Capital Sins (26 page)

'Oh, I
see.'
Although it was actually difficult to see anything at
all.
They had entered a large room and the lighting was so bad, so
purposely lowered, that the few customers already there were barely visible.
However,
thd
bar was better lighted, and although she
couldn't make out its members, a group was quietly playing from the far end of
the room.

Tables in
alcoves were illuminated with flickering candles, and Connie could just make
out shadowy forms seated there.

'Come over
and meet Jenny,'
Tilly
said.

They made
their way to the bar behind which a girl was wiping glasses with a duster. She
smiled when she saw
Tilly
.

'Hi,
there,' she called.

Tilly
nodded, a little brusquely. 'Seen Jenny?'

'She's in
the back, doing some paper work. You want me to get her for you?'

'
Uhuh
.'

However,
the girl didn't move immediately, but looked towards Connie.

'Friend of
yours?'she
enquired of
Tilly
.

Connie got
the impression that there was an underlying meaning in the question, for the
tone of voice was accusatory.

However,
Tilly
merely drawled, 'Just move your ass and call Jenny
for me.' Her eyes flashed a threat, and again Connie sensed a disquieting
undercurrent between these two females. She dismissed it as the girl, a
sexy-looking redhead, pouted then flounced away to do as she was told. Connie
reflected that
Tilly
had turned into quite a little
power
house,
and wondered what her partner was like.

Tilly
sauntered behind the bar and, without asking her, poured Connie a drink. They
seated themselves on stools to wait. While
Tilly
chatted away, Connie was aware that the club was steadily filling up behind her
and, by the time Jenny arrived, the air was smoky and full of voices and loud
music.

'Who's the
bombshell?' a woman's voice enquired, suddenly slicing through
Tilly's
gossip. The two girls swivelled on
theit
stools and Connie was face to face with a woman of
diminutive height but gross size. She must have weighed at least fifteen stone,
Connie thought.
Tilly
had leapt to her feet and was
hugging the woman fiercely. Connie was a little unnerved by the unnecessary
display of affection, but extended her hand when
Tilly
introduced them.

'Connie's
an old pal, Jen,'
Tilly
was saying. 'She practically
walked over me when I was out shopping.' Although a little taller than Jenny,
Tilly
seemed dwarfed at her side. The woman was eyeing
Connie who was finding it hard keeping her expression bland under the scrutiny.
Still, it seemed as if she had passed the examination.

'I'm
pleased to meet you,' Jenny said, and her voice was low and deep, as if muffled
by the folds of loose fat around her chin and jowls. She wore a floating, black
dress that draped her like a tent. Around her thick neck were strings of pearls
that looked as if they could be real. Bracelets clanked on her heavy wrists as
she ordered another round of drinks for them all.

On the
whole, Jenny and
Tilly
discussed business while the
sexy redhead supplied with booze and, although Connie was included occasionally
in their conversation, she found her attention wandering. The club, she judged,
must make a good profit, telling by the numbers entering and leaving. There was
a steady stream of traffic, more women than men; and some of the girls were
dancing with each other. A liberated place, Connie thought to herself in
amusement.

Jenny
leaned or, rather, swayed towards Connie. '
Tilly
tells me you're married.'

Connie
stared back into two eyes, black as shiny buttons. 'That's right,' she replied
pleasantly, wondering whether
Tilly
would mind if she
left. The 'scene' wasn't really to her taste.

'Happily?'
Jenny asked bluntly.

'Like most
couples,' Connie said vaguely. 'Why do you ask?'

'You look
sad.'

Connie
swigged back her drink, which was immediately replaced by another. Her tongue
felt loosened.
'How so?'
She felt in a playful mood.

'Your
eyes,' Jenny said, the rings on her podgy, stumpy fingers flashing and catching
the light. 'Eyes are always a great give-away, and yours are most expressive,
my dear.'

'Jen's very
perceptive,'
Tilly
put in with a giggle.
'Knows more about a person than that person knows.'

'A very
useful ability,' Connie said carefully. Her head felt fuzzy.

Jenny gave
a tight smile that showed a row of tiny, pointed teeth. However, the smile
didn't reach her eyes. She
looked !
l.t
Connie's replenished glass. 'Drink up, you're lagging behind.'

Connie
obediently raised the glass to her lips.

Passers-by
stopped at their table to acknowledge Jenny and, after a while, Connie didn't
bother even to look any more. She now felt wild and abandoned, but surprisingly,
Jenny was proving to be excellent company. She kept inviting people to sit down
and the atmosphere was lively. Jenny's wit was sharp, and time and again Connie
was convulsed into fits of helpless laughter. Yet, in spite of the jovial mood,
she sensed she shouldn't stay too long, but it seemed as if she were glued to
her seat.

There were
people, people everywhere, and it was hard to distinguish between males and
females. Connie was drunk and, when somebody – she couldn't hear if it was
Jenny or
Tilly
– suggested that they all retire into
one of the back
rooms,
she almost had to be lifted
from her seat.

She found
herself lying on the floor on cushions that were scattered around, and she
looked around with dim eyes for
Tilly
. The room was
gloomy, most figures mere outlines. Yet it was cool, and Connie leaned against
a wall and briefly closed her eyes. It helped a little. Someone jostled her
elbow and she looked up mistily into a face, a dark, shadowy face. A hand was
offering a cigarette so she inserted it between her lips and inhaled. It was
good, so she puffed again, before it was drawn from her mouth and passed around
the circle. Almost eagerly, she waited for its return. A hand gently propped
her up and back came the cigarette. She inhaled again. The effect was weird.
Instead of drugging her senses, it alerted them and she was able to see clearly
again, as if her eyes were X-ray. Music, all sound was intensified. She seemed
to be floating and yet, when her lips were gently kissed, her nerves tingled,
her whole body responded.

