Chapter Text
“I’ll have the same again” Harry wearily gestured to the bartender as he banged his empty glass on the bar. He removed his hat and ran his hand through his perpetually tousled hair. The burn of the whiskey he had thrown down his throat felt good, but it was not enough.
“Rough night huh?” the bartender shot him a knowing look as she took Harry’s glass and poured him another drink
“Another night, another dead body,” Harry shrugged.
She slid his glass back to him “That one’s on the house”
Harry looked at her properly then for the first time. She definitely wasn’t your typical bartender. She had long plaited hair and wore black suspenders over a white shirt and a lip ring. She had a self-assured confidence about her.
“That’s unnecessary Miss?...” Harry trailed off
She cocked her head to the side and held out her hand “It’s Jada”
“Nice to meet you Jada. It’s Harry” Harry reached out and gave her hand a firm shake.
.
“And I insist Jada continued giving Harry a once-over. We have never had a detective here before.”
Harry smiled at that and gave a slight chuckle “Clothes were a dead-giveaway?”
Jada nodded looking at Harry with mock pity “I’m afraid so.”
Harry sighed looking down at his drink. “I normally don’t drink but I needed something to take the edge off,”.
“Well, you came to the right place Jada turned to the illuminated back bar to grab another bottle. And stick around for our main act. She's an incredible singer. Might chase those blues away,” Jada winked as she went to serve another customer at the end of the bar.
“Yes, maybe” Harry mumbled looking back down at the drink in his hand
It was a jazzy and relaxed atmosphere in the smoke-filled club that night.
Marisol’s was a more high-end establishment than Harry was used to.
The times he usually stepped into clubs, they were seedy, run-down joints where a suspect he was on the lookout for hung out at.
Harry knew he stood out in his tattered trench-coat and fedora among the more glamorously attired patrons but he didn’t care.
Behind his perch on top of a stool at the bar, the patrons were all smiling and chatting, sitting either at small candlelit tables or on the plush booths that lined the walls at both ends of the club
A small band playing on stage entertained them. The smooth, soulful tunes of the band added to the intimacy.. None of it, the relaxed atmosphere, the music nor the whiskey helped to tame the turmoil brewing inside Detective Harry Greenwood.
Harry didn’t normally drink during the week. Neither would he normally go to a club but today had been a trying one. He needed something to calm his frazzled nerves. He was used to coming across all kinds of things in his line of work but a murder he’d come across earlier in the month had affected him more than usual.
Harry stared at the brown liquid in his glass as if it held all the answers he was looking for.
Harry always wanted to see the good in people but he was losing faith in humanity and in his line of work.
He lifted the glass of whiskey and closed his eyes resting his head against the cool glass.
Lost in his thoughts he vaguely heard from behind him a voice speak into a microphone and a loud cheer go up from the crowd as applause rang out.
He opened his eyes then as the applause gradually died down moving the glass of whiskey to his eyeline.
“At least this will make it all go away for a while” Harry tried to convince himself as he brought the glass to his lips.
“At last my love has come along,” a sultry voice rang out
Harry froze then his heart thudding in his chest
My lonely days are over and life is like a song, oh yeah
He turned then the drink forgotten on the bar to look at where the source of that voice came from
The patrons sitting at their tables were all quiet now their attention focused on the stage
The stage where the spotlight was shining on an exquisite beauty clutching a microphone.
An exquisite beauty with the voice of an angel.
The woman was in a floor length black gown.
Her hair was up with curls falling to frame the sides of her face.
Her eyes were lit up as she swayed on stage
There was something ethereal about her like she was from another world
He couldn’t move, held captive by her voice, like he had fallen under a spell she had cast on him
It was an indescribable feeling but her voice moved him in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time.
A sense of calm washed over him.
When the song had finished her captive audience gave her a thundering ovation. Harry in a daze clapped so hard he felt his hands hurt. He felt moisture on his face and lifting his hand to his cheek he realised tears had fallen.
He touched one looking at it on his finger in disbelief.
“She is incredible isn’t she,”
Harry jumped slightly as he had not noticed one of the well-attired patrons had walked up beside him
“Yes she is, who is she?” Harry asked moving his eyes back to her on stage as she blew a kiss to the crowd not wanting to take his eyes off her for a second.
“You haven’t heard of Macy?” the man stared at Harry in disbelief
“I don't get out much” Harry muttered regretfully
“Well, she’s highly in demand. She only performs here three times a week. I’m so glad I didn’t miss it,” the man bounced up and down beside him, his eyes wide in enthusiasm.
“You don’t say,” said Harry absently as the man rushed off.
As she left the stage, Harry was still on a high.
A voice so alluring it had awoken a passion in him.
Those few minutes had not been enough.
He needed to see her again..