Fireflies

by Menon, David

  ‘I do Mrs. Curzon but with all due respect your business concerns are not at the top of my list of priorities’ Jeff retorted. ‘Finding a killer is. Now I presume you have a night manager?’

  ‘Yes’ said Helen as if it was causing her physical pain to co-operate. ‘He went home at five because he has a dental appointment today and needed to adjust his sleep pattern. He’ll be making up the hours tonight by coming in early’.

  ‘The name of the night manager?’ asked Rebecca.

  ‘Julian Fowler. He lives over in Marple. I expect you’ll require his address?’

  ‘You expect correctly’ said Jeff. ‘We’ll also need the names and contact details of all the staff, especially those who were on duty last night and those who started work this morning before the discovery of the body’.

  Helen sighed. ‘Very well’.

  ‘Now DC Wright will be leading the team here at the hotel’ said Jeff. ‘I don’t want to hear from him that you’ve been anything less than fully co-operative with our enquiries. Is that clear, Mrs. Curzon?’

  She glared at him with a look that said if she could stamp on him she most certainly would. ‘I don’t waste my energy fighting decisions over which I have no choice’.

  ‘I’ll take that as a yes then’ said Jeff. ‘Do you live on the premises?’

  ‘Heavens, no! My husband and I live in a converted stables over in Saddleworth’.

  ‘Is he there now?’

  ‘Yes’ said Helen. ‘It was my turn to do the early start. Our property is worth a considerable amount of money which we might need if this does have a downward impact on the business’.

  Jeff sighed irritably. ‘Does he know about the body yet?’

  ‘No. I don’t know how he’ll take it. He’s been worried enough about the business as it is. This is the age of the consumer and everybody wants to cut costs. Everybody wants to spend twenty pounds on a level of service that costs a hundred to deliver. One’s margins are being squeezed all the time. That’s why this couldn’t have come at a worse time for us and furthermore I have tickets for Joan Collins and her one woman show tonight. I’m a great admirer of her. They don’t make real stars with talent like her anymore’.

  Talent? That’s not a word Jeff would put in the same sentence as Joan Collins. He’d only ever seen her play herself.

  ‘Like I said before Mrs. Curzon’ said Jeff, testily. ‘We expect your full co-operation’.

  FIREFLIES TWO

  Andrea Kay cursed the bloody weather. On her way into work she’d been drenched in a downpour that could’ve signified that November had swapped its weather for that of the current month of May.

  ‘It’s the first of June on Thursday’ said Andrea as she and her friend Tina hung their coats up in the staff room. Everybody who worked at the super store liked to cover up their uniform when they were going to and from work otherwise they were accosted on the bus by elderly women who wanted to know if cat food was on special offer this week. ‘And it feels like bloody winter out there’.

  ‘It’ll start rolling down the street soon if it carries on as heavily as this’ Tina remarked. ‘Traffic will come to a standstill, the heavens will descend on us, the world will stop spinning and all life as we know it will come to an end’.

  Andrea laughed. ‘You’re such a fucking drama Queen. By the way, how did you get on with that fit bloke from the Paradise club on Saturday?’

  ‘Oh, fine’ said Tina who really didn’t want to go into it. The fact was the whole situation had been an absolute disaster but she wasn’t about to tell Andrea that. ‘Anyway, nobody owns me and variety is the spice of life. You should try it’.

  Andrea smiled. She and her friend were so different. Tina was outwardly confident, some would say loud and brash. She could walk into a pub anywhere on any night of the week and find a man to pull but she made damn sure she didn’t get pregnant. She was only twenty-two and she didn’t want a husband or even a sniff of kids until she was at least thirty which she admitted made her unusual amongst her family and some of her other friends on the estate where she came from where it wasn’t unusual to be a Grandmother at the age of thirty.

  ‘But I never see anyone I really fancy’ Andrea moaned.

  ‘There are plenty of men out there who are up for some fun. You’re just too fussy’.

  ‘And you’re a tart’.

  ‘Thank you. I model myself on how you’d be if you let yourself go. There must be bloody cobwebs up your fanny’.

  ‘Cheeky bitch’

  ‘Truth hurts?’

