Chapter 7

"Are you with us, Scott?"

He snapped to attention. They were in the weekly team huddle or whatever Carla had taken to calling it this time. Now he had everyone's eyes on him. Not something new to him, but the attention was usually of his own doing.

"Sorry," he said. "Drifted a little there."

Zain sniggered.

"I'll repeat myself for the daydreamer in the group," Carla said, glaring at him. "We are changing the department name."

Scott frowned. How had he missed this? Because he'd been thinking about his meeting with Prin on Friday. For some inexplicable reason, he hadn't been able to get Prin out of his head all weekend.

"What to?" Scott asked.

"We'll be known as The People Team," Carla replied.

Scott checked his team members. They seemed as enthusiastic as him.

"Why?"

"Lots of people don't know what HR means," Carla explained.

"Human resources?" Scott replied. "Are we going to call finance The Money People?"

A ripple of amusement swept around the table. All except Sheila. As usual she had a face that could sour milk.

"If Carla thinks it's a good idea, then she gets my support," she said.

"Thank you, Sheila," Carla replied looking a little nonplussed at this show of solidarity. "It's nice to know one member of the team is open to fresh ideas."

A realisation struck Scott. "Will we have job title changes?"

"Yes. Scott, you will be a senior people adviser."

A what?

He shuddered at the prospect of the piss taking he would get from Tyler and Eddie over this. Plus, he would be bang to rights, because if it was either one of them, he would be just as merciless.

"I suppose this decision has already been green-lit," Scott said.

"Correct," Carla replied. "I'll email you with the plan. We'll have to change all our documents and intranet sites. It's going to add to our workload. It will be worth it. I promise you."

Scott had no energy to argue. He had bigger fish to fry.

"Are we done?" he asked.

"We're done."

They all got up and filed out of the meeting room. Scott felt a tug on his shirt sleeve.

"Carla. Please don't have a go at me for expressing my opinion."

"Bloody hell, Scott, if I did that, it would be a full-time job. No, I wanted to know if you had an update."

Scott chuckled. "You know how the last two days have been a weekend? Those are days we don't work, Carla."

"Very funny. He might have emailed you."

The fact that the answer to that was a negative impacted Scott more than he was willing to admit.

"I'm going to get in touch in a second," Scott explained. "I need to do something first."

"Ooh, what?"

Scott shook his head. "Never you mind. A good sleuth never reveals his methods."

Now he had something to go on, he was quite enjoying himself. In his heart he bloody knew Elliott Brammin would be at the bottom of the whole thing.

Cocky little shit. It'll be a pleasure taking him down. And his nasty father too.

On his way back to his desk, he scanned the office. His stomach flipped when he saw Prin sitting by himself. Of course, Scott wouldn't blow his cover. But he did feel safe enough to message him.

Pleasure Seekers had recently introduced an instant messaging system. So far, Scott had limited his interactions to gossip with Tyler and Eddie. It would be a novelty to use it for work purposes.

He sat down at his desk, making sure Prin was in his eyeline. Scott took a moment to watch him. He was diligently typing away at his laptop. Something about the way he seemed totally focused tugged at Scott's heartstrings. This was a very odd reaction. Still, he also had a job to do.

Hey Prin

He saw the poor guy snap to attention. Scott giggled. He found it reassuring that he still had some effect on men.

Hello.

Scott typed.

I had a thought yesterday in the bath. Can you find out who was on call in the office the weekend the stock went missing?

Shit, he'd overshared big time. He looked up to see Prin frowning at the screen.

Sure

A man of few words. Scott rather liked that. He had more than enough for two.

He had to stop letting his brain run riot. He'd lost count of the imaginary love affairs he'd had after matching on a stupid app. Doctors, lawyers and university lecturers had all been swiped then met and dismissed. Even so, Scott had visualised himself as the partner of each of them. He had visions of entertaining friends in their home or settling down with a beachfront property.

