Duet

by O'Gorman, Brian

She smiled, showing those small even teeth. She didn’t look shy this time, she looked as though she was the darker side of a few beverages.

  “That’s right rabbit, except I’m off duty now, so you can call me Jenny,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

  “Jenny, that’s a lovely name,” he said and winced at how cheesy it sounded.

  “Aww, you’re sweet. Me and my friend Donna are just about to go. It’s way too busy in here, it’s like a celebrity has come in or something, I haven’t been charged for a drink all night,” she said, waving her glass at him.

  “That’s a shame, I was going to ask if I could get you a refill,” he said and he felt a stupid cheesy grin breaking out over his face.

  “Well, I suppose I could be persuaded,” she said smiling back at him. She looked him up and down. “Those are some nice togs Patrick; you scrub up pretty well.”

  “Oh, thanks, me and my friend Jack went shopping today, I thought it was about time that I got a few new bits and pieces. In fact, I wonder....”

  He was interrupted by a scuffling in the crowd and a lot of raised voices. The next minute, Patrick saw Jack being hauled out of the side door by a large and very angry looking gentleman.

  “Shit, I think Jack’s in trouble, I better go and help him.”

  “We’ll come too, just for backup,” said Jenny and grabbed her friend by the arm.

  They bustled their way through the crowd until they got out of the door and they found Jack being pressed up against the brick wall to the left side of the door.

  “You come in ‘ere waving your cash around like you’re a fucking God or something,” the burly man was growling at Jack. Patrick could see fine tendrils of spittle coming out of his mouth and landing on Jack’s face. Patrick started forwards but Jenny put a hand on his shoulder and held him back.

  “Let me deal with this,” she said and stepped forwards. She reached into her small handbag and fished out a small black wallet. She flipped it open deftly and held it up at the burly man.

  “W.P.C. Jenny Phillips, police. Let go of that man right now,” she said. Patrick was impressed, she did it with real conviction. The burly man turned his head slowly towards her. Christ, he was an ugly bugger, Patrick thought to himself.

  “Why don’t you piss off you stupid little bitch, this ain’t none of your fuckin’......”

  He was cut off by Jenny catching his nose between two fingers and twisting it as hard as she could. Patrick swore he heard a click of bone breaking, but he couldn’t be sure. What he was sure about was the fact that it was enough for the burly man to let go of Jack and clap a hand to his nose. He took his hand away and saw that there was blood all over it. The blood was trailing out of both of his nostrils in a steady stream.

  “What the fuck? You broke my fuckin’ nose, you fuckin’ slag. I’m gonna do you for police brutality you fuckin’ bitch,” he bellowed. He suddenly took a swing at Jenny and as quick as a flash, she ducked the incoming blow and shot out a kick to the burly man’s testicles. She connected with his crotch with maximum force and perfect aim. The burly man let out all the breath that was in his body and went to his knees clutching his wounded balls. Jenny stood over him and grabbed his broken nose again. Burly roared in pain.

  “You listen to me you big, ugly fuckwit, you get the fuck out of here right now, otherwise I’m going to show you what real police brutality is all about. Am I making myself clear?”

  “Fuckin’ bit....” burly man began to say, but Jenny squeezed his nose hard enough to make the muscles on her forearm tighten. Burly roared again.

  “One last chance buddy, leave now and keep your nuts, otherwise next time I will kick them so hard you will be using them for tonsils, you got that, give me a thumbs up if you agree to my terms.”

  Burly hesitated for a moment and Jenny began to pull her foot back. Burly yelled in reflexive terror and then popped a thumb into the air. Jenny let him go and Burly slowly made his way to his feet and the side door. Just as he was about to go in, he turned and yelled “Fuck you” at Jenny. She took a step towards him and he fled inside, banging his head on the door frame as he went. They all laughed at him and then Patrick went and helped Jack up off the floor. He was a bit roughed up but he was unhurt.

  “Jeez, thank you Miss,” he said to Jenny.

