8 comments/ 4113 views/ 1 favorites Backwater Blues By: Cromagnonman This morning began like any other morning for me. I missed most of it. This is what comes of being a night person, you tend to miss most of the mornings, at least that part of the mornings between four and eleven. As far as I was concerned mornings ended not long after my head hit the pillow, and stuttered back to life at eleven. Whoever's pillow it was didn't bother me. This morning it was mine, and the one next to it was occupied by 'Round Heels Rhonda' who had agreed, when asked, to share my bed. I had a choice between her and my usual bed-share companion, Sweet Susie, who had unfortunately announced early last evening that she was unable to oblige me because the flags were out, and she knew that strawberry dipping was not my scene. Susie was like that, if she was unable to oblige me she would find an alternative. This morning it was Rhonda who she had asked. Before you leap to the conclusion that I, we, seem to have a very casual attitude to sex, I should point out that Susie and I are in a committed relationship, apart from the monthly visits of her bloody periods. To plug that gap, she would find me another gap to plug. The way that she rationalised it was that she didn't want me left to my own devices when her monthlies intervened. To protect her interests she would find a casual opening for me to fill. Rhonda was an obliging young back-up singer in 'Backwater', our blues band. Her nick-name of 'Round Heels' came from her penchant for falling onto her back whenever a guy that took her fancy made her an offer she couldn't refuse. Susie was our lead vocal, not just because she was easy on the eye, sort of like Stevie Nicks only an octave lower. She had a voice to die for, all deep and husky, with such powerful phrasing that you didn't need to understand the lyrics to understand the song. My part in this whole thing was that I played the blues harp and added my voice on occasions. She said the harp made my lips softer, nothing at all to do with it matching perfectly her singing. We were both able to vamp in harmony without having to rehearse a song to death. I rolled out of bed and was busy preparing my standard breakfast of coffee, black and strong, and a cigar, an alleged Monte Christo that was about as real as a ten dollar Rolex. I didn't hear Rhonda emerge from the sleeping and fucking section of my loft that was hidden behind a curtain strung along a wire stretched between two columns, but that was until this almighty screech pierced my eardrums. "What the fuck." That was Rhonda, the screech wasn't from her, the screech was from Sheldon, the cat that owned me. I would have given him his full name, Sheldon Cooper, except that he would have considered that to be an affront. "You were about to sit in his spot." I said by way of explanation. "Come again?" "He has laid claim to that spot on the sofa, and not even I am allowed to sit there." Sheldon glared at me from his spot, his eyes telling me that I should be more careful who I brought home with me. He had a soft spot for Susie, and would sometimes forsake his spot and curl up on her lap, which was an inconvenience when I attempted to make a move on her. It took a bowl of his favourite chow to get him to relinquish her lap long enough for me to get her into bed. Even then he would, after we had finished rocking the boat, jump onto the bed and curl up against her body while we all slept. On the occasions that I crashed at Susie's apartment, Sheldon would greet my bleary eyed return with a certain degree of disdain, to tell me that he was most put out by the fact that he had missed out on sharing my bed with her. If for any reason that Susie did not share my bed, as in this morning, he considered it to be beneath his dignity to share with a stranger and would not join me, but suffered in silence on the sofa. It was his way of punishing me. My loft, as I called it because that title lent an artistic aesthetic to the space that I occupied, was above the Penthouse of this building in the CBD, a building made up of ground floor retail space with a couple of floors of offices, then ten floors of serviced apartments. Above all of this was the plant room, hidden under a large pyramid, where resided the air-conditioning plant, the motor room for the lifts and me. I had my own private entrance from the under-croft car park by way of the service lifts. When someone came calling they would ring me, and I would lower the key to the lift down to them on the end of a fishing line. I had a better view than even the penthouse, and it was fine as long as you didn't mind the hum of the plant room. I compensated by playing my music loud. "What's the story with you and Susie?" Rhonda asked. "What do you mean?" "You two have been going together since you walked down the gangplank of Noah's boat, and yet she asked me to fuck you. What gives?" "Didn't she explain it to you?" "She said something about a change being as good as a holiday and that the two of you have this arrangement of taking a break from each other for a couple of days every month. I still don't get it, if I was to last longer than a couple of nights with some guy, I sure as hell wouldn't be sharing him with anyone else, for whatever reason." "She's just protecting what's hers. Let me ask you one thing, what happens to women every month?" "Oh, I'm beginning to get it." "I love the girl." Susie was hardly a girl any more, those days were long gone. "And she loves me. We lead the kind of lifestyle that means that kids should never happen. It's not that we don't want them, but that we are responsible citizens, and if we can't ensure that we can be responsible for raising a kid, we won't ever have one. We have a very active sex life, and she wants me to continue having one, even when she is unable to oblige me." "She could always blow you, I've done that plenty of times. Guys seem to like that just as much as fucking me." "How does your jaw feel after you've done it?" "That depends on how big it is and how long it takes me." She thought about it for a minute or two. "I see it now, she's worried about dislocating her jaw on your monster, and not being able to sing the next night." "Monster is something of an exaggeration, but it would take her some time to get me off, and she knows that I'd be thinking the whole time that I should have my cock in her cunt and not in her mouth." "So for a couple of nights a month she finds you another cunt to fuck, no strings attached, and no promise of any relationship." "That's about it." "I have a suggestion." "And what might that be?" I was curious. "Would Susie come at me being your regular red rag root, what do you think?" "You'd have to ask her, I would have no objections, you were good enough to please me." "And if this worked out, we could always move up to some three way action." "Now that I'm not going to agree to, unless and until she gives her approval. In fact I'm not going to comment one way or the other." "Do you think that she'd approve?" "No way." I was hoping that she wouldn't, it would do my ego no good at all if she did. I heard the service lift reach the top and the door open so I strolled across and removed the morning paper that the Concierge downstairs so kindly sent up to me every day and sent the lift back down. Daniel the Concierge was a thoughtful young man, he knew my timetable pretty well, and didn't send the paper up until he knew that I was out of bed. He knew better than to disturb my sleep, or whatever I was doing. The front page headline grabbed my attention: "BABE'S BODY IN BLUES BAR". Quickly reading on I was shocked to find that the bar in question was the Blue Note, my very own stamping ground. Fear drove me to read on, relief overtook me when the body was identified as a blonde woman, medium to heavy build and around 20 years of age, it wasn't Susie. The body had been tentatively identified as Tania, a prostitute who worked the local area, although this could not be verified until her dental records were checked. