by Ellis Major
“Dressed like a bleedin’ tramp an’ I’ve never sin anyfing like it.” Barbara had a seasoned eye.
“Never mind all that,” Charlie told her. “She’s needs help not compliments.”
“Doan you worry, Charlie. I’m glad Lance fought a bringin’ me. Poor fing, she looks all in.”
Lance had barely brought the Bentley to a halt when Babs bounded out. “Rowena, darlin’, I’m Babs. Wotcher doin’ aht ‘ere?”
“I thought you’d be here soon. I felt safer outside. Father’s a bit rough today.”
“Oh really,” growled Lance with a dark frown.
“Don’t hurt him,” Rowena told him urgently.
Lance nodded curtly. “Of course I won’t, but he’s not going to hurt you again, either.” Rowena’s bruise was all too obvious.
Rowena’s father was not so far gone that Lance’s physical presence did not immediately have a calming effect. “Let’s go and sit somewhere,” Lance suggested. “Nice and quiet. Then, if you’re good I can find you something to eat.”
Max Hepple seemed to find this very sound advice.
Babs was already searching for the kettle.
“Don’t bother,” Rowena sighed.
“Wot; they cut yer off?”
Rowena nodded.
Babs pulled out her phone. “Gotcher bill ‘ave yer?”
Rowena found it and handed it over. Babs made one call, to her very capable sister.
“Pay it an’ tell ‘em if it ain’t reconnected terday, they’ll be all over two of the tabloids termorrer. Yoo know ‘oo ter call ter get the news desks onto ‘em. Then I need carers. I need ‘em ‘ere ASAP, darlin’, twenty four hours a day.” She called the address over the phone.
“But,” Rowena began.
“Listen, Rowena, ‘ave summink to eat. Charlie’s managed ter carry in the box all by ‘imself so there probably ain’t that much in it. Fill yerself up, darlin’ before ‘e gets near it.”
“Babs,” said Rowena. “Who are you, exactly?”
“It’s my ‘orehouse but we’re not ‘ere ter talk abaht that fer now.”
Rowena was rummaging in the box. She paused and frowned at Charlie. “You didn’t waste any time.”
Babs bridled at the implication. “Nah listen young lady. I’m ‘ere to ‘elp not ter talk abaht whorin’. Doan go blamin’ ‘im fer wot I do. ‘e knows I got no time fer crap abaht pride an’ charity an’ all that bollocks. I’m a woman so I ain’t a freat or scared by ‘ow yer look. ‘e’s bleedin’ scared of offending’ yer so that’s why I’m ‘ere. Bleedin’ whorin’ can bleedin’ wait. I doan beat arahnd the bleedin’ bush. I tell it ‘ow it is.”
“So do I.”
Babs suddenly grinned. “Then darlin’ we’ll be mates before yer know it. Now yer gonna eat that bleedin’ quiche or read the bleedin’ label.”
Rowena’s frown had gone. “Eat it Babs. You want half?”
“Yep.”
Lance appeared. “Beef sarnies?”
Rowena dug around some more and handed a couple over.
She glanced at Charlie as she opened the quiche. “Would you like some Charlie, or are you a real man?”
He saw her faint smile and some of his nervousness faded. “Whatever you two don’t want,” he told her.
“I called because I want to talk about the brothel,” she said, as she found a knife and cut the quiche into three.
“I know Lance won’t touch quiche,” she said, as she handed a piece to Babs. “We got as far as helicopter rides, I think, when you were last here.”
Charlie nodded. “Yes that’s right.”
“And you really would send a helicopter to pick me up and bring me back, just so I would screw people.” She muttered this in puzzlement, almost to herself.
“We doan ‘ave ter talk abaht it nah. It’s not why we’re ‘ere,” Babs protested again.
“I want to get it out of the way. I want the big picture.” She faced Babs, huge blue eyes intent.
Babs nodded. “Up ter you, darlin’. Wotever yer want.”
“Shall I explain?” Charlie asked gently.
Rowena turned her gaze on him. “Yes, who gets all the money from men screwing me? Babs, or you and your business colleagues. It’s only the money I’m after in all this.”
