Delicate Touches Pt. 05

"Maybe one more," Nicki's fingers rested on the third button.

Mei Lin merely smiled and when Nicki undid the third button she still didn't flinch.

"Okay, that'll do," she stepped back.

"How do you want me?"

"Sultry," Nicki raised the camera.

A few minutes later Nicki packed the laptop into her knapsack and prepared to leave but then had to come back into her room to fetch the SD card.

Keep your eye on the ball for fuck's sake!

***

The Melbourne Magistrates Court sits adjacent to a block on William Street that is known as the legal district, which houses the Federal Court, Childrens Court, and Family Court, along with the Royal Mint. With so many high profile targets within such a small area, there is a high security and upon entering certain buildings one is faced with the inevitable metal detectors and bag searches. It was a building that evoked certain memories in Mei Lin's mind, most of which were from television footage shot outside the building showing a gangland figure arriving at court.

She glanced over at Stella who was chatting with a burly sergeant as a policewoman wrote on a piece of paper. Mei Lin's bag was just beside her, a numbered tag was attached to the handles and she looked at the receipt in her hand as she memorised the number. It was a subtle distraction due to the fact she felt drawn to the policewoman. She looked to be in her mid twenties with shortish blonde hair and a curvaceous figure but it was her pleasant demeanour and overall friendliness that most endeared her to Mei Lin.

She glanced at the other items on the desk. They'd detoured via a newsagent to pick up a can of Coke, a carton of cigarettes, and a 'stick book.' The sergeant eyed the lurid cover with undisguised amusement as Stella calmly announced they were going into the 'hole' to see Danny.

"Not with that book I hope, he'll be in no fit state to plead, or is that your secret weapon?"

"Not likely, Sean," she took out the cigarettes and the Coke, "I'm leaving them in his property but we'll take the Coke with us."

"Oh," his eyes flickered to Mei Lin as he registered that she was with Stella, "you're not her usual offsider."

"I'm breaking her in," Stella chuckled, "be nice to her for fuck's sake, we won't be long."

"Is that so," Sean studied Mei Lin, "okay, miss, you can leave your handbag here. Do you have anything in your pockets that could be used for other purposes?"

"Let me handle this one, sweetcheeks," Stella turned to Mei Lin, "lose the watch and the shiny jewellery," she flicked at her hair, "and hairpins as well."

"What about the belt?" Mei Lin asked her.

"The belt's fine," Stella pushed at the cuff but it was too tight and so she undid one of the buttons to get access to the watch while Mei Lin removed the hairpins. Once she'd dropped the watch into Mei Lin's handbag she nodded and tapped her cheek gently.

"Follow my lead and do exactly as I say and you'll be fine."

Mei Lin snapped out of her reverie as the sergeant took a step back and opened a door for them, he smiled at Mei Lin.

"You'll be fine, remember, don't feed the animals."

Mei Lin felt her heart was in her mouth as she followed Stella down a couple of levels to the holding cell, one of several on this sub basement level. This cell had twenty five men sitting on benches attached to the wall. Their hands had been handcuffed and attached to smaller chains dangling from the benches. Mei Lin avoided their intense gazes and the murmured aside from one man.

"Who's the slope?"

Mei Lin focused instead on the graffiti.

Johnno sucks dead dog's dicks. All coppers are cunts. Bend over and I'll drive you homo.

She came back to herself a split second later as Stella moved towards one man who'd risen to greet her. Twenty four others imagined the two women going down on each other and Stella's eyes flickered to her right where a man was rubbing his balls. Danny followed her gaze and a moment later he spoke.

"Jacko," he nodded at a shaven man in a black shirt.

Jacko grinned as he nudged the masturbating man.

"Hey, Romeo."

The man stopped what he was doing and turned. Jacko's head snapped forward and connected with his nose with a sickening crack. The man yelled as blood spurted over his white shirt, Jacko grinned through broken teeth as he continued.

"If you touch your cock once more I'm gonna make you a gelding," he turned and winked at Stella, "Romeo's been a bad boy, miss but he promises to be a good little Hobbit now."

Blood was still spurting from Romeo's nose. A uniformed officer stepped up to the cell door and stared inside.

"What the fuck are you cunts up to now?"

"Romeo did himself a mischief, sir with a cee," Jacko calmly announced.

The officer stared at Romeo and then Danny.

