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sentimental-solution — GREEN DOOR CORNER - the story of a cafe - part 3
Published: 2020-02-09 13:11:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 336; Favourites: 3; Downloads: 0
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Description Five hours later, Jenna entered the café again feeling ready for anything. This time she was dressed in a casual business skirt suit. Blue with a white blouse. Clean, her hair professional and just a touch of make-up. She was even wearing heels, something you normally don't do working the café. Crying had released most of her tension and she was ready to take on the world. That turned out to be a good thing since Detective Jenford was waiting for her. There was just a few customers in the café, Christina the writer was sitting in a corner with her usual cappuccino, apple cake and laptop. Then there were Gavin and Dave who were having a light meal.

Helen saw Jenna come in and she regarded her superior's smile with relief before she turned back to the detective.
"You'll have to ask her, officer," Helen said and Jenford turner to look at Jenna.
"I'd like to have a few words with you and your friends if I may," he said. "Can you close up a few minutes?" Jenna saw Helen wince. She knew how Jenna felt about that.

"Sure, it sounds important. Do we still have that be right back sign, Helen?"
"Sure," Helen nodded and then she glanced over to Christina. "How about?"
"She won't bother," Jenna assured. "She never listens in, she just writes, writes, writes. Totally engrossed in her own world, I suppose she'd miss the nuclear holocaust because the need to tie up a chapter. Christina Rein, perhaps you know her?"
"All right then," Will Jenford nodded. "But only because my daughter reads her books."
"I'm sure you can have her autograph for the girl if you ask nicely," Helen whispered.

Then she turned, going back to the storeroom for the sign.
"And these men have things to tell, I take it," Jenford added and turned to Gavin and Dave.
"Yes, they were here and heard the threats," Jenna nodded.
"Then let's go sit down by their table," the detective suggested.

Jenna made coffee for everyone and had them delivered to the table as Helen walked past with the sign. She hung it and shut the door and came over to the table where Jenna had brought the detective. He looked over at Dave.
"Normally I'd just want to speak to the ladies involved, but am I right in assuming you are friends?" David and Gavin glanced at Jenford and nodded.
"Yes," Dave replied, "although we'd just met them yesterday."
"Am I also correct in thinking you are the man who runs Cobra Security?" Jenford then asked Dave, who nodded. Jenna blinked, she'd never heard of Cobra Security.

"He actually IS Cobra Security," Gavin said. The cop hummed and gazed at Gavin for a moment, as if recognizing him then shifting his attention back to Dave.
"Before I go into what I have found out, would you tell me what you know, sir? I'm hoping your sources might have some information that would make me feel a bit better about this thing."

Dave shook his head, pulling out a notebook.
"I doubt it, but here we go. I followed the guy in the vest when he left here. He took the tube a few stations and stepped off in Gidea Park, visiting a place called The Sesame. He was inside for about an hour and then he came out together with two other men. They rode the tube again, back here and then they stopped in front of an apartment on Birch Street."

Hearing that Helen felt herself stiffen.
"18 Birch Street?" she asked. Dave nodded. Helen's hand on Jenna's shoulder was shaking and Jenna covered it with her own.
"I live there," she said softly. Dave's lips went back in a slight sneer of anger and he glanced at the cop. The detective looked at Jenna, who pointed to the ceiling.
"I live upstairs." There was silence for a few minutes. Then detective Jenford cleared his throat.

"Do you have anything more Mr. Towers?" Jenford asked. Dave thought about it and then he shook his head.
"I waited and followed the threesome back home again. I came back here after that."
"Where did they go?" Gavin asked before the detective did. Dave leaned back in his chair and squinted out the remaining window. He pointed.
"About four blocks that way, across the street. It looks like they are still there. At least according to my man in a car outside." Everyone glared at him except the cop. He smiled a little. Dave raised his hands in protest to the glares.
"Look, they aren't doing anything wrong at the moment and this way I know where they are. Calm down!" Jenna stifled a smile. Gavin snorted but gave his friend a look before turning back to everyone.
"Could you tell us what is going on, officer. I think these ladies, Dave and I are quite nervous enough now."

