Fitting In Read online

  How Heather reacted now would shape their working relationship. She was taking a gamble that Leo would want her to stand up to him, would want to see that she was a strong character in her own right, and would appreciate her getting on with her work despite his unplanned presence.

  “Any particular reason for popping in?” Heather asked, unfolding an invoice and checking the details as she did.

  “The final paperwork has gone through. I heard from my solicitor this morning,” he explained. “We’re now officially in business together.”

  “Congratulations,” Heather said and gave him what she hoped was a sincere smile.

  “I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk to you about a couple of things.” He sat in the chair opposite Heather’s desk.

  She put her paperwork down, sensing that now was a time to pay full attention. She laced her fingers together and looked at him. “Fire away.”

  “Firstly, I want to talk about my, shall we say, style of management. I’m sure you’ve heard rumours.”

  Heather had. Anyone who worked in business at all had read an article or two about Leo Flynn’s difficult behaviours, ability to make grown men cry, and fiery persona.

  “I don’t listen to rumours,” Heather replied diplomatically.

  He grinned, clearly not believing her but still willing to accept the lie.

  “I don’t suffer fools. At all,” he continued. “I do my research, and my inner management team are my most trusted advisors. We like to think we know what we’re talking about, and the size and success of Intrex speaks to that.”

  Heather nodded her agreement.

  “So, when I say I want something done, it isn’t up for debate. That’s all I ask. I’m a fair man as long as people don’t question me or think they know better than me. This is my hard-earned money and I’m investing it, which means I get to choose how it is spent.” He leaned forward on his knee and pinned Heather with a stare and a grin.

  “I like you, Heather. I can tell you know what you’re doing. You have good people around you, you run a tight ship, and you’re smart. I like that. I don’t foresee us having any problems.”

  “Thank you, Mr Flynn. I appreciate the vote of confidence.” She maintained his eye contact, another toxic business method she had learnt over the years. After a few long seconds, he nodded and sat back in the chair.

  “You said there were two things?” Heather asked, eager to hurry the meeting along and prove that his little management-style speech hadn’t rattled her.

  “Oh yes.” His face darkened a little. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I have a daughter, Scarlett. I want you to find a job for her here. Anything that will keep her occupied and out of trouble.”

  Heather felt her eyebrow raise. She didn’t think Leo and his work-hard methodology would be satisfied with just handing a job to a family member, even his own daughter.

  “She’s… difficult,” Leo explained. “I’ve been looking for a place for her for a while, but I’m not too proud to admit that I’ve failed. We don’t get on very well, so it’s probably down to our personal relationship. I’m sure you’ll have much more luck.”

  Heather swallowed nervously. Was this a test? Or some kind of trap? Was Scarlett a spy?

  “I can try my best. What kind of role do you think she would be suited for?” Heather asked.

  Leo threw his hands up. “Who knows? She can put her hand to pretty much anything. She’s not stupid, and she’s a grafter. Admin, security—hell, stick her in the canteen. Wherever you think she fits.”

  He looked at his watch and stood up. “I better get going if I’m going to catch my flight. I’ll send Scarlett along tomorrow to see you; you can have a chat and use those leadership skills of yours to figure something out. I’ll be in touch.”

  He was out of the room before Heather could mutter a goodbye.

  She reached for her phone and called Ravi. He answered after a couple of rings, and she asked him to come to her office.

  A few moments later he came in, closed the door behind him, and she told him about her brief chat with Leo.

  “It’s a test,” Ravi said decisively.

  “Perhaps. Or she’s a spy,” Heather added.

  “Or both.” Ravi paced the room. “Maybe they want us out, so she’s here to report back on things and turf us out so they can bring their own people in.”

  “Then why congratulate me on running a tight ship and knowing what I’m doing?” Heather asked.

  “Lulling you into a false sense of security?” Ravi suggested.

  Despite the potentially dire situation, he was still smiling. Nothing fazed him, and Heather leeched some strength from him because of that. While she wouldn’t describe herself as a bundle of nerves, she certainly did worry about things.

  Ravi took everything in his stride. She imagined he could be told he had a terminal illness and was being sacked on the same day and he’d still shrug and say that other people had it worse and he’d had a great life while it had lasted. That positivity was a great source of comfort to her.

  “You know someone at Intrex, don’t you?” Heather asked.

  “I’ve met a few people.”

  “Maybe see what you can find out? Surely the boss’s daughter doesn’t slip under the radar. Let’s see what we can find out about her.”

  “Sure. What’s her name again?”

  “Scarlett, I presume Scarlett Flynn.”

  Ravi nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out. I’ve been making friends with one of the accounts payable administrators, so I’ll start there.”

  “Excellent. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”

  3

  The Robot

  Ravi yanked up the handbrake of his Mazda MX-5 sports car and grabbed his satchel from the passenger seat. He got out of the car and hurried towards the door, eager to get into the office and tell Heather everything he had discovered the previous evening.

