Free The Loyal Servant by Eva Hudson Page A

the secure cabinets.’
    ‘But the information itself isn’t lost, we still have it all on the network somewhere?’
    ‘Of course we have the information. That’s not the issue.’ He clamped his mouth shut, the muscles in his cheeks bulged as he ground his teeth. ‘We can’t have some unauthorised individual getting their hands on it. Especially not the media.’
    ‘Why was all of that “sensitive” information put on a CD-ROM in the first place?’
    ‘It was requested.’ He looked away for the first time. Caroline wondered if he was lying.
    ‘Requested?’
    Prior blew an impatient little snort down his nose.
    ‘Who requested it?’
    ‘The late minister for schools requested it.’ He practically spat the words at her.
    Caroline tried to keep her face blank. If Martin Fox had needed that kind of information he should have come to her. Maybe Prior was lying. She waited for him to look at her before she spoke again. ‘If the disc was specifically created for the schools minister, surely it must still be in the department somewhere?’
    ‘That’s what we have to find out.’
    ‘Have you checked with the police? They’ve taken all of Martin’s things from his office. It’s probably sealed up in an evidence bag at the police station.’
    ‘Not according to the investigating officer.’
    Caroline remembered the inspector in the untidy raincoat arriving on the seventh floor with Prior and recalled how chummy they seemed to be. The very same inspector who must have lied about the suicide note to the press.
    ‘So you think it’s still somewhere in the building?’
    ‘As I said, that is what you need to find out. I want you and Pamela to initiate a thorough search. Formally interview everyone in the division.’
    Caroline opened her mouth, about to object, about to remind him how busy she was already, but instead she just nodded. Now wasn’t the time to pick a fight with Jeremy Prior about workloads, especially with a fresh wave of redundancies on the horizon.
    ‘You simply must find that disc.’ He dismissed her with an almost imperceptible flick of a hand.
    Caroline stood up and turned towards the door.
    ‘While we’re on the subject of the schools minister,’ Prior said.
    Here it comes.
    Caroline slowly turned back to face him. Prior was studying his fingernails.
    ‘I didn’t get a chance to speak to you the other evening.’
    She said nothing.
    ‘Such a terrible shock. So awful for you to… come upon him like that.’
    Caroline leaned a hand on the back of the chair.
    ‘Had Martin asked you to go up?’
    Caroline tightened her grip on the chair back. ‘I’m sorry?’
    ‘Did he call you? Ask you to go up and see him?’
    Was he testing her? Did he already know the answer? She decided it was too risky to lie.
    ‘The minister did leave me a message earlier in the evening.’ She swallowed. ‘I can’t actually remember what it was about, now. Events kind of overtook me.’
    ‘Of course they did, of course.’ Prior stopped scrutinising his nails and looked up. ‘But is that how you found yourself on the seventh floor, because of his message?’
    She thought about her desperate dash to the lifts, escaping from Ed and his sweaty hands. She looked Prior squarely in the eyes. Why was he even asking?
    Think of something.
    ‘It’s a bit embarrassing, actually.’ She stared down at her hands, bent white at the knuckles, clutching the back of the chair. She lifted her head slowly and stared back at Prior, locking his gaze in hers. ‘I needed change for the machine.’ She paused for effect. ‘In the ladies’.’
    He didn’t react.
    ‘I’d started my period, you see. A couple of days earlier than I was expecting.’
    She continued to stare at him. Earlier and a lot heavier.’ Still he maintained eye contact. ‘Early menopause, the doctor thinks. It’s called flooding.’
    Finally he looked away and cleared his throat. But Caroline didn’t feel like stopping.
    ‘It’s something you