by Rob Guy
“I know enough,” she said, almost in a pleading tone. “You’re great fun, you’re great in the sack.” She moved close to whisper in his ear. “I wasn’t faking, by the way.” She backed up. “And you are mixed up in something that I want a part of.” She brightened a little, and for a moment, Harry thought she was going to start clapping and jumping on the spot.
“No, you don’t.” Harry shook his head. “This is not right. I should go.”
“Go? Go where? I’m not the brightest star in the Heavens, but I’m beginning to suspect this is more than just a dead parrot. The cops don’t go knocking door to door for that.”
“You’re smart,” Harry conceded. “It is much more than that.”
“Then what? Tell me.”
“If I tell you, then you are in it too. I could use some help, but I don’t want to see you get hurt, or your aunt for that matter.”
“Neither do I. Trust me, we can handle ourselves.”
“Actually, I don’t doubt that for a second.”
“So what is it?”
Harry took a deep breath and set himself. “Soon, if not already, I will be wanted for questioning in relation to a murder.”
“Which you didn’t do presumably.”
“No, I didn’t. You believe me?”
“Coming from you, I believe it. You’re nothing like the regular assholes I have to deal with.”
Harry cringed, and for the first time, despite all he’d said to put her off, he realized he had feelings for Angel.
Oh boy. Now what am I going to do?
Heidi returned with a bowl of ice water and a small ceramic pot full of steaming black tea. She made a signal to Angel, a surreptitious and practiced one that even Harry didn’t spot.
Angel nodded. “Oops, forgot those towels,” she said, and excused herself.
Heidi gingerly placed Harry’s right hand in the bowl.
“You should drink this tincture,” she said, handing Harry a fine bone china cup half full with the black liquid. Harry sniffed at it and then looked up at her. Heidi laughed. “It’s an ancient Chinese remedy. Great for pain relief. It’s my liquid tai chi.”
“Thank you.”
“But for what ails your heart only you can fix that.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yours I don’t care about. But if you break hers, regardless of what you’ve done to save her, nothing in the Galaxy will stop me from tearing you a new one. We understand each other?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Harry took a sip. It was very bitter, and smelled like tree roots and old socks, but he drank it all the same. There was an odd silence for a while. Harry kept looking over the cup, watching this new beauty, observing. Heidi seemed lost somewhere, contemplative. Then:
“I’m all she has,” she said, staring in the direction of the bathroom.
“Oh, I see,” Harry replied, placing the cup on the table before him. “Her parents?”
“Dead, younger brother too.”
He shook his head. “I’m so sorry. May I ask how?”
“Hit and run two years ago, on Earth. She made her way here, I still don’t know the full details how, and now I don’t ask anymore. I found her one day wandering the streets near here. She was in a terrible state. I took her in, me and Dolores.” She met Harry’s look of surprise. “I’m not really her aunt, obviously. Thank you for not pointing out that rather plain fact. It says a lot about you.”
“All good I hope.”
“We’ll see,” Heidi said with a faint smile. “Dolores is my aunt, but we had a little falling out you could say.”
“Over Angel?”
“In this house she’s Angela, or Akiko if you prefer.”
“My apologises, Heidi.”
“Accepted. I can tell you’re a good man, Mr Watt. May I apologize for what I said earlier.”
“Think nothing of it. And call me Harry, please.”
“I’ll keep it formal, for now. You seem like a good man, in spite of what you’ve done.”
“It was an accident.”
“I’m sure it was. And the other thing?”
“Complicated. I must say you’re very intuitive.”
“I have good ears, Mr Watt. Well?”
“I’m being set up for a murder I didn’t commit.”
“So I heard. Care to elucidate?”
Harry obliged.
“Mmm. That is interesting,” Heidi remarked. “Certainly not the regular, down on my luck, please give me your sympathy, kind of story.”
“Hey, I’m not here for money or sympathy, or any of that. I’m sorry for getting you and Angel, I mean Angela, involved. I should go.”
