Disclaimer: Lewis and Hathaway belong to Colin Dexter and/or ITV. They make the money, I merely have fun. All other characters are my creation and 100% fictional.
Equal envelopes were awaiting Lewis and Hathaway on their respective desks when they returned from an interview with a suspect.
"Do we get mail advertising even at the police headquarters now?" Hathaway wondered as he picked up his envelope.
Lewis studied his, too. "The Oasis of Oxford," he read.
"Never heard of it." Hathaway opened his envelope and unfolded a letter. A smaller sheet fell to the ground and he bent to pick it up. "Oh, a voucher. For a free massage?" He studied the accompanying letter.
Lewis opened his envelope, too. Inside seemed to be a similar combination of letter and voucher.
"Listen to this," Hathaway said and began to read out loud: "I feel the desire to express my gratitude for your discreet and swift job of catching my beloved Frank's murderer, so I hope you'll accept this invitation to the grand opening of The Oasis of Oxford. The Oasis had been Frank's and my dream and he'll always be around in spirit. Kindly, Marcus Thompson. Hand written on the flyer."
Lewis had glanced over his own letter while Hathaway read his aloud. "Same as mine."
Hathaway held up the voucher. "Does this qualify as bribery? After all, the case has been closed for what, three months now?"
Lewis looked doubtful. "Don't think it's bribery. Who knows how many of these he's sent out? Grand opening - isn't it what people do? Send out vouchers to get people to come?"
"It's been known to happen."
"So, you consider going?"
"Why not? A free massage at a shiny new temple of relaxation sounds nice."
"Oasis, not temple."
"I don't think Mr. Thompson will be offering massages in a tent next to a waterhole."
"Underneath a single palm tree, then?" Lewis had no idea yet just how accurate his guess had been.
Hathaway tricked him into promising to come alone. He brought it up after they had a shared bottle of wine, during an advertisement-break on TV, when Lewis wasn't paying much attention as to what he was being asked and just nodded to make his companion shut up.
As they now entered the new spa, Lewis was surprised to find it actually resembled an oasis. Pale yellow walls adorned by pictures of merchant caravans with camels, terracotta tiles on the floor, blue ceiling and a fountain in the middle of the room made up the entrance. A bar stretched along one side, offering a variety of juices and other non-alcoholic beverages. On another side were images of very fit looking people sitting in a whirlpool, others in a sauna. The room was surprisingly crowded, but then freebies always attracted a crowd.
A man in his late thirties pushed his way through the crowd and beamed at them. "Inspector Lewis! And Sergeant Hathaway! I'm so glad you accepted my invitation. " He shook their hands enthusiastically, then turned to stand between them and cordially put his arms around their shoulders. "You've come for the massages? Good!" He hadn't even waited for their reply. He simply steered them in the direction of what looked a bit like a tent-flap.
It was only the thought that protesting would be even more embarrassing than having to strip to his skivvies, that made Lewis remain silent. Hathaway in contrast seemed to be very upbeat about the whole thing, excited even, as he let himself be led into the rear area of the oasis. Once through the fake tent-flap, they actually encountered real tents; small ones that served as changing rooms.
Far less people were milling about back here. Marcus Thompson showed them around. "We have two saunas, a whirlpool, massaging areas..." The list of facilities and services on offer was rather long. "We also offer classes on different massage techniques," he concluded his presentation. "I'll give you time to get undressed now and my two best masseurs will be ready for you in a minute. You'll find fresh towels in the tents and lockers are just over there, free of charge of course."
"Of course," Lewis echoed, just to hear a different voice than Thompson's. The man was a born salesman, nearly impossible to stop once he started talking. Thompson smiled at him and held open the flap of one of the tents for him.
When he held open another tent for Hathaway, the Sergeant addressed him. "Do you also do special massages for sore backs? The Inspector's back occasionally acts up."
Lewis, his t-shirt over his face in the process of undressing, silently cursed Hathaway for asking.
"Oh, of course. I'll assign Angelo to him then, he's a trained medical masseur. I'm sure he can work wonders on his back."
Hathaway smiled, nodded his approval and stepped into his assigned tent.
When he met Lewis at the lockers, both men in their underwear and with towels wrapped around their waists, Lewis glared at him. "Why did you have to bring that up?"
"I thought we might make the most of it. It's free after all."
