Page 7 of Mann Hunt
“Pretty good start to the night. The usual for you, Charlie?”
He remembered my name! Oh my God!
“Uh, sure,” Charlie replied.
Charlie remained at the bar, casting his gaze around the room, looking for anyone he knew, or someone that he thought he would like to. The men here were old enough to date his father. The thought of that sent chills down his spine.
Charlie’s phone chirped.Probably Carrie checking up on me, he thought. He glanced at the screen. It showed a new email, but not from Carrie. It was from an employment matching service, one of the tons he’dregistered with. He had plugged in his particulars, in as much detail as possible, and the algorithms were supposed to match his skills with suitable jobs on record. He’d finally had a hit. He opened up the email.
Dear Charlie Watts,
It is our pleasure to offer you an interview for the following employment match.
Position: Office and technical manager
Period: Three weeks, commencing immediately
Employer: Declan Hunt Investigations
Please see attachment for full job description.
Charlie got no further before he let loose with a loud, unflattering laugh, and started to choke on his beer. That night’s Kid was behind him in a moment, and slapped him on the back. Mickey was there a second later.
“Are you all right, Charlie?” Mickey asked. With Mickey in front, and the Kid slapping him on the back, Charlie realised that this was obviously what he needed to do to get attention in a gay bar.
“I’m okay. The beer just went down the wrong pipe.”
“Thanks, Kid,” Mickey said, letting the Kid know he could halt his assault on Charlie’s back. Then, to Charlie, he said, “Take it easy. It’s not last call for another hour.”
“It’s just that I got a job match!” Charlie blurted out, holding up his phone for Mickey to see. “The first one in… Well, forever…”
“Congratulations,” Mickey said, as he glanced at the email. “Well, you certainly landed an interesting company.”
“Yeah, right? A private investigator! What the fuck do I know about that?”
“It says there that they want an office manager and tech person. Are you organised?”
“Well… Yeah.”
“Do you know about tech stuff?”
“I have my degree in it,” Charlie responded, his liquor-soaked brain slowly piecing things together. The alcohol combined with the fact that the most beautiful bartender in the world first, knew his name and, second, was talking to him, made the whole world a very unsettled place at that moment.
“And I happen to know that if you get a chance to meet Declan Hunt,” said Mickey, who took Charlie’s phone away from him, tapped out something on it then returned it with the image of a man on the screen, “you will not be able to stop yourself from coming in your pants.”
Charlie looked at the image on the phone. There was a picture of a man, stripped to the waist. Every fibre of the substantial muscles in his arms and pecs were bulging as he carried a man away from a burning car. The hero’s perfect body was covered in a sheen of sweat and—Charlie used his fingers to zoom in on the image. His face was that of someone who had seen a hard life. A scar cut across his left eyebrow, dividing it in two, and his nose, which might have been broken at some time, had a slight bend to the left. Charlie scrolled down the image of his body towards his—oh my God, he has a hard-on!He could clearly make it out under his jeans. Charlie focused his eyes on the man’s face. He had the look of…Gran—I think I’ve found my Constable Winslow.
Charlie set down his phone and sipped his last drink of the night, then got up from the bar.
Mickey winked and said, “Hey, Charlie. Good luck with the job. I got a good feeling about it.”
Charlie winked back and said, “Thanks Mickey.”
He made his way out onto the street. Charlie wasn’t in any mood to go home, so he made one more stop—The Black Bean Eatery, a twenty-four-hour diner known for its cheap coffee, great pie and for being Calgary’s destination break-up joint. More relationships were ended at this restaurant than in Vegas.
Charlie ordered a coffee and slice of key lime pie, then he pulled up the email and opened the job description attachment.
Wanted: Office manager for reputable private investigations firm. General duties include client contact, bookkeeping, filing and running errands. Strong computer knowledge an asset. Must be discreet, have a clean criminal record, follow instructions without question and be able to work under stressful conditions.