Harry tried to heave himself out of the chair but soon discovered he couldn’t. He was stiffening up tighter than the wrong side of a bi-metal strip.
“Mr Watt, you misunderstand me.”
Harry fell back, breathing heavily. “God, I hope so.” He looked frankly into Heidi’s eyes. “I didn’t want to come, but I’m glad I did. I need Angela’s help, I need your help.”
“And you’re going to get it, for Angela’s sake. Trust me, if she didn’t like the look or feel of you she’d have led you right to the police station.”
“That is a comfort.” Harry took another sip of the drink with his eyes closed.
Heidi watched him. “So how did this happen?” she asked, pointing at his ribs.
“A fiery little redhead. I thought she’d told you on the phone.”
Heidi threw back her head to laugh. “No. She neglected to tell me she’d half beaten her savior to death. But that’s her. Did you deserve it?”
“Absolutely.”
“Well that’s fine by me. Can you try and sit up again?”
“Yes.” Harry put down the cup, and tried once more to get himself upright on the couch. It did hurt, but not enough to warrant the grunts and groans he emitted. Heidi was smart, and with only a slight trace of a smile contrived to get her arms under him and lift him upright. Harry was grinning from ear to ear as this delectable woman pressed herself against him.
God, you smell fantastic!
He returned to feigning intense pain when she sat back to look at him.
“Thank you, Mr Watt. Now, if you can, please take off your jacket and shirt.”
“If you insist, but I hardly know you.”
“Mr Watt, don’t be naughty now.”
“You started it.” They both chuckled. “You’re a nurse too?”
“I have studied. I have a doctorate in medicine.”
“Really? Sorry, it’s just I thought….”
“You thought me a whore too?”
Harry flinched. “God, no. Christ, I hate that word.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I have no regrets about my past, Mr Watt. Prostitution no longer has the stigma it once had. Half the men up here would go nuts without Delilah’s.”
“So true. But I do have one question, if I may.”
“Of course.”
“Was Angela willing to be a prostitute for you and Dolores?”
“I gather by the wording of your question that you are not asking your real question. I think you want to ask if Dolores and I coerced Angela.”
“Did you?”
“The quick and honest answer is no. Angela told us that she had been an escort for a while, on Earth, to make ends meet, you know? She was living away from home when the accident happened, working in a school in Europe. She is an excellent linguist and has an innate knack of picking up languages. I only assume the money wasn’t good because she never speaks of that time anymore. You can guess the rest, a young girl far from home, little money.”
Harry nodded. “Can’t have been easy. And you don’t know how she came to be here?”
“No. As I said, I don’t trouble her with it anymore. And it doesn’t matter. She’s here now, with me, safe.”
“Well said.”
“Anyway, we found her, took her in, and allowed her time to heal. Once she told us of her time as
an escort, Dolores wanted her to start at Delilah’s straight away, but I said no. The poor girl was not herself, it was fairly obvious even to an untrained eye. Don’t get me wrong. Dolores meant no harm. You couldn’t wish to meet a kinder lady. However, my aunt does not read people very well. It was so evident to me that Angela needed looking after, and I wanted her to take as long as she needed before she was ready to make her own decision about paying her way. Besides, over the months, as she grew back into herself, I was more interested in adopting her as my legal daughter and heir.”
“Wow. She must have made quite an impression.”
“As with you, I think.”
“And you’ve managed that?”
“Yes.”
“So legally you’re her mother, but she still calls you aunt, not mom?”
Heidi smiled. “I know. It’s a habit she can’t break. It would be nice if she did, but I fully understand why she can’t.”
“Of course. So, you have no children of your own? Sorry, that’s not my business.”
Heidi chuckled. “But asking if Dolores and I are Angela’s pimps is your business?”
“Touché, mademoiselle.” Heidi raised her eyebrows. “My mother is French.”
“Eh bien, bonne fortune vous apporté à cette chambre, monsieur Watt.”
“Wow, vous parlez très bien le français.”