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the back of her head. The delay in identification was because the killer had used a soft point bullet that had removed most of her face on the way through. I had seen Tania around the club, she would come in during our set and usually left before we had finished, along with her 'John'. Whether she returned for a second helping depended on how successful she was with the first. She tried it on with me one night, and I was in the process of telling her that I wasn't interested when Susie intervened and told her to fuck off and leave me alone. She did. "I know her." Rhonda said as she read the news item over my shoulder. "She comes into the club. I think that she puts out for George so that he lets her work the club for Johns. I was talking to her one night and she told me that her pimp was giving her a hard time, said she wasn't turning enough tricks. She said that she just wants to make enough so that she can pay for her mother's medication, her pimp wants her to deal as well, but she told him that there was no way that she would get involved in that scene. It seems that her brother had OD'd on ice." "So why would anyone want to kill her? Apart from her pimp, she doesn't seem to have any enemies." "How should I know, I'm just a dumb blonde backing vocalist." I chose not to answer that because I didn't know her well enough to form an opinion. "I'm heading down to the bar for a sticky-beak, are you coming?" I hoped that she was, because there was no way that I was going to leave her in my joint on her own. "I suppose that you want me to come with you, or, at the very least, go home." "I knew that you weren't dumb. Let's go?" "Can I clean up first? I can hardly wander down the street smelling like I've been fucking all night." I showed her the cleaning up room and left her to it while I did my own version of cleaning up, that consisted of wet-wipes and new jocks. What went on the body after that was something of a uniform for me, faded jeans, a geriatric leather jacket over checked flannelette shirt and a pair of elastic sided work boots with steel toe caps. You never know when they might come in handy. Rhonda tried to renew the friendship in the freight lift on the way down to the car park, but I wasn't into it. "Look, last night was great, but this is another day and I'm not going to push the envelope with Susie." "But she isn't to know." "She'll know, believe me." "In that case, I'll see you tonight, we are on for tonight aren't we?" "We shall see what we shall see. Susie might have other arrangements for tonight." "She's got you by the balls, hasn't she?" "You could say that, and I wouldn't have it any other way." "Whatever." She walked away from me. The cops were still hanging around the bar when I arrived. "This is a crime scene." The voice belonged to this huge cop who stood in front of me. I am big enough, but he was huge, running to a beer gut that hung over his utility belt. He had obviously been told not to let anyone through the cordon. "I work here, and I'm here for the band rehearsals." "What's your name?" He asked as he consulted a clip board. "Barry Snelling, I play harmonica in the band." That obviously didn't impress him. "And sing." That was more impressive. He lifted the tape. "Is Susie here yet?" "Yeah she arrived ten minutes ago. She's a bit of all right." "Down boy. Are you into the blues?" "I can take it or leave it." "If you want to catch the show tonight I can arrange freebies for you and a friend." I was almost going to add 'that's if you've got one', but thought better of it, no point in getting offside with the law. I pushed open the door and was met with a kiss from Susie. "Hi lover, how was last night, was she okay?" "Adequate at a pinch, maybe a bit better than adequate." "You could show a little more enthusiasm, she was my choice after all." "All right, she was good, as good as I had been led to believe by the rumours going around about her, but I wouldn't want it to be any more than a semi-permanent arrangement, although she suggested that she would be open to more. I set her straight on that score." "What a good boy you are." She kissed me again. "You obviously saw the cop out front, the rest of them are in George's office. Poor George, he's having to explain how she could have been here long after closing time." "If I was investigating a murder I'd be asking the same question." "Oh, I forgot, you used to be a cop in a previous incarnation, didn't you?" "Not my finest hour I must admit." I had been a star on the rise as a detective until I arrested the wrong person on suspicion of murder. At least that was what I was told in no uncertain terms by my boss. It didn't help that I was actually right as far as the case was concerned. I had in fact arrested the right man. He was a popular and well liked beat cop, and had friends in high places, something that I lacked, and these high placed friends were convinced that he was innocent. His story was that he arrived home from work to find his wife dead on the kitchen floor. There was a hole in his alibi big enough to drive a truck through, he had finished his shift five hours before he said he arrived home, yet a witness placed him at home shortly after his shift finished. An attempt had been made to disguise the forensic evidence, which sort of ruled out a crime of passion, an impulsive act, and placed it in the premeditated category. I did my job diligently, and after I had arrested him I had refused to bow under the pressure from above. It was my evidence that got him convicted, followed soon after by me being invited to leave the force. I set up as a PI and worked around the CBD making a reasonable living, but I didn't have a life. That was until I met Susie. She came to my loft to hire me to find her lost boyfriend, and her lost money. They had disappeared simultaneously, leaving her grieving for her money. We had been talking about the case, and this and that, when she noticed the harmonica on my table. "You play the harp, do you?" "I try, I think I'm brilliant but then I might not be the best judge of my ability." "Play something for me." I launched into my favourite track, my thinking track, and the one that I felt most comfortable playing to someone else. She recognised the tune and joined in. Wow, what a voice! She made it seem so effortless, and when we finished, at the same time I might add, she hugged me. "You are good, I would like to work with you, how about it?" "I'm nowhere near good enough." "You are good enough. At least your take on that song was as near as dammit to perfect. With a bit of work you could be a star." "Don't joke with me, it's not funny." "I'm serious. Look, you find my money and I'll give you free lessons." I had to think about that, there would probably be some discrepancy between my fee and the value of her free lessons. On second thoughts, I would probably get the better of the deal. She didn't know it, but she was the answer to all of my dreams, and her offer to work with me created a new set of dreams, ones that would keep my hand busy, and me awake at nights, until they became a reality. It was obvious from the very beginning of our relationship that this was to be something special. Even before we were half way through our musical repertoire our sexual repertoire had overtaken it. It just seemed to, once it began, blossom into something very spectacular, and like our musical repertoire, there was no need for rehearsal, whatever we did just seemed so natural. We had just set up on the stage with Fred our drummer, Cyrus, our bass player, and Jupiter on lead guitar, and had swung into our first song, when Detective Inspector Jonas, at least that's what his ID that was thrust in front of our faces said. "Well, look who's here. My, how the mighty have fallen. The last that I heard was that our star detective here had set up a thriving business investigating heinous crimes that we of the law enforcement community could not crack. What