Celebrations for the Woolworths Girls by Elaine Everest

Author:Elaine Everest [Everest, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2023-07-12T17:00:00+00:00

17

‘Thank you for getting in so early,’ Sarah said as Clemmie entered her office just after eight o’clock the next morning.

‘I caught the earlier bus and one of the cleaners let me in,’ Clemmie replied, unbuttoning her coat and removing a jaunty felt hat. ‘I can’t say I slept well, wondering what you’d uncovered. Is it enough for you to be able to bring someone to account?’

‘It’s still early days. I’m afraid my detective work is not as fast or slick as the spy Clive Danvers is in his films,’ she smiled.

Clemmie sighed. ‘It was a wonderful film; I preferred it to Old Mother Riley. I could watch Johnny Johnson all day long, although my Jimmy doesn’t agree with me.’

‘Neither does my Alan. Men aren’t as enamoured of handsome actors as we tend to be. Now, let me pull out my notes and I’ll show you what I’ve discovered. Would you lock the door, please? It will give me time to hide the papers if Mr Harrison should wish to come in. Tell me, how easy is it for you to cry?’

Clemmie frowned. ‘Cry? Is what you’ve found that upsetting?’

Sarah chuckled. ‘I always find that if a male member of staff comes across a female crying, he will soon leave the room. Mr Harrison is no exception.’

‘Ah, I get what you mean. I’ll have my handkerchief handy in case he comes in, and I will sob into it as much as I can. Boyfriend trouble perhaps?’

‘That should do it. Now look at this list first . . .’

Sarah passed her a list of the tills that had shown lower takings of late and, next to it, one of the staff working on those counters. ‘Can you see a pattern?’

Clemmie picked up her pencil and, after reading the list several times, started to put small crosses next to some of the counters and tills. ‘There seem to be a couple of newer staff working on these counters on the days when the takings are lower. I’m not saying the staff are stealing money, but there’s definitely some kind of pattern. I’d hate to point my finger at anyone before we’ve investigated more,’ she said, looking worried. ‘What are your thoughts?’

Sarah knew she was right to ask Clemmie for advice; the girl had a quick eye and hadn’t missed anything on the list. ‘There are two other things: one is that we have a floorwalker covering that area of the store on the same days that the tills are taking less money.’

‘Mr Argent?’

‘Yes, spot on! Also, I’ve found what I feel is some fiddling going on with stock ordered by staff on the confectionery counter that is not arriving from the stockroom. Jessie brought it to my attention, and I plan to set a trap to see what, or I should say who, is at the bottom of things.’

Clemmie looked worried. ‘Perhaps we should hand this over to Mr Harrison for him to investigate; he can’t really ignore this, can he?’

Sarah sucked in her breath.

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