Premier Deception (3 page)

Charlotte shrugged
her shoulders in defeat and picked up her bag and surreptitiously
fed the rest of her bacon to Scruffy. She went around the table to
hug her mother.
“
Thanks for arranging
this mum, I really appreciate it. I
’
ll
text you when I finish,
”
she said
gratefully. She wouldn
’
t have thought of
any of this and was hoping to get some form of work as she wanted
to travel to Rio when the Olympics were on and she had to save up
enough money to do so. Her friend Imogen was coming with her who
had also done the same degree and she already had a job secured at
her local sports centre as a lifeguard.

Her Dad was waiting
in the car outside so Charlotte patted Scruffy on the head and
closed the front door behind her. Slipping into the passenger seat
she took in the smell of
“
eau de new
car.
”
Her father had just taken delivery
of a new Range Rover Evoque, which was a real step up from the
Honda that he
’
d had before.
He
’
d received a bonus at the bank and
this was one of the few things that he had indulged in.

The car was as clean
as if it had just left the showroom and was obviously the new pride
and joy in her father
’
s life. As the car
purred into life he eased it carefully out of the driveway.
“
If you don
’
t mind can
we just stop off in town on the way as I need to run an
errand,
”
he said sheepishly.

Charlotte grinned as
she knew exactly what the errand was. The local betting shop did a
roaring trade on a Saturday morning with the white collar golfers
let out for the morning.
“
No problem, I
have this research to read through and could murder a
Costa,
”
she said smiling at him.
“
Whatever you do don
’
t
let on to your mum though, I wouldn
’
t
hear the last of it all weekend!
”
Charlotte laughed along with her father, they had a good
relationship and she enjoyed spending time with him. They chatted
happily as the hedges sped past them to be replaced with fences and
buildings as they neared the local town.

Langdale was not much more than a village. It had
grown up over the years with a smattering of independent shops
existing alongside the major retail chains. There was enough to
make it worth going to but not too big so as it became difficult to
park and negotiate your way around. They parked outside the betting
shop luckily finding a space and Mick jumped out, a spectacular
sight in his plus fours and Ralph Lauren polo shirt. Charlotte knew
that he would be at least half an hour so decided to take a seat in
Costa and go over the research.

As she pushed her way
in she noticed how busy it was this morning. Goodness it may take
half an hour just to get served she thought with dismay. As she
waited she looked around with interest. She noticed that there were
several tables taken up by what looked like reporters and film
crew. They were all messing around with their phones and tablets
and generally creating chaos in the usually quiet coffee shop. This
must be for the press launch at the football club, she thought with
interest. Luckily the queue moved quickly and she soon ordered her
latte and pushed through the tables to grab a seat by the window.
There were two men sitting at the table beside
Charlotte
’
s and as she sat down she
couldn
’
t help but hear their
conversation.
“
I wonder who it will be
they
’
ve made it into a right mystery, no
details not even a brief.
”
said a man
with a very loud voice. His colleague replied,
“
Well whoever it is they have a hell of a job, word is that
financially things are pretty bad at the club. Seems like Mitchell
has a bit of a problem if you know what I mean and the bad form
doesn
’
t help.
”
His colleague replied,
“
They
haven
’
t bought any new decent players all
season and even their best striker should have retired by now,
they
’
ve only survived this year because
of Ricardo on loan from Chelsea. Without him they would have gone
down this year. The trouble is he has now gone back so who knows
what will happen to them this year?
”

They were interrupted
by a commotion by the door. It seemed that the whole coffee shop
turned to stare as just inside the door was the most glamorous
woman Charlotte had ever seen in her life. She swept in dressed
from head to toe in leopard print. She was wearing huge oversized
glasses and her dark hair was piled high on top of her head. Her
shoes had the highest heels imaginable and she ordered her coffee
with a low husky voice. The jaws had dropped of every male and
female in the shop and she glanced around waiting with an air of
boredom. Her phone rang, which she answered in a loud irritable
voice.
“
I won
’
t
be long, keep the car running. I know we haven
’
t got much time!
”
she snapped
looking annoyed.

Out of the window Charlotte saw her father
approaching his car and pushing back her seat she gathered up her
papers and hurriedly raced for the door. All of a sudden her ankle
went and she stumbled against a chair, reaching out to steady
herself she fell and crashed into leopard print woman who had just
picked up her coffee. As if in slow motion the drink flew into the
air, fell onto the side of the counter and the contents splashed
all over the front of the leopard print dress. Horrified she looked
up and saw the dismay on the face of the woman as coffee stained
her dress. Charlotte grabbed a handful of serviettes and
apologising profusely tried to mop up the mess. The lady looked
stunned and merely glared at Charlotte, then spun on her designer
heels and fled from the shop.

Charlotte looked
around and saw the whole shop looking at her. Her cheeks flaming
she stood there trying to mop up the mess on the floor. One of the
men at the table behind hers came over to help.
“
Don
’
t worry love,
”
he said laughing,
“
it
’
s not as though anybody was
looking.
”
Charlotte mumbled her thanks
and with her cheeks flaming she raced out of the coffee shop at top
speed and was glad to see her father at the car.
“
All sorted?
”
He said
and opened the car door for her.

