RNK Murder at the Office Murder at the...

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Murder at the Office

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Murder at the OfficeFiona Norris wird in ihrem Büro ermordet. Ist der jungenUnternehmensberaterin ihr schneller Aufstieg zum Verhäng-nis geworden oder hängt der Mord mit ihrem letzten Projektzusammen?Das spannende Lernkrimi Hörbuch trainiert das Hörverstehenunterhaltsam und effektiv. Über 75 Minuten packender Krimispaß auf Englisch!

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Lernkrimi HörbuchBusiness English

Sarah Trenker

Murderat the Office!

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Vorwort

Mit dem neuen, spannenden Compact Lernkrimi Hörbuch BusinessEnglish können Sie Ihre Sprachkenntnisse auf abwechslungsreicheund unterhaltsame Weise auffrischen, vertiefen und erweitern.Inspector Hudson und sein neuester Fall bieten fesselnden Hör-genuss! Das Begleitbuch enthält die komplette Krimistory zum Mit- undNachlesen. Jedes Kapitel wird durch textbezogene Übungen ergänzt,mit denen Sie Ihr Hörverständnis gezielt überprüfen können.Schreiben Sie die Lösungen einfach ins Buch!Die richtigen Antworten sind in einem Lösungsteil am Ende desBegleitbuches zusammengefasst. Im Anhang befindet sich außer-dem ein Glossar, in dem die schwierigsten Wörter übersetzt sind.Diese sind im Text kursiv markiert.Das ideale Sprachtraining im handlichen Format – für zu Hause oderunterwegs!

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Inhalt

Chapter 1: Final Deadline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Chapter 2: High Potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Chapter 3: Business and Pleasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Chapter 4: Office Envy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Chapter 5: Partners in Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Lösungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Glossar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

StoryJames Hudson arbeitet als Inspector bei der legendärenPolizeibehörde Scotland Yard. Er ist einer der fähigsten Männer undwird immer dann zu Rate gezogen, wenn seine Kollegen mal wiedervor einem Rätsel stehen. Seine resolute und krimibegeisterte Haus-hälterin Miss Paddington unterstützt ihn stets mit liebevoller Für-sorge. Und insgeheim verfolgt sie noch ein weiteres Ziel: ihn endlichmit der jungen, attraktiven Versicherungsagentin Elvira Elliot zuverkuppeln.

Die junge Unternehmensberaterin Fiona Norris wurde in ihrem Bürobrutal ermordet. Inspector Hudson untersucht den Fall zusammenmit Elvira Elliot und muss sich bald fragen, ob der Toten vielleichtihr rascher Aufstieg in der Unternehmensberatung Merryl &McDouglas zum Verhängnis wurde. Oder hängt der Mord mit ihremletztem Projekt zusammen? In einem Überwachungsvideo stößtInspector Hudson schließlich auf den entscheidenden Hinweis ...

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Chapter 1: Final Deadline

There weren’t many people left in the office and Maria, the Italiancleaning lady, was singing happily to herself. She would be able tofinish early today, she thought, and might get home in time to eatdinner with her husband. She pushed her trolley down to Mr Springer’s office and was notsurprised to see the hard-working management consultant still at hisdesk.“Good evening, Mr Springer. Should I clean your office?” she asked.Mr Springer looked up and smiled tiredly. “Ah, Maria, is it alreadyafter seven? Yes, you’d better come in today. But could you comeback in five minutes? I’ll just put away some of these files.”Maria nodded and walked on past the lifts. All the trainees had gonehome, so she went into their office and walked over to the papershredder. The plastic bin was full. “So much paper...” she said to herself for the hundredth time. Sheemptied the bin, cleaned the tops of the filing cabinets and desks and– still singing – moved on to the next office.Fiona Norris’s door was shut, so Maria knocked and listened. Sheknew the pretty consultant often made long-distance business callsin the evening. Maria liked Miss Norris. The young woman workedhard and was very nice. When Maria came in to clean her office,Miss Norris always smiled and was never impatient. That was morethan could be said for some of her colleagues, who could be veryunfriendly when they had a tight deadline to meet. The cleaning lady knocked again. “Miss Norris, may I come in?”Hearing nothing, Maria pushed open the door. The office was indarkness. She started singing again and picked up her cloth from thetrolley. Inside the office, she switched on the light and turned to walktowards the desk. That was when she saw Miss Norris. For a second

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she wondered why the young woman was sitting in the dark. Thenshe saw the blood and screamed.About half an hour later Detective Inspector James Hudson’s mobilephone rang. He had just walked through his front door in BakerStreet. It was a lovely sunny evening and the detective was lookingforward to his walk in Regent’s Park after dinner. He groaned whenhe heard the phone. He groaned even louder when he saw his boss’snumber. He pressed the green button. “Hello, Sir Reginald,” he said.“Hudson, there’s been a murder in Mayfair,” barked the ChiefInspector of Scotland Yard in his usual ex-army officer fashion.“You’ll have to get down there immediately. It took place at Merryl& McDouglas, that big management consultancy in Duke Street.Apparently, someone has cut a young consultant’s throat. The secur-ity guard who phoned used to work for us, so I’ve asked him to watchthe scene of the crime. There’s hardly anyone left in the buildinganyway. Forensics will send over a few people...”Sir Reginald broke off for a moment. There was the sound of awoman talking impatiently to him. Hudson guessed his boss’s secre-tary was telling him about his next appointment. It was about aminute before Sir Reginald came back on the phone.“Sorry old chap, but I have to go. I have people waiting to interviewme about the Tippery Robbery. You’ll have to deal with this one onyour own for the moment. One of the consultants, a Mr Springer, iswaiting at the office to talk to you – as is the cleaning lady whofound the body. It would be good if you could send me a short e-mailreport later this evening. A murder at such a leading company willhave at least twenty reporters back here tomorrow morning. I want tobe able to tell them something.”“I’ll get down there immediately, sir,” said Hudson.There was no answer. Sir Reginald had hung up. He was already onhis way to the press conference.

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As Inspector Hudson drove towards Mayfair, he tried to remembereverything he knew about Merryl & McDouglas. There were oftenarticles about the consultancy in THE TIMES newspaper. “Expertsin corporate reorganization” seemed to be one of the populardescriptions, Hudson remembered. The company employed only thevery best university graduates. The trainees usually had a degree insomething like engineering, law or medicine and a degree in busi-ness administration. They were normally multilingual and had spentat least a year working in another country. Merryl & McDouglas wasa respected company. Its aim during a corporate reorganization wasnot to cut jobs to save money, but to modernize a company andimprove its income with better products. It had saved many trad-itional companies and now had offices all around the world.Hudson smiled to himself as he parked his old Bentley next to aMercedes in Merryl & McDouglas’s enormous car park. He knewquite well that many of his younger colleagues thought HE neededmodernization. Walking towards the night entrance, he pulled on atweed jacket and smiled again. His jacket was even older than thecar, he reflected.One of the two security guards behind the glass screen asked to see the inspector’s badge before opening the door into the beautifulold building. “Mr Springer is waiting for you in his office. I’ll take you up.” Hudson nodded and followed the security guard past the receptionarea with its red leather sofas, glass coffee tables and potted palms.As he and the security guard waited for the lift, Hudson stared up attwo oil paintings of the company founders, Richard Merryl and PeterMcDouglas. Both looked very serious.“What time do you come on duty?” Hudson asked the enormoussecurity guard. “At 5:30, when the girls on reception go home,” the man answered.

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He pulled back his broad shoulders and his eyes stared straight aheadat an object well above Hudson’s head.“Is it possible for anyone to get into the building without going pastthe reception?”“No, sir, and there are surveillance cameras.” “I’ll want to see the tapes from today.”“Sorry, sir, but it seems that the tape may have been taken,” answeredthe guard, as he followed Hudson into the lift.Hudson groaned. “Are you sure?”“The door to the surveillance room was open and a tape is missingfrom one of the machines. We’ll have to check with the surveillanceman tomorrow. Nobody else knows the machines.”“Did anybody enter the building after 5:30 p.m.?”“Yes. There was a short seminar this evening, which started at aboutsix.”The lift bell sounded and the doors opened to reveal a wide corridorwith offices on either side.“Miss Norris is in that office on the left,” the guard said, pointing toan office with another security guard standing outside. “But I’ll takeyou to see Mr Springer first.”“No, I would prefer to see the body first,” answered Hudson. Therewas a change in the security guard’s expression, which he under-stood. “You can wait outside when I go in.”“Thank you, sir,” the man replied and glanced down at the inspector.“She was such a nice girl.” He cleared his throat and pulled hisshoulders back again. “I’ll wait for you here then.”Hudson nodded. “Perhaps you could let your colleagues know that a forensics team will be arriving soon. They should be sent straightup here.”“Of course. I’ll see to that immediately, sir,” said the security guardand walked off down the corridor.

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James Hudson had seen many murders during his long career, so he knew what to expect when he entered Miss Norris’s office.However, the sight of the deep cut in the young woman’s throatshocked even him. He stood still for a moment and stared at thebody. The victim’s chair was facing the door. Had the murdererwanted to see his work, Hudson wondered, or had Miss Norristurned to look at her murderer as she died? Hudson smoothed his right eyebrow. It always seemed to calm himand help him think. The office was fairly small he noticed. Even ifthe door had been open, Miss Norris would probably have heard aperson come in. That meant she probably knew the murderer and hadnot expected the attack.Careful not to touch anything, he started to look around the rest ofthe room. A lot of the papers on the desk were covered in blood. Asfar as he could see, they were the accounts of a company calledSparks & Bright plc. He leant over the desk to see if he could readanything.“Hi James, you haven’t been touching everything again, have you?”Inspector Hudson looked up to see the white-clad head of forensics,Tony Barrington, standing in the door. He was the only person fromScotland Yard, other than Sir Reginald, who called Hudson by hisfirst name.“Tony, punctual as ever,” Hudson retorted. “I thought I’d leave you acouple of extra fingerprints here and there, just to keep you on yourtoes.”Tony grinned and walked over to the body. The tall, thin man lookedmore like a university student than a forensics expert. He wore cheapblack glasses and always had a pencil behind his ear. He also liked tomake jokes at a crime scene. Many people thought that was strange,but Hudson knew that Tony had eagle eyes and missed nothing. “I’ve seen everything I need to see for now, so it’s all yours,” said the

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inspector as he walked towards the door. “I’ll come back after I havespoken to the witnesses.”“OK James,” replied Tony and followed him out of the office. Twoassistants were unpacking equipment outside. “Paul, could you make a note that the murderer is right-handed,”Tony instructed. “A very sharp knife was used, so there is a possi-bility the murderer may have cut his or her own clothing. Look veryclosely for any different bits of fabric on the victim’s right shoulder...You, Andrew, get the wonderful task of searching the rest of thebuilding.” He looked over Hudson’s head. “Perhaps you could helpus, Mr Ferris?”Hudson turned to find the security guard standing just behind him.“Yes, of course,” the man answered. “I’ll just take DetectiveInspector Hudson to see Mr Springer first, and then I’ll come back.”“Is the cleaning lady still here, too?” Hudson asked.The security guard shook his head. “Maria was so upset, MrSpringer sent her home. He said she should come back tomorrowmorning.”The inspector frowned but said nothing.

