Chapter 5

The doorbell rang, and though I wanted no visitors today, I was relieved that it wasn't the ever-inquisitive Elaine Pachmeyer. I checked the peephole and cursed myself. I had almost forgotten, even after yesterday's meeting, that I was the committee house for the week. I opened the door and let the officer in.

She was a pleasant girl, no more than 24 or 25 I would say, and her nametag said, "J.Clements". I glanced over her uniform, and wondered, as I always did when I saw a female police officer, what that must be like, to be in such a male-dominated profession, doing such scary things. Noble, but scary. Not my cup of tea, thank you, but I was sure glad that there were people willing to do it.

"Hi Mrs. Cutler," she said, sticking out her hand, "I'm Joy. I've got the neighborhood this week."

"Hi, Joy... and please, no Mrs. Cutler stuff. It's Nina."

She grinned. "Ok thanks. I'm just so used to-"

"I know, you're used to the snooties around here who think that because they have money they have to be treated like royalty. Listen, I appreciate what you do, and as far as I'm concerned, it's your neighborhood this week. Come on in."

Listen to you, Nina! Ok, you've probably always felt that way about your rich neighbors, but to profess it so easily, well that isn't you. Or is it?

"Thanks," Joy said, "All I really needed was the rest room, if you don't mind."

"Of course, not a problem." I showed her where it was and then turned backto her just before she entered. "How about a cup of coffee, Joy?"

"Oh, that would be great, if you have it made, ma'am... if not, don't trouble yourself," she called just before closing the door.

"It's made. And no 'ma'am' stuff... it's Nina!" I called just as she closed the door.

"Sorry!" I heard her youthful voice, faintly salted with a Georgia accent, echo in the bathroom. "Academy indoctrination!"

I laughed at that, thinking, hey it's perfectly ok to have young people still using 'sir' and 'ma'am' these days. We needed more of it.

I brought the coffee and the fixings out to the table and set it by her metal clipboard.

"So, everything quiet this morning?" I asked her as she came out and sat down.

"Yeah, seems to be. Just one call, from Mrs. Hayes... Frederica Hayes?" she said, peering at her notes.

I nodded. Frederica lived at the end of the cul-de-sac on the next block. The back of her house bordered a forest, and beyond that, the brick wall of our development.

Joy tugged downward on what looked like the top of her bullet proof vest.

"She saw a kid in the forest, fifteen, sixteen, and the kid ran when he saw her." Joy shrugged. "Hopefully nothing."

"Supposed to be in school, though..." I added, wondering what it was like for a woman to wear a vest like that.

"Exactly," she said. "I have a couple of our officers on the outside checking around for him."

"That must be terribly uncomfortable, that vest," I said, happy to have some conversation. David was at the office, cooking up a big scheme with some out of town builders.

"It gets hot, yeah," she smiled, tugging at it again.

And that's when I saw it.

My heart froze in my throat. When Danielle and I had eaten at the Indian restaurant, I noticed a pendant on the gold necklace she wore, a pendant of a daisy, a gold center with little white-gold petals, the whole thing a little smaller than a dime. I asked her if it had anything to do with the Daisy Chain, and she explained that when the place first opened as a private lesbian club, every member got one of these pendants. After a while, she said, it got too expensive, and they didn't want to start charging more for memberships, so they just stopped giving them out. Anyone who had one, Danielle explained, was one of the first twenty-five members, three years ago.

Joy had one hanging from the necklace she was wearing. It was clumped with two other pendants, one a small police badge, and the other a heart.

"You don't mind," she asked, "if I just do that report while I'm here, do you? I mean, I can do it in the car, too, that's no problem."

I almost didn't answer, and I had to tear my eyes away from the pendant to reply. "Umm... oh no, please-have your coffee and relax. Take all the time you like."

"Thanks," she replied easily, going back to her report.

My eyes drifted back down to the pendant, which swung gently as she leaned over her report, writing.

My heart pounded. Was Joy a member of the Daisy Chain, I thought? I looked her over. Her dark hair was short, styled close to her head, and her face was plain, her blue eyes quite striking against the framework of dark hair, and her nails were cut short. That didn't mean anything, at least I didn't think so. What was I looking for? Had I fooled myself into thinking I had some kind of radar for gay women now? I couldn't really tell with Joy. After all, she was wearing a uniform, and we'd only known each other ten minutes.

I swallowed and decided to play dumb. "That's a pretty pendant, that..." I pointed, pretending I couldn't quite tell what it was.

She stopped writing and looked down, then held it, "Oh you mean the daisy?"

"Yes, it is a daisy, just as I thought."

She held my gaze just a micro-moment longer than I thought necessary (radar?) and then smiled warmly.