happened Slick, couldn't you make a go of it? No cops to arrest eh?" "I've moved up in the world, I don't slum it anymore, and I'm doing something that I love." "Or, as a little birdie has told me, you're doing someone that you love?" You might have gathered from this exchange that there is no love lost between me and Inspector Jonas. He looked at Susie when he asked the question. She beat me to the answer. "He is a very talented musician and, yes he loves it, and me." She kissed me and gave me a hug. "And I love him. Do you have a problem with that?" He obviously did, but wasn't about to admit it. "I suppose that all of you can account for your whereabouts between three o'clock and nine this morning." It wasn't a question. "Yes." We chorused any way. "One at a time please, one at a time. Ladies can go before gentlemen, if you please. What is your name and where were you? "I'm Susie. If you'd looked at the poster out front you would have realised that. I was tucked up at home getting my beauty sleep." "Can you verify that?" "No. I was on my own, all night." "Funny, I heard rumours that you and him," He pointed at me. "were an item." "We are, but we were not together last night, at least not after we finished here." "And how about you, where were you?" He looked at me, obviously expecting me to say the same. "I was at home, but I was not alone, I had company. And before you get all excited with this snippet of information, the person that I was with was specifically chosen for me by Susie. Her name is Rhonda something, and she is due in soon, you can ask her." On cue, Rhonda arrived. She slid up to me. "Hi Lover, you enjoyed last night as much as I did, didn't you?" I almost didn't notice the funny look that Jonas gave her, almost, but not quite. "He told me he did." Susie told her. Rhonda looked disappointed that we had already discussed last night. "You were just about to tell me that you spent the night with 'Superstud' here I suppose?" "Yes I was and I did, who are you and what of it?" "I am Detective Inspector Jonas, and I am investigating the murder of Tania Roberts in this club last night. I need to confirm your whereabouts at around three this morning?" "I was tucked up in bed with Barry here, enjoying some of the best sex that I have ever had. Does that satisfy you?" He wasn't, but said nothing. Susie smiled at Rhonda's attempts to get a rise from her. She would have to do better than that. "So, it would seem that, for the moment at least, you lot are squeaky clean, I would caution you not to leave town until this investigation is complete." "No can do Inspector." Susie said. "We are due to leave tomorrow on a whirlwind tour that will take us to every major, and a lot of minor, town in Australia." "Well then, I'm afraid that you'll just have to cancel it, and disappoint your legion of fan. I'm sure that refunding one ticket will not break your bank account now, will it?" "Way to hurt our feelings." She gave the signal and we launched into our next song. He stood for a while and listened before shrugging his shoulders and leaving us be. George had decided to cash in on the notoriety and open as usual tonight. During a break in rehearsals I noticed Susie and Rhonda deep in conversation. Rhonda did not seem happy, while Susie gave her that 'hands out' shoulder shrug that hinted of a Jewish heritage somewhere in her past. Smiling, she slid over to me. "You didn't happen to suggest to Rhonda that you might be interested in some three-way action did you?" "Not on your Nellie. If she told you that, then she is lying through her pearly whites." Backwater Blues "I thought as much. When I negotiated her being with you last night she was very keen about the whole thing. I set her straight about the situation and that there was no way that it would be a permanent thing between us and her. It would appear as if she was trying to go behind my back and convince you that it was at my suggestion that the three of us could enjoy each other's company. I am glad that you didn't go along with that, although she did say that you had to think about it." "I thought about it for no more than a nano-second." "I figured that to be the case. It looks as if I'm going to have to find someone else for you tonight." "Look, don't bother. Apart from the fact that I'm a little upset that someone murdered Tania in this club, I have decided that, if you can't oblige, I will do without. What I'm trying to tell you is that I want to love, and make love to, one person only." "And who might that be?" She was quick, I'll give her that. "You, silly. You might have gathered from the dropped hint or several over the years that we have known each other, that I'm in love with you, and I went along with your monthly plans because that was what you said you wanted. None of the chosen have come close to what we have for each other. I hope that you have the same feelings for me as I have for you." Rhonda looked daggers at Susie as she launched herself into my startled arms in answer to my enunciated hope. I was knocked off my feet and ended up on my back on the floor with the love of my life straddling me and covering my face with kisses. "Sheldon will be pleased. I don't suppose that you'd consider moving in with me, would you?" This brought on an increase in her kissing and cuddling until she eventually stopped and looked me in the eyes. She could hardly look anywhere else she was that close to my face. "Let's forget about rehearsals for a while and you can take me home to fetch my toothbrush and a few other odds and ends, and we'll go to yours for a celebratory drink of champagne and we can pick up some condoms so that you don't get blood all over you." "Why didn't we think of that before?" "Because I know that you have an aversion to wearing a cock sock. There is another solution." "Yes?" "I could always have a hysterectomy, that'll get rid of my periods forever." "A bit radical don't you think?" "For you my love, anything." She kissed me again. "We're going home for a bit. We'll see you later this afternoon." I told them. "A bit of what?" Rhonda asked. "Use your imagination, that's if you have one." Susie said as a parting comment. "She's not a happy person. I'd watch her closely if I were you." I said as we hit daylight. "You're thinking of becoming a detective again, aren't you?" "I have given it some thought, let's face it, Jonas isn't the brightest bulb in the box. We have something of a history going back to when I was in the force. He was one of those totally convinced that I had arrested the wrong guy in that murder case that got me out of the force. The guy that I arrested was his brother." "So you think that he'll take the opportunity to make your life a misery over this case?" "Yes, and I'm afraid that he might use you to get at me." "What do you mean?" "If he can't finger me for the hit, doesn't that have a certain TV cop show ring to it? If he can't finger me for it, he'll try to implicate you, either for the murder, or as an accessory." "But to do that he will have to have some fairly strong evidence, won't he?" "Either that or he'll fabricate it." "Surely he can't do that." "It has been known to happen, and I wouldn't put it past him if he thinks that he can get back at me." It was when we were naked and about to jump into bed that we realised that, in our enthusiasm to get to this point, we had forgotten to get condoms. Okay, so it was a little messy, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. "I have a proposition for you." Susie said after we had removed all traces of our lovemaking from our bodies. "Oh yes, and what might that be?" "Rhonda was curious as to why I just didn't give you a blow job or several on those days when my periods intervened. I have to admit that I couldn't think of a good reason why we don't, apart from me wanting to see you fully satisfied." "I explained that it might cause you some discomfort and affect your singing." "I'm prepared to take that chance, just to see if it will cause a problem for me." She