Mr Springer’s office was about five times the size of the office MissNorris had been in. It had four windows, expensive office furnitureand a huge television with one small digital tape sitting on top of it.Mr Springer stood up to greet the inspector. He was an elegantlydressed man with grey hair and cold blue eyes.“Hello Inspector. Please take a seat.”Hudson sat down in one of the brown leather chairs opposite MrSpringer’s desk and took out his notebook. “I know it has been a long day for you, Mr Springer, but I just have a couple of questions I need to ask you about the murder.”

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The consultant nodded and a nervous twitch suddenly appeared onhis temple.Inspector Hudson opened his notebook at a clean page. “Where wereyou when the cleaning lady found Miss Norris?”“I was still here when Maria – that’s our cleaning lady – found MissNorris. She came running to get me, and when I saw what had hap-pened, I called the security guard, who then called the police.”“Were you in the office all afternoon?”“Yes.”“On your own?” Hudson asked.“No. I dictated some letters to my secretary and had a meeting witha client at three,” Mr Springer replied.“When did you last see Miss Norris alive?”“At lunchtime in the canteen. She and I drank coffee together,”answered Mr Springer nervously.“And when you went into Miss Norris’s office after the murder, didyou notice if anything was missing?”“Yes. A file I gave her this morning.”“How can you be so sure?”“Miss Norris was working on the Sparks & Bright file. Sparks &Bright is a public limited company which makes diesel engines. Thecompany is in serious financial difficulties.” Mr Springer paused.“The board of directors has been trying to get some money fromtheir insurance company for some stolen engines. However, theinsurance people are not sure there really was a theft.”“And what was Miss Norris’s task?”Mr Springer opened his mouth and then closed it. “I need to speak tothe senior partner before I can tell you any more about the file. Allclient information is confidential, you see.”The twitch on Mr Springer’s temple was so furious now that Hudsondecided to leave further questioning until the following day. Mr

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Springer had already helped him a lot. Not many witnesses noticedanything except the blood when they saw a murder victim. If MrSpringer was right and the murderer had taken the file, then he wouldcertainly need to know what was in it.“Very well, Mr Springer, let’s continue our interview tomorrow. Justone more thing: do you know if Miss Norris lived on her own? Wewill need to contact her family.”“I think she lived with her parents,” answered the consultant. “I don’tknow really. All of her details are in her personnel file. I can give youher home telephone number, but it would be easier if I could giveyou the rest of her details tomorrow.”Hudson nodded. “I shall come with Miss Elvira Elliot tomorrow. Sheis an insurance investigator who often helps us out with such cases.”

Übung 1: Welches Wort ist richtig im jeweiligen Zusammenhang?Unterstreichen Sie die richtige Variante!

1. Mr Springer told Inspector Hudson he had to speak to hischief/boss before he could give out client information.

2. Please don’t leave the file on your desk. It contains confident/con-fidential information.

3. Trainees have to learn how to direct/dictate letters for the sec-retaries.

4. The consultant examined/proofed the accounts.5. Merryl & McDouglas specialize in corporal/corporate reorgan-

ization.6. Sir Reginald told Inspector Hudson to invest/investigate the

murder.7. Fiona Norris worked as a management consultant/consultancy.8. Sparks & Bright is a public limited company/business.

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Übung 2: Bilden Sie sinnvolle Wörter aus den Buchstaben in Klammern!

1. There was a (ilfe) _______________ which contained copies of

all the e-mails Miss Norris had sent Sparks & Bright plc.

2. Sir Reginald told Hudson to write a (proter) ______________.

3. The company’s (cotscaun) _______________ showed that a lot of

unnecessary money was spent on expensive meals.

4. The young (osnntltcua) _______________ started working for

Merryl & McDouglas in 2006.

5. Fiona had studied business (nimnoiitrastda) _________________.

6. Many journalists came to the police press (ceerfeonnc)

_______________.

7. The consultant worked late because he had an important

(aidednle) _______________ to meet.

8. Confidential documents should be put through a paper (dehrresd)

_______________ before they are thrown away.

Übung 3: Beantworten Sie die Fragen zum Text!

1. What kind of company is Merryl & McDouglas?

______________________________________________________

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2. What is Maria’s position at the company?

______________________________________________________

3. Why is Hudson sent to the company?

______________________________________________________

4. List three of the things Hudson sees in the lobby.

______________________________________________________

5. Why isn’t Hudson able to speak to Maria?

______________________________________________________

6. Why doesn’t Mr Springer want to tell Hudson more about Sparks

& Bright?

______________________________________________________

Chapter 2: High Potentials

When James Hudson came down to breakfast the next morning, hishousekeeper, Miss Paddington, had already arrived. She had heardabout the Merryl & McDouglas murder on the radio. “That Radio 1 presenter, Bob Hodgkins, or whatever his name is, hasbeen making jokes about cut-throat consultants since six this morn-ing,” she complained, as she gave him a cup of tea. Hudson tried not to smile as he put some milk in his tea and pickedup the newspaper.“I’m sure it must be an inside job...,” added Miss Paddington.Now Hudson had to smile. Miss Paddington had been working forhim for years. She managed his complete household and he some-

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times wondered where the 65-year-old found all her energy. As akeen hobby detective, Miss Paddington not only helped him at home.She loved to try and “solve” her boss’s cases before he could. Somepeople might have found this irritating, but Hudson was quite happyto listen to Miss Paddington’s ideas. “You could be right about it being an inside job, Miss Paddington,but it is a bit too early to say yet.”Hudson walked into the dining room with his tea and newspaper andsat down at the table. It was already ten to nine. He had arranged topick up Elvira Elliot at nine thirty on the way over to Merryl &McDouglas, so he only had about a quarter of an hour to read THETIMES. He did not expect to find anything about the murder in the news-paper; it had happened too late in the day. However, in the businesssection, a small piece on Sparks & Bright plc caught his eye. Thearticle was about a new engine the company had developed. Therewas a picture taken at a recent press conference. It showed the dir-ector of the transport division, a Mrs Ann Walker, standing proudlyin front of the new engine. Hudson tore out the article, put it into hispocket and then walked out to his car.Ten minutes later the old Bentley was moving very slowly behind adouble-decker bus in London’s heavy rush-hour traffic. As he droveacross Waterloo Bridge towards Elvira’s flat, the inspector thoughtback to his second meeting with Tony Barrington the night before.The forensics expert had told him that Fiona Norris had probablybeen writing notes before she died. Although much of the documentwas missing, Tony thought he might be able to decipher what she hadwritten from the imprint on one of the pages left on the desk. Hisassistant had also found a bit of turquoise wool on the chair next tothe window, which did not belong to anything Fiona was wearing.And – the most important news of the evening – they had found the

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knife. It had been left in a brown briefcase in the ladies’ toilets on thefourth floor. Tony Barrington was checking it for fingerprints now.

The inspector turned into Elvira Elliot’s road and saw she wasalready standing outside waiting for him. She was wearing an ele-gant black trouser suit with a blouse that matched her bright red hair.She grinned and waved when she recognized Hudson’s car. Theinspector smiled back. He had a soft spot for the intelligent younginsurance investigator and thought she was very pretty. Not that hewould ever tell her that. Confirmed bachelors never pay unnecessarycompliments.“Good morning, James,” said Elvira as she got into the car. She whis-tled. “My goodness, you’re wearing a tie! Are you feeling alright?”Hudson grinned. “Very well, thank you Elvira. You appear to be ontop form, too, I see.” The two of them chatted for a few minutes until Elvira decided it wastime to talk business.“So, apart from keeping you company, what else am I supposed to bedoing this morning? You didn’t tell me very much on the phone.”“Well, I didn’t want you to get too excited,” answered Hudsonsmiling.“Excited?” Elvira asked curiously.“Yes. Fiona Norris – that’s the name of the murder victim – wasworking on the accounts of Sparks & Bright plc.”Elvira did not even try to hide her surprise. “Sparks & Bright! THESparks & Bright, which has had that big insurance case...?”“Thought you might find it interesting,” answered Hudson calmly,not taking his eyes off the road. “It MUST be an inside job after all,” Elvira shouted excitedly. “I wasbeginning to think that perhaps the insurance company was wrongand that the thefts at Sparks & Bright were genuine.”

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“Now let’s not jump to any conclusions,” replied Hudson smiling.“However, I do think your experience with fraud cases could be veryhelpful. And it will give you a perfect opportunity to meet the rightpeople at Merryl & McDouglas.”Elvira opened her eyes wide. “But James, I’m just here to help you.The idea that I could make some useful contacts never crossed mymind.”Hudson laughed out loud. “Sure!”

