by Simon Swift
I thought back to our last meeting. Claudia practically begged me to take her away from her captivity. Although I wouldn't admit it at the time, I would have liked to do just that. In fact, I would have loved to. But the truth was I knew it just wasn't practical. There was no way that it could have happened and when I walked away, I was walking away for good. And now I was going back and I didn't know how to approach it. I was getting a funny feeling in my stomach, a feeling that I didn't recognize and it made me uneasy.
I decided I would have to play it cool. Very cool to the point of appearing harsh. It would hurt me to do so, but it was the only way out of a very difficult situation.
As I was approaching the Cafe-Noir I noticed a disturbance along the avenue. There was a gang of smokes in a semi-circle, all dressed up in their Rastafarian gear, shouting and swearing. I couldn't quite see just who or what at, but I was curious and had a strange feeling come over me. I decided to go and investigate.
As I got nearer I could see a young, brunette girl stood in the middle of them with her shaking hands clasped together clutching her purse. She had tears streaming down her face and was cowering away from the ringleader, who was giving her a whole load of unrepeatable abuse. A few more steps and I realized the girl was Claudia.
She hadn't seen me yet and neither had the ringleader. The others had as they slowly began to move apart, leaving room for me to approach the ringleader. In one movement I grabbed him by the dreadlocks of his hair, pulled it right back and slammed his face into the parked car on the roadside. I lifted his head and again brought it down hard on the car bonnet, causing his nose to bleed profusely. I then let go of the man and pulled my rod aiming at one of the smokes, then another, then another. One by one they casually put their switchblades back in their pockets and moved away.
"I think this conversation is over, don't you?" I said to the ringleader, handing him my handkerchief to dab his nose.
He didn't say anything, just held out his hands showing off his white palms, and then slowly backed away. When he got a good ten yards away, he quickly turned and started running. I put my gun away and held out my arms to give Claudia a hug.
"Oh, Errol," she said. "I'm so glad to see you."
She held me so tight, tears freely flowing down her rosy red cheeks. I held her equally tight and buried my face in her shoulder. She was finding emotions in me that I had long repressed. I would have to pull myself together and snap out of it.
I took her for breakfast at one of the less sleazy places I knew. It had sickly, happy music playing in the background, but at least the tables were clean and the waitresses were polite. We ate croissants and drank coffee and all the time I had this heavy imposing feeling in the base of my belly. Maybe I was nervous about what I had to tell her? All the time she gave me a running commentary on how she was getting on better with her family, how much she liked my secretary and how much she had missed me. Eventually she had decided to take me up on my word and look me up.
"Oh Errol, it's so great to see you again, it really is. I don't think I could have stood it much longer cooped up in that room, like an animal at the zoo."
I smiled warmly at her and lit up a Lucky.
"Don't worry though Errol, it's not as if I've run away again. Not properly anyhow..." She paused. "Stan and Mikey are away on business in Havana. They'll be gone for at least a week and I squared it with Mario that I was coming to visit you, I-"
"You told him that? That you were coming to see me, you mentioned my name?" I said it a little too coldly but I could picture the scene at the family home and see my grave being dug in the middle of the desert.
"Yeah, he was fine about it, don't worry. If there's a problem he knows where to find me. Anyway, they've been so much better these last few days and I'm sure Uncle Stan thinks a lot of you, Errol. He wouldn't mind us spending a little time together, you know, doing what friends do, or maybe even..."
"Just hold on a moment! This is not a very good idea at all. Don't you understand Claudia, I think you're a great kid but you come with a responsibility that I am not up to."
I held up my arm to the waitress. "A large cognac!" I shouted. "The hell with it, bring me the bottle with a large glass!" And then I looked into Claudia's big, blue eyes. "This is not a very good idea at all, baby.”
"But Errol, at the house, what you said."
Tears were beginning to form in the corners of Claudia's beautiful eyes.
The cognac arrived and I poured a large glass and downed it in one go. I coughed a little and held Claudia's hand on the table. "Look sweetheart, what I said at the house. I was trying to comfort you a little, you know. I was trying to make things a little better... And they are, you said so yourself."
I poured another glass and retook Claudia's hand in mine. "But the idea of you and me going away together. It's just not going to happen is it? You don't know anything about me."
"I know you're a hero, that you've saved me from something bad on two occasions. I know that you’re handsome and charming. I know that you're kind, caring and sweet. I know…"
"You don't know any of those things. At the moment I've got too many friends that are dying or disappearing. I am a dangerous man to be around and to be blunt, sweetheart, so are you. I just don't want any harm to come to you, that's all."
I gazed thoughtlessly through the open window. "I've never been able to hold a relationship for longer than two minutes at the best of times, and believe me darling, at the moment this is not the best of times." I rubbed my forehead and sighed deeply.
Claudia began to weep. Not hysterically, or noisily, just single tears falling down her warm cheeks. Slowly at first, then more and more.
"Claudia, you're a great kid. And for the little time we've known each other we've got on well. But unfortunately there's a lot of things you don't know about. I'm not all those lovely things you think I am. I'm actually a bit of a scumbag. And do you know how old I am?"
