Chapter 8 – The Trouble With Sharon

"How was Singapore?" Jackie asked.

"Rough," Nick replied tersely.

"Did you get to see her?"

"After two weeks of diplomacy and bribes I got a half hour visit." Nick kicked at the ottoman in frustration. "God, Jackie, I hardly recognised her. She's skin and bones now. But Sharon just made a joke about how when she gets back to the States she will patent the Changi Prison Diet and make a fortune."

"She thinks she'll be getting out? Has there been any progress with her case?" Jackie asked hopefully.

"No, that's just Sharon trying not to worry me," Nick passed a hand over his unshaven face. Jackie thought that he had lost a few pounds himself. Ever since he had received the news that fateful night two months ago that Sharon had been arrested in Singapore for possession of 30 kilos of heroin, he had carried the strain in his eyes. "There's no good news, Jackie. In fact…" his voice broke on a strangled sob.

"Nick, what is it?" Jackie cried.

"The appeal was denied," Nick breathed. "The execution is going ahead in 5 days."

Jackie's legs suddenly felt like jelly so she lowered herself carefully onto the couch next to Nick. Silently she grasped his hand and squeezed it, both giving and asking for comfort.

"Why did you come back?" she asked softly. "I mean, wouldn't you want to be with her?"

Nick turned to her, his face set in harsh lines. "There's nothing I can do for her in Singapore anymore. Her only hope is if we can get evidence against Tanner and clear her name."

Oppression settled on Jackie as she realised that her friend's life depended on whether she could entice an admission of guilt out of Dexter Tanner. This was the goal she had set herself when they realised how Sharon had been set up.

The night Nick had broken the bad news to Jackie, they had caught the first plane to Singapore. Bluffing that they were part of Miss Wilder's legal counsel, they had managed to meet with Sharon in a foul smelling prison visitors room. Sharon had been distraught, her usually immaculate dark hair dishevelled, her face nude of make-up and her eyes swollen from crying. A far cry from the elegant young woman that Jackie had laughed with over countless cups of coffee. It was then they learnt how she had been betrayed by her lover, Dexter Tanner.

Dexter had romanced Sharon in a surreptitious fashion that had appealed to her sense of drama – he would send his bodyguards to whisk her away in limousines to his family estate. He had made sure that the only witnesses to their relationship were people in his employ, and had sworn Sharon to secrecy. He had taken her on exotic weekend getaways to holiday resorts in Bali and Phuket, but each time when it came time to return to the States he would be on a different plane, pleading last minute business emergencies. It was clear that Sharon had been his pawn on these other occasions for her luggage was always handled by Dexter or his men and Dexter would always arrange for one of his people who waited on them to take care of the unpacking. Sharon's luck ran out in Singapore Airport where new security measures in the form of sniffer dogs found 20 kilos of heroin inside a false lining in the suitcase that had been one of Dexter's first gifts to her.

"I am such an idiot," Sharon had sobbed. "I suspected maybe he was keeping me under wraps because he had another woman. I never thought it was because he was using me as a drug mule."

"Sharon, I swear to you we will get you out of here," Nick had promised gravely.

After setting a legal defence in motion in Singapore, Nick and Jackie had returned to Chicago to find incriminating evidence against Dexter Tanner but had drawn a blank. There were whispers of secret parties and drugs, but every time they would try to verify the rumours it was like trying to nail a wave to sand. It was when Jackie had spotted Dexter at a black tie fundraiser she had conceived of her scheme to get close to the smooth faced bastard and somehow make him incriminate himself. She had used all her charm and sexuality as well as her research on Dexter's likes and dislikes to make herself fascinating to him. Nick had at first been resistant to the idea but as all his other attempts failed, he reluctantly came to depend on Jackie's plan.

"So, did the bastard say anything we can use tonight?" Nick asked.

"Afraid not," Jackie replied, drawing out a small tape recorder from her purse and pushing the Stop Record button. "Nothing but useless dinner party conversation. But I did get something from an unlikely source yesterday," Jackie offered more hopefully. "Michael came to see me yesterday to warn me against Dex. He said he knows a girl from the Playboy mansion – Tiffany Anderson – whose been to one of Dexter's drug parties. Maybe she knows something or saw Dex and Sharon together. Remember, Sharon's lawyer said if we could just find a witness who saw Dex with Sharon as a couple, it would give a whole lot more weight to Sharon's story. As it is, it's her word against his that they even knew each other."