backed up that statement by swallowing my still flaccid cock and rousing him from his torpor. He was just getting into it when she took her mouth away and began to stroke my spit covered cock, her face just centimetres from him. "He looks huge from here." She kissed his head and continued her manipulation. My first spurt caught her between the eyes so she covered his tip with her mouth and swallowed the rest of my come. "I could get used to this." She smile at me as she wiped the come from her face with her finger and sucked it into her mouth, "I don't know why we never did this before. I have no complaints." I kissed her and tasted me on her lips. "We'd better get back or Rhonda will get upset at us." "She can get upset all she likes, I really don't care." "Now, that's not nice, you should be caring about the others, after all we are supposed to be a band that gets on well together." "I suppose so." My response just about reflected my lack of concern. My mind was now busy exploring the murder at the club, and trying to make sense of the whole episode. It was failing. You can imagine my shock when we arrived back at the bar to find Inspector Jonas waiting for us, a pair of handcuffs in hand. "Susan Sweetman, you are under arrest for the murder of Tania Roberts. You do not have to say anything at this time, but if . . . . ." The rest of his spiel was lost to me as my mind kicked into gear. What possible evidence could they have? ". . . . You have the right to an attorney, if you do not have one, an attorney will be provided." He snapped the cuffs on her wrists and began to drag her towards his waiting car. "Hold on here mate." He glared at my familiarity. "What evidence have you got?" "I don't have to tell you anything, you aren't in the force anymore, but if you must know, we have CCTV vision that puts her at the scene. How do you like that, mate?" He emphasised the 'mate'. "Your wonderful girlfriend is a vicious killer." "Don't worry." I told Susie, "I'll get you a Lawyer and I'll get to the bottom of this." I would have kissed her but Jonas made sure that I didn't get the opportunity by pushing her into the back of his car and slamming the door, a little forcefully I would have thought. "Who'd have thought that she did it?" Rhonda said from just beside me. "She didn't." "And how would you know, you were probably snoring your head off at the time." "You could be right about that," Come to think of it, I remembered nothing from the time that I pulled out of her and rolled away from her, to the moment when I woke later. "But I know Susie could not have done it." "And just how can you be so sure about that?" "I know Susie." I didn't think that I needed to say anything else, so I didn't. "Do you?" Rhonda was getting on my nerves, so I tried to walk away from her. She followed me like some starving pooch waiting for its dinner, honestly, if she had a tail she would have been wagging it. "How well do you really know her?" "Well enough. We have been through a lot, Susie and I." That was true enough, we had, and in all of that time she had never given me any reason why I could not trust her. "You're going to have to face it, Susie isn't what you think she is." "And what do you think she is?" I couldn't wait to hear this. "She is a manipulative woman who has you by the short and curlies. She only has to tell you to jump and you ask 'how high'. She can do whatever she wants and you still think that the sun rises and sets out of her arse. As far as you are concerned, she can do no wrong in your eyes, but she has been screwing with you all of this time." I didn't want to hear that. Could it be true? I thought not, I hoped not. I had implicit trust in her. Was the past tense a Freudian slip? Did I still trust her? I'm going to have to think about that. Okay, I've thought about it. Scrub the past tense, I still have implicit trust in her. George had made the decision that, in the absence of his star vocalist, the show would not go on. If she made bail, the publicity of her return would ensure a full house the next night. He was all heart our George, he made no offer to contribute to whatever the bail amount was. I was no sooner home and finished talking to my Lawyer to arrange to spring her, when my phone rang. "Hi Lover." It was Rhonda. "Who is this?" "Bastard! It's Rhonda, I need to see you." "Can't you tell me over the phone?" "No. Drop the key, I want to come up." "Hang on." I grabbed the key off the hook and slipped the fish hook through the hole and lowered it down. Minutes later she arrived wearing this slinky black number that was devoid of a panty line and, by the look of her nipples pressing against the fabric, she wore no bra. "What do you want?" I asked, curious as to what she could possibly want. "You." I have never seen anyone become naked as quickly as she had. Once the fabric of the top of her dress had cleared her tits, the whole lot fell to the floor. No bra, no knickers, just a very delectable, if only at a better time, young female body. This was not the better time for her. I stooped and picked her dress from the floor. "Put it back on, I'm not interested." I said, tossing it back to her. "That's not the impression I got last night, or this morning." "That was last night, and that was this morning. Different times, different circumstances. I wasn't missing the love of my life then, but I am now. I have to go and see my Lawyer and arranged to get her out of gaol. I do not have time to be fooling around with you, so get dressed and go home." "I'll come with you." "No, please, just leave me alone to do what I have to do." The hungry pooch followed me into the lift, her sad face watched me the entire time that it took to descend to the car park. "Stay." I held my hand up in front of her face. "You can't come with me, go home, please." She whimpered but obeyed my command. "It's pretty fucking obvious that this is a setup." I whispered to Raymond Georgeson, my Lawyer, after we had sat through the screening of the CCTV footage of a woman entering the club at around the time that the Medical Examiner had decided that Tania had been shot. "I might not be terribly smart, but if I, like Susie, had distinctive blonde hair I think that I would have hidden that fact from the cameras. We know that they are there." "A very good point. They don't have anything else to go on, no forensics to link Susie with the crime, no murder weapon, even though they have gone over her apartment with a fine toothed comb." He stood and addressed the Judge. "Your Honour, this is obviously a frame up. As you can see, my client has blonde hair, long blonde hair. Now someone with long blonde hair, and who knew of the existence of CCTV cameras at the entrance to the bar, as she does, would have made sure that her hair would be hidden from the cameras, not clearly visible. The vision does not show the face at all, so it is not possible to definitively identify my client as this person. This is someone who has gone to great lengths to implicate my client. I might add this is someone who is not particularly smart, if he or she thought that this would fool anyone with a modicum of intelligence." This dig at Inspector Jonas did not go un-noticed. "I agree. It is my considered opinion, Inspector." He fixed Jonas with a particularly withering glare. "You do not have sufficient evidence to hold the prisoner in custody, so I am ordering her release." Jonas was about to protest but this was cut short by the Judge's gavel signalling an end to proceedings. With no gig on tonight, Susie, Sheldon and I had a night to remember. Early to bed and early to rise, I had an erection of monumental proportions before we even hit the sheets, and Susie savoured every subtle nuance of him until exhaustion kicked in. Sheldon curled up at the end of the bed until Susie and I were totally knackered, and then came up to join us, his two stroke motor rattling loudly as he curled up in his usual position against Susie. Twice during the night we woke and made love, taking care