Darcy took a sip of her cocktail and smacked her lips. ‘You never answered my question. And why were you watching us?’

Jenny wondered how much to say. ‘I’m interested in him.’

Darcy scoffed. ‘Good luck.’

‘Not like that.’

‘Me neither.’

‘Then why were you all over him?’

The woman shook her head. ‘I wasn’t.’

‘Come on,’ Jenny said, sipping her drink.

Darcy stroked at her skirt and Jenny mirrored her. Darcy looked at the gesture and shook her head.

‘I know all about that,’ she said, putting her hand on Jenny’s hand and leaning in. Her perfume was sharp and classy, her make-up perfect smoky tones that matched her eyes and hair. ‘So unless you really want to get it on with me, cut it out.’

She leaned back and picked up her drink. Sipped from the glass.

Jenny watched for a moment, putting it together.

‘You’re an escort,’ she said.194

The woman raised her eyebrows in a conspiracy. ‘No I’m not, that’s outrageous.’ Her deadpan tone didn’t match her words.

‘You were trying to pick him up for work?’

‘No.’

‘But why here? You won’t get any work around here.’

‘You’ve got me all wrong, lady.’

Jenny drank her gin and opened her bag, got out her purse. ‘I don’t think so.’ She made a show of peeling off three twenty-pound notes and placing them on the bar.

Darcy waited a moment and looked at the money. Then shook her head.

‘I want to know what this is about,’ Jenny said.

‘Me too,’ Darcy said.

‘How do you mean?’

Darcy raised her eyebrows at the money and Jenny added another two twenties. Darcy picked the money up, rolled it and tucked it into her bra.

‘I was given this job.’ She went into her handbag and brought out a card. It said ‘Superior Edinburgh Escorts’, her name underneath, a mobile number and email.

‘What do you mean?’

‘He was described to me over the phone,’ Darcy said. ‘I was told where and when I would find him.’

‘And you were supposed to sleep with him?’

Darcy shrugged.

‘Who gave you the job?’

‘I didn’t get a name.’

Jenny finished her drink. ‘How were you going to get paid?’

‘I got the deposit already, gave my account details over the phone. The rest was after I did the job.’

‘What did the person sound like on the phone?’

‘Angry,’ Darcy said, finishing her own drink and taking her business card back from Jenny. ‘And Irish.’

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HANNAH