The Girl in the Hard Hat (2 page)

‘Not here. But somewhere else.’ His tone softened. ‘Please sit down and let me tell you what I have arranged. TCN is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Manager or EPCM for this project. Do you know what that means?’

‘You run the show, don’t you?’

‘Sort of.’ Dan smiled. ‘The wharf owners make the rules, so we don’t have a choice about that. But essentially we govern the place for them. As in, we make sure everyone else, such as our principal contractor Barnes Inc, follows the guidelines set by the wharf owners.’

She didn’t say anything but sank slowly back into her chair.

‘Unfortunately Barnes Inc have not been meeting the safety standard set by the wharf owners for some time now. They have a safety officer over there but he doesn’t seem to be able to keep up with the workload. On behalf of the wharf owners I have rung Barnes Inc and told them that they need to take on another safety person in addition to the one they already have. I’ve suggested you as a likely candidate.’ He paused. ‘The project manager at Barnes Inc, Carl Curtis, said he is willing to interview you this morning.’

A job was a job. This office. That office down the road.

What did it matter as long as she got paid?

She licked her lips. ‘When?’

‘Now.’

Relief swept through her. All was not lost. ‘Well, that’s not a problem.’

‘I assume you brought your vehicle with you?’

She nodded. She’d passed the Barnes Inc office dongas on the way to TCN so she knew how to get there too.

Okay, let’s do this.
She stood up more firmly this time, holding out her hand. ‘Thank you for this opportunity, er, Dan.’

‘I’m very sorry that I didn’t have a job for you.’ His tone at least was genuine. ‘I really think we could have worked well together.’

‘Thank you.’ She had an inkling that Dan Hullog was an honourable man, unlike her slimy excuse for an uncle. What the hell was Mike’s game anyway?

She gritted her teeth as she made her way out. Was there no end to the lies she had been fed by her family her whole life? The betrayal just seemed to go on and on. All those years in a boarding school had allowed her to wonder what was wrong with her. Out here in the outback, far away from Perth, she had thought she was beyond all that. But no, the one uncle she thought might understand her was keen to use her as a bargaining chip as well.

Enough is enough.

She couldn’t wait to give him a piece of her mind later, but right now she had a job to score
on her own merit
.

TCN had three office dongas lined up in a row, framed by red rock on one side and a car park on the other. Her car stood out easily amongst the dirty white utes in the car park – a blue Nissan with floral seat covers and a collection of stuffed animals peering out the rear window. It looked completely out of place against the backdrop of iron ore stock piles, cranes and conveyor belts.

She made her way down a well-trodden path towards it, the only asset she still had after her trek across the state over the last six months. For a while, it had been her sole companion in this search that never seemed to end. And those toys had brought her luck. Even in their sun-damaged state, she’d never throw them out.

She got in her car and started the engine. It was only a five-minute drive down a long gravel track that ran alongside the red beach and through the port facilities. As at TCN, there were three Barnes Inc office dongas. An odd-looking flag with an extra thick circular pole had been pushed into the ground in front of one of them. The flying emblem of the company was bolted rather than strung on the pole and a group of guys were having smoko underneath it on a couple of park benches. Two more were sitting in the back of a ute, chowing down on Mrs Mac pies still half in their plastic microwaveable wrappers. When they saw her car, they immediately all stood up and waved. She parked and they cheered as though she had stopped for them.

Oh brother!

Clearly, they hadn’t seen a new female face on site in a while.

She alighted cautiously from her car, noting that maybe at some stage, sooner rather than later, she should move those stuffed animals into her boot.

‘Hey, love, where are you going? Wanna stop for a bite?’ One of the guys grabbed his friend’s pastry as it was on its way into said friend’s mouth and held it up in the air like a trophy. ‘We’ve got a spare one!’

She chuckled at the original pie owner’s expression of outrage and watched him snatch it back before shoving the thief in the chest. Maybe it was the thief’s lack of attention or the roughness of the shove but the man fell out of the side of the ute and landed starry-eyed in the dirt.

The others lost interest in her and roared with laughter. She took the opportunity to slip by the group and enter the Barnes Inc main office donga.

Compared to the TCN equivalent, it was an absolute mess. All the desks seemed to be covered in a film of dust and papers, with the occasional computer poking through the chaos. There was no official reception desk.

