The Grifter by Sean Campbell

Author:Sean Campbell [Campbell, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

40

A Gentleman and a Suit

With just three days until the start of Ottolie’s wedding weekend, things were as busy as ever. Today’s schedule was mostly sartorial. Kent was on his way to his fitting. As he sat in the back of the firm’s Rolls-Royce Phantom, he perused the “wedding calendar” that his daughter had shared. Right now, she was welcoming the latest round of international guests at the Private Jet Centre at London City Airport. She’d suggested the Cotswold Airport, but the Lear jet belonged to Gareth and Snigdha Tomlinson. It wasn’t just carrying one of Ottolie’s oldest school friends and her entourage; it was also carrying a couple of Snigdha’s relatives, and they had no reason to land at Cotswold, so City it was.

Meanwhile, according to the calendar, up at the Chalgrove Estate, Marjolaine would be dealing with suppliers setting up. She’d be welcoming the photographers and videographers, all keen to scope out the location. Then there were the roadies for each of the musicians who needed to set up for the weekend’s many activities. Later in the week, chefs would be arriving to get started with the preparations that they could only do on-site.

The calendar entries went on and on and on. Guests’ arrival times were neatly recorded in one colour, while suppliers and their movements were covered by the rest of the rainbow.

He lazily scrolled through the days. On Friday, the family would be leaving London at the break of dawn to check place settings and decorations, oversee the arrival of the first of three batches of flowers for the weekend, and then Ottolie could have a few hours with her fiancé before the pair of them split up until the ceremony.

That was one of the benefits of having such an oversized venue. It made keeping the bride and groom apart an absolute breeze. Not to mention separating Rima and Zadie.

A mechanical screech pulled his attention away from the screen. He looked up to see the divider between him and the driver was down.

‘Sir, we’re here.’

He nodded. Moments later, the engine went quiet, and then he heard the click of the driver’s door. Cars began to honk as the driver made his way around to open Kent’s door, allowing him to step out onto the pavement mere feet from the entrance to the tailor’s. ‘Try putting some WD40 on that partition,’ he told the driver. ‘If that doesn’t work, take her to the dealership. After you drop me home, not before.’

‘Yes, sir,’ the driver said.

In the window, Kent saw six perfectly-spaced mannequins, each dressed in a different style. There was one in a close-cut, form-fitting military overcoat, another in a wide-pinned double-breasted boardroom jacket, while another still showed off an American-style smoking jacket. He already had one of those.

Today’s suit, which, at around twenty thousand pounds, was a small sliver of the wedding budget, was only for the ceremony itself. Ottolie had already sent the rest of his weekend wardrobe on ahead.

He buzzed the front doorbell. A split second later, a stately, grey-haired gentleman greeted him like an old friend.

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