Premier Deception (23 page)

“I got his mobile number and e mail
address from the switchboard at the Stadium and we were told that
if he used any of them we could trace the signal. It took several
hours which were the worst of my life,” he said, running his
fingers through his hair agitatedly. “Then we had the signal which
the police traced. It was coming from a block of disused flats on
the other side of town. The police scrambled their fire-arms team
and we headed off towards it, calling the ambulance at the same
time to meet us there. When we got there the police did a recce and
saw the situation through the window. They had to act fast as they
saw that he had a weapon and couldn’t risk you being injured. As
soon as they saw him attack you they went in, and you know the
rest.” Charlotte hugged him once again tears coursing down her
face.

“Thank you,” she said chokingly. “You
saved my life, I can never repay you.”

He held onto her and she felt so safe
and secure in his embrace. He pulled away and dried her tears with
a tissue. “Come on lets get you inside. You need to eat something
and get some sleep. It can all wait until tomorrow when you feel
stronger.”

They went into her house where her
parents were waiting and spent the rest of the evening trying to
come to terms with the day’s events.

Max went home later on that night and
Charlotte fell into a deep and troubled sleep. Images of mad
excited eyes haunted her and she woke up several times sweating and
agitated. By the next morning the story had broken and there were
once again news cameras and reporters camped out in the front of
her house.

Maurice phoned full of concern and told
Charlotte to stay at home to recover and only to come back when she
was ready. There were many messages of sympathy and support and
virtually every member of her team sent her their good wishes.

Charlotte stayed inside unable to face
the press and tried to block it all out by watching DVDs, however
she didn’t think that she could remember anything of what she
watched. Her mother fussed over her like a mother hen and made sure
that she was supplied with endless drinks and tried to feed her up,
as she put it.

Max dropped by shortly after 12pm. She
was glad to see him as she had missed him and thought to her
surprise that she couldn’t relax unless he was with her. He came
and sat down next to her and took her hand in his. “How are you
feeling?” he said worry again etched on his face. “Fine I think,”
she said looking worriedly at him. “You don’t look so good
yourself,” she said noticing that he was still pale and didn’t look
like he had slept much. “Oh I am fine,” he said trying to muster a
smile. “I would have come sooner but I went to the Police Station
to give a statement and find out what was going on.” Charlotte’s
stomach lurched at the thought of Elliott behind bars; she had been
trying not to think of his mad face since it had happened. “The
police are here,” said her mother noticing the car pulling into the
driveway and she jumped up to let them in. Charlotte braced herself
for what they may say as the two same officers came into the
room.

“We are sorry to disturb you when you
should be recovering but thought that we would bring you up to
speed on things.” Officer Monroe said.

“Elliott has been charged with assault,
possession of an illegal fire arm, kidnap and false imprisonment as
well as several other minor charges.” He has been refused bail and
is currently residing in the secure unit of Belmarsh Prison.”

Charlotte swallowed nervously; just the
mention of him set her heart racing.

“He will face a judge today and it is
expected that he will be remanded in custody to await trial by
Jury.” Charlotte nodded words escaping her.

“We just need you to come to the station
whenever you feel up to it to make a formal statement. You may wish
to appoint a solicitor or we can find one for you,” he said looking
at her compassionately. Max intervened and said, “The club have
already appointed a solicitor for Miss Dawson so there is no
need.”

Charlotte was surprised, since when she
thought, things had certainly moved quickly.

She then said, “I would like to come to
make the statement today if it is ok with the solicitor. I don’t
want to drag it out and just want to get it out of the way so that
things can get back to normal.” Max looked at her with concern and
said. “It’s too soon, you still need to rest.” “No Max,” she said
determinedly. “It’s got to be done and I would rather it was
sooner.” Max said, “Ok I will drive you there later on this
afternoon. We will call the solicitor to meet us.”