“I spent a year in Paris, many years ago.”
“Well I’m sure it wasn’t that long ago. Enchantée, Heidi.”
“Enchanté, monsieur Watt.”
“Please call me Harry.”
“No, not yet.”
Not yet? Interesting.
“But for your information, no, I don’t have any children of my own.”
Harry waited for the return question, but it didn’t come. He wondered if he had caused offence, and so did not offer to inform Heidi about Grace or Sybil.
“Angela chose for herself, Mr Watt. She saw how well the other girls were treated as well as how much money she could make. She has a wise head on young shoulders.”
“Yes indeed.” Harry looked about the room, thinking of the next thing to say. “Angela tells me you guys are off to Mars soon, is that right?”
“Oh, enough small talk. Now, Mr Watt, off with your clothes, thank you.”
Harry, never one to refuse an offer to undress from a lady, tried his best, but somehow found he couldn’t quite manage it. Heidi had to help again. Damn shame. Once he was semi-naked, Heidi leant in close to look and touch his torso. Harry got a whiff of strawberry scented hair and the sight of a wondrous cleavage. He felt a sudden jab in his ribs and yelped.
“Behave yourself, Mr Watt. I allowed your first indiscretion to pass. You’re in my house. My rules.”
“I’m sorry, Heidi. You must forgive me.”
“I do. You are an extremely attractive man, I will not deny, and you keep yourself in shape. But I am not about to jump into bed with you, let’s get that straight.”
“That’s a relief. I’m hardly in any shape to do you justice.”
Heidi couldn’t stop herself from giggling. As Angel at last returned with the towels, she found them both laughing fit to burst, Heidi with a hand over her mouth, Harry holding onto his ribs.
“What’s this?” she asked, putting the towels down on top of the couch.
Heidi straightened up and coughed, as did Harry. Very sheepishly he placed his hand back in the ice.
“Ahem. Third and fourth ribs on the left side certainly,” Heidi said, “and just the third on the right.” She turned to look at Angel. “You certainly let him have it, girl,” she said with a wink. Angel merely shrugged her shoulders. Heidi returned to her examination. She delicately took Harry’s jaw in her soft hands and felt it. “Mmh, not broken, fortunately.” She then lifted his hand out of the ice and assessed any damage.
“What’s the prognosis, Doctor?” Harry said, grinning like an idiot. Boy was he enjoying the attention.
“It’s fine.”
Heidi furtively caught Angel’s eye again. She nodded and sidled up to Harry. “Hey, honey bunch, wanna go again, right here? My aunt Heidi likes to watch.” She pushed her crotch into his shoulder.
Harry spun his head round. “Eh?”
Heidi pulled on two of his fingers and clicked them back into place. Harry’s yell was loud enough to waken the dead and shatter the windows. Heidi thrust his hand back into the ice like nothing had happened.
“Jesus!” screamed Harry. “You two are worse than Burke and Hare! Merde!”
“Oh don’t be such a baby,” said Heidi. “Now. Have you passed any urine?”
“Just now? What do you think? Ow!” Harry made to take his hand out of the ice, but Heidi stopped him with a shake of the head and a wag of her finger.
“Well?” she said.
“Yes of course. Lots.”
“I mean today, you idiot.”
“Oh, right. Well I guess so, yeah.”
“When?”
“A few hours maybe. Mon Dieu!”
Harry breathed through his teeth, clenching and unclenching them. Yet despite the excruciating pain in his right hand, he smiled at Heidi when she looked at him. She returned it, attempting and failing to be covert about it. Angel crossed her arms, and began drumming her fingers across her forearm. Harry looked up at her still smiling, but it quickly disappeared.
“Well see if you can pass some more,” said Heidi. “You said you might have ruptured your spleen. There’s bruising there, but I don’t think there’s cause for worry. Are you able to pass some now?”
“Lead the way!”
“Oh really, Mr Watt. You’re incorrigible. I’ll let Angela take you.”
“Yes, let me take you,” Angel snapped.