“You get the bulk of it,” Charlie told her simply. “Not many women do it for fun. Babs understands that better than anyone.”
“Ok, so tell me more.” Rowena’s expression was inscrutable.
Charlie explained ‘the big picture’ as briefly as he could. He told her how the club would charge a fixed amount of ‘rent’ for the use of the room, the concept of extreme exclusivity, how Rowena would always remain in control - and completely anonymous.
“Look,” he said. “You should at least come up and have a proper chat to Babs in situ, she can show you round and explain it better than me. But you don’t have to do it, Rowena, you really don’t. I can lend you money, not huge amounts but enough to get by. You could find something else to do eventually, pay me back, when your father, you know….”
Rowena merely nodded to acknowledge she’d heard him before firing a question at Babs. “I’m hardly looking my best, Babs, but could I make big money doing this?”
Babs made no cracks. She simply nodded. “I won’t lie to yer, darlin’. Yer could make a huge amount a bleedin’ munny.”
Rowena chewed some more quiche. “Charlie, I’m not taking money from you. It’s not right and if I did it I’d feel I was behaving worse than my father used to. I appreciate your offer but you do understand?”
Charlie nodded. “I do, although I wish you’d change your mind.”
“Not on this I won’t. You’ve invested in this place have you?”
“Yes Rowena, in a small way. It’s making a return already.”
“And Babs; or did they cut you out?”
Babs chuckled. “Wot do you reckon, darlin’? Of course I ‘ave; equal shares all rahnd.”
“Then I’d like some equity too. That way if I get ripped off one way, I’ve hedged my bets another.”
Babs laughed approvingly, but not for long. “Smart girl, but tricky to arrange,” she said.
Charlie didn’t have to think twice. “Not at all tricky; you can have some of mine,” he told her. “We’ll do something on the QT. None of the other girls have any, so keep it under your hat.”
She stared at him thoughtfully. “You helped Mary escape with Georgina,” she said softly.
Charlie nodded. “Well I did what I could. We happened to be around. You had to try your best for them.”
“Well you and Lance helped make two people very happy. She wrote me a glowing letter about you Charlie. It got held up. I think you’re being a bit modest. She did say that I could always turn to you if I was in a fix. I don’t think for a moment this was what she had in mind but you’ve offered me a way to make a lot of money fast, although I hate the idea. Perhaps I just need to trust Mary’s instincts and mine a bit too. I’m not saying yes yet, for definite. I promise, though, that I will come and look at the club Babs, and then if it works out you and I can have a little talk about money, Charlie.”
“Right. Fair do’s. Enuff nah, abaht the club,” Babs pronounced. “’ave yer got a loo that works ‘ere or as the bleedin’ water bin cut off too?”
“Straight ahead at the top of the stairs,” Rowena told her. She then spent a few seconds emptying the rest of the box. “Oh those strawberry tarts,” she breathed, before turning her head up to look at Charlie. He was groping in his jacket pocket for a fat envelope.
“Here,” he said, holding it out towards her.
She took it. “What is it?” she asked, lifting the unsealed flap and gasping slightly when she saw it was full of fifty pound notes.
“Please,” Charlie begged. “I heard what you told me but I’ve brought it so you might as well have it. Whatever you decide, it’s a way of saying sorry. If you say yes when you come up to town, you can knock it off
your first dividend. If you say no, then I want you to keep it as a gift and I’ll never press any more on you. It’ll be a one off, an early Christmas present.”
Rowena opened her mouth. She could see the pain in his eyes and it seemed pretty genuine to her. “I suppose I should tell you to piss off, Charlie, and throw it back at you, but after what Mary wrote I’m going to say thank you and keep it. But whatever happens, it is a loan.” She reached for her battered handbag and shoved the envelope inside.
She had been about to ask him whether hiring whores made him feel good. Given his expression and his body language it would have been like shooting a corpse. He was so abject that she actually felt sorry for him.
“Charlie,” she told him, gently. “It is my choice. You offered it to me that’s all. I’m the one who’s made it.”
He gestured weakly at the cardboard in the window. “Rowena, how much of a choice is it, really?”