Mark Springer stood up when Inspector Hudson and Elvira Elliotentered his office. He looked a little tired, Hudson noticed, but wasotherwise more relaxed than he had been the day before. “Goodmorning, Mr Springer. This is Elvira Elliot, the insurance investi-gator I told you about.”Mr Springer shook Elvira’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, MissElliot. Please take a seat.”“So how are you feeling this morning, Mr Springer?” asked Hudson.“Much better, thank you, Inspector,” the consultant replied. “As youcan imagine, it was a bit of a shock.”“Of course.” Hudson took out his notebook. “I don’t want to take uptoo much of your time. I just need a bit more information from you.”Mark Springer folded his arms and nodded.“Perhaps you could start by telling me whatever you can about FionaNorris. How long had she been working for Merryl & McDouglas,for example?”Mr Springer picked up a small file on his desk. “I got my secretaryto make a copy of Miss Norris’s personnel file for you. It has all herdetails, including the telephone number of her parents.” Hudson took the file. “We have already spoken to her parents,” hereplied. “Miss Norris was still living with them, so we reached themwith the number you gave us last night.”

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“Poor people,” Mr Springer said and looked uncomfortable. Hepicked up a pen and started turning it round in his fingers. “As thefile will tell you, Miss Norris started here about a year ago. She wasselected for our ‘High Potential’ trainee programme. She has... hada degree in engineering plus a master’s degree in business adminis-tration. That is probably why the senior partner, Robert Arkwright,decided to give her the Sparks & Bright file a month ago.” MrSpringer frowned and examined his pen again.Hudson made a note of the senior partner’s name, which he had for-gotten. “Did you have a lot to do with Miss Norris?”“Not until recently. Mr Arkwright was her mentor. Before her pro-motion she spent a lot of time with the other trainees, so you mightwant to speak to them, too.” Mr Springer frowned again. “Although Iam still in charge of the Sparks & Bright file, Mr Arkwright decidedto pass the main work on to Miss Norris. I continued to assist her andto try and find a new investor.”“So that is why you were able to see immediately that most of onefile was missing...?”“Yes.”“Can you tell us about the files?”“We have been looking through the Sparks & Bright accounts to seewhere they could save money,” answered Mr Springer. “This meansgoing through all the transfers made in the past three years. That’s alot of paper, as you can probably imagine.” He paused. “It is not aneasy job because Mrs Walker, the daughter of the company’s founderand the director of the transport division, can be quite difficult.”“What do you mean by difficult?” asked Hudson.Mr Springer met the inspector’s eyes for a moment and then lookedaway. “Mrs Walker has problems with the insurance company andthat is probably why she is sometimes a little... unreasonable,” themanagement consultant finally said.

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“Unreasonable?” Hudson watched Mr Springer very carefully. “Iread that her company has just developed a new engine. Surely thatwill help the company?”The consultant shook his head sadly. “I don’t believe the engine isreally ready for the market yet. I told Mrs Walker that at a meetinglast week. She got very angry with me. I told her it would be betterif Sparks & Bright thought about getting a partner. Then the com-pany would have more time to improve the new engine.”“And she didn’t like that idea?”“No. She got so upset, I had to ask her to leave my office. I thoughtshe was going to attack me.” Mr Springer looked up again and added,“Of course she has had a lot of bad luck over the last few months. Soit’s understandable that she gets easily upset.”Hudson smoothed his eyebrow. “I shall need access to those files, MrSpringer. When can you give them to me?”Mr Springer stopped playing with his pen. “I am still waiting forauthorization from Mr Arkwright.”At that moment Mr Springer’s telephone rang. He picked it up andlistened for a couple of seconds. “Are they already here? Right, I’llbe down in a minute.” He put the phone down. “I’m sorry Inspector,I’ve a very important meeting with clients from Japan. I think I havetold you everything I know. Mr Arkwright is giving a presentationhimself at the moment, but said he would meet you afterwards – andyou can ask him about the files. The cleaning lady should be here inabout half an hour.” Mr Springer picked up a file from his desk. There was a flight ticketunderneath attached to a travel brochure about the Cayman Islands. “Off on holiday soon?” asked Hudson as they all stood up. Hepointed at the brochure.“Business,” answered Mr Springer quickly. “Perhaps it would be agood idea for you to speak to Miss Norris’s fellow trainees now,” he

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suggested as he put the ticket and brochure into a drawer. “I can takeyou along to see them on the way to the conference room. They areall in a seminar this morning.”

On the third floor, the inspector was amused to see that the title ofthe seminar was: “How to motivate your team”.“You’ve been to enough of these kinds of seminars, Elvira. Whatdoes that mean? Do you spend all morning practising how to con-gratulate your assistant when he comes in with a photocopy?”“There’s a bit more to it than that, James,” Elvira laughed as Hudsonknocked on the door and waited for an answer. In the conference room, eight trainees, six men and two women,were sitting at desks and listening to a lecturer. He was showingthem a diagram on a whiteboard.Hudson briefly explained why he was there and asked some generalquestions about Fiona Norris. When the lecturer mentioned herrecent promotion, the inspector noticed that two of the male traineesgrinned and whispered to each other. Hudson turned towards the class of trainees. “It is very importantthat you tell me anything you feel may be relevant to the case.” Nobody said a word. He looked directly at the two trainees who hadgrinned. “Are you sure you don’t want to add anything?”One of the trainees folded his arms. “Mr...?” Hudson persevered.“...Murray. Tristan Murray is my name. And this is William Earl,”said the young man. He leant back and put his hands into hispockets. “Like me, not everyone feels that Fiona’s promotion wasdue to her qualifications alone...” A couple of people moved uncomfortably in their chairs.“What do you mean, Mr Murray?”“Well, everyone knows Mr Arkwright had an affair with her.”

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There was an embarrassed cough. Otherwise nobody else in theroom made a sound.“Hmm.” Hudson turned back to the lecturer. “Thank you for yourtime. I’m sorry I interrupted the seminar.”“What a nice young man,” Elvira laughed when they got outside.“Absolutely charming,” agreed Hudson.

Übung 4: In der Geschäftswelt sagt man: „Time is money“. KennenSie weitere Ausdrücke mit „time“? Vervollständigen Sie die folgen-den Sätze!(make time, in time, waste of time, take one’s time, on time, timeand a half, running out of time)

1. The trainee thought the seminar was a _____________________.

2. No one understood why he was late; everyone else was there

_____________________.

3. One client did not arrive _____________________ to hear the

first speech.

4. Although Mr Arkwright had appointments all day, he said he

would _____________________ to see Inspector Hudson.

5. The consultant told his secretary to hurry up and finish typing the

report because he was ___________________________.

6. The client _____________________ returning the documents.

7. When someone has to work on a Sunday, he or she is often

paid _____________________.

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Übung 5: Welche Synonyme gehören zusammen? Setzen Sie dierichtige Ziffer ein!

1. company � contract2. busy � folder3. meeting � adviser4. select � profession5. consultant � firm6. agreement � engaged7. job � director8. manager � appointment9. file � choose

Übung 6: Welche der folgenden Aussagen sind wahr? Markieren Siemit richtig ✔ oder falsch – !

1. Miss Paddington is 45 years old. �

2. Hudson reads THE GUARDIAN newspaper. �

3. On the morning after the murder, the radio programme was full of bad jokes about consultants. �

4. Hudson picked Elvira Elliot up in his Bentley. �

5. Sparks & Bright is the name of a Merryl & McDouglas client. �

6. The trainee seminar was about motivating clients. �

Chapter 3: Business & Pleasure

While Hudson went off to find the cleaning lady, Elvira went outsideto smoke a cigarette. She was trying to give up smoking. As she did

22


not want Hudson or anyone else to see her with a cigarette in herhand, she hid behind one of the pillars next to the fire escape.Just as she was about to put a cigarette to her mouth, she heardvoices on the other side of the courtyard. Elvira recognized themimmediately. It was Tristan Murray and William Earl; they werearguing. She leant forward to hear what they were saying.“Why did you have to be so rude to Mr Perl, Tristan? He wasshocked enough when you talked about Fiona’s affair. You didn’tneed to carry on about it after the police had gone.” “I thought everyone knew about the affair,” replied Tristan im-patiently.“Obviously not,” remarked William dryly. “Anyway, now the policeprobably think the boss had something to do with the murder.”Tristan laughed unpleasantly. “Is that wrong? There are at least twoArkwright possibilities. Mr Arkwright could have been upset withFiona because she had left him. Or his ex-wife could have been upsetwith Fiona because she still loved her ex-husband.”William Earl snorted. “But she started seeing Mark Springer longbefore Mr Arkwright started seeing Fiona.”“Perhaps she was just trying to irritate her ex-husband with theaffair. You know she hated having to work with Fiona.”“Tristan! Are you saying you think Valerie Arkwright is behind themurder?”“Well, OK, if not the Arkwrights, how about Mark Springer? Hewasn’t particularly happy when Mr Arkwright gave Fiona all thoseprojects,” Tristan added, a hint of amusement in his voice.“That’s ridiculous,” William answered angrily. “Would he just sit inhis office and wait for the police? He would have had blood on hisclothes. No, I think Fiona found out something about Sparks &Bright which led to her death.”The door on the other side of the courtyard opened and then closed

23


before Elvira could hear Tristan’s reply. She breathed in deeply andput the cigarette into her mouth. Then she giggled. Domestic re-organization also seemed to be one of Merryl & McDouglas’sspecialities.

Half an hour later, Elvira went to find Hudson in the lobby. He wasnot in a particularly good mood because his meeting with the clean-ing lady had not provided anything new.“Let’s hope Robert Arkwright can give us a bit more information,”he remarked. He served himself a second cup of tea from the tray thereceptionist had brought them.“Or his ex-wife,” replied Elvira. “It looks like there could be anothermotive for the murder.”“Ex-wife?” Hudson looked confused.“I overheard our two favourite trainees talking about Mrs Arkwright.Since her divorce from Robert Arkwright, she has apparently beengoing out with Mark Springer. But the trainees seem to think she isstill in love with Mr Arkwright.”“Goodness gracious!” exclaimed Hudson, laughing. “This companyobviously invented the phrase: Business and Pleasure!” As they waited for Mr Arkwright, Hudson called the forensicsdepartment to find out if there were any new results.Tony Barrington answered the phone.“Morning, James. I suppose you want to know what else we havediscovered.”“Yes,” answered Hudson as he watched the pretty receptionist handout “visitor” badges to a group of people carrying heavy briefcases.“The murderer who killed the young woman was not very clever. Heor she did not leave any fingerprints on the knife, but the briefcase iscovered in them. I have also managed to decipher the notes wefound. I’ll just get the file. Hold on a moment.”

