Ghost Writer (3 page)

Prosser knew his job. He rattled
off the types of instruments and the number he had. He also knew
what parts and supplies were critically low.

“What happens if you get an
order and the parts are not in stock?” Susannah asked. “Like with
that big order four months back?”

“We had most of it. I had to
request a flow meter and an altimeter to be made up,” Prosser told
her. “It took two or three days by the time it was made up and
checked.”

“Do you log the serial numbers
of the instruments against each order,” was Susannah’s next
question.

“Of course I do, Missy,” Prosser
sounded exasperated. “Now you see that those orders go out!” He
stood up and stared at Susannah, and she stared back.

“I will handle things Mr
Prosser,” she told him coolly, and continued to stare at him as he
backed out the door.

“He’d never try that on Bryan,”
Susannah muttered when the door had closed.

“There’s no rush if you have to
stop production,” I commented.

“True, the orders can wait.”

Our third visitor was young and
he had waited to be admitted. The first thing he did on entering
was to straighten the chair and sit on it properly.

“Steve Lehman, R and D,” he
introduced himself.

I studied that young man as
Susannah asked him some general questions. I liked what I saw and
from my glance at the employee file, I knew he had an engineering
degree.

However, for some reason he
wasn’t looking at Susannah, he seemed to be picking lint off his
spotless white shirt.

He was praising the company and
Bryan, but I wondered if he had ideas he didn’t want to broach.

I suggested very softly for
Susannah to ask what his current project was.

“Oh, I’m investigating different
polymers for casings,” he said, but he was still picking at his
sleeve.

“John had me trying out a
modification for an altimeter. I told him it wouldn’t work but he
said the boss had ordered it. I assume it didn’t work because it is
still sitting in John’s desk.”

“What is your opinion of the
Marriot altimeter?” Susannah asked.

This time, Steve looked up.
“It’s one of the best around. I think I could improve the accuracy
but I’m sure John couldn’t. He should stick to marketing.”

Susannah took a page out of her
case. “I need your ideas on this – it’s a report on one of our
altimeters. They say it caused a crash.”

Steve reached out for the sheet
and read the highly technical report with ease. He was shaking his
head when he finished.

“Miss Marriot, this looks like
one of ours – but for starters, the alloy used is wrong and it is
not a standard unit. If I didn’t know better – I would say it was
the one I made for John. Bryan shouldn’t have passed this. Have you
a copy of the certification?”

Susannah shook her head. ”I’m
looking for it.”

I whispered another suggestion
in Susannah’s ear.

“This is off the record, Steve,”
Susannah went on. “And, it’s purely curiosity at the moment, but
I’d like to know if we can improve our products and production
methods. I was also wondering if there were any more
technologically up to date instruments we could make.”

There was an interested gleam in
Steve’s eyes.

“Miss Marriot, I have a whole
lot of ideas. I keep right up to date on the latest technology. I
reckon we could try for some government contracts – with only minor
modifications to our systems…”

“Don’t get your hopes up,”
Susannah warned. “I’ve got this other mess to sort out yet.
However, I would like to see your ideas. I’ll talk to you in a
week. Is that enough time?”

She was leaning forward, a new
light in her eyes.

Steve Lehman seemed to bounce
out of the room, after he left the report on the desk.

“Why is it that they don’t seem
to notice you?” Susannah asked me.

“They are concerned about their
jobs. Right now – you’re the boss. They have no time for me.”

“I thought you were taking
notes?”

“I am,” I said. My notebook was
full of neat notes. I quickly grabbed the pen that was on the
desk.

“Who haven’t we seen yet?”
Susannah asked me. “You found the list.”

“John Jefferson,” I managed to
croak out the name. I hadn’t really seen it before.

“Are you alright, Edwina?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. Of course I
am. It’s just, well; I was dating him until three months ago.”

