National novel writing month (chapters 9 and 10- unedited)

Chapter 9 Joe's pad.

Lance arrived at 7, He couldn't stay long, he needed to sort this out as soon as possible as he was expected at a book launch, some miserable political memoir of a has-been politician, maybe one day he'd be a miserable has-been and be whoring himself out at these events. Joe opened the door, and led him in, Lance realised he'd never been there before, and he was surprised, it was larger than the hovel he expected, seemed to be more than one bedroom, and he had a garden as well, which had flowers in it, and garden furniture. They sat out there as Joe rolled a spliff.

"This is very awkward" Lance started, feeling surprisingly nervous

"The favour I need you to do is rather delicate"

Joe wondered if Lance had caught a dose and given the test in an assumed name, and that Joe would have to pick up the results and get the whatever you got when you had a dose"

"Someone has acquired my commons security pass and they want a reward for it's return"

"Can't you just report them to the police, get them to sort it out?"

"It's complicated but I'd prefer to keep the police out if this, all that form filling, I just haven't got the time"

"Which is where I come in?"

"Exactly, I need you to meet someone in a pub in kings cross"

"So you were headed there, I thought you said that to the cabbie"

"Yes, and I must have dropped my pass in my drunken state, and I'd prefer it if people weren't to know I'd been pissed in kings cross, they would jump to the wrong conclusions"

"That you'd been with a tart or something?"

Joe laughed and Lance enthusiastically joined in.

"Yes, that sort of thing, in my position it's important to keep a fairly squeaky clean image, and if it leaked to the press that I'd been pissed in kings cross, well, it just sends out the wrong sort of signals"

"For an education minister?"

"Exactly"

"So where and when?" Joe knew he was going to do it, it appealed to his sense of intrigue.

Lance told him the name of the pub, which Joe recognised,

"How will I know him?"

"Take a copy of the times and the guardian" he'll find you.

Lance handed him an envelope, "there's two grand there, I want you to give him £1500, and keep the £500, and I insist on that"

Joe had no qualms about keeping the £500, he owed about that amount on his credit card bill so it would come in handy, and he didn't feel beholden to Lance, or on the scrounge, because he was doing him a favour.

"Look, I really have to go, some boring politico party I have to show my face at, can you ring me when it's done, and I'll send someone to pick it up at your place, it would be reasonable for me to have left it there." Joe nodded, showed lance out, and left himself shortly afterwards to get to kings cross, he should be able to meet this guy, and meet Ms Carpenter later in Upper Street, he had her mobile number anyway, having cunningly copied it from her file. It was going to be a fun evening, intrigue all the way.

Chapter 10 Intrigue all the way.

He waited in the pub, reading the paper for a few seconds before having a look around the bar, it was an old man's pub, actually he liked it. It looked like it hadn't changed in 30 years, looked like some of the regulars had been there for 30 years, just nipping home from time to time to sleep, and sometimes to change. The barmaid cleared his table of a few hours of accumulated drinks, and emptied the ashtray, which pleased Joe, he only liked to see 2 or 3 cigarettes in an ashtray, preferred them completely empty, but knew that no one was going to empty them just for him every time he stubbed out a cigarette. There were 3 dog ends in there when he sensed a presence near him, he looked up, a man stood there, looking nervous, but also looking dangerous.

"You here for that bloke"

"Have you brought something for me?" Joe was enjoying this. He felt like a spy.

The man, pulled the identity card out of his back pocket, it looked grimy, which didn't really confirm Lance's story.

"You got the money?"

Joe pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket, and pushed it across the table, by now the man had sat down, Joe signalled to the bar for 2 pints.

"I ain't staying"

"Listen, mate, why not have a pint with me, maybe have a bit of a chat, maybe answer some questions, I'm buying, you won't be out of pocket, you've got the envelope already, what have you got to lose?"

The man looked doubtful, but Joe got up before he could answer and walked to the bar, paid for the drinks and placed them on the table.

The man, sipped the pint, Joe guessed this was a signal that he might stay and answer a few questions.

"Where did you find it?"

"It was found by a friend, in a bin store in a block near kings cross"

He wasn't giving much away.

"How did it get in the bin store"?