"He won't stop wanking, sir. I'm trying to have a talk with my lawyer," Danny spoke up.

"Jesus fucking Christ," the officer unlocked the door, "why'd you have to head butt him? He's due in court in two hours."

"Not guilty your honour," Jacko grinned, "isn't that right, Romeo?"

Romeo however wasn't talking, he was trying to hold his head back to stem the bleeding as he was unshackled from the chain and led out.

"Sorry about that," Danny spoke as the cell door slammed shut, "hope you don't faint at the sight of blood."

"No but I nearly fucking fainted when you changed your plea," she held out the Coke for him, "how am I supposed to plead your fucking case when you switch like that. I've left you a carton of Peter Jackson and a stick book, but you and I need to talk about your plea."

"I'm not fucking going inside again, for fuck's sake, Stella, try to look at it from my side, I've got an ex wife who doesn't want to see me, a daughter who does and a missus who's probably fucking someone else by now."

Stella opened her mouth just as Mei Lin stepped forward and buttoned his top button.

"You should listen to her though," she murmured, "I'm just her assistant but she is trying to plead your case, don't you want to get out to see your daughter?"

Stella's eyes shifted as he looked down. Mei Lin was pushing his tie upwards.

"How old is your daughter?"

"Nearly sixteen."

"How long will he get if he pleads guilty?" Mei Lin asked her.

"Five to seven," Stella replied, "and if you name your co-conspirator I can have it dropped to four."

"Which I can't do, you know how it is."

"I sure do, but right now you're looking at fifteen years and there is a big difference between five and fifteen."

Danny hesitated as Mei Lin stepped back.

"Five?"

"Five to seven, as long as you do your time peacefully, no hitting, no biting, and definitely no killing."

"Not even rock spiders?" Jacko spoke up.

"Leave the paedos to some young buck out to make a name for himself," she tapped his cheek lightly, "I have to go talk to the other team now but I need something to throw at them."

"Fine I'll do it," he sighed, "I'll hang for it."

"How the fuck did you do it?" Stella asked her some fifteen minutes later as they made their way to a man sitting on a bench, "you said absolutely fuck all, scratch that, you said the same things I said two days ago but he listened to you instead."

"Maybe it's like you said this morning," she replied, "it was just my presence that changed his mind."

"Yeah I know but not even I thought it would work."

"I freaked out with that Romeo guy though."

"It's not his real name," Stella slipped a hand into the crook of her arm, "his real name is Alan and Romeo is a slang term for a rapist but he's not a rock spider though so he's in with the mainstream prisoners."

"What's a rock spider?"

"A paedophile, it's jail slang," she came to a halt at a low stone wall where a balding man with a Starbucks coffee and a cigarette sat talking to someone on the phone.

Mei Lin was about to ask what was the similarity between rock spiders and paedophiles when her phone beeped and she stopped to look at the new notification. It was a new follower and she smiled as she recognised the name, Richard, the intern from work and thus she didn't catch the casual banter between Stella and the man sitting on the wall.

"Well, well, well, fancy meeting you here."

"What're the chances, Dennis," she smiled, "I've got good news and bad news."

"Give me the good news first," he sat down again.

"He's going to plead guilty on armed robbery but he's not going to give up his mate."

"Well, I had to hope," he grimaced, "let's hope he's not back dooring Danny's missus because we might have a murder to investigate."

"He's not a back door merchant, is he?" Stella pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her handbag.

"How do you think he got his current missus? When Mick went out the front door to check on his street dealers, Paul came in the back door and knocked up his wife. If the drug squad hadn't thrown him inside when they did, Mick might have cut off more than Brocky's dick," Dennis stopped as Mei Lin joined them.

"This is Mei Lin, my secret weapon," Stella introduced her, "Senior Sergeant Dennis Hanrahan, my opposite number in this case. Mei Lin is the one who convinced Danny to plead guilty."

"Is that right?" Dennis regarded her for a moment, "you ever consider batting for the other team young lady?"

"Dennis," Stella frowned, "stop poaching my staff."

"Can't blame a man for trying," he grinned, "okay, I'll see you in court then, nice meeting you Mei Lin, keep up the good work."

"He's a top bloke," Stella commented, "but he's as shifty as a shithouse rat. I lost two good junior clerks because he made them an offer they couldn't refuse, he even bedded one of them."