Now here he was, swooning over a colleague. Maybe the self-imposed sex drought had clouded his judgement. If this carried on, he'd have to get laid just for clarity.

Shit. It was Elliott.

Scott knew it. Every weekend a member of the IT team was around to solve any problems that might arise. It gave them free access to the offices. Now he'd potentially placed Elliott at the crime scene. Things were coming together.

Can you get away for five minutes?

He bit his fingernail. What evidence could he get that would be totally conclusive?

Should be able to. Richard is working from home. The others are busy. I can't do more than five minutes. Where should I meet you?

There was only one place in Pleasure Seekers to get any privacy.

The men's changing rooms downstairs.

He glanced over. Prin seemed nervous. The poor thing.

Okay.

Scott got to his feet and put his laptop under his arm. He wanted to run across the space, Instead he settled for a fast walk. His colleagues were used to him charging around the office so he didn't draw any attention.

Like a deranged meercat, Tyler stuck his head up and frowned.

Sometimes Scott wondered if Tyler and Eddie had him chipped. They always seemed to know when he was up to something. Tyler would have to wait. Scott gestured for him to get his head back down. He didn't want him drawing attention to the covert mission.

Once he got through the door, he ran down the stairs and into the men's changing rooms. They were always deserted in the day. The smell of sweat made Scott wrinkle his nose. Not that long ago, Eddie had tried to get him to exercise at lunchtime. It hadn't taken.

Just as he finished checking his hair in the mirror, the door burst open. Prin scurried inside.

"What's the emergency?" he said, panting.

"Chill, baby," Scott said. "Take a seat."

"I can't be long."

"Then stop dawdling. Sit."

They both sat on one of the benches. Scott opened his laptop.

"If you're going to ask me to fix something, I'm going to get really cross," Prin said.

"Relax."

Scott fired up the video file.

"Is that the CCTV?" Prin asked.

"Yes and don't tell anyone I showed you or I'll get shot."

Prin stared at the screen. "I can't watch this for eight hours."

Scott grinned at him. "Isn't it lucky that I've done it for you? I've watched this for way too long than is healthy. I want you to check out this particular bit. Watch carefully."

He played the clip. The camera focused on the warehouse door. It was open and pallets were clearly in the foreground. Other than that, no one could be seen in the building.

A van came into the view then in a split second vanished. The footage then resumed the empty shot.

"What the hell?" Prin said. "Can you play it again?"

Scott did so. Once more, the van disappeared.

"My question to you is, could someone fiddle with the footage remotely?"

Prin looked deep in thought. "I suppose so. I wouldn't have the first clue how. Hackers can do anything nowadays."

"Hackers or Elliott?" Scott replied, snapping his laptop shut.

Prin exhaled. "He is brilliant on a computer. Far better than me. That doesn't mean it's him. Whoever did it won't have used their profile. Plus, if I start an investigation into whatever IP address he used, he'll know instantly."

"Because of Daddy-o?"

"Got it in one. I can't do that without his sign-off."

Then an idea struck Scott. "There's nothing for it. We're going to have to do a stakeout."

"A what?"

"You heard. A stakeout. We'll catch the master criminal red-handed."

Maybe he really had been watching too many movies with Eddie. Maybe he wanted to get to know Prin more. Either way, this was the perfect solution.

"I can't," Prin said.

"Of course you can," Scott said. "What's life without a bit of adventure? All we need is for you to make sure Elliott is on call again this weekend. If this is his handiwork, he'll jump at the chance. Leave everything else to me. I'll be in touch."

"I…"

"Off you pop. Or you'll be missed."

Prin leapt to his feet. He pulled the door open.

"Do you…"

"Scoot. And Prin?"

"Yes?"

"May the force be with you."

Prin stared hard at Scott. "You are so not what I was expecting."

With that he let the door close behind him.

What did he mean by that?

