by Crin Claxton
“You need a new headshot. This is too specific, sweetheart. You need one that says you could play anything,” Tony said, her eyes still fixed on the photograph.
“Yes,” Jade said thoughtfully. “That is what I need.”
Tony read down the page. “Circus skills!” She spluttered into her tea. “What circus skills do you have?”
Jade sniffed. “I can juggle!”
“Badly. I don’t think dropping two oranges over and over constitutes juggling.”
Jade frowned. “Oh yeah, I forget you came to the circus fundraiser for the Hackney Women’s Football Club.”
“What do they need money for anyway?” Tony asked. “Really short-shorts?”
“Do they wear really short-shorts?” Maya asked.
“Some of them,” Jade said. “And actually, Tony, everyone’s suffering with this recession. We need to look after our own.”
“Very true,” Tony said.
“I’m quite happy to look after our own,” Maya said, helping herself to more of the fragrant coffee. “Particularly if they’re cute sportswomen wearing short-shorts.”
“Hmmph! You stay away from the Hackney Women’s Football team.” Tony narrowed her eyes.
“What, all of them?” Jade asked.
“Yes!” Tony replied.
“She might not be able to. Some of them might have sports injuries,” Jade teased her.
“I can do circus skills,” Maya said.
Tony and Jade stared at her.
“What circus skills? Lion taming?” Tony asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous. That would be cruel. Why would I want to do that?” Maya glared at Tony.
“Yes, of course it would. Sorry,” Tony said. “But can you ride one of those little bikes?”
“A unicycle? Yes, I can. I can ride it on the ground or on the high wire.”
“No! High wire, for real?” Jade asked eagerly.
“Yes, I can even do it while juggling!”
“For goodness sake, where did you learn that? Can you do trapeze? Do you have any outfits?” Tony asked hopefully.
Maya laughed. “I learned at summer camp, of course, where all good American kids learn stuff.”
“Awww. How sweet. Were there elephants there?” Tony asked.
“No!” Maya said. “What is it with you and circus animals?”
“I had this great story book when I was little. It was about a lion and an elephant, and there were monkeys and some clowns. One day the monkeys got into the clowns’ caravan and—”
“Tony,” Maya said gently. She never liked to trample on people’s childhood memories. “That was a story. Keeping animals in a circus is wrong and must be stopped, as you well know.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tony said in a charming attempt at a Southern accent. “You’re a dark horse. What else can you secretly do? Brain surgery? Tree surgery? Cat burglary? I don’t mean with real cats,” she added hastily.
Maya bit off a small piece of croissant and chewed it properly, swallowing before replying. “I probably could do cat burglary, what with my climbing and lock picking skills.”
“You know how to lock pick?” Jade raised her eyebrows.
“Sure, you had to be able to lock pick at Escapology Camp.”
“Is there a summer camp for absolutely everything in the USA?” Tony asked.
“Pretty much,” Maya said, biting off another small piece of the flaky French pastry. “I liked doing something different. And my parents encouraged it. My mother didn’t believe in summer camp anyway, and my dad, well, he always liked it if I did something unconventional.”
“Evidently. Well, I have some handcuffs if you’d like to demonstrate,” Jade said suggestively over her tin mug.
“If she’s going to demonstrate to anyone, it’ll be to me,” Tony said firmly.
“Honestly, Tony, you’re so selfish. This could be the one thing I need to get my career started again,” Jade said, winking subtly at Maya.
“Oh well, you could show us both, I suppose,” Tony said grudgingly, gulping the last of her coffee.
“Oh, Tony, I thought you’d never ask.” Jade squeezed Tony’s knee lightly. “A threesome’s just what we need to cement this new relationship of yours.”
Tony choked. “That’s not what I mean,” she told Maya. “That’s not what I mean at all!” She looked like she would have gone on protesting if Maya and Jade hadn’t been laughing so hard. Tony’s face turned thoughtful. “But you know what, Maya? That’s perfect.”
