“Hard weekend Jay?” Paul peered over the top his screen, looking for a reaction.
“Busy and quite productive I have to say” returned Jay, conscious that the bags under his eyes together with his constant yawning had given him away.
“I know that feeling well matey.. I’ve had a few of those myself” Paul added a little knowing wink to his sentence as he clambered back down to his seat. It took a few moments before Jay caught on to what Paul was eluding to.
“Are you taking the CHAPS case?” asked Paul with a degree of hope in his voice.
“Can do.. No problem” Jay jotted the new task on his To Do list with a sense of eagerness and satisfaction he hadn’t experienced for a very long time. He was contented with his new job, he was needed. He felt noticed and not overlooked. He contributed, and he wasn’t being taken for granted. This was light years away from his days under Beck. But even though several weeks had passed, Jay still found it difficult to forgive and forget.
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Jay did a quick search for florists on the Internet whilst Paul was occupied.
Buy.. Flowers.. London NW.. A list came up of several local suppliers. He then filtered them, dismissing the ones which looked a bit grotty or a bit too expensive, settling on a shop which also included free message cards. Jay decided to take the easy option, a dozen red roses with the message “From James - your secret admirer from Norway” together with his email address and mobile telephone number. They would be delivered the next morning at around 9 am. Jay quickly clicked on the ‘pay’ button and closed the browser window before anyone wandering past could see what he was up to. CHAPS was next on the list.
The CHAPS case made heavy reading, magnified by the fact that the brief was so long-winded: ‘The CHAPS system is used to transfer money between the bank and other institutions..’
The bank suspected that someone had been ‘creative’ with money transfers. Jay started as he normally would by gathering as much data as possible. He wanted to make sure that he knew all the intricacies of the system, all the ins and outs of how the system worked. He analysed who had access, where current weaknesses and possible vulnerabilities were, unusual patterns of behaviour, data flows, network traffic until it was time to go home.
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“Yeah, it’s going fine Mum.. Don’t worry.. I don’t think I’m going to get fired again” Jay’s weekly call to his mother was well under way as he zapped through the numerous satellite channels he had recently installed at home, looking for something remotely interesting to watch.
“You’ve got to be careful you know.. There aren’t many good jobs around anymore.. Trevor was just saying..”
Jay interrupted “I spoke to Dad the other day.. He asked how you were”
“Really? Well.. tell him I’m fine.. and say I asked how he was” A long silence followed, interrupted by a loud noise from Jay’s pad computer.
“You know.. it would be easier if you two talked to each other directly.. You must be able to manage that? ..After all, you were married for ten years”
“It’s not that easy Jay.. it all got very complicated with the finances and.. are you still there?”
“Yes.. sorry Mum.. Got to go.. There’s someone on the other line.. I’ve been trying to get hold of them for ages”
“Ok.. Well.. look after yourself and don’t do anything stupid at work.. Trevor sends his regards.”
“Yeah.. thanks Mum.. Take care and send my regards to Trevor.. Speak to you soon!” Jay pressed the red button on his telephone, feeling guilty about lying to his mother. There was no other call. But he couldn’t cope with yet another discussion about his parent’s problems, not now at least. Jay checked his pad computer to see what the alarm had been for. It was an e-mail about how to save money on bodybuilding drugs. ‘Marvellous!’ he thought, as he slumped back down on the sofa.
Jay picked up his mobile phone and sat staring at the display.
He desperately wanted to contact Zulekha, send a text – anything that would confirm that he had found the right person. He started typing on his phone: ‘Hope you liked the flowers? Can we meet up? Yours, Jay (from Norway)’. He deleted the message again without sending it, telling himself that it would be ridiculous to do anything now before the flowers had even been delivered. Apart from that, he noticed that he only had her land-line number - it was the only entry in the database. In other words, he just had to get through the next twelve hours with a little assistance from a chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio.
Jay switched channel, catching the tail end of the news. There had been another incident of gang rape in India. Jay couldn’t cope with hearing any more but he was drawn in by the horror of it, not dissimilar to witnessing a road accident where you want to look away but somehow can’t. He quickly wished he had just switched off as he thought about the victims, their families, what they all must have gone through. And what about the perpetrators? Did they care? Did they feel any remorse? And do their families even know what they have done? Jay picked up his paper block and started scribbling.