Sport's Perfect, but so's P.I.

By Sean McCumisky

Sam’s career had successfully developed over the years mainly thanks to his predecessor. For success in the Private Investigation arena, your reputation had to precede you. Sam wasn’t unsociable, but only occasionally crossed paths with old friends, mainly during local sports, but occasionally in city bars or restaurants. This was soon to change as not only would he build on past relationships through his daily profession, it would come about through a previous girl friend and her brother. He was one of the career achievers who was succeeding through sporting ambition, not dreams. The only issue being that this progress might affect those willing to do anything to stop it regardless of consequence or reason. Could Sam understand this? Could he solve or prevent it if he did? Only through bypassing previous work, unwritten rules and taking the case from someone he’d always had a soft spot for would he find out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley
• Release date: Sep 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463545621

Sean McCumisky

Written by the most appropriate...Sean lives in Lichfield, Staffordshire, enjoying extensive countryside, walking and cycling.A deeply enthusiastic, or is that competitive, sportsperson to say the least, as well as career-wise a Project Manager, he loves to travel to sports events – tennis, cricket, rugby, ice hockey, motorsports and, of course, football.Holidays of all kinds come a close second. The most recent find being Bansko, Bulgaria...a hidden gem for the skier in you and many walking trails along mountain slopes.He also enjoys spending family time with nieces and nephews, aunties and uncles, parents and grandparents, as well as friends.From Janina and Gerald Harrod (Mum, Stepdad)

Book preview

About the Author

Written by the most appropriate…

Sean lives in Lichfield, Staffordshire, enjoying extensive countryside, walking and cycling.

A deeply enthusiastic, or is that competitive, sportsperson to say the least, as well as career-wise a Project Manager, he loves to travel to sports events – tennis, cricket, rugby, ice hockey, motorsports and, of course, football.

Holidays of all kinds come a close second. The most recent find being Bansko, Bulgaria…a hidden gem for the skier in you and many walking trails along mountain slopes.

He also enjoys spending family time with nieces and nephews, aunties and uncles, parents and grandparents, as well as friends.

From Janina and Gerald Harrod (Mum, Stepdad)

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Dedication

This writing is dedicated to all and sundry. No one is preferred and no one is highlighted. But for those of you that dare, if you can all read, enjoy and then follow my thoughts, my life has been so worthwhile up until now, yet you will be adding to that even further… I just hope I can do the same for you.

My single life advice, ‘Trust Your Journey’.

Everyone in this world has different directions for which their lives travel. Not all are chosen, some are forced; however, the emphasis is still on you to make what can.

As long as what you do and where you do it is not illegal, immoral or just downright wrong, then believe it or not, life will do all it can for you and simply says one thing about your compass choice…

‘Trust Your Journey’.

Sport's Perfect, but so's P.I.

Published by Austin Macauley at Smashwords

Copyright 2018, Sean McCumisky

The right of Sean McCumisky to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with the written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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A CIP catalogue record for this title is

Available from the British Library.

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www.austinmacauley.com

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Sport's Perfect, but so's P.I., 2018

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

ISBN 9781788239158 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781788239165 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781788239172 (E-Book)

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First Published in 2018

Austin Macauley Publishers.LTD/

CGC-33-01, 25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf, London E14 5LQ

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Acknowledgements

As most would probably say, the acknowledgements I want to give would be far too long, so I’ll keep it as brief as I can, so personal thanks will go to:

Obviously, my family, particularly my mum and stepdad (Janina and Gerald), without you both, I’m not sure if I could have made it out of hospital, let alone be in the position that I am now and in the future – thank you so much. x

Not outside and no less important, but my brother, my sisters, my grandparents (sorry, Nan Blink, you’ve sadly left us between proof reading and publication, but that doesn’t mean I’m any less grateful to you!), you have all been inspirational to me and I just can’t thank you enough in words, you will just have to accept a smile, a kiss, a drink or two, and maybe some of my cooking at times if that’s not too painful…

And, finally, again, this is in no order of preference, but Dad, Susan, my other family I’m fortunate enough to have, along with my very close friends, without you all, I would not be writing this. Xxx

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Sporting Interests and Information

It starts the same way for every junior who has later-life aspirations not to work 9:00 am to 5:00 pm every day in an office, warehouse or alternative employment. But to show fitness and ability for the primary school football team up to 11 years old and go through the well-known process of starting and only being used as a substitute on the exceptionally rare occasion where returning from injury or illness is absolutely genuine.