We didn’t have to wait long. He
sauntered into the office and flashed that charming smile of his at
Susannah. I suddenly wanted to scratch it off his face.

John Jefferson certainly didn’t
seem to be mourning the loss of his chance at Papa’s money – or me
either. He had told me that he owned his own business - where here
he was merely a marketing manager. I wonder what other lies he told
me.

When he sat on the chair Steve
had vacated, he rested one leg over the other and put his hands
behind his head. I wondered what I had ever seen in the arrogant
bastard. I bet he felt he should be in charge of the company.

“Mr Jefferson, I notice our
sales have dropped off over the past year. What advertising do we
have at the moment?”

John rattled off a list of trade
magazines and specialty magazines.

“When did you last update the
wording?”

“A year ago – wasn’t much need –
the product hasn’t changed.”

“It seems that your latest
campaign isn’t working,” Susannah remarked. “Could you bring me a
copy of some of the trade magazines? I would like to see what our
ads look like in them.”

“Certainly, Miss Marriot,” he
smiled calmly. “Is there anything else I can help you with? I know
all there is to know about the company.”

“Tell me how you got the
Kittering contract,” Susannah asked.

“I was in the right place at the
right time,” he claimed.

I had to listen as he bragged
about his smart work. I closed my ears and ignored him.

“How well do you know him,
Edwina?”

Susannah was staring at me; John
had gone.

“We used to date,” I said with a
shudder. “I can’t imagine why.”

“Who are you, Edwina?”

I had moved my hands and forgot
in my agitation to move the pad and pencil too. I grabbed them
carefully.

“Shouldn’t you be asking me what
am I?”

“I’ve already decided that you
are more my ghost writer than my secretary – and only I can see
you.”

“I’m Edwina Kittering,” I
admitted.

“Edwina Kittering died three
months ago.”

I shuddered. “Yes…”

“So why did you come here? For
vengeance?”

“No. I was given a choice. I
could have gone around again – as someone else, or redeem my
otherwise useless life by helping someone. I found myself in your
garden.”

“It was one of our instruments
that caused your plane to crash.”

“Yes, I had realised that, but I
don’t blame you. Now, at least, I know that it wasn’t my
incompetence that killed my friends. Inexperience perhaps, but
nothing more.”

“Bryan disappeared the day after
the crash. I wish I knew why.”

“He’s not dead,” I blurted
suddenly. “I’d know if he was.”

“Which means I can’t do
anything.” Susannah slumped backing her chair.

“You’re wrong. This is your
chance. When your brother returns, you will have a working
knowledge of the business and when you solve this problem – you
will have him over a barrel.”

“I like your attitude, Edwina,”
Susannah chuckled. “I think I feel ready to take that tour of the
factory with Clarrie. What will you do?”

“I think I will check the files
for details of that sale. And I will creep into John’s office and
try for a look at that prototype. I might even invade Prosser’s
domain. Um, can I look at that report that you showed Steve?”

I ignored the technical stuff –
just memorised the serial number.

“Let’s compare notes later,”
Susannah grinned.

Something about seeing John
again stirred me up. I knew now that he had been using me for
purposes of his own. I wanted to know why.

The idea simmered in my mind as
I looked through the files in the office. I wanted an invoice or a
purchase order or a copy of the certification for the unit
described in the report.

I found an invoice, but it
didn’t show the serial number.

I thought of Prosser’s records
and found my way to the storeman’s office. He was absent so he
wouldn’t see me checking his files.

I found what I needed –
Prosser’s packing slip and a copy of the certification and
specifications. I had all the information I wanted – date packed,
date despatched, consignee, items sent, serial numbers –
everything. I carefully removed the sheet from the files – and only
shut the drawer again in time.

John Jefferson came in and began
to repeat my actions. I watched for a moment, hearing him swear
under his breath. Then it occurred to me that it was a good time to
check his office.

