Alberta Clipper by Sheena Lambert Page B

because he had never made an effort with the space.  The one time Jennifer had been in it, shortly after he had been promoted, she had suggested hanging a painting and getting a few plants, neither of which he had done.  They had made plans to go out and celebrate his promotion by buying a painting for the purpose, but it had just never happened. 
    Mark walked over to the window and looked out over Clarendon Square.  Miserable Irish weather suited Dublin in lots of ways, but sunny days like this really seemed to give the city a new personality.  A bit of good weather was all it took to put Irish people in good humour, and he could see only smiling faces as he looked down the street and over to the gates of the square opposite .  Youngsters congregated in shorts and shades, enjoying the freedom of the school holidays.  Mothers pushed babies and dragged toddlers in through the gates, like ly bound for the playground and the duck ponds within.  Along the street, office workers carried laptop bags and talked on phones.  Most of the men carried their suit jackets over their arms or were without them entirely.  Mark stood on a chair and reached to unlock the window latch to let in some air.  It was stiff from lack of use.  As he jammed the palm of his hand against it, the sound of a knock on his door startled him.
    “You’re not going to jump, are you?”
    “Very funny.  Sorry I couldn’t wait around for the briefing.  I had something I needed to do here.”  Mark resumed forcing the lock so Shay couldn’t see his face. 
    “No problem, I can see you’re busy.  I’m only heading in now.  I told them to go ahead without me.”  Shay stepped further into the room and closed the door gently behind him.  “Are you sure you’re okay?”
    The clasp snapped back and the window dropped down.  The sounds of the street amplified .  Mark closed his eyes and breathed in the air, full of scent and heat.  He stood down from the chair, putting it back in the far corner of the room as if to reassure Shay of his sanity. 
    “I’m fine.  What did Marcus want?  That was who you were on to, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes.”  Shay sat down opposite Mark at his desk.  “Actually, it might be a problem.  It seems there have been some irregularities flagged in the UK.  Proprietary dealing irregularities.  Corporate compliance are investigating, and they want to include the Irish operations in the sweep.  He didn’t say it outright, but I got the impression that there is more to it than he is letting on.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I’m not sure – it was just Marcus’s tone.  I’m wondering if maybe the problem is exclusively here.  If maybe the investigation into the UK desk isn’t just a diversion.”
    “Jesus.”  Mark leaned back in his chair.  “But we have had no indication of there being any problem here?”
    “None.”
    “And who might be involved if there was a problem?”
    “I can’t say for sure.  I mean, I can’t really imagine any of my team at it.  T hey wouldn’t be stupid enough.”
    Mark looked doubtfully at Shay .  For someone as intelligent as he was, Shay could be blindly loyal and a little naïve sometimes.
    “Well,” Shay relented, “I suppose if there were something going on, it would most likely be Richie, or Mick.  Or maybe Craig.”
    Craig.  For a second Mark hoped Craig had done something off-side , so he could fire his ass.  But, Christ, if Shay was right and there was something going on, they had to get on top of it immediately.  Whatever about the person carrying out dubious deals, it would be Mark’s own ass if it was being done on his watch.  Could this bloody day get any better?
    “Marcus is going to give you a call later today.”  Shay stood up.  “He’s likely to fly over later in the week.”
    “Okay.  I’ll call him now myself.  And Shay ,” Mark looked directly at him, “you need to get on top of this.  Now.  Today.  Before the UK are