As the saying goes, ‘all good things come to an end’. For the three of us, that meant having to go back to work. Still we were happy at how things had turned out over the Holidays.

The three of us made a staggered entrance on the first day back. Gwen got a few ribald comments from Jeff. That was nothing in comparison to what I received.

As I walked into the Office, Jeff pounced.
“Hello, my name is Jeff. Can I help you Ms?”

“Hello Jeff, my name is Louise. I am Stewarts replacement.”

There was a stunned silence. Jeff said,

“I didn’t know that he’d resigned.”

Then he looked at me and saw Sandra and Gwen sniggering.

“Oh shit. You are… Stewart? You’ve gone over to the dark side!”

“Thanks for the warm welcome Jeff. It is nice to know who ones friends are don’t you agree?”

It took him a second or so to realise that I’d actually insulted him.

He glared at me and disappeared out of the office door muttering something about a viewing.

When he’d gone, we all had a good laugh.

The other salesman, a meek man named Eric who was close to retirement age piped up,

“Well Lass you scrub up better than Mr Stewart ever did.”

With a smile on my face, I walked over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

Eric went very red in the face before he said,

“Well, it is not every day that a pretty girl kisses an old codger like me. Thank you my dear.”

The whole office was in good spirits as New Year’s Eve approached. The three of us girls were going to get together to see in the New Year.

Thankfully none of the properties I looked after needed any work so I was able to plan our little party properly this time.

Then on New Years Eve, we received an unannounced visitor from Head Office. This was none other than Jeff the salesman’s father, Harry Turner. He arrived and spent a good hour closeted away in the main office with his son. The usual incumbent, Alan Hughes was still on holiday.

After an hour, the pair came out. Jeff looked pretty pleased with himself as he told us all to be in the Office pronto at 3pm.

Three PM came around and all of us were present in the office waiting for whatever news awaited us.

“Thank you all for being here. Sadly, Alan is still away and won’t be back in the country until tomorrow,” said Harry.

“I’ve been dispatched from Head Office to give you all a bit of news.”

He swallowed hard. It was then I knew that it wasn’t going to be good news.

“I am sad to say that we are closing this office on the 31st of next month. Each of you will be given three months severance pay. That is apart from Jeff who will be transferring to the Newark Branch at that time.”

Everyone looked at Jeff who was grinning from ear to ear. It was evident that we’d been stitched up. He was the worst salesman in the company yet every month he seemed to acquire sales from the rest of us thus avoiding the sack.

The rotter smoothed things out by giving those who actually made the sales their bonus in cash. I knew not that this was all part of his plan to follow his father into senior management.

“Right. Any questions?” said Harry.

I looked around at the others. None of them looked like they wanted to speak so I did.

“What about the properties what we manage on behalf of the owners?”

“Ah yes. That is as yet undecided.”

“So Head Office decides to close the branch but does not have a plan to wind down the business?”

“No. That is not true.”

“Well? What are Head Office going to say to the owners who I might add make us a good deal of money every year on the properties we manage that they are suddenly going to be high and dry?”

“That hasn’t been decided yet.”

“Well, Mr high and mighty bringer of bad news perhaps you should go back to Head Office and get your colleagues to sort themselves out. In the meantime, I had better start informing the owners of the situation.”

Gwen was grinning at me.

Feeling full of confidence, I added,

“Are we done here? If so then us girls are going home to put our glad rags on.”

The three of us walked out of the office leaving the men behind.

We’d only got about 50yds up the road when Eric came after us.

“If you don’t mind Ladies, could I treat you all to a drink? I think you hit them where it hurt.”

I looked at the other two who grinned. Gwen and Sandra took Eric’s arms and off we set.

In the days since Christmas, Eric hadn’t said much to me. He was a quiet chap anyway but since my change he’d been even quieter.

He treated us to a few drinks in ‘The Feathers’. It was getting busy with people having a drink to see the old year out. As I was wondering if I should get another round in, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an old and tattered photo.

“I want you to take a look at this,” he said as he passed it to Gwen.

We all peered at the picture. It was a very faded colour print of some people standing outside a shop.

“That’s me standing outside the first Biba shop in London. Nineteen Sixty something.”

All the people in the picture were dressed as women.

“Eric?” I said.

“Don’t worry Lass. I only wish that I were forty years younger. I never had the nerve to go fulltime. Back then no one mattered what you looked like so at weekends I’d put on a dress and take the bus from Clapham Common to Kings Road and hang out with lots of people like me.”

