The Knowledge Stone (44 page)

Margarite looked at the girl with real pleasure: ‘Well that’s exactly what you’re going to do from now on. Thank you for telling me about your life – and your secrets.’

Sunia was smiling happily as she left Margarite’s office. Alex was busy, head down, working hard at his desk. As she passed, Sunia ruffled his hair affectionately.

‘Hi!’ he said, smiling at her, ‘you’re spoiling my good looks.’

‘Nothing could spoil your good looks,’ she riposted, leaving him to interpret what she meant.

The following week, Margarite appeared at Sunia’s desk. ‘Sunia, we have an important Document Pack to raise for Legal Team Three. I want you to assemble the Pack as Base Coordinator. Here are the Request Details.’

Sunia looked at Margarite, wide-eyed, startled but delighted, too. ‘Oh, Margarite, I’ll do my very best; but do you think I’m good enough to take on such an important Pack? I might make mistakes.’

‘Listen, Sunia, you’ve heard me say it hundreds of times: Nobody’s perfect – not even me! Mistakes are inevitable and, if there are any, they will be picked up on the checks. I am confident that you are ready to do this standard of work. I expect it to be on my desk by the middle of this afternoon. If you have any queries or you need any help, Alex will help you, or you can come to me. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’re ready to do this. I trust you.’

When Margarite had gone, Sunia sat back in that heady mixture of pride and fear. She noticed her hands were trembling. ‘Come on, get a grip!’ she reproached herself. ‘Stage 1: Understand the Request.’ She opened the Request Folder and began to read.

‘Congratulations, Sunia.’ Alex was standing by her desk. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t interrupt you – I know you have plenty to do. I’ll be here if you need me for anything.’ Sunia looked at Alex, her eyes shining with pride.

‘You’re a real friend, Alex. You’re my favourite person in DC. It’s lovely to know you’re on my side. Thank you.’ Alex flushed. He was glad she liked him so much.

‘I certainly like her – a great deal! Perhaps a lot more than she imagines.’

By coffee time, Sunia had constructed a draft Schedule and Document List, the first essentials of the task. She was ready to start assembling the documents. Pleased with her progress, she decided that she needed a coffee break. For the first time in DC, Sunia felt she deserved her coffee – and it was a very heady feeling. She happily joined the other staff of the General Office as they chatted about their lives outside the Firm.

To her surprise, Sunia found that she was actually quite an expert on clothes, unaware that the other girls had always admired the simple but expensive clothes she wore. And, of course, she was always ready to talk about cars, being the proud owner of a gorgeous Fiat Cinquecento SE Gucci! She also reported upon her driving lessons and her accounts of some of her errors were hilarious! At times, the room rang with laughter.

Sitting unhappily in his office, Julian heard the laughter and wondered whether he should go and complain: ‘They are distracting me from my work,’ he said to himself peevishly – in fact he had only been reading the racing paper. Then his mind turned to Sunia, as it often did: ‘I hope Sunia is not becoming too familiar with that pathetic little boy Alex.’ Julian had become ragingly jealous of Alex. ‘It’s absolutely dreadful that this stupid boy now has complete access to her.’ Julian’s expression hardened into hatred with the thought that the boy might be touching her hand. How was she responding? Where else was he touching her? You know what young people are like nowadays!

Now Julian was working himself up into a rage. Why he could even be taking advantage of the fact she is an innocent little girl! So powerful was this emotion that he gasped for breath, flushed with a raging love. At last, he calmed himself and became resolute: ‘I must protect her. I must watch them together. I must make sure nothing untoward is happening. If it is, that boy will be in trouble!’ Julian smiled unpleasantly at the thought and felt much better. That’s it, he would keep a very close eye on them.

Coffee break over, Sunia was ready to go to the storeroom to raise the Document Pack Folder.

‘Margarite, can I have the key to the storeroom, please?’

‘I don’t have it, Sunia. Alex took it about ten minutes ago. It’s not come back, so he must still be down there. How is everything going?’

‘I think it’s going fine, Margarite.’ Sunia’s voice was full of pride. ‘On schedule,’ she added proudly with a little smile as she left the office. In the corridor outside, she met Julian. She thought he was acting rather shiftily.

‘Hello, Julian,’ she said in a friendly tone, ‘how are you?’

