The Club

by Mandasue Heller

  ‘Oh, yeah, sure,’ Tony laughed. ‘Is that after the nasty man’s gone, or when he comes back, pissed off ’cos you didn’t do as you were told?’

  ‘Christ, do you have to make it sound so awful?’ Jenna muttered sickly. ‘I’m sure people probably get away with that stuff in the States, but it can’t happen here.’

  Shrugging again, Tony gestured dismissively with his hands. ‘Hope for your sake you’re right.’

  Interrupting them just then, Fabian said, ‘Sorry, Jenna, but the officer wants a word.’

  Looking over at the police sergeant who had come upstairs with Fabian and was standing by the toilet door now, conspicuous in his yellow coat, his flat hat in his hand, she nodded.

  ‘All right, bring him over.’Turning back to Tony then, she said, ‘You’ll have to excuse me for a minute.’

  ‘No worries,’ he said, patting her hand again and standing up. ‘I want to get Melody back to the hotel, anyway. You got my number if you want to talk.’

  Thanking him, Jenna said goodnight, then stood up to greet the police officer when Fabian brought him over. Taking him to a quiet corner table, she waved for him to sit down.

  Sergeant Dave Poole was a little overawed, not only because he was surrounded by so many famous faces but because Jenna was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen – and being around the same age, he might well have chatted her up if they’d met here when he was in his civvies.

  Sitting awkwardly on the edge of his seat now, he said, ‘I thought we’d best have a chat, because I’m a bit concerned about what’s going on here.’

  ‘You and me both,’ Jenna murmured.

  ‘It’s just that there seems to be a bit of a pattern developing.’ Pausing, Poole shifted self-consciously in his seat when two girls from Hollyoaks stopped by to say goodnight to Jenna on their way out. Clearing his throat when they’d gone, he said, ‘I’m concerned that you weren’t better prepared after last week.’

  ‘How?’ Jenna peered at him incredulously. ‘My doormen have been really vigilant all week, but everything’s been as quiet as usual. There were no signs that anything was going to start again tonight.’

  ‘So, they didn’t see any of the same men from last week coming in tonight?’

  ‘Nobody knows who they were,’ Jenna reminded him. ‘Hundreds of men come in every night. It could have been any of them.’

  ‘What about gangs?’

  ‘We don’t let gangs in,’ Jenna told him, a frosty edge creeping into her voice. ‘In fact, we’ve got a strict policy not to allow groups of more than four men or women in at a time. And since last week, the doormen have been watching the queue like hawks, making sure that there were no groups that seemed even to know each other.’

  Jotting something in his notepad, Poole said, ‘What about stag parties?’

  ‘They have to book in advance, and they’re shown in independently of the queue,’ Jenna told him. ‘But we haven’t had any parties in during the last two weeks, so that’s not an issue.’ Sighing heavily then, she said, ‘Look, I know it must be a pain for you to have to come out again for nothing, but we’ve done everything we could to prevent this, and I don’t know what else we can do, short of banning men altogether. And I don’t think that would be very good for business, somehow.’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Poole agreed, closing his pad and putting it back in his pocket. ‘All I’m saying is, you’re going to need to tighten your security, because . . .’ Pausing, he shrugged. ‘Well, you’re probably aware that there’s been a lot of unrest about the levels of drink-related violence in the city recently, and certain bodies are demanding action.’

  ‘So they should,’ Jenna said, fully agreeing. ‘I think it’s disgusting.’

  ‘They’re going for a zero-tolerance approach,’ Poole went on, not sure that she was getting the picture. ‘The aim being to make club owners more responsible. If they push it through, you might find that you get billed for the police time.’

  ‘You mean I’d have to pay for calling you out?’ Jenna gasped.

  ‘Obviously, we’ll always respond to any emergency,’ Poole assured her. ‘But there could well be financial consequences in the future, depending on what we find when we get there.’

  ‘I see,’ Jenna murmured, pursing her lips angrily. ‘So, if something like this happens again, I won’t only have to pay to clean it up and replace anything that’s broken, I’ll have to pay your wages as well – even though I pay my taxes and do my damnedest to run a respectable club?’

