Chapter 29

        * Bang !!! *
        Bobbie flinched at the sound and threw herself to the floor. All hell broke loose. So many gunshots reverberated around the room it was hard to tell where they came from. Then silence...She opened her eyes and found herself staring into eyes staring straight through her. Dead eyes and they belonged to Simpkins. Her entire body trembled. She screamed...and screamed...and screamed.
        "Shut it, you stupid Bitch!!!"
        Bobbie was not too sure whether it was the slap to her face or the fact that she recognised the voice, but whatever the reason she stopped screaming and looked up and into Reb Keane's face. 
"R-Reb?" she faltered, incredulous that Keane could have survived. "H-how...?"
        Keane smiled a smile of victory and, turning up her collar, she replied, "I did like you and got out of the way." She smiled again before adding, "Oh, but not before I threw the gun to Simpkins though."
        Bobbie looked at the inert body of Simpkins and saw a bloodied hand with a death grip on a now bloodied gun. She convulsed at the sight, whereas Keane just smiled.

        Dennis had given Grace the whereabouts of Reb Keane and Bobbie Mitchell and concluded he would no longer be needed. How it came that he knew of their whereabouts was by complete accident. On hindsight he would rather have not found out.
        All he had wanted to do was to show Heather some moral support, but as he had entered the club and seen her on the stage with nothing but a G-String to cover her, he left the moral supporting to the lechers watching her every move.
        It was outside the club where he had first seen Keane; she was chasing someone. He was in mid-thought of approaching her when a car passed him at speed; a car, he noticed, Keane was watching intently. Before he had even unbuckled his seat-belt, she had jumped into another car and had headed off in the direction of the first car.
        He had decided to follow with the hope of capturing and returning her to Wentworth, however when he had seen the man, who had been driving the first car, approach her with a gun, he decided to hold back and watch. He had hoped it would not have cost Keane her life. Preference would have been to have halted the proceedings there and then, but he had been unarmed and in no mind to approach someone whom had so far shown little regard for another's life...
        From there on, he followed at a more discreet distance and until he had been sure that where they were now was their last port-of-call, did he contact Grace.

        As the van traversed the bumpy road, Bobbie kept glancing across to Keane. After the third time of looking and finding the same smile on her face, she began to feel unnerved. She, personally, had found the whole ordeal ( The kidnapping of her and her subsequent capture by the Police ) more than a little distressing. There had been more than one moment where she had almost been sick, and yet Keane had always appeared non-plussed about it all; as though it had been an everyday occurance. In some strange way, Bobbie felt envious of her. She secretly wished she possessed the ability to cope with any harrowing situation as calmly and as confidently as Keane always appeared to.

        Keane mentally re-played the events that were to have been the last for Simpkins and almost gagged. However, she could feel the glances from Bobbie and hid her true feelings behind a smile. She knew she would never forget today's events and yet she felt somehow cheated. 'Whoever had said 'Revenge is sweet' were downright liars' she thought bitterly. 'There was nothing sweet in Simpkins death, even if it had meant that Mother's death had been avenged.'

        Dennis knew he should have been on duty some hours ago, but the thought of Heather in that club; of how she could even have thought of working in such a dingy hole and of how she had shared his bed after working in such a club, put everything into perspective. The more he thought on the subject, the more a desired explanation eluded him. He would dearly liked to have claimed temporary insanity on Heather's part, but he knew how clued-up she was with anything she did. "Why then...?" He muttered. "Why...?!"
        He was not sure he could salvage the situation or whether he could come to terms within himself concerning Heather, but she had been special, and no matter how hard he tried to feel otherwise, she still was. With a sigh, he climbed back into his car, drove to where Heather and her Mother lived and knocked on the door.
        Heather's Mother answered. A look of surprise spread across her face as she recognised who it was standing in the doorway. "Dennis...?" She frowned, "What are you doing here? I thought you would have been at Wentworth with Heather."
        "Well, y-yes Mrs Rogers, but something happened..." Then he realised that Heather no longer worked at Wentworth. "Hang on, w-what do you mean? Heather should be here."
        Again the old lady frowned. "You haven't heard...? But I thought you would have been the first to know."
        By now Dennis was beginning to feel more than a little frustrated. " Know what, Mrs Rogers?! What's happened?"
        "Oh dear," she began, "you'd best come in then, but you're not going to like this, not one bit."

        Heather sat in the cell contemplating on the most recent events. She found little comfort in such thoughts, but the silence and solitude almost forced her to think of them. She could not fathom why Dennis had not visited, but the most perplexing of all was how no-one had been able to find or contact him. She had felt only slightly relieved when her solicitor had promised to keep trying. Meg Morris had told her that he had not turned up for duty and had not got a response from telephoning his flat; but nothing else.
        Suddenly a thought occured to her and it made her shiver. 'What if he had found out about the club? Oh no. It would explain his absence. Though she had known Dennis for such a short time, she felt sure on how he would have felt about her working in a club such as the 'Haught's Stuff'; and was the sole reason for her not telling him in the first place. "Oh please God," she whispered, " let that not be the answer." However, deep down, she knew it could be the only explanation.

        Meg Morris entered reception to relieve Pat Slattery for a tea-break and almost collided with an out-of-breath Dennis Cruikshank. "Dennis...!" She exclaimed, "Where have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you all day."
        "H-Heather. I-I've got to see her." he stammered, "Where is she?"
        Meg frowned, "She's in Isolation, but you know the rules."
        "M-e-g..." he implored, "She's my Fiancee."
        "But now that you're here, you're on duty. She is just another prisoner."
        As hurtful as the remark had been, he knew Meg was right, nevertheless the urge to see Heather still remained. "Look, Meg, I've got to see her." At her frown he assured her. "Don't worry, while I'm getting changed I'll think of something."
        Meg felt positive Dennis was fully aware of the implications, but that did not stop her from reminding him. "You know what happens when one prisoner is shown favouritism over another. You could jeopardise Heather's safety."
        "You worry too much." And he left.

        Meg was in the process of arguing the point when shouting could be heard from the corridor leading to the front door.
        "Yeh, you pig, get a good look did ya?! Well they're all for me."
        Meg turned to the noise and froze as she came face to face with.............Burke.

He used to give me roses...




Della Mills