  Andrea sighed. ‘I don’t deny it. I’m boring and I’m old before my time’.

  ‘Don’t turn into one of those women who are obsessed with finding reasons not to have sex’ cried Tina. ‘Because that’s why so many men walk around looking so fucking miserable. All they want is a bit of legover but all their wife or girlfriend want is a baby and once that’s popped out and she’s a Mum then sex is confined to the past’.

  ‘Oh go and make me a cup of tea and I’ll think about whether or not I’m still talking to you’.

  ‘Right you are, chuck’ said Tina. ‘By the way, doesn’t the new boss start today?’

  ‘Paula Jones?’ said Andrea. ‘Yes, I think she does. It was supposed to be last Monday but they put it back for some reason’.

  ‘I still think they should’ve given the job to you after Phil had to retire’ said Tina, ever loyal to her friend. ‘Especially after you’ve been standing in all this time whilst we were waiting for that lot at head office to get off their collective backsides and organise themselves. It’s been over three months since Phil had his heart attack’.

  ‘Yes, well, they didn’t’ said Andrea. ‘Have you spoken to Phil lately?’

  ‘I went up to see him yesterday afternoon’.

  ‘And is he okay?’

  ‘He seems fine but he isn’t if you see what I mean’ Tina revealed. ‘I mean, he’s sleeping downstairs now. He can’t manage the stairs and poor Jean is worn out, not only with the physical side of taking care of him but also with the worry of not knowing if he’s going to wake up in the morning’.

  ‘Tina?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I just wanted to say thanks for, well you know, not going for the promotion yourself and giving me a clear shot at it’.

  ‘Fat lot of good it did you’.

  ‘I know but I’m grateful. You know I am’.

  ‘Yes, well you were always better suited to it than me but let’s hope Paula Jones is grateful for the fact that she’s been parachuted in over your head’.

  ‘I’m grateful for all the blessings in my life, thank you’.

  Andrea and Tina, both momentarily shocked by the sudden appearance of a Welsh accent behind them, turned round and gave the best supermarket customer service smiles normally reserved for those daft bastards who can’t find tinned tuna chunks on a shelf that’s packed with them. They also hoped she hadn’t overheard what they’d said.

  ‘You must be Paula?’ said Tina, offering her hand which Paula shook. ‘I’m Tina Webb’.

  ‘Hello, Tina’ said Paula with the kind of smiley happy people look on her face that warned Tina that she would probably end up loathing her.

  ‘And I’m Andrea Kay’ said Andrea, also shaking hands with Paula. Andrea looked her potential new adversary up and down. She had on one of those classic two-piece dark blue and white check suits with a light blue blouse underneath. It made her look slightly on the Miss Ellie side of things when she was probably no older than Sue Ellen. Andrea knew everything about Dallas. She’d got the box set of DVDs at home and had always been madly in love with Bobby Ewing. Paula’s hair was dyed blond judging by the roots and curled under just above her shoulders. She was a lady who was carrying a little more weight than she really should but Andrea thought it might be good if there was another woman in the place with hips bigger than her own.

  ‘I feel so blessed to have been brought in to manage this prestigious branch of Pric
eChopper’ she announced through her smiley, happy mouth. ‘It has a bigger client base than any of our other stores across Greater Manchester. And Andrea, I know you’ve been managing it on a temporary basis these past few weeks but I can assure you that my appointment is absolutely no reflection on your ability to do the job’.

  ‘So what is it a reflection of then?’ Andrea asked.

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘Well if, as you say, you getting this job rather than me is no reflection on my ability to do it then why did they give it to you and not me? Sorry, but you laid it wide open for me to ask you that’.

  ‘You’re absolutely entitled to your opinion, Andrea, and I for one am not ever going to deny you your feelings because they are a true reflection of your character and personality, but there’s a certain amount of moving on that has to be done here if we’re going to continue the success of this store’.

  ‘Easy for you to say from where you’re standing’ said Andrea. ‘I suppose that all the moving on has got to come from me? That’s what moving on normally means. It all has to come from the one who’s been wronged’.

