Chapter 6: Kirsten and Alice head in different directions
Alice checked her lipstick in the dim light of the taxi one more time. Carefully reapplying a layer of gloss over the pale pink colour, the young blonde woman excitedly blew a kiss into the compact mirror. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the driver check her out and smirked to herself. She felt hot...
Snapping the compact shut, she dropped it back into her clutch purse, squeezed her thighs together, and looked out the window.
Are we almost there?
Her body was buzzing with nervous energy and she felt like an impatient child. Tonight was important and it was impossible to sit still for long. She was excited about seeing Marcia again, of course, but her conversation with her father kept coming back to her. She was their best hope. That meant a lot was depending on what she could uncover tonight.
The driver's voice interrupted her thoughts. "We're here, Miss."
Alice glanced up to see that the taxi had pulled up to the curb of one of the few non-descript buildings in Chelsea. The tiny sign reading, Aura seemed as proportionately small as the queue outside was long.
She paid him with a crisp twenty pound note and slid towards the door, the hem of her little white dress riding high across her thighs. That somehow added to her excitement, it wouldn't take much movement on the dance floor to her fellow revellers a view of her skimpy thong.
"Good luck," the driver chuckled, nodding at the mingling line of smartly dressed clubbers.
"Thanks," she softly replied, her eyes following the queue along the narrow road until it reached the corner and disappeared right. It looked like she was going to need it.
Her eyes raked along the revellers, hoping she'd find Marcia waiting somewhere close to the front. She didn't spot the curvy redhead, but based on the outfits she saw, she was thankful she'd gone with her short white dress rather than the skinny jeans she was considering.
This group could be queuing for an award show. Or a modelling review?
A voice from her left alerted her and she saw Marcia waiving at her from her position beside the club doors. Hurrying across the narrow road, she reminded herself that tonight the redhead was not just her new friend, but the person who was going to provide all the information she needed about the Appleby agency.
"Wow, girl. You clean up well!"
Alice blushed, standing pigeon-toed and demure as Marcia appraised her. Her white dress was the smallest she owned, high on the thighs and strapless across her perky bust. The approving gaze reminded her of how the redhead had looked at her when she was naked.
Memories of their steamy encounter immediately returned—of Marcia's fingers curling inside her, the curvy woman's lips suckling her nipple. Her excitement immediately jumped up another level. She had to be careful not to lose herself tonight.
"And I love your hair!"
"Thanks," Alice mumbled, finally finding a voice. She'd debated on what to do with it, hoping Marcia would like it as she curled it into lazy, golden ringlets that were draped about her bare shoulders. "You look great, too."
She wasn't lying. Marcia's agency outfits had always hovered at the borders of what was professional, but the red mini-dress she wore tonight blew all of it out of the water. Tight, ruched and certainly too short to be legal, she oozed sex.
"I wish I could wear red lipstick like that," she said, mostly for herself. She'd tried, but just didn't have the proper colour. But on Marcia, with that warm tan and her copper curls, the bright red looked perfect. Aware that she was staring for a few seconds too long, she started to turn towards the long line of waiting partygoers.
Marcia caught her arm. "Where are you going?"
"The queue."
The redhead tossed her a wide smile. "You wanted to learn what the life of an Appleby model was like, right? First lesson. Girls like us don't stand in queues..."
***
Kirsten Tobin glanced at the clock. Matt had said he'd be there around nine so he couldn't be far away from her flat. It was a conversation she wasn't looking forward to but it had to be done. She really had no choice.
It had been a strange day in the office. Everyone had seemed so subdued—or was that just her? There seemed to be a lot of tension around Sandra Wilson and Alex Goodwin, as if the two of them had had a mighty argument and were unsure how to patch it up. She'd never seen her boss so nervous and Goodwin had been hanging around her office as if he was desperate to get time alone with her.
Their morning team meeting had been extremely low key. Wilson had more or less intimated that her visit to the open night had been a waste of time and that there weren't any angles she could follow through. Goodwin, as usual, had nothing to report. Kirsten wondered what he was doing at all on the case. Alex was very solid, but his strengths were out in the field, not behind a desk.
Only Alice seemed to have any bounce in her, and that was probably because she was meeting Marcia tonight. Her blonde colleague was excited about her opportunity to shine and it had maybe been unfair of Sandra Wilson to heap some extra pressure on the young cop. But she had. If nothing came from Alice's meeting, she'd said, they'd be closing down the unofficial investigation. Their simply wasn't the time to pursue it unless they had something concrete.
Goodwin had pulled her to one side later and let it later that Colin Turner was on Wilson's back, although Kirsten had no idea what that was all about. But there was no doubt her boss seemed to be feeling the pressure. Kirsten wouldn't be in her Wilson's shoes for the world. Turner had her on a string, bouncing her up and down the stairs to his office every hour or so for one meeting after another.
Who wanted that kind of stress?
She'd asked Goodwin what was up between him and Wilson, but he'd had just given her one of his usual grunts. Something wasn't right between them, but Kirsten didn't have time to work it out. She had enough stress of her own.
The only good thing was that if the investigation was closed down then her fears about compromising herself would be resolved. She could back away from anything to do with the agency in the knowledge that her 'on the job' sex with Tony Daly would stay between her and the black stud.
She'd been due back to the studios today for another photo session, but she hadn't turned up and had told Wilson the agency had dispensed with her services for the time being. That they'd call her if they needed her. It was the perfect out. Her part of the case was closed and she could relax again.
The brunette had ignored all attempts by Daly to contact her during the day. He'd left messages, asking where she was and reminding her she had an appointment at the studio. But how could she face him again after yesterday's events? No, it was better to make herself scarce for the time being.
