“You’ve met Thomas Lanton, right? Helen’s boss. Fucking hard as nails and scary as shit.”
“Yeah, I’ve met him.” Just that once in her office, but Jimmy summed the man up pretty accurately.
“He’s dead.”
My mouth fell open. “What? How?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Rainy coastal road in Ireland. He went off the side last night. No sign of him or the car. The crew at the scene think he’s at the bottom of the cliffs or swept out to sea.”
I blew out a long breath. “How did you find out?”
“Local PD got a call to contact the next of kin.”
I pulled my hand over my face and then reached for my phone, which was switched off like it usually was when I was working. I thought I’d find missed calls and messages from Helen, but there was nothing. “Does his staff know?”
“I guess so. His next of kin were told a couple of hours ago.”
“Shit. Thanks, Jimmy.”
After he left the room, I typed out a message to the group chat I had with Jasper and his brothers.
Me: I’m at work and your mum’s had some bad news. Can any of you go check on her?
Conner: Cal and I are out of town till late tonight.
Jasper: I’ve got a couple of hours before I can leave. I’m out on a boat! What’s up?
Me: Thomas died in a car crash.
Conner: Thomas?
Me: Thomas Lanton. Her boss.
Conner: No fucking way. I thought death would be way too terrified of him. I used to cross the road to avoid him when I was younger.
Cal: You did it last week, Conner!
Jasper: I’ll see what I can do to get back early. Thanks for letting us know.
I stood from my desk and walked out into the kitchen where everyone sat gossiping about Thomas. Someone asked me a question, but my head was all over the place and all I could think about was Helen. I hated knowing she’d be devastated, and she’d not reached out to even let me know.
“Jax?” I wasn’t sure who’d said my name.
I shook my head, trying to bring my focus back to the room. “Yeap.”
“I asked if you were okay.” I turned to Henri, who was staring at me, her facial expression screaming concern.
“Yeah, just thinking about Helen, that’s all. She’s worked for Thomas for years. She’s going to be heartbroken.”
Jimmy walked over. “We’ve only got half an hour left of the shift; the night crew are already coming in and Al said he’d start early when I told him what happened. I thought you might want to go, take care of Helen.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if he was having a dig after she showed up here or if he was being a good friend.
“I’m trying to be nice,” he replied as if he could see my suspicion. “We all know Helen and we love her. The thought of her breaking her heart over his death is too much… go, look after her.”
“Are you sure?” Just then, Al, the night watch leader appeared.
“Go, Jax. Give Helen our love and when you find out the funeral details, let us know.”