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While he waited, the inspector watched the receptionist talking to anelegantly dressed woman wearing thick designer sunglasses. Obvi-ously off to the Cayman Islands, too, Hudson thought when he sawthat the woman was holding a copy of the same travel brochure hehad seen on Mark Springer’s desk. He looked away when Tony Bar-rington came back onto the phone.“Have you got a pen and paper ready?”“Yes.”“Right then – starting from the top: environmentally-friendly, cost-effective, low maintenance costs, dual-fuel, one of a kind on themarket, good/only alternative to conventional diesel engine,” TonyBarrington read out.“That’s it?” asked the inspector. He felt disappointed that the noteswere not more exciting.“That’s it,” Tony Barrington replied. “One other thing”, he added,“the notes are NOT in the same handwriting as appears on the rest ofthe document. I’ll get back to you if the graphologist has anythingelse to add.”“Thanks.” Hudson put his mobile phone back into his pocket andstared at the list on the table in front of him.Elvira put down the magazine she had been reading. “You seem con-fused, James.”“I am. Look at this.” He handed her the list.The young insurance investigator looked at it. “Hard to say. It looksas if she was making some kind of assessment of an engine. Withoutthe file in front of me, I can’t tell you whether her opinion was goodor bad.”“Not very useful then,” observed Hudson and sighed. “You’d betterkeep that page, Elvira. After we have seen Robert Arkwright, itwould be good if you could start going through those files to see ifyou can find out what that list meant.”

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Hudson looked at his watch. “This is ridiculous,” he exclaimed. Heand Elvira had been waiting almost an hour. “I could have gone tosee the chap in surveillance to ask about the tape.”The inspector stood up and walked over to the receptionist to askwhere Mr Arkwright was. The receptionist was still talking to thewoman with the travel brochure.“Look Sally, I need you to organize the flight now.”“I’m sorry, Mrs Arkwright, but I have to deal with the seminar vis-itors first,” answered the flustered receptionist. “If you come back inhalf an hour, I will have time to book your flight.”“Well, I shall talk to Mr Arkwright about this – and we’ll see what hesays,” the woman answered angrily and turned round so quickly thatshe almost hit Inspector Hudson with her right hand.“Mrs Arkwright?” Hudson asked.“Yes, Valerie Arkwright, and who are you?” snapped Mrs Arkwright. “Detective Inspector James Hudson from Scotland Yard,” he replied,and took out his ID card. If Valerie Arkwright was nervous, she didn’t show it. “How can Ihelp you?” she asked.“I have a couple of questions, Mrs Arkwright. They won’t take verylong. Perhaps we can go and sit down over there for a moment.”Hudson nodded towards a corner in the lobby where nobody couldlisten to them.Valerie Arkwright sighed loudly but went and sat down. Hudsonwatched as she put her designer bag next to her designer shoes.“I suppose it is about the murder of Fiona Norris,” she said. “Hor-rible business.”“Yes, Mrs Arkwright, it is. I am trying to find out exactly what led tothe murder.” Hudson sat down opposite Mrs Arkwright. “I believeyou worked with Miss Norris, is that right?”“We both worked on the Sparks & Bright file, but I work mainly with

26


Mark Springer. I have been developing a new marketing idea for MrsWalker of Sparks & Bright, but found it very difficult to work withher.” Mrs Arkwright gave Hudson a little smile. “I’m not exactly alamb myself, as you probably noticed when we met at the receptiondesk, but Mrs Walker makes even me look reserved.”Hudson laughed. “Yes, Mr Springer said she was ‘a little’ difficult.” He turned over a page in his notebook. “I believe Fiona Norris wasseeing your ex-husband. Was that a problem for you?” he asked.“What my ex-husband does is his business these days,” ValerieArkwright answered, still smiling, although Hudson noticed that thesmile was rather fixed. “Anyway, they were no longer together as far as I know,” she con-tinued.“And one final question. Could you tell me where you were yester-day evening at about 6:45?”Valerie Arkwright’s mouth fell open. She flushed angrily. “I was onthe way to Annabel’s after a day in Tunbridge Wells with clients. I then ate with other clients in the evening. You can ask my ex-husband. He was there, too.” With that, Mrs Arkwright stood up. “I hope that takes me off your list of suspects!”Hudson remained seated as the elegant ex-wife walked over to thelifts. He noted that the urgent flight booking seemed suddenly to beforgotten.

Despite all the people in the lobby, it was easy to recognize RobertArkwright when he eventually arrived. The photo of the charismaticsenior partner was often in the newspapers. He walked over to themand held out a hand, first to Elvira and then to Hudson. He had a veryfirm handshake.“Sorry that you had to wait,” Mr Arkwright said. “I have had a lot ofmeetings with overseas clients today.”

27


Before Hudson could answer, a secretary came over.“Here is the information you need for Mr Ramsey.”“You should have given this to me earlier, Susan,” said Robert Ark-wright angrily. “I wanted to read the latest correspondence beforethe meeting.”“I couldn’t reach Mr Springer,” answered Susan. “He was in a meet-ing, so I had to ask his secretary to give me the file. But Mr Springerhas told her not to give anyone any files without his permission, so itwasn’t easy to get her to give them to me.”“I’ll have to speak to Mr Springer,” replied Robert Arkwright. “Hemust stop keeping so many files in his office.”“Where can WE speak?” Hudson interrupted. “Shall we go to youroffice?”“I have to meet a client, Mr Ramsey, near Piccadilly Circus. Do youthink you could ask me the questions in my car? My chauffeur willbring you back here afterwards.”“No problem, but would it be possible to tell Mr Springer’s secretaryto have all the other Sparks & Bright files ready for us when we getback?” Robert Arkwright nodded and walked over to the phone at the recep-tion desk. “It is all arranged,” he said when he came back. “Marian Cass willput all the files in a spare office we have. Just ask for her when youget back and she will show you where they are.”“Thank you, Mr Arkwright; that’s very kind,” said Elvira, smilingbrightly at the senior partner, who automatically smiled back.Hudson frowned. For a man who had just lost a woman he loved, MrArkwright did not look as if he was suffering very much.

In front of the main entrance a silver Rolls Royce was waiting forthem. Elvira looked at Hudson and raised an eyebrow. The inspector

28


grinned. He was going to enjoy this interview, he thought, as hewatched the chauffeur open the door for them. Inside the car, MrArkwright opened a small cabinet to reveal a bottle of 20-year-oldIsle of Jura whisky and four crystal glasses. “I suppose you are not allowed to drink on duty, Inspector?” he askedcarefully.“Thank you, no, Mr Arkwright.” The senior partner turned to Elvira, who shook her head, too. Heclosed the cabinet. “Have you found out anything yet?” he asked,suddenly serious. “Fiona was a fantastic girl. I couldn’t believe itwhen Mark Springer phoned me last night.” “We have a couple of leads”, replied Hudson, “but if you don’t mind,I shall ask the questions for the moment.”“Yes, yes, of course.” Mr Arkwright looked a bit uncomfortable.“Fire away.”“Do you know if Fiona had any enemies? Some of the other traineesdidn’t seem to like her.” Robert Arkwright looked out of the window at the shoppers theywere passing. “I probably made a mistake showing her so muchfavouritism. Fiona was such a bright girl.” He turned to Hudson. “I suppose you know that I had an affair with her?”“Yes,” Hudson replied.“It was a rather whirlwind romance. I had just got divorced. She wasbetween boyfriends. A stupid mentor-trainee relationship. We soonrealized that we had no future. We were still friends though.”The senior partner opened the drinks cabinet again and got himself awhisky. Hudson noticed that his hands were shaking.“I don’t normally drink when I am working either”, he mumbled, “butit was such a shock.” He sighed and took a large mouthful of whisky.“I loved that girl. But anyone who tells you she got the Sparks & Bright account because we had an affair is an idiot. Fiona was

29


very good at her job, certainly better than Mark Springer has beenrecently.” Mr Arkwright took a second mouthful of whisky. “I gavequite a few of his files to Fiona to look at over the last few weeks. Shehad found out something about Sparks & Bright that she wanted to tell me.” He stared sadly out of the window again. “When I heard about hermurder, I wondered if she had found out too much... That is why I’mgoing to talk to Mr Ramsey, the potential investor today. Perhaps hecan help.”“It would be good if I could ask Mr Ramsey some questions, too,”said Inspector Hudson. “Would it be possible for me to come in withyou?”“Yes, of course”, answered Mr Arkwright, “although I expect MrRamsey will be a bit shocked to see me with a police inspector.”Elvira cleared her throat. “I overheard a couple of the trainees talk-ing about your wife and Mr Springer,” she said. “Did your ex-wifehave any problems with your relationship with Fiona?”Robert Arkwright frowned. “We have been living separate lives forsome time now, so – no – I don’t think so. We divorced because wehave very different ideas about how things should be done, espe-cially in business.” He sighed. “It was not a good idea to work in thesame company. It all got too personal. Valerie is a very emotionalwoman.” The car stopped suddenly and the chauffeur shouted at a jogger whohad run out in front of the car.“Anyway, Valerie is going out with Mark Springer now – and hasbeen for some time,” continued Mr Arkwright.“Is that also a reason why you have taken so many files away fromMr Springer?” Hudson asked.“Of course not!” Mr Arkwright sounded angry. “As I said, Fiona wasthe better person for the job. Mark Springer has been very careless in

30


the last few months. And by the way, Valerie is still in charge of ourmarketing department.” Hudson turned over a page in his notebook and returned to the sub-ject of Sparks & Bright. “What can you tell me about Sparks & Bright, Mr Arkwright? Ibelieve the company has been having problems lately.”“Companies rarely call in consultants when their business is runningas well as it should be,” replied Mr Arkwright dryly. “Sparks &Bright has invested a lot of money in their new engine. It was a cal-culated risk. It went wrong because Ann Walker did not realize howlong it would take to launch the product. To make things worse, themarketing department made a lot of mistakes – and they wasted a lotof money. We are trying to help the company save what can besaved.”“Do you think it is possible that they arranged the theft of thoseengines to get the insurance money?” Elvira asked softly.Mr Arkwright raised an eyebrow. “That is a rather unorthodox ques-tion, Miss Elliot. Let us just say that the thefts came at a very con-venient time, when the company didn’t have many new orders. Ibelieve that has now changed and we have found an investor for thecompany. Mr Springer found him. The companies are now arguingabout who should keep the majority share of the company. Thedirectors don’t really have much choice at the moment. If they don’tstart making more money soon, they will probably have to makemost of their employees redundant.”“And how well do you know the transport director?” Hudson asked.“Ann Walker? Very well, I would say. She is the daughter of the com-pany’s founder, Duncan Walker, who was an old friend of mine. Hedied suddenly last year. His daughter is as intelligent as he was.However, she is still very young and not a very experienced directoryet – but she is a loyal employer.”

