‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean I’ve been sacked.’
‘You what?’
‘Yeah. Sacked.’
‘Well… it doesn’t matter. Jobs are ten a penny, you’ll get another when all this blows over. Why’d they sack you?’
‘Blows over?’ Layla let out a sobbing laugh. ‘What are you talking about? I shot someone, Mum. Shot her dead. You nearly died in a car bombing. Someone tried to grab me, and if he’d caught me…’ She stopped, shaking her head. ‘And you talk about when it blows over! How can it?’
Annie took a breath. Somehow or other, Layla was going to have to tough this out, absorb it. She’d always seemed soft, but Annie thought that deep down her daughter had a strong core. Now, she was going to have to prove it.
‘Why’d they sack you?’ Annie repeated, more gently.
‘Because I was smoking in the office.’
‘Well, there’s no law against that.’ Annie frowned. ‘Since when did you start smoking?’
‘I don’t. That’s the point. I went out to lunch, met Junior and then Precious. As I was heading back to the office I saw smoke at my office window. By the time I got inside, all the fire alarms on the third floor were going, people were running around shouting. A cigarette had been left smouldering in the waste bin and it caught fire. Luckily, someone spotted it quickly and put it out. But my boss, who’s fed up with me anyway because of all this shit that’s happening, because I’ve been off sick and I’m never sick and he thinks I’m taking the piss – he lost it completely. Said I could have burned the whole place down, I was a fucking nuisance, and to clear my desk.’
Layla stopped speaking, seeing the whole scene again. Everyone watching. The gloating, avaricious expressions on their faces, the stench of smoke, the endless shrieking of the fire alarms, while Etchingham tore into her.
‘But you don’t smoke. Surely they know that?’
Layla waved a tired hand in front of her face. ‘Oh, no one came leaping to my defence. Even the young mums who keep having time off to nurse their sick kids aren’t as hated as much as I am. And that’s saying something. I told Etchingham I didn’t drop the cigarette in there, but he wasn’t buying. He wanted an excuse to fire my arse, and he found it.’
‘Does anyone else have access to your office?’ asked Annie.
‘Everyone. I don’t lock it when I go out – there is no lock on my door. No one goes in there, as a general rule. But someone did. And they tossed a lit cigarette into the bin, and got me sacked.’
‘Jealous colleague?’ suggested Annie.
Layla dropped her head into her hands. ‘Oh, you know what? Take your pick. They all hate me. What does it matter now anyway.’