Chapter 5

"Hey, Andy." I turned at the sound of Jenny calling out to me. The bustle of the busy street seemed to recede as her smiling face filled my vision. I cleared my throat, which seemed suddenly constricted.

"Errr. Hi, Jenny. No news I'm afraid."

"Oh I wasn't bothered about that, I just wondered if you were free this afternoon?"

"Err. Umm. I'm sorry Jenny I have a meeting."

"Bullshit. I just checked with Sally and she says she just 'phoned you to say it's been cancelled." I could smell collusion.

"I've been set up, haven't I?"

"You bet. So you might as well give in gracefully."

I sighed theatrically and held out my wrists as if to be handcuffed. "I'm all yours."

Jenny stared into my eyes and I blushed at my unintended double entendre. "I might take you up on that one day."

"Yes. Well. Umm." I was saved from further embarrassment as Jenny grabbed one of my hands and dragged me off in the direction of Waterloo station.

"Come on. I want to play the tourist and you're just the person to help me."

And so we did.

The London Eye was surprisingly good fun, for what was basically just an enormous Ferris wheel. We arrived just as a wedding party was leaving; the bride and groom laughing and joking about how surprised the office would be when they got back and told them all how they'd spent their lunch hour. We stood close to the glass and Jenny insisted that I put my arms around her to 'make her feel safe'. She felt as if she belonged there and she must have felt something like that too as she sighed and relaxed against me.

Our next venue was the London Dungeon. We giggled like teenagers at the reactions of the other patrons and managed to remain un-shocked until right at the very end a figure that we had presumed to be a statue in a tableau moved towards us. Both of us screamed at the unexpected movement. The figure laughed a little and spoke to himself, 'Gets them every time.' We emerged energised from the place, and still holding hands. A barker standing at a nearby bus stop announced the imminent departure of an open-topped sightseeing bus tour.

"Oh good. I've always wanted to go on one of these tours."

We bought tickets and trooped upstairs to the top deck. Not long after, the bus began its journey. The girl doing the commentary was witty and informative and we were soon lost in the vision of London of the 16th and 17th centuries that she evoked. Along with several nuggets of information that I'd always wondered about and never bothered to discover for myself: like the derivation of the phrases 'on the wagon' and 'one for the road' or the fact that there were several rivers running through London and not just one; the Fleet and the Tyburn for instance.

The ticket included a trip on the Thames; we left the bus at Westminster and got on the Jubilee line out to Greenwich. Since we were there we went to the observatory and stood on the Meridian. I glanced at my watch; it was getting late and the time of the last boat-trip was approaching. Holding hands we ran back to the river and managed to catch the last boat. We sat on the top deck and listened to the commentary that a member of the crew gave us. Jenny insisted that she was cold and the only way for her to get warm was to sit on my lap. We cuddled as the various buildings, including the folly of the Dome, were pointed out to us. The trip ended at Tower Bridge and we disembarked. I made a point of making a 'donation' to the crew, who weren't paid to give us a guided tour. It was getting dark and we were both hungry.

"Let's grab something to eat and then I'll see you home."

"I do love a man with a plan."

We eschewed an imported convenience food for more traditional fare: Fish and Chips, drenched in salt and vinegar, and eaten out of newspaper on a park bench. They tasted fabulous. Jenny thought so too and ensured that every morsel of her portion - and some of mine - was eaten up. By the time we'd finished, it was quite late, late enough that the ceremony of the keys would soon be starting. I listened for and heard the challenges and responses

"Halt. Who goes there?"

"The keys."

"Whose keys?"

"Queen Elizabeth's keys."

"Pass, Queen Elizabeth's keys. All's Well"

A short while later the final phrases drifted into the night.

"God preserve Queen Elizabeth!"

And the voices of the guards responding, "Amen!"

I felt a tingle running down my spine as I considered the fact that these very words had been said every day for almost 700 years. The longest running military ceremony of any sort. My voice cracked as I explained what I was feeling to Jenny. Finally I was able to carry on.

"It just makes you think, this place has been around almost a thousand years. It kind of puts one's own problems into perspective."

Jenny shivered and I slipped my jacket over her shoulders. I realised that, once more, I didn't have a clue where she lived. I laughed, the information was in the file that I kept on her I just hadn't bothered to read it. Jenny smiled at me.

"It's nice hearing you laugh. You should do it more often."

I asked her where she lived and so we made our way back to her flat. We said our goodbyes and I attempted to walk away from her.

"No you don't," said Jenny as she grabbed me and kissed me. Sparks flew. The tingle as her lips touched mine was electric. I was not the only one who could feel it, as her lips opened under mine and she moaned into my mouth and melted into me. The tip of her tongue explored my lips and before I could help myself I was responding to her kiss. Even at the height of my most passionate moments with Kate I'd never felt anything like this! Finally, we broke apart and she stood before me, flushed and breathing heavily. I remembered that she'd looked this way as she was fucked in the room. I choked back a sob, turned and ran. I heard Jenny calling to me, bewildered.

"Andy, what is it? What did I do?"

.oOo.

The 'phone rang in the way that indicated it was a call on an outside line. I debated whether or not to answer it. I knew who it was bound to be and I didn't particularly want to speak to either of them. I shook myself; this was ridiculous. I picked up the handset and spoke into it.

"D.A.S.I. Andrew Baker speaking."

"Andy, what was last night all about? I know you felt something, and the next thing I know, you are, quite literally, running away. What's going on, Andy?"

"I just realised I was getting in too deep and I was being un-professional. I'm sorry if I upset you."

"It was more than just that, you saw something. What was it?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." I took a deep breath and exhaled quietly, I could hear my voice getting shrill with tension. "Look, I do have this rule: I don't get involved with my clients; it prevents complications."

"Leaving aside the fact that I'm not actually a client of yours, I'd much rather have you as a friend than as an investigator, so I'm telling you to stop investigating the payments."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Perhaps now you can stop avoiding me at the coffee-shop."

"Okay. Though we really are busy at the moment, so I can't promise anything."

"We'll see. I'm not going to give you up, Andrew, you make me feel too good for that."

"Sounds like you're getting addicted to me, perhaps you ought to go to 'AA'?"

She laughed, getting the joke immediately. "'Andyholics Anonymous', very funny. See you Andy."

As soon as she rang off I looked for the file. After a few minutes of fruitless searching I remembered I had thrown it at Kate the last time she had been here. I found a new folder and wrote Jenny's name on it and filed the 'Investigation Suspended at Client's Request' form in it. In the reason field I wrote 'kissed client'; I wondered what Sally would think if she saw the form and then filed it away. I sat and considered my options. Perhaps if I took a sabbatical for a few months, then Jenny would forget about me and I could get my life back onto its previously even keel. It was an idea worth considering. I made a note in my diary to investigate a temporary manager. As I wrote the note, I added an addendum to see how Sally felt about doing the job; this seemed like a good plan, it would be a lot easier to find another PA than to find a temporary manager.