Murder to Order: Part Two

Compass House, an office block in central London, is the headquarters of Pinnacle Partnerships, Ltd, a form whose website declared itself to be a 'consulting' firm. Which tells the casual enquirer precisely nothing. It was to a little shabby hotel just round the corner to this that the taxi took Ms. Madison. She sighed and rolled her eyes, before reading the briefing notes. She was not pleased to find that she was Millicent Riches, an office drudge about to start in an entry-level job at Pinnacle.

So, the next morning Ms. Madison, dressed as elegantly as she thought an office drudge might be, headed for the office, whistling a merry tune. She gave the security guard a cheerful, slightly flirtatious smile, as she passed the desk. She was almost in the lift by the time the guard called her back.

Ms. Madison was required to sit for a photgraph, so she posed accordingly, only to be told that all they required was her face for a pass. Once a pass had been generated, she was told to wait by the desk until her manager arrived. When the man turned up, Ms. Madison stepped forward with a cheerful smile.

"Millicent Riches," the blonde extended her hand. "Just joined the firm."

"I know." The man took her hand, smiling back. "I'm Robin Thatcham, manager of Customer Services. Did the agency tell you what the job entails?"

"More or less," she smiled. "I answer the 'phone and deal with our customers when they're not satisfied with our service."

"Partly," the man nodded, his tone a little patronising. "You will be a Customer Services Consultant in our after-sales servicing department. You will be arranging payment plans for clients who cannot meet their existing payments, as well as dealing with people who are not satosfied with our services."

"Sounds simple," Ms. Madison smiled, "sort of like a holiday job I once did for an insurance firm."

"Good," he smiled. "Of course, there is a huge difference between what they do and we do, Millicent. You will be taking calls from people who have had people murdered on their behalf."