by Uc Amalu, Jr
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jay rolled into Bluey’s, his black slacks neatly pressed
and his brand new polo shirt tucked neatly inside them.
He scoured the room before his eyes finally rested on the
bar to his left.
"Yo Tadpole!" he yelled from the door-way.
"Jayy, get over here." the smile on Tad-poles face was
welcoming.
In an effort to appear as his usual casual self, Jay
sauntered over to the bar and held his hand out to
Tadpole. The men shook hands and Jay ordered a beer.
"I thought you’d still be recovering from last night?" asked
Tadpole, a knowing smile on his lips.
Jay chuckled, "It’s not the drink ya gotta look out for," he
said, his eyes darting about the room.
"Yeah, you’re right…" Tadpole grinned as he watched Jay
studying the bar. "It’s the women!"
Jay’s eyes flew back to him in an in-stant, "What’s that
supposed to mean?"
"I’m just saying, a woman can stay in your system a hell of
a lot longer than alcohol can."
"This beer tastes like shit!" cried Jay. "It must be flat,
gimme another one, would ya?"
He pushed the frothy ale back on the bar and pulled his
cigarettes from his pocket, angry that Tadpole was
goading him over the waitress. He understood that
sleeping with a waitress from his regular bar was likely to
cause problems, but he had been prepared for that. What
he hadn’t been prepared for was the fact that he would
actually fall for her and end up making a fool of himself in
front of his drinking buddies.
"Here you go," said Tadpole, sliding an-other beer over to
him. "Fresh keg. Spiked it myself just now."
"Bloody well oughta be, too," replied Jay.
Tadpole stared at him for a while.
Jay wondered if it was obvious to Tad-pole that he was
looking for the girl. He was determined he wouldn’t
mention her unless Tadpole asked about her.
"So," Jay began, his eyes still wandering all over the bar.
"How’s the wife and kids?"
"Great thanks, mate. The littlest one’s just cut his first
tooth actually."
"Really?" It was clear Jay was more interested in the
scenery than hearing about Tadpoles family.
"Yep."
"That’s exciting and all Tadpole, but I’m gonna wander
outside for a bit. Have a smoke, enjoy me beer…"
"By all means, Jayy. Go for it." Tadpole tried hard to
disguise his humour over the situation.
Jay stepped out onto the smokers deck and sat his beer
on the table next to the railing. He pulled a cigarette from
his packet and lit it. The bright orange flame danced at the
end of his smoke, it’s blue centre glowing against the
curtain of darkness behind it. He tucked the lighter back
into his packet and sat them on the table. He picked up
his beer and gulped it down leaving only about an inch in
the bottom. He needed an excuse to call the waitress over
when he finally spotted her… if he ever spotted her. No
matter where he looked, he couldn’t find her. Maybe she
wasn’t working tonight.
Still staring into the bar, Jay drew back on his cigarette
and swallowed the last of his beer. He glanced down at
his watch and saw that it was only 9.05pm. Perhaps she
hadn’t started just yet. Although, it was around this time
last night that he and Ben had seen her there. With the
empty beer glass in his hand, he crushed out his cigarette
and ventured back into the bar, determined to find what
he was looking for. The pool table was crowded with a
dozen or more young men, all drunk and all believing
they were the next Eddie Charlton. They hud-dled together
at the far end of the table, forming a tight knit circle. When
they dispersed, Jay saw her familiar face, she was
standing in the middle of the group, her tray loaded with
empty glasses.
For reasons unknown to him, he high tailed it back out to
the smokers deck, his heart was beating loudly and his
palms were sweaty. He couldn’t understand what was
happening, he had fallen for other women before, but this
was different somehow. She had done something to him,
and yet when he woke next to her this morning he hadn’t
felt a thing. His hands slid down his slacks, wiping away
the wetness from his palms, a million thoughts were
running through his mind when she interrupted him.
"Well, here’s a real gentleman if ever I saw one!"
