Fractured(83)

‘Thank you,’ I murmured quietly, my words almost whipped away on the December wind.

His responding smile was all the encouragement I needed to begin to climb the steps to the large plate-glass entrance door.

When we reached the top, Jimmy went to press the doorbell which was sited beneath a sign reading Visitors please ring for admittance.

‘Wait,’ I urged, nodding my head in the direction of a small silver keypad set into the aluminium frame. My fingers were chilled by the cold weather, but they still flew without hesitation over the buttons, punching in the eight-numbered entry code for staff.

Behind me I heard Jimmy’s sharp intake of breath as the door responded to the command and opened for me.

I looked at him then, unable to keep from my expression the gauntlet of challenge I was throwing down in the face of all logical explanations.

His face was still a picture of doubts and questions as we entered the building, but once inside the foyer I was the one who drew to a hesitant halt.

‘Rachel?’ Jimmy queried. ‘Are you OK?’ I looked around at my familiar work place and gave a helpless sigh.

‘What are we doing here? What am I going to do now? Go up to my desk and haul whoever is sitting there out of my chair? Keep insisting I belong here until someone calls security and throws us out?’

It was as if my words had actually summoned them up, for we were both taken by surprise by the arrival of a security guard, who’d walked over to us with such speed and stealth neither of us had seen him coming.

‘Can I help you?’ the man enquired, his tone sounding anything but helpful. I could only guess that he had seen us access the building, and failing to recognise us as employees he’d wasted no time leaving his work station to challenge our entry.

I tried to give a small guileless smile, which didn’t work at all at thawing out the frostiness in his eyes. I recognised the man vaguely, but could see no reciprocation in his slightly hostile stare. I could only hope he hadn’t already pressed some hidden alert button.

‘Oh, hello there. I wonder if you can help us, actually. We’re meeting a friend of mine for lunch; she works here. It was a bit too cold to wait outside. I do hope it was OK to come in?’

The guard’s attitude relaxed the merest fraction, his body language turning down the aggression from boil to simmer. Clearly he now believed my ‘friend’ had given out the company’s entry code to random non-employee members of the public. I think I’d just got my new imaginary friend in a whole heap of trouble.

The guard gave a small non-committal grunt, which could possibly have been his response or just him clearing his throat. I continued to smile broadly at him, thinking if he didn’t stop scrutinising us in that suspicious way very soon, my jaw might actually break from the effort. Fortunately Jimmy interjected at that moment, adding plausibility to our charade.

‘Is it possible to call up and let our friend know we are here?’ He really lied most convincingly for an officer of the law, which was somewhat alarming. However his comment seemed to add enough validity to our story that the guard turned to walk back to reception, motioning that we follow him.

Behind his desk once more, with visitors separated by the appropriate barrier, he clearly felt that order had been restored, for he was far more civil when he inquired, ‘Your friend who works here, could I have her name, please?’

Without even thinking I interjected, ‘Rachel Wiltshire.’

I saw Jimmy’s eyes close briefly in disbelief, even as the guard began running his finger down the W section of the staff list, looking for a name that no longer belonged on that particular sheet. Too late I realised the stupidity of my comment.

With his stubby index finger coming to rest at the foot of the directory, the guard looked up at us both, his distrust instantly returning.

‘Rachel Wiltshire, you said? We don’t have anyone of that name working here.’

I looked at Jimmy to see if he was going to extricate me from the mess I had just made, but he just flashed me the merest flicker of a smile, which clearly said you dug this hole – now get out of it!

I narrowed my eyes meaningfully at my companion, and resigned myself to having to play the blonde card.

‘Oh, sorry, that’s my name!’ The guard’s look spoke volumes. ‘My friend is called Emily. Emily Frost.’ I plucked the first name I could think of from one of my colleagues. ‘But, actually, you know what, I think we’ll just wait outside after all and then we can… surprise her. Sorry to have bothered you.’ I grabbed Jimmy’s coat sleeve and began to drag him towards the exit.

‘Smooth,’ pronounced Jimmy, allowing himself to be steered towards the doorway. ‘That certainly didn’t make him suspicious, did it?’