They'd nearly reached the table by now and before any formal introductions to the rest of the party could be made, the man who had caused Jane's negative reaction a few moments ago, started to speak in a mocking voice, "Look who is here. If that isn't our beloved little boy wonder himself... Didn't expect you to dare to show your sorry ass amongst good people ever again. And with a cute little hottie in tow. Found yourself a nice substitute for Angie, did you?"

Jane made a real effort to ignore the offensive greeting and deflect the situation. "Nice to see you too, Joe, and if you don't mind, cut the crap for one night, will you? This is my friend and colleague Teresa Lisbon and I ask you to treat her with respect, and as fair warning she's an officer of the law, so she can easily arrest you for slander if you don't behave."

Obviously Joe wasn't on the same page. His tone stayed unfriendly, even spiteful. "Yeah, heard you're working with the cops now or maybe I should rather say, under one, heh, Paddy-boy?" The last part was accompanied by a very suggestive glance.

Jane decided not to reply. Instead, he introduced Lisbon to Ben, a man a few years older than him who he had known quite a while as well. The bearded man got up immediately and bestowed the third hug of the evening on the normally reserved man.

Ben had been part of the carnival Andy had traveled with and he still earned his living with juggling. Incidentally, that very carnival was residing close by at the moment and he had been all too happy to attend his friend's birthday celebration. He looked like a very contented and satisfied person, his way of life obviously agreeing with him. Lisbon's first impression was that this was a very even tempered, tolerant, and easy-going man and she took an instant liking to him. Joe on the other hand was even more unpleasant close up. He was bald, had invidious eyes, and his mouth seemed to be twisted into a permanent frown. He eyed her nearly greedily and quite frankly gave her the creeps. She was glad that the rest of the table seemed to share her dislike for the man.

She had been placed between Jane and Sheila at the round table and that suited her very well. Andy perched at Jane's other side. Ben flanked Andy to the left which unfortunately meant that Jane and Joe sat vis-à-vis. The latter exploited this situation, casting ugly glances at the former.

Before things could get ugly again Jane got up. "Teresa, I'll go get myself a drink. What would you like?"

By unwritten agreement they automatically slipped into using their given names in the presence of friends outside of the team. So the slightly unusual form of address didn't surprise Lisbon at all and she answered in kind, "A beer would be fine. Thanks, Patrick."

The blond man extended the offer to the rest of the table as well. "Anybody else anything?" When everyone shook their heads no, he continued, "Alright, I'll be back in a minute."

He left them and headed to the bar. At the table Joe had decided to remain silent for the time being, while the rest started some small talk to break the ice. Sheila and Teresa found out, that they both liked to watch baseball and actually supported the same team. Ben revealed to them, that Patrick was quite the capable juggler himself and they'd actually done some acts together in their youth. Teresa told them a bit about her work and their last case, at which point Patrick came back with their drinks. He sat down again and they all toasted each other with their beer bottles. Ben added a special toast to the birthday boy and they all congratulated him once more. Andy grinned happily while it looked like Joe didn't want the good mood to continue. But just when he tried to utter something nasty in Patrick's direction the celebrant took control of the situation and started to tell one of his infamous stories.

"The other day, I got a call from some old guy around seventy who wanted to sell his records. Said, he was about to move to Europe somewhere I think. Well anyway. He didn't want to drag along all his old junk so he offered me his collection for a symbolic 20 bucks or something. I went to his address of course to take a look at the goods. When he opened the door I thought to myself, well, he has those certain vibes, might be gay. Didn't bother me of course, just thought it. The guy took me into his kitchen and man, that was a dirty den. Not the cleanly type obviously, and kept his record collection in the kitchen. On some shelves high up. Completely nuts. Who keeps their records in the kitchen?" He feigned a despairing look.