  “Ah, no problem,” said Jenny, putting her I.D. back into her little bag. She fished out a battered pack of cigarettes and offered them out to everyone. They all leaned against the wall and smoked in silence for a moment.

  “Why was that guy roughing you up?” said Patrick finally.

  “I kissed his girlfriend. I didn’t know it was his girlfriend until he saw us and dragged me out here. It’s crazy in there, People I don’t even know want to talk to me. I have had two marriage proposals in the last three hours. It’s driving me nuts Patty.”

  “Why don’t we go back to my house and have some quiet drinks there,” said Patrick. Jack looked at him for a moment and then nodded his head.

  They were about to go when he noticed Jenny and her friend still standing there.

  “Would you like to come with us? I understand if you don’t want to. You probably think that...”

  “Sure we would, wouldn’t we Donna?” said Jenny and looked at her friend.

  “Sounds great,” said Donna.

  Patrick smiled, “O.K. then. We have a car out the front.”

  They made their way down the alleyway and then round to the front of the pub. The limo was still there and the driver saw them coming, folded up his newspaper and dutifully got out so he could open the car door for them.

  “Is this yours?” said Jenny.

  “Erm, yes. It wasn’t my idea, it was Jacks,” he said a little embarrassed.

  “Well, Jack it was a good idea,” said Donna and linked her arm around Jacks.

  The driver opened the door for them and they all climbed inside. Some of the people milling around outside the pub saw them getting in the car and started making their way over to the car. They began banging on the windows and shouting for him to take them along. The driver fought his way back to his seat and got the car moving. Patrick told the driver to take them back home. He sat back in his seat. The two girls were sat opposite him and Jack and Jenny was looking at him open mouthed.

  “It was you that everyone was here for wasn’t it,” she said.

  He opened his mouth to protest and then snapped it shut again, there was no point in lying to her, the game was up.

  “Remember when you came to tell me my father had died?”

  She nodded at him.

  “Well, I got everything. His money, his estate, the whole lot. We were out celebrating tonight. So I guess I bought you a drink after all.”

  “Try six,” said Jenny and she started to laugh. Patrick joined in with her laughter.

  The car rounded the last corner before they got to Patrick’s house. Patrick saw what was happening outside of his door and he told the driver to stop. There was a large crowd of revellers outside of the house and spilling into the street. They had obviously got word of what was going on and were expecting him to put on a house party of some sort. He felt his heart sink. He just wanted the rest of the evening to be quiet and spent in the company of the people in the car and not half the fucking town.

  “Oh shit,” said Jack when he saw what was going on. The two girls craned their heads to have a look too.

  “Well, that’s that idea out of the window,” said Patrick.

  “We could always go to mine,” said Jack.

  “Bro, when was the last time you cleaned?”

  Jack shrugged and said nothing. Patrick knew quite well that Jack’s place was a major shit tip and not good for entertaining. That’s why they always went back to Patrick’s place. He was reaching into his pocket to get his phone out so he could perhaps call the police to get rid of the crowd outside of his home when his hand felt something else in his pocket. He drew it out and saw that it was the key to Layton House.
In all the excitement of the evening he had forgotten all about it. He asked the driver if he knew where it was.

  “Oh, I went up there once a few years ago. Took some business guy up there.”

  “Can you take us there now?” said Patrick.

  “Sure can, young fella,” said the driver and got the car moving again.

  “Where are we going?” said Jack.

  “Buddy we are going to my Dad’s old place, the one that he left me in his will. I’m sure we will get some peace and quiet up there.”

  “Well, make sure we stop at a shop, I don’t think that there will be any drinks in that place.”

  They made their way out of town, stopping at a shop just like Jack suggested. They loaded up with beers and vodka and coke at the request of the two girls. Everything seemed very quiet once they were out of the town centre and heading into Layton Valley. Jack and Donna seemed to be hitting it off pretty well. She kept on playing with her hair and giggling at everything Jack said and Jack was being an even bigger arsehole than usual, a sign that he was taken with her. Patrick chatted to Jenny about her job, he was genuinely interested in the things that she got up to during her daily duties. He didn’t say much; he was just content to listen. He liked the sound of her voice and he was pleased that she actually had something worth saying. She was intelligent and well spoken, something that Patrick looked for in a potential partner.