As she slid into the
sanctuary of the leather interior she noticed the woman that had
been in the coffee shop getting into a large Range Rover with
blacked out windows. The car sped off in the direction that they
were going and they fell in behind it in the busy town centre
traffic.
“
You see that car in
front,
”
her father said.
“
That
’
s your new boss
with any luck.
”
Charlotte look at him in
alarm,
“
what do you mean,
who?
”

“
Mitchell
Maloney, the boss at United, I think he was waiting for his wife. I
saw him in the betting shop he was in and out so quickly though, it
probably has a lot to do with the big announcement and all
that.
”
Typical thought Charlotte,
that
’
s a good start;
let
’
s hope his wife
isn
’
t doing the interviews, she thought.
They didn
’
t speak much on the journey.
Charlotte was thinking about what had just happened with the lady
in the car in front. The town centre faded away and they carried on
through the open countryside towards the stadium. Ten minutes later
they drew near to the stadium and joined a queue of traffic off the
slip road which led to the main entrance.

“
It was a good
job we left early,
”
her father
said,
“
your mother was right as usual
this press launch has brought everyone out, as well as the open
day.
”
Charlotte agreed and started to
feel a little nervous as they drew near. The Stadium was absolutely
huge. It dominated the area, a mass of steel and light amid the
still of the rolling countryside. It provided much needed jobs for
the area and had a huge loyal following. As they drove through the
main entrance they noticed signs pointing right for the press
launch, taking them to the main entrance and left for the open day
which directed the would be workers to the rear entrance. They
drove to the back and Mick stopped the car in front of the door
marked
“
Staff entrance.
”
Turning towards her he smiled and said,
“
Good Luck Lola, I hope it goes well.
Don
’
t be too nervous I
’
m sure that you will be fine. Text me when
you
’
re finished and I
’
ll try to escape to pick you up.
”

“
Thanks dad I
will,
”
she said.
“
Thanks for the lift, enjoy your game of golf.
”

She got out of the car and watched him drive away,
suddenly feeling very alone.

She
didn
’
t know what she might find inside or
what to expect. She hadn
’
t had any time
to prepare for this and felt nervous, especially after the incident
at the coffee shop. Why on earth was she so accident prone? It had
only made a stressful situation even more so. In fact she
hadn
’
t felt this nervous since she had
applied for the bar job at the Muddy Goose. The landlord had been a
real letch, she had been warned but it still came as a bit of a
shock when he placed his hand on her knee and said that there were
many benefits to working there, which he would look forward to
introducing her to. She never went back there again! Despite the
fact that the pay was really good she decided to skip the bar job
and went to work in a nearby hairdressers. She had to shampoo
the
“
ladies
”
and bring them teas and coffees. She smiled as she
remembered the many hours of gossip that she indulged in with them.
There were some real characters and she grew quite fond of her
regulars.

She watched her dad
drive off feeling suddenly very alone and unsure of herself. Oh
well here I go, she thought and with a deep breath pushed open the
door and headed inside. There was a big desk in front of her at
which sat a bored looking receptionist. Charlotte thought back to
her mother
‘
s wish that she be given a job
on reception and thought that if it was as boring as the
receptionist made it look then she would rather work somewhere
else.
“
You here for the open day?
”
she said to Charlotte who nodded.
“
Fill in this form and take a seat through
there,
”
she said indicating a doorway to
the left of the desk.
“
They will come for
you when they are ready.
”
She then calmly
answered the phone that had started ringing.

Charlotte took the
form and went through the door. The room was laid out with several
chairs, around which were huge pictures of the current footballers.
The colour scheme was red and black to mirror the
team
’
s colours, and it all looked very
corporate. There were about ten people already in the room and
Charlotte quickly found a seat near the back so that she could
observe everyone else without being seen herself. This was her
usual routine which had served her well at lectures in the
past.

She saw two girls
that she recognised as having been at her school when she had gone
to the local comprehensive. Oh no! she thought groaning inside.
Libby Bennett and Chloe Duncan! They hadn
’
t been very nice to her at school and had formed part of
the,
“
cool gang
”
something that she was most definitely not. They were
dressed in leggings and sleeveless tops with canvas shoes. Their
hair was in top knots and they looked like any other young girl out
for the day. They were busy taking selfies of themselves with the
life sized photos, pouting and posing with the images and no doubt
instantly uploading them to Instagram.

Suddenly they noticed
her and nudged each other. They smirked taking in her business
attire and stifled giggles as they turned away. Charlotte was used
to this; she had never fitted in at school. Most of the girls used
to customise their uniform by rolling the skirts up and re-styling
their ties. Charlotte never did and so was singled out as different
and not one of the crowd. She was known as the weird one and had
struggled to make friends, probably due to the fact that she
didn
’
t smoke or talk about boys and make
up. I mean who wanted to be friends with an outcast. Whoever said
that your schooldays are the best years of your life was seriously
misguided, she thought with a shudder. She hoped that she
wouldn
’
t have to work with either of
them; it would be like being back at school.

Just then the door
opened and everyone looked to see who had entered. The two
girl
’
s jaws dropped and Charlotte looked
around to see a good looking guy enter the room. He looked like a
film star and had a definite presence around him. He had dark hair
that was fairly long and trendy and the darkest brown eyes that she
had ever seen. He was dressed in smart black trousers with a white
shirt that was slightly undone, revealing the hint of a broad
tanned chest. He appeared oblivious to the effect that he was
having and made no eye contact with anyone, taking the seat next to
Charlotte at the back. He nodded in acknowledgement and then sat
looking at the form that he had been given. The two mean girls
nudged each other again and kept on throwing him interested looks
but he was taking no notice of them, much to
Charlotte
’
s satisfaction. Charlotte could
smell his aftershave which was a pleasant mix of spices and
fragrance. For some reason his presence beside her was unsettling
and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She noticed out of the
corner of her eye that his nails were well manicured. God she hoped
he wasn
’
t gay! She decided that she
needed a distraction from him and looked down at the
form.