She was taken aback when he held a finger to his lips and spoke very quietly: ‘Where are you going, Sunia?’

‘To the storeroom to raise a Document Pack Folder.’

‘I’ll come with you, Sunia. I can help you.’

‘It’s all right, Julian,’ she replied, ‘Alex is already there. He can help me if I need help.’ She was astonished at his reaction. Without a word, he turned on his heel and marched into his office, slamming the door behind him.

‘I wonder what’s wrong with him,’ Sunia mused as she walked down the corridor. As she approached the door, she could see that the storeroom warning light was illuminated. In accordance with procedure, she knocked at the door and waited.

‘Just a minute, I’m on top of the stepladder.’ Alex’s voice. A moment later, the door swung open. ‘Hello, it’s my favourite girl! Come on in.’ Alex was greatly struck by her elegant beauty as she entered. He had been busy with his own Request and had already assembled a heap of papers and folders on the table. ‘Are you OK?’ he enquired solicitously, ‘do you need any help?’

‘No thanks, Alex. I want to do everything myself. I need to start by getting a large Document Pack Folder. My Request involves quite a lot of material.’

‘Do you know where they are?’ Alex was eager to help!

‘Of course I do, Alex. You taught me where they were. On the top shelf just beside the door.’ Sunia wheeled the tall metal stepladder into position and prepared to ascend.

‘Where is everybody? The place looks empty.’ Moments before, Julian had come to the General Office to check up on Alex and Sunia. Now he burst into Margarite’s office in a distinctly agitated state.

Puzzled, Margarite glanced out of her office door. ‘Everybody’s here – except Alex and Sunia. They’re both down in the storeroom.’

Both in the Storeroom! Still there. Alone together. Julian swayed with the shock of it. This was extremely dangerous. He had better take action right away. With these thoughts racing through his fevered mind he left the General Office and ran towards the storeroom as quickly as he could.

As the storeroom door came into view, he felt a wave of pure panic. The door was closed tight! The warning light glowed! Anything could be happening in there!’

Now he pressed his ear tightly against the door, hearing the low murmur of conversation. He strained his ears but could not hear what was being said. Then he heard the sound very clearly – she was laughing, that beautiful little laugh that he had heard in his office so many times.

Something was happening in there! Something that should definitely not be happening!

Immediately, he worked out his precise course of action. He would surprise them. He would throw open the door and find out precisely what was going on. He would fix that boy! After all, he was the boss, wasn’t he? He was in charge. This was
his
department. This was
HIS
storeroom.

A final listen at the door; now a worrying silence from within. Then – CRASH!

Julian had twisted the handle and flung the door wide open with great force. However, the door only opened about ten centimetres before it was blocked by an obstruction inside. An obstruction which fell over with a gigantic metallic clatter. Julian’s mind worked with blinding speed: ‘He’s blocked the door, that’s what he’s done! He’s used the heavy stepladder to do it. But that won’t stop me getting in.’ Julian threw his weight against the blocked door and pushed with all his strength. The door gave way slowly as the overturned steps were pushed across the floor. Now Julian was able to see into the brightly lit room. Alex lay on his back on the floor with Sunia on top of him. He had his arms around her slim body.

There is a special roar that a lion gives when it assumes its most intimidating persona. This roar is deep, long and very, very loud. It sends an almost primeval fear into all who hear it, even those who are far away. Julian started his “conversation” with Alex and Sunia by emitting such a roar! In the following stunned silence, he continued in an exceptionally loud voice, stentorian and razor-sharp with fury. Inevitably, it began with a question directed at the unfortunate Alex: ‘What are you doing to that young girl in my storeroom?’

‘Saving her from injury.’ A small voice filled with shock.

‘Saving her!’ The answer repeated in an apoplectic scream. Girl and boy now disentangled themselves and stood up. Sunia ran to a corner of the room and stood, wide-eyed with fear. Alex remained where he was, next to the table.

Stepping forward quickly, Julian swung a punch at Alex’s head. The punch was blocked by Alex’s forearm. Another punch followed, similarly blocked.

‘What on earth is going on here?’ Margarite’s voice, a sharp-toned question from the open doorway. Alex switched his attention momentarily from Julian to Margarite and the man took the opportunity of landing a heavy blow on the young man’s cheekbone, splitting the skin open. As he fingered the bloody wound, Alex turned back to Julian who had drawn back his fist, preparing to strike again.