  They were so involved in their respective chatting that they didn’t even realise that they had reached their destination. It was pitch black, save for the cars headlights which lit up a large wooden door which was set on a large front porch. There was a small arch above it with two mock roman pillars at either side. The driver had got out and he was pulling Patrick’s door open. He stepped out into the cool night air and stood still for a moment listening. There wasn’t a sound anywhere, it was almost eerily quiet. Jenny started to get out of the car and he offered her his hand to help her out. He couldn’t resist a quick look down her low cut silky green top at her small but almost perfect looking breasts that were peeking up at him. She raised her head as she got out and she saw him flick his eyes away. She didn’t mind him looking. She had begun to imagine what it would be like to have him rubbing his hands on them about twenty minutes ago. Ten minutes after that she was thinking about him being between her legs. She was pretty sure that she was going to make that happen before the end of the night if he was game. Having just caught him sneaking a peak, she felt a little burst of excitement that it was now in little doubt.

  They walked over to the door and Patrick fished out his key. He put it into the lock and turned it. There was a loud clonk from the door and Patrick turned the handle. The door opened inwards into the dark house. He could see a white tiled floor and a couple of dark misshapen objects that looked like living room furniture. He scrabbled around the wall, looking for a light switch and instead found a flat panel. He placed his hand on it and then the lights flickered on. His breath caught in his throat for a moment. The room was the biggest living room he had ever seen in his life. To his right there was a long staircase that snaked upwards and up to a balcony. On the balcony he could see at least four doorways which must have led into a selection of bedrooms. The ceiling looked like it was half covered with a metal shutter and windows. He couldn’t wait to see what it all looked like during daylight. Jenny whistled her approval. Jack and Donna had joined them in the doorway and were both standing open mouthed. The driver was dutifully bringing in some of the beers.

  “Let’s help get unloaded and then we can look around,” said Patrick and went to help the driver get the rest of the supplies out of the car.

  Once everything was unloaded, Patrick gave the driver one hundred pounds as a tip. The driver gave him his card and told Patrick to call him direct if he ever needed a driver again. The driver got in his car and turned it around before vanishing into the distance. Patrick went into the house and closed the door. Jenny was sat on the black leather sofa pouring herself a drink in, what looked like, a crystal cut glass. She saw him standing there and patted the cushion next to her. He went and sat down and she passed him a beer. He popped it open and took a long pull on it.

  “Pretty nice place you have here Patrick,” she said and took a sip of her drink. She was sat in the corner of the sofa with her legs crossed, her skirt riding all the way up to her thighs. Patrick was taken by her on a level he hadn’t felt before. It wasn’t just superficial either, he liked this girl. He glanced around the huge living room.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty good isn’t it?” he said and drank some more beer. He wasn’t as drunk as he expected to be, just enough to loosen up but not too much as to make an idiot of himself.

  Jenny put her glass down on the table. “I need to say something, then it’s out of the way and I can stop thinking about it.”

  “Go for it,” he said and gritted his teeth a little, bracing himself for something unpleasant.

  She sat forward and took his free hand in hers, he felt his blood supply heat up instantly.

  “I want you to know, I am not interested in the money, or the house or any of that shit. I have had three serious relationships in my lifetime and one of them was with a guy called Mark Smith. He had a good job with a multi-national bank and he was pretty minted. I’m pretty certain that it wasn’t on the scale that you are, but he had it all, the house, the cars, the whole nine yards.”

  “Jenny...”

  “Please let me finish. He was an arsehole Patrick, a real fucking arsehole. But, I persisted with it because I thought that kind of security was what I wanted. He used to go out every weekend and leave me at home twiddling my thumbs. He hated me having my friends around so eventually they just stopped asking and then he started coming home and hitting me.”