"I don't care how old you are. All I know is that you are all those lovely things, you really are Errol, you are to me. And the case, I can help you Errol, you know I can?"
Suddenly she looked a lot more optimistic. Her eyes lit up and she looked at me with expectation and hope. I tried to avoid her eye contact but couldn't.
She was beautiful.
I creased my face up and rubbed my eyes painfully. "Even if we could be friends. Even if, in spite of all the mess that I'm mixed up in at the moment could be sorted out..."
"Or lovers."
I tried to ignore that last comment and cleared my throat, determined to finish what I had started to say. I ended up mumbling something, something like we could never have a future together because she was born into one of the families. I tried to remind her just what she told me back at the house. About her boyfriends, dead boyfriends, about Mikey and his deep hatred of any male that dared to go near her. I tried to make it clear that I could not possibly get involved with someone such as she, that it would be tantamount to suicide. All I ended up doing was hearing, ‘Or lovers’ going over and over again in my head.
I let go of her hand and looked away.
"Errol, you're not afraid of danger, I know you're not. I bet in your time you've been involved with more dangerous women than me. Stan likes you, you know that. And Mikey, I'm sure you could handle Mikey."
She moved closer to my face so I could feel her hot breath on my cheek, "We could be good together Errol, you know we could."
As I stared out of the window, many things were going through my aching mind. I remembered when she first walked into my office, and then at the house, how she nursed my wound and we talked the night away. Then I remembered Marlow, and how I felt about her. Brief images of Ava, of Maggie Spanner and the others also shot by. But it was Claudia that was doing this to me, that much I was sure. It was Claudia who was making me feel the way I thought that I would never be able to feel again.
"We've got some things we need to talk about," I said in a businesslike tone
. "A little bit of business to sort out."
"And then?" urged Claudia, licking her lips.
"And then...I'll take you back to your home and we'll never meet again!"
As soon as I said it I regretted it. I guess it was the last line of defense putting up a valiant effort. How long it would last I wasn't sure, but I certainly expected it to last longer than the next forty-five minutes.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Courting
I took her back to Joe's and sat her down in the office. I apologized for the mess but she didn't seem to take any notice. She was no longer crying or pleading but just showing more of a stunned, shocked look on her face. All the while I was feeling increasingly bad, my stomach now wrenching with guilt whenever I glanced in her direction.
Joe had looked up with a big grin on his fat face as we walked through the diner. He looked like he was gearing himself up for a bit of tasteless banter; some reference to the croissant witticism of earlier no doubt. Fortunately, he must have picked up on the atmosphere that followed us through the room and put to good use the crash-course in subtlety I tutored him through prior to his first date with Mrs. Joe.
I relieved Claudia of her coat and hung it on the hanger without saying a word. I pulled out a chair for her to sit on, and pushed it back in, before taking a seat myself directly across from her. All the time she simply looked down at her hands placed neatly on her lap, in silence.
I lit up a Lucky and very businesslike took out a key from my inside pocket.
"I've been instructed to safely hand over this key," I said quickly and abruptly before exhaling.
"To me?" asked Claudia in obvious surprise, her first words for a good half hour.
"Uh-huh."
Still she wouldn't look me in the eye, for which I was presently grateful, but perhaps I now had her full attention.
"By who?" she eventually asked.
I again inhaled a deep breath. "By a man acting on the behalf of Liam Tighe. He's dead. I'm sorry."
Claudia immediately reached for a tissue from the box on the desk and put it to her eyes. She dabbed her already reddened eyes and blew her nose loudly. It seemed more of a shock than a terrible upset, and she composed herself. For the first time since we left the cafe, she looked directly at me. Her beautiful blue eyes were now more mournful than ever, crying out for a helpful soul to take care of her.
I looked back strongly and seriously. Although I was feeling affection, I was looking and acting businesslike. It was a part of the job that I did very well. Hiding your feelings was a fine art and absolutely essential.
"I don't want it!" she shouted, picking up the key and throwing it at me, breaking up a thoughtful moment, which had lingered too long already. I caught the key in my chest and put it back down on the desktop, eyeing Claudia harshly all the time.
"I don't want anything more to do with him. It's you, Errol, that I want. You know it is. Please Errol, you..."
"Maybe you've got some idea where the key is for?" I asked, interrupting her.
Again, there was a short silence. We just looked at each other across the desk, calm restored. Claudia longingly, me... well as un-longingly as I could muster. Minutes passed and then Claudia tried a little smile. "Yes, maybe I do," she said. "We could maybe go together. I'll show you where it is."
I sighed a deep sigh and opened a drawer to my right. I pulled out a piece of paper with an official stamp on it and a little text. "Look," I said curtly, "my job is to get the key to a Miss Claudia Cortene."
I pointed at Claudia. "That I have done."
I pushed the contract over to Claudia, the key with it. "Could you please sign at the bottom,” I indicated where, "to verify this."
I looked up at Claudia. Tears were once again forming in the corner of her eyes. I looked away. "Now if you decide you do not want to remain in possession of the key, you might like to take it down to the nearest police station. Or alternatively," my tone altered, "you could put it in an envelope and post it back to me."