not to disturb our bed companion. He was disturbed, but seemed not to mind the disruption to his sleep, cranking up his motor as we settled back for our post coital sleep. I cursed myself, as I drifted off, for not arranging for Susie to live with me years ago. After breakfast, brunch, lunch, whatever, I headed off to see what I could find out about why Tania had died and who could have done it. Susie headed off to bring more of her stuff around, taking my key with her, and telling me that she would get a duplicate cut while she was out. Tracing Tania's life proved to be difficult. She didn't work in a brothel or for an escort agency, she appeared to be a loner who kept very much to herself. One thing that did surprise me was where she lived, the YWCA hostel. I know that you don't have to be a practising Christian to stay at one of these places, but her choice of accommodation was nonetheless surprising. I spoke to a couple of girls, but they could tell me little of significance. None of the girls knew of her night time activities. She had told them that she worked the late shift at a MacDonald's, and they saw no reason to doubt this explanation. She did tell them that she came from a small country town, but a check on this was fruitless, no-one there had ever heard of her, and there was no record of a girl in her late teens missing from the area. I thought of trolling the missing persons records but the sheer number of girls reported missing, that would have been the same age as her, meant that luck would have been a deciding factor in identifying her. I didn't feel all that lucky. George told me that he had felt sorry for her, and had allowed her to use the club to pick up tricks, even offering his services on those nights when she struck out. She sometimes slept on the couch in his office, and this seemed to have been the case on the night in question. Other than that, he knew nothing of her. He did say that she did keep herself and her clothes clean. I know that this is going to sound callous, but I had come to the conclusion that Tania Roberts was irrelevant to the solving of her murder. She would appear to have been the wrong girl in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was no obvious motive for the crime, and without one, the chances of solving it were remote. I then concentrated on finding a reason why Susie had been implicated, and here I had a little luck. It was all my fault apparently. For some reason, whoever did this thing had done it to get back at me for some reason. What that reason was remained a mystery for the time being, but an overheard conversation was the key to this information. A week or two ago George had been contemplating his navel or something in a cubicle when he heard two men talking. "My client is looking for someone to do a small job for her. You will get a grand up front and a further two grand on completion." "What does she want done?" "You are to top someone and make it look like someone else did it. You do not need to know who wants this done, who you are to hit, who will take the fall for it, or even why it has to be this way. Are you in or not?" "That's a silly question. You know that I'm into Lou for three grand, and this will square me with him. I don't have a choice, do I?" "Not really. Now this is how it's going to go down. There's this girl who we need to get rid of. Who that is of no concern to you. You will be given the time and place for it to happen. My client will set the scene for someone else to take the fall. You will be provided with a shooter, and after the job is done, you are to dispose of it so that it will never be found. You are to take the usual precautions, wipe it clean, including the clip, before you use it, wear rubber gloves, so that you leave no prints, dispose of your jacket. I have to warn you that if you do not carry out these instructions and you are connected with this hit, I, we, do not know you, have never met you, and you will find yourself on your own. Do I make myself clear?" "Yeah." "You will be told the how and where of this when the time comes. After you have done that you will disappear for a while. Tickets will be provided for a cruise, one of those party boats. You will be provided with blow, as much as you need, so there will be no need for you to seek supplies on board. If we hear that you have been buying on board, you will disappear in such a way that you will not be missed until the ship returns to port. Are there any questions?" "No." "You leave first and I will follow in a few minutes. We will be in touch." George thought nothing more of the conversation until I began to ask him if there had been anything unusual going on around the place. He didn't think that the conversation had anything to do with Tania's death until I began to dig deeper into what had happened. He still wasn't sure, but I was. There was one thing that he was sure of, and that was that neither voice belonged to Jonas. That the conversation took place in the toilets of the bar sort of connected it to there. Tania was probably the only regular in the place that could be considered irrelevant. Who was it, that the person coughing up the money wanted to get back at, and who was going to carry the can for it? This was still unclear. My guess was that it had to be someone connected with the bar in some way. That it could have been me I doubted, but that was not out of the question either. I arrived home to dinner cooking away on the stove, and Susie and Sheldon having quality time on the couch. Susie was between Sheldon and his spot, and the bastard didn't seem to mind. I leant down to kiss her hello and he glared at me. This was the last thing that I needed, a jealous cat. He protested when she stood up and threw her arms around my neck. "How did you go?" "More questions than answers. I think that the killing of Tania was a by-product of a different agenda, and one that scares me. I have a horrible suspicion that you were set up to get at me for some reason, though for the life of me I can't work that out. What I am looking for is some change in patterns or circumstances over the past couple of weeks, months maybe, that could lead me to the why of this whole mess." "Funny you should say that. I have had this feeling ever since Rhonda came to the band, that she was there for more than the singing. And when she came up with her wonderful scheme for us sexually, I realised that she had been trying to insinuate herself between us for some time. Hopefully my moving in with you will put a lid on any ambitions she might have in that particular direction." "I wouldn't count on that." I told her about the visit that I had while she was inside. "The bitch! Gee, she didn't let any grass grow underfoot, did she?" "I put an end to it very quickly." "I bet she was overjoyed, after all you are not known for your subtlety when it comes to women, me excluded of course." We were back at work, but the vibe was uncool, the spark had gone. "Rhonda, are you going to fuck around or get your shit together and join the real world." I had just about had enough of her attitude. "Listen jerk. If the queen bitch hit a right note it's by accident. How can I sing back-up when I don't know what she's supposed to be singing, but it ain't the right tune? If there's anyone who needs a kick up the arse it's her. Why don't you stop thinking with your dick and get her to actually sing instead of squawking." Backwater Blues "So you think that you can do better? Okay. Let's hear you sing this song." Susie said. Rhonda fronted the mike and counted us in. She got no more than three bars into the song when Susie decided that she had had enough. "Stop! Listen to me, the sign out the front reads 'Blue Note' and that's because this is a blues bar. The punters don't want to come here to listen to this pop shit that you're singing. It will take you some time to get your head around what it is to sing blues, so until then you sing back-up and leave the real blues to me." "You didn't give me a chance