Chapter 6
“Oooh! New equipment!” Violet enthused as she walked in through the doors of the department, spotting the shiny new machines in the corner, “They obviously approved my application to requisitions.”
“We got everything on the request form, Q.” one of the juniors replied cheerfully overhearing Violet, “We were waiting for you to start them up, we weren’t sure if you wanted to do them yourself.”
Violet considered for a second,
“No, you go ahead, start them up, I have to go check on the adaptations on the Lotus for 005. He’s off on Mission tomorrow and everything needs to be final checked. Hopefully he’ll bring this one back in one piece.” She added sceptically, eliciting a laugh from the blonde junior. Throwing her bag and coat over her office chair, she made her way through the maze of machinery and desks to the automobile section of the department.
Scanning her key card into the scanner at the door, it swung open, and Violet passed through, finding the area surprisingly calm. She spotted Lola, who was in charge of that sub department, and headed over to her, waiting patiently until she was free before catching her attention. Violet returned the grin she was given, before going to give her old university friend a brief hug before they got down to business.
“How’s the Lotus? All ready to go tomorrow?” she asked, leaning against the counter as she spoke.
“She’s all ready,” Lola replied, cheerily, “All Mod-cons, plus a few fun extras!” she added, handing Violet the spec sheet, and sign-off form, “Why don’t we go sit in my office, you can read it over, and I’ll go grab coffee?”
“That sounds fair,” Violet replied with a smile turning on her heels to face Lola’s office, “Caffeine sounds great, I’ve not had any yet this morning.” She added gratefully.
“Well we can’t have that, for the safety of others!” Lola joked lightly, “I’ll be back shortly, you go look through that paperwork.”
Violet headed over to the office in the corner of the area, settling into one of the chairs in there and opening up the paperwork, starting to go through it. She grabbed a pen to mark a few points which she wanted to clarify before signing off, however it all looked to be in order, Violet thought. Not that she would have expected anything less from Lola, the woman was a perfectionist, and a workaholic, Violet had few doubts more that the logged hours had been put in on this.
She glanced up at Lola’s arrival, taking the proffered cup with a murmured thanks, taking a sip and sighing a little with relief as it hit her.
“Lola, you angel. You know how to make me happy.” Violet joked, taking another big sip and glancing down at the papers in front of her.
“10 years of friendship I should hope so!” was the laughing reply, “Anything in there you want me to expand on?”
Violet slid the sheets of paper over, the few underlined bits clearly visible. She sat back in her seat, working her way through the coffee and listening as they were explained.
“Ok, that’s all fine, I’ll sign it off, inspect the car and then I have a tonne of paperwork to go and do,” Violet said, grabbing the pen and putting her signature on the dotted line of the sign-off sheet, “Are we still on for Lunch Saturday? I’ll book a table somewhere. “she added, standing up and heading out to where the car was, shining silver paint glowing under the lights.
She circled the car, mentally ticking things off as she did so, opening the doors and bonnet, before stepping back with a nod.
“Lunch yes, let me know. “Lola replied, “005 is due to pick up at 10am, I’ll email when it’s collected, and remind him to get it back in one piece if possible.”
“Right, I shall leave all that in your capable hands, I’m off to do paperwork.” Violet replied, a little reluctantly before heading out of the automobile sub department. The walk back to her own office in the main area was a few minutes’ walk, it was a fairly big department, and she took a great deal of pride in being in charge of it.
Glancing over at the group of juniors huddled around the new machines, Violet headed into her own office, smiling to herself over their excitement. She settled down into her computer chair, opening the laptop in front of her, and opening one of the documents she needed to finish.
Her paperwork kept her until mid-afternoon, with a very brief break to eat, but by 3 it was all completed, submitted and emailed to the relevant people. She’d also managed to prep her paperwork for the next week’s appraisal sessions so she really was doing pretty well. Violet stood up, stretching her legs.
She glanced at her phone, reading the text from Klaus reminding her about dinner at their former guardians’ house that evening. She’d need to go change beforehand, and the four of them were due to be there by half 6, so she’d have to leave a little early, but she had a build-up of overtime hours, so that wouldn’t be an issue.
She tapped out a quick reply, before heading out into the main department and headed over to see how the juniors were all getting on with the new machines. Pulling her hair back with a ribbon, she got stuck in, double checking they were using them right and also listening to the ideas being thrown around about what they might be able to do now that they had these.
Violet instructed them to draw up a plan and put it on her desk so she could have a look through them and decide which ones should be followed up on. Some of them were already catching her interest, but it would be good to see how they thought they could be achieved. She perched on the desk, just taking the creative atmosphere in, the juniors unbothered by her presence, they were used to her presence when they were working.
