Here I am, back from my holidays… with another chapter!
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That evening Vivian found herself in a car parked across the street from the bar where the meeting between Spade and that FAGIN-guy was supposed to take place. She was sitting in the driver's seat, listening to everything Spade said via radio. Right now she was ordering some mineral water from the waiter.
Next to Vivian, Danny was fidgeting nervously in the passenger seat. Vivian shot him an angry glance and he returned it, even more angry, all respect he'd had for her, seemed forgotten.
"Jack shouldn't have taken you here", Vivian said after a while. "I think he should have sent you home to get some sleep." Instead, Agent Andy Banks was spending a few precious hours at home during that time.
"And how am I supposed to sleep when my girlfriend is in there?" Danny asked. His dark eyes were even darker with anger and worry; they seemed almost black. His features were tense and his hands kept fiddling his belt.
"Ok, that's not easy, I know. But I don't agree with you being here, it's not reasonable…"
"Tell me something, Agent Johnson, are you always reasonable? Not that it would surprise me, but tell me, is it really the case? I mean, would you sit here and be all calm and reasonable, if it was your boyfriend or your husband…" he paused for a moment, his glance moving down, looking for something, maybe her hand, searching for a ring (which was hidden in her pocket), then moving back towards her face before he continued: "…probably rather husband… who was in there?"
"Yes", Viv said although she wasn't quite sure it was the truth. "However, I can understand why you're nervous and – by the way – your nervousness isn't what's disturbing me, I just think you don't have enough experience…"
"But how am I gonna get that if…"
But Vivian interrupted him, hissing an almost aggressive sounding "shhh!"
Something had happened inside the bar; the man they were looking for, had obviously arrived.
"Dina Trent?" That was the name Spade had been given to meet him. There was nothing conspicuous about his voice, not that Vivian had expected that. But over the years she'd learned how to focus on every detail, since anything could be important.
"Yes, um… sit down." Spade was good at acting. And Vivian had seen her earlier; she'd looked absolutely credible for the role she was playing; no longer too good-looking with a pair of unfashionable spectacles and a few spots added to her face as well along, with lots of cream to make her skin shiny and her hair look greasy. Finally she'd dressed up, and seemed to have become a different person.
Vivian had noticed that she'd avoided both, Danny and Jack, after she'd dressed up as Dina Trent. For some reason she didn't want the two men to see her like that.
The man Spade was supposed to meet, seemed hesitant. He hadn't answered to her invitation to sit down, and it was impossible to tell what he was doing, just from listening.
Vivian wasn't happy to be sitting in the car so she couldn't see what was going on.
A sudden movement beside her made her turn her head towards the young man in the passenger seat. Ok, she had to admit there was somebody who was even less happy to be placed outside in the car.
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Jack wasn't as calm as he'd thought he would be. He was sitting at the round bar, drinking his second beer (non-alcoholic), obviously staring numbly into his glass, but seated perfectly to have a great view over almost the whole room. There were two cops inside the bar as well, sitting at a table in the far corner, talking to each other, while watching Spade as closely as Jack did.
Objectively Spade was relatively safe, there wasn't much possibility of anything happening to her, but still Jack was nervous. And worried about her. He'd be worried about any young woman, in this situation. Any woman that was in possible danger. But it wasn't the same with Samantha Spade. He was more worried than usually.
He hadn't known her for long, but somehow he liked her.
He was playing with his half-empty glass, pushing it around just to keep his hands busy, when suddenly there was a low noise, sounding like 'pling', as his wedding ring made contact with it. He thought about his wife – Maria – for a moment, about his daughter – Hannah – and his second daughter, who was on the way. They hadn't agreed on a name for her yet. But Maria had made a nice suggestion last night: Kate. He liked it. Kate.
Realising, how much his thoughts were drifting away, Jack forced himself to focus on his work.
Spade wasn't alone at the table anymore.
The man with her looked pretty harmless; Mid-forties, tall, bold, glasses. He didn't seem the type who'd do anything to teenage girls, but then again, if dangerous men had written the words 'murderer' or 'rapist' across their forehead Jack wouldn't have a job.
"Here we go", he thought, as the conversation at the table started.