Chapter Thirty Seven: The Red Bridge

The outside of The Red Bridge was as grand as it had always been. The concrete awning above them was dotted with halogen spot lights, illuminating the smooth pathway that led up the glass revolving door. Jay lingered well within her proximity, matching her step for step as they proceeded towards the huge, muscle bound bouncer clad in a tasteful grey Armani suit alongside the door.

"I thought we needed membership to get in." Jay muttered out the side of his mouth to Maggie. Despite his misgivings on their entrance, he alluded a cocky, confident presence. He looked like he belonged here with these people, like he too was rich and extravagant instead some poor Irish American kid from Canaryville.

"I have membership." Maggie responded, drawing out a slender gold card between her fingers and holding it up for the bouncer to scan. The hand held reader beeped, the little light flashing green before the bouncer gestured for them to step forward into the club. It took them a moment to get through the revolving door before they were thrust into a symphony of loud music. It was dark and sensual, Maggie could feel it vibrating through her bones as she waited for Jay to adjust to the noise, his keen baby blue eyes surveying the interior of the wonderland they had stepped into.

"Should I be concerned that you have membership to a place like this?" Jay asked her, his hand coming to rest on Maggie's back as they wandered slowly through the crowd. It was a possessive gesture, one that Maggie appreciated. He was staking his claim to her, sending off the intentional message that she was off limits and lord help anyone who approached her. Jay hovered less than a step behind her, his brooding presence covering her back as wove her way past the groupings of people.

"Oskar used to bring me here." Maggie responded, her mind rolling over the sights and sounds of the place, drinking them in. "Single men aren't allowed in the club and I was a great solution for that. Catholic girl in a place like this..." Maggie shrugged her dainty shoulders, still peering over the groups of people. "... I think he enjoyed the fact it made me uncomfortable."

"Yea..." Jay agreed as he mapped out the area in his head. He couldn't believe some of the stuff that he was seeing right now. It was like porn but without the barrier of the TV in front of you. He supposed it was meant to be erotic and he could see for some people it really was but he, himself could think of nothing worse then trying to preform in front of a small group of people. He didn't think of himself as the jealous type but the thought of anyone's hands on Erin but his made him what to break something. "...I could see that being his type of thing."

Maggie sundered up to the bar, perching on one of the bar stools before she crossed her lithe legs over one another. Jay followed suit, his lanky body leaning in towards her as she raised one finger to signal to the bartender.

"What's the plan?" he queried, raising his eyebrows as he surveyed the leather waist coat the bartender was wearing over his naked chest.

"We wait." Maggie said before ordering them both a glass of bourbon. Her clever blue eyes strayed towards the silver, curves staircase that led upstairs. Jay raised the bourbon to his lips, savoring the rich taste as he followed her gaze. There was someone coming down them, a curvaceous, cappuccino skinned woman took slow, deliberate steps, her suggestive, emerald eyes searching over the crowd until they came to rest on the pretty brunette sitting along side of him.

"Bingo." he murmured against the exquisite glass in his hand. "Do you want to me to play the bodyguard or the boyfriend?"

Maggie's eyes narrowed as she took in the sashay of the other woman's hips, that smile playing across her full glossy lips as those eyes focused on hers. She had to pick a play right now, one that work for her in this situation, one that the woman who knew her as Magdalena Murphy would believe.

"Bodyguard." Maggie told him, taking a quick sip of her bourbon. "She'll blow cold on the boyfriend angle."

"Bodyguard it is." Jay said lowering his glass and placing it on the leather coaster in front of him and squaring his shoulders in order to make himself look more formidable.

Maggie rose to her feet, her spine straightening until she was standing at her full height, her shoulders back and chin up. Her face practically changed in front of his eyes, her expression went from consummate professional to something more sultry. It felt like he was witnessing something deeply personal, something that should only be reserved for Antonio.

"Magdalena, long time no see." The other woman greeted her, her lips pressing against Maggie's. The kiss was practically sinful, the other woman's fingers tangled in her shorter jaw length tresses as she drew her even closer.

At least he knew why boyfriend wasn't an option. Maggie pulled away, her thumb smoothing across her own lower lip to remove the smudged red lipstick.

