Page 19 of Trust in Truth
Katherine put the box into her pocket; she would have to find somewhere safe at home to keep it. Taking the high-vis vest from the back of her chair and the hard hat from the seating area table, she headed out to the barn, clipboard in hand.
Mark, the project manager, greeted her outside what would be a fire exit for the three-hundred-year-old barn. Anyone who wasn’t part of the building team required escorting onsite. Katherine inhaled as she entered; she couldn’t get enough of the timber scent.
She made a quick scan to make sure any developments carried out since she had last visited were coming along as they should be. It was beginning to come together now that the windows were in. A whole row of them had been placed into the new timbers on the side of the barn that faced the abbey. It made a cracking view. The concrete floor had set perfectly over the underfloor heating, and all the electrics were in place. The centralised doors were just being manoeuvred into place with the assistance of two large tripod lights, as the winter sun was setting faster than the building team could work.
Mark led her through the open-plan event room, which accounted for 80 percent of the barn. She looked up at the exposed beams as she passed under them — another thing she couldn’t get enough of; it was a beautiful space.
They reached the far end wall, which had been constructed within the barn to house a kitchen, toilet facilities, and two offices, all of which she was pleased to see had been plastered. She followed Mark down a corridor and into the office that had been earmarked for the marketing and events manager. It was small yet adequate.
Both offices had external doors that led directly onto the grounds in case they needed access when the barn was in use. That way they could work unhindered whilst retaining access to the facilities. Mark flicked on a light as they entered. Katherine jolted in surprise; not only did she not expect the electrics to work yet, but she had been relying on the loss of sunlight to expedite the meeting. It now appeared she was in it for the long haul. As she took a seat at the fold-out table that appeared to be Mark’s desk she noticed some strange shapes in the concrete floor. They were cat paw prints. That certainly explained the grey marks that had appeared on the kitchen floor a few weeks before.
Chapter 9
As Christmas Eve fell on a Friday, it seemed everyone had treated it as any other Friday and come into work. Anna particularly had a lot of work to finish up, partly because most of the suppliers for the New Year’s Eve event were closed over Christmas.
She had made a point of phoning them all to go over arrival times and confirm their requirements for the site. The signage company wouldn’t be installing the barn signs until the morning of the event, which was adding to her stress level. She checked and rechecked the quotes to make sure everything was correct.
Her hand instinctively reached into the tub of chocolates that sat between the desks but withdrew as she found the bottom of it. She picked it up and investigated it. There was only a handful left, none of which she liked. She never understood why coconut had anything to do with chocolate; they just didn’t work together.
She looked over to Carrie. “Please tell me you ate most of these.”
“Sadly not,” Carrie replied without even looking up.
Anna watched a grin spread across her face. “Why are you even here today? Don’t you have the arms of a loving family waiting for you at home?”
Carrie looked up and pulled her lips to one side. “The boys are home from university, and neither of them thought to bring their televisions home.”
“Oh, dear.” Anna knew exactly what that meant.
“Hmmm. I’ve had to create them a rota, a rota for two grown men to share our television so they can play their PlayStations without arguing. I have never been more pleased to be at work on Christmas Eve.”
Anna couldn’t contain her laughter, and despite Carrie’s seriousness, even she had to join in at the ridiculousness of it.
“What are you still doing here?” Carrie asked. “Are you not seeing your dad today?”
“I’m waiting for the gazebos to be delivered before I head off.”
Anna clicked refresh on the tracking website to see how far away the driver was. It was parcel 220 of 350 to be delivered that day. How anyone delivered 350 parcels in a day she would never know. It said they were currently delivering parcel 215 of 350.
She’d made a mental note for future events that non-perishables should be delivered within two weeks of the event date and to never arrange an event for New Year again. Although she had organised many events, she hadn’t appreciated that the countryside was a little different. She could get anything she wanted in the city in an instant.
If she was to keep the job, future events would, she hoped, be less stressful. She wouldn’t be organising them around a building site for a start, whilst trying to advertise said building site to the event attendees.
With gazebos finally delivered and checked, she took the delivery note to Katherine to reconcile her purchases. She stood at the threshold of the office and watched as Margaret leaned over Katherine’s desk to point at the laptop screen. With her other hand resting on the back of Katherine’s chair, it created the effect of Margaret thrusting her breasts in Katherine’s face.
Anna coughed and Margaret pulled herself upright, taking a step back. That confirmed to Anna that she knew exactly what she was doing. Someone guilty of nothing wouldn’t have moved.
“Anna.” Margaret flashed her a shocked smile and retreated to her desk.
“Margaret,” Anna replied in as flat a tone as she could summon. She approached Katherine’s desk and resumed Margaret’s position, placing the delivery note on her laptop. “I’m heading off to the hospital.”
“I thought you weren’t going since you have to go in tomorrow morning?”
“I have to collect the barn leaflets from the printer, so I’ll pop in on him.”
Anna popped a kiss on Katherine’s cheek; she could feel the smile it created on her lips. She knew it was against the rules, and it also felt a little like she was marking her territory in front of Margaret, but she didn’t care.
“I’ll see you later,Kat,” Anna said with a smirk as she passed Margaret. “Bye, Margaret.”
