Free The Loyal Servant by Eva Hudson

templed his fingers, resting his chin on the apex. He scrutinised her through narrowed eyes and said nothing. It was so quiet Caroline could hear her watch ticking.
    ‘I know I don’t need to impress upon you how serious a situation we find ourselves in,’ he finally said.
    Caroline tilted her head down a few degrees, not wanting to commit to a full nod until she had some idea what he was talking about.
    ‘Very serious indeed.’
    She tried to read his expression, wondering whether he was expecting her to jump in and pick up the conversation where he’d left it. But she hadn’t survived in a government department for this long without learning some basic self-preservation skills. Generally, the higher up the food chain someone was, the more difficult they were to deal with. And Prior was more slippery than most. She wasn’t alone in mistrusting him. He had been parachuted in on a temporary contract, without going through the normal recruitment procedures. His appointment was resented by most of the division. Though Prior’s predecessor had been unable to make decisions and was quick to cast around for a low-ranking scapegoat when anything went wrong, Prior had gone too far the other way, making policy changes without proper consultation. So far he hadn’t made any huge mistakes to blame on someone else. But it was only a matter of time. She was pretty sure he’d be as adept at dodging bullets as a regular Grade 6 career civil servant.
    Uncomfortable as this prickling silence was, she continued to return his gaze without uttering a word. She’d seen colleagues reduced to tears by Jeremy Prior. She settled into her seat, prepared for a battle of wills, determined she wasn’t going to be his next victim.
    ‘Have you spoken to Pamela about it at all?’ he said.
    It ? Caroline shook her head.
    ‘Ah. I see.’ He tugged at his cuffs, pulling the sleeves of his handmade shirt over his bony wrists. He straightened his tie. ‘Information, Caroline. It’s a precious commodity.’
    Was he talking about Martin Fox? Caroline uncrossed her legs and leaned forward a fraction.
    ‘That’s why we have to take such good care of it,’ he continued.
    She folded her hands into her lap.
    ‘And I’m afraid the division has fallen short. Very short.’ He continued to stare at her. And she stared right back. ‘Derelict in its duties,’ he said. ‘Missed the mark.’
    Caroline resisted the overwhelming urge to remind him how well the academies division was working before he joined it, even without anyone at the helm.
    ‘A CD-ROM has been misplaced.’ He didn’t shift his gaze. She got the distinct impression he was trying to gauge her reaction. ‘A CD-ROM containing the personal details of 150,000 pupils attending schools in special measures.’
    All weekend she had assumed he was going to speak to her about the events surrounding Martin Fox’s death. A lost CD-ROM seemed like a massive anti-climax.
    ‘And that’s a problem for the division?’ she said.
    ‘I’m not sure you have grasped the severity of the situation. Personal details, Caroline.’
    ‘How personal?’
    ‘Name, age, address. Special educational needs status. Whether or not they receive free school meals. Attendance records, educational achievements.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘Precisely.’ He leaned forward, placing his hands flat on the desk. ‘This is highly sensitive information. The department cannot been seen to have a cavalier attitude towards this sort of thing.’
    ‘Of course not.’
    ‘Especially after the events of recent years. We can’t have this disc turning up on the 5.55 to Dorking. Or a pub car park somewhere.’
    ‘So the disc is… misplaced? In the sense of—’
    ‘It simply must be located, and discreetly. The fact that it’s missing cannot be made public.’
    ‘Who had it last?’
    He shook his head. ‘It’s not a set of keys or a ten pound note lost between the cushions of a sofa.’ He sighed. ‘The disc was locked in one of