A tear had started to form in his eye.

“Sorry. I’m just being a sentimental old fool.”

“No Eric, you are just letting a lot of history come out,” said Gwen.

She took his hand in hers and gently stroked the back of it.

I handed the picture back to him.

“What are you going to do now?” I asked.

“I think it is time for me to retire.”

“And?”

He looked at me.

“Oh! I see. I think I’m a bit old for that don’t you?”

“Eric, no one is ever too old,” said Sandra.

“What are you three going to do?” said Eric trying to change the subject.

“I don’t know about you two,” said Gwen
“But I think we could make a go of running the Lettings Business. It makes money so why not?”

Sandra and I turned to look at her.

“Gwen?”

“Well, we are going to be unemployed in a months time. So why don’t we are least consider it. Someone has to manage the properties don’t they?”

“Eric? What do you think?”

He finished wiping away a tear and said,

“If anyone can make a go of it, it is you three.”

“If we do it, why don’t you work with us?” asked Sandra.

Eric smiled back.

“Thanks for the offer girls. I think I should retire and tend my garden.”

We soon broke up and went our separate ways. Sandra and Gwen were due to come round to my place around 8pm and then we were going out for the evening.

I’d not long got home when I started to feel deflated. I didn’t much feel like going out and was about to call the girls then my phone rang. It was Sandra.

“Hi Sandra.”

“Yeah. Me too. I was about to ring you. What do you want to do?”

“Yes. That sounds good. What about Gwen?”

“Ok. See you soon.”

I spent the next few minutes tiding up and getting a few plates and glasses ready. We were going to stay in and see the New Year in together.

If I had any thoughts about getting rather pissed, they disappeared the moment Gwen arrived at my home.

“What are you carrying there?” I asked as she struggled with four large box files and her laptop.

“Our future.”

Despite my pressing her she wouldn’t answer until Sandra arrived. She was also loaded down with files.

I opened the first of what promised to be several bottles or wine as the others set out all the papers on my big table.

“Ok, here’s the wine now what’s the plan?”

“I went back to the office and bought all the lettings details,” said Sandra.

Gwen laughed.

“I went back and grabbed all the financial records I could.”

I looked at the pair of them

“Is this legal?” I asked.

“Well? If we decide to bid for the business, we have to go through a process call ‘due diligence’. Let’s call this a sneak peek at the books.”

I wasn’t happy but there wasn’t much I could do about it. So I gave in and let the others guide me.

We went through all the lettings and worked out the profit and loss for each property given the current contract. Gwen entered this into a spreadsheet so that we could model the potential cash flow over the next 12 months. As we progressed, she got more and more frustrated. At first, I thought that it was the wine but she’d hardly touched her first glass so that wasn’t it.

In the end, I asked,

“Ok Gwen, spill the beans. What is getting you all hot under the collar?”

She looked up from her laptop with anger in her eyes.

“The bastards. It is no wonder they are closing the office.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sandra.

“Someone is systematically skimming around five per cent of all rental profits before they get reported to head office.”

“Who could? Jeff. It has to be Jeff.”

Gwen shook her head.

“No. He never gets near the books. He barely passed his GCSE Maths. Sums is not his strongpoint,” said Gwen.

It was well known that Jeff and Gwen had been at school together. He was in the ‘IT’ crowd while Gwen wasn’t. He never let her forget the fact that he’d dated all the pretty girls. The implication was obvious yet this past week had seen her come out of her sell a very long way.

I asked, “What happens to the money then?”

“It gets reported to regional.”

“So how come you can discover that now?”

“Because the papers that I grabbed for some reason contain the figures that regional report to Head Office.”

Suddenly a light went on in my head.

“Jeff’s father. It has to be. Did you get these papers from where the two of them were working earlier?”

“Yes why?”

“Those papers were not meant to be there. They have to go back as soon as possible.”

No one disagreed.

“So first thing in the morning they get returned? Ok?”

Gwen looked at Sandra and they smiled.

“After we copy them sure,” said Sandra.

By the time it got close to midnight we had a good picture of the potential income that could be made from managing the current portfolio of rental properties.

“It’s a profit but it is not enough,” said Sandra.

“Enough for what?” I asked.

“To replace what the three of us currently earn. The income from house sales does to some extent allow the office to operate.”

“Is that before or after the profit skim?”

“Before. Why?”

“Then we have two options. Firstly we cut the costs or secondly we increase the number of properties we manage.”