to get into the song." "It wouldn't matter how many times we went over it, you haven't got the voice to sing the blues, and until that happens, stick to what you can do. You're a good back-up singer and we need you to be that, you are important to our sound as you are, so what do you say, are you with us or not?" "I suppose so." Rhonda mumbled. "Good, now let's try again from the top." The air somewhat cleared and we started to sound better. George stuck his head out of his office. "That sounds great. I was beginning to worry there for a while, if I could have thought of another band to take your place you would have been shown the door." I always knew George was a caring soul, and looked after his friends. "But why?" I asked Rhonda. "If you wanted to get to me, why kill Tania, and why frame Susie for it?" "Tania was unimportant, she just happened to be a means to an end. I didn't want to see you in gaol, but Susie going to gaol didn't bother me, in fact it was part of the plan. I just didn't want my father locked up. As for Tania, she was nothing but a common whore." "Hold on a minute here. You don't honestly think that I'm your father do you?" "Yes I do." "Where would you have got that idea from?" "My mother, she told me that you are my father." "Well she was wrong, very wrong. There is no way that I could possibly be your father, I'm sure that I am the wrong blood type for starters. If you want proof we can check our DNA to confirm the fact that I am not your father." "But she told me that I was the result of you having sex with her one night, after you had shoved her in the cells because she was high on drugs." "I need more information before I can comment on that, but let me tell you that I have never had sex with a woman in the cells in my life. Don't get me wrong, I knew that it happened, it's just that I was never a part of that." "But she went to the police when she found herself pregnant and made a complaint. She was told that you were the officer that had arrested her, so she assumed that it would have been you that did it." "They were partly right, there would have been two officers involved in the arrest, and how do you know that it wasn't the other one?" "Because he was asked and he denied it." "As he would. You don't think that he would own up to getting a girl pregnant in the cells, do you?" "But then why didn't you deny it?" "Because I was never asked, that's why. What is your mother's name, and where and when was this supposed to have happened?" "Her name was Judy Thomas, and I will be twenty in three months, so it would have happened twenty and a half years ago. She said that it happened at Kings Cross police station." "Right, that lets me off the hook. At the time that she would have reported this I was no longer at Kings Cross. I had been promoted to another station, which would explain why I was never questioned about the incident. It would seem that my absence was convenient. Also, it would explain why I would never have been given the opportunity to prove my innocence. Out of curiosity, what is your blood type?" "O Negative, why?" "That is proof that I cannot be your father. If you want further proof we can have a DNA analysis done. Did you stop to think that, if what you believed to be true was true, that you and I having sex could land both of us in gaol?" "It would have been worth it. As it is, that is all irrelevant if you aren't my father. If you haven't worked it out by now, I'm in love with you, and I don't care if making love to you would be committing incest." "You're one sick girl, do you know that? You're beginning to freak me out." "I don't care. I want you and I don't want Susie to have you. When she told me that she wasn't going to share you with me I had to do something." "You don't get it do you, I'm in love with Susie and she's in love with me, end of story. Now I have to do something. I'm going to let your real father know that he has another daughter." "Do you know who my real father is?" "Yes. He was my partner at the time, and he was known for having sex with female prisoners in the cells. He would promise them that they would get off with a caution, and no convictions would be made against them." "But how is it that he didn't get into trouble over having sex with my mother?" "If he was questioned, and that would have been a big 'if', these matters were usually hushed up. As I was saying, if he had been asked, he would have, knowing him, dropped me in it, after all I wasn't there to defend myself, was I?" "So, tell me, who is my biological father." "My partner at the time was then Constable Jonas, and is now Detective Inspector Jonas." "Fuck! That explains it." "Pardon my ignorance, explains what?" "My mother died six months ago." "Not long before you came to sing in the band." "That's when she told me who my father was. I went to the police to try and confirm it and was referred to Inspector Jonas because he knew of the case. It was he that confirmed you to be my father, and it was he that suggested that you should be made to pay Child Support. Eighteen years worth of Child Support turns out to be a lot of money, more than my mother saw during her life. If you want to know, she turned out to be a prostitute after her family kicked her out for getting pregnant with me. They never spoke to her again, and didn't even come to her funeral, even though they were invited. That really hurt." "This plan to get at me, was that your idea or someone else's?" "It wasn't mine initially, but I did warm to the idea as time went on." "I don't suppose it was Inspector Jonas that planted the idea in your head, was it?" "Yes it was. But why would he do that?" "Because it turns out that he was jealous of me, and my career. We were in the same class at the Police Academy, but I got promoted before him. I had a beautiful girlfriend while he flitted from one short-term relationship to the next. If he didn't have a girlfriend at the time he would fuck some drunk or drugged out girl in the cells. He would have made a great porn star except for one little thing." "What was that?" "His one little thing, he just about needs a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass just to find it. He was trapped into a marriage by Trudy, the Chief Inspector's ugly daughter. She took a fancy to him and Daddy dearest gave him the option of marrying her or getting dismissed from the force. He chose her and that made him even more jealous of me and my beautiful steady girlfriend who was to become my fiancé." "So what happened to her?" "She unfortunately, was killed in a car accident. Life in the force had lost its appeal around then, what with being accused of arresting the wrong guy on top of losing her, it was all a little too much." "So, I suppose that it is the good Inspector that I should be suing, is that it?" "It will do you no good. If your mother was over the age of consent, and that was 16, at the time, all he has to do is to say that any sexual intercourse was consensual, and he's home free." "But he can't be allowed to get away with it." "He can and he will. You will probably find that there is a statute of limitations on any charges that could be laid against him. You have got other things going on that you need to be concerned with." "Such as what?" "Saving your sorry arse. Such as going to the police and explaining how and why it was that you fabricated the so called evidence that the police have used to arrest Susie, like pointing out that you made sure that the CCTV cameras would pick up a blonde wig that you wore. You would then confirm it by producing the CCTV images, which I have and will give you, of you leaving my apartment building by the service entrance, and returning an hour later. You didn't know that there are cameras everywhere around this building, they saw it all. Given the lack of evidence, the best that they can hope to charge you with is being an accessory, or hindering an investigation. Compared to murder they are small fish. You will be lucky to stay out of gaol, that