Strictly Prohibited Ch. 03

Thank you every one who has favourited, commented and rated this story – it is what keeps me writing and it means more than you can imagine.

This next installment, as per your request, is lengthier. Let me know if you prefer longer installments (and having to wait) or shorter sections posted more frequently. I am also trying my best to make it as 20's as possible, but if you notice any major inconsistencies with the timeframe feel free to let me know and I will work on it.

I have the story planned out to a degree but I will always welcome feedback – ultimately my readers decide where this will go!

Enjoy!

**

Effie's eyes fluttered open to a ceiling she did not recognise. She could hear a familiar voice in the next room but she couldn't quite pick it. She guessed it was late afternoon from the dust particles that were visibly floating in the warm beams of light coming through a small rectangular window just below the ceiling perimeter. Reaching up to rub her eyes, she felt her makeup smudge over her cheek and wondered why she hadn't washed her face before falling asleep. As her senses came to her, it became apparent that she was not on her usual feather mattress and that the linen itched her skin.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart," a gruff man's voice said closer than she anticipated from a chair to her right.

Effie sat up with a start, only to be greeted with a sharp pain in her head and the face of Malcolm - her attacker from her first day in the office. She began to retreat to the corner of the bed and pulled the linen up as far as she could to cover herself. As the wind from the movement rushed over her, she had the startling realisation that she was still very exposed in her undergarments.

"Baby vamp, don't crawl away," Malcolm chuckled, getting up from his seat and moving closer to the bed.

Baby vamp... Isn't that what he had called her?

"Were you the man from last night?" Effie demanded, no longer moving away from him.

"Last night?" Malcolm asked leaning over her, "And here I was thinking I was your one and only."

"Don't sass me! If it was you who took me last night..."

"Took you?" Malcolm winked at her.

"No! Not like that! I mean I hope not like that," Effie started to get nervous the more she came to realise that she couldn't remember anything.

"There, there my little bearcat," Malcolm patronised her as he pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear with his greasy fingers, "I can assure you I did not see you until morning, but I am sure mighty envious of the man you're talking about."

Malcolm lent in closer now as if to kiss her, causing Effie to scrunch up her face at the impeding assault and hold her breathe as if she could stop him by sheer will and disgust alone.

"I TOLD you NOT to come in here!"

Malcolm spun around at the authorative voice of Ness.

"Detective Morgan sent me..." the intruding officer stood up straight and went to defend his presence in the room when he realised that beyond his initial command, Ness was not paying him any attention.

Malcolm looked back at Effie who had also seemingly forgotten about him. Her large doe eyes that had threatened to gush with an oncoming flood of tears had become tranquil pools at the sight of the senior agent. Her grip on the thin sheet had also relaxed, allowing the material to fall from her shoulder and catch on her bosom.

"It's always the tall ones that get all the luck," Malcolm scoffed under his breath, exiting the room without another look at either of the strange pair.

There was a short silence after Malcolm slammed the door, leaving the two oddly alone in the small space.

"Are you alright?" Ness took a step closer after a minute or so, not sure on how to proceed.

"Quite," Effie replied with a half-hearted smile.

Ness couldn't help but stare at how the thin material clung to Effie's petite yet curvaceous frame. Her skin looked warm in the sunlight even though her uncovered flesh was raised with goosebumps. He wanted so desperately to run his hands over her.

Ness cleared his throat as he caught his thoughts trailing and readjusted his tie – he had some serious questions to ask this illusive girl.

"Do you know what happened to you last night?"

Effie looked up at Ness apprehensively. The agent noticed that his domineering stance over the scantly-dressed girl who had just woken up was probably not the best way to incite cooperation with his questions.

Ness took a seat on the end of the straw mattress and rephrased, "What I mean is where did you go after the raid began, I thought you knew to wait for me?"

"You mean I wasn't with you at all after the raid?" Effie questioned, her expression now quite alarmed.

"Of course you weren't," Ness looked at her incredulously, "Now quit the games and tell me what you did."

Effie securely tucked the sheet under her arms before looking down and beginning to play with her fingernails in a nervous fashion, "I don't remember."