The police officers left and Charlotte
and Max looked at each other, both more concerned about the other
one than themselves. She said to him, “Come on, let’s get this over
with, I want this sorted as soon as possible.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon at
the Police Station and both gave their statements. The evening was
spent at home and Max returned back to his home later that night.
Charlotte spent the rest of the week at home trying to get some
form of normality back to her life. Max dropped in every day and
despite their ordeal they managed to put the terrible experience
behind them.

Charlotte was grateful for his company
and her heart missed a beat every time that she saw him, however
despite growing closer over the week they were still firmly rooted
in the friend’s position. This was probably for the best at the
moment anyway Charlotte thought as despite her bravado she was
still emotionally scarred from her experience and needed calm and
normality to carry her through. However one week on and she was
ready to return to work.

Max drove her to the Stadium early on
Monday morning. Luke had covered her position during the week
through training and the weekend’s game against West Ham, but the
next fixture was important so she was keen to show her support.

Mitchell and Maurice wanted to see her
before she resumed work so she headed in to meet them that morning.
It felt strange going back to work and she half expected to see
Elliott at the reception when she went in.

Annette welcomed her warmly as did all
the staff and she felt very fussed over indeed.

The Maloney brothers were also very
sweet and seemed really concerned, but she assured them that she
was ready to come back and she found herself once again back in the
car heading for the training ground. Max said to her, “I will be
here all day waiting for you whenever you need me just call.” She
was grateful but also worried that she was putting him out, but he
wouldn’t hear otherwise.

On returning to training Luke came
rushing up to meet her concern showing in his eyes. “Are you ok
Charlotte? We have been so worried about you.” She smiled and said,
“I’m fine thank you, I just want to forget it all and concentrate
on things here. It was a terrible ordeal but I am unharmed and we
have a cup to win.”

So things went back to normal - as
normal as they could be given the situation.

The next week was
spent preparing for the game with Manchester United. The FA cup was
the only trophy that they stood a possibility of winning but
Manchester United were a hard team to beat. They had the home
advantage but they would need more than that to get through. As it
happened the game went unbelievably well. As is sometimes the case
with the FA Cup the underdog won on the day and they won 1-0. The
fans went wild as did the team. Mitchell and Maurice were ecstatic
as was Charlotte and Luke. Things were going so well. Charlotte had
now become the fans favourite. The sponsors said that her picture
was now the most requested as she had become a pin up for the male
fans much to her amusement and her family
’
s. She was offered endless opportunities within the media
and was asked to front many an advertising campaign, which she
always declined citing the demands of her job as the reason. There
were endless invitations and requests for personal appearances. New
sponsors were lining up to invest in the club and it was soon
bringing in more money than the club had ever done before. All of
this she thought was making it all the harder for Mitchell and
Ronnie as the share price was now through the roof.

It was
Maurice
’
s birthday on the Saturday. There
was no game due to national fixtures so there was a brief lull in
the schedule. The party theme was the Oscars so Charlotte guessed
that Gloria would be definitely rolling out the red
carpet.

Charlotte
couldn
’
t wait. It was a great excuse to
dress to impress which is what she wanted to do as Max was her
escort. She would have said date but she still
didn
’
t feel that she could call it that.
She had a rare day off so decided to head off into Dorminster to
buy a new dress and shoes for the party. She loved the nearest big
town. The shops were filled with beautiful things. Expensive brands
co existed among cheaper ones and there were many boutiques and
individual shops to entice the shopper. There were various cafes,
their tables spilling out onto the cobbled streets and given the
time of year fairy lights twinkled from the trees and the shop
windows were vibrant and promising endless delights within their
façades. She had a lovely time browsing the many rails of beautiful
dresses, trying many on and looking for matching accessories. She
finally decided on a beautiful Grecian style cream dress which she
teamed up with some black elbow length gloves. She decided to get
her hair styled on the day as she fancied wearing it up in a more
glamorous style which would be more befitting to the
occasion.