“Look,” she told him fiercely. “Don’t blame yourself. Yes, I feel forced into it, but by circumstances, not by you. And I can’t go and take money from you for as long as my father’s alive He’s only in his seventies so he could live for another ten or fifteen years. I’d almost certainly never be able ever to repay it.”
“But that’s ok,” he told her. “It’s just money, Rowena. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me,” she told him. “I’m not that kind of girl.”
His mood seemed to lift. “No,” he agreed. “You’re certainly not.”
She tore open the strawberry tarts. “God I love these,” she told him.
He smiled faintly. “Then get on with them quick. Babs is always moaning about her weight anyway. I think that’s the only problem you don’t have at the moment.”
“Don’t rub it in Charlie, but at least with your bundle I can buy something to wear and tidy myself up.”
~~~
It was a very different Rowena who arrived in London. She was a trifle overawed by the ride, courtesy of Slick Willy’s helicopter and pilot, but was smartly coiffed and dressed when she arrived at Charlie’s flat to meet Babs. Charlie couldn’t help but shake his head at quite how well she scrubbed up and she had been devastating enough dressed like a scarecrow! The charcoal skirt suit accentuated her colouring, her blouse was crisp and white and she was even carrying a small attaché case. Her three inch heels were practical and appropriate for the image.
When Charlie took his life in his hands and commented on how elegant she was, she shot him a small, embarrassed smile and remarked that the Norwich charity shops had taken a battering. “Perhaps,” she told him. “If I make all this money, I’ll learn to be extravagant. But you never forget being poor – even a charity shop is a treat for me right now. They were surprised in the first one when I paid with a fifty pound note. I think they thought I might have mugged someone.”
She was very grateful to Babs. The carers had made a huge difference. True to her word, Babs had seen to it that they’d arrived, and that the electricity had been reconnected, before she, Charlie and Lance headed back to London. Rowena’s little hire car had been delivered the next day.
Babs chatted alone to Rowena for an hour and then took her to inspect the Academy. The upshot of the chat and the tour was the announcement that Rowena had decided to give it a go.
As Charlie saw her to the door, Babs patted his arm and told him not to be so down in the mouth. “She unnerstands wot she’s doin’,” she assured him in a whisper. “She’s a tough one, Charlie, an’ she’s lookin’ on it as a bizness proposition wiv ‘er eyes open. She’ll be alright. Doan beat yerself up over it darlin’. It’s not the end of the world for ‘er.”
Rowena sat down quietly with Charlie for a coffee and their financial negotiations.
In his opening gambit, Charlie had been guided by Lance. Lance had suggested that Rowena might be swayed by issues such as gender equality.
“What do you say to fifty, fifty?” Charlie suggested. “That would give us ten percent of the club each.”
“Ok,” said Rowena, promptly.
Charlie blinked in surprise. “I like doing business with you, Rowena,” he declared, tentatively.
She smiled, not without some warmth. “And I like doing business with you Charlie. I was going to ask for twenty five percent.”
Charlie smiled, despite his very mixed feelings. Her own smile had that effect on him “Aren’t we a pair? I would have given you seventy five.”
She held out her hand. “Then we’re both happy with fifty each.”
It was a firm handshake, surprising strength behind it.
“I’m glad you aren’t completely rusticated,” Charlie remarked, in an effort to keep things light as they sipped their coffee. “I thought I might need to spit on my palm before we shook or slash my finger and seal it in blood.”
She smiled again but then the smile faded. “I’m nervous Charlie, although Babs was very reassuring, especially about the medical side of things, all these tests she’s going to do. She said she’s got some twenty four hour deal with a clinic in Harley Street so that the ‘punters’ can be tested before they get near anybody.”
Rowena was going pink as she spoke. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this Charlie, I really don’t. I suppose I haven’t got a close friend to chat to so you’re here and you’ll have to do. You don’t mind do you? I suppose you’re used to all the sordid details.”
“No, Rowena,” Charlie told her. “The details - not really. But I’m always happy to have a natter as needed.” He was relieved, although no more than that. She was being as friendly as he could have hoped and the touchiness did seem to be a thing of the past.