  ‘Well I am the manager and you’re the customer services person, Andrea’.

  ‘Actually, I’m head of fruit and vegetables’.

  ‘Yes, sorry, I was forgetting how some get so attached to titles’.

  ‘What happened to all the management language of we’re all in this together? Isn’t that what they taught us on all those tedious residential courses they sent us on? What was it called? Corporate care?’

  ‘I designed the Corporate Care programme, Andrea’.

  ‘So? I’m not going to take back what I’ve just said. It was nothing more than just a brain washing exercise to empty our minds of requesting a pay rise. You tried to tell us that shit doesn’t smell if we put on an overbearing and totally meaningless smile. And let me tell you this, Paula, the success of this store is down to me and Tina here’

  ‘Andrea, all of this will be accurately reflected in my approach to you both, I can assure you’.

  ‘Paula?’ Tina began, wanting to support her friend but not really being able to get a word in edgeways between these two warring cats until now. ‘You must see how hard it is from Andrea’s position?’

  ‘I’m not responsible for however Andrea reacts to anything’ Paula stated. ‘That is not my problem because I’m on my own journey and Andrea is on hers’.

  Tina hated that kind of psychobabble talk. ‘Look, she’s been working here for several years, she’s been working towards this promotion for a long time now and when she finally gets in reach of it you’re parachuted in because you’re a favoured daughter at head office for some reason. I’m sorry, Paula, I’m sure you’re very well meaning and capable and everything but some resentments can’t just be instantly fixed with a painted on smile and talk of moving on and journeys. Life isn’t as simple as that kind of shallow psychology because it takes no account of people’s feelings’.

  ‘But it does take the blame culture out of the workplace’.

  ‘And also the culture of responsibility’ Tina countered. ‘If you don’t want people to be blamed when things go wrong then nobody will ever take responsibility for anything’.

  ‘I see’ said Paula. ‘Well now you’ve both made your positions perfectly clear why don’t we draw a line under it all and start again? You never know what you’ll be able to see when you close your eyes as a child and open them again as an adult’.

  Tina and Andrea were both seething.

  ‘Let me make you both a mug of herbal tea. I find that cammamile always helps in these kind of situations’.

  ‘I’m just about to make us all a brew’ said Tina. ‘Of normal tea’.

  ‘Oh, well sorry Tina but I don’t drink any beverage containing caffeine since I started developing a new relationship with food that’s led to me looking at my entire consumption of drink as well. You wouldn’t believe how much better I feel since I started making more informed choices about what I actually put in my mouth. I’ll catch you both later’.

  Meeting a new Chief Superintendent isn’t always fun but the omens on this particular twosome working out weren’t altogether good. Newly appointed Chief Superintendent Geraldine Chambers greeted Jeff with an affable smile and a surprisingly open face. This was sometimes unusual in a chief superintendent but given the circumstances in which Geraldine Chambers had been appointed Jeff thought it a little remarkable. After all, he’d been the one to push her predecessor into confessing his corruption from years back and no matter how high they go they don’t normally take well to someone who told on a colleague. She shook his hand and asked him to sit down in one of the two soft chairs she had by the window of her office. She sat in the other one and they faced each other with a view across Manchester’s city centre between them. Geraldine Chambers wasn’t the tallest of women and Jeff would place her in her late forties. She had light brown hair that was cut in a spiky style before tapering into her neck at the back and she wore little make-up. Her figure looked good and Jeff noticed her fingernails were cut neat and short but no polish on them. He’d been starting to notice the curves and shapes of other women again lately and wondered if what he needed was some truly adult no holds barred inhibitions free mind blowing sex with no strings attached. He’d never put himself about much before he met Lillie Mae but these were different and unexpected times. Or was it that he missed having sex with the only woman he’d ever loved? Sometimes he thought he was going mad with grief and didn’t know when the agonising pain of losing Lillie Mae was ever going to end.

  ‘I’ve been looking through your file, Jeff’ she began.

  ‘Oh dear’ said Jeff after clearing his throat. ‘That sounds ominous’.

  Geraldine smiled ‘Not at all. You have an excellent record and I’m pleased to have you as the senior officer on my team’.

