Chapters (50)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Ninteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Epilogue
- Letter From the Author
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
A police car was parked outside the office in front of the steps. As people arrived and went inside, they all looked at the car. A couple of smokers stood and had a conversation beside it. I recognised one of them, was sure she worked for Victor. I’d seen her in the office and also on the Meet the Team page Charlie had been looking at. An attractive young woman with short white-blonde hair. She saw me looking and said, ‘Are you Andrew?’
I went over. ‘Hi. Yes, I start today.’
She and the guy she was with – trimmed beard, thick glasses – stared at my crutch and she said, ‘Awesome. I’m Amber. This is Pete. We heard about your accident. Very dramatic.’
‘It was more sit-com-like,’ I said.
‘So, what, did you just, like, fall?’ Pete asked.
As with Victor, I didn’t want to tell them my suspicions about being pushed. It would make me sound paranoid. ‘Yeah, it was snowing and really slippery.’
‘Tough break,’ Amber said. ‘But you’re all better now and here you are! Oh my God, we are so busy. You’re starting just in time. Victor has been telling everyone how amazing you are. Like, the Wowcom stuff you did? That was amazing.’
I probably blushed.
‘Weird shit happening in the office this morning, though,’ Amber continued. ‘I got here early—’
‘Employee of the year,’ said Pete.
‘Fuck you. I got here early and Victor was already here, like he always is—’
‘That why you get here early? To see Victor, eh? Naughty girl.’
‘Will you let me finish, you twat?’ She rolled her eyes and Pete guffawed. He was obviously in love with her. ‘Where was I? Oh yeah. Victor has got a couple of cops in his office, sitting on the sofas with him, a man and a woman. I couldn’t see their faces but Victor looked sick. Like they were giving him really bad news.’ Her expression changed. ‘Fuck, I hope everything’s OK with, like, his wife and kids.’
‘Oh, it’s probably something to do with his parking tickets,’ Pete said. ‘He was telling me once he’s got something like ten unpaid congestion charges. He refuses to pay it on—’
He was interrupted by the metal door opening and one of the police officers emerging: the WPC. To my surprise, she was followed out by Victor, his head down, not looking at anyone, bald spot on display, the male PC coming out behind him. We watched as they put him in the back of the police car and slowly drove off.
‘Oh my days,’ said Amber.
‘What the fuck?’ said Pete.