Chapter 7
‘ M orning, both. Do you know the man in the meeting room?’ I asked as I stepped into our small office.
David had been discussing the new roofing programme with Adam, and I appreciated that the site manager had brought in an extra chair to sit next to David instead of borrowing mine. They were in unusually early, but I guessed it was a big day as we’d finally managed to find another scaffolding company, and they were due to start today.
‘We have a random drug and alcohol test this morning,’ replied David. ‘George is going around every site in the region. We need five people for this.’
Adam got out his phone, quickly typed something, and then put it away. David didn’t seem to have noticed this, but he must have just pretended it had escaped his attention. The contracts manager tended to avoid (what he deemed) unnecessary fuss or confrontation. It was the only weakness I’d discovered so far but one that could frustrate me to no end.
‘Right,’ I said. ‘I’m happy to do it.’
‘That’s me, you, Adam. Need two more.’
‘Joel is here—’
‘No, he’s gone out on site,’ cut in Adam.
‘I just saw him pull up,’ I argued.
Recently, Joel had been coming to work at half seven, ruining my chances of having unobserved conversations with David for a couple of minutes in the mornings. If Adam was right and Joel was going through a divorce, he may have regarded work as a place to escape his troubled home life.
‘I’m telling you he’s left already. ’
I shot an annoyed look at Adam, who dropped his head in response.
‘It’s fine. We’ll find two more,’ said David. ‘I’m sure Diane will agree to do it, and you can pick someone from your team.’
‘Probably Ritha is best.’ I knew she never drank – it was a religious thing.
Adam and David carried on talking about the roofing programme, and twenty minutes later, Adam went out on site to supervise the first new scaffold being erected. Today was crucial for him, as he had to ensure we could deliver the works on time. Otherwise, his temporary contract would be terminated, and we’d lose the remaining roofing works to a competitor. However, should he prove successful, he would be made permanent by summer.
Initially, it was meant to be such a small scheme that he hadn’t been paired with a tenant liaison officer, so Adam had been dealing with the customer service side of things too, but he didn’t seem to mind. This just strengthened my belief that he was truly a people person and enjoyed any type of social interaction. Whenever I looked outside my office window, he appeared cheerful enough, whether on his phone or typing away on his laptop, unaware of being watched.
*
Around midday, David went downstairs to catch up with the drug and alcohol inspector, who was due to leave, and I decided it was time for my lunch break. If I was lucky, I might get a chance to spend a few minutes with David in private in the kitchen on his way back from the meeting room.
However, instead of David, I found Adam there. He was alone, sitting at a table, munching on a Mars bar and browsing on his personal mobile. An empty Tupperware box in front of him indicated he was on his lunch break too.
‘Did you tip him off?’ I asked, stopping beside him.
He looked up, coughing. ‘Lol, you scared me,’ he said. ‘Why did you have to sneak up on me like that? And tip who off?’ He played dumb quite well.
‘Joel. I saw you texting this morning. You warned him about the inspector, didn’t you? You know just as well as I do he’s an alcoholic – he needs to be exposed,’ I said, crossing my arms.
‘He only drinks at home.’
‘But he stinks here every morning. What if the client or a resident makes a complaint?’
He returned to his phone, brushing off my comment. ‘Come on – he ain’t that bad… Give him some slack – his wife has just left him.’
It annoyed me that he was messaging someone, perhaps another female victim of his, while I was trying to talk to him. The lack of manners among our site resources was beyond disappointing.
‘Probably because he’s an alcoholic,’ I said. ‘He should have taken the test.’
‘He’s only got a few years left till he retires.’
‘Then he should know better than to risk his job.’
He raised his head with a cold expression, turning his screen at an angle that allowed me to see he was WhatsApping a woman called Sharon. And the tiny headshot next to the name was of a pretty redhead. I caught a line in a white text box. It was something about a ‘hospital appointment’; she was asking Adam whether he could make the next one.
So it seemed he was already over me and perhaps in the middle of discussing a midwife appointment for another potential pregnancy he was involved in. I wondered whether he’d still insist on our date in July or if he’d forgotten all about that by now.
‘You really know how to put a nail in someone’s coffin, don’t you?’ he said. ‘You have no heart.’
‘I don’t think with my heart when it comes to work.’
‘You don’t seem to think with your heart when it comes to anything.’
‘No one should. Emotions just cloud one’s judgement. ’
‘Is that what you keep telling yourself?’
I stared at him and said, ‘Pardon?’
‘Nothing; never mind.’
‘Why don’t you go back to texting your girlfriend instead of judging me?’
Adam opened his mouth to speak, but with my hunger now gone, I left before he replied.