"You can tell me Effie, even if you did something wrong. We just want to get some really bad men and we would protect you for whatever information you could give us..."

"I said I don't know!" Effie said more forcefully, her untamed brunette locks bouncing as she looked up at Ness.

"Okay," Ness accepted, standing up again to begin pacing the limited length of the room in frustration.

"I promise I don't know anything, I don't even know where I am right now..."

"You're back at the station," Ness interjected, now studying Effie to see that her disorientation was indeed not feigned, "Do you not remember how you got here?"

Effie looked at the ceiling as if rolling her eyes upwards would help any memories from the night before resurface. The action only proved to make her head throb harder as she slumped forward, exacerbated and with a hand gripping her hair, "No."

Ness' dark brow furrowed at the comment, "Do you remember falling asleep in my office last night?"

"Your office? Why was I in your office?" Effie mused with genuine surprise evident on her ever-expressive features.

Ness took his seat back on the bed again, satisfied that Effie had no recollection of the events of the previous night. Effie seemed unaware that Ness was just moments ago truly doubting her sincerity as she held up a hand up to massage her forehead.

"You've got the screamin' meemies," Ness chuckled to himself as Effie sent a scowl his way, "how much did you have to drink?"

"Two, three... I can't be sure. Marie was so hard to keep up with," Effie looked defeated as she hung her head in her hands, "I'm the worst agent ever."

"Now, now, don't be hard on yourself," Ness couldn't help but smile at her assertion that she could ever keep up with Marie, "Lie back down, it will help your pains. How about I start with what I know of the night and we'll see if you can fill in any gaps?"

Effie nodded slowly as her body slid down the wall to stretch over the full length of the bed again, "You're right this does feel better."

Ness put a comforting hand on the sheet over her leg, causing Effie's body to stiffen at the unexpected touch. Ness went to remove it at her frigid reaction but as she kept her eyes closed and peaceful and protested no further, he let it rest there. He knew it was highly inappropriate to touch a woman in such a way but his need to have his hands on some part of her in that moment was inexplicable. It was as if she would disappear again if he didn't have some physical hold on her.

"So this morning I came into the office to find you asleep at my desk..."

"But I don't remember getting there," Effie started, trying to sit up again until a look of Ness' warned her to lie back and let him finish.

"As I said, you were fast asleep in my chair with your head on my desk. I didn't think much of it at first, figured you had gotten lost in the bum's rush of the raid and thought to meet me back here. It was a long night so it was understandable that you would have dozed off whilst waiting. So I carried you into the on-call room..."

"Wait I'm in the mens' bed-chambers now?"

"Are you going to keep interrupting?" Ness smiled at the insistence of this girl to keep interjecting when her superior was speaking.

"No," Effie submitted with no apology, crossing her arms over her torso as she lay there with her eyes closed more in contempt then in rest.

"Fine," Ness chuckled, not finding the will-power to be angry at this undisciplined girl who wasn't even thankful that he had carried her to a bed, even if it was intended for working men only, "I carried you here thinking that was the end of it. But when I returned to my desk something else caught my suspicion – a letter that had not been there before."

Effie now sat up in the bed and Ness didn't try to stop her. He was most interested in how she would react to this next bit of information. He found himself hoping for her innocence against his better judgment that this girl was most likely playing them.

"Do you remember having a letter on you when you entered the premises last night?"

"I told you I don't even remember coming here let alone having a letter," Effie defended again.

"Why don't I read its contents to you? I think it shall be more correct of me to call it an invitation rather than a letter," Ness paused to look over Effie, but all he saw was a curious and intrigued individual waiting in anticipation and suspense.

"It reads:

Dearest Effie,

I sincerely enjoyed your company this evening. Henceforth, I would like to cordially invite you to be my date at the Regatta this weekend. Meet by the clock tower at the water's edge at the time of the starting race. Do come alone."

Effie waited for Ness to continue but he did not. Ness waited for a reaction from Effie but she offered nothing. The two stared at each other like magnets, holding one another's attention with an unrelenting force filled with the mysteries of an invisible radiant energy that only Tesla could describe.

