The Office

nager's office, someone who is directly responsible for knowing their employees properly. They knocked on the door thrice as were beckoned inside.

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"You here about Pete? Poor lad, I was all too quick to give him time off. Anyway what can I help you with?" The manager spoke suddenly and quickly, raising up from his desk to shake their hands. "I'm Marcus, floor manager here, take a seat and tell me what you need."

Unfazed by his behaviour, Vince spoke first," We're creating a character report on Pete Marley so we would like to collect his colleagues first-hand experiences on this. Aside from yourself, did Pete interact often with anyone here?" Harry pulled his notepad from the side and clicked his pen ready.

"Pshhh, I suppose he talked to Matthew a fair bit, maybe Paige too. Wasn't extremely talkative but still nice, never had any issues with him." He smiled to himself like a proud father, as if he took responsibility for this.

"And outside of this did he ever show up late, disappear or leave early? Even if he just took oddly long toilet breaks." Vince specified.

"No not really. he was either glued to his desk or getting drinks for everyone. We don't have a massive after-work culture here so I can't say anything about after hours." Marcus responded, looking up for a moment as if to bring back the memories.

"What about his work performance? Anything late or sloppy? Or has it changed at all?"

"Oh he was a perfect intern, anything digital he could do halfway before a deadline even came. And he worked at the costa down the road before this so drinks were perfect. Very hardworking lad, pleasure to have him on board." Harry was writing all this down and Vince gave him a moment to finish before asking again.

"And could we use this office to ask Matthew and Paige some questions if that's alright?" Naturally he agreed and went off to get them, waddling away with a content smile on. Only a minute later and Matthew comes walking in and Paige waits outside for her turn.

"Matthew was it? Feel free to take a seat, we just want to get a few things together on Pete if that's alright?" Vince spoke again, this time more casual.

"Yeah sure whatever you need" Matthew spoke, concern littering his words.

"Firstly, on a social level how was Pete? Comfortable? A bit odd? Or nothing at all?"

"Pete was great, he always went on the work nights out, always joined in. I doubt there's anyone here that'll say anything bad about him." Matthew spoke sincerely, though still unsure if Pete is a suspect of something.

"Work nights out? Marcus said that there wasn't much of an after hours culture." Harry spoke up, looking at the notes on his clipboard.

"Well, I suppose that's true for Marcus, because last time he got drunk he got handsy with some of the staff. So we just leave him out of it, people still want to have fun after all." He spoke boldly and firmly on this point, showing no room for compromise.

"Fair enough, how was he at work though? Specifically how he handles stress or workloads." Vince asked.

"No one here does anything remotely stressful, especially Pete. I saw him play Google snake for eight hours straight and the manager got him a drink for being 'so engrossed in the work'. He did the work though, he just copied and pasted a bit of code to do it all for him. He taught us all that trick honestly." Matthew spoke like he was a godsend to the office.

"Right, and have you noticed any changes at all in his behaviour over the past 2 months?" A smirk graced Vince's mouth as he asked again.

"No none at all."

"Perfect, can you send Paige in please on your way out? It's been great meeting you Matthew." With Matthew gone Paige enters the room and takes a seat.

"Hey how are you? I'm Paige." She reached out and immediately shook each of their hands unprompted. Vince and Harry politely shook her hand and begun with the questions.

"So how would describe Pete in a social setting?" Vince asked.

"Umm, sorry I can't really say I hardly spoke to him. He seemed happy enough on the nights out I guess."

"You hardly spoke to him? Then why did Marcus say you did?" Harry asked, confused. As soon as she heard the name Marcus and let out a deep, chesty sigh.

"Of course Marcus said that, he keeps going over and tells me that me and Pete should go out. The he goes over to give him a thumbs-up, and I know he's not in on it because he always looks so confused."

"Right then, well than you very much for your cooperation on this, I think it'll be best of we're on our way now. We still have a few more people to question." They both stood up and turned for the door, opening it for Paige as well.

Walking down the road once more, Harry snacked on a bag of sweets he got from a corner shop. He begun to speak, briefly interrupted by his own chewing, "So, family next?"

"They're dead or out of reach, so friends are the next best bet. Apparently he lives in the apartment blocks further in, so we can ask his roommate." Vince replied, occasionally eyeing the sweets, yet maintaining his stoicism.

"Oh that's sad, poor lad. Does he take antidepressants or anything?"

"He didn't mention anything and if he was drinking the amount he was on them nights out and living to tell the tale then I doubt he was or is yet." They continued to walk on in a comfortable silence, which Vince awkwardly broke to ask for a sweet.

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