Peepshow by Leigh Redhead Read Free Book Online Page B

.’
    ‘Thanks.’ I slipped it into my boot. ‘I’ll put it with all the others.’
    Soon as we rounded the corner into the bar area I sensed something was wrong. Alex felt it too and stopped, like an animal sniffing the wind for danger.
    Then I heard it under the thumping disco beat. Yelling.
    Some shit was going down over by podium three.
     

Chapter Seven
    ‘Fuck.’ Alex pushed through the crowd. I hurried after him and caught a flash of sandy hair. Grant. The whole club surged over, trying to see what was going on.
    ‘You fucking bitch,’ Grant yelled. He held his hand to his forehead and I could see blood on his face. ‘You coulda fucking killed me, you slut!’
    Alex was close but security, Vince and Brad, got there first.
    ‘What’s going on?’ Vince grabbed Grant’s arm but Grant shook him off.
    ‘That bitch just kicked me in the head with them fucken high heels.’ Grant pointed at Aurora who stood topless, doing up the sides of her G-string. She put her hands on her hips.
    ‘Throw this prick out, Vince. The dirty bastard tried to stick his finger up me so I kicked him.’
    Vince punched him in the guts and Grant folded but didn’t go down.
    ‘No fucking touching the girls.’ Brad was about to lay one in when Alex got there, put one arm around Grant’s shoulders and stuck the other out to stop Brad.
    ‘You want a go too, mate?’ The tendons in Brad’s neck stood out, steroids pumping through his veins.
    ‘I’m a cop, mate.’ Alex kept his palm out. ‘We both are. We don’t want any trouble. I’ll get him out of here, OK?’
    Vince moved in and Alex reached into his coat pocket for ID. He flipped it open and the bouncers backed off, their chests still puffed out and nostrils flaring. All that testosterone and nowhere for it to go.
    ‘Get that scumbag out of here.’ Vince wanted the last word. ‘No one touches our girls.’
    ‘Except management,’ Anais said quietly, standing behind me.
    Alex helped Grant out and Vince and Brad followed.
    The crowd dispersed but a group of girls remained around Aurora as she repeated the story. ‘I was lying on my back on the table and he just tried to stick it in.’
    ‘Dirty prick.’ Dakota was petite with long wavy hair.
    ‘You did good, girl. Pity you missed his eye.’
    I looked around. Everything was getting back to normal. The soapie star and the ex-premier’s son were talking animatedly. This was what it was all about: the underworld, sex and violence. It was too cool.
    I picked up an abandoned glass of champagne and drank from the side that wasn’t smeared with lipstick.
    Brad and Vince walked back into the club.
    ‘Fucking cops,’ said Vince.
    ‘Just as well I didn’t deck him,’ Brad laughed.
    Vince walked over to me, his walkie-talkie crackling.
    ‘You Vivien?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Jim wants to see you, in his office.’
    I got paranoid. Was I busted for going too close in the private? Did someone overhear me talking to Alex about the murder? I knocked and Jim unlocked the door and beckoned me in.
    ‘Have a seat, Vivien. You all right after that little scene?’
    ‘I’m fine. Does that kind of thing happen often?’
    ‘Now and then. Most important thing is protecting our girls. You can’t let pricks like that get away with it. I hope it didn’t freak you out.’
    ‘No, I would have kicked him in the head myself.’
    Jim smiled. ‘Attagirl.’ He dragged on his cigarette then stubbed it out. ‘Time for a bit of wake-up juice, don’t you reckon? Get us through the rest of the night.’
    He swivelled around in his chair, opened a safe behind him and carefully extracted a mirror with four lines of white powder already laid out. Cocaine.
    Jim snorted two lines faster than the speed of light and handed me a straw. I hesitated. I was investigating a murder, trying to save my best friend, and I didn’t need my judgement clouded by drugs. On the other hand I’d fit right in if I did some. What would Tony Torcasio do in this