"Well, who is it from?" Effie asked finally, still not removing her gaze from Ness.

It was Ness who turned away to fetch an object out of his pocket, "That's the whole content of the letter."

"You mean they didn't leave a name? You think they would want me to know who is extending the invitation to me...."

"Oh they let us know alright. There was a reason this document caught my attention."

And from his pocket Ness retrieved an old-fashioned wax seal.

"I didn't know anyone used these anymore," Effie exclaimed as Ness passed the seal over for her inspection.

Effie thumbed the red circle in her hands, trying to bring herself to turn it over to see what insignia lay imprinted on the other-side. But she already knew there could only be one emblem that would capture Ness' attention so specially. So before she had even gone on to caress the raised face of the seal in her dainty fingers and confirm it with her own sight, she understood who had summoned her.

For imprinted in the wax with the finest craftsmanship was a perfect image of a Wolf.

"It can't be," Effie said after a few moments still staring at the seal, although she knew that it made perfect sense.

Ness waited and watched Effie some more. He expected to see anger, shock, guilt – a combination of any feelings that would give her away.

"Do you think he will be back?" Effie pleaded to Ness, who took her desperation as fear.

"We're unsure how he got into the building before, but I promise you he won't get near you again..."

"But the Regatta..." Effie said, as if at once remembering that he had indeed requested for her by name.

"This can stay between you and I, Detective Morgan won't know about this and he can't make you go..."

"But..." Effie said almost panicked but couldn't finish her sentence because another sharp burst of pain rang through her skull, sending her doubling over on the bed.

"Shit, you must have drunk some mighty bad stuff last night," Ness cursed as he watched the hang-over effects of bathtub produced alcohol rake her small frame, "I'm going to call a doctor in..."

"That's really unnecessary..."

"Some of this home-made product can be pretty awful, I should have been more careful. Just lie down and let me get you help."

Ness clenched his jaw at the protective feelings he was having for someone who was as far as he was concerned a key suspect in one of the most notorious criminal operations of his time.

"Ness, I..."

"Don't worry right now. Just try and get some rest and I'll be back before you know it."

***

Effie had gone to rinse her mouth out after being made to throw up for the third time since the doctor had arrived.

"Tis the best way to rid it from her system, she should be fine in the morning," the Doctor reassured Ness who was feeling uncomfortable about the whole situation, "If that is all then..."

"Actually before you go, she is pretty scared at the moment. I remember last time you came you also had that German potion that could help one sleep."

"Ah, the Sodium Amytal will cost you," the Doctor cautioned, pulling out a small vial of a white, crystalline liquid.

Ness promptly produced some notes that seemed to appease the Doctor, who handed over the concoction all too willingly.

"She must be special then," the satisfied Doctor remarked, packing up his things as he prepared to exit.

"Just another agent," Ness quickly refuted as Effie re-entered the room and went to lie down on the mattress again.

"Yes, yes, very much like Alice," the Doctor commented on Effie's movements before giving Ness a playful nudge and leaving their company.

The comparison brought Ness to his senses that the sun was setting and it was no longer appropriate for him to remain in a room alone with a woman as she was preparing to sleep. His involvement with her had already gone too far and he was never going to get any information if he kept becoming confused by her mere presence.

"Take a sip of this before you sleep and you should be fine. I will see you in the morning," Ness said passing the vial to Effie before hurriedly making his way to the door.

"Ness-" Effie called after him, causing him to change his course at the sound of her sweet enchantment, "Can you stay with me?"

Ness did not know what wickedness this woman was and he had no idea if the innocent figure on the bed had any conception of the effect she was having over him in that moment – but it was beyond him to deny her request.

"Just for a little bit until I fall asleep," Effie continued her siren's call as Ness made his way over and took his seat at the foot of the mattress.

The room started to become dark and the light beam from the small cell window crept further and further up the wall and into oblivion. The stillness of the space and quietness of the hour got Ness thinking that he had taken the wrong direction with Effie before. There were more mysteries closer to home that he could uncover even if she did not remember the previous night.

"Why did you take this job?" Ness asked, unable in the dim light to observe if his question had incited the reaction of anger, shock and guilt that he predicted earlier out of Effie.