"Your mate is a dirty boy, he was getting a blowjob in there, and must have dropped it when he was pulling his pants up"

Joe smiled, Lance was indeed a dirty naughty boy

"You aint getting the law involved are you" the bloke said, in a way that suggested both a question and a threat, he also looked around the pub, probably imagining that Joe had stuffed it full of undercover policemen, he seemed to relax after the look.

"No, you finish your pint, and take the envelope, and forget we ever met"
the bloke nodded, and instead of finishing immediately, pulled out his rolling baccy and rolled a cigarette

"How come he got you to do this dirty work then?"

"He's shy, doesn't much like meeting strangers"

"Apart from prossies?"

"Yep, he doesn't seem to find them strange at all.

The bloke smiled

"He should be careful; there's some funny sorts around here"

Joe found himself liking the man, and raised his glass at him, in fact they actually clinked glasses, and both of them grinned.

They both drank up and left the pub, Joe had to make his way to his other intriguing meeting, he rang Ms Carpenter and told her he was on his way, then he rang lance

"It's in safe hands"

"When can I get it"?

"I'm off for a drink now, pick it up tomorrow morning"

"Can I send someone around early?"

"Seven o'clock early enough?"

"I'll sort it out"

"Oh and lance, I'll give it a clean it seemed it have a lot of grime on it"

Lance didn't answer, just grunted, and rang off.

Joe caught a 73 and sat the back of the top deck, watching kings cross disappear and pentonville road take over. He got off at the start of upper street and made his way to Ms Carpenter's surprising choice of pub, "the slug and lettuce" but when he thought about it, she probably picked it because her friends were unlikely to go there, whereas he might just run into someone there. This however was highly unlikely since the majority of his old mates had scarpered from London after meeting woman and having sprogs. He thought about having them some times but wasn't that arsed about it, and having not met anyone to do the sprog thing with, he didn't think about it much, except when he was on the 73 or any other bus.

He could see Ms Carpenter through the big windows, and she actually smiled at him as she spotted him, this is going to be a weird one he thought. He walked in, a little nervously, although he was sure he hadn't shown any signs of it to her. She was sat in a corner, nursing a glass of red wine. He asked her if she wanted another, she put her hand over her glass to refuse, so he went to the bar and ordered his a Stella.

"So" a crap first word but what else could he say

"What are we doing here?"

"I don't know" she said, not a good start to the I've got something to tell you idea.

"Well I have been feeling strange, this is all off the record isn't it"

"Scouts honour"

"Ok, I think I've been a bit of a nightmare really, I don't know why I made all those complaints, and now I seem to be in a bit of a mess and I don't know any way out"

"Don't be offended, but I think you're full of shit" this off the record shit was fun thought Joe

"I guess that I've been doing all this stuff because I didn't have anything else to do, and once you start on a thing, sometimes it's difficult to stop

"So are you going to stop?

"I don't know. maybe I need something else to take my mind of all this stuff

"Like a job?

"I guess

They both fell silent, Joe still wasn't sure what he was doing here, and she wasn't telling him anything new.

"While I'm here she continued, "do you have to call Ms Carpenter? It makes me feel about 65, I'm only 34, you can call me Polly if you like

Joe felt strange about calling her by any name but Ms Carpenter, it seemed to suit her, Polly would take some getting used to, and not a name he would use if anyone from work was listening in.

"Ok, Polly he said with some reluctance, "I'm still not sure why you asked to meet me like this

"I wanted to maybe discuss all this in a more relaxed atmosphere, it's all off the record, I can assure you, what you say goes no further, and I hope the same goes for me

"Ok, you want to know what I really think, sort of thing

"I'll probably regret this, but yes

Joe prepared to launch into what would appear to be a prepared speech; he hadn't prepared it, but had imagined saying it.

"Well I think you need another focus in your life, I think you blow up problems that don't actually exist. I think you're rude to staff at work, and are bullying your neighbours and after seeing you the other night, I think you really taking the piss. Why you're doing these thins I have no idea, apart from some bizarre need to get your neighbours out, even though we will just move someone else in, I think you have now painted yourself into a corner and are looking for any way out which will save face

"That good enough for you, Polly

"I seem to have hit a nerve, I had no idea that you thought that

"You see the public me, when I speak to you on the phone or meet up with you, the public me and the private me are quite different

"It's the same for me, I don't know why I act that way when I go into the office

"To be honest, it's never bothered me, but other staff members do not like it, and the thing is, it's totally unnecessary

While Polly didn't exactly slump in her seat, and express regret about her behaviour, Joe noticed a slight change in her manner, maybe her thought processes were kicking in, maybe she was experiencing a sea change, maybe he'd just bored the pants of her with his rant.

