Martha
Martha stared at the man sat opposite her through the blue haze of cigarette smoke. He shifted in his seat, but his eyes gave nothing away. Muffled whispers from the other players at the table punctuated the silence in the room.
“Is he bluffing,” she thought as she looked down and rechecked her cards; they were still a pair of kings. She knew the pot was large enough but was her hand strong enough to call his 10K all-in bet?
“What can he have?” she pondered whilst working through a mental list of holdings that made sense to his previous betting action.
Finally, taking a sharp intake of breath she said, “Call.”
The man flipped his cards over to reveal two red fives. Martha glanced at the black five in the community cards and said “Fuck, beaten by a set. I should have known.” She pushed the remainder of her chips towards the dealer.
“Good game,” she said to her opponent, although not convincingly. With that, she stood up from the table and left the game.
*
It was early morning when Martha arrived back at her apartment. She opened the front door and walked in gently closing the door behind her. The postman had clearly been as she almost tripped over a collection of letters sitting on the doormat. Stooping down to pick them up, she looked them over.
“More bills,” she groaned, “just what I need. The rent’s due, I’m 10K down and someone’s sending me fucking bills.”
She walked into the kitchen, threw the bills and her bag onto the breakfast bar and proceeded to make a coffee. She took her jacket off, hung it on the back of the door and grabbed the phone out of her handbag. Dialling Mike’s number, she took a sip of her drink, walked into the living room and sunk down into the sofa.
“Hey Martha, how’s it going?” Mike said.
“Not great to be honest, that’s why I’m calling. I’ve had a bit of a bad run at cards and I’m stuck 10K. Is that offer you made me still on the table?”
“10K, sure I can do that, but it’s going to need to be a special piece for that kind of money.”
“Oh, it will be. You give me the money, I’ll provide the intel, deal?”
“Deal.”
*
It was Monday and for Martha, the start of a new working week. She had arrived at Hanson’s early in order to complete an inventory check; at least, that’s what she had told herself. She was in the strong room busy noting down all the valuable jewellery pieces that Mike would be interested in acquiring.
“This is a one-time thing,” she thought, noting a particularly attractive diamond choker, “no more after this.”
Somewhere outside the room, a telephone rang, she heard one of her colleagues answer it. A few minutes later, James, one of the sales consultants, popped his head around the door and said, “We’re going to have royalty in today.”
“Really, who?” Martha replied.
“Princess Aliyah.”
*
The young lady sat opposite Martha did look exquisite wearing the necklace that she had designed. “That’s the piece for Mike, she thought, “now how to extract the information I need.”
Aliyah turned towards Martha with a smile and said, “What do you think?”
“It looks fabulous on you. The emeralds really complement your green eyes,” she replied.
“You think so? I do too, it’s gorgeous; I’m going to take it. I can’t wait to wear it at tonight’s party.”
“It would make the perfect accessory for a party, are you going anywhere nice?”
“Daddy’s throwing a charity ball at our home and I want to look my best.”
“Certainly wearing that necklace, how could you not look radiant.”
“Well we best get you on your way, we can’t have you being late.”
“Don’t worry, the party’s not until eight, there’s plenty of time.”
“This is too easy,” Martha thought.
*
Martha bade the princess farewell and sat back down at her desk. She took the phone from her handbag and dialled Mike’s number.
“Any news?” came Mike’s voice at the other end.
“Yes, I do. Come around to mine for five-thirty, bring cash and wear a smart suit.”
“I only deal with cash! he replied, see you at five-thirty.”
With that, she hung up the call hoping that the information would be worth the 10K she needed. What if he reneged on the deal? He’d been good to her in the past, maybe he had a thing for her or maybe he could smell the potential of future deals. She didn’t want to think about it.
“Just the one time,” she told herself.