man stopped and looked at Ravi as if he’d said something utterly ridiculous.

  “This entrance is being repaired,” Ravi explained, smiling warmly at the elderly man.

  The man looked around and blinked a couple of times, as if only now seeing the hive of activity. He nodded to Ravi and turned and left the area.

  Ravi shook his head and grinned. People were such strange creatures sometimes.

  His phone rang, still in his hand from the multiple calls he’d had with various people throughout the morning. He saw Tara Manning’s name flash up and smiled.

  “Hey, sleepyhead!” he greeted her with a chuckle.

  “I was one of the first people called; I’ve already had my early-morning wake-up,” she told him. “How is everything? Should I come back? I can get the nine-ten train and be there—”

  “No need,” Ravi said quickly. “Everything’s under control.”

  “Are you sure? I feel like I should be there. What abo—”

  “Tara, have a holiday. Seriously, we’re fine. Everything went to plan and we’re fine. Don’t worry.”

  He heard her sigh over the phone. “Okay, look, in my office in the top drawer is the schedule for today. You’re going to need to move—”

  “Already have. Stuart is taking over for Scarlett’s morning shift. We’re on top of everything.”

  “How is Scarlett? I texted her, but I didn’t get a reply. Well, I did, but no actual information about how she was. More an official report on what happened.”

  Ravi thought back to when Heather had told him of the situation she’d encountered when she had arrived first thing. She’d seemed more shaken by Scarlett’s appearance and her refusal to acknowledge her injuries than she had by the gaping hole in the door of her beloved Silver Arches.

  “She was injured, but just superficial cuts and bruises,” Ravi explained, glossing over the facts. Tara was tough, but she had a heart of gold and would feel guilty to know that a member of her team had been injured. Moreover, he was positive that she’d kill Scarlett for being so reckless with her own life.

  He noticed someone else approaching his cordon and looked up to tell them to stay back but stopped when he realised it was Leo Flynn.

  “Gotta go, Tara; the big boss is here. Enjoy your holiday, that’s an order,” Ravi said before hanging up the call.

  He quickly unclipped the radio from his belt and tuned it to the channel he used to communicate directly with Heather.

  “The eagle has landed,” he said.

  It was a silly code, designed to make Heather roll her eyes and mutter at how ridiculous he was, but Ravi knew that Heather had lingering concerns
about Leo’s presence and the effect he would have on Silver Arches. Anything he could do to lighten the mood was a bonus in these unsettled times.

  Leo spotted Ravi and headed over to him.

  “Morning, sir,” Ravi greeted him politely.

  “Morning,” Leo grumbled. “What’s the situation?”

  Ravi was used to acts of vandalism but suspected that Leo wasn’t. He cast his mind back to the first few times he had seen someone spray graffiti or run their car into a wall in Silver Arches. It had been infuriating, almost heart-breaking. Nowadays it was a part of the job. Entitled youths took frequent potshots at what they viewed to be an easy target.

  “The centre is open for business as usual. We’ve sealed off this door from the inside and out. All glass and other hazardous materials are cleared away; the glaziers will be finished within a couple of hours, and then we’ll be able to open this door again.” Ravi gestured to the car the vandals had used. “The police are finishing up taking evidence from the vehicle, and it will be towed away by lunchtime.”

  “And the gits that did this?” Leo asked, anger sparking in his eyes.

  “Arrested and awaiting prosecution,” Heather said from behind them.

  Ravi realised she must have been nearby when he radioed her.

  Leo looked at Heather, a little anger in his eyes. “And when was I going to be informed about this? I heard about all this on the news!”

  Heather stood her ground. “Would you like to be advised of every incident? We suffer an attempted break-in of some description once or twice a month. I can call you when I’m summoned if you wish? Obviously, these incidents often happen in the middle of the night. This one was at three in the morning, but if you want to be kept advised, then I can include a call to you in our official procedures?”

  Ravi was glad Leo wasn’t facing him as he couldn’t contain his smirk. Heather’s tone was calm and even, not rude but not taking any nonsense from Leo either.

  “I would have thought this kind of thing would be well below your pay grade,” Heather said, indicating the glaziers who were currently heaving an enormous glass panel into place.

  There was a tense moment where Ravi thought it could go either way. Leo could either be angry at Heather’s tone and insinuation, or he could…

  “Okay, okay, you win,” Leo said, a chuckle immediately following his words.

  Ravi let out a small sigh. Thankfully, Heather’s gamble had paid off. It was one of the things he admired most about Heather, her ability to read people and situations and react accordingly.

  “So, this is a frequent thing?” Leo asked.

  “Sadly, yes. We have every measure in place to stop them from penetrating the centre, but we are a target. We need to have easy access for customers, especially at busy times. With deliveries and staff working throughout the night on displays and such, we can’t completely shut down the car parks,” Heather explained. “But we do catch and prosecute. Very, very few people have ever gotten past any of the main doors and into the actual centre. And once they are in, there’s nothing for them as each individual store has its own shutters and security in place.”

  “We find it’s more for vandalism than theft,” Ravi added.

  “Exactly,” Heather agreed. “We’re well insured, and we always prosecute.”

  Leo sucked in a big breath and slowly let it out again. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded. “I see. Right, well, I can see this is in good hands.”

