Tuesday 7th December 2010
Andrea Barnes should have been winding down her work duties, handing everything over to her second in command and making sure they knew what to do in her absence, not hurtling through the streets of Sheffield on a mercy dash for a man she didn’t even like.
She should have known this would happen. Every time she had some time off or was preparing to go on holiday something always spoiled it. She was beginning to think all those months at spinning class firming up her bum to fit into a £125 bikini had been a waste of time. Would she ever feel golden sand between her toes? This time, Iain Kilbride had failed to show for work (again), so a replacement driver had to be found at short notice, which would cost the company extra money. This also meant that a coach load of pensioners would be late setting off for a tinsel and turkey Christmas lunch in Leeds.
Under normal circumstances, Andrea would have left a note with her assistant to fire Iain if he dared to show his face while she was soaking up some winter sun but, despite Clare Wilkins being a wizard at admin, she was lousy at discipline. Iain would have to be fired face-to-face, and that required a manager.
Without slowing down, without indicating, Andrea turned left into Stayleigh Lane. She returned the two-fingered salute she received from the prick in the Audi behind and turned left again into the private car park of Hallam Grange Close.
The concrete block of flats was nothing special – soulless boxes for the divorced and the widowed. Pathetic window boxes and limp hanging baskets tried to add a dash of colour to the grey but it was a feeble effort. At this time of year, and in these temperatures, everything was dead.
Andrea parked her Vauxhall next to Iain’s Skoda and climbed out. There was a bitter chill in the air and a stiff breeze cut through her polyester uniform. She couldn’t wait for her holiday to begin. Goodbye freezing Sheffield and hello sunny California. She had checked the weather over breakfast and it was currently in the mid-20s in Pasadena. Sheffield wasn’t even close to double figures.
She marched to the main entrance and pressed the buzzer for the ground-floor flat. She waited. Andrea was well known for her impatience and was seething well before the echo of the buzzer had carried away on the breeze. She buzzed again leaving her finger pressing hard on the button, her fingertip turning white.
An elderly man in a dressing gown and walking with a frame slowly came into view through the toughened glass of the front door.
‘Do you have to do that? I can hear it right through my flat. He’s obviously not in.’
‘He obviously is,’ Andrea shouted back. ‘Because his car is still here.’
‘I can’t let you in.’
‘Why not?’
‘You could be anyone.’
‘I’m his boss. I want to see if he is all right.’ It wasn’t technically true but the old man didn’t need to know that.
‘Have you got any ID?’
‘Bloody hell! Who do you think I am, a suicide bomber?’
‘You can’t be too careful.’
‘Oh for God’s sake,’ she muttered under her breath.
Andrea rifled around in her handbag for her purse. Opening it she found as many forms of ID as she could.
‘Take your pick: driver’s licence, work pass, credit card, gym membership, another credit card, Boots Advantage card, library card, Waterstones club card, credit card, Nectar card, donor card. Will any of those do?’
The old man opened the door. ‘There’s no need to be sarcastic.’
‘You know what your trouble is? You’ve got too much time on your hands.’ Andrea said, barging past the elderly man.
As she passed the open door to his flat she felt a blast of nuclear heat coming from within. She headed straight for Iain’s flat. Andrea knocked on the door hard with her leather-gloved fist. She didn’t wait for a reply but knocked again, harder.
‘You’ll have the door off,’ the old man said, moving slowly towards her with his walking frame.
From the floor above a tall young man with a shaved head was coming down the stairs putting a knitted hat on. ‘What’s all the banging about?’
‘Have you seen Iain lately?’ Andrea asked.
‘Not since last night.’
‘Did he say anything?’
‘No. I don’t really know him. We say hello, that’s about it.’
She knocked again, louder this time. ‘Iain, it’s Andrea. Can you open up please?’ She shouted, her voice resounding off the walls in the foyer. Andrea crouched down and looked through the letterbox. She immediately screamed and fell backwards onto the cold-tiled floor.
‘What’s the matter?’ The young man asked.
‘It’s Iain. He’s on the floor.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes I’m sure. He’s just lying there.’
The man crouched and lifted the letterbox up. ‘There’s nobody there,’ he said, looking at Andrea with a confused frown.
‘Of course there’s somebody there. I know what I saw.’
‘What did you see?’
Andrea had a hand on her chest and was breathing deeply. Her face was white. ‘I saw Iain on the floor. His eyes were wide open.’
‘On the floor in the hallway?’
‘No. In the living room.’
‘The living room door is closed.’
‘No. It’s open. I saw through the door and Iain was on the floor. I could see the dining table behind him.’
‘The door is closed and there’s nobody in the hallway,’ the man said, looking through the letterbox once again.
‘I didn’t imagine it,’ she said, looking between the young man with the woollen hat and the old man with the walking frame. They seemed to be frowning, judging her. ‘I’m not lying.’
‘Have another look,’ the old man said.
‘I’m not looking through there. He’s dead. I’m telling you.’
The young man held up his hands to silence them before the exchange became too heated. ‘I’ll go around the back and have a look through the living room window. You stay here.’
Andrea watched wide-eyed as the young man left the building. She smiled at the older man, a sympathetic I’m-not-crazy kind of smile. He returned the awkward gesture but started to shuffle away. He couldn’t get back into his flat fast enough. The door slammed closed and Andrea heard the rattling of the security chain being fastened. She was alone in the hallway.
There was an underlying smell of cold and damp. The bile-green floor tiles were scuffed and in need of a good scrub, or replacing completely. The walls had once been cream but over time had turned to nicotine yellow. The lighting was poor and headache-inducing. Why did Iain live here? It was depressing.
The front door to Iain’s flat burst open making Andrea jump. She turned around, half expecting to see Iain in his dressing gown making an excuse for not turning up to work. She was shocked to see the young man in the woolly hat whose name she didn’t know.
‘I think you’d better call the police.’