"He was checking me out though."

"Yeah well, it goes with the territory, sweetie. I get mentally undressed by men dozens of times every day, if I let that get to me I'd be a fucking basket case," she turned and squinted down the street as a tram cruised past.

"I have to go to court. You can go back to your assigned role," she took a drag of the cigarette, "but don't sign in on the computer, I'll log you in myself seeing as you've already started work."

She glanced down as Mei Lin's phone beeped again.

"Another follower?"

"Um," she touched the screen, "yeah, it's Richard, the new intern?" Mei Lin tapped the screen, "he thinks I look beautiful."

"Well that's better than watching Romeo wank over you," she chuckled, "I'll be in court for the next two hours or so but I should be back for lunch," she took out her own phone.

"And after your sterling effort today lunch is on me, keep up the good work. You handled yourself well in there, I've had older women in that cell who couldn't hack it. Who knows, you might even make a good lawyer if you're ever motivated to sit the bar exam."

They parted a minute or so later and Mei Lin felt her self esteem rising with every step.

Could I be a lawyer?

She took out her phone to check her status and then she saw Nicki had uploaded yet another picture of her in the red tie she was wearing now. She smiled crookedly and sent it to Stevie's Instagram. The comment came through as she was walking into work, a series of love hearts and the comment, Cool chic!

***

Linda unbuttoned her blouse while Caroline heated the oil. The planned massage session had taken three weeks to arrange with both of them cancelling twice before she'd finally bitten the bullet and just cancelled her own appointments for a day. Granted the massage session was only an hour out of the day but she needed time to sort through paperwork now that her partner had finally decided to move in with another woman. He'd been pissing around for too long, unsure if he should take the plunge. The irony wasn't lost on Linda or her girlfriends. He'd been screwing her for six weeks after their 'breakup' but seemed to think that he could still hang around like a bad smell. What was it about men that they could just move on and leave everything in tatters?

She removed the blouse just as Caroline turned around.

"The skirt too?" Linda looked down at the three quarter length skirt.

"Just take off the belt," Caroline replied, "I'm just working on your back so all I might need to do is pull the skirt over your bum."

"I can't believe it's taken so long," Linda undid the first buckle.

"Shit happens," she shrugged, "I'm as much to blame, I had two clients who changed appointments and one who just cancelled."

"Yeah," but I could have done last week if that bastard ex of mine hadn't suddenly decided to have a heart to heart about his need for intimacy," she undid the second buckle to reveal the elastic waistband.

"He's trying to be the sensitive new age guy?" Caroline grinned.

"Gary? That'd be the fucking day," she sat on the bed, "he reads an article in Cleo and a few days later he comes out with some paragraph he memorised by rote and tries to pretend he thought it all up by himself," she swung around and laid down on her stomach.

"That's what you get for staying away from meetings for too long, you either get drunk or you make stupid decisions."

"And you're going to meetings now?"

"Three a week right now," she leaned on her elbows, "more if I can find the time."

"Fancy going to one tonight?"

"Where?"

"Saint Albans," she rose from the chair and wheeled the trolley over to the bed, "it's a bit of a hike but it's worth the drive. They've got some good long term sobriety there," she undid Linda's bra.

"There'd be some hard drinkers out that way."

"Yeah, there is. A few of the old Painters and Dockers go there," she dribbled warm oil on her back, "now there's a crew you wouldn't want to fuck with even on a good day."

"Didn't know they were still a thing."

"The union's no longer registered but once a Painter and Docker always a Painter and Docker, the only acceptable excuse for resigning is a pine box."

"Now that's an idea."

"What?" Caroline asked as she started spreading the oil, "the pine box or a meeting?"

"The second one," she propped her forehead on her arms, "although I've got a lot to do this arvo, what with the lease papers to sign, shopping, and general housework. Now that my arsehole ex has decided to move into his new girlfriend's love nest he seems to have forgotten about housework along with a lot of other shit."

"Well I can always change meetings," she mused, "so, you're going to take on the lease yourself?"

"It's either that or find another rental," she sighed.

"What about Stella's place? She's still got a spare room."

"Is that still going?" Linda frowned, "I remember mentioning it the first time I met her out at the Ringwood meeting, although back then I still wasn't sure which way I was going to turn with the joint I've got now."