It had now been
several hours that she had spent shopping and she was getting
tired. She was just thinking about heading home when she felt a tap
on her shoulder. Looking around she was pleased to see Chantelle
who was obviously doing the same as her judging by the amount of
bags that she was carrying.
“
Charlotte, I
thought it was you,
”
exclaimed
Chantelle.
“
How are you? I
haven
’
t seen you for ages.
”
Charlotte smiled, she liked Chantelle and
said,
“
I
’
m
absolutely fine thank you, what about you are you Christmas
shopping?
”
Chantelle laughed and
said,
“
oh no I
’
ve got that joy to come. Actually it
’
s very exciting, I have been invited to
Maurice
’
s party and I am shopping for a
dress.
”
Charlotte looked
surprised.
“
That
’
s great,
”
she said
happily.
“
I
’
ll
have someone to talk to at last, I seem to be starved of female
company at the moment and am really missing a good old girly
gossip.
”
Chantelle laughed and
said,
“
If you
’
re not busy we could go for a coffee now, if you have time
that is, I
’
ve so much to tell
you.
”
This sounded great so Charlotte
agreed and they quickly made their way to a nearby bistro.
“
Let
’
s get something
to eat as well,
”
said Charlotte.
“
I
’
m starving after
all this retail therapy, my treat I insist.
”
Chantelle was happy to accept the invitation and they sat
down at a table by the window their many bags taking up the two
other seats at the table.

They ordered some
wine and pasta and settled down for a good old catch up. Charlotte
was intrigued to hear how Chantelle had got an invite to the party
and asked her who she was going with.
“
Well you know that I told you I had my eye on
someone,
”
said Chantelle happily.
“
Well he started coming to the bar quite a lot
and we got talking. Just a little at first and then for longer and
longer. He came almost every day and people were commenting on it
and it became a bit of a joke.
”
Charlotte
laughed intrigued as to who it was.
“
So
come on Chantelle I
’
m dying to know who
it is,
”
she said leaning forward.
Chantelle blushed and said,
“
It
’
s Ben Hardy.
”
“
My Ben! my best player Ben! But
he
’
s gorgeous and so lovely,
”
exclaimed Charlotte.
“Thanks Charlotte are you saying I’m not?
”
teased Chantelle, they laughed and Charlotte
said,
“
No of course not.
I
’
m so happy for you both, he is my
favourite you know and I am so glad that he has found a great girl
like you, however what was that you were saying about him being in
the bar every day.
”
They laughed again
and Chantelle told her every last bit of how they got together,
where they went and how it was all going.
“
So now I am going to the party with a hot date and how did
I once put it to you, living the high life!
”

Once again they
laughed and Charlotte couldn
’
t remember
when she had laughed so much. So tell me more about the gossip at
the bar, she said wanting to hear every last drop. Chantelle
regaled her with stories that seemed almost unbelievable until she
came to the ones relating to the team captain.
“
He
’
s had more girls in the nearby
toilets than I can count, they joke in the bar that
there
’
s more ball action in there than on
the pitch.
”
Charlotte made a face.
“
That I can believe,
”
she said not at all surprised. He really was a foul
individual. Chantelle suddenly said,
“
and
what about you Charlotte? Who are you going with to the party? oh
hang on let me guess, It wouldn
’
t be our
drop dead gorgeous mad Max would it?
”
Charlotte blushed.
“
I was right!
Come on your turn to spill the beans.
”
Charlotte smiled and said.
“
There
’
s not much to tell really,
he sort of asked me to go with him but we haven
’
t really progressed past the looking phase. I mean I would
go out with him like a shot if he asked me, but he never does.
There always seems to be something in the way.
”
Chantelle said.
“
Oh my God you
two, honestly, it
’
s obvious to everyone
that he is mad about you. He never takes his eyes off you when you
are around and he has this look in his eyes that lights them up
when you walk into the room. He has not so much looked at anyone
else, and by God have they been trying to get him.
”