Between them, Angel and Heidi managed to get Harry to stand up. He felt a tighter than needed grip from Angel compared to the gentlest of touches from Heidi. This notwithstanding, the pain in his ribcage had intensified, his bite from Angel throbbed like crazy, and thanks to Heidi’s little subterfuge, the fingers of his right hand now resembled a pair of aubergines. Even if both girls demanded to be ravaged, somehow he didn’t feel he would be up to the job.
Angel led him to the bathroom, and with one hand holding the door ajar, contrived to drag him through and help him with his pants. Harry couldn’t help but think how things had changed since the last time she relieved him of his garments. Given the opportunity, Angel would probably bite it off at the moment. He just had to laugh. Angel became very indignant, but her intuition, her innate knowledge that Harry did care for her won through, and she too started laughing. She even held his preferred weapon of choice with one hand and a plastic beaker with the other as he relieved himself. Now what woman, other than one in uniform, would do that for a man she barely knew?
When they returned to the living room, Heidi had set up what appeared to be a portable chem lab on the table.
“What’s that?” asked Harry as Angel helped him to sit back down.
“A portable chem lab,” Heidi replied. “You have the specimen?”
“Here you go, auntie.”
“Thank you, Angela dear. Well, it looks like you two have sorted out your differences.”
“Auntie…”
“Angela, please, dear. I will not deny he’s very attractive, but I would never, not without your permission.”
“Eh?” said Harry, incredulous.
“My house, my rules, Harry. Remember?”
“You called him Harry,” Angel said, getting excited. “Does that mean…?”
“Yes it does. Go and get her.”
“Yippee!!” Angel ran forward and grabbed Heidi in a tight embrace. “Oh thank you, thank you. Mwah!” She kissed her repeatedly on both cheeks. She then turned to Harry, and gave him a nice, soft and gentle one on the top of his head. He wasn’t sure whether this was some sort of ritual or she was simply being considerate to his pain. Then she skipped out of the room like a ten year old.
Harry, in
his best-confused look, watched her go; he looked at Heidi, looked back in the direction of the vanished Angel, then once more back to Heidi.
“Er, what just happened?” he asked. “Please be gentle, as I’m not too sure I want to hear the answer.”
“Angela has many suitors. Her work at Delilah’s only enhances her status amongst the Stations eligible males, believe it or not. You are the first man she has brought home whom I have called by their first name. Welcome to our home, Harry.”
“Is that all? Phew.”
“It is a great honor, Harry. I don’t think you realize what this means to Angela.”
“You think?” he said, indicating her departure.
“The next few moments are very important for her. I hope you’re ready.”
“Ah, now you see, erm… Look, Angela is great, but I explained to her that, well, we hardly know each other. I mean, what I did and all, I don’t want…. Ah, shit.” Harry hung his head and shook it.
“You’ve overcomplicating things, Harry. Just wait a moment, and all will be revealed.”
Harry was now totally confused. But before he had time to ask another question, he heard a noise behind him, the distant murmurings of excited voices, two in fact, speaking in Japanese, and then the soft pitter-patter of tiny feet running. More voices. Then he heard the door to Angel’s room open, and the same gentle shuffling of feet coming down the hall. He found that his heart was pounding, and he sensed Heidi was watching him intently. He looked across at her, and she motioned, with her eyes, for him to turn around. He did so, and saw a sight. He thought Angel was the cutest, prettiest thing he’d seen in years, and Heidi equally so. But standing next to Angel was the most adorable little girl, no more than four, dressed in a floral white dress, and her shining black hair tied in a ponytail atop her head. Her dark eyes were staring at him. She held in one hand a single red flower; the other was holding Angel’s. Harry looked at her then at the girl. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Angel bent down and whispered something in Japanese. The girl came forward to stand in front of Harry, who was still seated on the couch. Without a word she handed him the flower. Harry took it, and when she bowed her head, Harry felt compelled to do the same. He looked at Heidi, who was close to tears.
