Harry Carter and I went way back. He was, like me, from a part of the military that doesn’t exist. He had to leave when he mislaid a leg in some shitty part of the world. I’d carried him most of the way out and while he didn’t owe me anything (he’d have done the same for me), he’d remained a close and dear friend. He was also one of the most resourceful men I knew.

If the police couldn’t find who was trying to kill Lauren then maybe, just maybe, we might.

I gave Harry copies of all the email threats we’d received and talked him through the shooting and the explosion. Harry was a man of few words and didn’t interrupt but I knew he was taking it all in.

‘Who has access to Lauren’s diary?’

‘Her PA, Jenny and Frank and me. Possibly a couple of other staff might know too. They’ve all been checked out though.’

‘That,’ said Harry, ‘is no guarantee. It just proves that they’re not known to anyone.’ I nodded. ‘Get me all the possible names and I’ll do them all again. Who knew you were going to Edinburgh?’

‘Nobody except that lot.’

‘What have we got on the shooter?’

I explained there had been no CCTV and no witnesses aside from Frank, Lauren, Jenny and me. Jenny had been too scared to see anything. Lauren said she thought she saw a man in a black coat but was also too scared to be observant. Frank had seen someone, not sure what gender, in a black coat and heard what sounded like a silenced pistol shot. He’d aimed at the retreating back of the shooter but he or she had been too far away for a decent shot or identification. He thought the assailant was wearing a hat, probably a trilby or similar.

‘So, we’ve got six eights of fuck all.’ Which about summed it up. ‘I’ll go through the usual crazies and I’ll do some digging. It’ll cost.’

We both knew that but Harry liked to get money stuff sorted. I’d agreed a budget with Lauren, far more than I reckoned would be actually necessary and told Harry so.

‘I’ll get on it. I’ll call you every day.’

*

I’d tried to call Angie a couple of times but her phone didn’t answer or go to mail. Frank and I escorted Lauren, usually with Jenny, to a number of appointments without incident. Business as usual in fact. I was a bit pissed off with Angie, though. But she’d made it clear it was not a romance and so, well, I could live with it.

One evening I was staying at Lauren’s house. She was throwing a dinner for some important guests, including the MP, Ellie Saunders and it had been decided that I should be there in case some lunatic decided to do something unpleasant. Lauren had her own, domestic security but my boss, Carl, wanted me to be there. So I was wearing a long, black frock with a slit up the side that gave me access to the weapon strapped to my thigh. Not the best arrangement but the most discreet in the circumstances.

Lauren was playing it cool with Ms Saunders. I could read her body language. It struck me that she’d only have to snap her fingers and the MP would be straight up to the bedroom. Jen was sitting next to me at dinner. Her leg touched mine a couple of times. The second time, during coffee, I turned to look at her and saw she was wearing a rather nice smile.

‘Don’t look so surprised.’

‘Well, to be honest, you’ve never really shown any interest.’ I was smiling too though. Jenny was a very attractive woman and whilst I normally saw her in her PA uniform of dark suit and white blouse that evening she was, well, stunning. Her hair was loose and longer than I’d thought and her dress was dark green silk with silver edging that made a bra shape around her substantial breasts and was somehow sexier than if it had been more revealing.

‘To be truthful, Lauren warned me off. But now she’s told me that, whilst she still wants me as her PA she’s concentrating on the new relationship and has decided to be exclusive. I can live with that, it was, after all, only ever sex. But she did say that she knew how I feel about you and that if….’

I was a bit miffed. ‘Is she playing pass the parcel with us?’

Jenny’s hand closed over mine. ‘No, it’s not like that at all. Please don’t think that. She just said that if we were to think about it she wouldn’t mind.’

I told her I had to do a sweep which wasn’t true but I wanted time to think. I had always fancied Jenny and she’d never given me any cause to think it was reciprocated or, in fact, that she was a lesbian until the other evening and here she was saying that she had feelings for me.

I made excuses to the guests and wandered around the house checking the security. I took my time. I heard the hubbub of departing guests and made my way to the hall to watch carefully as people were collected in their limos. Ellie Saunders didn’t leave. She and Lauren had ‘business to attend to’ and disappeared upstairs. So, perhaps not so cool after all!

