Jake said, ‘You make changes quickly around here.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘You think so?’ He leaned over the counter towards Jake. ‘You know, I used to be on my feet all day, for thirty-five years, and the last five years I kept telling them I needed to get off my feet, do something a bit more sedentary. Five years it took to get me this position. Fiveyears. And that’s only because Margaret quit. You’d think they’d have made more effort to keep their longest-serving employee, but once all this changed, she just didn’t want to stick around.’
‘Margaret – the receptionist – she’s gone?’ Jake turned to look at the front door as though she had just that moment strode past him on her way out.
‘Yep, just up and left. She was close to retirement, mind. Between you and me,’ he glanced around the room and motioned Jake to come closer, ‘I think she couldn’t get the hang of these newfangled things.’ He surreptitiously cocked his head at the computer. ‘Mind you, I’m no expert myself,’ he chuckled, ‘two years and I still haven’t quite …’
‘Two years?’ Jake said in surprise. He found it necessary to repeat the question. ‘You’ve been doing this for two years?’
The big guy nodded.
‘Does the old receptionist, er …’ Jake pointed at the big man.
‘Margaret.’
‘Yes, Margaret – does she ever get called in to cover for you when you go on holiday?’
‘Holiday?’ He slowly shook his head. ‘I haven’t got the money for a holiday.’ He rubbed his chin. ‘Besides, they’d have a difficult time calling her in, even if they wanted to.’
Jake furrowed his brow. ‘How’s that?’
The big man leaned forward, elbows on counter. ‘Because she’s dead.’ He drew back and nodded solemnly. ‘Yep, she died over a year ago.’
‘How could that be?’
The big man thought the question was directed at him. ‘I think the job was her life – know what I mean – and once she left, well,’ he clicked his fingers, ‘that was it – poof, end of story!’
It obviously hadn’t been Margaret he had spoken to the day before. The conversation was wasting his time.
‘How long?’ Jake swirled his hand around the hall.
‘The wonderful re-decoration job?’ he said in a deadpan voice. ‘Not long after she left – that’s when they installed this, too.’ He patted the desk. ‘Say, what happened?’ He was looking at Jake’s hands.
‘I fell on glass, cut my hands pretty bad.’ Jake said absently, his mind still racing with questions.
‘Nasty – you want me to take a look?’
Jake looked at him doubtfully.
‘I’m a healthcare assistant. Well, I was until I started this job.’
‘I see.’
He held up his lanyard with an identity card that detailed his name and position. ‘I’m Lawrence. And I can tell straight off you haven’t had those looked at by a medical professional. If they’d added any more bandages, your hands would be wrapped up like you’re wearing a pair of boxing gloves.’ He chuckled.
Jake looked at them. He was pretty sure driving was illegal like this as it was. Gayle, a former nurse, had offered to take a look, but he just hadn’t had time for her to redress the wounds with fresh bandages. It was Marcus and himself that had done it instead, and clearly not done a good job of it.
‘Come through here.’ He beckoned for Jake to step the other side of the counter.
Jake stepped through and found himself still puzzling over what he’d been told. How could the place look so different from the previous day?
‘Are you okay?’
When Jake looked up, the man was standing next to him, holding gauze and bandages.
‘Yes, but I’ve got to be honest with you, and I swear I am not losing my mind. This place looks completely different.’ Jake cast his gaze up the unfamiliar flight of stairs in front of him.
Lawrence nodded and said, ‘Meet the founder of this place.’ He was pointing up the stairs. A grey-haired, dignified gentleman, who looked quite stern, stared down at them from a very large portrait painting.
