Chapter 32
788 Words
32
John Lucas entered the local branch of Pemberry’s and watched as the man behind the counter finished cutting a new set of keys. A young woman was resoling a pair of black shoes a few feet away from him.
The man registered Lucas’s arrival and greeted him.
‘Good afternoon. Can I help you?’
Lucas shuffled awkwardly. ‘Uh, yes, I’m looking for John Ayling.’
‘Ah,’ the man said, a look of faint recognition crossing his face. ‘You must be John Lucas.’
Lucas nodded.
‘Come with me,’ the man said. ‘Lucy, can you hold the fort for a few minutes?’
The girl nodded, and Lucas followed the shop’s manager behind the counter and out into the office at the rear.
Ayling closed the door behind them. ‘So. I got the message from your probation officer yesterday.’
Lucas recognised what Ayling was doing. He was leaving it open, giving him the chance to explain himself in his own words. The problem was, he knew Ayling had probably made his mind up already.
‘I don’t know what to say,’ Lucas replied. ‘Something happened with one of the people I used to be involved with, and the police took me in to speak to me.’
‘Arrested you, I heard.’
‘Yeah.’
‘What for?’
Lucas took a deep breath. ‘Arson and manslaughter.’
Ayling raised his eyebrows and scratched the back of his head. ‘And have they bailed you or released you?’
‘Bailed me. There was... There was stuff in my garage which they reckon linked me to what happened. But it’s all bollocks. I’ve not even been in that garage since I got out of prison. They’ll do forensics or fingerprints or something and they’ll find out it wasn’t me. But in the meantime I’ve got this all hanging over me.’
‘You sound pretty sure they’ll drop it. I’ve got to say, John, your probation officer didn’t sound quite so certain.’
‘Yeah, well the probation officer isn’t me, is she? I’m me, and I know I didn’t do it.’
‘Alright. Fine. But how do we know? I’m not going to lie to you, John, we get a lot of ex-offenders working for Pemberry’s. It’s one of the things we do, trying to help them integrate back into the community and give them a second chance. That’s a big thing to do. Not many other retailers or businesses would be willing to take that chance. But we need something in return. We can’t just take on everyone who comes out of prison regardless of who they are or what they do. We have a zero tolerance approach when it comes to reoffending.’
‘But I haven’t reoffended!’
‘No, but you have been arrested for an offence within hours of being released. I appreciate the police are investigating and that they’ll decide to either charge you or release you — hopefully the latter — but in the meantime there’s very little we can do. The same rules apply to all our staff, whether they’re ex-offenders or not. If you’re under investigation for a potentially serious crime, we have to suspend you from work.’
Lucas closed his eyes. He feared that would be the case. And all before he’d even come into the shop and done his first day’s work.
‘We’re not trying to make a judgement, but we have certain responsibilities as a retailer and an employer,’ Ayling said. ‘I hope you understand.’
‘So what, I’m out before I’m even in?’
‘No, it’s a temporary suspension. Just while this is all up in the air. You’ve got to look at it from our point of view, John. You haven’t even started working here yet. We’ve never met you before. And the first thing we hear is that you’re not turning up for your first day of work because you’ve been arrested. For arson and manslaughter.’
‘Yeah, and then bailed a few hours later. They don’t just bail people on an arson and manslaughter case, especially not if they’re ex-cons. The only reason they’d do that is if they didn’t really believe I’d done it.’
‘In which case they’ll drop the case and release you fully in due course, at which point you’ll be more than welcome to come back and join us here.’
‘And if they don’t?’
‘Like you say, you didn’t do it. So that’s not an option, is it?’
Lucas tried to hold his frustrations inside, but he was struggling. He desperately wanted to tell Ayling to stuff his stupid job. He could stick it up his arse as far as he cared. But he knew that wouldn’t do him any favours.
He wanted the job. It wasn’t exactly a burgeoning career, but what else would he have in his position? He was fortunate to have that much. He just prayed to God — if there was one — that whoever had tried setting him up hadn’t done it too well.
Then again, they’d had eleven years to plan it. What if they’d covered every angle, thought of every possible way in which their plan might fall down?
He knew he was innocent. But he didn’t have the same level of trust in the British justice system as most people did. And he knew what some of his past associates were capable of.
He had to hope, had to pray that logic and common sense would win out. Because he already had too much to lose if it didn’t.
- Writer