‘Listen, Sir, if you try to punch me again, I will need to retaliate. If I do, I will knock you down, possibly unconscious. One of my hobbies is boxing and I’m quite experienced.’

There was silence as Julian digested this information; then, wisely, he discontinued his attack. Now he turned to Margarite in blazing fury. ‘This evil boy was attacking Sunia sexually. They were lying on the floor and his arms were around her. I will not have such behaviour in my Department. This is a criminal matter.’ Julian was beside himself with rage.

Margarite stayed calm. ‘Is this true?’ She asked the question of Alex but it was Sunia who answered in a quavering voice from the corner of the room.

‘Margarite, it certainly is not true. Alex saved me from serious injury by catching me when I was thrown off the top platform of the stepladder. For some reason, HDC threw open the door without knocking or observing the warning light outside. The edge of the door caught the stepladder and knocked it over with me on it. Lucky for me, Alex was near enough to catch me in his arms as I fell. The force of my fall knocked him to the floor. That’s when HDC saw us and became furious. I think Alex is wonderful to have saved me.’

Alex added ruefully: ‘Yes, and I think I will have a bruised chest as well as a bruised face.’

Another silence. Then, Julian’s voice, still taut with rage, ‘Get this mess cleared up. You will be hearing from me.’ He looked balefully at Alex and stalked out, stony-faced.

One hour had passed. Alex had just been summoned to HDC’s office. Julian sat at his desk, glaring at Alex, who was standing at the other side of the desk, not having been invited to sit down.

‘I will not have it! Junior staff rolling about in a sexual embrace on the storeroom floor. I regard this as a misdemeanour of the worst kind. You are here to do your work, not attack innocent young girls. I know all about you young men – always trying to seduce young girls and attacking them physically. It’s absolutely disgusting, criminal, in fact. I have constructed a comprehensive report which I am about to submit to HR, in which I set out all the circumstances. In the report I accuse you of gross misconduct and criminal behaviour – attempted rape of an innocent office junior, newly turned eighteen. I also accuse you of insubordination and threatening behaviour – threatening to strike a senior officer. I have recommended immediate dismissal with no reference and I have no doubt that HR will carry that out. I have also directed that the report be passed to the police for a criminal investigation. When I am finished with you, not only will you have no job but if I hear of anyone else thinking of employing you in this town, I will personally ring them up to warn them off. In any case, by that time it is highly likely you will have been convicted of attempted rape and will have a criminal record. No one will ever want to employ you again.’ Julian was virtually foaming at the mouth as he roared this at the top of his voice, every word clearly audible to the staff in the General Office, crouching over their desks, barely breathing, trying to make themselves as small as possible.

In the silence that followed, Julian swayed in his seat and gasped for breath, mopping his face with a handkerchief. ‘I must be calm,’ he told himself, ‘I will make myself ill.’

Now he lifted a sheaf of papers from his desk and, fixing eyes of hatred on the boy standing opposite, said triumphantly: ‘In five minutes, this report will be with HR and you will be finished. I’m certainly finished with you right now. Get out of my office.’

He was surprised when the young man did not move.

‘I said, “Get Out!”’

‘Don’t send it, Sir.’

‘What?’ A veritable explosion of sound.

‘Don’t send it, Sir. You’ll regret it if you do.’ The voice was quiet and calm.

Julian’s mind raced. What could the boy mean? Then – understanding. Of course! He was asking for mercy. As this thought registered, another fleeting memory was recalled for a microsecond. Hadn’t someone else asked for mercy? Didn’t he grant it? The word “penance” flickered in his consciousness. He shook his head to return to the situation in hand. Then, leering unpleasantly, he said harshly: ‘You want mercy, do you? Well, my boy, the answer is “No”. I would not have mercy on you even if you begged on your bended knees, even if you promised to be my personal slave for the rest of your life!’ Julian was enjoying himself.

‘I’m not asking for mercy, Sir. I’m saying, don’t send it to HR. You’ll regret it if you do.’

‘Really!’ Julian emphasised his sarcasm as unpleasantly as he could. ‘And why would I regret it, pray?’