31


“A loyal employer, who’s been under a lot of pressure,” Hudsonremarked. “Mr Springer and your wife say she is very aggressive.Would you agree with that?”“Aggressive? Well, no, not really. I always find her absolutelycharming...”The car door suddenly opened to reveal the chauffeur. “We’re here,sir.”The three passengers were surprised. None of them had noticed thatthe car had stopped.Mr Arkwright started to move towards the door, but Hudson touchedhis arm. “I have just one more question before we go in.”The senior partner smiled at the chauffeur, who closed the dooragain.“Ah, I wondered if you were going to ask THE question.”Hudson shrugged his shoulders. “You know I have to ask you whereyou were yesterday evening?”“I went to dinner at Annabel’s with some clients,” Arkwrightanswered quickly.“Your ex-wife was also at the dinner, I believe?”“Yes, she was, although she came later because she had a meeting inTunbridge Wells.”Robert Arkwright knocked on the window and the chauffeur openedthe door again. As Hudson got out of the car with the senior partner, he turned toElvira. “Wait here for me. I won’t be long.”

Übung 7: Enträtseln Sie die folgenden Definitionen!

1. A person who is learning about a job is often called a

____________ (ienraet).

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2. Information about a company’s products often appears in maga-

zines. It is called ____________________ (givirteadns).

3. Somebody who analyzes handwriting is a ______________

_________________ (laproggoisht).

4. A person who gives advice to trainees and helps them learn about

the company is a ____________________ (tenomr).

5. The different sections in a company are called _____________

________________________ (netmarepdts).

6. Sometimes, a number of people own a company; all have

____________________ (reashs).

7. When a person loses his job because the company can no longer

pay him, he is made ____________________ (dndeatrnu).

Übung 8: Ordnen Sie die Wörter zu einem sinnvollen Satz!

1. speaking the Elliot the Elvira trainees murder aboutoverheard

______________________________________________________

2. lot meetings have a of consultants the

______________________________________________________

3. some needed accounts improvement the

______________________________________________________

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4. going meet is to Arkwright potential a Mr investor

______________________________________________________

5. marketing of Valerie in department the Arkwright ischarge

______________________________________________________

6. is Ann director Walker not very a experienced

______________________________________________________

Übung 9: Sind die folgenden Aussagen zum Text richtig ✔ oderfalsch – ?

1. Mark Springer said he couldn’t tell the inspector about Sparks & Bright until he had spoken to Robert Arkwright. �

2. Inspector Hudson phoned Tony Barrington while he was drinking his coffee in the lobby. �

3. The forensics expert told Hudson about the notes Fiona had made on the documents. �

4. It was not easy to recognize Robert Arkwright in the lobby. �

5. Robert Arkwright answered Hudson’s questions while they travelled to his next meeting in the Mercedes. �

6. On the night of the murder, Robert Arkwright said he was with his friend Annabel. �

Chapter 4: Office Envy

Nicholas Ramsey of Wilkins & Sons Engineering was not happy tolearn that Robert Arkwright had arrived with a police inspector.

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“To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?” he asked sarcastically.The ginger-haired man with fat red cheeks did not stand up to greethis visitors. “You could have warned me that you were bringing anextra person.” He frowned at Robert Arkwright.James Hudson looked round the chaotic office. There were docu-ments covering every surface, including the floor. “You certainly seem to have a lot of projects at the moment,” heremarked.“Yes, and not a lot of time,” answered Nicholas Ramsey rudely.“Then I suggest we get straight down to business,” replied Hudson.“Yesterday evening, as you might have heard, Fiona Norris wasmurdered at her desk at Merryl & McDouglas.”From the shocked expression on Nicholas Ramsey’s face, it wasobvious he had not heard about the murder. His behaviour changedimmediately.“That is awful. I didn’t know. Fiona Norris you say. I have spoken toher on the phone. She sounded very nice.” Mr Ramsey took out ahandkerchief and dried his forehead. He suddenly seemed very ner-vous. “But what does this have to do with me?”“Miss Norris was working on the Sparks & Bright file,” continuedHudson. “We have reason to believe that her murder had somethingto do with what she had found out about the company.”The man opposite him was now not only nervous, he was veryfrightened. Hudson watched him with interest.“You are thinking of investing in the company, I believe?”“Yes, yes, that is right. I am hoping to agree a share takeover. MarkSpringer and I have been talking to the company. The day beforeyesterday Mark Springer told me we’ve got a deal. It was only aquestion of signing the contract.”“...and you were interested although the company is not doing verywell at the moment?” Hudson asked.

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“Acquisitions have made Wilkins & Sons what it is today,” MrRamsey replied as he dried his forehead again with his handkerchief.“Mr Springer provided me with an analysis of the company whichmade me think that Sparks & Bright was still a good option,although their new engine will need some work.”“Could I have a copy of the analysis?”“Yes, yes, of course.” Mr Ramsey called his secretary. “Can youmake a copy of the document we received from Mr Springer andbring it in, please? Don’t copy the notes. They’re irrelevant...” he told her.Hudson watched Mr Ramsey dry his forehead again. “Just one morequestion, Mr Ramsey. How would you describe Mrs Walker?”Mr Ramsey looked surprised. “Mrs Walker? Nice person. A bit toosoft for this type of business perhaps...”“Not aggressive enough, you mean?”“Er, yes, I suppose so.” “Thank you for your time, Mr Ramsey.” Hudson stood up. Confused, Mr Ramsey stood up, too. “That’s actually all I need to know,” said Hudson. “I’ll leave you todiscuss the rest of your business with Mr Arkwright. I’ll collect thedocument from your secretary on the way out.”Before Mr Ramsey could object, James Hudson walked out of theroom and closed the door behind him. Outside, the secretary was just about to put the document into thephotocopier when the phone rang. Hudson smiled at her.“Why don’t I photocopy that for you?” he suggested.The secretary smiled gratefully. “Thanks, if you don’t mind. Youdon’t need to photocopy the notes apparently.”“They’re always the most boring part, aren’t they?” grinned Hudson.“And a real horror to type,” agreed the secretary and smiled back atHudson before she turned to pick up the phone.

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As the chauffeur drove them back to Merryl & McDouglas, Elviratried to find out what had happened at the meeting. However, shesoon gave up when she realized that Hudson was not really listeningto her. As the car drove along the Thames towards WestminsterBridge, the inspector was thinking about all the information he hadgathered so far. There seemed to be so many possible murderers:envious colleagues, a jealous ex-wife, a woman with a company tosave and even a boss and ex-lover who might not be telling the wholetruth. His instinct told him, however, that he had still missed some-thing important.Some of the Merryl & McDouglas staff were already going homewhen Hudson and Elvira arrived. The receptionist got Marian Cassto show them to the office with all the files.“I also need to speak to the man in charge of the surveillancecameras,” said Hudson. “That would be Mike Holmes. I can take you over to see him now, ifyou like.”“Great,” answered Hudson. Elvira sat down at the desk behind an enormous pile of files. “I’mgoing to start looking through some of these,” she said.“That’s a good idea. You’d better look at this, too.” Hudson handedher the analysis Mark Springer had sent to Mr Ramsey. Elvirasighed.

The surveillance room was on the sixth floor. Hudson soon foundout why Mike Holmes was in charge of the department; he was theonly person in it. The young man was not the usual type of person tobe found at Merryl & McDouglas. He was wearing a pink sweatshirtand faded blue jeans, and when Hudson walked into his office, MikeHolmes was examining something he had obviously just found in hisnose. When Mr Springer’s assistant left the room, he smiled brightly

37


at Hudson. “I’ve got good news for you,” he said. “I haven’t told any-one, just in case the wrong people hear about it, but I still have thetape from last night. The person who came in took the wrong one.”Hudson clapped his hands. “Excellent,” he said. “Where can I watchit?”“You’ll have to watch it here. There is no other machine in the build-ing which plays these small digital tapes.” Mike walked over to acomputer monitor and moved two dirty coffee mugs to one side. Heput in a small red tape. “You can fast forward or rewind the tape by pushing these buttons onthe keyboard,” he instructed. “The time appears at the bottom of thescreen. Here is the ‘Pause’ button.” Mike stopped and looked a bitembarrassed. “I was about to go home because I’ve got some concerttickets. Do you need me to help you?”Hudson smiled. “No Mike. You’ve already done me a great favourtoday. I’ll probably need your help again tomorrow, though.”Mike Holmes nodded. “When you have finished, all you have to dois turn the machine off here,” he told Hudson and showed him aswitch on the back of the computer. “Then just shut the door whenyou leave. The door will lock, so don’t forget anything.”Hudson nodded. “Thank you again for your help, Mike.”