“What is?” Maya grinned.
“Your cat burgling skills. Fancy working for the Supernatural Detective Agency? You’re just the person we need to get Frankie’s letter.”
*
Jade sat bolt upright, her heart pounding.
A pitiful, crying noise rang in her ears. The face of a black woman swam in her mind: a storm of hair, strong, full lips, dark shadows under her eyes, and tears running down her cheeks.
Jade felt anxious as hell. Something awful was about to happen.
She fumbled for the light switch beside her bed and switched it on.
Her mouth was bone-dry. She reached for the glass of water on the cabinet next to her and drained it. The water was ice cold. Jade shivered. The air in her room was freezing. She pulled the duvet closer and tried to snuggle down under it.
Experimentally, Jade blew out a stream of air in front of her.
It was cold enough to see her breath.
What was going on? That was odd, even for England.
Jade cursed the UK’s teasing weather. One minute it let a person believe it might actually give a little warmth, the next it threw a sheet of ice at her. Jade fancied a nice hot cup of tea. Laughing at how English that sounded, Jade stretched a toe out from under the covers. Then she remembered Tony and Maya were sleeping in the boat’s living room next door. Noise really carried in the houseboat. She didn’t want to wake them up by tripping past them to the kitchen. Jade had been pleased the previous night, when they had decided to stay over. With the weird dreams getting frequent, it had been comforting to know someone else was there. The frustrating thing was that Jade could never remember them when she woke.
She felt cold deep in her bones. She pulled the duvet even closer, trying to wrap it entirely round her body. If only she had a woman in bed with her to keep her warm and to take her mind off the haunting crying.
Jade glanced at her pic of Maracas lookout point and tried conjuring up Maracas Beach, where tall, green-fringed coconut palms swayed gracefully over white sand that shimmered in the midday sun. But even that didn’t work. It seemed nothing could penetrate the cold that had seeped inside her body.
Shivering and tense, Jade padded over to the built-in wardrobe and put on a sweatshirt, and then a hoody on top of that. She pulled the hood over her head. Then she reached up to the top shelf for her batik bedspread and wrapped it around herself. She closed the wardrobe door, noting how cold the wood was under her palm. The icy temperature was freaking Jade out. She had never felt so cold in her bedroom, not even in the depths of winter.
The mournful crying played in her head like a tune that wouldn’t leave her alone. Jade didn’t like it at all. She was filled with a sense of hopelessness. Jade was a naturally upbeat person, so that must be from the dream as well.
She decided she was going to have to risk waking Tony and Maya and make some tea. Maybe she should wake Tony? What if there was a ghost in the room right now? Not speaking. Just watching me.
She was two steps from the bedroom door when there was a crash on the dockside.
Jade froze.
Something scrabbled about outside.
A loud, high-pitched, unnerving call pierced the silence. It sounded similar to a baby crying.
Jade let out a sigh of relief as she recognized the call of a vixen in heat.
“You foolish girl,” she told herself. The sound of her own voice was comforting.
That must have been what she’d heard in her sleep
.
Jade got back into bed, taking the bedspread with her. She snuggled under the covers. Her room felt warmer now that she knew what had been setting off the dreams. She chuckled at the power of her imagination.
The pillow was soft and familiar. Jade curled her relaxed body into the perfectly comfy, perfectly toasty bed and let sleep wash over her.
*
Maya slipped through the side gate and into the backyard of the shop under Frankie’s old apartment. She pressed herself into a dark corner, giving Jade time to ring the apartment’s doorbell.
As soon as Tony confirmed through Maya’s wireless earpiece that Rose had buzzed Jade in, Maya started to climb the drainpipe leading to Rose’s bathroom. Her choice of black cycling shorts and neoprene jersey were perfect for the job. She prayed the wobbly fixing at the top of the pipe was going to hold.
When she was high enough to see the red Rawlplugs coming out of the wall, Maya reached into the open bathroom window and lifted it wide enough to get her head through. She quickly cleared some toiletries from the window ledge before climbing through the window and then used the sink to haul herself upright.