The two guys seated closest to the door both eyed her up and down before one said, ‘And who might you be, blondie?’ The guy who addressed her had his eye fixed on her shirt pocket. The TCN logo seemed to repulse him. She wished she’d had a change of clothes in the car. The last thing she wanted to do was give anyone any false impressions.

‘I’m Wendy Hopkins. I’m here to see Carl.’

The man raised his eyebrows. ‘I’m John Lewis. Pleased to meet you. Do you have an appointment?’

‘No . . . I –’

‘Just pulling your leg.’ He grinned. ‘I don’t think Carl makes appointments. He’s never around for them. He must be expecting you though because he’s in his office.’

Not quite knowing what to say to this, she merely nodded. ‘And which way is that?’

‘Only office in this donga, darlin’.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘Down the end next to the kitchen.’

‘Thanks.’

She knew John’s eyes were on her rear as she walked off in the direction he had indicated. Her skin prickled in annoyance but she decided it was a fight best saved for another time. The door to Carl’s office was wide open so she heard the man before she saw him.

‘What the fuck do you mean there’s no fuckin’ bolts with it? . . . How the fuck should I know? . . . Didn’t a pallet arrive last week? . . . Why the fuck would I cancel it? If it’s not there then it must be somewhere else . . . Have you looked up your own fuckin’ arse before you’ve shoved your head in mine?
Fuck
!’

SLAM!!!

Carl looked up at her standing there with her hand frozen in the ‘about to knock’ position.

‘Who the fuck are you?’

Wendy closed her gaping mouth and licked her lips. ‘I’m Wendy Hopkins. Dan Hullog said –’

‘Oh shit! You were fuckin’ quick! Come in, come in.’ He waved his hand at her in resignation. ‘And shut the door behind you.’

She complied and then took the seat in front of his desk. He was a heavy-set man in his late forties with dark brown hair and skin that tanned easily. In fact, he’d probably be quite good looking, if he didn’t radiate stress like a wild bird in a cage.

‘So you’re in OH and S, are you?’

‘Yes.’

‘What’s your experience like?’

‘I’ve done seven years in the field. My last job was at the Parker Point Wharf in Dampier two years ago. So I actually do have some jetty experience in my –’

‘You’ve been out of work two years. Why?’

It was a perfectly reasonable question – one that a prospective employer was definitely entitled to ask. Her reasons, however, were many, personal and complicated. So she decided to tell half the truth. ‘I wanted a holiday.’

‘Pretty long fuckin’ holiday.’

As she began to bristle defensively, he put his hand up to stop her responding. ‘The reason I ask is if I hire you, I want you to stay for the duration of this project. So if you feel like you might need to take off again, “on holiday”, you need to tell me now.’

He said the words ‘on holiday’ like he didn’t entirely believe them. Not that she blamed him, but at least she could reassure him on one point.

‘I will definitely be staying to the end. If you’re worried I won’t take this job seriously, don’t be. I’m not going to let anything happen to Barnes Inc’s people. I have a debt to pay to myself and there’s no better motivation than that.’

‘A debt, eh?’

She buttoned her lip, not really wanting to elaborate any further. She’d already said too much. If he was a gentleman, he wouldn’t press her.

‘You don’t want to fuckin’ tell me, do you?’ His smile was unsympathetic. ‘That’s going to cause problems for you, missy.’

He wasn’t a gentleman.

She winced.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

I shouldn’t have come back to this industry.

I could have got a job in a bar or a kitchen.

Carl eyed her cynically. ‘No point in pretending you’re not aware of what the fuck I’m talking about because we both know that ain’t true. It’s not that I don’t respect your privacy but, believe me, in this fuckin’ place no one else will.’ She swallowed. He sat back in his chair and it creaked loudly in protest. ‘There aren’t any secrets here. There’s only one commodity traded more often on this wharf than fuckin’ ore. It’s called gossip.’

When she said nothing, he shrugged. ‘I’m just trying to fuckin’ warn you. You’ll be gossiped about from one end of the fuckin’ wharf to the other so just be prepared to deal with it. If you have any major problems, like harassment, please don’t fuckin’ wait on it. Come see me.’

She looked up hopefully. ‘Does that mean I’ve got the job?’