Jay turned and stared. He remembered her hair, the
silkiness of her skin, how she smelled. He was
dumbstruck.
"Cat got your tongue or something?" she asked.
"I ain't got no cat," replied Jay, embarrassed by his
words as soon as they left his mouth.
"Yeah, well the way you look after house guests, I’m not
surprised."
Jay fidgeted with his cigarette packet, trying to retrieve
one without dropping the entire pack. He couldn’t believe
his nerves. Unchartered territory was where he was right
now, and it scared the living daylights out of him. A few
seconds elapsed before he finally managed to free a
cigarette and stick it in his mouth. All he could do was
shoot her a grin, hoping that she thought he was cool
rather than the mute mess that he was.
"Well I came back, didn’t I?" he eventually managed.
"Am I supposed to be impressed by that?"
"As a matter of fact," he paused to light his cigarette.
"Yeah!"
"You’ve got some nerve, coming back here and taunting
me like this. Isn’t there some other poor, defenseless
waitress you can charm into bed?"
"Probably."
Her mouth fell open, but no words came out.
"But I don’t wanna pick on somebody else. You’ll do just
fine."
His confidence grew; he could feel his old self returning.
Pretty soon he would be in full swing and there’d be no
stopping him. As much as he wanted to sweep her into
his arms and hold her, he resisted the urge and decided
to play for a little longer. He didn’t want her thinking that
she had him eating out of the palm of her hand. Sure he
liked her… a lot, but he wanted to tread carefully for now.
"What if I don’t want to be picked on?"
"See, that’s where I think you’re lying. I think you do."
"Look, is this going somewhere? I got a job to do and
you’re holding me up."
"In that case, get me a beer would ya?"
She made a growling noise and walked back into Bluey’s.
She got a few steps inside the door before turning back to
Jay.
"It’s Danni, in case you’re wondering?"
Jay shot her a broad smile, drew back on his cigarette
and nodded his head. When she turned away Jay
punched his fist into the air, he’d done it. He knew he had
her. Satisfaction filled him and he felt like the cat that got
the cream. He watched her body swaying beneath her
clothes, how he hadn’t noticed her in the same l
ight last
night surprised him. Sure he had been attracted to her,
but in a sexually perverse kind of way. Now when he saw
her, he saw something else… a woman, not an object.
Although he was still shocked by his feelings, he liked
them and knew that no matter what happened between
them, he was still Jay Marnotti, bad-ass detective.
Danni reached the bar and motioned to Tadpole. He
walked over, grinning as he approached.
"Hey Danni. Y’know Jayy’s here and I think he’s looking
for you."
"Yeah, he found me," she replied, her cheeks flushing.
"So what’s happening with you guys?"
"Who knows? He’s probably looking for an encore."
Tadpole shook his head and beckoned her to come closer
so he could lower his tone. "I don’t know, Danni. I’ve
known Jayy a lot of years and I have never seen him
come looking for the same woman twice. I think he might
actually be serious about you."
"Oh, lucky me!" she laughed.
"He’s not so bad. Just a little rough around the edges is
all. Give him a chance. You’ll see."
"I can tell you one thing for sure," She began, "I won’t hit it
off too well with him if I don’t bring him his beer!"
"Comin’ right up love," chortled Tadpole, grabbing a
frosted glass and filling it to the top before placing it
squarely on her tray.
"Thanks," she said.
Danni wove her way back through the bar and found Jay
leaning out over the railing on the deck. She stood back
and admired his strong shoulders and muscular
physique. His short, black hair highlighted his deep, blue
eyes and chiselled cheekbones. Electricity surged through
her body when she thought about their night spent
together. He was quite a lover, his hands knew just what
to do, and despite his gruffness earlier in the evening, he
was attentive to her in bed like no other man she had
been with. Jay was certainly no Prince Charming in the
ro-mance stakes, but she was sure that he had many
qualities they could build on.
"Your beer, sir," Danni said, placing the glass on the table.