all hinges on Jonas not pressing charges. There is no forensic evidence linking you to the murder. You could cut a bargain with him by telling him that you had gone to the club to have sex with George, he'd love that, you not being satisfied by me and slipping out for more. When you got there you found Tania dead in his office so you legged it. You can tell him that if he drops any charges that he might have against you, you won't go to the police with evidence of his having had non-consensual sex with your mother, and then lying when questioned about it. You should insist on a paternity test to prove that he is your father. You can hint that there will be Child Support payments owing from him, which you will be pursuing, and that will run into thousands of dollars that he can't afford to pay. I don't think that he would want this to go public, for starters his wife would kill him, you should see her, built like a brick shit-house and she's got him right where she wants him." "You're a devious bastard, aren't you?" "You'd better believe it." "I'll never in a million years get away with this." "If you're worried about being caught out lying, don't. Just answer the questions asked truthfully, unless you're asked if you killed Tania, in which case, if you actually did it, you're going to have to fudge it. If what I say is bothering you, don't worry. While I have no intention of telling porkys, (porky pies - lies) I will avoid telling him what I know. If I'm asked if I know who did this I will tell them that, as I have no official status and that Susie is my only concern, they are on their own when it comes to the investigation. All that I ever intended doing was to ensure that Susie did not get convicted of a crime that she was never guilty of." "Why are you doing this for me? I never asked you to come to my rescue. You don't even like me." "While I might not like you, I like Jonas even less." My mind shot off in a tangent. The questions that needed answers were, in no particular order; who was it that had the money to not only pay for the hit, but finance a cruise as well. What motive could there be for targeting me. Was I really the target, if not who was? That tangential thought pattern got me thinking, how could I get access to the passenger manifest of a cruise ship that left Sydney in the day or two after Tania's killing? That part was relatively easy, there were two cruises that had departed Sydney in the days following the killing. One of them could be ruled out straight away, it was one that catered for old farts, and a young cockerel amongst the old boilers in the hen house would create too much conjecture. The other was one of those party cruises for young twenty year olds, full of booze and sex and drugs and sex. Which one of the several hundred male passengers was our man? This part was not as easy. It took some of my legendary powers of persuasion and more than a few dollars to gain access to the records, but it was worth it. Everything fell into place, now all that I had to do was to prove it. Slowly, drip by drip, the bucket of my information was filling, and a picture was emerging. But this raised many more questions. The person had obviously counted on several intangibles falling into place. If they hadn't, the whole scheme would have backfired with disastrous results for all concerned, especially yours truly. I was meant to take up the investigation, there was no other reason for getting Susie involved. Detective Inspector Jonas, when confronted by his past in the shape of Rhonda, was meant to use her to wreak some sort of revenge on me. He it was that told her that I was her father, and that she should make me suffer for not taking financial responsibility for her welfare. He had encouraged her to insinuate herself between me and Susie. He it was that gave her the necessary chemical to lace my bed-time hot chocolate and ensure that I would sleep the sleep of the innocent, enabling her to slip out and make sure that the CCTV cameras would see her arrive at the crime scene sporting a long blonde wig that he provided. What Jonas didn't know was that a certain person knew that he would do exactly that, and had deliberately told Rhonda how it was that she arrived on this earth, and suggested that she should approach the police to get the finer details of this event, knowing that Jonas would take the opportunity to shift the blame for the event onto me. The next phase of this elaborate plot happened when Jonas reported the theft of his service firearm. This coincided with the release of the ballistics report that matched the murder weapon to the missing gun. Jonas went to great lengths to assert that, at the time of the murder, his weapon was safely under lock and key in his desk drawer. A close examination of the desk failed to find evidence of a forced entry. Things were not looking good for Detective Inspector Jonas and the more he protested his innocence, the guiltier he looked. Public opinion favoured him as the guilty party, but I for one didn't buy it. My mind was still thus occupied as Susie and I snuggled down later that night. Susie looked at my worried face as she gave up on her attempt to arouse my enthusiasm. "I should be insulted, here I am working my butt off in a futile attempt to get you interested in sex, and you just lay there with this worried look on your face." "I'm still mulling over what I have found out about this whole messy affair. Jonas has been set up to carry the can for this, and I know that he didn't do it. On the other hand, if I say nothing he will go down for it, and that has a certain attraction for me." "I don't get you. Here you have the perfect opportunity to get back at Jonas for what he did to you all those years ago, and what he did to me, and you won't take it. Why?" "Much as I'd love to see him swing for this, I'm not in the habit of knowingly fitting someone up for a crime that he didn't commit. No, something doesn't sit right about this whole stinking mess. I have narrowed it down to two possible suspects. I just have to decide which one did it, and then find the proof." "Okay Sherlock, tell me, who dunnit?" "It's a tossup between his ever-loving wife, and her father, the former Chief Inspector and now Police Commissioner." "How ever did you arrive at that conclusion?" "Friends in the force have told me that Jonas has been back to his old tricks of taking advantage of vulnerable women in custody, or who are in danger of being arrested and placed in custody. For a sexual consideration he would ensure that their case never reached court. Word of this would most likely have reached the ears of Daddy Dearest, and he would not have been amused." "Why didn't he just sack Jonas?" "Because, that would have required him to reveal the reasons for the dismissal, and that would have been embarrassing to him and his daughter. This way Jonas will be found guilty of a criminal offence, not as embarrassing." "This seems to be a very chancy way of going about getting revenge, don't you think? It has every possibility of failure, and I would have thought that would be even more than embarrassing for them." "Not really, you have to remember that the guy that carried out the hit was a hired gun, who left the country the day after the murder was committed. And there was nothing linking him with the Commissioner or the murder weapon. He would have most certainly worn gloves, and tossed the gun overboard somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean in the wee small hours. It will never be found. But it has been identified as belonging to Jonas." "But you managed to find him, why wouldn't the police?" "Because, by now all records will have conveniently disappeared. Don't worry, they've thought it through." "So, what are you going to do about it? If you go to the Commissioner I'll probably be sobbing over your grave in the not too distant future." "Which is why, my Darling, it will not be me that blows the whistle." "So, who's the lucky person? Don't you dare look at me, there