"Yeah, it's still going. She's got two boarders but there's at least one other room she could rent out, she's keeping one spare room as an office. It might be a better idea to be honest, I know she doesn't use the home office that much, perhaps you could pay a bit extra for half the rent on the office and claim it back on your tax."

Linda groaned at that and Caroline paused.

"Is it painful?"

"Yeah but it's not that kind of pain," she sighed, "it's mental, I've been going over the figures and trying to reconcile my business and personal accounts, trying to make this work and you just drop a pearl of wisdom like that. This is why I need to keep doing meetings."

"Well it just makes sense, the surgery you work at isn't that far from Elwood. You could even take public transport to work and save more money, plus you'd be living with another member so that's another bonus for both of you."

"Jesus fucking Christ," she sighed, "fuck, what have I been thinking?"

"The same as the rest of us, it's all about me, me, and in case you're wondering it's all about me," she chuckled.

"I should call her," Linda replied a moment later, "I might even try to catch up with her in town or at least duck in after work, which would mean I might make this meeting with you."

"One thing at a time," Caroline began to massage her shoulders, "massage first, phone call next."

Linda smirked at that as she let Caroline work her magic.

***

Mei Lin looked away from the monitor as her phone beeped. She had been inputting data into forms for the last three hours that would form the basis for a new database that had been set up for the new immigration assistance service. She tapped the screen and read the text.

Linda: Hiya, I've been trying to contact Stella about a personal matter but her phone's gone through to voicemail, sent a text but I'd like to speak to her today if possible. Can you please let her know, if you're at work that is, otherwise I'll just keep on trying. Linda. X

Mei Lin tapped the dial icon and picked the phone up at the same time. It was answered on the first ring.

"Mei Lin, that was quick, I've just sent the message."

"I know, I was working."

"Sorry," Linda sat on the bed.

"That's fine, she's been at court but had to duck into a meeting, I'm going out for lunch with her today though. What's up?"

"I'm, just ask if she's still thinking of renting out that other room and if so, could I meet up with her after work somewhere to discuss it?"

"Okay," Mei Lin nudged her glasses, "I'm pretty sure she is but it's not up to me, I'll certainly tell her though, how are things with you?"

"Stressful but I'm relaxed now," she squeezed a shoulder, "just been for a massage."

"Ooh, I would love one of them, I have bad pains in my shoulders and neck."

"Well I can recommend a good masseuse," she grinned at Caroline, "okay, I gotta finish dressing but thanks for this, I really appreciate it."

Mei Lin had just put the phone down when Stella swept into the room with the phone to her ear.

"Yeah, that's right. Cancel the fucking appointment until he's out of hospital, if he's on morphine we won't get an intelligible statement from him."

She put the phone down as she reached Mei Lin's desk.

"God that meeting was a fucking marathon, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse and chase the jockey," she dumped her briefcase on Mei Lin's desk, "you up for an early lunch?"

"Um, yeah," she glanced at the monitor, "although I haven't finished this form yet but I can save it and come back to it. Linda just called, she's been trying to reach you."

"Linda? Linda?" Stella stared into the near distance, "oh, Linda, yeah I got a text message saying she needs to talk to me."

"She wants to know about the spare bedroom," Mei Lin saved the form and clicked the mouse, "she sounded stressed out."

"Join the club," she took out her personal phone, "when did she call?"

"About two minutes ago," she pushed back from the chair, "um, about logging my time, do you do it now or afterwards?"

"I'll do it now," their eyes met as she scrolled through her messages, "now that I'm here. Save your work and log out, I can do it from this computer."

"I'll go to the toilet then."

"Fine," she moved around the desk and raised the phone to her ear, "hiya, Linda. Sorry I couldn't answer your call I've been tied up in court and a meeting all morning, what's up?"

Mei Lin rose and grabbing her handbag, headed across the open plan office as Stella continued. So Linda was thinking of moving in? She frowned as she skirted around desks. If Stella agreed then it might be beneficial to her as well, having a qualified therapist in the house. She reached the toilet door just as the door next to it opened and Richard stepped out. The two of them eyed each other and Richard ran a hand through his hair and smiled.

"Fancy meeting you here," he smiled.

"Ha ha, fancy that. It must be a coincidence."

"I loved your pictures."

"Thanks," she smiled, "Nicki took them but I did pose for them," she opened the door but Richard was still standing there looking flustered.