Feb 19,1999 – Delilah (discards)

“So what do you think Delilah? We could have an arrangement.”
“Jack, we have to enter into one. That much is clear. But I hate to break it to you. It’s only to play along with your mother. She’s obviously suspicious.” Jack had dropped by as Delilah was getting ready for dinner at Jacquelyn’s. She sat on the edge of the loveseat in her dressing room.
“No.” Jack shook his head. “She just thinks I have a thing for you. That’s it.”
“Jack, if you believe that you’re a lot dumber than I ever suspected.” Nonetheless, she tried to picture kissing Jack. As she often put it to Max, she simply cannot fuck a man who cannot kiss. It takes too much energy to avoid his mouth the whole time. Delilah looked at him. He looked back, adoration clearly pasted on his eyes, glue still drying. Delilah looked away. Oh God. Please, not one of these. What is it with me and these home-on-the-farm puppies?
“So what do you want to do?” No. No. No. Not this kind of man.
“Today?  We have to go meet your mother for dinner.”
“Can’t my mother wait? I’d really like to talk some more.”  He’s gonna start whining or something.
“Excuse me. As I recall, you hired me to figure out the where’s and why’s for her activities. I think its fairly important we don’t stand her up.”
“I didn’t really mean tonight anyway. I was talking about what we’re going to do. Y’know. With the arrangement. This is obviously a bit of a sticky situation, with you working on my case and all.”  Delilah sighed. Clearly she would not be able to explain this to him. So she ran through the stock speeches in her head. She thought about the I’m-not-ready-to-commit speech, the I-need-my-independence speech and the I-am-still-dating-someone-else speech. None of them seemed appropriate. But then there was the…
“Look Jack. Whether or not we’re working together is beside the point. It’s just that [well timed sigh] I’ve been very busy lately. And I have to be honest. I need to be alittle selfish. I need to be a child for right now, my mind is just too full to have to worry about anyone else. I don’t want to deal with anyone else’s problems. There are just… things… going on in my life right now.” Delilah’s lip started to shake in sincerity. She took a deep breath for effect. “I am going to enter an arrangement with you, but I have to be honest.” She mustered up caring and gentle from her library of characters. “It is simply for the betterment of this investigation.”
“The way I look at it Lilah…”  He stroked her shoulder gently with his fingertips, watching as she brushed the tears from her eyes. Watching still as they narrowed into slits.
“What did you call me?” She removed his hand from her shoulder.
“Lilah. Do you mind?”
“Yes. It makes me sound like an old time hooker.”
“I’m sorry sweetie.” Jack brushed a strand of hair out of Dee’s eyes. “I didn’t know you hated that name.” She took his hand away again.
“Jack, we’ve known each other for two weeks. Suffice it to say there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Well Delilah, the way I see it, we’re adults. We can handle it.” That’s it. no more. Delilah sat up abruptly and reached for her skirt. She pulled it on and stood up.
“Look Jack. There is no we. There will be no arrangement  between us of any kind except we’ll say you’ve pleasured me. It’s a front Jack. Get it? I’m spying on your mother. I’m accepting the Arrangement so I wouldn’t blow our cover. So we would have every excuse to meet whenever we wanted to. I have absolutley no interest in you whatsoever. There’s nothing sticky about it.” Especially my bed linens. Jack nodded his understanding of the situation at hand. His mouth lay open, an abyss in her face. And one that stank to top it off. Delilah reached for her stockings. “O.k. You’re going now. I’ll meet you at your  mother’s.” For one brief moment, Delilah almost felt sorry for the kid. His mouth still open. “Close your mouth Jack. We are not a codfish.”
“What now? In the case of course.”
“Well, Jack, I’m going to find a way to figure out what exactly your mother does in that women’s group of hers.” She pointed her painted toes and inserted them gently into the tip of the silk stocking. She always kept silk undergarments. For two reasons. The first being the feeling one got from sliding into them, the second being preparedness. Never know who you’re going to meet on the street.
“You think that has anything to do with it?” She slid the stocking up, feeling the trail the tips of her fingers left on her thigh. She attached it to the garter and sighed. She never had much patience with her clients. She hated explaining herself to them.
“No Jack, but you do, everyone is in some sort of group these days. It’s no big surprise. But, all I have to go on is your instincts about all this, though Max found some leads and…”
“Like what?”
“Like nothing I want to talk about yet. There may be some patterns emerging, but I’d like to keep you stupid as long as possible until I have something solid.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to have open lines of communication and be bouncing ideas off each other?” Delilah stood up to the mirror. She scrutinized her hips. Were they getting too big?
“Jack, that works on a commune, not in the detective business. You need to know as little as possible about the investigation. That’s the way detectives work. We keep our silence. Because the more people that know, the more people there are to talk to and the more people there are to talk to each other, and the more people there are to overhear. No Jack.” She repeated one of her favorite maxims. “All information given on a need to know basis.” She gave a final look in the mirror. If I’m really really good, I have about ten more years on this body. She turned around. “So when is your mom going to be out next?”
“She goes to the meetings on thursday nights. Around nine or so.”
“Where does she go?”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t tell me.”
“Ok. I’ll have her followed.”
“You’re not going yourself?”
“I don’t want to get caught if there’s any catching to do. She’ll be watching me. That’s her whole idea with this arrangement thing. I need to find an in to this group if there’s anything to it. Someone else will have to go. And Jack, don’t forget to have my sheets cleaned.”
“What?”
“The arrangement? You know. You didn’t think you would get out of a concubine’s responsibilities did you?”