  Shrugging, Poole stood up. ‘I’m not saying it’s going to happen, just warning you that it might. All I can suggest for now is that you make sure your security are on the ball, ’cos my super might get a bit touchy if we’re called out for the same thing again next week. And, between you and me, he’s been known to petition to have licences revoked.’

  ‘That’s outrageous,’ Jenna said, standing up herself now. ‘There are fights going on all over the place, all the time, but just because I call for help when it happens to me, I’m in danger of getting my licence revoked?’

  ‘I wouldn’t not call us,’ Poole warned her. ‘Not if there’s a chance somebody could get seriously hurt as a consequence.’

  ‘This is the second time anything like this has happened,’ Jenna reminded him indignantly. ‘It’s not exactly a notorious trouble hot spot, is it?’

  ‘None of the bad ones start off bad,’ Poole pointed out quietly. Nodding then, he gave her an apologetic smile. ‘Hope we don’t meet under these circumstances again, miss.’

  ‘Me, too,’ she retorted icily.

  Fabian caught up with Jenna at the foot of the VIP stairs after he’d shown the police out and locked the doors.

  ‘Everything all right?’

  ‘Not really. Christ, look at the state of it again. The cleaners will have a fit.’

  ‘Never mind them. If they don’t like it, there’s plenty more who’ll gladly take their places. What did the sergeant want?’

  Relaying the conversation that she’d had with Poole, Jenna shook her head angrily. ‘I just don’t see what else we can do.’

  ‘Well, you can stop worrying about the licence, for starters,’ Fabian told her firmly. ‘They would never revoke it over a couple of little incidents like this. There would have to be serious problems on a regular basis, and you’d have to be seen to be doing nothing about it.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I don’t want to risk it,’ Jenna muttered, folding her arms. ‘Can you get Jacko to arrange for the guys to come in tomorrow? I think we need a meeting to review security.’

  ‘They’re doing everything by the book,’ Fabian reminded her, not wanting her to blame them. ‘But I’ll see what I can do.’

  ‘Thanks. And I think we should take a look at the CCTV tapes from this week and last week – see if we can spot any of the same people in the thick of it when it kicked off.’

  ‘I’ve already checked last week’s, and you can’t see anything specific,’ Fabian told her. ‘They’re not very good angles on the interior cameras, unfortunately. They mainly cover the doors, and the fights have started well out of range. All you can see is a lot of men running out of the fire door – from behind, so you can’t see their faces.’

  ‘Great.’ Jenna tutted. ‘So, we need some of those cameras that scan the room?’

  ‘Have you any idea how much it would cost to install enough of them to cover the whole place?’ Fabian asked her.

  ‘More than my licence is worth?’ Jenna asked, raising an eyebrow.

  ‘Well, no, obviously that’s worth more,’ Fabian conceded. ‘But I think we need to calm down and think this through before we go jumping in at the deep end. I genuinely don’t think we’ve got as much of a problem as you think. This looks bad, but it could be a lot worse.’

  ‘That’s what I told myself last week,’ Jenna said. ‘But I’m starting to wonder.’

  ‘Let’s just hang fire and see what happens,’ Fabian urged. ‘We’ll have
a talk with the lads, if that makes you feel better. But I really think this is a one – well, a two-off.’

  ‘I hope so,’ Jenna murmured.

  Just as Fabian had predicted, the fights were a two-off. But the next week brought a completely different problem.

  An anonymous caller had apparently tipped the police off about somebody selling drugs in the men’s toilets, and Jenna could do nothing but stand by and watch as the police swarmed all over the club, stopping people from leaving, searching them, and taking their details. She felt terrible when the dogs were brought in and sniffed out several of her customers, who were immediately arrested for possession of cannabis and cocaine – a couple of possessors of the latter substance being celebrities.

