Eight
I turned up early outside Gemma's office for my appraisal. She kept me waiting for half an hour, but I didn't care. I was showered and shaved, in my new Jaeger suit and a pair of polished black brogues. I had my briefcase containing documents and a CD and a few other useful bits and pieces, and all was right with the world.
'Sorry to keep you waiting, Jack,' said Gemma, once her secretary had finally led me into her office. Gemma was leaning back in a huge leather swivel-chair, behind a desk large enough to play tennis on. Her jet black hair was sculpted into its usual bob, her lipstick was letterbox-red, her blue eyes wore an expression that was half pity, half amusement. She was wearing her police uniform, her crisply pressed white shirt open to show a hint of cleavage, the Inspector's pips on her epaulettes gleaming in the light from the open window behind her.
'No problems, Gemma,' I said, giving her my brightest smile as I sat down in the visitor's chair. Lower than hers, of course, and less comfortable. Gemma was anything but subtle. I put my briefcase down on the desk and leaned back and crossed my hands behind my head.
Gemma pursed her lips.
'You're looking very cheerful, Jack. Surprisingly so, under the circumstances.'
I shrugged and kept smiling.
'I guess I'm enjoying life at the moment.'
Gemma made a big deal of looking through the pile of papers in front of her.
'I'm afraid you may not enjoy what I'm going to say to you,' she said. 'Though, under the circumstances, I don't see how it can come as any surprise.' She clasped her hands together on the desk in front of her and leaned forwards. The glimpse of extra cleavage she gave me was no accident.
I did her the favour of looking, and her lips twitched slightly. She glanced deliberately at my crotch. Nothing would turn her on more than giving me an erection at the same time she was breaking my balls.
'Let's give it a try, shall we?' I said. 'You say what you've got to say, and I'll see if I'm surprised.'
'I'd advise you to take this seriously, Jack. This is your career we're talking about. You do realise that?'
I pretended to look puzzled.
'What, you mean you're not going to give me a high grade? I was hoping for "Exceptional".'
Gemma stared at me.
'You can't be serious?'
I leaned forwards and tapped my briefcase.
'I think once you see some of the documentary evidence I've brought with me, you'll have no choice but to agree.'
For a second, Gemma's eyes darkened with confusion. Then she leaned back, hear hands on the arms of her chair, and looked me in the face, and launched into a five-minute litany of my failings -- overspent budgets, unmet performance indicators, staffing problems, pretty much everything she could think of. 'Please believe me, Jack,' she said, in conclusion. 'It gives me no pleasure to have to tell you this.' But the silky tone of her voice suggested quite the opposite.
'You left out a couple of my mistakes,' I said. 'How I'm responsible for global warming, and how I haven't yet found a cure for cancer.'
'This isn't a joking matter, Jack.' She pursed her lips. 'I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a grade of '"Insufficient". This will, of course, have an impact on your pay award. I'll also be instituting a performance management plan -- if you fail, over the next 3 months, to reach the required standard then you will be dismissed.'
She watched my face, eager to drink in my reaction. Maybe she expected anger, or fear; tears, even. Maybe she expected me to beg. What she didn't expect was for me to nod calmly a couple of times and smile.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
'Jack, do you understand your situation?'
'Completely,' I said. 'I wonder if you understand yours?'
I reached forwards and took out the CD from my briefcase and slid it across to her.
'Whatever it is, Jack, it's not going to change anything.'
'Humour me,' I said.
She sighed, and took the CD out of its case and slipped it into her computer.
'There's only two files on there,' I said. 'Just double-click on the first one for the moment.'
Shaking her head, she did so. There was a pause for a moment or so, then a recording of the phone conversation in which Jane had illegally passed details from the Police National Computer to her sister. I had discounted playing the terrorism angle as Gemma was a whole lot less gullible than her sister.
Gemma's face went white.
'Where did you get this?'
'Does it matter?'
Gemma leaned back in her chair, the colour returning to her face as she steepled her hands in her lap. One thing you had to admire, she recovered quickly. 'I don't quite see the relevance,' she said.
'I think you do.'
She forced a thin smile.
'You think this is evidence of wrong-doing, Jack, is that it? You think you can use this to make me give you a good appraisal?'
'It sounds so ugly when you put it like that,' I said.
Gemma brushed a non-existent strand of hair out of her eyes.
'You're such a loser, Jack,' she said. 'You know that?' Her voice was laced with contempt.
'Maybe if you got to know me better,' I said.
'Like that's going to happen,' she said.
'We'll see,' I said. 'But for the moment, let's talk about my appraisal,' I said.
'I could explain that conversation away,' she said, confidence returning to her voice. 'I'd get a reprimand, maybe, but nothing more. But you, Jack -- blackmail's a pretty serious offence. You could go to jail.'
'Maybe you're right. Maybe you're not,' I said. 'If it'll make things any easier, take a look at the second file.'
Gemma rolled her eyes and shook her head and clicked a couple of times on her mouse. She watched three of four seconds of the video montage of Jane that I'd put together, then clicked it off and launched herself to her feet.
'You little shit!' she hissed. 'If you've hurt her!' She strode round the desk towards me. For a moment I thought she was going to physically attack me.
'You recognise her, then? You really should watch a bit more, though -- I mean, the spanking's quite sexy and everything, but the blow-job is a real triumph.'
'You fucker!' she said, again, glaring down at me. She reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and took out her mobile.
'Don't phone her!' I said.
'Fuck you!' said Gemma, pressing buttons on her phone.
'OK, I'll rephrase that. You phone her, and I leave this room right now, and, within one hour, little sister's tits and arse show is on the internet, mailed to everyone in the department, mailed to everyone you know. Mailed to your mother.'
Gemma stood rooted to the spot, the phone half-way to her ear. For the first time ever, at least as far as I was concerned, she'd lost her poise, her veneer of impregnability.
'And your mother's not too well, so I hear,' I added.
'You wouldn't do it!' hissed Gemma. 'You'd go to jail.'