Secrets and Lies - Harry's Secret

by R L Stephens

  ***

  “So what's the job again?” Ken asked for the umpteenth time since they had met up in the pub that Wednesday afternoon.

  “Office manager with some bank,” Harry replied for the umpteenth time, but even the repetitiveness of having to answer the same question over and over again couldn’t shake the broad grin that had been on Harry’s lips ever since he had received the telephone call from that woman Ms. Elis. Since then he had also received the offer and the forms that she had mentioned on the phone to him. It all seemed pretty standard to Harry and had been asking for copies of his ID and personal/professional reference. All of which he had been able to provide, but Harry was still concerned about what the people he had named as referees would come back and say.

  This was especially the case as the last two employers had been those of the real Harry Wright, who had died a couple of years ago, but who had mentioned to Harry he had been made redundant. It had been very easy for Harry to slip into using the deadman’s identity, and he had even been able to track down his flat. Pretending to be Harry Wright he had managed to persuade the passport office to issue him a new passport based in the fact that he had lost his own, and providing new photos. At the time he had actually been surprised how easy it had been, mind you had also been able to find a copy of the late Harry Wright’s birth certificate at his flat.

  To this day he from time to time expected a knock on his door from the police about identity theft, but each time he’d had such thought Harry managed to push to the far recesses of his made as deadmen tended not to complain about such things. But that didn’t stop the idea from coming back to the forefront of his mind from time to time. And now it was more relevant than ever as this was the first real time he had tried to use the Harry Wright’s credentials like this.

  “I didn’t know you had a banking background,” Ken asked when he had returned with their third pint of lager of the afternoon.

  “I don’t,” Harry replied. Not that you actually know much about my background anyway, Harry added to himself and smiled politely as he sipped away at his drink.

  “Oh, so then how’d you get the job?” Ken then asked now getting curious about what Harry hadn’t been telling him for the first time in ages.

  “I guess I just managed to convince them that I would make an excellent office manager,” Harry said with a wry grin knowing that he had virtually bullshitted his way through the entire interview. Still if he could get through the checks and get himself established at the bank then just maybe he could maintain the illusion long enough for him to gain competence as a manager. Before he started though Harry thought he would try and bone up on some of financial rules and practices so that he wouldn’t be completely out of his depth.

  “What's that pay like?” Ken then asked after drinking deeply from him glass a couple of times.

  “£50k,” Harry said with a self-satisfied smile. “I mean they still have to do background checks and the like,” Harry then added in order to move the conversation away from his possible salary.

  “Fuck me!” Ken managed to exclaim when the figure finally registered. “Yeah but for a standup guy like you that shouldn’t be a problem,” Ken added. If only you knew, Harry replied to himself, and he couldn’t help but smile smugly.

  “Yeah, but you never really know how these things are going to go,” Harry said aloud trying to play down his chances.

  “So you going to move to London,” Ken asked wondering what he’ll do on Wednesday afternoons when Harry left.

  “Yes, once everything is confirmed I’ll find a place,” Harry replied.

  “Yeah then there’ll be you prowling the pub and clubs of London, the women won't stand a chance,” Ken said in that vulgar voice of his that Harry found more than a little irritating, and he just smiled with more than a hint of embarrassment. He had never been one to boast about his sexual conquest, and rather looked down on those who did. In Harry’s experience it was mostly bravado with very little to actually back it up with.

  “Maybe even look that Susan up and hook up again, eh?” Ken then said in the same tone of voice as before.

  Oh I didn’t manage to get her number,” Harry said, almost sure that he was now blushing somewhat.

  “Oh yeah, I bet she can’t wait to see you again,” Ken then added looking at Harry for some kind of confirmation that he would be looking for a repeat performance with a former partner. Oh I doubt very much that she’d even want to see me again after what happened, Harry thought to himself, but let Ken maintain the impression of the impressive nature of his performance that night.

  “Yeah that’s what I thought,” Ken said taking Harry’s silence as confirmation that he was right about Harry’s intentions for when he moved to the capital.

  After that the conversation ebbed and flowed from one topic to the other and when things eventually moved onto the state of Ken’s marriage Harry listened attentively as usual. He managed to nod and smile in all the right places, and offer the odd suggestion as to how Ken could perhaps improve things without going so far as to suggestion that his friend was ever in the wrong. Harry couldn’t help but think that he had heard this all before and that Ken was just waking over old ground for the sake of moaning. But then Harry didn’t mind too much as, if things were to go his way, he wouldn’t have to listen this for much longer, and that thought coaxed a sly smile on to his lips.

  From time to time Harry was able to drift out of the conversation and let Ken do most of the talking without the other man really noticing that Harry wasn’t paying much attention to what he was saying. During these distant moments Harry wondered about all the different things that he would have to do before he could take up his job in London. These ranged from the obvious like trying to arrange a place to live, which shouldn’t really be that much of an issue, to the more obscure like he thought that he might look at buying a couple of new suits in order to create something of a good impression when he started on is first day.

  In any case what may or may not need to be done, Harry resolved to sit down when things were confirmed and draw up a list of things that would need to be done. Then he could go through everything and draw up a budget for the move. Harry may or may not be many things, but one thing that he had always tried to be was to be methodical and go about things in a systematic way. That way he wouldn’t miss anything when he did in fact move.

  By the time this thought meandered its way into Harry’s mind he was almost all the way through his fifth pint and was feeling more than a little drunk, as in Ken’s word he was ‘something of a light weight’ when it came to alcohol. Harry also realized that he needed to pee, but knew that the pub was too far from his bedsit for him to be able to hold it until he got home.

  “Excuse me for a mo, I just need to go to the erm,” Harry said to Ken drunkenly pointing on the general direction of the toilets. He the staggered through the now filling up bar and managed to push his was past various bodies in order to reach his destination. When he reached it, Harry gingerly pushed open the door and quickly scanned around the room. Seeing that there was no one else about he stepped in nervously made his way to the only cubicle, which was fortunately unoccupied and he slipped in side.

  Oh fuck, Harry thought as he saw that here was no lock on the door and he couldn’t help but think of much he hated these places.