are you saying … that this woman is the one who’s been vandalising the flowers?’
‘I might be wrong, but, well … you judge for yourself.’
In an excited voice, she began outlining the events at the churchyard. ‘I was coming along the main path when I saw her there. She was bent right down, staring at the headstone and talking to herself … well, either that or she were talking to somebody else, and there was nobody else that I could see.’
‘So … what did you do?’ The manageress hoped they had spotted the vandal, because Mr Arnold was coming to see them soon. It would be good if they had something positive to report.
Her colleague continued. ‘I didn’t like the look of her, so I turned off the main path and crept up round the back. I could hear her murmuring and whispering, and at one point she even wagged a finger at the headstone. I don’t mind telling you, I was scared. I tried to press back so she wouldn’t catch sight of me. Then I must have trodden on a twig or something. Anyway, she heard me, so I had to come out.’
She shivered from top to bottom. ‘She were a strange one. She had these staring eyes.’ To make her point she stared at the older woman, who promptly told her to stop being silly and ‘get on with it’.
‘Well, then she asked me what I was up to, and when I said I’d lost my way, I could see she didn’t believe me. But she wasn’t nasty or anything. Just a bit … “far-off”, if you know what I mean.’
‘No! I don’t know what you mean. So tell me.’
‘Well, when I was talking to her, she kept looking back at the headstone. She hardly ever looked at me. She just kept staring at the flowers.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She asked if they were expensive. Then she said it was a tragedy what had happened.’
‘Is that all?’
‘She asked if the flowers were from him.’
‘I see. And did you tell her?’
‘Well, o’ course I did. I couldn’t very well say I didn’t know, being as I was delivering them and all.’
‘All right. So, she asked about the flowers. There’s nothing untoward about that. She was probably just making conversation.’
The young woman shook her head. ‘You wouldn’t have said that if you’d been there!’ She told her boss about the way in which the woman in the churchyard had quizzed her, ‘About Mr Arnold, and the flowers, and when she left she told me not to hide her flowers. I got the feeling she meant to watch me.’
‘For heaven’s sakes! What an imagination you’ve got. I expect the poor woman thought you were just as strange as you thought she was … emerging from the bushes with a large bunch of flowers, how strange is that?’
‘I told you. I was watching her.’
‘Did she threaten you?’
‘No.’
‘Then what on earth are you making such a fuss about?’
‘I haven’t told you about what happened afterwards, have I?’
The older woman groaned. ‘No, but I’m sure you will, and you’d better make it quick. We’ve got customers.’ Just then the two men who had been looking through the window made their way into the shop.
The young assistant lowered her voice. ‘I was just getting into the van, when that old caretaker came running after me. He took me back, and you’ll never believe what had happened.’
When the older woman appeared to be intently listening, she went on. ‘The flowers were all ruined … every one, only this time it was worse than before. The flower-heads had been ripped off, and the stems were torn up and hurled away.’
The manageress was suddenly very attentive. ‘And where was the woman?’
‘Gone! Vanished like a will-o’-the-wisp.’
She imparted one last piece of information. ‘Every single flower was destroyed. All except hers! They were still in the vase, just as she had left them.’
‘No, Mr Martin.’ Lilian’s colleague, Alice, was having to explain to an irate boss why the papers he had asked for were not already on his desk. ‘Lilian isn’t in again today.’ After taking almost an hour to locate the files in question, she scrabbled together the documents and handed them to him. ‘We’re really missing her down here. Y’see, she knows where everything is. You’ve only got to ask her, and it’s there straight away.’
John Martin was a patient man, but today he seemed to be two steps behind with everything, and that was not his way. ‘This blessed influenza has knocked out four of my staff,’ he groaned, ‘and now it seems it’s worked its way down here. Get onto the Labour Exchange. Tell them the situation. They might be able to help.’
Alice thought this was her big chance and took it. ‘Er … excuse me, Mr Martin, only my friend who works in Woolworth’s has told me about this new office that’s just opened next to them in the High Street.’
Drawing in a laboured breath, Martin blew it out in a loud whoosh. ‘What does that have to do with me, young lady?’
‘Well, it’s a woman who’s just started up. She calls herself the “Good Temper” .’
‘Come on, child, spit it out. I haven’t got all day!’
‘She sends clerks and typists and all that to offices where there’s people off sick, or they’re short-staffed for whatever reason. They’re just temporary, until the person comes back, or the job is filled permanently.’ She was well pleased with herself for mentioning it. ‘Do you want me to ask her if she can help?’
‘No, I do not!’
Angrily waving his papers at her, he ridiculed her idea. ‘No doubt she expects me to pay the earth for this “temporary” person, and how do I know she’s not sending a spy to root out information on my business?’
‘But sir … I think it’s a brilliant idea. It could get you out of trouble, and my friend says she’s already got two companies interested.’
‘More fool them! I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous. Paying for temporary staff who you don’t know from Adam, when you can get people who’ve been properly vetted from the Labour Exchange.’
He gave another of his long, noisy sighs. ‘It’ll never catch on. Give it a few weeks and she’ll go under, you mark my words.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Alice knew better than to argue with the boss. ‘I’ll get onto the Labour Exchange right away.’
‘How long will Lilian be off?’
‘I’m not sure, sir. When she rang yesterday morning she said the doctor told her she was to stay in bed for at least a week.’
‘Good God!’ The news did not please him.
Storming off, he yelled back at her, ‘How am I supposed to cope, with Tom gone and Dougie and John away overseeing the Leeds job? On top of that, I’ve got my secretary and three typists off, and now Lilian! In my day, when you had a snivelling cold, you didn’t call it influenza, nor did you laze about in bed for weeks on end. You got on with the job, that’s what you did!’
That said, he strode off, muttering and moaning about the world and its people in general, and his staff in particular. ‘And you get on with your work.’
‘Yes, sir!’
Wagging her head from side to side, the beleaguered Alice dropped her voice to a whisper. ‘Yes, sir; no, sir; three bags full, sir!’ She was up to her neck in work because of the staff shortage, and she wasn’t in the mood to be bellowed at, especially when she was