“How do you suggest we cut the costs?” asked Gwen as she finally got around to emptying the glass of wine that I’d poured for her hours before.

Then I opened my big mouth.

“Why don’t the two of you come and live here? There is plenty of room. Then we only have one set of outgoings.”

The both looked at me with their mouths open.

“Are you sure?” they both asked together. Then they burst out laughing.

When they’d finished I said,

“It just came out but it makes perfect sense really. Why won’t it work? You both rent at the moment. So?”

“I… W…. B…. “ Stuttered Gwen.

“Oh fuck. Yes. Why not,” said Sandra?

We both turned to Gwen.

“Do you think this can work? We can work?” asked Gwen as her composure returned.

I took their hands in mine.

“We did all right over Christmas didn’t we?”

There was no immediate answer from either of them. Finally Gwen said,

“But I’m not a lesbian.”

Sandra burst out laughing.

“Neither am I darling. But I think this will work,” said Sandra.

Gwen sat for a long minute with her eyes closed.

Eventually she opened them and smiled.

“Very well. But we have to set some rules.”

Just then we heard the firework display start on the Promenade.

“Happy new year flatmates,” I said.

We toasted in the New Year with the last of the wine.

New Years day was not a holiday for us. We spent all the day working on our business case. Well, Sandra and Gwen did the work while I provided the food, coffee, moral assistance and using my laptop to create the business plan.

It was a long day before we we’d done all that we could before we all fell asleep with exhaustion. I sent them on their way home with a tinge of regret but we all had to go to work the following day.

Gwen went into the office as usual bright and early. She normally opened up the office on weekdays so this was nothing out of the ordinary. Her fist job was to replace all the files she’d purloined on New Years Eve. Then she called Sandra who arrived a few minutes later and did the same with her bits.

By the time I arrived the girls had the coffee brewed and were looking all innocent sitting at their desks pretending to do some work.

I walked through the door and bade them good morning.

“Hello girls. Is everything as it should be?”

“If you are referring to maintenance calls then there are none,” said Gwen.

Then the three of us burst out laughing.

While we were being jovial, Jeff walked in.

“What’s so funny? Should you be laughing now that you are on Notice?”

“Jeff,” I said,
“Fuck off.”

He went red in the face.

“Who are you to be telling me that? You were a failure as a man and you will be even worse trying to be a woman.”

That was it. I’d taken just about enough from him.

“Jeff, you might think that I’m a failure but what about you eh? Where’s your wife then? Oh yes, she’s living in a caravan in Mabelthorpe. All the time you are living well beyond your means. What failing estate agent can afford a Porsche Cayenne? Which incidentally is about the ugliest car on the road.”

Before he could say anything I added,

“You should look at yourself in the mirror sometime. Then perhaps you will see that you are fast becoming your father. You are destined to be a middle manager nobody who will go nowhere with their life. You might criticise me but I now know where I’m going with my life. Thankfully you will play no part of it so good riddance to you and your bullying.”

Then I walked to the rear of the office and my little domain. As I did so, Gwen, Sandra and Eric who’d arrived in the middle of my diatribe started clapping.

Jeff just left without a word to anyone.

Now that the office was officially open we had legitimate access to the documents about the skimming. Sandra had great pleasure in explaining it all to Eric.

“Sandra, this is dynamite. I know a few people in head office. They will love to see this evidence.”

Sandra to my surprise shook her head.

“Sorry Eric. This has to go to the police. A crime has been committed here. They should be made to pay for it properly.”

Gwen stood up and went to Sandra’s side.

“We can always do both you know.”

Eric smiled.

“I don’t know what you three witches are cooking up but if there is space for an old codger like me then I’d like to play a part. I do have some money I’m looking to invest. Erica could even be persuaded to come out of retirement.”

We all looked at him.

“Are you serious?” asked Sandra.

“Yes I am. But there is a lot to do before those sorts of decisions need to be made.”

“Such as?” said Gwen.

“Pitching that business plan to the company. Let me make a phone call to set up an appointment.”

“Eric! What are you not telling us?”

He grinned.

“My son is the Company Financial Director. He got me this job to help me ease into retirement. Suddenly I have found that I’m not exactly ready to retire.”

Then he added,
“If anyone can provide a coherent explanation for the sudden closure of this office then it is him. But we really need to put all that evidence to him face to face.”

None of us could disagree with that.

[To be continued in part 4]
[Authors note:]
Sorry for the delay in posting this part. Real World events have got in the way of things. Hopefully, I'm on top of things now.