Josephine Cox 3-Book Collection 1: Midnight, Blood Brothers, Songbird. Josephine Cox

have jumped at the chance to take on this responsibility.

      ‘Mr Redmond!’ A small, wiry fellow came rushing out of the main door. ‘I saw you pull up. I know you’ve only just arrived, but if you can spare a minute, there are a few things I need to go through with you.’

      Jack had already met the caretaker-cum-maintenance-man, and found him to be well disciplined, proud of his work, and with a pleasant character into the bargain.

      ‘Hello, Steve, how are you?’ They shook hands and entered the building together. ‘How’s it all going?’

      ‘Everything is just fine. Except we did have a problem with the alarms.’

      Everything’s sorted now. Only last night I had to camp in one of the offices, as I couldn’t get hold of the security people until this morning. Fortunately they sent a man round first thing, and he had it all up and running in no time at all.’

      Apparently, he found spiders in two of the sensors, but he cleaned and secured them.

      Jack was surprised. ‘I still don’t understand why they wouldn’t come out earlier. As far as I know, they are on a twenty-four-hour call-out.’

      ‘I’ve no idea, guv. I tried several times to contact them – right through the night, in fact – but there was no one answering . . . except for some posh answerphone voice giving me the office hours.’

      ‘That’s odd. I understood they had issued an emergency number, should they be needed at any time of day or night. Did you try the other number I gave you?’

      For a moment, the little man looked at him as though he had no idea what Jack was talking about. When light dawned, he began frantically scratching at his ear. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Mr Redmond – I forgot all about that other number! Oh, dearie me! Oh, I’m sorry. Of course, I have the all-hours emergency number in my drawer – I completely forgot about it.’

      He was distraught. ‘That’s an unforgivable mistake.’ His voice fell to little more than a whisper. ‘That’s me down the pan, isn’t it? I’ve lost my job, haven’t I?’

      Jack felt for him, but his first loyalty was to the company. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t use that emergency number,’ he told him sternly. ‘There must be well over a million pounds’ worth of vehicles at risk here, let alone the value of office equipment, garage machinery and everything else. Not to mention the crucial fact that if intruders had entered the premises, your own safety was at risk!’

      Steve was acutely aware of his serious lapse of duty. He had no doubt that it was a sacking offence. ‘I’m sorry I let you down,’ he told Jack solemnly. ‘I’ve no excuse, except that there’s been so much to do these past weeks, it’s been manic. But I made a serious mistake, and I understand the consequences.’ He gave a little nod. ‘I’ll collect my things.’

      As he turned away, Jack called him back. For a long, tense moment, Jack battled with his conscience. His head told him he was right to consider letting Steve go, because he well deserved it. But his heart saw the look of despair in the other man’s eyes and something struck home. He knew himself what it was like to make a mistake. He also knew what it was like to let someone down; to be turned away when all you wanted to do was prove yourself. He recalled the days when he was just starting out, when no one believed in him.

      He also knew he would not be standing here, on the threshold of his greatest achievement, if someone had not taken a chance on him; if they had not trusted their instinct that he was a good and loyal employee, in spite of earlier mistakes.

      ‘It was a bad mistake, Steve,’ he said firmly, ‘and yes, it is a sackable offence. You put yourself at great risk, and left the premises unsecured, because you did not fall back on a simple emergency procedure as instructed. Even calling the police for assistance would have been better than nothing.’

      Feverishly scratching his ear, Steve looked up, expecting and deserving the worst.

      ‘If I didn’t sack you,’ Jack went on, ‘and it got out, or anything like this happened again because you did not follow proper procedure, then of course, I myself would be held responsible.’ He sighed.

      ‘Look, Steve, I believe you’ve learned a valuable lesson. You were hired as someone we could rely on to keep this place up and running, and safe at all times. You must always have back up on security. Never leave anything to chance.’

      ‘Yes, I know that, Mr Redmond, and I’ll make sure I don’t neglect my duties again.’ The little man was visibly nervous, constantly shifting from one foot to the other.

      ‘There’ll be no sacking today,’ Jack concluded decisively. ‘You made a mistake, but I do believe you’ll be on top of things from now on.’

      Greatly relieved, Steve nodded. ‘You don’t need to worry about me,’ he assured Jack, ‘I won’t let you down.’

      Jack patted him on the back. ‘Good! Now let’s put it to the back of our minds, because we have an important event coming up, and it’ll be all hands to the pump.’

      Both men went away smiling.

       Chapter Fourteen

      FOR THE FIRST time in his working life, Jack’s name stood proud on the door of the manager’s office. The office itself was an amazingly spacious room with a smart, glass-topped desk, and on the walls, Jack planned to hang his set of vintage car pictures.

      Accompanied by his assistant Susan Wilson, he did a thorough inspection of the premises, to check on progress for the big open-day event on Saturday. It had taken several weeks of planning to get the new building ready to welcome the public. Jack was satisfied that Sue was already proving her worth and was more than capable of supporting him in his newly acquired role as manager. Moreover, her attention to detail was second to none.

      ‘I’m concerned about your last email,’ said Jack as they discussed the all-important event. ‘You said you’d been let down by the caterers. Now, did you manage to find a suitable replacement?’

      ‘I did, yes, Mr Redmond – and not only did they turn out to be a good deal cheaper on their quote, but according to my enquiries, their service and range of food are excellent.’

      ‘Well done!’ That particular problem had been playing on his mind. ‘Now then . . . how about a nice cup of coffee in my office, and we’ll go over the last items on our list . . .’

      Two busy hours later, they had gone through the last crucial matters, finalising the orders for the banners, brochures and other in-house publicity materials that needed to be picked up on Friday in preparation for Saturday’s grand opening.

      There was a healthy banter, and even a friendly dis agreement or two between Jack and his new assistant, but between them, the task was soon completed, to their mutual satisfaction. Susan then went away to a meeting with the press officer.

      While she was gone, Jack had a number of calls to make, including one to Head Office, to fill them in on what was happening.

      Come early afternoon, it was time to view the house which Susan had organised for Jack to rent, until he found a place to buy. She had placed two properties on standby and needed Jack to make a choice. They drove off, Susan leading the way, with Jack following. The journey was a strange experience for Jack, because he knew most of the streets and landmarks along the journey; the most familiar and poignant being The Sun, the pub where his father and his mates used to drink on a Friday night.

      The first stop was a house on Preston New Road. It was a grand, stylish house, on three levels, with a rise of steps going up to the front door. Inside, it was cavernous, with rooms of generous size, and an amazing view over to Corporation Park.

      ‘What do you think?’ Susan was eager to know.

      ‘Well, yes. It’s