Disclaimer : Please see chapter one for disclaimer.

Authors note: Thanks for the reviews,it's what keeps me going. There are some mild references to sex in this chapter but it's nothing to get het upabout.

FIVE

The music vibrated with a gentle beat in the dimly lit club as the sparsly made up audience waited for the next act to appear.Comprising of mainly middle-aged men, no-one spoke to the guy at the next table. Each emersed in their own pleasure.

Jim Brass sipped his soda and strained his eyes towards the stage area which was the only part of the room with any amount of good light. At least that's what he told Catherine. She had perched herself on a high stool, propping herself against the bar watching amused at the comings and goings of the clients. Finally she looked at Brass and saw how he seemed to fit into the surroundings with an ease that suprised her a little. He was a divorced middle-aged guy who worked permanent nights, cranky, straightforward and very possibly lonely. When she thought about him like that, maybe she wasn't so suprised after all he fit easily into the life of a bar like this.

'Well, I have no idea who or what we should be looking for,' she said at length.

'The clue said my destiny was in her hands and I had to lick the opposition. Can't say I've seen anyone yet I'd want to do that with.'

Catherine gave him one of her best withering looks. It worked. The grin dissolved from his face and he sheepishly took two steps back from her.

'I'm here to keep you out of trouble, not allow you to get into it. You get up to anything other than crossword clues in here and you're likely to find yourself the recipient of a brown envelope and some photos or on America's Most Wanted if this game is that serious.'

As if on cue, a tall brunette strode across to them. Somewhere in her mid forties, still slim, still beautiful but her show stopping days appeared to be reluctantly over.

'Do I know you?' she purred. Brass looked behind him to see who she was talking to the realised he had his back to the bar and the question was directed at him. The woman trailed a finger down the side of his cheek to his tie.

'No,I don't think so.'

'Yes I do. You're Jimmy.'

'Jim,' he corrected,'And how do you know who I am?'

'You're the man I've been waiting for all night.'

'I am?' Brass could feel the colour rising in his cheeks. The brunette tugged at his tie in a seductive invitation to follow her. She took his hand and pulled him along, across the room, between several tables and to a door marked 'staff'. Only when they reached this door did she stop and face him. Her eyes darkened as she saw Catherine by his side.

'If you wanna get kinky and let the wife watch it'll cost an extra fifty. He didn't say nothin' about a woman.'

'Who?' Catherine demanded.

'His buddy who arranged this.'

'Let's get on with it,' cut in Brass jerking his finger towards Catherine. 'She comes along and I'll pay the balance.' Seemingly appeased by the offer of money,the woman merely shrugged and pushed the door open.

The walls of the room were draped with cheap material which gave it the look of a tent. Against one wall was a cast iron bed. From one side hung a pair of handcuffs and from the other a silk scarf. The sheets were spread tight and the corners folded with military precision. As soon as the door closed the brunette began removing her already scant clothing.

'What are you doing?'Spluttered Brass.

'You wanna keep your clothes on buddy, fine by me. When he paid for this he never said you'd be a one minute wonder.'She sounded almost deprived. 'Oh well.' Catherine smothered a giggle as the blush across Jim's face exploded into a firery red.

'What exactly did he pay for?'

The woman smiled in Catherine's direction. 'Are you sure you don't want the little lady to wait outside?' Her voice dropped back into her seductive mode as she moved close to the now acutely embarrassed detective. The brunette was some inches taller than him in her heels and Brass was torn between looking at Catherine for help and the womans' deep cleavage which was now agonisingly close to his face.

'Cath,' he croaked barely able to find his voice. 'Maybe you should wait outside.'

'Maybe I should.....Jimmy....' With one last look at the flushed cop, Catherine left pulling the door silently to, hearing the last words of Brass who was reaching into the inside of his jacket pocket.

'Now then Miss, there's something you should know before we get down to business.'

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Catherine sat in tight lipped silence as Brass manouvered the Taurus through the early morning traffic on Main Street in the direction of the P.D. Every now and then Brass laughed to himself, but said nothing. When he laughed for the fourth time, Catherine decided enough was enough.

'Just what are you laughing at? Or need I ask?'

'I was thinking that's all.' He chuckled again.

'Yet another man with his brains in his pants.' Silence again.

'Cath,' his voice was almost boyish,' You think I'm handsome?'

'What?'

'Sally, she called me handsome. I haven't been called that in twenty years.'

'Sally as you call her, gets paid to say it.' Catherine was blunt but Brass seemed stung. He eased the car into the curb and set the parking brake.

'Nothing happened,' he explained quietly. ' When you left, she made a move but the only thing I showed her was my badge.'

'Showing your badge took a long time. Not quite the one minute wonder she had you pegged as?'

Brass arched an amused brow. 'My God, are you jealous Catherine?'

'Hell no!'

'Then why are you so bothered what I got up to in there?'

'Because dumb ass, I was supposed to be your back-up. Partner in this. It's your problem I'm trying to help you with here. Problem as in why we were there in the first place. Hello! Possible life and death situation or had you forgotton about that?' She sat back against the seat and pouted like a sullen child.

'Want me to explain the clue?'

'If it means the dirty details of your pathetic, sorid little sex life then no.'

Brass ignored that last comment and continued with an impish grin on his face.

'Ring-O Roses, Rose Palace. Lick the opposition, I was supposed to....erm well you know.....alright you get the idea. My destiny in her hands, she was to give me a.....erm well you get the idea about that too, but point is, once I showed her the badge we came to an agreement about her place of employment and its illegal activities there in the back room.' He produced a brown envelope from his pocket,' She gave me this and I gave her a break. She gets a shit loada cash for doing nothing and I get a vague description of the guy who hired her to give me a good time.....and I wouldn't quite say I was little.......not that you'd know!'

Catherine extracted a piece of paper from the envelope and read aloud.

'Soap yourself down : runny clay...What does that mean?'

'No idea, but Grissom should be waiting for us when we get back.' Brass checked his blindspot and moved back into the traffic.

'Still sounds like you're jealous,' he grinned sliding the car into the fast line of cars.

tbc.........