  “Jesus, what a bastard,” said Patrick. He was watching Jenny’s face and he could see the beginnings of tears welling in her eyes.

  “People would tell me that he was fucking anything in a skirt, and I chose not to believe them because I was scared of losing my security and my home and everything else, so I put up with it. I lived with him for two years and then one night he brought two girls home and started shagging them right there in our living room. I grabbed a few things and I walked out. I had nowhere to go. My parents live in Australia and all my friends had turned their backs on me. It was Donna that offered me a sofa and a shoulder to cry on. She had been waiting for me to come to my senses and when I finally did, she was there. I got back on my feet, I applied for the police force after bottling out three times and I got in. I could have moved out of Donna’s place a year ago, but we are such good friends that I would have missed her not being around. I got my life back together and I swore that I would never be with a man just because of what he had in the bank. What I’m trying to say is, that I like you and I want to get to know you better, but I don’t care about the money, it doesn’t mean shit to me. I care about the person, and I kind of....think you are....nice.”

  A tear spilled down her cheek and Patrick reached up and wiped it away. Patrick felt something else churning around inside him. It was respect for her. She was being honest with him, and that had to be as good thing.

  “I appreciate it Jenny and I have to say, I like you too. You’re the first girl I have ever known that I feel comfortable talking to with the need to perform or put on a front. Let’s make a deal. Let’s see where this is going to go. As far as the money goes, it just stops me worrying about paying the bills. I am a man of very simple tastes, I like a beer with good company and I like a good cup of tea and a full English breakfast. I like crap films and cheesy chat up lines. What you see is what you get. I don’t know where I’m going at the moment, but why don’t you come along for the ride. If it doesn’t work out, then we have both made a new friend. How’s that?”

  Jenny smiled at him, then she began to laugh. More tears spilled down her cheeks which Patrick wiped away again. After a moment, her face became a little more serious. Her eyes danced ar
ound Patrick’s face and she gripped him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in close. He could smell the light tinge of cigarette smoke and vodka on her breath and it excited him.

  “I think you have a deal mister,” she said. He was about to close the distance on her when something occurred to him.

  “Where’s Jack and Donna?”

  Jenny smiled, “They went to find a bedroom already. Now why don’t we try each other on for size.”

  They kissed. She was a good kisser, not too sloppy, not too firm but just right. He took her upstairs and found a huge master bedroom at the far end of the balcony. They fitted each other very well it turned out.

  14.

  Jenny was asleep beside him when he was woken up. Something had banged loud enough to jerk him out of his sleep. He sat up and looked around the room. The only light in there was the dim moonlight that was being cast through the velux window in the ceiling. He looked around the room trying to see what had made the noise and then he caught sight of the figure in the doorway. The bang had been the figure throwing the door open. Patrick screwed up his eyes to try and see who it was, but it wasn’t quite light enough to see.

  “Jack?”

  There was no answer from the dark figure. It brought up an arm and beckoned him to come closer. He expected to feel afraid, but instead there was a blissful calmness running through him, almost as if this thing standing there in the dark held the answer to all his worldly problems. He swung his legs out of the bed and began to walk slowly forwards. As he did so, the figure turned and walked out of the room and into the darkness of the hallway beyond. Patrick tried to move quicker but his legs felt like they were moving through thick mud. By the time he got out into the hallway he couldn’t see the figure anywhere. Then he looked over the balcony and saw the figure standing in the living room. It looked up at him, but it was too dark for him to see its face.

  “There isn’t much time Patrick,” it said and began to head towards the front door.

  Patrick wanted to call out to it but he was afraid that he would wake everyone up and scare the figure off. Instead he headed down the stairs and into the living room. There was moonlight spilling in from the open front door and the figure was standing outside. It had stopped walking and was standing out on the driveway looking up towards the sky. Patrick made his way outside and stood near the figure. He was beginning to feel the first edges of unease worming its way into his guts. He wanted to look at the face of the figure, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t see it. It was almost like there was something obstructing his vision whenever he tried to look at it. The figure raised a hand and pointed upwards.