31st March 2008
My first day at the Angus Read Enquiry Agency and it went in a flash. Angus spent a hour explaining the ropes – his filing system, my basic duties and, most important of all, where he stores his cups and coffee. Then he went out ‘on the trail of an errant husband’.
While Angus was out, I answered the phone in a polite manner, typed up a report from his notes and talked with a potential client about problems she was experiencing at home – it seems that Cupid had been firing his arrows, again, and our potential client suspected her husband of living with another woman. Apparently, our potential client lived 120 miles away and her husband spent the weekdays in the city, with his lover, and the weekends with his wife in the countryside. On Angus’ instructions I’d been advised to note the details of potential clients and inform them that he’d be in touch as soon as possible. At times, I felt as though I’d been thrown in at the deep end and I arrived home exhausted, but exhilarated at the same time. I think this is the opportunity I’ve been looking for and, more than ever, I’m determined to make a success of it.
I was still on a high when Tina’s husband knocked on my door. I opened the door and he launched into a tirade, basically accusing me of instigating Dan and Tina’s affair. Try as I might, I couldn’t see his logic. I made every effort to reason with him, but it was a hopeless task. He went away grumpy and I closed the door feeling slightly depressed. The situation with Dan is still unresolved and until it is I’ll never be my own person.
Hannah Howe 