Hudson rewound the tape to 4 p.m. and started watching. Until about5:45 p.m. nothing of interest happened. Then about 30 seminar vis-itors arrived all at once – and at least six of them walked over to thelift without a visitor’s badge. The receptionist either didn’t see themor pretended not to see them.Hudson rewound the tape to look at the people next to the lift moreclosely. There was a woman whose face looked strangely familiar.He tried to remember where he had seen her before – and suddenlyit came to him. She was the woman he had seen in the newspaper that

38


morning: Ann Walker of Sparks & Bright. She was almost hidden bya woman wearing a long designer coat and a big hat. However, Hud-son was still able to see that Ann Walker was holding a brown brief-case. He fast-forwarded the tape again. Ann Walker left the buildingat eight thirty with a lot of other people. She stopped at the desk tospeak to the receptionist, so it was easy for him to see that when sheleft the building she did not have the briefcase.That was it then, thought Hudson. Everything pointed to AnnWalker. He phoned the police station and told the police constableon duty to send a car with two policemen to pick the director up fromher company. The inspector then phoned Elvira and told her to meethim in the lobby.

When Hudson and Elvira arrived at Scotland Yard, Ann Walker wasalready waiting in the interrogation room. The inspector lookedthrough the one-way mirror at the young blonde woman. Police Con-stable Rogers had given her a cup of coffee and some magazines, butshe had not drunk the coffee or opened a magazine. She looked verynervous.“Stay here, Elvira,” said Hudson, and he walked into the interro-gation room.“Good evening, Mrs Walker, I am Detective Inspector JamesHudson.” He sat down opposite her.Mrs Walker stared at him aggressively. “Do you mind telling mewhat all this is about?”If the woman was acting, she was good, thought Hudson. “I’m afraidI have to inform you that Fiona Norris was murdered yesterdayevening.”Ann Walker gasped. “Fiona Norris is dead? I can’t believe it,” shewhispered and shook her head. “I saw her yesterday evening. Shewas fine. What happened?”

39


“Someone murdered her at her desk at Merryl & McDouglas yester-day evening.”Any remaining colour in Ann Walker’s face disappeared. “You thinkI killed Fiona?”“There is a lot of evidence which points to you, Mrs Walker. That iswhy we’ve asked you to come to the station this evening. Perhaps itis all just a misunderstanding.”“Of course it is a misunderstanding,” gasped Mrs Walker.“Do you want me to call you a lawyer, Mrs Walker?” “No, I have already told the constable I have nothing to hide,” shereplied, still very nervous. Hudson turned on a tape recorder. “Interview with Ann Walker on19th of June at 8 p.m.” He looked at the young woman. “Whenexactly did you see Miss Norris yesterday?” “Before the New Technologies seminar which took place on the thirdfloor. Mr Springer told me about it.”“I see. And what time did the seminar start?”“The seminar didn’t start until seven, but there was a small exhib-ition and reception which started at six.”“Did you talk to anyone at the exhibition?”Mrs Walker thought for a moment. “Yes, but everyone there was newto me, although I did get the business card of the man sitting next tome.” Ann Walker’s face brightened. “You could ask him.”Hudson smoothed his right eyebrow as he studied Mrs Walker. “Ibelieve your company has had a lot of financial difficulties recentlybecause of thefts and bad investments, is that true?”Ann Walker flushed. “Yes, that is true, but Fiona Norris had justhelped us to find a solution to the problem. That is why it’s ridicu-lous to think I would want to kill her.” “How did she help you?”“Fiona was a brilliant engineer,” replied Ann Walker and sighed.

40


“When she was examining our files, she came across somefundamental mistakes in the presentation of our latest product. Sheprovided me with some simple but very effective corrections. It isthanks to her that the company has just won a multi-million contractfrom a firm in Korea. It means we won’t have to sell the company.”A tear suddenly ran down Ann Walker’s face. “Yesterday evening,Fiona also gave me some claims that she wanted our advertisingpeople to use in our new campaign.” Hudson pulled out his notebook and read out loud the words TonyBarrington had deciphered. “Are those the claims?”“Yes, they are.” Ann Walker looked surprised.“Wasn’t Valerie Arkwright supposed to help you with your cam-paign?”“Yes, but she has been very busy recently. I have only spoken to heron the phone. We were planning to meet next week.”“So you wouldn’t recognize Mrs Arkwright if you saw her at Merryl & McDouglas?”“No.” “You have a brown briefcase, I believe?”“Had,” snapped Ann Walker impatiently. “I lost it. Do you mindtelling me where this questioning is taking us?”“Just answer the questions please, Mrs Walker,” Hudson replied.“When did you lose your briefcase?”Ann Walker tried to calm down. “Yesterday evening. During thebreak, I left my briefcase by my chair. Everybody else did the same,so when I came back to find it missing, I thought someone had takenit by mistake. It was particularly irritating because there were someimportant documents inside.”“You’ll be glad to hear that we have found it then?” asked Hudson,watching Mrs Walker very carefully.Her face brightened. “Well, that’s one piece of good news.”

41


“Not really,” answered Hudson. “There weren’t any documents in thebriefcase, just the knife that killed Fiona Norris.”“Oh God!” Ann Walker exclaimed.

Übung 10: Welche Antwort ist richtig? Kreuzen Sie an!

1. Hudson hoped that someone would find the...a) surveillance tape. �

b) safety tape. �

c) sticky tape. �

2. Mike Holmes was wearing...a) a pink T-shirt. �

b) a pink sweatshirt. �

c) a pink skirt. �

3. Mike’s office was quite...a) tidy. �

b) untidy. �

c) large. �

4. When Ann Walker left the building, she didn’t have her...a) briefcase. �

b) coat. �

c) sunglasses. �

5. Ann Walker attended a seminar called...a) How to Motivate your Team. �

b) New Insurance Offers. �

c) New Technologies. �

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6. Before the seminar, Ann Walker...a) talked to Miss Norris. �

b) talked to Miss Norris and Mr Arkwright. �

c) talked to Miss Norris and the receptionist. �

Übung 11: Welches Wort ist das „schwarze Schaf“? UnterstreichenSie das nicht in die Reihe passende Wort!

1. guru, adviser, advertiser, mentor, guide

2. paper, e-mail, document, pencil, letter

3. office, conference room, reception area, canteen, bedroom

4. lifeguard, secretary, consultant, receptionist, trainee

5. suit, knife, tie, shirt, trousers

6. seminar, meeting, conference, chat, discussion

7. director, senior partner, head of marketing, cleaning lady

8. briefcase, mobile phone, fingerprint, file, bin

Übung 12: Übersetzen Sie folgende Aussagen!

1. Some consultants work in the marketing department.

______________________________________________________

2. The guard only allows authorized people into the building.

______________________________________________________

3. All confidential documents must be shredded.

______________________________________________________

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4. Bad investments can ruin a company.

______________________________________________________

5. “I’ll put you through to the senior partner.”

______________________________________________________

6. The consultants want to find out where money is being wasted.

______________________________________________________

Chapter 5: Partners in Crime

Two days later, Hudson was sitting at home reading some documentswhen Sir Reginald rang him. His boss was not in a good mood.“Morning, James. Thanks for the copy of Ann Walker’s statement.But do you mind telling me why you have not charged her with themurder?”“Because I am not sure she is the murderer,” replied Hudson calmly.“How interesting,” said Sir Reginald. “The woman admits she was inFiona Norris’s office at about the time she was murdered and themurder weapon was found in her briefcase.” Sir Reginald’s voice gotlouder. “How much more evidence do you need?”“Sir, you are right; there are so many clues which point to her...,”Hudson started carefully. “But I spent all day yesterday speaking toother people who were at the seminar. They’re pretty sure AnnWalker was there the entire time.” The inspector looked at somepages he had in front of him. “I also drove Mrs Walker back to heroffice. She was able to show me a copy of the big order she receivedfrom Korea for her new engine before Miss Norris’s death.”“So if she didn’t do it, who did?” demanded Sir Reginald.

44


“Well, let’s put it this way, sir. I think Miss Paddington may be rightafter all.”“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Hudson,” Sir Reginaldshouted impatiently. “Your report had better be a bit clearer thisevening.”The line went dead. Hudson shrugged his shoulders at MissPaddington, who had just brought in THE TIMES.“Upsetting your boss again, James, I see,” she grinned.

Before Hudson left Baker Street, he phoned Elvira who was atMerryl & McDouglas. “Hi, Elvira. How are you getting on?”“Slowly, but your hunch seems to be right about the two conclusionsMark Springer reached for Ann Walker and Nicholas Ramsey.”“Good.” The inspector sipped his tea. “I’m going to visit NicholasRamsey again. I don’t think it should take long.”“What should I do? Carry on going through the files?” Elvira askedand rather hoped Hudson would say no.“Yes please, Elvira. And one other thing,” added the inspector as helooked at his watch. “Phone Mike Holmes. Tell him I need the namesof the other people standing next to the lift with Ann Walker at about5:45 p.m. Tell him I will need the list when I get in at eleven...”Two hours later, Hudson arrived at Merryl & McDouglas and wentstraight up to see Elvira. She was standing with a cup of coffee andwas chatting to Mike. “Hard at work, I see,” joked Hudson.Elvira and Mike grinned. Mike Holmes handed the inspector a list. Hudson looked at it and hisface brightened. “And you’re sure about the identity of the otherwoman next to the lift?”“Yes,” replied Mike. “I even saw her outside when I was going home.I said hello, but she ignored me – as usual.”

45


“Wonderful, Mike,” replied Hudson. “That confirms what I thought.Thank you very much.”Mike realized that the inspector was not going to tell him any more,so he smiled at Elvira, shrugged his shoulders and disappeared.“So is Ann Walker the murderer or not?” Elvira asked.“Tell me first what you have found out this morning,” said Hudson. Elvira scanned her notes quickly. “In short, Mark Springer’s hand-written comments and the analysis he sent to Mr Ramsey basicallysay exactly the same as he told us.”“Which is...?”“That the engine still needed a lot of work.”Hudson nodded. “And did you reach the same conclusion when youread the documentation from Sparks & Bright?”Elvira threw her hands up into the air. “Not really, as far as I couldtell.”“But it would really need engineers like Fiona Norris and MarkSpringer to analyze the situation correctly, wouldn’t it?” Hudsonasked.“It would! Except, as you rightly guessed, the notes at the end of MrSpringer’s analysis – the ones that Mr Ramsey didn’t want to giveyou – tell a very different story. They more or less confirm the posi-tive conclusion Fiona Norris reached.”Suddenly, Hudson’s mobile phone rang. He pressed the green button.“Hello. Are they all in the conference room? What number is it?Number 5B. OK. Miss Elliot and I are on our way.”Hudson put his phone into his pocket.“OK Elvira, let’s go. Can you bring your notes?”Although Elvira was surprised, she didn’t say anything. She pickedup the most important papers and followed Hudson to the third floor.Outside the conference room she noticed Hudson nod at a securityguard, who turned and walked towards the lift.