Following acknowledgement at this level and progressing on to secondary school teams at 16, in order to maximise future ambitions, players must also join out-of-school sides, some of which have known associations and links with professional and/or semi-professional teams/organisations – with which careers can develop from both playing ability and the acting skills of associated players, so that they are readily able not just to play and attempt to score skilful and legitimate goals within games, but also to earn the right for free kick opportunities and penalty chances, the likes of which would quite rightly expect to also be submitted for Oscar nomination for feigned injury or tackle conviction – if only such things existed.

Whilst on the field, it’s generally accepted that the tallest players form the centre of defence, with the exception of those who cannot only catch, but generally have the desire and a questionable fashion sense to wear different team-shirts and also gloves for particularly cold winter matches. This is the goalkeeper. The tallest and fastest ideally are the centre forwards, whilst the fastest alone mostly occupies the attacking wing/midfield opportunities. If they couldn’t do so much as cross their own legs and should their ball-crossing ability be deemed so poor that it can be seen as merely a source of opposition team’s amusement, right and left fullbacks are normally duly accommodated. Those that remain generally have a mid-height, mid-speed, can utilise both feet and head to a certain degree. They support defence and attack. The team relies on them for free kicks, corners as well as on-field hair styles, utilising the most amount of gel or spray, should possible dates at the latest disco or local fair be likely in the near future. Therefore, last but certainly not the least, welcome to the team midfield.

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Storyline

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Chapter 1

Introduction and History

As previously mentioned, the route which is best followed in order to achieve the personal and number one life ambition to professionally train and play for a recognised, well-known and well-followed team on a season-after-season basis, very rarely offers alternative routes – even starting at an early age. If you don’t go down the recognised method of appearing for renowned junior teams/organisations and coaches depending on geography, the chances of your playing-potential, skill, opportunity and commitment being recognised by a well-known authority with the chances of future further progression are somewhere between ‘nil and zero’, for want of a more unique explanation.

Sam, or should I say ‘me’, well, I am in the last year but one at primary school. This perhaps gives the impression that I am on the verge of teenage years, but this is not the case. The school times are traditional and each year goes from September to July to equate to a single year. The older ones’ birthdays are before Christmas, but me, for my year, my birthday is in May. By the time my family, friends and I have celebrated, it’s nearly time for the next school year to start.

The most important aspect, though, is the sooner my birthday is celebrated and finished, the better; not that I am ungrateful in any way, but I can then start my thought processes and think about beginning the preparations for the next football season. One of the benefits of having an out-of-season birthday in spring is at least you can request, in the politest manner possible, that you would like next year’s brand new football boots as your main present. Not only do you get them, but you also have to wait next to no time before you can start the pleasure of wearing them before league games start. You don’t have to wait until the new school year begins – playing for an outside, independent team means pre-season training usually starts somewhere around August. Even better still, if you know there’s a summer-time 5-a-side tournament, which your name has been associated with, especially the ones in my district, which were outdoor grass-pitch versions. Consequently, the new-footwear-use could begin in July that was only a maximum of 2 months away. As I also liked golf, tennis and cricket – most sports in fact – the time-frame element was never a problem. It could be thought that there actually wasn’t enough to accommodate everything.

The season in question had the privilege of the mid-summer tournament. The team I was associated with had so many players wanting to be involved. There were five teams that entered from our club alone, all in the same colours, all with the same ambitions and that was to progress as far as possible – and without shouting too much about it – but ultimately, to win. I had been injured at the end of the previous season and consequently, was selected in team 2. I had no problem with that as realistically, the top 2 teams (maybe 3) were the ones that the coaches held their hopes with, in terms of possible victories. There’s nothing at all wrong with those ambitions and to be honest, I’d be more worried if a team I played for were merely content with the ‘taking part’. The worrying element of it, though, was most definitely if two teams from the same club had to play against each other somewhere. There wasn’t a competition issue – we just wouldn’t have been allowed to play against another side with exactly the same shirts as ours, especially in the desert-like heat the summer had donated as the playing conditions!