Jenford nodded his head.
"Ok, the man in the vest is Ivan 'Jet' Gulonov," he began ominously. "He works for the newest, wet-behind-the-ears boss of the Draco Family."
"Russian mob?" Gavin arched a brow.
"Yes," Jenford agreed. "This new boss is a punk who got the job by accident as far as we can tell. He is trying to silence all dissent by coming down hard and vicious on anyone crosses him. He thinks it will help his reputation. So when you ladies unknowingly insulted his punk nephews, he sent Jet over to give a warning. Normally that would be it except the cop who helped you yesterday mentioned to his desk sergeant that he was going to have to file a report on the punks. Then Jenna went looking for it and there was no report. Whoever works for them in records is now aware that Jenna know something is missing. I believe they are going to try to make the whole incident go away. The new boss is panicking."
"Uh, Detective," Dave spoke up, "that is a little extreme isn't it? Even for a new boss trying to make his name."

Now it was the detective's turn to sigh.
"I would normally agree. But after lunch today I went looking for the officer who helped these ladies yesterday. He never showed up for his watch and he's not at home. This man is a decorated officer and one of the few who is still liked and respected in his neighbourhood. He does not miss his shift." There was a complete silence when he was finished. Jenna lowered her head, as she understood Jenford thought his colleague to be dead. Dave's tough voice had toned down to almost a whisper.
"Would this Russian really do that? Kill a cop? A cop!"

"It is all I can figure until I know otherwise," Jenford responded. "If it's true and that police officer is dead, then Jet and his rogue friends are going to have no problem hitting you ladies. The whole thing seems stupid, but this Konstantin Draco ain't too bright. Besides, as risky as it may be for him, if he pulls this off, no one will mess with him again." As Jenna saw Dave and Gavin nodding, she felt herself beginning to tremble a little. Matching Helen's hand on Jenna's shoulder. This was getting dangerous too fast. And all this for a stupid exchange with some brats outside the café yesterday. She knew where it was going to end up before the detective mentioned it.

******

"Even if they have been following us without me noticing, slim that chance may be, this building is members only, the security is extreme. So they can sit outside all night if they want, they won't get in," Dave told them. Helen and Jenna were still in a state of shock though.

They were riding in a Lincoln stretch limo with blacked-out windows and for the past hour they'd been driving around the city, making sure they weren't followed. The building whose garage they were pulling into was a paradise in the middle of the city, according to Dave. Gavin just smiled at the description.
"Seriously," Dave added. "Even millionaires and other hot shots have problems getting a membership. It is as exclusive as you can get. Prince Charles is one member of the board, the minister of defence another. Which makes it the perfect place to keep you ladies safe. If the detective had wanted to lock you up to keep you safe it would not have been as protected as this place."

Gavin nodded and smiled at them both. Jenna returned his expression a little nervously. This was the strangest thing that could possibly ever have happened to her. She tried to retrace their steps for the last few hours. She'd refused to close early just because it was a rule she have, and the detective and Dave had agreed. Their reasoning was that the mob may have known that they were involving the police, and if Jenna would've closed up café and left, they might have chosen, what the detective called, the explosive option. So he'd allowed them to go where Dave suggested for them to go. Thus they slipped out through the cellar and a back door that was hardly ever used and into the waiting limo. Dave had sent his operative to get a set of clothes and toiletries for Helen while Jenna had been able to get packed at home. She was a little worried about the shape her business would be in when she got back although Dave had reassured her that they were on it. His mischievous smile made her wonder if she wanted to know how.

After this extensive tour through London, where they had broken quite a few traffic regulations to avoid shadowing, and crossed the Thames more times than she cared to count, the limo now drove into an underground garage and pulled up to a red carpet. Seriously, a red carpet! Helen and Jenna stepped up to a set of doors where a man and a woman were waiting. They had a suitcase between them and Helen recognized it.
"That is mine!" she exclaimed.

"Yes Miss," said the young, coloured woman in a Bordeaux red suit. "We picked up your clothes as requested, I choose what I thought you might need. I hope it is to your satisfaction. I'm Cherilyn." She was petite and looked innocent, almost as if she just passed her teens, but now that Jenna was aware what to look for she saw a bulge in Cherilyns' suit that probably indicated a gun. Her partner introduced himself as Spencer.
"Thank you Cherilyn," Helen smiled. "I really appreciate it. I'm told we are dining here. Is there a place where I could change? I don't think my sweaty work clothes are appropriate."

Helen and Jenna were directed to the nearest lavatory. The security checked it first and then the women were allowed in. As they entered Helen turned to the security.
"Hey Cherilyn, is this the kind of place Prince Andrew's teenage mistresses go to?" Cherilyn snorted sarcastically and Jenna and Helen laughed. At least going into hiding had some fun to it.

