Send in the Clowns, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck Page A

embarrassed and did
not divert her eyes, as she normally would have. She was mesmerised
by the sheer sexiness of her movements, her strong body moving
fluently despite the cast on her wrist. It was a foreign feeling,
but one which she felt oddly comfortable with.
    A small drop of water
landed on her face making her blink, but she did not wipe it away.
Instead, she savoured the sensation as it tracked its way down her
cheek like a tear. She closed her eyes, trying to preserve the
feelings of peace. She had not felt this way in a long time. Maybe
it was being here with Maria, maybe it was the pill. She did not
care; all she wanted right now was this feeling too remain. Maria’s
smile had been right. This was right.
    Jo felt hot breath on her
cheek where the droplet had been, the sensation drying the wet
track. She opened her eyes, Maria’s own eyes were inches from hers,
but they were the wrong way up, making her appear attractively
foreign.
    “ What do you
want?” Maria said, as she hung upside down, their faces’ almost
touching.
    Jo could smell her
just-washed scent of shampoo and soap, and damp locks of hair
tickled at her face. “I…I don’t know…” was all she
managed.
    Maria’s eyes narrowed and
she sucked in a deep breath before folding in the middle and
raising her arms back up too her legs. She grabbed the rope and
swung herself violently around, the ropes, swinging wildly as she
twirled faster and faster. “You’re a copper, aren’t you…” a slight
catch in her voice betraying her efforts.
    Jo did not know what to
say, how did she know she was with the Police? She had not told her
anything about that. Maria had given her the pill with no shame or
guilt; she must have known it was against the law. But then she had
taken it so easily… so much for the law.
    “ Well?” Maria
let go of the rope and flipped her lithe body over, landing on her
feet beside Jo. “I don’t really care either way… just be honest.”
Her breathing was only slightly faster than normal.
    “ How did you
know?”
    “ I can just
tell… although you lot are normally not so attractive.”
    Jo felt Maria’s eyes
sweep up and down her figure, and she felt herself get smaller as
her body tried too shy away from her sudden appraisal. Sitting up,
she hugged her knees too her chest. “Thank you… I guess. I…” A
sudden rush of blood to the head pulled her up short. A pleasurable
sensation shot through her system… The little blue pill had
dissolved completely into her, paired with her pleasure
receptacles, and started spreading the good news around her body.
She looked at Maria, her eyes were lost on their own journey, but
they still managed to connect with hers, and hold them, trance
like, as the smile spread on her face.
    Maria and Jo sank down
onto the sawdust next to each other, their hands touching slightly,
as they navigated the pleasure spreading through their
bodies.
    Unseen, in the shadows
beside the ring, dark eyes on painted faces stared intently at the
show.
     
    Bridger sat in front of
his office computer waiting for delivery of the message he was
expecting; he had called John back when he could not manage to find
the P.A.A.I.N site on the internet. His computer knowledge ran as
far as the on button and the email system. He still had trouble
navigating his way around the Police National Intelligence
Application, even though he had been on more than one training
seminar. While waiting he had managed to raise Grant Wylie, Becky
Wright and Brian Johnson and they were all currently en-route to
the office, all be-it with an ounce of reluctance. Becky had been
on a date, Grant was somewhere in the Ross Creek forest mountain
bike track and had sounded very out of breath, and Brian was
relaxing with Mrs Johnson. He had not been able to raise Jo,
although she was on light duties anyway, and by rights should not
be involved with the operation he had quickly formulated in his
head. Everybody, it seemed, had a life except