Little Boy Blue

35

He knew it was coming, but still it was much more brutal than he’d expected.

He was in the middle of a divisional meeting – the heads of all the local branches gathered together for tea and biscuits. These sessions always ran over time, the various managers positioning themselves for promotion, while sharing tales from the coalface, but he still enjoyed them. In this environment, he was king. He liked the deference, the banter and, if he was honest, the power.

The meeting room was glass-walled, so everybody saw them coming. His PA – the redoubtable Mrs Allen – was trying hard to look professional – but in reality just looked shit scared, saying nothing as she opened the meeting room door and ushered the tall, serious-looking woman inside. He didn’t recognize her – she wasn’t the one who’d come yesterday – but he could tell by the way she carried herself that she was a police officer. A fact she now confirmed by presenting her warrant card to him.

‘DS Sanderson. I wonder if I could have a word, Mr Jackson,’ she said, her voice quiet, but clear.

‘Of course. My office is just -’

‘I think it would be best if you accompany me to the station.’

The walk of shame through the office was quick, but felt interminable – the eyes of every staff member glued to him. Colleagues shuffled out of the way in silence and moments later he found himself striding down the brightly lit corridor towards the exit.

Before long, he was in the back of a saloon car, moving fast down the road. As he pulled away from the bank that had been a happy home for many years now, he caught sight of his managerial colleagues staring out of the meeting room window at him.

This was it then. The end of his old life. And the beginning of something new.