‘Everyone’s left,’ she said. ‘So I thought as the office is empty we could say our farewells here.’
My car was parked outside but I could get a taxi home and pick up the car tomorrow. I didn’t live that far away. Alison was hot, and we were both single, so yeah, it was a temptation I wasn’t going to resist.
‘Sounds good to me,’ I said, walking slowly over to her with what I hoped was a sexy grin on my face. She leaned forward, loosened my tie a little and pulled me to her. We kissed in the doorway, the kisses getting more and more urgent.
‘Let’s continue this somewhere more comfortable,’ she murmured, grabbing my hand and leading me along the corridor to the meeting room. It was the poshest room in the office, with a long wooden table, padded chairs, and – more importantly – a comfy sofa.
I don’t know how long we were in there. The sex was hot, as if the fact that we wouldn’t see each other again had unleashed something in both of us, allowed us to be as uninhibited as we wanted. Finally, our lust sated, we helped ourselves to a drink from the water machine and pulled our clothes back on.
‘I think that’s the wildest thing I’ve ever done,’ she said.
I grinned. ‘It’s a memorable way to say goodbye!’
Still flushed with excitement we walked out, hand in hand. Then Alison remembered that she’d left her handbag in the office, she’d put it down when we were kissing.
So we went back. The door was half open, I thought I’d pulled it shut but we had both been rather distracted. I pushed it open further and then gasped in horror when I saw a body sprawled out on the floor.
Alison put her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. ‘It’s Arthur.’
I ran over to him and my blood ran cold when I saw the plug to the photocopier in his hand. He must have gone to plug it in and got an electric shock. It was my fault. I should have unplugged that extension lead and put a warning sticker on it, I knew it was faulty. Nausea swam in the pit of my stomach.
‘It looks like he’s had an electric shock. Don’t touch him until we’ve turned off the power!’
I couldn’t move. My legs had turned to stone while my eyes were fixed on the motionless body in front of me. Had my negligence killed him?
I watched in horror, frozen to the spot, as Alison used a wooden chair to move Arthur away from the plug then bent down to check him over.
‘Nick, call 999! He’s breathing but he needs an ambulance!’ she shouted.
Thank God! I pulled myself together and dialled for an ambulance, my mind racing. No one knew about the faulty extension cord but me. I had to keep quiet about this or I would be in big trouble. This was a major health and safety issue that could have massive repercussions for me.
‘We need to get our story straight about what we were doing here so late,’ I told her.
‘Why?’ she asked, puzzled. ‘We didn’t have anything to do with this.’ She looked shocked. ‘Nick, you didn’t know that extension cord was faulty, did you? You were working in here.’
‘I was about to unplug it and put a warning sticker on it when you came in,’ I confessed. ‘I thought everyone had left for theweekend so it would be okay. I didn’t know Arthur was going to come back.’
She started to shake. ‘And then I distracted you…’
‘Look, no one needs to know that you were here. He’s alive and you have a flight to catch so you go. I’ll say that I was working late and saw the office door open, then found Arthur lying on the floor.’
She got to her feet. ‘Are you sure? I could do with going now, I’m running late as it is.’
Alison left a little before the ambulance arrived. Arthur was still conscious when he was taken to hospital. The police took a statement from me but it all seemed straightforward. Arthur had received an electric shock from the faulty extension. It was only a mild shock, not enough to kill him, but it had caused him to have a heart attack.
He died a few hours later in hospital, with Judith, Lizzie and me by his bedside. I’d never met either of them before but I recognised them straight away because Arthur kept a family photo in a frame on his desk. They were distraught, obviously, and I tried to comfort them. Alison phoned me from France the next day and was shocked when I told her that Arthur had died from a heart attack. We never had contact again.
I told Judith and Lizzie what a good boss Arthur had been to work for, and I helped them to arrange the funeral. They were so grateful and I felt so guilty that I got into the habit of popping in now and again to check on them, doing odd repair jobs, helping with paperwork.
Judith was quietly determined to hold it together, Lizzie was fragile. I hated myself for the part I had played in Authur’s death and was determined to make it up to them in any way I could. Gradually, I realised that my feelings for Lizzie were getting stronger. I wanted to look after her, take all the troubles and anxiety away from her, so I asked her to marry me andshe instantly agreed. I love her so much, my family means everything to me.
I worked hard to build up the company so that Judith wouldn’t have to ever struggle financially. Arthur was insured, thank goodness, so the mortgage was paid off and there was a bit in the bank but I didn’t want Judith to ever have to worry about money.
After a couple of years my hard work was acknowledged and I was given a promotion. Gradually I worked my way up to being the Construction Manager. I look after the business as if it’s my own. I look after it for Judith and Lizzie, I am so grateful for them and every day I try to do the best I can for them, to make up for what happened.
And now Alison has come back and is trying to destroy it all.
Well, I won’t let her. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Lizzie and my family safe.