He did hear her sit up in the bed though and as if recited off a script she responded, "To stop the moral degradation of society that is the illicit sale of alcohol."

"But that's not all," Ness probed, knowing he was onto something.

"And of course I wanted to see a speakeasy, but that's as far as my personal interest goes."

Whether it was intentional or not, Ness had been leaning in closer and closer to Effie who was now sitting pinned up against the wall at the head-end of the bed. Ness' face stopped a few inches from hers for fear that if he moved any closer he would lose the little peripheral vision of her movements that he had.

He wasn't sure if it was the encroaching darkness, the limited space confining them together or the peculiarity of her natural musk that appealed to him so. However, something was giving him the push to go further than he ever intended with his questioning.

"Have you ever been a gambling doll?" Ness could tell her pulse was increased and that her chest was rising and falling at a faster rate than previously.

"No, never," she sang with the sweetest breath on his face.

"Well let me explain to you what a bluff is," Ness said as he put his hands on the edge of the sheet that was sitting just above her cleavage, "Would you believe me if I told you that I would rip this sheet off you and let you freeze in here for the night?"

"I'd say your lying," Effie spoke in barely more than a whisper.

"You mean, "bluffing,"' Ness corrected her as he removed his hands off her with such suddenness that Effie felt their absence so strongly.

"You think I am bluffing?" Effie inquired, her tone steady and not giving away any sign that her confidence was not matched to Ness' at that moment.

"I think you are deceiving us as to your intentions with the Bureau," Ness stated, sitting back comfortably so he was still close to her but not so much that her gravity threatened to trap him.

"We both want to find the same man," Effie stated, as she had on her first day.

"The Wolf," Ness uttered his name as if he had a slight intolerance to the word.

"Yes."

"But we both don't want to find him for the same reasons, now do we," Ness said, coming to the truth of it all.

"We both want to stop him from running this illegal alcohol ring," Effie countered skillfully.

"Oh I don't just intend to stop him,doll,I intend to kill him for what he has done," Ness said not knowing the truth of the words himself, yet producing the intended reaction out of Effie who had gulped hard and stopped her confident display.

Ness lent forward and gripped his hands lightly around both her wrists that lay at her side in a small gesture of comfort but mostly a display of power, "Now tell me who this Wolf is to you."

"I don't even know for sure if it is him!"

"If he is who?"

"I just remember last night seeing these blue eyes, he had such intense blue eyes as well..."

"Are you telling me the Wolf has blue eyes? Is that a positive ID from the man you were with last night?"

"But I don't remember much of his face, all I know is that it looked different and it couldn't be him, I could have imagined the blue eyes for all I know!"

"Who else has blue eyes Effie?" Ness pressed, holding her wrists tighter in his fists.

"He did."

"But who is HE?" Ness raised his voice, becoming impatient, shaking her arms now.

"James," Effie blurted out, "James Davidson."

"And this James Davidson is a criminal?" Ness pressured her.

"No!"

"Then you are a criminal?" Ness continued further, now holding her arms up as if shackled in front of her face.

"I am not!"

"Then you better start explaining yourself because none of this is making any sense!"

Effie was shaking now and Ness couldn't tell if it was still caused by the bad alcohol or if his physical dominance was really affecting her in such a profound way. His earlier concern for her well-being was suspended though by his ever-growing need to discover the true identity of the criminal who had consumed his life for the past two years.

"James was a childhood.... friend," Effie said between deep breathes, "He went off to the War and I never saw him again. His family never got a telegram so we never knew what happened to him although they all presumed him dead."

Ness' dark brow furrowed as this story was not going where he expected. He became self-conscious at the fact that he had grabbed Effie so brutally and placed her arms down gently at her side again.

"Then what made you think he was the Wolf?" Ness puzzled.

Effie was beginning to sob lightly now, "I don't even know. I started seeing newspapers talking about the Wolf," she paused to wipe a tear away, "and I just remembered this game James and I used to play as children where he was the big bad wolf and he would always find a way to catch me. I thought maybe he had come back to us and he was sending us a message."