  A well-timed chat with Abigail, one of the Intrex financial controllers, had led to an invitation to a local pub with a few of the Intrex employees who had been assigned to work at Silver Arches for the foreseeable future.

  “Morning, Ravi!” one of the delivery drivers, Bill, shouted over to him.

  Ravi waved back. “I predict three–nil this weekend.”

  Bill chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, we’ll knock your lot into last week! Your team is a shambles!”

  Ravi laughed at the banter. He wasn’t a massive football fan, but he knew enough to maintain a conversation with anyone who was. A lot of his job was speaking with people and developing relationships with them.

  Asking someone to do something they didn’t necessarily want to do went a lot easier if they liked you. Bill was a prime example, as he now stacked the empty pallets neatly rather than making a dangerous tower as he had done at the start of his time with Silver Arches.

  “They’re getting warmed up,” Ravi joked.

  “We’ll see,” Bill replied.

  Ravi jumped up the short flight of steps into the building. He greeted people and picked up a coffee from the break room as he hurried to his office. Once there, he shrugged out of his coat and threw his satchel into his chair.

  He exited his office and walked the few steps to Heather’s. Yasmin had yet to arrive, so he invited himself in and knocked on the doorframe to his boss’s office.

  “Morning,” she greeted him, staring at her laptop.

  Heather was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. Ravi didn’t know where she got the energy from.

  “I have some stories to tell you,” he said, closing the door behind him and taking a seat in front of Heather’s desk.

  Heather looked up at him and slowly closed her laptop. “Do I want to know?”

  “It’s about Scarlett Flynn,” he said.

  Heather winced. “Go on…”

  “Also known as… the Robot.”

  Heather’s eyebrow quirked. “The Robot?”

&nb
sp; “Leo wasn’t exaggerating when he said his daughter was difficult; she’s had at least fifteen jobs in and around Intrex in the last three years. Ever since she was kicked out of the army.”

  Heather shook her head and held her hands up to slow him down. “Whoa, whoa, wait a second. Kicked out of the army?”

  Ravi nodded. “She’s twenty-six, was enrolled in the army at age eighteen by Leo. Was in and out like a yo-yo, from what I hear. Was suspended and disciplined multiple times before being asked to actually leave permanently three years ago.”

  “Who told you all of this?” Heather asked.

  “Various people. I was invited to drinks last night with some of the new Intrex intake. A few beers and glasses of wine later and they spilled all these stories about Intrex, and so I subtly asked about Scarlett and, well, they had a lot to say.”

  Heather sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. “They call her the Robot?”

  “That’s what they all referred to her as; apparently everyone at Intrex does. She never socialises with anyone; she’s very cold and super unfriendly.”

  “Leo said she was difficult. Do you think he meant difficult in those terms? Socially speaking?”

  Ravi took a sip of coffee before replying. “Maybe? All I can say is, she’s got that interesting nickname, and nobody likes her. Oh, and they say that father and daughter don’t get on at all, so I retract my theory that her coming here is a test. I think he just wants her to be someone else’s problem.”

  Heather hummed in thought. “Or maybe it is a test. If Leo knows how difficult she is, maybe he is throwing her my way to see how I deal with her. It’s just a happy bonus that he gets to palm her off on someone else.”

  Ravi nodded in agreement. “What are you going to do?”

  Heather got to her feet and looked out the window. Ravi watched and waited. She was never one to jump into something without considering all the angles first. Heather’s leadership style was thoughtful and meticulous, and Ravi had learned so much from shadowing her over the years.

  “I can’t give her any kind of special treatment,” Heather said. “If she is some kind of test sent by Leo, he’ll be looking out for if I react to her differently than I would to any other new employee coming into the fold.”

  “Have you thought about where to put her?”

  Heather turned around. “I hadn’t, but Leo did send a one-line email saying he thought, on reflection, she’d be a good fit for facilities.”

  “I thought he was leaving it to you?” Ravi asked.

  “He apparently changed his mind.” Heather shrugged. “As I told you when this whole Intrex thing started, Leo Flynn is going to want a big say in what happens around here. He may initially say that he’ll leave us to it, but don’t believe it for a moment. He’s put a lot of money into this project, and he doesn’t seem like the kind of person to hand control to someone else. Especially people he doesn’t know very well.”

  Ravi took another sip of coffee, hoping that it would sharpen his brain before the workday officially started.

  “So, facilities?” Ravi frowned. “Richard won’t like that.”

  Richard Durkin had been the facilities manager of Silver Arches ever since there was a Silver Arches. He was a grumpy man, in a constant state of irritation about something or other. Over the years he had established a crack team of individuals who knew their roles inside out, each of them was just as moody as Richard, but their abilities allowed them to keep their jobs no matter how depressing the department as a whole was.

  “No, he won’t,” Heather agreed. “She’s coming in later this morning; I’ll speak to Richard beforehand and advise him that he doesn’t have much choice in the matter. Besides, he’s always complaining about being understaffed.”

  “Can I say something terribly sexist?” Ravi asked.

  Heather glared at him.