"If you want the stupid key, you keep it!" shrieked Claudia, a solitary tear straying loose from an imminent downpour. "But unless you keep me with you, you can find out where it goes yourself. I'm telling you nothing!"
"Don't be so damn childish!" I said, raising my voice for the first time. "This is not a game, grow up a little will you!" I felt like a father scolding his child.
Again, I sighed and looked at my watch. It was still early but what the hell I needed a drink. I got up and searched the cupboard for a bottle of Remy. There was none left and all I could find was a half-empty bottle of Daniels. It would have to do. Claudia watched me closely, still desperately controlling her welling eyes, looking fearful after my outburst. She nodded sheepishly as I offered, and poured us both a drink.
"If you sign the form I'll give you an envelope right now. You can tell me where the box is located and leave the envelope on the desk on your way out. I'm afraid that's the procedure. I've gotta have your signature to show I've done the job. Otherwise I..." I stopped mid sentence realizing I had just told Claudia what she wanted to hear.
She surprised me, however, signing the document immediately. Without even reading it. Then sitting back, looking straight at me, cupping the glass in both hands.
"Remember the night you saved me from George?" she asked, taking a sip and the coughing.
I nodded. "Sure I do sweetheart. Now could you also sign just here?" I pointed to the top of the document with my finger, waiting patiently for the next installment of Claudia Cortene, femme fatale.
"The way we danced the night away, you with your patched up midriff, me with my patched up life."
It sounded worse than a line from Gone with the Wind but it still brought a smile to my stony face. I held my finger on the document but my thoughts were now firmly with Claudia.
"I wish that night had never ended," she continued, staring off into space with a contented smile on her face. "I was the damsel in distress and you were my dashing hero."
She took another sip, this time spluttering all over the desk. Still my mind wandered. My trance was broken by Claudia moving my finger from the paper before her, and duly signing her name on the dotted line.
"Errol," she said inquisitively.
"Ahem," I answered, checking over the contract and signing it myself.
"Why didn't you make a move on me that night?" It can't have been because of my family as you had no idea who I was then..."
I nodded in agreement.
"And it can't have been because of Marlow," she sort of smiled and sighed at the same time. "Surely you weren't saving your loyalty for her because guys like you don't do that do they?"
I smiled and thought back to the warm memory she was evoking in me.
"So why not?" she persisted. "Was it the paternal coming out in you? You'd stumbled across a mixed up naive kid and instead of bedding her you just wanted to look after her and keep her safe from the evils of the world?"
She said it candidly, knowing it could have been true but wasn't. She smiled at my smile. She was way off the mark and knew it, but sensing she was getting the upper hand it didn't matter.
"That's probably pretty close to the truth," I lied, an uncontrollable grin now filling my face. We continued to look at each other and remember that beautiful night. Contemplating what if... After all we'd both had a lot to drink and were both clearly attracted to one another. I was never one to be too fussy about who's bed I was sharing, and Claudia -she was young, beautiful and... and available.
I looked deep into her eyes. "Pretty close to the truth, but as you pointed out," I chuckled, "my midriff was damn sore."
We both burst out into laughter together. At first wildly, then we calmed a little and still laughed. We ended up holding our sides, giggling like kids, I was still laughing when Claudia reached over the desk and kissed me full on the lips. Without a second thought, I took her in my arms and kissed her back passionately, holding her tight as I did so.
We kissed and e
mbraced for what seemed like hours. She certainly wasn't going to get away from me now. I was at last admitting to myself what I'd known deep down for a while - Claudia meant a lot more to me than I had let on, maybe a lot more than any woman ever in my life. Whatever the reality, I was enjoying the experience and simply wanted to prolong the wonderful feeling. She may have felt that she had won but we both had.
We were still locked in an embrace when the door burst open and in stumbled Joe, flesh hanging all over the place, dripping with sweat.
"Sorry to interrupt Rolly, but this is important."
It must have been, Joe kept an anxious look on his face in spite of his momentously bad timing, without a hint of embarrassment.
"’scuse me, miss," he said and nodded in the direction of the kitchen. I parted from Claudia, giving her a little peck on the cheek, before picking up the key and following Joe through to the other room.
"What is it Joe?" I asked my fat friend, sensing the worry in his thick, sagging eyes. Joe was a good friend. He had been ever since I could remember. Like the father I never had guiding me through my youth and corrupting me through my early manhood. Although he was always there and always willing to help, I never involved him too much in my business. There was no doubt he was a safe and trustworthy as a poodle - the only form of torture Joe would succumb to would be to hold a freshly baked pork pie under his quivering nostrils. Let the aroma fill him with ravenous hunger, watch him drool with desire, and then devour it before him. Promising him one if he divulged the secrets of the world - but after all he was only an honest bartender. Maybe asking him to put me up in the present climate was involving him a little too much. Even if he knew the full story I'm sure he'd be only too happy to help, but that still didn't alter the fact that I was not the safest lodger to have right now.