It was a relatively pleasing day’s play all in all. The number 2 team had successfully made it through the initial league format of four games and got through to the higher levels which took the format of single knock-out games. OK, an overall win didn’t happen but a progression through to ¼ final stages at least proved that the side had gone with greater ambitions than to just make up the relative team numbers. Not only that, the new footwear was fantastically comfortable and could be worn for all purposes, although shopping with parents with studs on would take some justifying. Not only that, despite them being wonderful in every single way, finding a cleaning volunteer would still happen to be a difficult, or should I say, impossible task.

Win or not, the whole competition initially was still a very acceptable start to the new season. Mid-summer competition was so much more satisfying and considerably better from a fitness point of view, as well as a team perspective, than the normal club pre-season activity. As a matter of fact, very often with the club approach, at least the first three weeks of training didn’t even involve a football. The beginning simply meant that your team’s coach would oversee the no-pleasure-whatsoever running aspect. At no point, however, did I ever think I was the only player to consider this. If my sporting interest was principally cross-country running, whilst chasing nothing, let alone the main aim not being that of scoring a goal against the ‘other’ side, then surely I would constantly find myself going round and round an athletics track? Fair enough, even at that young age, I didn’t find enjoyment in all sporting activities and this certainly doesn’t cast worthiness question marks of any form on other sports just because I don’t have an active participation at that point.

Fortunately, during these first competitive seasons as well as losing minimal fixtures at school, I think there were three in the final two seasons and as well as that, there was being there or thereabouts for outside-of-school matches and tournaments. There was a change that happened far sooner than was forecast at any point. With what felt like a month in total, it soon became a reality that the school attendance would be moving on from the junior primary school format to the much bigger and much more grown up format with necessary uniforms and specific sports’ kits for multiple sports at the secondary high school. What would be equally strange was that historic opposition team players, who had previously been played against for years, would now become team-mates for all different sporting elements. Opponents would no longer be primary schools within walking distance of your own establishment, but would now require official school transportation for official fixtures. – How cool is that! :-)

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Chapter 2

Career, Company and Meeting

Twenty years later, the sporting hopes and/or expectations were put to one side and effectively dealt with realistically. If I am being brutally honest about myself and my own personal abilities, then I have to readily admit that whilst I enjoyed the majority of sporting activities, I’d been lucky enough to take part in school years at a more than acceptable level. My overall prospect of maintaining and turning them into professional careers were occasional dreams, to say the least.

Now though, back in the real world, I’d found my career work-wise and right for me. It was as close to perfection as it was possible to get. I had my own office which I shared with one person. To be honest, she was the company’s only other work colleague. I didn’t have to be there for set times i.e. day in and day out, unless of course, a pre-arranged meeting had been put in the diary. I didn’t even completely oversee the diary myself on a daily basis. My colleague looked after pretty much every aspect which was associated with this area. I own the company, but my work colleague is not my (or anyone else’s) secretary. She is not a measly free for all who is responsible for simple, brainless aspects such as drinks-making and venturing out when needed to get bites for lunchtimes. She looks after everything that needs looking after internally by the business.

The office never runs out of administrative needs. Even the advertising in the very local press is overseen. This marketing is particularly responsible. I accept that we are definitely not even a mid-sized outfit, but we certainly have no desire to see our exceptionally serious advertisements next to even the likes of garden centre accessories. After all, there’s no way we could cope with shovel cost comparisons. Besides this, there is a first point of contact from a client’s perspective, not only to find out what they want, how they want it, when they want it and how much they are prepared to pay for the privilege, but also many other parts, like arranging and, where appropriate, attending meetings further down the line, namely, progress reviews. There is also a regular company contact with the accountant who makes sure their paperwork is as it should be and our finance is at least something like pleasant reading. If that side of things came via me, a secondary school teacher would no doubt mark it down against the current class’ youngster’s version.

