The Visitors(66)

She’d told Cora she felt under the weather and had spent most of the weekend in her bedroom, cowering from the sound of the telephone ringing or a loud knock at the front door.

But neither had happened. It seemed as if she’d done a good job of scaring herself senseless over nothing again.

Still, it was wonderful to feel so relaxed at the beginning of the day, instead of focusing on keeping out of Emily’s way and trying to avoid annoying her in some inconsequential and unavoidable way.

Ben and Martyn were chatting at the top end of the showroom in their usual spots and the atmosphere felt so… well, nice.

‘Hasn’t taken you long to jump into Emily’s shoes, I see!’

Holly spun round to see Josh approaching, a teasing grin plastered on his face.

‘I wasn’t… I mean, I’m not…’

‘Hello? It was a joke.’ He shook his head. ‘If you hadn’t been standing in her plum spot when I came down, I’d have asked you why not.’

‘I’m shocked she isn’t here,’ Holly said. ‘I didn’t think she’d get fired for what happened.’

‘What she did, it was pretty serious, considering.’ Josh shrugged. ‘Damaging an exclusive piece like the Lalique vase and then trying to pin the blame on a colleague. You’re very generous, Holly. If she’d accused me, I would’ve demanded she get fired.’

He checked the price of a standard lamp next to him and ticked it off on a clipboard he held in the crook of his arm.

‘Anyway, she wasn’t fired. Mr Kellington was willing to issue her with a final written warning, but she took it upon herself to resign. Told him to stick his job where the sun don’t shine… charming, eh?’

‘Wow.’ Holly took in this new information. ‘She wouldn’t want the stigma of it, I suppose. Colleagues and customers gossiping about her.’

Josh pulled the corners of his mouth down and shrugged his shoulders. ‘Dunno. She said she had something far more important to do with her time, and that…’ he affected a sinister tone, ‘we’d all find out soon enough. Creepy!’

‘What did she mean by that?’ Holly asked faintly.

‘Who knows what anything means with Emily?’ He grinned. ‘Good riddance is what I say. No place for that sort of underhanded business here at Kellington’s.’

Holly stepped back and leaned against the heavy glass dining table behind her.

Emily’s comments had sounded like some sort of veiled threat. And Holly had been on the receiving end of her threats before.

‘What happened to the girl who had the job before I came?’ she asked. ‘Why did she leave?’

The grin slid from Josh’s face. ‘Why do you ask?’

She told him what Emily had said about her, and her subsequent warning in the staffroom.

‘Oh God, I had no idea she’d been so bad with you.’ He swallowed. ‘You should’ve come to me, Holly, you should’ve—’

‘So how did Emily get rid of the last girl?’

Josh was silent for a few seconds before clearing his throat.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t discuss private staff matters.’ He took a step back from her. ‘Confidentiality and all that. I know you’ll understand.’

Holly’s interest was immediately piqued. Whatever had happened to the last member of staff Emily hadn’t liked might have well happened to her too. Irritation with Josh squirmed in her throat.

‘Anyway, cheer up,’ Josh said brightly. ‘Mr Kellington’s in no rush to take someone else on, so he wanted me to ask if you feel confident enough to look after Emily’s regular customers.’

She wasn’t sure she could follow Emily’s Oscar-winning performances with Mr and Mrs Fenwick, but she felt delighted that Mr Kellington had displayed such faith in her.

‘I’d love to, thanks.’

She pushed Emily’s bitter words before leaving to the back of her mind. What could the woman do to her, really? Nothing. Unless she wanted to do time for it.

‘Excellent.’ Josh began to walk away. ‘I’ll tell him right now and you can thank me with a cream cake on payday… You’ve got to spend that enormous commission on something worthwhile, right?’

Commission! She reminded herself she’d be raking it in big-time now Emily had gone.

A pleasant place to work and a big fat pay packet… what was not to like?



* * *



It had been normal for Geraldine’s mood to be on the low side.

Holly had quickly come to realise that although Brendan popped in and out of the house most days, he stayed away from home a lot. Consequently, there had been an ongoing expectation for Holly to think of suitable ways to cheer his wife up.

It didn’t sound much, but Holly actually found it hard work to make suggestions and motivate Geraldine, particularly when she was feeling low. So it had made a pleasant change when Geraldine had approached her, upbeat, one morning.

‘Brendan is home for dinner tonight and I’m cooking him something nice. Let’s sit down over breakfast and discuss what needs to be done.’

Holly made skinny lattes at the coffee machine whilst Geraldine scribbled notes. She eventually decided on beef stroganoff with rice and a simple pavlova for dessert.