Polly got up to get some drinks, she was experiencing a sea change, but not about her behaviour, she had begun to see that she had been out of order already, she was experiencing a sea change about Joe. Before she had always seen him as a barrier, someone she didn't intimidate with her letters, phone calls, visits, and that had always annoyed her about him. Now she was beginning to look at him in a new light. As she waited for the drinks she looked over at him, he was smoking a cigarette, and reading a book, Jeez, she'd only be gone for 5 minutes and he was reading a book, hopefully he'd put the fucking thing down when she brought the drinks back.

He was scruffy, his hair was a little too long, a little too grey, he had the look of a student, yet he must be in his forties. He totally wasn't her type, but suddenly she was thinking he might be, how had this happened? She was actually beginning to fancy him, it had been a long time since she had felt this way about a man, and it surprised her that he might be the one that she would fancy. This presented one or two problems, she didn't know if he fancied her, she hadn't exactly done anything to date to make him fancy her, or indeed encourage him in any way.

Meanwhile Joe was getting restless, his mind was in a minor turmoil, he found it awkward being close to this woman, he didn't have a clue what he was doing here. She seemed to be looking at him more and more and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. Actually he did like it, who wouldn't? It's great to be looked at, greater to be lusted after, he wasn't sure if the look was a lustful one, he had never been able to tell, which is probably why his sex life was a little moribund of late.

Polly brought back the drinks and handed one to Joe, their hands briefly touched and she moved her finger up and down his hand, it was very quick, he wasn't sure if she had done it, and if she had, whether it was a sign, and if it was a sign, what he was going to do about it, to be that confused in a fraction of a second was quite a feat. She looked over at him, smiled, and sipped her drink.

Joe sipped his pint, taking the time he took to sip it to think about something to say, it wasn't enough time, he said something about how they served a decent pint in here. Polly smiled, he regretted not saying something else, wondered if he should do the little finger-stroking thing. He had never been good at this sort of thing, he had developed a real skill at misreading signals, and making moves when he thought the woman was receptive to one, when she had not been making any sort of signals, and then missing the signals, when it was there for him, on a plate.

He was starting to panic, looking for signals that weren't there or were there, and not knowing what to do with information he didn't have.

Polly seemed to sense his turmoil, and stroked his hand again, definitely a signal thought Joe,

"What's happening here?"

Polly smiled

"I don't know, I just felt like doing that, do you want me to stop?"

Joe shook his head,

"No, it's nice"

Joe didn't want her to stop, and didn't know what do next, he felt awkward, and aroused at the same time, this was too much for him to take in, a few days ago, he thought this woman a mad witch, now he was thinking about shagging her, how did he get to this place? was he being seduced? if so, why was he being seduced, was he being seduced so she could claim sexual harassment and get him fired, or was he being seduced because she wanted to have sex. He thought about the risks, shagging a tenant, he'd never done it before, although he had heard of guys who had done it, would it lead to him being sacked, possibly, would it be worth it, it might be at the time but if he was skint and trying to cover the mortgage with no job, he might not think so. He really had to stop over analysing stuff.

He got up from the table and went to the bar, he needed time to think. He ordered the drinks and came back, when he sat down she did the finger-stroking thing again.

"What are we going to do about this?" Joe had stopped over analysing,

"I want to go back with you" even though she said these words very confidently, Polly couldn't believe she had said them, what had brought her to this situation, a few days ago she wanted to destroy this guy, now she wanted him inside her, this was confusing, but she wanted him, more and more as she thought about it.

"Is that a good idea? considering I work for your landlord"

"It maybe not the best idea I have ever had, it may not be the worse idea, at the moment it seems like the only idea, and therefore the best one" Polly could confuse herself sometimes,

"We should act on this before we talk each other out of it" Polly wanted to talk herself out of it, but at the same time, she didn't want the time to think about it, and talk herself out if it, after all she had just talked herself into it, and that would be a waste of a fucking good talking to, if she didn't get a rather good seeing to.

She grabbed Joe's hand and pulled him up from the chair, she kissed him softly on the lips of his surprised face, he tasted great, she wanted to this a lot more.