She went even pinker as she continued to speak. “The whole thing goes against all my principles and I’m really not all that experienced either. Some drunken teenage groping and a part willing participation with an older boy, just to get it over with. Then a few unsatisfactory on/off relationships and, the last time, something pretty unpleasant, almost a rape.”
“God, you poor thing,” said Charlie. “Are you still sure about all this? You could just take the ten percent, help out with admin. and stuff like that. Listen, there must be something else you can do to make some money. What about modelling? You’re beautiful, Rowena, you know that.”
She tilted her head at him. “What sort of modelling Charlie?”
“Fashion?” he suggested.
“I’m hardly a midget, but I’m not tall enough and can you see me on a catwalk with this figure? And will they send a helicopter for me? There’s one sort of modelling I know I could do, though.”
“Glamour,” he sighed.
“Yes and do I really want my photos all over the internet for ever. That’s even more demeaning than screwing people for money, because once it’s out there, it’s out there.” She paused and then went on with the tiniest catch in her voice. “If the right guy ever comes along then he won’t ever need to know, unless I think he’s up to being told. This way the only people who’ll ever see me are people who’ve paid a lot for the privilege, not millions of spotty gimps who want to, well you know...”
“I suppose,” he agreed reluctantly.
“Look, Charlie, it’s fine. I’ve decided. I do believe Barbara. I’m reconciled to it.” She took another a sip of coffee and gave a little sigh. “It’s just so ironic, Charlie. When they look at someone like me now, dressed up properly, people must imagine I have this fantastic exotic life with everything being wonderful – handsome lovers, fantastic sex, the world at your feet – if only they knew how it’s been, stuck away in Norfolk with a senile father, lonely and sad, crying myself to sleep most nights, but full of those principles and living by them!”
She gave him a shy sidelong glance. “Then along comes this strange man, who invites me to become a prostitute. Finally, I meet the Madame, who says I will do everything on my terms and will make a huge amount of money. I choose who I like, she tells me, and they’ll fall over themselves to pay me. It just
turns everything on its head. I’ll be empowered, whereas before I wasn’t. Someone thought they could just buy me a meal and their charm would do the rest. And if that wasn’t really my idea of a good time, then I must have some sort of problem.”
Charlie nodded. “What you mean is that in a funny old way things are looking up.”
“Perhaps they are, but you can see why I’m nervous.”
“Of course Rowena. I suppose it’s an odd thing you’re getting into, but you couldn’t get into it on better terms.”
She nodded solemnly and then gave a tiny giggle. “Babs says she’s going to train me up.” She rolled her beautiful eyes. “The mind boggles. I didn’t dare ask. And she said that absolutely no one would know. She really did want to be clear about that. She said she’d told anyone who was in the know that if they ever leaked any names, she would have them killed. She seemed pretty serious about that. If I was prepared to share my identity with the other girls or whatever fine, but never the punters. I tell you, though, Charlie, just between the two of us, that I’m getting out of this as soon as I can.”
Charlie nodded. “Of course. And you know I’ll keep it to myself. I don’t think anyone will need to know you’re in it at all in the first place. Roddy has a habit of blabbing a bit but he won’t be told unless you’re ok with it, like Babs said. Even if he guesses, she put the fear of God into him. I’m sure she means it. If she’s made a promise, she sticks to it. And she knows all kinds of dodgy types. I think she’s great, but I know it would be a bit silly to cross swords with her. I do strictly what I’m told by Babs.”
Rowena was in no doubt. “Without Babs I wouldn’t be doing this.”
Charlie gave it one last go. “You don’t have to. I swear, Rowena. I won’t go on about it but just say the word and I’ll help you out for as long as you need it.”
She shook her head decisively. “No, Charlie. I’m not going to take advantage of a promise you made to Mary.”
He shrugged. “Understood. If ever though…You know where to find me.”
Rowena finished her coffee, stood up and smiled at Charlie as he rose. “I do, Charlie. I’d better go. I have a helicopter to catch.” She took his hand, squeezed it and kissed him gently on the cheek. Charlie felt quite giddy.