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The barman broke into his thoughts. ‘Penny for ’em?’ Leo hadn’t heard. ‘What?’ ‘You were somewhere else. What were you thinking about?’ Leo looked at his glass. ‘Having a drink.’ The barman nodded. ‘Yeah. Want another?’ Leo smiled. ‘Make it a double.’ ‘Just a suggestion, but you might wanna pace yourself. It’s early.’ Leo looked at his watch, frowning. ‘Ten-thirty’s early?’ ‘Yeah. In club terms. Two is late.’ Leo laughed. ‘Believe me, at my age, this is late.’ The barman laughed too. ‘Imagine how I feel. I have to lock up after we close. And count the takings. And make sure everyone’s paid. And…’ Leo put a hand up. ‘I get the picture. You have my sympathy. Now, get me another drink.’ Mickey handed the bottle across. ‘You friends with the Karaoke kids?’ ‘I’m the boss.’ Mickey’s eyes widened. ‘I didn’t realise you had that kind of relationship…’ Only just understanding, Leo said quickly: ‘At work.’ Mickey relaxed. ‘Oh, okay. I was just picturing the three of you…’ He saw Leo’s horrified expression and stopped in mid-sentence. ‘Look, we get everyone in here.’ Leo looked around. ‘Yeah, I noticed.’ He poured some soda into his glass. ‘So are you and the boss...?’ Mickey shook his head. ‘No way. I just run the bar. And help out if someone gets a little noisy. Susanna and I ran a bar in Soho together. She was left some money and she asked me if I wanted to come here with her. I wasn’t exactly living in the lap of luxury, so…’ ‘It’s popular.’ ‘Yeah. It had a rep as a safe place before we took over, and most of the regulars still come, plus we’ve picked up a load of new people.’<>Sure he wasn’t going to like the answer, Leo had to ask the question. ‘Safe?’ ‘Susanna doesn’t mind who you come with. So long as you enjoy yourself and don’t upset anyone else, she’s okay with it. And the punters know they won’t get any hassle, so they feel safe. Like Josh and little Sam.’ Leo hated it when he was right. Seeing her coming towards him, Mickey pointed to a table of loud young men towards the stage. ‘Susanna, you might wanna…’ Pulling herself up to her full height, Susanna smiled at Leo. ‘I won’t be long.’ She walked across to the man who held a cigarette he had been passing among his friends. At that moment, the music on the stage ended, and her voice was loud in the sudden quiet. She took the cigarette from him, took a long drag, then pulled a face. ‘If you’re going to try and get away with smoking pot in my club, darling, make sure it’s decent stuff. This cheap rubbish could kill you. And I don’t need a dead body on my floor. Out.’ The man looked about to protest, saw several well-built men approaching from the doorways he hadn’t even noticed, then thought better of it. He picked up his coat and walked away, followed by the other people who had been at his table. Susanna called after him: ‘Come here tomorrow. If your apology is good enough, I may let you back in next Friday. If you don’t want to, find somewhere more tolerant of your habit.’ |