‘Hi, Gary,’ she said, and then her eyes went to the minuscule blonde at his side. Big calculating blue eyes rimmed with black lashes, a sneer on a face plastered with too much fake tan and make-up, and a too-short pink leather dress showing off a taut little body.
‘And who’s this?’ asked Annie.
‘I’m Caroline,’ said the blonde. ‘Who the fuck are you?’
‘This is my girlfriend,’ said Gary to Annie. Then to Caroline he said: ‘This is the boss’s wife, hun.’
The woman linked both arms possessively through one of Gary’s. ‘Gary and me, we’re together.’
Looks like a match made in heaven, thought Annie: a horrible cow and a soulless, sadistic bastard. Ignoring the blonde, she addressed Gary: ‘You heard about Dolly?’
‘Yeah. Big friend of yours.’
‘She was. Yes.’ He didn’t say sorry for your loss, what a nice woman she’d been, nothing; but then, Annie hadn’t expected that. Not from him. She diverted her gaze, glancing around the place in case he should see any weakness in her eyes at the mention of Dolly. You didn’t show vulnerability in front of people like Gary, they’d eat you whole. She knew that.
The club was starting to come to life: lights flicking on over the bar, doormen arriving, giggles and chatter from girls heading to the dressing room to get ready for the evening. There was a female cleaner working late, moving in and out of the chainmail curtains over to the right of the room, pushing a vacuum cleaner. There was a smell of lavender polish in the air.
‘So how’s business?’ she asked, looking back at Gary.
‘Good,’ he said, and his eyes were wary.
‘A private word?’
‘About what?’
Annie looked pointedly at Caroline, clinging on to him like ivy on a wall.
Gary stared at Annie for a moment, unblinking. Then he patted Caroline on the backside and said: ‘See you at six thirty, babe. OK?’
Caroline gave Annie one last look and moved off toward the door. Then Gary said, ‘Gimme a moment,’ to Annie and followed Caroline’s wiggling leather-wrapped arse over to where the doormen were standing. He saw Caroline out the door with a peck on the cheek, then spoke to the men there. One of them handed him a newspaper. After a couple of minutes, he headed back to Annie. ‘Come on up to the office,’ he said, and turned to lead the way.