  He held up his free hand to protect himself from the invisible onslaught of anger coming from Heather in waves.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, “but you know Richard won’t like having a woman as a part of his team. Especially a young one. He’ll complain.”

  “He can complain as much as he likes. It’s happening,” Heather said flatly.

  “I know, I know. I’m just pointing out the obvious that old-school Richard won’t like it.”

  Heather spread her hands in a sign of defeat. “What else can I do? Leo has requested it. Richard may have no time for office politics, but unfortunately that’s what is going to keep us all in work. Leo will happily come through here and get rid of anyone who stands in his way. I, for one, am not going to end my career because I didn’t follow such a simple instruction. Richard will feel the same way after I’ve spoken to him, I’m sure.”

  She sat back down again and looked at Ravi with a raised eyebrow. “Really, they call her the Robot?”

  “They do.”

  Heather rolled her eyes. “What are we getting ourselves into?”

  4

  Not Very Talkative

  Heather picked up her coffee cup only realising at the last moment that the final sip had already been sipped. Quite some time ago, if the stains in the enamel mug were anything to go by.

  It was only ten thirty, and already it felt like a very long day.

  Her phone rang, and she saw Yasmin’s name flash up on the screen. She picked up the receiver and greeted her assistant.

  “Scarlett Flynn is here to see you,” Yasmin said professionally, indicating that Scarlett was standing right in front of her.

  “Lovely, send her in,” Heather said.

  She hung up and stood up, smoothing down her white blouse a little. The door opened, and Scarlett walked in. Heather hadn’t given much thought to what she’d look like, too preoccupied with wondering if she was a spy or a test. Now, Heather wished she had at least attempted to look her up online to prepare herself for the beauty who had just entered her office.

  Heather walked around her desk and stuck out her hand. “Scarlett, it’s great to meet you. I’m Heather Bailey.”

  Scarlett’s ice-blue eyes looked at the hand with confusion for a couple of long and painful seconds before she finally grasped it with her own and gave it one solid pump before all but throwing it away.

  Heather gestured towards the corner sofa in her office.

  “Please, sit down.”

  Scarlett let out a soft sigh before turning and approaching the sofa. Heather watched the tall, slim, blonde-haired woman with interest. This was the person who had apparently caused so much trouble wherever she went? The woman who had been asked to leave the military?

  She looked like a stock image of a businesswoman: pretty, hair swept up in a professional up-do, dressed in a black trouser suit with a white collared shirt, with a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on her nose.

  When Leo had said that his daughter was causing him problems, Heather had expected a surly, immature woman to enter the office in torn jeans.

  Scarlett sat down, perched on the very edge of the sofa and looking very much like she didn’t want to be there.

  Heather regarded her, realising that she didn’t look bored, frustrated, embarrassed, or like any other emotion she could put her finger on. She just looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.

  She looks passive, Heather realised. Cold and aloof. I see where the nickname came from.

  Heather sat down and regarded Scarlett with a warm smile. “So, you’re going to be joining the Silver Arches family?”

  “Apparently so.”

  “I think you’ll like it here,” Heather said. “We’re a close-knit team.”

  “What will my position be?” Scarlett asked.

  “Your father has asked that you work with our excellent facilities team.”

  Scarlett took this information in with a minuscule nod of the head.

  “Richard Durkin will be your line manager; he is the facilities manager here. But my door will always be open to you,” Heather said, a
speech she gave every new employee. “I’ll also introduce you to Ravi Patel, my number two.”

  That didn’t even receive a nod.

  The silence dragged on a little.

  “Do you have any questions for me?” Heather finally asked, hoping to get something out of the young woman.

  “No.”

  Heather sucked in her cheek for a moment, wondering if she should push the woman into saying something, anything, or just leave it.

  She decided to wait until another day; she had plenty of time to figure out the mystery that was Scarlett Flynn.

  “Right, I can see you’re eager to start work.” Heather stood up and gestured to the door. “I’ll give you a quick tour of the centre.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I saw the map on the wall when I got here.”

  Heather paused. There was a large map just within the staff area that listed all of the stores as well as all of the operational areas of the centre.

  Silver Arches was huge, and people frequently become lost. It wasn’t unheard of for employees to take at least a month to find their way around without taking a wrong turn.

  “Okay,” Heather said. She wasn’t about to waste her valuable time giving a tour to someone who didn’t want it.

  Scarlett would learn soon enough how big and confusing Silver Arches was, especially as she’d be working for the facilities team. “We’ll pop in and see Ravi, and then I’ll take you to Richard. If that’s okay with you, that is?” she added the question sarcastically.

  Scarlett nodded in agreement, completely ignoring the tone Heather had used.

  Heather decided not to pick an argument just yet and instead gestured for Scarlett to follow her as she led the way.

  Leo hadn’t been kidding when he said she was difficult, and Heather was relieved that Scarlett would be out of the way, in the bowels of the building with the facilities team.

  Hopefully, their paths would cross very rarely.

  5

  Zero Nutritional Value