Storm and Silence (Storm and Silence 1)

Mr Linton,

They were not new, but second-hand. I am still waiting for file 37VI288. Shove it under the door.

Rikkard Ambrose

I’d like to shove it up his…

Oh no. I didn’t want to have anything to do with his… Well, with that part of him. No matter how juicy it looked. Not even for shoving files up it.

Dear Mr Ambrose,

I demand to be let out immediately!

Yours

Lilly Linton

His reply was short and to the point. Who could have guessed?

Mr Linton,

You work for me, not the other way around. You cannot demand anything. Now bring me file 37VI288.

Rikkard Ambrose

What did I do? Yell? Hammer at the door in protest?

No.

I brought him the file.

I just managed it, all the while chanting in my head ‘Think of the money. Think of the independence it will bring you. Think of what you can do for Ella if all goes horribly wrong. You must have that money. You must.’

My chant was interrupted by the plink of another message arriving.

*~*~**~*~*

‘Mr Linton?’

‘Yes?’

I resurfaced from a mountain of files I was sorting through and looked around. But there was no one there.

‘Mr Linton? The door to your office is locked.’

It was Mr Stone’s voice, coming from the other side of the door leading to the hallway.

‘Yes, um… Mr Ambrose wanted me to lock it.’

‘Oh.’ From Mr Stone’s bewildered tone, I could tell he wanted to ask why but didn’t think it was worth the risk of arousing the wrath of Mr Ambrose. ‘Well, I have his letters here. Sorry for the delay, the postman got here late.’

‘I see. Can you just shove them under the door, please?’

‘Of course. See you later, Mr Linton.’

‘Yes, thank you, Mr Stone.’

Hurrying over to the door I grabbed the pile of letters and began to leaf through it. Business, business, business, charity (waste), charity (waste), more charity (definitely waste!), pink envelope-