When the last had gone and all was secure I went to the sitting room where Jen was sitting by the fire in a deep armchair and drinking a brandy. A decanter and a second glass stood on a small table beside her.

‘Join me?’

I sat in the chair on the other side of the fire and she poured me a glass. Without thinking, I spread my legs and unbuckled the pistol from my thigh, glad to get it off. I sorted my dress out. I placed the gun and holster on the floor beside me then looked up to see Jen standing, holding my glass and staring at me, wide eyed.

‘My God,’ she said. ‘That has to be the sexiest thing I have seen in years!’

‘Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to get the bloody thing off.’

‘No need to apologise.’ She handed me my drink then sat down and, as she did so, she smoothed her dress under her arse. She crossed her legs and I heard the whisper of the silk dress and noticed, for the first time, the heels she was wearing. They must have cost a packet.

‘Christ, Jen. You’re full of surprises tonight.’ Her right shoe dangled from her toes and she smiled.

She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it out to the side in a gesture I found alluring. ‘It was an opportunity to dress up a bit and, well, I like occasionally to get out of uniform. Do you always wear a gun there?’

I laughed. ‘Of course not. But in this,’ I indicated my dress, ‘it was the best place to keep it.’

‘Yes, I can see there aren’t too many hiding places. Nice knickers, by the way.’

I didn’t blush but I did feel that she was coming on to me a little stronger than I might have expected. Suddenly she stood, walked to my chair and sat on the arm, facing me, her legs on the outside. She placed her hands on my shoulders and kissed me firmly. I was about to return the kiss when a horrible thought occurred to me.

‘Jen, sorry but there is something I need to do.’

She looked surprised and a little hurt but I stood, went to my bag and extracted my phone.

‘Harry, it’s me.’

‘Nobody else calls me at midnight.’

‘Yes, I know, I’m sorry. But a thought has come to me. Can you find out where Angela Constantine is?’ I explained who she was and why I wanted him to check. I gave him her address and as much as I knew about her work.

‘I’m on it.’

I turned back to the chair but Jen had gone.

‘Damn.’

I switched out the lights in the siting room and went upstairs towards my bedroom. I saw a light under Jen’s door and tapped lightly then turned the handle and went in. She was sitting on he bed, still dressed.

‘I’m really sorry but it could be important.’ She nodded. I approached the bed and she looked up at me. ‘Jen, really, I am so sorry.’

I slid my arms around her, she still sitting and me standing and pulled her face to my breasts, held her there. Then, slowly, I moved down to sit beside her and pulled her face to mine and kissed her, properly, my tongue gently prising her lips apart and entering her. She responded, her arms around me, her mouth open to me. We sta like that for ages before she slowly eased away from me and slid her dress off her chest to reveal her glorious full breasts.

‘Mm,’ I said, hungrily. ‘Just as I remembered.’

She grinned. ‘When have you seen them before?’

‘Do you remember when we went to Antigua with Lauren?’ She did. I saw them when you changed after swimming. I jilled frantically when I got to bed later, thinking about them.’

‘Show me what you did.’ I looked into her eyes, a question unformed but there in my own eyes. ‘Please, Carla, show me.’

Leaning against the headboard I pulled my dress aside and spread my legs. I slipped my hand into my knickers and began to stroke, gently, slowly. Jen watched and, to my surprise, she copied my movements. I slipped of my knickers so she could see better and lifted my knees. She did the same, moving to sit beside me.

Jen took my free hand and guided it to her pussy and slowly she pushed my finger to join her own. When I was there, she slid her hand to join mine and her finger slipped into me and together we began to stroke each other and ourselves. It was amazingly sexy and our faces touched, not kissing but resting against each other as our fingers did their work. It was a slow, intimate sensation. The heat of her was on me and my heat on her. Our faces remained touching. Jen began to whimper and I knew she was close. I slowly disentangled myself from her and moved to lay my face between her legs and to lick around her finger as she continued to stroke deep inside herself. It took only seconds before her whimpers became louder, drawn out and suddenly she was thrashing, bucking and a tide of warm moisture ran from her over my tongue. She seemed to be completely stationary for a few moments and then she wailed as a climax overwhelmed her. Her free hand gripped my hair and held me to her as she came and then came again in little aftershocks.

I grinned up at her. ‘Nice.’