She cranked open the bathroom door and listened. There was a rumble of voices nearby. Maya crept onto the landing. Jade’s voice drifted out from the sitting room.
“Look here, madam, in the recycling section of our catalog. These reasonably priced containers would enable you to neatly tidy away those piles of magazines. And look, with a quick flick of this long-handled static duster, you’d get rid of those cobwebs in a trice.”
“Trice!” Tony’s voice tweaked in Maya’s earpiece as well as, she presumed, Jade’s. “Ease back. You’re not playing Cinders in panto.”
Gratified, both that Jade was carrying off her role of door-to-door salesperson to distract Rose, and that the earpiece was working, Maya cautiously opened the door opposite the bathroom.
The door swung open into a small bedroom.
It was empty. Maya let out a breath. Even though Deirdre had assured Tony that the apartment was unoccupied apart from Rose, Maya liked to trust her own eyes and ears.
She went straight to an old school teacher’s desk, sitting in front of a small window. She opened the middle drawer, carefully pulled it out, and then felt behind in the drawer cavity.
Her fingers touched paper.
She knelt and flipped on her head torch.
As she leaned in for a closer look, a floorboard under her knee creaked.
She froze.
“Did you hear that?” she said into the radio transmitter clipped around her ear.
“Yes,” Tony grunted. “What did you do, kill a mouse?”
“What is it with you and animal cruelty?”
“I didn’t really think you’d…anyway, we’ll get into that later. Luckily, they’re still rattling on about microfiber radiator brushes. Hurry up.”
Maya tutted. She didn’t want Tony barking orders in her ear, and she’d tell her so later.
She peered into the drawer cavity and saw a letter pressed flat against the wood at the back.
Pulling carefully so not to tear it, she pried it out.
“Got it,” she said into her transmitter.
“Great. Oh no! Quick. You need to hide. Rose wants to show Jade her sock storage. They’re coming to the bedroom. You can probably get to the bathroom if you go right now.”
With fumbling fingers, Maya replaced the drawer.
She darted out of the room and across the hallway.
She was just closing the bathroom door behind her when the sitting room door opened.
She pushed her door shut softly.
Someone went past on the landing. Then the bedroom door opposite opened as Jade shouted from the sitting room, “But, madam, I really don’t like to go into people’s bedrooms.”
A voice with a strong London accent answered her. “That’s all right. I’ll bring the sock drawer to you. Also, I want to show you my bathroom knickknacks.”
Maya frantically scanned the bathroom for a hiding place.
There was nowhere.
More footsteps ran along the passage.
Maya was almost at the bathroom window when the door handle started to turn.
Even if she got out of the window in time, she hadn’t replaced the toiletries. Maya scrambled onto the window ledge.
“Have you got a washday wonder?” Jade said desperately. Her voice was a good octave above her normal pitch. It sounded like she was just outside the bathroom door.
“Ooh. No. What is a washday wonder?” Rose asked.
“It will stop your windows from steaming up when using your tumble dryer,” Jade said.
“But I don’t have a tumble dryer.” Rose sounded disappointed.
“Okay…but you have a shower, or a bath, don’t you? And you must have steamy windows. Imagine…” Jade paused dramatically. “First the steam and then mold and mildew. Not only is it unsightly, but it leaves you prone to respiratory infections.”
“Oh no, I don’t want respiratory infections. I have to watch that colds don’t go onto my chest.”
“Good. I mean, of course you do. Come back into the sitting room. Bring your sock drawer. I’ll show you the washday wonder in the catalog. It could cure your condensation problems forever.”
Two sets of footsteps moved away.
Quickly, Maya eased back out onto the drainpipe and then moved the toiletries back into position.
She shimmied down to the bottom and then darted across the deserted yard.
As the gate clicked shut behind her, she had started to sprint down the street with Frankie’s letter firmly tucked into the pocket of her cycling shorts.