  The VIPs were not amused to be made to come down to the lower floor to give their details in earshot of the ‘everyday people’. Some even threatened to sue if anything untoward happened as a result of their addresses being overheard, and Jenna wasn’t sure if the threats were aimed at her or the police. What she did know was that she would probably never see some of her star guests again, because they wouldn’t want to risk their reputations being tainted by being associated with a club that was getting a bad reputation. And that they would most probably spread the word among their friends, too.

  It was all so dispiriting after everything had been going so well. But if Jenna had thought the drug bust was bad, worse soon followed. This time it happened on the Saturday, taking them all by surprise, because they had expected it to be the Friday again, as per the developing pattern that Poole had spotted.

  Armed police burst in this time, weapons drawn as they ordered the terrified clubbers to hit the floor. They were responding to reports of a gang of men seen entering the club with a sub-machine gun. But eventually they left when they had searched the entire place and everybody in it, and had found no guns of any description.

  No arrests were made, but it was enough to put a huge black mark against the club. Jenna just knew that things were going to start going to hell on a bobsleigh if she didn’t put a stop to the nonsense soon.

  She’d already figured out that it was personal before Fabian reminded her about the conversation they’d had that time, when he’d warned her that the other club owners might start playing dirty if she became too successful and stole too many customers. Fearing that he could be right, she took the Sunday off and spent the whole day calling into every other club in town to speak to the owners, managers or whoever was available to beg them – if they were behind it – to stop.

  Jenna was worn out by the time she’d finished, and her instincts told her that the other club people had all been telling the truth when they’d said that they weren’t involved. But she didn’t know if her instincts could be trusted any more, so she was still none the wiser.

  Tony Allen had been lucky enough to be out of town on the two occasions when the club was raided, sparing him the indignity of being searched and questioned. Coming in on the Sunday night, he came straight over to where Jenna was sitting at the VIP bar, having a miserable, solitary drink.

  ‘Hey, beautiful,’ he said softly, giving her a hug. ‘I hear you’ve been having some more trouble while I’ve been away?’

  ‘You could say that,’ she murmured, her eyes telling a clear story of her inner despair.

  ‘Bad, huh?’ Tony said, peering at her with sympathy.

  Snorting softly, Jenna waved her hand. ‘Take a look around and tell me what you see.’

  Glancing around the lounge, Tony shrugged. ‘All right, so it’s not as busy as usual. But it ain’t the end of the world. It’ll get back to normal once you find out what’s going on and who’s behind it.’

  ‘And how am I supposed to do that?’ Jenna asked hopelessly. ‘I’ve tried everything. The security crew have been on full alert, but they haven’t seen any of this coming. And some of the staff have already walked because they’re so freaked out. And you don’t even want to know how many customers I’ve lost.’ Sighing now, she took another sip of her drink and shrugged. ‘But it’s not your problem, so I guess I shouldn’t be moaning to you about it.’

  ‘Hey, that’s what friends are for,’ Tony said quietly, his voice so kind and sincere that Jenna felt like crying.

  Biting down on it, Jenna said, ‘Thanks, that means a lot right now. But forget about me. You’ve got your own worries, haven’t you? Any luck finding something to invest in yet?’

  Shrugging, he slipped a hand into his pocket, reaching for his cigars. ‘Not yet, but me and Lenny have teamed up now, so it shouldn’t be too long.’ Lighting up, he squinted at her through the smoke. ‘He’s a pretty savvy guy when you get to know him. And straight as a die, so it can’t hurt, can it?’

  ‘I suppose not,’ Jenna agreed.

  ‘We’ve had meetings with a few companies,’ Tony went on. ‘But it’s got to be exactly right before we commit to anything, ’cos we’re talking a lot of money, the two of us combined.’ Chuckling softly now, he said, ‘Mind you, he makes my contribution seem like diddly-squat, what with his millions and his mansion in Alderley Edge. You ever been there?’

  ‘No.’ Jenna shook her head. ‘I don’t really know him all that well. He was my dad’s friend.’

  ‘So he tells me,’ Tony said, taking another drag on his cigar. ‘Had a lot of time for him, by all accounts.’