is no way that I'm going to do it." "Actually no-one is going to drop them in for it. They will not be punished by me." "I don't believe that you are going to let them get away with this." "I'm not. I am leaving the outcome to them. If they want to see Jonas charged for this, so be it, it couldn't happen to a more deserving person. But if they do, they will do so in the knowledge that I possess the evidence that will clear him, if it should go to trial. This scenario has the added benefit of them having the knowledge that their guilt will be known by at least one person. They will in effect be punishing themselves." "What's to stop them arranging for someone to kill you?" "Because they will also know that, in the event of my death, my Lawyer will release the information to the media." "So, you are leaving them with the alternative of saying nothing and having to live with that decision, or coming clean and suffering the consequences of their actions." "You've got it in one. Now I believe that a short time ago you were attempting to interest me in a little horizontal callisthenics, would I be correct in assuming that?" "As always, you are right." She renewed her efforts with enthusiasm. Sheldon glared at us, totally engrossed in the throes of our carnal delight, and stalked to the end of the bed to ride it out. A new day, and another new experience for me. I sat staring at the top of the head of Judith Smithers, Commissioner Forster's long serving Receptionist as she busied herself doing something so as not to look me in the eye. Her phone buzzed and she looked up at my smiling face. "You may go in now." She said without feeling. I went in to be faced by a frosty glare from Commissioner Forster. "What is this important news that can't be handled by someone from my force?" "It is news that concerns you personally, and involves both your daughter and Son-in-Law, and it is something that I don't think that you would want broadcast among the lesser ranks of your department." "Go on." His lack of enthusiasm at the prospect told me that he knew exactly what was coming. Way back in my dim past, when I was at school, I was told by my English teacher that, when answering a set question, you did it in three parts. Basically you say what you were going to say, expand on it, and then say what you said. In other words you briefly answer the question in your introductory statement, then you expand that to fully answer it, and then sum up the aspects of your answer. He sat stony-faced through the introduction and the expanded answer, but his expression changed as I summed up. The realisation that he was caught between a rock and a hard place drained the colour from his face. Impending doom caused the life to drain from his face and body. There was a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes that disappeared when I told him that I had placed all of this information into the hands of my Lawyer, along with my instructions of what to do with this in the event of my sudden demise. "I have grossly under-estimated you. I thought that you would be content just finding the evidence to convict Jonas. I never thought that you would take it any further." Backwater Blues "That was where you made your mistake. If you had dug into my background you would have realised that I have never fitted someone up for a crime that he did not commit. I have to admit that, in this case I was tempted, but, much as I disliked the bastard and what he had done to me all of those years ago, and recently, I just couldn't do it. You set out to be judge, jury and executioner in this matter, and that didn't sit well with me. You left me with no option." "I have an alternative for you." "Be prepared to be disappointed. Go on." "I am looking for an investigator, someone who can carry out investigations outside the parameters of the rules governing police investigations. The job is yours and the salary will be at the Chief Inspector level. All you have to do is to say yes, and you can start tomorrow." "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm happy with my life right now. I have a career in music that I love, I have a roof over my head that more than satisfies my meagre needs, I have a woman that I love and intend to spend the rest of my life with, and I have a cat that I love and that tolerates me. What more can I say, I am happy not getting involved with police work, or any other kind of investigative career." "I see. I guess that I'll just have to play my trump card. How well do you know Susan Sweetman?" "What do you mean?" "Just that, how well do you know her? Do you know what she does when she's not with you? Do you know where she gets the money necessary to lead the lifestyle that she enjoys? Just how well do you know her?" "From what you are suggesting, obviously not well at all. Up until now, her life when she was away from me was her life. I did not interfere with that, at least not since she assured me that there was no other man in her life." "And what has changed that?" "She has moved in with me, we are now officially shacked up together, joined at the hip so to speak. She will have no life other than with me." "You are confident of that, but when she goes to work, do you know where she goes?" "You make it sound as if I will not be happy with that knowledge. I can see that you're itching to tell me, so go ahead, and do your worst." "I'll let her tell you herself." He pushed a button on the phone gizmo on his desk. "Miss Sweetman, would you step in here please." What the fuck? Susie works for him? She slid through the door and glided with feline grace to me and, before I had a chance to say anything, planted a kiss on my lips that went on forever. At the end of forever she released my mouth and whispered into it, "Hi lover, surprised?" "No, I'm not surprised." This brought a surprised look from both of them. "I'm fucking struck dumb. How long have you worked here?" "Ten years." I was struck even dumber, how did I not know this? Because it never occurred to me to ask, that's how. "Susan has been my Executive Assistant for the ten years since I became Commissioner, and it was me that brought the two of you together, you can thank me later. When her ex-boyfriend left her friendless, and with no money, she came to me for advice about who would be the best person to find both him and her money. I suggested you because I had been following your career ever since you resigned from the force. I knew why you did it, and the reason that I didn't try to stop you was that you were too good, and too honest to stay a cop. Getting back to the present, you two will be working closely together, that is if you decide now to accept my offer of a job." He didn't have to ask the question again, he already knew the answer because Susie was kissing me again. Cut to sound of throat being cleared. "When you two have quite finished, we still have a problem on our hands. How do I get out of this unscathed?" "Whatever way we go, you will still have to live with your conscience." "I'm aware of that. Do you have any suggestions?" "We could make Jonas an offer that he can't refuse." "Go on, I'm listening." "At the moment public opinion has already convicted him of Tanya's death. I am sure that, if you were to offer him sufficient financial inducements, he would disappear suddenly, leaving the case unsolved. If you were to suggest he relocate to somewhere in South-East Asia where there is an abundance of sexual action to be had at an affordable price, he would be happy as a pig in shit. As long as he sticks to adult pussy and doesn't run foul of child exploitation, he can live out his life in peace." "I think I can live with that." It was a good thing that Susie and I loved each other, and couldn't bear to spend time apart, because we worked together, we made music together, not an easy task because blues presupposes some sort of mental angst, and we made love together. Sheldon had accepted the fact that, to get a good night's sleep, he was better off on the couch.