‘When Bulldog barks Bulldog gets.’ He seemed mildly put out by his own analogy.

‘Bulldog?’

‘That’s Dan Hullog’s name on this side of the fence.’ He sighed. ‘The thing is, our current safety guy, Neil Cooper, can’t keep up with his workload. With fuckin’ cyclone season coming things are only going to get worse. I gotta make some fuckin’ improvements around here or we’ll all be up shit creek faster than this morning’s turd. I think Neil will be fuckin’ glad of an assistant.’

An assistant.

Her body stilled.

Great! Maybe you were better off in a bar.

She cleared her throat. ‘Well, I’ve got a lot of experience working on sites like this one. I’m really looking forward to the challenge.’ She hoped these words indicated that she wanted to be more than just an assistant.

He didn’t rise to the bait. ‘It’ll be a fuckin’ challenge, all right. Pushing safety around here is like serving Brussels sprouts to children. Nobody wants a fuckin’ bar of it.’

Well, she was used to that. When people had work to do, they just wanted to get on with the job, take precautions later. They didn’t want to listen to what she had to say. But construction on water took danger to the next level, especially if the weather got bad. She would have to stay on top of things.

‘There’s just one other thing.’ She took a breath. ‘I’d like to live in the camp.’

His eyebrows jumped. ‘Fuck! If you’ve already got accommodation, I’d keep it.’

She tried to explain. ‘I think the camp will be a bit more convenient. Travelling from Karratha every day will be really painful.’

Besides, I’m done with Karratha.

She had already dropped in at every steel mill there. No one could answer her questions or give her a new lead. Time to venture a little further out of town.

‘Well, fuck me if you don’t get a big welcome.’ He paused. ‘But it’s no hotel. And there are only five other women in the camp.’

‘How many men?’

‘Three-fifty.’

She swallowed. ‘Right.’

He seemed unperturbed by her alarm, rising from his chair and opening his door. ‘Well, I suppose you’ll want to be meeting fuckin’ Neil. Come with me.’

They walked back through the open-plan office and she felt all eyes drilling holes in her back. They passed John Lewis, who did not look up, and stepped outside.

Carl led her across a short courtyard to another donga. They went up the steps and were soon inside. This donga was just as untidy as the first but much smaller and much more claustrophobic. It was also colder. The air conditioner was running so high, it was rattling in its socket on the wall. Wendy rubbed her arms as a chill went through her both literally and metaphorically.

A sweaty-looking man was standing by a sink and a bar fridge that passed for a kitchen, dipping a tea bag into some hot water. He was dark and swarthy and obviously didn’t deal well with the tropical weather. His glasses, which were slightly foggy, sat right on the tip of his wet nose. A large packet of Marlboros bulged from the top pocket of his shirt.

He jumped when he saw them. ‘Carl!’

‘I got a fuckin’ present for ya, Neil.’

‘You . . . er . . . do?’

‘I’ve got you some help. This is Wendy Hopkins. She’s got seven years’ experience in the field and I’ve employed her.’

‘She’s from TCN,’ Neil protested, his eyes on her uniform.

‘Huh?’ Carl glanced at Wendy, belatedly noticing her attire. ‘Fuck! Forgot about that. Not an issue, Neil. It’s all bullshit. She’s not working there any more. Are you?’ he prompted her.

‘No.’ Wendy shook her head.

‘There you go.’ Carl nodded. ‘All right and tight. Put her to work. I want to see some fuckin’ improvements around here.’

On this note he left, leaving her standing there awkwardly with his subordinate, who was yet to give her a friendly welcome.

‘You got a lot of nerve, coming here in a bloody TCN uniform.’

‘It wasn’t intentional.’ She tried to reassure him but it was like she hadn’t spoken.

‘And who said I needed help? I don’t need any help.’ His tone was contemptuous. ‘I just hope to God you don’t make things worse by getting in the way.’

Although profanities had slipped off Carl’s tongue like butter on a hot pan she’d found him less offensive in the half an hour she’d spent with him than she did this guy after only five seconds.

‘Well, Carl seemed to think that you were under the pump –’

‘What would Carl know?’ he snapped. ‘He’s never around. Never comes into this donga. Keeping safety up to scratch is something I do
on my own
. He should have asked me first.’