I moved quickly, neatly dodging
a couple of workers on my way. I found the prototype altimeter in
his desk drawer – just as Steve had said. I shamelessly stole it.
Once in my pocket, he wouldn’t see it – even if he returned.

I looked around further – rifled
through his other drawers, flicked through a couple of magazines
and looked through his phone index. I wished I were able to
influence computers – but pressing one key at a time – was too
slow.

A photo in a frame on his desk
caught my eye.

“That bastard,” I swore because
I recognised my cousin in the photo with John. She was wearing one
of my favourite dresses…she who had probably become Papa’s heir now
I wasn’t around. I left his office with a feeling of loathing. I
found Susannah and caught the rest of the tour.

Late in the afternoon, Steve
Lehman bounced in with copies of some technical magazines. He
showed Susannah some new devices that he believed we could make –
cheaper and better. Susannah thanked him and put the magazines in
her case – promising to look at them later.

Moments later, John came in with
some more magazines and a list of what advertising the company had
in place. Two of the magazines were the same kind that Steve had
bought in. After showing Susannah the advertisements in each, he
put them on the desk, too far away for Susannah to reach. John
didn’t know about me. I saw that the copies were over a year
old.

He sat down again in the same
smugly superior manner as before and watched Susannah reading the
list of advertising.

“Who do you deal with for the
advertising in these magazines?” Susannah asked. She did not seem
to be watching John, but I was and she knew it. I saw the slight
tensing of his eye muscles.

He didn’t seem to hesitate in
giving us the name and phone number of his contacts with two
magazines. I don’t think he expected Susannah to ring and check
because his posture hadn’t changed.

Susannah reached for the phone
and began to dial. I saw those telltale eye muscles twitching. His
eyes hardened as he listened to Susannah asking questions, and he
had to force himself to seem relaxed as he heard Susannah tell the
man to cancel the company’s current advertisements as she intended
to change them. She insisted that the credit remaining would cover
the new advertisements for the remaining period.

John seemed to relax again. I
wondered what we didn’t find out.

After John left, with his smile
a trifle forced – Susannah rang the magazine again and asked to be
put through to the accounts section. That was my suggestion.

She was thoughtful when she hung
up and I guessed what she was about to say.

“Our company has not had any
advertising in that publication for twelve months. The ledger
supports John’s figures but the money hasn’t gone there. Or if it
has – we don’t have our ads. What do you think, Edwina?”

“He’s a bastard,” I told her.
“That proves it. And I will tell you something else. He’s going out
with my cousin now…”

“You can’t help it if she has
bad taste,” Susannah broke in. “Did you get that prototype?”

I nodded but didn’t produce it.
“It was in his desk – and it had a serial number on it. Had as in
holes where one was removed. I found the plate – it was bent a bit
– but it had the same serial number as the one that should have
gone to my father. I think he must have made up a new plate for the
prototype and sent it instead.”

“That’s a serious allegation,”
Susannah reminded me. “We have to be sure.”

“I am. And I am quite sure you
had better not challenge him on it. He thinks you are stupid, or at
least totally naïve. Let him…”

Susannah stared at me – not sure
what I was implying. “I think I will call the investigators,” she
said thoughtfully. “They will be coming here anyway. I think I will
suggest some things that they should look at. Let me have that unit
and I will wrap it in something and give me those records from
Prosser.”

“Sounds good,” I agreed, handing
over the items.

We stayed late, long after the
workers had left, long after even John had cared to hang around.
Susannah put the piles of invoices and orders back in the filing
cabinet with relief.

“I think that John is convinced
that you have no clue,” I decided.

The investigators came the
following day. They were initially hostile, thinking that Susannah
was trying to mislead them. But she was being so openly helpful
that they eased their manner towards her.

She made it clear to them that
she wanted to find the truth of the matter as much as they did and
told them everything that she had found out the day before. When
she produced the altimeter and the bent serial number plate bearing
the number of the unit in the report - their eyes hardened.