They arrived at work the following Monday ready for anything. Anything but what Craig had to say once everyone was there.
“You know how much I'm struggling to keep up with the phone, and all the paper work, so I've decided to get an admin assistant in, part time, to see if it can make a difference.”
Pavel tried to give Craig the “Don't be so stupid!” look, but Craig wouldn't meet his eyes. Pavel guessed who Craig was thinking of giving the job to, and did not want unresolved sexual tension in the air messing around with how the spray paint dried.
“It will be on a trial basis for all parties, we'll see how it goes.”
“You're not going to have her in your office, are you?” asked Boris. Clint nearly snorted with laughter, but kept it in.
“Of course not. He or she will be moving into the desk that you currently use occasionally, right outside my office, and we'll clean up this area for more desk space.” Boris didn't care who got the job, he was upset about losing his clean desk – to him, it was like giving up the Caucasus. He just frowned. Clint again muffled a laugh at the idea of Boris sitting at the grimy bench between his desk and the workshop computer.
“Thanks for volunteering to clean out the mess, Clint,” Craig said with a grin. Boris snorted and stalked off to read one of his magazines, and Pavel wandered off towards the car he was working on, muttering to himself.
Melinda started two weeks later, and the impact was immediate. It was like a load had been taken off Craig's shoulders, and he was able to spend more time in the workshop, solving problems with Pavel and training Clint. Jobs were getting done quicker and cheaper.
'OK, Melinda, time to tackle the mess in my office.” They stood at the door, and the full horror became clear. There were papers and spare part boxes everywhere, and several old computers in states of disgorging their insides lurked on the filing cabinets that lined the back wall.
“Where do I start?”
“Why not start on the desk. Anything with an invoice number or a client name can be filed, anything else chucked.”
“OK. Drawers as well?”
“Yep. Don't think you have to do it all in one day. It's been like this for ages, and I don't want you being late to your afternoon job, yeah?”
Melinda just nodded.
By the second day, the top of the desk was visible, and the paper recycling bin was full. Melinda went to sit in Craig's chair so she could start work on the drawers, but it was stained and wobbly so she just grabbed the top drawer off its runners, and plonked it on the top of the table.
Inside were more random pieces of paper, pens and chocolate bar wrappers. Tempted to up-end the whole thing into bin, she decided to settle down and work through it piece by piece.
The second thing she picked up from the drawer was a slightly crumpled piece of paper with nasty brown stains on it. It read :
“Bottom of the cliff at River Park. No suspicious circumstances.”
“No client name, no invoice number,” she said to herself as she scrunched it up and tossed it into the bin.
END