46


Elvira pulled on Hudson’s arm. “James, would you mind telling mewhat is going on here?”“You’ll see,” Hudson answered quietly.There were three people in the small conference room: Robert Ark-wright, Valerie Arkwright and Mr Springer. They were sitting arounda large round table. There were papers on the table and three cups ofcoffee. Mark Springer looked surprised, but stood up to greet them. “Inspector Hudson, Miss Elliot. Good morning. Mr Arkwright wasjust telling me and Mrs Arkwright that you have arrested MrsWalker. What a nasty business.”“Yes, quite,” answered Hudson grimly. “Unfortunately, I still needsome more information. And that is why I asked Mr Arkwright if Icould briefly interrupt your meeting.”Robert Arkwright turned to the others to explain. “Inspector Hudsonphoned me this morning and asked if you could provide him with thenecessary evidence regarding the bad technical prospects of the newengine. He will need it for the court case.”“Ah, yes,” said Mr Springer smiling. “No problem.”Robert Arkwright turned to look at his ex-wife. “He would also beinterested to hear why, if the engine was such a bad proposition, youwere able to provide Mr Ramsey with a very positive marketing cam-paign for the post-acquisition phase.”Valerie Arkwright stiffened. “You know me, darling. I can sell sandto the Arabs.”“I suggest we all sit down for a minute,” said Hudson as he pulled outa chair for Elvira. He then turned to Mark Springer, who had flusheddark red.“Mr Springer, from the notes you wrote on the documentation, itseems that the new engine Sparks & Bright developed was not yet acompletely viable project, is that right?”

47


“Yes,” the consultant replied.“You are a qualified engineer, I believe, so the technical documen-tation you received is completely comprehensible to you.”“Yes, of course.” Mark Springer retorted angrily.“Then what I don’t understand, Mr Springer, is how your assessmentwas so different from Fiona Norris’s. She told Ann Walker that thecompany’s only problem was explaining or rather marketing theproduct’s technical advantages...”“I take it Mrs Walker told you that,” Mark Springer snapped. “Amurderer.”Inspector Hudson did not answer immediately. Instead, he lookedslowly back through his notebook as though he was looking forsomething.“I went over to speak to Mr Ramsey this morning.”Valerie Arkwright and Mark Springer both shot a worried glance ateach other.“Mr Ramsey was quite chatty when I told him what the con-sequences are for insider trading. He told me the private analysis ofthe engine you gave him – contained in the notes at the end of thedocument – was very positive. The key points used for MrsArkwright’s marketing strategy were almost identical to the onesFiona Norris had suggested. He said you were going to use MrsWalker’s lack of experience in marketing to help Mr Ramsey to get amajority share in the company for a very low price.”“How dare he say such things. They are not true!” Valerie Arkwrightshouted angrily, her face getting redder and redder. She stood up.“Please sit down, Mrs Arkwright,” said Hudson quietly, but in such a way that she sat down again. Still looking at Valerie Arkwright,Hudson continued, “I don’t think Mr Ramsey realized just what youand Mr Springer were prepared to do to get that majority share andearn your commission.”

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“I don’t understand why Mr Ramsey would say such a thing,”muttered Valerie Arkwright, now visibly nervous.Mr Springer banged the table with his hand. “Are you saying I killedMiss Norris and then went back to my desk and waited for you?”“No, Mr Springer, you didn’t kill Miss Norris. Mrs Arkwright did.That is the reason she turned up late for dinner at Annabel’s.”“But that’s ridiculous!” Valerie Arkwright shouted. “I was in Tun-bridge Wells all day with clients.”“Yes”, replied Hudson, “that is true. But you came back to the officeon the way to the restaurant. I didn’t immediately recognize you inthat hat. But Mike Holmes did. We saw you waiting with Mrs Walkernext to the lift in your nice turquoise coat. You left some of the woolfrom the coat on the chair next to the window in Miss Norris’s office.Did you leave it there when you were talking to Fiona before youkilled her?” Hudson saw Valerie Arkwright look at Mark Springer, so heexplained. “You took the wrong tape, you see, Mr Springer. And thento make matters worse, you left the digital tape next to the televisionin your office on the evening of the murder. I remember seeing it.”Hudson heard Valerie Arkwright sigh impatiently. “It probably isn’t the first time you have collected commission fororganizing lucrative partnerships, is it? Fiona had probably foundout things that were going to put you and Mrs Arkwright behind barsfor a very long time. You both panicked and decided to get rid ofher.”“You can’t prove any of this,” Valerie Arkwright hissed.Hudson ignored her. “And you did everything to make sure AnnWalker would be arrested, didn’t you?” he continued. “You gave hera motive and made sure I learned how aggressive she was. Thebriefcase was probably just a bonus. You knew we would find herfingerprints on it. What were you hoping to do? Wait a few months

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and then resign and move abroad? Perhaps to the Cayman Islands,where all the money is?”Hudson slowly turned another few pages in his notebook and thenlooked straight at Valerie Arkwright. “You shouldn’t have left thoseSparks & Bright documents in your car, though...” Valerie Arkwright jumped up screaming. “Do you know how muchtime we had invested in that project? You can’t begin to imagine howmad I was...”“Ah, but I think you showed that quite clearly,” answered Hudsongrimly. He walked over to the door and opened it. Four constableswere standing outside. “Mrs Arkwright, Mr Springer, I’m arresting you for the murder ofFiona Norris. Please read them their rights, Constable.”

Übung 13: Sie kennen jetzt die ganze Geschichte. Korrigieren Sie diefolgenden Aussagen!

1. On the night of the murder Valerie Arkwright wore a long coat and

sunglasses.

______________________________________________________

2. Elvira Elliot and Fiona Norris are engineers.

______________________________________________________

3. Mike Holmes is a well-dressed man and works in marketing.

______________________________________________________

4. Hudson visited Nicholas Ramsey twice with Elvira.

______________________________________________________

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5. When Hudson opened the door of the meeting room, four security

guards were standing outside.

______________________________________________________

6. Mark Springer killed Fiona Norris, and Valerie Arkwright helped

him.

______________________________________________________

Übung 14: Welche „Business“-Redewendung passt zu welchemSatz? Vervollständigen Sie!(none of your business, get straight down to business, put somebusiness someone’s way, have no business here, send someoneabout his business, make something one’s business)

1. You shouldn’t be in here. This room is private.

You __________________________________________________

2. We should start work immediately.

We should _____________________________________________

3. When I realized he was a salesman, I told him to go.

I _____________________________________________________

4. I will make sure he finishes the job on time.

I will _________________________________________________

5. This has nothing to do with you.

This is ________________________________________________

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6. I told my carpenter friend to give him some work.

I _____________________________________________________

Übung 15: Übersetzen Sie und enträtseln Sie das Lösungswort!

1. Gesellschafter _ _ _ � _ _ _2. Anteil _ _ _ � _3. Kampagne _ _ _ _ � _ _ _4. Motor _ _ _ � _ _5. Berater _ _ � _ _ _ _ _ _ _6. Werbung _ _ _ � _ _ _ _ _ _ _7. Besprechung _ � _ _ _ _ _

Lösung: _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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Lösungen

Übung 1: 1. boss 2. confidential 3. dictate 4. examined 5. corporate 6. investigate 7. consultant 8. companyÜbung 2: 1. file 2. report 3. accounts 4. consultant 5. administration 6. conference 7. deadline 8. shredderÜbung 3: 1. Merryl & McDouglas is a management consultancy. 2. Maria is the clean-ing lady. 3. Hudson is sent to the company because someone has been murdered. 4. red leather sofas, potted palms, glass coffee tables, two oil paintings of the com-pany founders 5. Hudson is not able to speak to Maria because she has gone home.6. Mr Springer is not allowed to reveal client information.Übung 4: 1. waste of time 2. on time 3. in time 4. make time 5. running out of time 6. took his time 7. time and a halfÜbung 5: 1. company/firm 2. busy/engaged 3. meeting/appointment 4. select/ choose5. consultant/adviser 6. agreement/contract 7. job/profession 8. manager/director 9. file/folderÜbung 6: 1. falsch 2. falsch 3. richtig 4. richtig 5. richtig 6. falsch Übung 7: 1. trainee 2. advertising 3. graphologist 4. mentor 5. departments 6. shares 7. redundantÜbung 8: 1. Elvira Elliot overheard the trainees speaking about the murder. 2. Theconsultants have a lot of meetings. 3. The accounts needed some improvement. 4. MrArkwright is going to meet a potential investor. 5. Valerie Arkwright is in charge of themarketing department. 6. Ann Walker is not a very experienced director.Übung 9: 1. richtig 2. falsch 3. richtig 4. falsch 5. falsch 6. falschÜbung 10: 1. a 2. b 3. b 4. a 5. c 6. a Übung 11: 1. advertiser 2. pencil 3. bedroom 4. lifeguard 5. knife 6. chat 7. cleaninglady 8. fingerprintÜbung 12: 1. Einige Berater arbeiten in der Marketing-Abteilung. 2. Der Wachmannlässt nur befugte Personen ins Gebäude. 3. Alle vertraulichen Dokumente müssen inden Reißwolf. 4. Schlechte Investitionen können eine Firma ruinieren. 5. „Ichverbinde Sie mit dem Seniorpartner.“ 6. Die Berater wollen herausfinden, wo Geldverschwendet wird.Übung 13: 1. She wore a long coat and a hat. 2. No, Fiona Norris and Mark Springerare engineers. 3. Mike Holmes is a badly dressed man and he works in the surveil-lance department. 4. Hudson visited Nicholas Ramsey twice, but without Elvira. 5. Four constables were standing outside, not four security guards. 6. It was ValerieArkwright who killed Fiona Norris, and Mark Springer who helped her.Übung 14: 1. You have no business here. 2. We should get straight down to business.3. I sent him about his business. 4. I will make it my business that he finishes the jobon time. 5. This is none of your business. 6. I put some business his way.Übung 15: 1. partner 2. share 3. campaign 4. engine 5. consultant 6. advertising 7. meeting Lösung: trainee