Nick considered this. "OK, one of us should interview her. Let's leave that for now – I'm dead on my feet." Nick groaned as he stood up and pulled Jackie along with him. Supporting each other, they made their way to the bedroom. As Nick climbed into her bed, it never even occurred to Jackie to wonder if they would have sex. Since that night two months ago, sexual abstinence was an unspoken agreement between them. Somehow it seemed wrong to lose themselves in each other when Sharon was in such dire trouble. If there was a niggling voice at the back of Jackie's mind saying that it also had something to do with Steven Hyde's visit that same night, she was resolute in ignoring it.

The next day Nick and Jackie were going over some story ideas in the office they shared at CRN, when one of the interns put her head around the door to say Jackie had a visitor.

"Who is it?"

"Didn't say. But he's kind of cute in a scruffy sort of way."

"Steven," Jackie automatically deduced.

"Steven? Your ex, Steven?" Nick asked.

"We'll soon find out," Jackie said grimly. "Show him in, Louise."

As Steven Hyde sloped into her office (sans moustache), Jackie was careful to keep her face impassive. Their last encounter was fresh in her mind and her anger at his arrogance was still strong. Her main grievance, though she would not admit to it, was that he had opened a door she had thought safely locked. So long as Steven was far away in Point Place with his bimbo wife and wanting nothing to do with Jackie, she could ignore his existence because there was no hope. He had kicked that door open when he had given her the choice of a life with him and she was pissed that he had put that on her.

"Why Steven, what brings you onto my home turf? Is there a convention for paranoid commitment-phobic burn-outs in town?"

"Yeah, thought I'd drop in there after I'd checked out the gold-digging spoilt brat conference. I heard you were the head speaker."

"Whoa," Nick said from the sidelines. "You Wisconsiners have strange ways of saying hello." He stood up. "I'm Nick Braddon, by the way."

"Ah, Jackie's latest scalp," Steven said. "You're one of the lucky ones, I hear – got out in just a month. Of course, it's hard to compete with a millionaire. Let me guess – you came home one night to your devoted girlfriend and found your things packed and waiting for you and a Do Not Disturb sign on her bedroom door."

"Well, it wasn't quite like that," Nick murmured, assessing the heated hostility between Hyde and Jackie. Truth be told, their break up was a ruse so that Jackie could date Dexter.

Jackie's eyes narrowed malevolently. "Steven, I am so touched! Not only do you go to the extreme measure of marrying a stripper just to spite me, but you also made the long drive to Chicago for no other reason than to insult me at my place of business. When it comes to being a bastard, you really do go the extra mile."

Hyde was about to retort when Nick stepped in. "I'd choose my words carefully from now on," he warned. "I tend to take exception to people insulting my friends." He put an arm around Jackie's shoulders to make his point.

Hyde did not like or understand Nick touching Jackie, but decided it was time to come to the point.

"Sheath your claws, kitten. The only reason I'm here is to pull you out of the latest mess you've landed in." Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Your new flame, Tanner, is a prize dilhole. Turns out he's into some pretty evil crap – drugs, orgies and leaving a trail of dead girlfriends. I figured even your love of money couldn't stomach this loser."

Jackie's face showed no reaction. "I should think the fact that I dated a skinflint like you for so long is proof that I'm no golddigger."

"Didn't you hear me? I'm telling you, the guy is dangerous. You have to break up with him."

"Thank you for your concern but I know what I'm doing," Jackie said distantly.

Steven looked at her like he'd like to strangle her. "You know what you're doing? This from the girl who took Kelso back because she was sure he would never cheat again! Face it, Jackie, when it comes to men, you have rotten judgement."

Jackie opened her mouth to retort, then shook her head and said, "Nah, too easy."

At this point Nick stepped forward. "You don't need to worry about Jackie. I'll look out for her." Nick and Jackie shared a complicit look which confused and angered Hyde. It was as though they had a secret understanding that excluded him.

"Fine! Get yourself killed," he exclaimed. "See if I care."

Jackie found a twisted enjoyment in watching Hyde so out of control while she stayed cool. "Thanks again for making the trip down here, Steven. I appreciate your concern. It's just a shame that your opinions have absolutely no value to me." And with that, she turned to Nick to discuss a camera angle, dismissing Hyde.

It wasn't until Hyde had walked two blocks before it suddenly hit him that Jackie had out-zenned him.