"Pack a bag. You are coming to my place."
"Look, we have known each other less than a month and I don't shack up."
"I need to know your safe."
"I don't know if you noticed but I can take care of myself."
"Look, this banter is real fun in every other circumstance but I am asking you to be sensible."
"I am not worried about me."
He grabbed her wrist and she froze. "Well, I am. So do this one favor for me. I see you are a cool customer but I am a nervous wreck."
His eyes penetrated her soul and she stepped back. Her knees almost gave way.
"Give me ten minutes."
He called the station as she packed and before they left the box had been collected, pictures taken as well as Raini's statement.
Once she was safe in his apartment with a patrolman outside, he headed to the station house. They had printed the severed finger. He discreetly checked the fingerprints of women arrested for solicitation. He had chosen not to reveal the information he had received about the back alley dealings of The Cotton Club.
Just as he suspected, the name on the prints was given as Marion Rhodes but the mug shot showed who he knew to be Mary Anne Gibson.
He sat back at his desk and rubbed his temples. His phone shrilled at his side.
"Worthy."
"You the copper working the Cotton Club case?"
"Yes."
"I might have some very interesting information for you."
"Come down to the station. Let's talk about it."
"No. No police station. Meet me at the filling station at Palms and Overland at midnight."
The angry buzzing that signaled the disconnection shrilled in his ear.
He picked up some Italian take out and headed back to his place. It was alright for a bachelor and his hours didn't really give him time for upkeep like he would have wanted with a female visitor. Raini seemed the type to overlook a few dirty socks.
He walked in and she was just sitting on his sofa in a pair of white wide leg trousers. His mother had always taught him to treat ladies with respect and to respect their wishes. Calum really was not fond of women in trousers but she looked right at home. In his home and that made him happy.
"Hey, toots. I brought dinner."
"Smells incredible. I'm starved."
He placed his gun holster on the back of a kitchen chair. He unbuttoned his coat and hesitated. Looking between Raini and himself.
"I know you're Mr. Manners but it's okay. I've seen men without coats before." She chuckled.
He passed her and walked to his bathroom. He noted her stockings were hung out to dry on his shower curtain. A tiny perfume atomizer was perched in his medicine cabinet. He took in its scent. He splashed water on his care worn face and joined her in the kitchen. He pulled out a bottle of wine and glasses.
They sat at the table and talked about her Texas beginnings and her itch to perform. He told her of his want to make a difference in the world and how recently he wondered if law enforcement was really the best way.
He brought his radio into his sitting room. They sat on the couch and listened to Benny Goodman, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons.
"Maybe that's what you should do."
"Be a radio actor?"
"No. Be a private investigator. It might be more fulfilling."
"And with less steady pay. What if I met someone I wanted to settle down with?" He shifted in his seat and edged his hand out as close to hers as he dared. She smiled and rubbed her pinky against his.
"Maybe you could find a girl who liked running around solving mysteries."
"Maybe."
He glanced at the clock and excused himself to bathroom to change. After a fresh shower and suit, he was ready to meet his mystery guest.
He grabbed his key at the night stand and walked into the sitting room. She was nowhere to be seen.
"Raini?"
She poked her head out of the kitchen.
"You're all dressed up? Got a hot date?"
"What if I did? Jealous?"
"Don't start with me, Worthy. What's going on?"
"I just need to go collect some information for the case."
"Are you saying you are going to meet an informant?"
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't say it but it's what's happening isn't it?"
He didn't answer.
"I'm going with you."
"No, you're not."
"I am, too."
"I thought we had this discussion earlier."
"I know you are worried for me but it's my life at stake here and I want to help."
She folded her arms across her chest and he knew that arguing was futile. They drove down to gas station in question and waited in the dark car. The air in car was filled with nervous tension.
"Want to neck?" He whispered through the silent car "It will seem less conspicuous"
"Very funny."
She fidgeted with the hem of the dress she changed in to. Fishnet stockings peeking out and teasing him with every fabric rustle.
He saw a shadowy figure moving in the alley way behind the gas station. He signaled for her to be quiet and left the car to follow.
A flashlight shone in his face.
"You Worthy?"
"Yeah. You my new friend from the phone?"
"Yeah. I am not even gonna ask because I know you are too smart to tell anyone about our little meeting."
"If you don't ask, then, I won't tell you I didn't."
"Smart. I knew it."
"Thanks for the compliments but get on with it."
"This whole thing goes further and higher up than you realize. You know Frank Sebastian?"
"The owner of the Cotton Club? Yeah, I know he is in some legal trouble. Something to do with the mob."
"That isn't even the half of it. You know he is running a girl service out of his club but the mob isn't fronting it, it's…."
He froze in the streetlight. He was about 6'2" and had thirty pounds on Calum. Calum saw his eyes lock on something behind him.
"You double crossing, son of a bitch. You said you were alone."
He advanced on Calum and his fist connected with Calum's eye and then his jaw. Calum kicked his feet from under him and his fist connected with his assailant's abdomen. Calum lost the upper hand when he took an elbow to the mouth.
Suddenly, a shot rang out it in the night. Calum did a quick check of his person and found no wound. He looked down at his informant and he was also unharmed. He looked behind him and Raini stood with his service revolver over her head. Looking pale as a ghost. He looked back and the informant had run away.
"What the hell was that?"
"Me saving your life."
She drove them back to his apartment.
She nursed his black eye with a towel full of ice. His cut lip with iodine. He groaned with every movement.
She readjusted the ice pack.
"You're beautiful, toots." He rubbed a circle on the inside of her thigh with his fingertips.
"I see that taking a beating didn't slow anything down"
"I did not take a beating. I fought back. He was just bigger."
"Of course, he was."
He slid his hand completely under skirt and slid her panties past her fishnet stockings. He took the ice pack out of her hands and pressed her against the wall. His head disappeared under her skirt. Her knees shook as his tongue connected with her clit. Rough licks and nibbles left her dripping. He stood and wrestled off his pants. He lifted her up off the ground and once again pressed her to the wall. She gasped as he entered. He started with gentle pulses and thrusts.
"You're killing me. Fuck me hard! I want to know you've been there."
He hitched her up a little higher on his waist and his onslaught was unrelenting. He felt her walls squeeze around him. He pulled her hair to one side and bit her neck.
"Pull it again."
He yanked her curls until she moaned.
"Take me to the bed."
He slid her onto the bed and she rolled them to where she was on top. She rolled her hips and clinched her muscles until she heard a chant of swears from his mouth. He pulled her off quickly and lay her flat.
"Not yet."
He bent her legs up and opened her slit. With adept fingers and tongue, he manipulated her clit until she left wet marks on her bed. Her knees shook again and she begged him.
"Please, I need you inside of me. Please."
He pulled her up on to his lap and they rode out another orgasm.
He heard her saying his name over and over. She shook his shoulder.
"Calum? You can take the bed and I'll take the couch."
He blinked five or six times.
"We can share."
"Or you can just keep dreaming on the couch."
She covered him with a blanket and extinguished the light.
