Past Hurts

-One-

Alfie peered briefly at the young woman Ollie had just shown into his office over his spectacles and motioned for her to come and take a seat in the chair opposite his own. She was the last candidate of a very long day of tedious interviews for a much needed new secretary, which was why he didn't have the energy to make her stand in the doorway for a good few minutes while he pretended to ignore her just to see what her reaction would be. His hip was hurting, his head was hurting and his patience was running thin so he just wanted to get the interview done and then get home for the evening.

"Miss Moines, I presume?" he squinted down at the resume Ollie had handed to him before glancing back up to get a good look at the final interviewee.

Alfie's first thought was that she was the youngest woman he had interviewed that day. She couldn't have been any older than maybe twenty three or twenty four. His second thought was that she was by far the prettiest, which was saying something considering there had been a steady stream of attractive women of all ages coming in and out of his office all day. Her chestnut hair was pulled into an elegant bun and the few loose wisps that had escaped framed a heart shaped face and only accentuated hazel coloured eyes with brown and blue flecks.

"Evelyn," she smiled nervously, smoothing down the skirt of the periwinkle dress that clung to her slender figure.

"So what makes you think you're qualified for this job then, Miss Moines?"

The woman blinked, her doe eyes momentarily flickering in alarm when she realised he was getting straight to the point of the interview without any of the usual polite pleasantry that went with meeting a potential new employer. Then again, from what little she had heard of the infamous Alfie Solomons, he wasn't much for social chit chat and so his direct manner shouldn't have surprised her. In fact, the gentleman at the newspaper stand who had given her directions to the bakery (which clearly was a rum distillery judging by the smell and the barrels and the, well, lack of any bread) had almost made her forget the interview altogether when he warned her of a beast like man with a foul temper. Upon first impressions, she had to say that the man before her with a scruffy beard and hair that stuck up at the back despite the grease he had clearly used to comb his hair with, was far from a beast. Although she could see in his eyes that there was definitely somebody scary underneath the surface; somebody she definitely had no desire to meet.

"Well," she cleared her dry throat. "I have secretarial experience from my previous job which-"

"Leyland Motors Ltd," Alfie interrupted. "You're a long way from home, aint ya?"

"Oh, well, yes. I don't live there any more," she murmured, her sweaty hands fiddling with the handle of her black handbag which lay rested upon her knees.

"And why's that then?"

"My brother died," she explained, pain flashing across her features briefly. "He was, uh, he was my only family and well... I just thought that a fresh start might be good, you know?"

Alfie leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes, tilting his head slightly. Her words had piqued his interest and he knew that he was going to have his men dig up some information on this one whether he decided to employ her or not. There was just something odd about the fact that this girl had just randomly moved to Camden right at the exact moment when his turf war with Sabini was going through a particularly busy patch and now conveniently wanted a job in his bakery. Some might say it was coincidence, but Alfie Solomons hadn't got where he was in life by believing in coincidence.

"And you chose Camden, why then?" he asked, his hand subconsciously playing with the handle of his desk drawer; the one where he kept his gun.

"Well, it's a bit of a silly story really," she let out an awkward huff of a laugh that was actually a little bit gawky and made her nose crinkle. "I didn't really know where I was going to go so I just went to the library and got a map of England. I closed my eyes and stuck a pin in it and decided I'd go wherever the pin stuck. I was fairly certain that I wasn't going to find a job or somewhere to live in the North Sea so I tried again and, well, here I am."

She really was really rather convincing, meaning she was either telling the truth or she was just that good of an actress. For some reason though, he actually believed her. The thing was, Alfie Solomons prided himself on being able to read people. He noticed things that others didn't; the awkward flicker of guilty eyes; an almost silent hitch of nervous breath; a miniscule twitch of angry hands; Alfie saw it all. Which was why he really believed her daft little story. But that didn't mean he trusted her, and as was Alfie's motto about keeping friends close and enemies closer, he made a split second decision.

"Do you know much about me and my business, Miss Moines?"

"Erm, well not really," she grimaced. "I mean I know that you import and export, er, baked goods, and well, I've heard from some people that you... that you, that you're, er-"

"Nice to know that once again my reputation has preceded me," his lips twitched at her attempts to clearly politely explain what she had heard about him. "And I'll tell you that everythin' you've heard is absolutely correct, love. So with that in mind, I'll give you five seconds to decide if you wanna continue with this interview or if you wanna cut your losses now?"

The five seconds ticked by with the click, click of the clock hanging up above the door and when Evelyn did nothing more than lick at her dry lips and attempt to meet his eyes without looking away, Alfie let out a hum.

"Alright then," he nodded. "Job's yours. Be here for eight and I'll have Ollie, my assistant, show you around and all that."

"Pardon?" Evelyn frowned. "But you... you not asked me anything about my experience or-"

"This tells me everythin' I need to know," he held up her resume. And the background checks my informants up north are gonna do too. "But if you don't want the job then I've got plenty of other candidates to choose from."

"No," Evelyn shook her head hurriedly, smiling widely with both delight and awe. "I'd be delighted to accept, Mr Solomons."

"Right then," he stood, holding out a hand which Evelyn took after a brief moment of hesitation. "Welcome to Camden."