Slur: The Riverhill Trilogy: Book 1 Read Online Free Page B

upstairs from the Downtown bar,
Jacqueline was filled with excitement as she noticed a man, who she termed an
“old friend” standing at the bar. She excused herself and dashed over to greet
him, to everybody’s surprise.
    The other
girls looked at each other in silence, which was broken by Rita, saying, ‘Well
girls; looks like we’ll have to carry on without her.’ Then, turning towards
Debby and Amanda, she continued, ‘I tell you what, why don’t me and Julie go to
the bar and get the drinks in while you two go and find a table?’
    Julie
guessed that Rita was up to mischief when she noticed how keenly her eyes
followed Amanda and Debby as they went in search of a table. When Rita was sure
they were out of earshot she whispered to Julie. ‘Do you think Amanda will
notice if we add a little something to her drink?’
    Julie giggled,
‘Oh Rita, you bugger. Go on then, go for it. It is her birthday tomorrow when
all said and done. I’ve never seen Amanda when she’s paralytic but she’s funny
enough after a few drinks. It should be a good laugh. Just put one measure of
vodka in to start with. It’s the hardest to trace, but don’t let that bloody
Jacqueline know or there’ll be hell to pay.’
    They then
joined Amanda and Debby at the table, and adopted serious expressions as they
awaited Amanda’s reaction to her drink. It wasn’t until Amanda had taken a
couple of mouthfuls that she commented. ‘There’s something funny about this
drink. It doesn’t taste like Bacardi and Coke at all; in fact, it tastes really
strong.’
    Julie was
quick to respond. ‘Eh, that’s happened before in here. I don’t think they wash
the glasses properly. Do you remember that drink you had once Rita, the one
that tasted of Pernod?’
    Rita
managed to suppress a giggle. ‘Oh yeah, I do. I took it back didn’t I?’
    She then
looked around at the bar area, and when satisfied that she had achieved a
suitable effect she continued. ‘Mind you, you’re wasting your time in here
tonight, it’s mobbed. It took them ages to serve us. You’d be there forever
trying to get it changed.’
    ‘Oh it
doesn’t matter,’ said Amanda.
    ‘Well, I
tell you what we’ll do,’ added Rita. ‘We’ll drink up quick in here and then
head for The Boardrooms ’cos I don’t fancy queuing up half the night and then
drinking from dirty glasses into the bargain.’
    ‘What about
Jacqueline?’ asked Amanda. ‘She doesn’t look as if she’d be too happy to leave
this pub.’
    ‘Oh she’ll
be all right. The Boardrooms is only over the road. If you tell her where we’re
going, she can always follow later if she wants,’ assured Rita. 
    Julie and
Rita downed their drinks straightaway setting a pace that the others felt
obliged to follow. They then stood up, Rita stubbed out her cigarette and they
headed towards the door.
    Whilst
Amanda was talking to Jacqueline, Rita whispered to Julie, ‘Right, we can’t
pull that stroke again in the next pub or she’ll suss us, so what I think we
should do is this …me and Debby will go to the bar while you drag Amanda off to
a table. Then, instead of putting something else in her drink, we’ll just order
her a double Bacardi with plenty of Coke. She’s already had one dickey drink so
she shouldn’t tell the difference. Then, we’ll see how she goes on with that
and we can always nip to the loo together to decide our next move.’
    ‘Oh Rita,’
said Julie, laughing, ‘you make it sound like a military operation.’
    They didn’t
notice that Amanda had returned until they heard her say, ‘What’s this about a
military operation?’
    ‘Oh erm,
Rita was just planning our pub crawl,’ Julie replied.
    They were
relieved to hear that Jacqueline wasn’t going to join them until later, as this
gave them more opportunity to carry out their deception.
    They all
settled at a table in the next pub and awaited Amanda’s reaction as she tasted
her drink. ‘That’s more like it,’ she