"But he was nice enough. So I decided to climb on a chair and take a look anyway. Biggest layer of fat and dust I've ever seen but there were actually some valuables. The guy kept talking. Really interesting in fact. He'd lived in Persia during the revolution and told me that he'd actually been able to express his homosexual lifestyle openly there. After the revolution things changed dramatically of course so he moved back here. Now he was about to move again together with his boyfriend. Really interesting fellow. We hit it off, somehow. He seemed to like me and no, Joe, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter." Andy cast the bald man a warning glance.

"Anyway, suddenly he said that I could have his whole hi-fi system as well. For free – he couldn't take it along in any event. So I decided to take a look at it. He had to make a call so he told me to just go ahead into the sitting room. I went and boy, that was the strangest sitting room I've ever been to. Every available surface was covered with sculptures of erect penises. Honestly, it was completely creepy in a surreal way. Just think of the weirdest exhibition of modern art you can imagine and you might come close. Absolutely incredible. And the dude had his laptop going on real gay porn as well! Seventy something years and he didn't even bother to stop his laptop from playing before he opened the door for me."

He chuckled and paused a moment to enhance the effect of his words but the story wasn't finished yet. "Well, a few days later he gave me another call. Had checked in his attic and found more records there. Asked me to come around once again. I said yes, of course. I mean, a good story and disks for free - good deal, right?"

He grinned and took in the nods of his audience. "I should probably mention that he lives in a rather conservative and bourgeoise neighborhood. Anyway, I went there the second time. He opened the door and he was like standing in the middle of the street buck naked. Freshly out of the shower and with his bathing robe in hand but with no hurry to put it on. Full view of a seventy year old dude for all the squares to see. And right behind him, just as au naturel, his boyfriend, a guy probably in his mid-thirties. It was hilarious. And I just said to them, you know, if there where more people like you, the world would be a much better place."

Everyone at the table had sat listening and snickering the whole time, but at the end they broke into full out laughter. Jane raised his bottle and declared with mirth, "Yes, and three cheers for that."

Lisbon felt pleasantly relaxed in the company of Jane's friends, well apart from Joe obviously. She had a great time and started to unwind. Still chuckling she said, "And here I thought we saw strange things in our line of work, Patrick."

Her consultant gave her a silly grin that seemed to say 'told you so'. She smiled back and turned to the birthday boy. "By the way, how did you end up trading records, Andy?"

The large man was only too happy to answer. He relished being in the limelight. "Oh, I always liked music, and I enjoyed to go to bric-a-brac-markets whenever I had the chance. Somehow I just accumulated all that knowledge about rare editions and what collectors where keen on. Started as a hobby and now it's business. And I still love music. Oh, thinking of music, Rick. I should really tell the story about you and me on our first and only shared visit to the disco" The last part was aimed in Jane's direction and accompanied by a conspiratorial wink.

"No Andy, please. Not that one," the blond man groaned.

At that point Ben joined into the conversation. He seemed very amused at the thought of hearing about that particular event again. "Ah, but Ricky, that's actually a grand one. I bet neither Sheila nor Teresa have heard it before and it's definitely a classic."

By now Teresa felt giddy with pleasure at her friend's obvious discomfort and in anticipation of learning the reason for it. "Oh yes, I must hear that story. I so hoped to get some blackmail material on him tonight. I'll even get a new round before you start."

Everybody sans Patrick seemed to be in full agreement and Lisbon got up immediately to buy the promised drinks.

Andy grinned and after a moment he stated, "Guess you're overruled, Rick. Come on, it's not that bad. I think it's very funny."

Lisbon was already on her way back with the bottles when Jane answered, "Yeah, you would think so, Andrew Steven, you would think so. But then again you'd find just about anything funny."

"Come on now, don't be a spoil sport, Patrick Alexander. Ah, here are our refreshments. Thank you, dear." When the agent had taken her seat again he added, "Shall I start then?"

Sounds of general approval could be heard – apart from Jane, of course, whose sigh sounded rather resigned.

TBC