  ‘I would hope so.’ Jenna smiled fondly, ignoring the smoke swirling around her face. ‘My dad was a lovely man. Bit unorthodox in some respects, but his heart was always in the right place.’

  ‘He’d be real proud of you, I imagine. The way you’ve handled all this shit that’s been happening.’

  ‘I don’t know about that.’ Sighing deeply, Jenna blinked back the tears and gazed around. ‘He really loved this place, you know. He bought it for next to nothing and kept it going for twenty years. Me, I come in and strip it bare, because I think I can do it better. But I’ve not even been open six months, and I’ve almost lost it.’

  ‘Hey, quit being so hard on yourself,’ Tony told her firmly. ‘This is a glitch, that’s all. Someone’s fucking with you, but you’ll ride it out and come back stronger than ever.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ Jenna said, her tone clearly conveying how much she doubted it.

  ‘Yeah, well, you know where I am if you need me,’ Tony said, patting her hand reassuringly.

  ‘How’s she doing?’ Eddie asked when Tony came back to their table a short time later.

  ‘Pretty much as you’d expect,’ Tony told him quietly. ‘Cracking under the pressure.’

  ‘Offer any solutions?’

  ‘Not yet,’ Tony said, a flicker of a smile lifting his lip. ‘But it won’t be long.’

  13

  The next month was agonising for Jenna, who could only watch helplessly as things went from bad to worse. Nothing spectacularly bad happened, just lots of little things that added up to a grand nuisance. Like every cab company in town receiving crank calls and sending cabs out only to be told that they hadn’t been ordered, which resulted in the club being blacklisted so that none of her customers could get a cab unless they walked to the cab offices.

  In an attempt to rectify the falling customer numbers, Jenna tried everything. Drinks promotions that lost her even more money – and attracted drunken youths who inevitably disturbed the other customers, which resulted in even more walking out never to return. Door promotions, where girls didn’t have to pay to get in one week, men the next, which didn’t work at all. She even arranged a themed night, which bombed so badly that Fabian warned her she was turning the place into a joke.

  Nothing Jenna did made any difference, and nobody seemed to be able to offer a solution. Fabian had never experienced anything quite like it, so he didn’t know what to suggest other than to wait it out and hope it died down when whoever was behind it got bored. And the police were no help either, because they had made it quite clear that they thought she had allowed the situation to develop by attempting to run a club when
she didn’t have the first clue about the business.

  And they were right, because Jenna had come into this believing that she could just pick up where her dad had left off, with nothing to qualify her other than her belief that if James Lorde could do it from scratch so could she. But she’d been so wrong, and she knew that now. There was obviously some sort of secret formula, and you either had the recipe or you didn’t. And she quite patently didn’t.

  But if she’d thought that what had happened so far was bad, worse was yet to come.

  Leaving her office late one Saturday afternoon, having spent the day fretting over the appalling accounts books, Jenna waved goodbye to Fabian and Bubba who were doing something with the speaker system down on the club floor. Letting herself out of the back door, she locked it and walked across the yard to open the gate.

  It was already fairly dark out, but not quite enough for the security lights to come on when she stepped into their path. Unlocking the gate, she pushed it open, then went to get into her car to reverse it out. But just as she reached for the car door’s handle, four figures darted in from the dark alleyway and surrounded her.

  It happened so fast that Jenna was too shocked to scream – which was probably a good thing, she quickly realised when she saw the men, because they would no doubt have silenced her in an instant. Anyway, there was nobody in the club to hear her, except Fabian and Bubba, and there was no way they could handle these guys on their own, so they were better off not knowing. She just hoped the infra-red CCTV cameras were picking it up, so at least she’d have something for the police to work on when it was over.

  Trying her damnedest to stay calm and collected now, she said, ‘I don’t have a lot of money on me, but my purse is in my bag. Take it.’

  Laughing, one of the men brought his face down close to hers. His breath warm on her cheek, he said, ‘I don’t want your money, sexy.’

  Terrified that she was going to be raped, Jenna held his gaze, determined to remember his face. ‘What do you want, then?’ she asked shakily.