[HumanePain]

Chapter 4

The new Mayor decided to visit the club tonight, as the cabaret band playing this evening had entertained her before she had been elected, and actually helped raise funds for her campaign. They were a little...odd, but them most musicians were. She was welcomed by her good friend, the barkeep.

"Mayor L'Oiseau! So nice to see you!" And he meant it. Her long black tresses and feminine waist were easy on the eyes, and regarding eyes, her long eyelashes and seductive looks could not be hidden by a pair of spectacles.

"Duane, if I knew you were flattering me for the tip, I would understand, but yours seems sincere, and thus scares me." But she smiled as she said it, and he smiled in return.

"Let me fetch you some wine tonight eh? A victory celebration?"

"No, not tonight Duane. Make it chamomile tea please, I will retire immediately after the bands first song, and am here to show my thanks more than my drunkenness."

"As you wish...your honor." He looked for the first opportunity to use the honorific.

"Serville flatterer!"

The musicians were already on stage and one of them, a thin spindly young man with long black locks and thick lips, put down his guitar and jumped off the stage, walking towards the Mayor.

"Noir! Great to see you! Can you stay and listen to us play?"

"For a wee bit perhaps Haun. Play me that one about the evil widower, you know the one I mean?" She smiled in her best puppy dog look.

Mr. Haun House, musician extrordinare smiled back.
"Sure Noir, whatever you want!"

He turned around and gestured at the harmonica player, a tall man in a pinstripe suit, incongruent with the more casually dressed members of the band. As he walked back to the stage, two more band members came up to the Mayor and hugged her.

"Kerri and Sarah, I never did get a chance to thank you for the warchest! Your contributions put me over the top!"

"Leave my chest out of this!" smiled Sarah, and the Mayor and Kerri burst out laughing.

Harmonica player walked over to Duane:
"Free drinks for the band tonight Duane old pal?"

"Well, there was a few dollars left in the campaign fund after the election, I suppose we could call it a wash with one round."

"Two!"

Duane looked grim, but then the Mayor turned around, having overheard.

"Duane, make it two, just for tonight. For me please?"

"Well ok sure your honor." And the more natural smile returned to his face as he turned around and made his way to the bar.

Later, as the band was playing loud enough to cover conversations, Duane made his way to the Mayor's table, drink platter in hand as if to take an order.

"Molly was here last night. She got drunk."

"What did she say?"

"You were right. She is not happy with Von Paine and wants something he has, but she left before I could get her to tell me what it was."

The mayor sipped her tea and watched Haun go into a guitar solo, long black hair hanging over his eyes, the house lights switching to a solitary blue light shining on him.

"I know her feelings about Von Paine, and I think I know what she wants, but I need you to find out when she may try to do something about it. That's more important. Duane, I need your help! You must find out when she or anyone in cahoots with her will ...try something!" Her eyes pleaded with Duane, not in a feminine wiles fashion but in sincerity, and this seduced Duane even more. He could not let her down.

"I will do whatever it takes Noir." He used her name in the same intimate intensity as her gaze at him. He patted her hand, and she turned it to grasp his in turn. They smiled at each other with the look of concern that dear friends share. Deep inside, hidden so deep that he dared not reveal it to even himself, Duane dreamed for an instant as they briefly held hands. She then removed her hand and turned to applaud the band as Haun finished his solo, and Duane's momentary dream ended.