Scott would take it as a compliment. Prin didn't seem the type to throw shade. Although to Scott it was becoming very clear, he had no idea what type Prin was and that bothered him.

After counting to ten, Scott followed Prin up the stairs. Once out into the office, he noticed Eddie sitting at Tyler's desk. Eddie beckoned him over but Scott shook his head.

Bloody hell. I'm on a case here.

Over by the canteen, he spied Barry vigorously pruning an innocent fern. Scott made his way across. He hadn't spoken to Barry since the cinema incident. According to Tyler, Amanda had remained tight-lipped.

Now Scott was juggling objectives.

"Hey, Barry. We pay professionals to do that, you know."

Barry stood back. "I do. However, they only come once a quarter and this thing gets unruly. So I keep a pair of secateurs in my locker. For emergency purposes."

"How wise."

"And what can I do for you?"

"Maybe I'm simply paying a colleague the time of day?"

Barry snickered so loudly some people looked up. "Get it over with, Scott. I'm busy."

"Jeez. Mr Touchy. Not getting enough sleep?"

"I don't know what you mean."

Scott had no intention of embarrassing him. Usually, his big mouth did that anyway.

"I'm sorry, Barry. I didn't mean anything. If you ever want to talk. Well, I'm here."

"I don't know what you think you know…"

Scott placed his hand on his arm. "I know."

"How?" Barry asked, his nostrils flaring. He glanced this way and that.

"Me and the other two saw you at the cinema the other night. Chill though. We won't say anything. You have no idea how excited we are."

Barry reddened around the neck. "I do. You were the last people we wanted to find out."

"Don't be like that," Scott said, nudging him. "How did it happen? Give me all the gory details."

Scott was so giddy. He forced it down. He didn't want to scare Barry off.

"I asked her on a date, of course. How else?"

"Where did you go?"

Barry reddened. "I took her for afternoon tea and a walk along the promenade."

"Oh my God, Barry, that is so romantic. I might take the piss from time to time but I'm genuinely happy for you."

Barry's shoulders dropped. "Thank you. You promise you won't say anything?"

"Of course. Are you okay?"

"It's a bit scary if the truth be told."

Scott frowned. "Scary? How come?"

Tears welled in Barry's eyes. "She's magnificent. I don't want to let her down."

"Oh, Barry. How could you do that?" Scott said, squeezing his arm. "You're one of the nicest people I know."

"Am I?"

"You are. I know I'm a big mouth," Scott said. "I'm also a decent friend. If you're having wobbles, come and talk to me."

"I appreciate that. Erm…who else knows?"

"Only Tyler and Eddie. Oh shit and Charlotte but she never tells anything."

"Scott!"

"I didn't know it was a secret then."

"What did you think it was?"

"Kind of an open secret. I promise. My lips are sealed."

Barry scowled. "They had better be."

"Hey. Don't go getting all macho on me, Mr Lover Lover."

Holding up his secateurs, Barry scowled. "I can prune other things with these."

Scott leapt away. "You wouldn't dare deprive the world. Listen, there's another reason I came over."

Barry folded his arms. "Here we go. The classic butter-him-up routine before going in for the kill. I might have known. Reveal your real reason for this discussion."

"I need my pass to work on Saturday."

"What for? Don't tell me you're doing overtime."

Scott was getting a little tired of people thinking he didn't work hard. Just because he made it look so easy, he shouldn't be punished.

"It's to do with the dildo pilferer case," he said, solemnly. "I can't say any more."

"Oh. Right," Barry replied softly. "Well, consider it done. It's rattled me has that. I thought Carla suspected me at one point."

A couple of people walked past. Scott and Barry watched them until they were out of earshot.

"Everyone is under suspicion," Scott said, quietly. "But I've got a lead."

"Thank goodness," Barry replied. "Anything I can do to help, just let me know."

Scott winked and set off to his desk. It had been a productive afternoon so far. He saw Prin across the way.

Oh, this is going to be fun.