‘Oh, God, amazing.’ It started again then. She rolled, pulling me urgently, insistently onto my back and straddled me, pressing her cunt down onto my face as she leant forward, pushed my knees apart and used her tongue to open me, and to pleasure me. My orgasm was quick and I lifted my hips under her as I arched in glorious ecstasy and my scream of delight was smothered in her pussy.

After that we finished undressing and slid between the rumpled bedclothes and lay, folded together and slept.

*

‘This Angela Constantine.’

‘What about her Harry?’

It was the following morning and I was still in bed with Jen when my phone rang.

‘She’s in Berlin.’

‘Berlin? What’s she doing there?’ I never asked Harry how he knew stuff like this and if I had he’d never have told me.

‘Why did you want to know about her?’

‘She and I have been sort of involved. She asked me the other day if I was “back from the frozen North.” I hadn’t told her where I was going.’

‘She’s at a rally. EAT.’

‘Fuck sake, Harry, tell me.’

‘It stands for “End Animal Testing.” It’s one of those organisations.’ Oh shit, I thought. ‘It, or at least people associated with it have been known to be involved in attacks on laboratories and some of their owners and staff. The rally is a new event. EAT is flexing its muscles.’

I was trying desperately to remember if I’d told her we were going to take Lauren to Scotland. I was pretty sure I hadn’t but there was that lingering doubt. Was she using me to get information about Lauren? Was she connected to the attacks?

‘Anything else to tell me?’

‘I’m still working on it.’ We rang off.

I got out of bed and Jen grumbled, rolling onto her side as I left the bed and went to the shower. Standing under the hot stream I washed my hair and body and tried to make sense of it all. Jen came to join me and I was distracted enough by her body to stop thinking about Angie. She washed me all over again and spent time and attention on my most sensitive parts. Soapy fingers worked their magic and we both enjoyed a morning cum, sitting on the shower floor, facing each other under the hot stream and using our fingers as we kissed.

‘I need to go, Jen. I’ll call.’

‘Just make sure you do.’

*

I met Harry at the pub we often used. Both drinking coffee, we discussed the case so far.

‘I am not at all sure who your Angie is.’

“What does that mean? I’m in no mood for riddles, Harry.’

He smiled and went through what he’d discovered. Angie, was, so far as he could tell, a member of the Foreign and Colonial Service which was pretty much what she’d told me. Her house was not owned in her name but by a company. That, he told me, was by no means uncommon for rich people. The problem was he could not find where her wealth had originated.

‘She told me she’d had a rich daddy.’

‘Maybe so but I cant find it and you know I usually can.’ I nodded agreement. ‘It doesn’t necessarily mean she’s trouble.

‘It doesn’t mean she isn’t.

I took my phone from my bag and, looking at Harry, dialed her number.

She answered. ‘Hey, how are you. I’ve been meaning to call but I’ve been a bit busy.’

I told her I was fine and asked what she’d been up to. Harry listened in through one of my two ear plugs.

‘Oh, nothing much, I just got busy. It happens. You fancy dinner? Or would you rather just come over and fuck?’

I glanced up at Harry whose face showed nothing.

‘I cant, not this evening. Nice thought though.’

‘I’ve cum so many times thinking about you. You cannot imagine.’

‘Can I call you tomorrow?’

‘Sure.’

I sensed a note of peeve in her voice so I hastily said that I’d love to see her, that I’d missed her and that I’d definitely call again tomorrow. The call ended. Harry smiled.

‘Well, she didn’t explain but she didn’t lie. Clever lady.’

‘How do I play this, Harry?’

‘You behave exactly as normal. Don’t give her a hint that you have any suspicions. I’ll keep you posted.’

I phoned Angie the next morning as I had promised. ‘Let me cook you supper.’

‘I’d like that. Your place or mine?’

‘Mine. Would 8 be okay?’ She said it would.

I prepared a simple casserole of Cop au Vin, showered and dressed for her. I chose my shortest skirt, deep red and quite full so when I walked she’d almost be able to see my arse and was naked under it. On top I was wearing a simple white silk blouse that was almost transparent but not quite. ‘Innocent until proved guilty,’ I said to my image in the mirror as I applied a little lippy. I examined myself and my hand slipped between my legs and I felt moist. ‘Not that innocent.’