  “Actually,” Heather said, her tongue darting out to lick her lips before she spoke. “It was Scarlett who arrived first on scene and stopped the vandals. You would have been very proud, I’m sure.”

  Leo barely reacted to that news. “Good, good,” he muttered, his eyes still on the glaziers.

  “She was injured, but the paramedic said it was mainly cuts and bruises. She’ll be back at work in no time, but I gave her a couple of days off to recuperate. So, she’ll be at home if you want to check in on her,” Heather suggested.

  “I’ll drop her an email,” Leo replied casually. “What are you doing this Saturday?”

  Heather blinked. “Me?”

  “You,” he confirmed.

  “Working here until four,” she replied.

  “My wife is having a birthday party Saturday evening. Starts at seven,” Leo said.

  “Okay?” Heather looked as confused as Ravi felt.

  “You’re invited.” He turned to Ravi. “You are as well.”

  Ravi held his hands up. “I would love to, but unfortunately I have the night shift here. But Heather will happily represent us both, I’m certain.”

  Heather glared at him briefly before smiling at Leo. “I’d be delighted. Should I bring anything?”

  “Just yourself,” Leo said. “I’ll email you the details.”

  “I look forward to it.” Heather sucked in a quick breath. “I really do think that Scarlett would appreciate a visit from you. As I say, she was rather bruised from the—”

  “I have to go,” Leo said, looking at his watch. “Well done dealing with all of this. It’s good to know that I have the right team in place.”

  He patted them both on the shoulder and turned to leave. “See you Saturday,” he said as he left.

  Heather slowly shook her head. “How can he not care about her? She’s his daughter.”

  “Maybe there’s history there you don’t know about?” Ravi suggested.

  “Still, he is her father. She was injured. Honestly, Ravi, if you’d seen her… hell, I’m considering going to visit her to check on her.” Heather folded her arms and watched Leo get into his car, displeasure obvious on her features.

  They watched him drive away before turning back to watch the glaziers again.

  “Will you?” Ravi asked.

  “Will I what?”

  “Go check on her?”

  Heather sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t have a reason to. She’s not my direct report, and I should probably leave her to rest. It would just be nice to know that someone is keeping an eye on her.”

  Ravi didn’t say anything. Heather didn’t often show this level of concern for her employees. Either Scarlett was hurt more than he knew, or Heather had developed a soft spot for the difficult-to-reach woman.

  20

  Bored

  Scarlett looked into the bathroom mirror and frowned. Two neat stitches closed the wound near her hairline, the other cuts not requiring anything other than time in order to heal. She lifted her finger to one of the wounds and prodded the cut to test how painful they were.

  She winced a little.

  As she suspected, the injuries were not that bad. She’d certainly had more painful injuries in the past. Which she had attempted to explain to Heather when she was ordering her to take two days off work, but Heather had been unmovable to reason.

  Scarlett let out a sigh and left the bathroom in search of something to occupy her now that she had two surprise days off to fill. She supposed she shouldn’t go outside as she did look like she had been in a fight. Which wasn’t far off the truth.

  The book that Nico had given her sat unread on the kitchen counter. She picked it up and looked at the pink hearts and cartoon depictions of two women holding hands on the cover.

  Scarlett had never been one for reading. She’d enjoyed it as a child, but as she got older she found it harder to understand character actions and motivations. It had also been a shock to discover that many people saw the book’s words playing out in their mind like a personal movie being created and projected from within the brain. Scarlett had never experienced that. Books were printed words. Imagining what a character looked like or having an entire scene recreated in her mind was something that she just couldn’t seem to do.

  Feeling as if she was only achieving half of what the reading experience ought to be had caused her to cut back on her reading until it hardly featured in her life at all.

  Her phone rang, and she saw her father’s office number on the screen.
She swallowed, wondering if her father was aware of what had happened and was taking the time to call her. It seemed unlikely, but the possibility still lurked in the back of her mind.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hi Scarlett, it’s Diane.”

  Scarlett swallowed down a small bubble of disappointment. Diane was her father’s PA and the only person from her father’s office who ever called, but that didn’t stop Scarlett from expecting a call from him one day.

  “Hello.”

  “I just wanted to call to remind you that it’s your stepmother’s birthday party at the weekend.”

  “Yes, I know.” Scarlett didn’t know why Diane insisted on always calling to remind her about things she already knew.

  “Will you be attending?”

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent, I’ll let your father know. He’ll be pleased to see you.”

  Scarlett clamped her mouth closed. They both knew it wasn’t the truth.

  “I’ll send you the email invite so you have all the information,” Diane continued.

  “Thank you,” Scarlett replied, although she was unsure why Diane would bother. Scarlett was aware of all the details from the last time Diane had emailed. And the party would take place in her childhood home; it wasn’t like she didn’t know the address.

  The line went quiet, and Scarlett suspected that Diane had little else to say. She said a goodbye and hung up the call.

  Her gaze dropped to the book again. She turned it over and read the back. Apparently one of the characters was a firefighter. With nothing else on her schedule, Scarlett tentatively opened the book to the first chapter and started reading.

  After thirty minutes of standing in the kitchen, she decided to take the book into the living room and sit down. The book wasn’t projecting images into her mind, but she was able to follow along with the story to some degree, even if the firefighter’s girlfriend’s actions were a complete mystery to her. But then, almost everyone’s actions were.