hand. So he’d slapped her a bit too. Well-entitled, he’d reassured himself.
If she’d chosen to squeal about it, he could have been in trouble enough. But there was nothing. Not a word. Just a longish period off sick for her. Now he was sure the whole thing was dead and buried. She was back at work in Lancaster and doing pretty well, by all accounts. Good luck to her. He held no malice against her. And the time had long gone for her to make any complaints.
So he was safe. He was flying high again.
The Jaguar rolled into Preston town centre and pulled outside the Crest Hotel. Dave August leapt out of the car and trotted into the foyer.
She was there, waiting for him. As soon as she saw him, she stood up. ‘David,’ she said, crossing over to him. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and smiled prettily.
‘ Janine, you look lovely,’ he enthused.
‘ Thank you,’ she said shyly, colouring up.
‘ Shall we go?’ He had bought expensive ringside seats for a boxing match in Manchester as his new girlfriend was a fan of the sport. She said it made her feel excited…
He beamed and crooked his left arm. She slid hers through it and they walked out of the hotel, side by side.
‘ A Jag! This is exciting.’
August gallantly opened the passenger door for her.
‘ You are a real gentleman,’ she said. ‘I need to kiss you.’
She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him squarely on the lips, holding him slightly longer than necessary. Then she slinked into the car, her skirt riding up, leaving the Chief Constable in no doubt that she was wearing no underwear.
Karen and Donaldson rode in silence up to his floor, holding hands nervously, hardly daring to catch each other’s eye. He fumbled for his room key in his pocket as they walked slowly down the corridor.
He put the key in the lock.
Before turning it, he stopped and said, ‘You don’t have to do this, Karen. I don’t want to rush you. I can wait for as long as it takes.’
For an answer, her arms slid around his neck. Their mouths touched. Hesitantly at first. Then her hips moved against his groin seductively. He felt himself grow to bursting. She felt hot and pulsating inside.
Then she pulled away, gasping slightly. He unlocked the door.
After the boxing, August and Janine were invited to what was described as a ‘little get-together’ at a private house in Wilmslow. It was a big house, one of those neo-Georgian affairs with a well-laid driveway with an entrance and an exit. Out in front of the house was a row of classy cars; the Jaguar slotted in perfectly with them.
August and Janine then walked arm in arm up to the front door, which was open. The sound of disco music wafted to their ears from the back of the house.
‘ Is this where I meet all those police-loving businessmen you promised?’
‘ I’ll do my best,’ she said. ‘It’s a pretty big charity do. Anyone who’s anyone’ll be here and they’ll have paid handsomely. There’ll be councillors, sportsmen, businessmen… all in a good cause.’
‘ And why haven’t I paid to attend?’
‘ Because I know the organiser,’ she said mysteriously.
As they entered the house a photographer snapped away.
Inside it was a mass of people, shoulder to shoulder. The music was loud, but it was a good beat. There were clouds of cigarette smoke and the unmistakable tang of cannabis.
August’s eyes went from face to face. Many of them had been at the boxing. He half recognised a couple of footballers and an MP whose name he couldn’t recall.
Janine led him out through the throng to a large patio at the rear, which doubled as a dance floor. Beyond the patio was a large swimming pool; beyond that was a marquee which seemed to be the focus of food and drink.
A waiter bearing a tray thrust a glass in August’s hand; another held a tray full of sandwiches, pies and sausage rolls under his nose until he made a selection.
He drank the wine in one. It was immediately replaced.
‘ Now, darling,’ Janine said, ‘I promised to introduce you to some people. I won’t be long.’
She left him open-mouthed by the pool and hurried back into the house, where Lenny Dakin was waiting for her.
The businessmen spent an hour with August. One said he had the largest Volkswagen dealership this side of Birmingham and was interested in sponsoring vehicles for the special constabulary. The other said he owned a firm specialising in industrial, commercial and domestic security. He wanted to sponsor neighbourhood watch schemes by providing cut price security items, even free ones to pensioners.
August was hooked. The ease of it amazed him. Getting money out of the private sector was usually like getting blood out of a stone. But this! Pure gold.
Both men promised they would contact him the following week.
Business concluded, the two out of work actors left him beaming with pleasure into his beer. They collected their fee — ?100 each — were told to forget this night ever happened, and left the party. Neither one had any idea why the charade had been carried out. Some sort of practical joke, they assumed.
Janine rejoined August who was sitting at a table by the pool.
He shook his head in admiration. ‘I’ve got to hand it to you. You are brilliant. And sexy. And intelligent. It was a freak of Fate, us meeting like that and hitting it off so well, wasn’t it?’ He was referring to their first encounter two weeks before during a flutter he and a couple of friends were having at a casino in Blackpool.
‘ Mm, she agreed. ‘It was a freak.’
‘ Why did you agree to have dinner with me so readily?’ he enquired. ‘You didn’t even know who I was.’
‘ Yes, I did, actually. I’ve seen you on TV many times. I wasn’t going to miss the chance to get to know you. You’re an interesting guy, to say the least.’
Janine hoped she sounded convincing. The effects of the cocaine Dakin had allowed her were wearing off now and she needed another snort.
Bastard, she thought. I’ll be glad when all this is over.
‘ Anyway,’ she said, raising her eyes to his again, ‘now that I’ve kept my promise, I want you to make one to me.’
‘ Anything. ‘
‘ That you’ll let me fuck your brains out.’
August nearly came there and then. ‘Here?’ he croaked.
‘ My place. I have a house nearby.’
‘ I didn’t know that.’
‘ There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Davey darling.’
‘ In that case, I promise.’
‘ That was lovely,’ Karen said softly.
‘ Yes, it was.’ Donaldson was tired and dreamy.
They were lying facing each other, holding hands, a single sheet draped over their bodies.
‘ I was frightened that it would never happen,’ she confessed. ‘I was terrified that I wouldn’t want a man to touch me again after what I went through.’
Donaldson rested a leg across hers. He kissed her neck.
‘ I’ll help you every step of the way, if you want me to,’ he promised tenderly.
‘ Yes, I do. I want you in my life all the time, for everything, not just that.-’
‘ Sounds fine by me.’
‘ But I want to ask you something… do you think I should prosecute Dave for what he did to me, or just let it lie?’