Lewis still glared but didn't get to speak another word, as a Mediterranean looking man approached them. "Mr. Lewis, Mr. Hathaway, this way, please." Despite his looks, he spoke without accent. While he led them to the massage area, he introduced himself. "I'm Angelo. I hear you have a troublesome back, Mr. Lewis? You'll find a massage is just the thing to help with that."
"Pills usually work just fine," Lewis grumbled, his voice so low only Hathaway heard him.
"Relax," Hathaway replied, offering Lewis what he hoped was an encouraging smile. Lewis only rolled his eyes at him in return.
The massage area had a milky glass roof and sand on the floor. Warm sand, so the place probably had floor heating, Hathaway mused. He looked around and laughed, remembering Lewis's comment about the palm tree, as along one wall indeed stood potted palm trees, one opposite each table. Marcus Thompson had included every cliché in his oasis that came to mind.
Angelo walked up to another man. Nothing foreign about his appearance. "Eric, this is Mr. Hathaway. He's all yours."
"Mr. Hathaway, welcome to the triple-O. Just hop on and get comfortable." He patted the massage table he was standing at. Hathaway did as he was told while Angelo directed Lewis to the table next to him.
Lewis obviously found it difficult to relax. Hathaway on the other hand found it very easy. He'd had massages when he had been rowing for Cambridge, they had been a regular treat for the team-members.
He realized he must have made some sound because he suddenly felt Lewis's eyes on himself and looked over to the other table.
"You're purring like a cat!" Lewis seemed bemused.
"Really?"
Eric laughed but didn't stop working on some tense muscles in Hathaway's shoulders. "Yes, really. Keep doing it, proof I'm doing a good job!"
"Now, let's see if we can make you purr, too," Angelo commented, aimed at Lewis.
"Good luck," Lewis grunted as Angelo tackled a very tense muscle in his lower back. The masseur didn't quite manage to make Lewis purr, but even he couldn't resist the effect of skilled fingers working knot after knot out of his muscles for too long and finally relaxed.
When they walked back to their lockers a while later, he said: "You know, that wasn't half bad."
"It was better than that. How's your back?"
"Feels pretty good right now. But knowing myself, that won't last." He took his clothes out of his locker and headed for one of the tents to get dressed.
Hathaway still stood in front of his locker with a thoughtful expression on his face. Soon, he reached a decision, grabbed his clothes and hurriedly got dressed. Lewis hadn't finished yet when he stepped out of his tent, so he slipped away into the entrance hall where he addressed a young woman standing behind the counter. "I heard you're offering massage classes?"
"Oh yeah, we do. Here's a list of classes and times. Let me know if you want to sign up for one." She spoke around chewing-gum in her mouth.
Hathaway's eyes quickly scanned the list until he found a course for back massages. It was two lessons, both evenings. He should be able to make it. "I'd like to sign up for this one," he said, pointing it out on the list.
"Great! Just give me your name and a phone number, please. Payment is due at the first session."
Hathaway complied and was just turning away from the counter when Lewis arrived from the rear area. "I've been looking for you back there. You could've said a word."
"Sorry."
Marcus Thompson spotted them and came over. "Ah, two relaxed looking men. I take it you enjoyed the massages? Good, good. Any chance you'll be stopping by again?"
"Uhm, I don't know." - "Yes." They spoke pretty much simultaneously.
"Yes?" Lewis looked at Hathaway, surprised by the definite answer.
"Yup. I just signed up for one of the classes."
"Oh, how wonderful! I'm so glad to hear that. You won't regret it! Your sweetheart surely will be delighted." Thompson grabbed Hathaway's hand and once again shook it enthusiastically, a big smile plastered onto his face. Hathaway smiled back at him, though his smile was brought on by thinking of the person he wanted to use the new skills on as 'sweetheart'.
"You're welcome to stay a bit longer if you like. Take a drink maybe?" Thompson asked, ever the salesman.
"No, thanks, we gotta get going," Lewis gave back quickly.
"Of course, the caravan must travel on," Thompson commented, winking. Apparently he thought it was a very clever joke.
Back in Hathaway's car, Lewis studied his companion for a while before he spoke up. "Why are you taking massage classes?"
Hathaway threw him a quick smile. "Someone has to take care of your back."
Lewis chuckled. "As long as you don't drag me to that fancy place again, I might agree with that."
"I'm sure their methods will work fine at home, too."
"I should hope so."