Eva Moore is very much the office manager though. In fact, she very much over ranks me in that respect and so she should, as her entire CV is based on experience with similar roles. So, she looks after everything from the business perspective. If she wasn’t involved, I dread to think how she could be realistically replaced. As a result of this, she’s not cheap on the salary front and to be fair, I don’t expect her to be. She is worth every penny of her wage and not only that, she is also given the freedom to work to the hours she deems necessary. Payment of the office manager is not on an hourly front. As long as all the required tasks which the business needs are carried out and the necessary arrangements are made, then as long as she is readily available electronically within reason, the business is more than content with that.

In fact, so is Eva Moore content as she has been married for ten years and has two little ones, an 8-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy. This career arrangement gives the ideal time-scale flexibility and she can attend school plays, school sports’ days, even required friend or family events that maybe taking place or require daily as opposed to evening attending. As long as we have both been paid correctly that month, the client progress reports have been finished and emailed to clients and myself, not that I’m wonderful at reading through all of these on a regular basis, but if they are submitted and I am told that expected progress is being made and the report is in the correct format, then quite simply, I absolutely trust the author.

Well, my overall responsibilities seem much lesser, maybe much easier when just explained on paper and in some ways, some people may argue, much less responsible. I am the principal, the main form of contact with the client(s) on a day-to-day or otherwise basis. I attend and agree the relevant progress meetings, then undertake whatever daily actions are necessary to deliver whatever has been asked for – or not as the case might be? Basically, I undertake agreed company’s responsibility, but overall, I was the one who set it up initially.

The clients that I have the experience of working with and/or for range across a huge area from companies to alternative organisations, to individuals and even transportation. I’m not invisible. I’m not an ex-police officer. I am, as you may have already gathered a private investigator, who along with my colleague oversees chosen clients and cases which we believe are worthwhile, genuine, financially beneficial from a company view and ultimately, hopefully, likely to be completed from a professional side of things as per the agreement at the first client meeting.

The company is not the only version of this type of business within this area and Eva Moore and I are certainly not the only two career-minded workers who are associated with this type of work on a daily basis. As with the majority of organisations set across all different work environments, there are different companies who, whilst not having any kind of formal link with our business, operate within a similar or same practice. They do accept that cases will cross occasionally and will be undertaken by others even though they usually specialise in those areas. Equally, they also realise that there will be times when professional advice is needed by their individual investigators, who normally specialise in certain areas.

As long as this isn’t something that takes place on a very regular basis, you can most of the time, rely on help from your alternate company friend and/or their work-wise equivalents of you. From mine and my company’s approach, there is one local place where the other company itself is so large; they don’t pay me as much attention as they do to other city centre places which offer similar solutions. So much so, that I actually specialise in two of the areas that they like business-wise. There is also a friend of mine, Lucas, who works there. We attended the professional investigator qualification together. We still socialise and I’m invited to his wedding which is up coming and can often offer each other assistance office-wise. His company has even suggested and offered the possibility of joining their regime on numerous occasions but I do not want to go down that particular route. I’ve also managed to convince their relevant director that it is actually a better plan for me to retain my independent state. I persuaded him that having the free-for-all outside contact can result in mutually beneficial situations, where we could both investigate on each other’s behalf wherever necessary. As a result of this, not only did the local company agree, but I could take unquestionably similar cases where appropriate. I could also have the unusual privilege of using their office, or getting my friend to look in depth at my cases if needed and as long as I return the favour at some point.

From an operating aspect, the two areas we prefer to specialise in are firstly, the family side of things. This is mostly associated, but not totally with the so-called ‘cheating’ topic. Realistically, this is from the financial side of things, an acceptable basis, which from a permanent weekly/monthly approach is a very good core aspect for us. It is not perceived as the biggest, most exciting and most financially rewarding opportunity however. For this, it is popular opinion that companies and businesses will almost certainly go down this route. There are so many opportunities. They can’t all be listed. Although, there is always, of course, in every aspect of life, the chance that the reverse may in fact turn out to be the reality. The family area is the best there is. I certainly would never begrudge that happening.