  ‘Well thank you, ma’am’.

  ‘Don’t mention it’ said Geraldine. ‘What did you expect me to say?’

  Jeff felt himself blush. ‘Oh, I don’t know, ma’am. You know, after the events of last year’.

  ‘Jeff, you were instrumental in exposing a corrupt officer whose actions, or lack of them, led to some very serious crimes going undetected and several teenage boys suffering horrific abuse. I don’t say that everyone feels like I do but I personally wouldn’t condemn you for that. I applaud you’.

  Jeff smiled. ‘Thank you, ma’am’.

  ‘Now forgive me if I’m getting too personal but I understand you lost your wife not so long ago?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am’ said Jeff.

  ‘It was tragic to lose her so young’.

  ‘That’s one word for it, ma’am’.

  ‘It doesn’t seem to have affected your work though?’

  ‘I haven’t buried myself in the job as a means of escape, ma’am’.

  ‘I wasn’t suggesting you had, Jeff. I was merely remarking on your professionalism. You’ve got a little boy as well I believe?’

  ‘Yes. His name is Toby. He’s ... well he’s amazing’.

  ‘I’m sure’ said Geraldine, smiling. ‘And helping to get you through?’

  ‘Oh yes, ma’am. He’s miles better than a therapist’.

  ‘I have a son too although he’s considerably older than Toby. He’s in his first year at Durham University’.

  ‘You must miss him?’

  ‘Well yes I do but we haven’t lived together for a few years. His father and I divorced when he was ten and my ex-husband got custody. It was then that I lost him really rather than now. Anyway, enough of my self-indulgence, I know you and your team have just picked up what may turn out to be a pretty involved case but I may have to ask you to stretch your resources a little too. The elected police commissioner wants a root and branch audit of all our operations. He wants to know if we can deliver a more effective police service more efficiently’.

  Jeff rolled his eyes up. ‘On the cheap’.

  ‘Yes, that’s how I i
nitially reacted too but you never know, there might be some things we can find as potential savings that work to our advantage’.

  ‘May I say I admire your optimism, ma’am?’

  ‘Indeed you may’ said Geraldine. ‘Although I’m not sure if I admire it myself if I’m honest’.

  FIREFLIES THREE

  The temperature in the delivery area at the back of the supermarket was kept deliberately low. Andrea Kay walked in and immediately saw her friend Tina.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she asked rather foolishly.

  ‘I’m about to overtake Lewis Hamilton in the Grand Prix, what does it look like I’m doing?’

  Amanda gave a slight smile. ‘Sorry’ she said as she watched Tina deal with a fresh load of yogurts and cheeses that she was preparing to take out onto the supermarket floor.

  ‘No, I’m the one who should be sorry’ said Tina. ‘I’ve got a bit of a headache. Did you enjoy your day off yesterday?’

  ‘Well I didn’t do much except watch This Morning, Loose Women, and the Alan Titchmarsh show’.

  ‘Ooh stop right there because I can’t take the excitement’.

  ‘Bollocks. Can I talk to you for a minute, Teen?’

  ‘Yeah, why, what’s up?’

  ‘I’m just worried, Tina’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘I’m worried that I’m going to end up in a house somewhere surrounded by cats and I won’t have been kissed for a hundred years or felt a man’s arms around me’.

  This was where Tina had to be really honest although it was hard. Andrea was her friend and she didn’t want to hurt her but what she couldn’t stand was when people gave others false hope. She didn’t know if Andrea was ever going to be happy and so she didn’t want to go into the whole ‘it’ll happen for you one day because you’re gorgeous and don’t let anybody make you think otherwise’ type of shit. Andrea scrubbed up well but she often lays open the fact that there wasn’t much base material to work on. She wasn’t ugly but she wasn’t the prettiest either. But Tina could say that about a few of her friends and yet they’d all found men. She didn’t know why Andrea had never found the right man to be with. But she did know that Andrea didn’t give men a chance to be nice to her. Her defences went up as soon as any man showed any interest and she made it clear that she didn’t trust any man. Well if she continued behaving that way then she would end up in a house surrounded by cats because no man is going to want to work that hard.