She glanced down at her watch, working out when she would have to leave if it was a 40 min drive away from her house and she had to shivvy the girls into being ready to go. If she left here at half 4 that should be fine. She was already done with everything that had needed finishing today so that wouldn’t be a problem. After a moment of considering, she decided that if she left at half 4, that would be fine.
At about 4ish, she headed back to her office, shooting her 2nd in charge an email to let them know she would be going at half 4, and that they would need to be there to close up. Heading back into her office again, she sat down to reply to a few emails that had come in whilst she was in the main area.
Attaching a document to the last email she had to send, she clicked the button to take it away, and then, checking her watch she stood up, going to grab her coat and bag off the rack in the corner. Violet slipped the laptop into her bag, before locking up her office and calling out a bye as she headed out of the department, and along the path that took her to her car parking space. She texted Klaus before leaving just to let him know, before getting into the car, and pulling out.
. . . .
Turning her key in the door, Violet threw open the door.
“Sunny, Bea, You’d better be ready in 30 minutes, because We’re leaving at quarter to 6!” She called out, hearing the scuffle of feet on the first floor landing, “No Trainers, no Jeans, half an hour! I don’t care if we’re not leaving until 45 minutes time!”
Bea’s face peeped over the top of the banisters,
“What about new jeans? Without holes?”
“No Jeans.” Was Violet’s reply as she headed up the first set of stairs, glancing over her shoulder as Bea headed into her room as she headed for the second flight of stairs to her own room. She threw her bag down into the corner and hung her coat on the hanger that was on the door of the wardrobe.
After a very speedy shower, Violet padded back into her room, towel anchored around her as she rummaged through the wardrobe for her white eyelet top, pulling it out and then going up on her tiptoes to grab a pair of navy blue trousers off the top shelf.
She pulled them on, adding a little mascara and lipstick, and a spritz of perfume before heading towards the door again, grabbing a pair of flats from the shoe rack next to the door as she did so, and headed down the stairs, knocking on both the girls’ doors when she reached the 1st floor landing.
“5 minutes and then I want to see you downstairs!” she called out, pulling her phone from her pocket and checking it, a text from Klaus flashing up on the screen. He was running late, he would meet them there, could she bring the cheesecake from the fridge and a clean shirt for him. she replied a yes to both, before heading downstairs, checking her watch as she did so.
“3 minutes!” she shouted, as she headed over to Klaus’ room, heading inside and carefully taking one of the neatly ironed shirts from the pile, before carefully closing the door and making her way into the kitchen, and grabbing a clean bag to put the shirt in.
Violet retrieved the cheesecake which was already cling filmed, putting it on the table before heading back out to the lobby.
“Sunny! Beatrice! Hurry up!” Violet shouted up the stairs. Hearing the sound of footsteps on the landing, she sighed in relief, they may already be 15 minutes ahead now, but Sunny and Bea had a talent for turning on-time into late with very little effort whatsoever.
She waited at the bottom of the stairs as they came down, glancing over them to check they were looking suitable. Neither were in jeans, or trainers, neither had crazy amounts of makeup on, they would do.
“Ok, wait by the door, Klaus is meeting us there. Sunny you’re watching the cheesecake; Bea I need you to look after Klaus’ shirt.” She instructed, going to grab both and passing them to each respective teenager, before opening the door and ushering them out.
“Which car are we taking?” Bea asked, pausing at the bottom of the steps, “Your mini or the Audi?”
Violet deliberated for a moment,
“We’ll take the mini, Klaus’ll drive his own car back.” She replied, before heading over to the shiny silver car, clicking the button for it to open, and gesturing for the girls to climb in, “We’ll be a bit early but Julie won’t be fussed.” She added, climbing in and starting the car up. She pulled out of the drive, turning left, following the familiar route out of the city.
. . . . .
Jane pulled into her space in the car park, making sure she was parked properly, before clambering out of the car, document folder in hand. She headed up the flight of steps that took her up to the main maze, heading along the familiar route to M’s office. She pushed through the main doors of the office, spotting Eve sat at her desk. She glanced up at her as Jane came in, pausing in front of Eve’s desk.
“M in?” she asked, gesturing towards M’s office door, holding up up the document wallet as explanation.
“No, you just missed him, I’m sorry. He had a family occasion this evening. “ Eve replied, glancing up from her computer screen, “I can put it in his in-tray for the morning?” she offered.
Jane considered for a brief moment, before handing it over, “Thanks Eve, that’d be great.” She replied with a small smile, “Have a good evening.” She added, before heading for the door.