Jay grinned and put a ten-dollar note on her tray.
"Keep the change."
"Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked,
stuffing the note into her pocket.
"Yeah, you can have lunch with me tomorrow."
"No, that’s no good for me," she answered attempting to
sound disinterested.
For the briefest moment, Jay became a little unsure of
himself. He looked into her eyes and saw that she was
playing with him, making him work for a date.
"Gee, that’s a shame…"
"I’m free for dinner though," she spat out and then
scolded herself silently, for acting so desperate.
"Dinner, eh?"
Jay stared at her. He wanted so much to just take her
back to his apartment and show her what he was capable
of. He knew they had already been to bed together, but he
was drunk and he hadn’t given his all that night. As
difficult as it was, he resisted the urge to grab her. Next
time he touched her, he wanted her to feel the difference
in him, know that she wasn’t just a one-night stand.
"Sure, I think I can manage a dinner appointment."
Danni handed him a cardboard drink coaster, smiled and
headed back inside to the rowdy group of men at the pool
table. Jay looked down at the coaster and there in neatly
printed pencil was her address and phone number.
Unable to wipe the smile from his face, he opened his
wallet and slid the coaster into the 182
billfold. He finished his beer and made his way back to the
bar to say goodnight to Tadpole.
"Hey Tadpole!" he yelled.
"Another beer?" He asked.
"Nah, I’m outta here buddy."
"No worries. Um, did you find what you were looking for?"
"Who said I was looking for anything?" Jay asked, the
smile still firmly planted on his lips.
"You old dog! You did, didn’t you?"
"You better believe it, Taddy," he laughed before walking to
the exit.
"Night, Jayy."
"Night."
The street outside was alive with the regular hoons racing
their V8’s up and down the main drag. They yahooed and
cheered each other on, the danger of their actions
obvious to everyone but them. Shaking his head in
disgust, Jay pulled his coat on and tugged on his collar,
lifting it up to shelter his neck from the coolness of the
evening. His left hand reached into his pocket for his
cigarettes, at the same moment his phone rang. The
smokes forgotten for the time being, he pulled out his
phone.
"Yeah, hello."
"Jayy, it’s Ben."
"What’s happening? Did you talk to Anna?"
"Yeah, she wasn’t too helpful, I’m afraid. I did manage to
get a next of kin for Kylie-Anne though." Ben sighed into
the phone before adding. "You wanna come do the
honours with me?"
Jay looked at his watch. "It’s 9.40 Ben, you sure you
wanna do this now?"
"I’m sure. I managed to track her parents down through
her father’s work. I phoned them and told them I had
some news on their daughter."
"I didn’t know she had been reported missing, why didn’t
she show up on our missing persons data base when we
ran Jane Doe’s stats through?"
"She wasn’t reported. I told them that we had some
dealings with Kylie-Anne and that it was important that I
speak with them immediately."
"Where are they?‛
‚32 Millbrook Avenue. You want me to pick you up?"
"Nah, I’ll meet you there in ten."
"How did you go with the waitress?" Ben asked,
remembering Jay had plans to woo her that evening.
"It’s in the bag, Benny boy. She couldn’t resist me!"
"I’d have paid money to have seen her reaction Jay. I can
just imagine how you swept her off her feet." he laughed.
"Well I did that and more."
"You did huh?"
"Yup, I even got me a date for dinner tomorrow night."
Jay reported, pride echoing in his voice.
"You’re a regular Cassanova, aren’t you buddy? You never
cease to amaze me with your boundless talents."
"There’s plenty more where that came from. Anyway, I’ll
see you in ten."
"Right, see you then."
Jay ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his
pocket before lifting his pack of cigarettes out. He lit one
and walked to his cruiser. Behind the wheel, he revved the
engine and pulled out into the stream of youngsters still
racing each other up and down the street. At the next set
of lights he made a left hand turn and headed in an
easterly direction toward Millbrook Avenue.