Finders Keepers Edie Baylis (phonics readers .TXT) 📖

did members of the public ever get admittance to the back offices? In all the time she’d worked here she’d never seen this happen. It was certainly nothing she’d ever entertained. For a start, she wouldn’t be that stupid and couldn’t think of one reason when it could be relevant.

From Lena’s absence and the presence of the events diary and a completed booking form on her desk, Gwen came to the conclusion that it was something to do with her. Another example of the woman putting the firm in jeopardy. That girl would always be a liability. Despite the unexpected flair she showed for organising events and attracting customers, she had to learn and learn fast that in this line of business, or rather the other facets of the firm in addition to the club’s front end, everything that was anything was held somewhere behind the scenes. There would always be people waiting in the wings for a chink in the armour – an opportunity to slip under the radar to get their hands on confidential information and if that happened, before anyone knew it, the police would be on their back or another firm would have the knowhow to muscle in. It was a hell of a risk doing something like that and one of the most important things in this game was not presuming people were who they said they were.

Moving to Lena’s desk, Gwen glanced at the partly filled out events booking form and quotation for next Saturday. Her eyes widened. £75,000? Bloody hell, Lena had triumphed again by the looks of it. But not entirely if she’d allowed an unvetted person behind the scenes.

Gwen squinted at the scrawled signature, too untidy to properly read. Lena hadn’t filled out the name and contact details either – just the membership ID. She’d cross reference it later. With a pending invoice of that amount there couldn’t be any mess ups due to slack admin and paperwork.

However, if Lena wasn’t due in until later, then wasn’t now the prime time to get in that desk drawer of hers?

Gwen’s mood brightened. Glancing over her shoulder, she first moved to her own desk and retrieved a small metal cash tin. Unlocking it, she pulled out a heavy bunch of keys. There were at least thirty on there, yet she knew what each and every one of them was for.

Rapidly locating the master key for the office furniture, Gwen moved back to Lena’s desk when the door suddenly opened. Her head snapped up at the unexpected intrusion, heart sinking at the prospect of Lena, but to her surprise, found Saul.

‘Morning,’ Saul glanced around the office. ‘Where is she?’

Gwen frowned. ‘Lena? Jonah said she won’t be in until later.’

‘Right, ok.’ Saul quickly retraced his steps.

‘Wait a minute,’ Gwen called. ‘I need to speak to you ab...’

‘Yeah, sorry I didn’t return your call the other day. I’m up to my fucking neck, but I’ll catch you later and you can fill me in then.’

‘But I wanted to talk to you about Lena an...

‘Don’t worry about that. I’ve spoken to Jonah and we’ve sorted it out. Crossed wires, as you might expect...’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘It’s all good.’

‘But I...’

‘Seriously, Gwen – no time. We’ll speak later.’

Shutting the door behind him, Saul disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived and Gwen sighed despondently. She still hadn’t told him that Lena really was pregnant, but if he’d sorted it out with Jonah, then she guessed everything was ok.

Her face creased into a frown, hoping he hadn’t mentioned their previous conversation. No, he couldn’t have because Jonah would have pulled her up about it long before now if that were the case and he’d seemed fine when she’d seen him. She’d still have to make sure she told Saul though. She had to put that right, just in case. But it would have to wait - at least until later on.

Gwen picked the keys back off the desk, determined to at least sort one thing out whilst she had the chance. Unlocking Lena’s bottom drawer, she pulled it open as far as possible on its big metal runners, immediately spotting the bottle of vodka at the back.

Just as she’d expected. Still drinking on the sly.

She contemplated putting a dot on the bottle with a permanent marker to show how full the bottle was, then check it again in a day or so and see how much had gone. Would that be enough to make Jonah see sense?

Carefully rummaging around, she stared in disappointment at the remaining contents. Apart from the vodka, there wasn’t anything of great importance; a load of makeup, a hairbrush and a set of hair straighteners.

Gwen sighed. All of that for nothing. She hadn’t known what she’d expected to find, but hoped more than anything there would be something incriminating – something that would be enough.

About to shut the drawer, Gwen faltered spotting a brown envelope blending into the wood right at the bottom underneath the makeup.

She tentatively pulled it out, recognising Lena’s writing on the back:

That was the new date for the wedding - it wasn’t like it was a secret because the change of date had already been announced.

Gingerly opening the envelope, she pulled out the registry office booking confirmation. That was it? About to slide the letter back into the envelope, Gwen froze. Wait a minute... There were additional things...

Pulling out the rest of the contents of the envelope, she held in her hands a passport and birth certificate.

Scrambling to open the passport, her eyes drew immediately to the professional-looking photograph of Lena. Looking a few years younger, her hair shorter and a brassier, blonde, it was still Lena through and through.

Gwen’s eyes scanned the text, freezing at the details staring at her in black and white:

Surname/Nom (1)

O’HARA

Given Names/Prenoms (2)

Lena Margaret

Nationality (3)

BRITISH CITIZEN

Date of Birth/Date de Naissance (4)

11 AUG / AOU 78

Sex / Sexe (5)  Place of Birth / Lieu de naissance (6)

F   OMAGH

Date of Issue / Date de Délivrance