It’s now Friday and for the whole week up until this point, I have been out of the office. This is not a usual sensation, but I am actually pleased to be in the office all day today. By that, I don’t mean that ordinarily I have a problem with Eva Moore’s company. It’s just been four busy days monumentally. For once, I don’t mind spending today doing all the paperwork that has been assigned to me and looking through the weekly progress reports. I guess this is doing what would normally be described in a typical 9:00 pm to 5:00 pm office job.

We agree though, we would do whatever typing we’ve each got to do for the morning shift. Then, after lunch, we’ll have the weekly diary review (that we have to make time for at some point), so we’ll both know roughly where each of us will be in the following week and which client reviews and potential new client meetings are scheduled, depending on how busy it might be.

I think I fancy a ham salad sandwich, a coffee latte and some red grapes to finish?

I don’t know how this came about. But how was it my turn to take on Friday lunch collection duties? Eva Moore could obviously and worryingly see into my mind. A bit of a break, fresh air and a wander into the city centre definitely sounds like a very good idea. So, I don’t mind putting a jacket on, venturing through the front door and thinking for myself what sounds like an ideal choice off the menu.

I got back from the sandwich retailer within surprisingly little time. That is actually not a bad thing. The idea of a little bit of a walk didn’t take much persuasion, but I’m so glad that I had a coat with me. November has very much been a winter month this year and frost was already experienced. It has been threatening to try its hardest to give us some pre-Christmas snow. Consequently, freezing as it is, I would be in some severe trouble if I was in no rush to get back and the coffees were turned into ice versions by the time I did hand it over.

Eva Moore was exceedingly grateful to me for not only braving the arctic conditions but also getting back in time so she didn’t have to head out as well. As with every other part of the internal office environment, lunch wasn’t dictated by ensuring that it lasted exactly one hour (no more, no less). It was dictated by however long it took to finish a day’s menu choices and also have a friendly out-of-office type conversation, discussing possible weekend outings, maybe on the bar and/or restaurant front and other duties which could be pending. Everything menu-wise went down very nicely though. The necessary paperwork had been completed, so the only remaining Friday activity work-wise was to make sure next week’s diaries were, at least, remotely compatible. Not only that – it is also necessary to confirm that none of the current caseloads required any weekend activity. Unfortunately, if this was needed, then 99 times out of 100, it would need to only be reviewed from my diary. I chose my career, so I have to live with certain aspects, apparently!

Eva Moore states, I’ve got a meeting with the accountant on Thursday. It doesn’t conflict with any of the other appointments, but I (kind of) assumed that you wouldn’t be interested in attending unless something specific needed to be discussed or your signature was required for something else.

I replied with a cheeky and half-guilty smile, This is not the first time I’ve said this, but you can see through me where this is concerned and always know my reply, so no, thanks. It’s not something that I wish to attend, unless I’m needed for something in particular, of course…

Eva Moore replied, You’re only see-through when it comes to financial paperwork, and returned the smile, but just with the cheeky part, with reference to the other meetings though, next week isn’t as stressful as this. There are two client update meetings – both of which you had the reports this morning and things are moving as we thought, so there will be no areas of concern in either. It’s up to you though, I can either do the meetings by myself, or we can do as per normal and we both attend?

I know Eva Moore always goes over and beyond the call of duty where job responsibilities are concerned, but I will never purposefully take advantage. The day that I do that, the next week when I genuinely need additional help, it quite rightly just won’t be offered. I would certainly have no complaints there. Consequently, I offered to do those client-outings by myself but she was probably going down the same thought process as me, but in reverse. As she says in that case, we are agreed and we will both go.

As well as being out of the office for these two reviews then and the active investigation into all the current files, there is only one further meeting to see to, that will be next week’s possible new business. There is only one opportunity at present, but don’t worry, I will make sure I get lunch for that day too, if you are around that is. :-)

Intrigued, she is not normally so secretive where new business opportunities could be available and meetings are arranged. I ask the question, but it soon becomes very obvious that she is just playing with me and knows how tiresome this week has been. It’s a very normal, par-for-the-course type family case. She hasn’t got anything like full details, but as next week is going to be nowhere near as busy as this week, I can, if I want to go to this first get-together.