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Glossar

BE britisches Englischfam umgangssprachlichfig bildlichpl Pluralv Verb

account Konto; Rechnung; Berichtaccounts pl Buchhaltungsunterlagenacquisition Erwerb(ung), Ankauf; Übernahmeadmit v hier: zugeben; hereinlassenadvertising Werbung, Reklameapparently anscheinend, offenbarappointment Termin, Verabredungarrest v sb. verhaftenassessment Beurteilung, Bewertungattached beigefügt, angeheftetauthorization Befugnis, Ermächtigungbadge Ausweis; Abzeichenbark v hier: anblaffen fam; bellenbehind bars fig hinter Gittern figbe (was, been) v prepared (to do sth.) bereit sein (etw. zu tun)bin hier: Papierkorb; Abfalleimerboard of directors Vorstandbriefcase Aktentaschebrighten v (sich) aufhellenbusiness administration Betriebswirtschaft(slehre)business card Visitenkartebusiness section (of a newspaper) Wirtschaftsteil (einer Zeitung)by the way übrigenscabinet kleiner Schrank, Vitrine; Kabinettcalm v (down) (sich) beruhigen campaign Kampagnecareless achtlos; unvorsichtig, sorgloscarry v on weitermachen; endlos redencase hier: Fall; Koffercatch (caught, caught) v sb.’s eye jds. Blick auf sich ziehenchap fam Kerl fam, Jungecharge v sb. (with a crime) jdn. anklagen, jdn. eines Verbrechens

beschuldigenchatty fam geschwätzigclaim hier: Werbespruch; Behauptung clap v klatschen

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clear v one’s throat sich räuspernclue Hinweiscollect v abholen, mitnehmen; (ein)sammelncommission hier: Provision; Kommissioncomprehensible verständlichconfidential vertraulich, geheimconfirm v bestätigenconfirmed bachelor eingefleischter Junggeselleconstable Wachtmeister, Polizist consultancy Beratungsunternehmenconsultant Berater(in)contract Vertrag; Abkommen, Übereinkunftconvenient praktisch, günstigcorporate reorganization Unternehmensumstrukturierungcost-effective kosteneffizient; kostengünstigcourt case Gerichtsverhandlungcourtyard (Innen-)Hofcover v bedeckencovered in bedeckt mitcross v one’s mind fam in den Sinn kommen, jdm. einfallencut (cut, cut) v jobs Arbeitsplätze abbauencut-throat unbarmherzig, halsabschneiderischdeadline Abgabetermin, Fristdebts pl Schuldendecipher v entzifferndegree hier: Universitätsabschluss; Graddemand v verlangen, forderndirector Leiter(in); Direktor(in) division Abteilung, Bereich; Divisiondivorce Scheidungdivorced geschiedendocumentation Unterlagen; DokumentationDo you mind...? Macht es Ihnen etwas aus, wenn ...dual-fuel mit zwei verschiedenen Brennstoffenduty Dienst; Pflichteagle eyes pl Adleraugen employee Angestellte(r)engine Motor; Maschineengineer Ingenieur(in)engineering Ingenieurwesen, Technikentire ganz; gesamtenvious neidischenvironmentally-friendly umweltfreundlichequipment Ausrüstungeventually schließlich, endlich

55


evidence Beweis(e)exhibition Ausstellungfabric Stoff, Gewebefaded verblasst, ausgebleicht; verwelktfamiliar bekannt, vertrautfashion hier: Art; Modefavour Gefallen, Gefälligkeitfavouritism BE Bevorzugung, Begünstigung;

Vetternwirtschaftfile Akte, Ordnerfiling cabinet AktenschrankFire away. fam Schieß los! famfire escape Notausgang, Nottreppeflush v errötenflustered nervös; etwas durcheinanderfold v one’s arms die Arme verschränkenforensics Spurensicherung, Kriminaltechnik founder Gründer(in)fraud Betrugfrown v finster dreinblicken, die Stirn runzelnfurious wütendgasp v der Atem stockt vor Überraschung;

keuchengather v (information) (an)sammeln; Informationen einholengenuine echt; aufrichtigget (got, got) v back hier: sich wieder bei jdm. melden; to sb. zurückkehren zu

get (got, got) v down to business zur Sache kommenget (got, got) v rid of sb./sth. jdn./etw. loswerdenginger-haired rothaarig, rotblondgive (gave, given) v a presentation einen Vortrag haltenglance v (at) einen Blick werfen (auf)Goodness gracious! Ah du meine Güte!graduate Universitätsabsolvent(in)graphologist Schriftexperte/-expertingrateful(ly) dankbargrim(ly) grimmig, düster; trostlosgrin v grinsengroan v stöhnenguess v (er)raten, vermuten hang (hung, hung) v up auflegen (Telefon)head hier: Chef(in), Leiter(in); Kopf high potential hier: begabte Nachwuchskraft hint hier: Hauch; Andeutunghiss v fauchen, zischen

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Hold on a moment. Einen Moment bitte.How dare he! Wie kann er es wagen!hunch Intuition, Ahnungimprint Abdruckimprove v (ver)bessernin charge (of) verantwortlich (für); leitendincome Einkommeninside job fam das Werk von Insidern; Verbrechen, an dem

jmd. innerhalb der Firma beteiligt istinsider trading Insiderhandel (Börse)instruct v instruieren, anweiseninsurance Versicherunginsurance investigator Versicherungsermittler(in)interrogation room Vernehmungsrauminterrupt v unterbrechen; störeninvent v erfindenirritate v ärgern, reizen; irritierenirritating ärgerlich; irritierendjump v to conclusions fig voreilige Schlüsse ziehenjust in case nur für den Fall, dasskeen eifrigkeep (kept, kept) v sb. company jdm. Gesellschaft leistenkeep (kept, kept) v jdn. auf Trab halten fig

sb. on his/her toes figkey point Kernpunkt, wichtigster Punktlaunch v (a product) auf den Markt bringenlaw hier: Jura, Recht; Gesetzlead Anhaltspunkt, Hinweis, Spurlean (leant, leant) v neigen; (sich) (an)lehnenlecturer Dozent(in)long-distance call Ferngesprächlucrative lukrativmad hier: wütend; verrücktmaintenance costs pl Instandhaltungskostenmajority share Mehrheitsbeteiligungmake (made, made) v sb. redundant jdn. entlassen (betriebsbedingt)management consultant Unternehmensberater(in)mention v erwähnenmiss v sth. hier: etw. übersehen; etw. vermissenmissing fehlend; verschwunden; vermisstmultilingual mehrsprachigmumble v murmeln, nuschelnmutter v murren, brummelnnotice v bemerken, feststellen, wahrnehmenobject v (to) beanstanden; widersprechen

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observe v bemerken; beobachtenobvious(ly) offensichtlichone of a kind das Einzige seiner Art, einzigartigone-way mirror Einwegspiegel order Auftrag, Bestellung; Anordnungoverhear (overheard, overheard) v zufällig (mit)hörenoverseas Übersee..., in Überseepaper shredder Reißwolfpermission Erlaubnispersevere v beharren, sich beharrlich bemühenpersonnel Personal, Belegschaftpile Stapel, Haufen pillar Säuleplc (public limited company) BE AG, Aktiengesellschaftpost-acquisition phase Phase nach einer Übernahmepotted palms pl eingetopfte Palmen pressure Druckpretend v tun als ob, vorgebenpromotion Beförderungproposition Vorhaben; Vorschlagprospects pl Aussichten prove v beweisen, nachweisenprovide v (sb. with sth.) (jdn. mit etw.) versorgen; liefernpublic limited company (plc) BE Aktiengesellschaft, AG reach v a conclusion zu einem Schluss gelangenrecent(ly) kürzlich, in letzter Zeitreception Empfang; Rezeptionrecognize v (wieder)erkennenremaining verblieben, (ver)bleibend; übrigremark v anmerken, äußernreserved zurückhaltend; reserviertresign v (from a job) kündigen, zurücktretenretort v scharf erwidern, konternreveal v aufdecken; zum Vorschein bringenridiculous lächerlich, idiotischright-handed rechtshändigrude(ly) unhöflich; grobrush-hour Hauptverkehrszeit, Berufsverkehrscan v überfliegen; scannenshare Aktie; Anteilsecurity guard Sicherheitsbedienstete(r)see (saw, seen) v sb. hier: eine Beziehung haben mit see (saw, seen) v to sth. sich kümmern umselect v auswählen shrug v one’s shoulders mit den Schultern zucken

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sigh v seufzensip v nippen (an)smooth v glättensnap v hier: jdn. anschnauzen; schnappensnort v (verächtlich) schnaubensoft spot (for sb.) fam eine Schwäche/ein Faible für jdn. statement Aussagestiffen v hier: erstarren; steif machen/werdensuffer v leidensuppose v vermuten, annehmensurface Oberflächesurveillance Überwachungsuspect Verdächtige(r)tape Bandtape recorder Tonbandgerättemple Schläfe; Tempeltheft Diebstahlthroat Hals, Kehletie KrawatteTo what do I owe this Was verschafft mir diese unexpected pleasure? unerwartete Ehre?

trainee Auszubildende(r), Praktikant(in) transfer hier: Überweisung; Verlegungtray Tabletttrolley hier: Putzwagen; Handkarrenturquoise türkistweed Wollstoff, Tweedtwitch Zuckentype v (ab)tippenuncomfortable/-tably hier: unbehaglich; unbequemunreasonable unangemessen, unverschämturgent dringendviable machbar; entwicklungsfähigvictim Opferwaste v verschwendenweapon Waffewhirlwind romance fig kurzlebige, stürmische Romanze figwhistle v pfeifenwhiteboard Weißwandtafelwhite-clad in Weiß gekleidetwitness Zeuge, Zeugin

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