Couples
were dancing in the centre of the circle of people, then there was low humming,
chanting and hand-clapping. A tall, skinny girl, wearing a
beautific
smile and little else was stripping off the rest of her clothing to slow, beat
pulses that seemed to be coming from Connie's own heart.

She sensed,
rather than felt, a figure lying by her side, and Connie reached out. Her
groping hand was caught, held,
then
she felt kisses,
as gentle as butterfly wings, landing on her closed eyelids. She looked and saw
a young man bending over her. His chin was only a little rough as it rubbed
against her skin, but Connie gripped his hair and pulled him closer. His touch
was loving
, and she responded with every fibre of her being.
Tears squeezed from between her eyelids, and she felt loved, really loved and
wanted. For the first time in her life, someone was in love with her. She
wanted to exchange looks with the unknown young man. She wanted him to know how
much she cared, to share this deep feeling of affection and friendship that had
arisen in her. It had lain dormant for too long, she had to return such depths
of emotion. Her clothes half off, she was stroked.
Neither
spoke and
desire welled in Connie and pounded at her. She stretched
towards him ... then froze. Connie drew herself in upon herself, like petals
closing on a flower. Her reflexes were slow motion, but her brain was quicker.

'You ...
you're a girl!' Her shocked scream was only a whisper in the darkness. She
fought off the enveloping clouds that threatened to immobilise her limbs.

'Get ...
get off me!' Connie struggled to her feet. It was as if a thousand hands were
clawing her down. Wildly, in terror, she stumbled her way over prone bodies,
not daring to look closer. She fell over a hunched figure and blinked
unbelievingly.
Tilly
, lying naked, with the great
figure of Jenny thrusting at her with a contraption strapped around her loins.
Vomit rose in Connie's throat and she tore from the club blindly, pulling her
clothes on around her. No one saw her, no one stopped her, and only when she
was in the street did she give way to the stream of vomit.

Shaking,
perspiring and white-faced, she drove across red lights in her hurry to be
home. She didn't stop running until she was safe in her own room with the door
locked behind her. Then Connie gave vent to a fit of weeping which seemed to
continue even when she fell asleep sprawled across her huge bed.

The
knocking in her head grew louder, finally rousing her from a dream about which
she dared not think further. The knocks were at her bedroom door and Connie
lurched into a sitting position, groggily covering her eyes from the searching
daylight which cascaded into her room as if the night had never existed.

'
Wha
. . . what is it?' She needed a bath to wash off the
foulness.

'Madam, are
you awake?'
More knocking.

Connie
slipped off the bed and wrenched open the door. The maid cowered at the sight
of her.

'It's Mr
Fletcher, ma'am.
On the telephone.'

'Oh, God.'
Connie wearily ran fingers through her tousled curls. 'Ask Mr Fletcher to hold
on, or tell him to call back in an hour.'

'It's the
third time he's rung this morning, Madam. He's calling long distance.'

'Run me a
bath, Marie,' Connie commanded as she strode to the telephone. Before lifting the
receiver, she jammed a cigarette into her mouth and, although her hand was
trembling, managed to light it. She turned away from the mirror and sank into a
chair.

'Howard?'

'Connie,
darling, are you free tonight?'

Not, 'how
are you', or 'missed you', but straight to the point, she thought wearily. The
last thing at that moment she wanted to think of was a naked body, but she
needed him, needed
someone ...

'I'll be
in, Howard ... just hang on a minute, will you?' Marie had been dusting at a
respectful distance, but she approached Connie when summoned. 'Will Mr Jessop
be dining in tonight?'

'He
informed Mrs Bloom early this morning that he and Miss Delaney would be at a
meeting for most of the day, so not to expect him back till real late.'

'How late
is real late?'

'Early
morning, I gather. Shall I tell cook you'll be requiring a meal tonight,
Madam?'

'Do that,
Marie. Tell her to cook for two. I'm expecting a guest.'

She waved
the maid away, and returned to her call.

'Did you
hear that, Howard?'

'Yes. My
plane arrives at seven so I'll be with you in half an hour.'

'Good. See
you then.'

It had been
on the cards for some time. Government legislation and high interest rates had
affected the profits of property development and, because of this, many schemes
were losing money. The banks financing his company wanted their loans re paid,
so Jessop had had to sell many properties, using profits from the casino and
betting shops to pay interest charges. Being a shrewd businessman, he had
anticipated the slump which was now affecting the whole country, and his other
outside interests were still paying dividends although he realised that even he
would have to tighten his belt a little and proceed with caution if he didn't
want to lose the most precious thing to him – his company.

Samuel and
Sheila were having a quiet drink together in the bar of the hotel where they
had just finished a meeting. It was nine-thirty.

'It didn't
go too badly, did it?' Sheila said, swallowing the cherry from her cocktail.
'At least the deal went through, which is more than I can say for other
companies.'

'Mm, glad
it's finished earlier than expected, though. I'm beat.'

'You look
it. Why don't you go home and get a good night's rest.'

He yawned.
'I think I will.'

Sheila put
her hand on his arm. 'Have you seen Connie? I haven't had a chance to ask you
before. We had a bit of a quarrel yesterday and I upset her.'

'I didn't
hear her come in last night. If and when I do get the pleasure of seeing her
again, do you want me to give her a message?'