"Eve, I missed you too." she responded, tilting her head towards the bar. "Let me buy you a drink."

Eve took a seat alongside Maggie, her emerald eyes flicking up to Jay who remained stationary in his seat, the glass of bourbon clasped between his hands.

"Whose the boy toy?" she asked, a dark eyebrow quirking as the left side of her mouth turned down into an unhappy smile

"He's the muscle." Maggie said with a cool glance over her shoulder. Jay raised his glass in a salute to the both of them before Maggie turned her attention back to Eve. "He's here to keep an eye out for me."

Eve indicated to the bartender who appeared with yet another two bourbons, she picked up her glass, her glittering fingernail playing along the rim.

"I called you after the job with Oskar went south." Eve told her, her gaze downcast. "You never returned my calls."

Maggie took a sip from her own glass, feeling that pleasant burn lingering in the pit of her stomach. She let it roll over her before she let those thoughts of Antonio slip away. There was no Antonio in Magdalena's life, there just that crushing emptiness that had swallowed her up whole, it had made her turn to Eve after that first year alone.

"I had to get out of town for a little while." Maggie submitted, her own gaze turning distant. "You heard what happened to Gregor?"

Eve glanced up curiously, swilling her bourbon so that the ice cubes clinked together.

"He was found dead in one of the back offices, not long after that Oskar was killed in Gen Pop." Eve murmured before her penetrating eyes came to rest upon Maggie, there was a moment of silence as the other woman swallowed hard. "That was you?"

Maggie nodded slowly, holding the glass tightly in her hand. She could feel the hard ridges of it pinching into her skin. The memories of Gregor's hands wrapped around her throat, squeezing the life out of her were still as vivid as the day that it had happened. She could still feel her skin crawl as his beefy fingers tore at her blouse.

"He tried to take something that didn't belong to him." Maggie whispered, peering at Eve through the loose strands of her chestnut hair. "There was a letter opener on the desk."

Eve reached out, her fingertips lightly brushing Maggie's hair back behind her ear, before she cupped her chin and guided Maggie's gaze back to hers.

"It was him or you." Eve told her fiercely. "Never be sorry about defending yourself against a monster like that."

Maggie took a sip from her glass of bourbon, draining it before putting the glass back down on the bar.

"I don't feel sorry for that." Maggie said quietly, her pretty blue eyes sweeping up to meet Eve's emerald ones. "I feel sorry for leaving things the way I did between the two of us."

"It's water under the bridge." Eve dismissed with a wave of her hand, her dark lashes lowering as she smiled sadly. "You needed someone and I was there."

Maggie sighed out loud. Hadn't that been the truth. Eve had been the first person to show her a shred of warmth after a year of going it alone. There was a special place in her heart for the other woman despite what she did for a living.

"I kind of need your help again." Maggie revealed, removing her phone from her her black clutch before flicking through it until she reached a picture of their suspect. "You know him?"

Eve's fine eyebrows creased into a frown as she used her fingers to enlarge the image before rolling her eyes.

"It's one of my bartenders." she informed Maggie, before shaking her head. "More trouble than he's worth."

"You got an employee file on him?" Maggie questioned, that familiar spark of excitement beginning to pulse through her.

"Yea." Eve nodded before draining her glass and returning it to the bar. "Wait here a sec and I'll grab it for you."

Maggie could feel Jay's presence once more, hovering over her shoulder before she rotated her stool towards him. His amused blue eyes glittered as he spoke.

"So you had a girlfriend for a while?" he questioned, nodding his approval.

"Sometimes it's about the right person at the right time." Maggie said with the shrug of her shoulders. "And back then when I was undercover, Eve was the right person."

"I'm not judging." Jay said truthfully holding up his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just interested."

"If we could keep it between the two of us..." Maggie requested, dreading the thought of those rumors floating around the station house.

"No one else needs to know about your hot girlfriend." Jay teased her before straightening his spine and making his face impassive as Eve returned with a brown manila file clasped in her hand.

"This is everything I have on Terry." she told Maggie as she handed her the file.

"Thank you." Maggie said earnestly before pressing a feather light kiss to the other woman's cheek.

File in hand, both Jay and her rose to their feet before disappearing into the night.