*
Tony sat next to Maya at the dining table. Maya’s attention was firmly on the letter in front of her as she attempted to copy Frankie’s handwriting. Tony watched her. Maya was very sexy when she was concentrating.
Tony sighed.
She tapped her fingers on the top of the dining table, making a rhythmic drumming sound.
Maya glared at her.
“I can’t concentrate if you’re going to make that noise,” she said sharply.
Tony stopped. She really wanted Maya’s attention on her, not on the piece of paper lying beneath Maya’s fingers. “But you’ve been ages. This is my only night off, and I thought we might, you know…”
Maya’s face softened. “Honey, I’d love to ‘you know’ with you, and Lord knows you ‘you know’ so well, but you said this letter from Frankie was urgent.”
Tony ran her finger up Maya’s bare arm. Maya’s shoulders went up as she gave a little shiver. Tony dropped her voice. “I don’t know if ghosts have a concept of urgency. Deirdre says time isn’t the same for them as it is for us. I’m sure the letter can wait a few minutes.” She nuzzled Maya’s cheek, letting the words tumble over Maya’s olive skin.
Maya’s eyelids dipped as Tony came in for a kiss. Tony breathed in the citrus tang of Maya’s perfume. She was soft and warm in Tony’s arms. Sweet tension pulsed through Tony’s body as Maya’s tongue explored her mouth.
“Well, that trick will come in handy if you get caught underwater with only one oxygen tank between you.”
Tony jerked her head away from Maya.
“What’s the matter?” Maya said, alarmed.
“Oh, I’m sorry, darling. It’s Deirdre.” Tony frowned at Deirdre, willing her to take the hint and evaporate.
Maya’s eyes darted round Tony’s living room. Tony knew Maya couldn’t see ghosts. She had to take Tony’s word for it that Deirdre was there.
“Deirdre, can you go away please? We’re busy.” Tony reluctantly untangled her body from Maya’s.
“But you’re not busy.” Deirdre perched herself on the edge of the sofa, folded her arms, and looked over at them sternly. “Maya should be busy, forging that letter. But you are seducing her, which is admirable, and some may have thought unlikely. I was as surprised as everybody else when Maya settled for you.”
“What do you mean settled?” Tony asked, feeling annoyed.
“Hmm, how can I put this?” Deirdre peered down her nose at Tony. “If Maya was steak then you would be hamburger. Only hamburger’s pushing it. You’re more like soy protein dressed up to look like hamburger.”
Tony glared at Deirdre. “As Maya is vegetarian, she would be the soy protein and I would be the steak.”
“What are you talking about?” Only hearing half the conversation, Maya was clearly lost.
“You’re not steak, honey. You do have certain charms, which are at their best in dim light. I presume that’s why you work in that dark little room in the theater. Anyhoo, I wanted to pop in without that bad tempered butch frowning over my shoulder. She’s carrying some heavy energy and an unfortunate haircut. I suppose she was cramped in a cell for a long time, clearly with no access to anything remotely stylish. All very sad, but I’m running out of sympathy. My life’s been no fun at all since she showed up. She’s a real party pooper.”
“She probably had her hair cut in prison. I don’t suppose they get much choice about styling,” Tony said.
“You’d have to do something truly terrible to be punished with a haircut like that. She obviously pissed off Big Betty with the buzz clipper. And I don’t think they liked her in the kitchen. Someone dumped half a ton of grease on her head.” Deirdre sniffed.
“That was the style then, as you well know. Her hair’s fine, a little short maybe. Your problem is you come from an era of huge hair. We like hair short again now.”
“What are you talking about?” Maya sounded both confused and left out.
Tony stroked Maya’s hand. “Sorry, darling. We’re talking about Frankie’s haircut.”
“Why?” Maya said irritably.
Tony shrugged. “Sorry, baby.” She had a hard time working Deirdre out. How much harder must it be for Maya? “What are you trying to say, Deirdre?”