"Yeah, my aunt gave it to me," she said, going back to some checkmarks on the report. "Daisies are my favorite flower, and she and I used to pick them at her house. She used to live in the country. When I turned eighteen, she got me it."

"That was sweet of her," I said, not sure whether I believed the story, but worse, not even knowing if I wanted to believe it or not.

"Does she live here in Atlanta?" I asked, as if that meant anything. My god I was sounding like Elaine Pachmeyer. Nina, leave the poor girl alone to do her police work.

"Yeah, she's in Dahlonega, actually."

"God, I'm so sorry, Joy. Here you're trying to finish a report and I'm small-talking you to death. Last thing you need is some old lady taking up your precious time." I tried to forget the daisy pendant, and kept telling myself it was all a coincidence, that Joy's aunt really had given it to her.

Joy's eyes came up and fixed me with a look of sincerity. "Oh, Mizz-I mean Nina, please, it's not a bother at all. It's really nice to work a detail like this. Y'all are so nice in this neighborhood, and look, here I am in a beautiful house havin' a cup of coffee... please don't apologize." She went back to her report, and added, without looking up, "and you ain't some old lady, not by a long shot."

"Well thank you." I poured more coffee for both of us.

She put her pen down. "And that hair. Wow, you really have pretty hair if you don't mind me sayin' so."

"Oh," I said, looking away dramatically, "I really mind a lot."

We both broke out laughing at that, and I added, "Hey you can thank Helene's salon for that. It better look good, for what I pay them."

She smiled. "I know the place. Got an alarm call there just last week and met Helene. She's a nice lady."

"Yes, she is."

I realized then how police officers get around, and how many people they must meet in a given week. Who did Joy know? Did she know Joan. Did she know Danielle?

"How long have you been doing this line of work, Joy?"

She held up two fingers. "I'm in my second year. Still pretty new."

"And you like it, huh?"

"So far so good." She knocked on my wooden table twice. "Really, it's a great job. I get to meet a lot of different people."

I chuckled, "Some I'm sure you didn't want to meet though..."

"Yeah, that's true too."

The phone rang then, and I went to the kitchen and picked the portable handset up without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello, lover," Danielle's honeyed voice came over the line. A delicious thrill shot through me.

"Oh... hi, how's everything?"

"Got company, don't you?" She knew my voice pretty well. I glanced over at Joy. Yes, I have company, and I wonder if you know her.

"Yes, actually, but I'm safe. My company is armed and dangerous," I joked. Joy looked up from her report and grinned at me.

"Oh, that's right," Danielle said with a laugh, "committee lady to keep beautiful Nina-land safe."

"Exactly."

"Can you call me soon? I was wondering if you could sneak away for just a teensy kiss."

I smiled, remembering the "teensy kiss" that started all this with her.

"I'll give you a call. But it's going to be tough today. And tomorrow night I've got to go to the stadium with David."

"Stadium?"

"Yes," I sighed. "I'll explain later. Social, impressing people bullshit."

Joy grinned again as she wrote.

It was a special, almost dangerous thrill, talking to Danielle, with Joy, very possibly a Daisy Chain member, sitting here in my living room, wearing a badge.

Joy drained her coffee gratefully, and left fifteen minutes later.

"Joy, stop by any time you need anything," I assured her. "And be careful."

"Thanks, Nina, it was so nice meetin' you."

My body was still recovering from the blitzkreig of activity early in the week. I shucked off my shorts, and went and laid down. My thoughts drifted to Danielle, her face, her eyes, her voice, washing over me like a warm bath. My hand slipped down between my legs and I slowly squeezed and stroked myself over my panties, arousal battling with sleep.

I wiggled a finger inside the waistband of my panties and played sleepily with myself, but I was soon awake as my sex turned damp and warm. I was imagining Danielle's face in my neck, nuzzling, kissing, and biting my earlobe as I stroked my clit, and licked my lips as the sensations mounted. "I love you too, Nina," her voice rushed through my mind like the wind, and I replayed the embrace we shared in her office the previous day, and how she held me, and I came powerfully, my body arching and stiffening on the bed as my two fingers rubbed circular strokes on top of my clit.

As the ripples of pleasure subsided, I brought my fingers to my mouth and sucked them gently, tasting myself, pretending it was her. Slowly I fell asleep, and my tired brain went swimming in a wild and intense dream. I was with Danielle, on a boat, and we were anchored in some private cove, away from everything. We began to kiss and make love in the cabin, and then the cabin door opened, and Joy came in, stripping off her bathing suit. When I protested, Danielle said soothingly, "it's ok," and put a necklace on me, a necklace that had a daisy chain pendant on it... Danielle was laying on her side, eating Joy's pussy, and I pushed away my jealousy in the dream and ate Danielle at the same time, while Joy nestled her face in between my thighs and pleasured me with her tongue, our three mouths glued to each others' pussies in unabated rapture.