At dinner Helen and Jenna felt like Cinderella at the ball. As they passed through the reception area, there were people there in the finest clothing and jewellery. They spoke with a sort of accent that didn't come from any specific locale. It was boarding school English, clipped and precise and with attitude and they never spared Helen and Jenna a look as they were shown to a private dining area. There, the waiters' only duty was making sure the two of them were well taken care of.
"So Jenna, do you think I make as much as they do?" Helen asked Jenna during dessert, as she nodded to the retreating servers.
"Not a chance. They make more than you will when you are running your own café." Helen giggled and squeezed her friend's hand. Jenna smiled and nodded, still with a kind of lump in her chest.

After dinner we were escorted up to their rooms. Two guards waited outside their suite, after checking it thoroughly of course. Unlike most hotels Jenna had ever been in, her room was completely different from Helen's. The bathrooms resembled individual spas with garden tubs. Each had different creams and body lotions that seemed to be catered to their separate tastes. Jenna questioned how that could be possible. Not even Dave or Gavin could possibly have known about it.

"Well," Helen replied as they looked out the picture window at a Thames view with the London eye gleaning almost opposite of them. "I figure that Cherilyn or someone else might have had a sneak in my bathroom locker. Some woman can't help themselves from doing that, you know. And Gavin did go up to your apartment with you to get your things."
"Well, aren't we smart," Jenna balled her fist and hit it playfully against her friend's shoulder.

Helen grinned back and rubbed her arm as if it had actually hurt. She was pleased to have come up with a logical answer to her friend's question. Jenna bit her lower lip, remembering being embarrassed by how low-rent she must appear to a man like Gavin Anderson. Her attraction for that man had become stronger and it was becoming a distraction in the midst of these strange happenings.

"When this is over, I suppose I'm going to regret letting a man like Gavin into my flat. Long. Whilst really knowing that he'd forgotten about it after just a week or two," she added thoughtfully as she kept staring at the famous Ferris Wheel.
"Come one, Jenna," Helen returned. "You have to know by now that both men have the serious hots for their barista's charm."
"Seriously, mate," Jenna shook her head. "I've nothing to offer a man like that. Look around!"
"I've seen, I've seen. But still..."
"Still what?"

Helen glanced at Jenna, then took her arm and led her over to the wet bar.
"Look Jenna, just relax!" Helen put some ice in two tumblers; crystal by the looks of them. "Take the money out of it and then see what we have for you." Jenna laughed softly.
"How? That glass probably cost as much as a new outfit. Hell I can't even afford a new outfit right now."

Helen poured a bourbon for Jenna and a vodka tonic for herself.
"Forget about outfits," she said. "Try to even forget about Green Door Corner for a little while now. Pretend you are on holiday. As a matter of fact, you are on holiday. In one of the fancies palaces I believe there are in good old England. Save for the Buckingham of course."
"Speaking of Green Door, I hope this doesn't make the news," Jenna said. "Mom's going to have a fit if she learns. Damn it, she has probably called a thousand times now already."

She reached for her bag, but Helen caught her hand.
"She can wait, you can call her tomorrow. Said that you had a one night stand. After all it's almost true."
"Perhaps you're right," Jenna sighed and then they clinked their glasses. "She'd love for me to have an one night stand, she's always telling me that I should go out more, and find myself a nice man. Although..."
"Although what?"
"She wouldn't like the idea of Gavin Anderson."
"Why not?"
"Simply because he's too rich. That'd make her feel uncomfortable." Jenna paused and sipped on her drink. "And she's right."
"Right about what?"
"About believing that such a story would be a thing that won't last."
"But it'd be good for a one night stand, that she must accept," Helen grinned.
"You have a point," Jenna admitted, but she felt an odd pang of sadness doing that.

While Jenna turned to look out the window again, having a bit more her drink and think things over, Helen went rummaging around the wet bar.
"A humidor! Wow, I bet these cigars are good." She pulled two out and handed Jenna one. Jenna hesitated and then shrugged. Why not, she thought. she made a sudden decision that since they were probably going to be here for the weekend, she could afford to indulge. Helen clipped the ends and they lit up. The cigars were excellent of course and Jenna felt her worry somewhat fade with the alcohol and the smoke. She decided to call her mother the next day and simply tell her that she spent an evening on town together with Helen. It was true after all.
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