Dot felt anger rush through her and stood scowling at Kathy's back. 'b.l.o.o.d.y b.i.t.c.h,' she fumed.

The evening progressed well as usual. The band was great and hardly anyone sat out a dance. Johnny was a good performer; he knew how to keep the audience happy playing for all age groups so the dance floor was never bare.

Eileen was obviously smitten with Darcy. He was very attentive to her and she was looking happier than she had for a long time.

Tammi and Laura danced every dance, and Francis and Beth were hardly ever apart. Beth kept in time with Francis well; he loved rocking and rolling. Several people were happy to just sit and watch them dance.

In the slower dances, he held her close, his body reacting to the feel of her close against him. He hadn't felt like this in ages.

Kathy and Eddie danced several slow dances and Eddie wanted nothing more than to take Kathy outside and s.h.a.g her, but he was well aware of how far he would get.

So far, Eddie had respected her and not forced the issue. He sighed and decided a bit of heavy petting was better than nothing.

'Let's go outside for a while,' he whispered huskily against her ear.

She nodded and, arm in arm, they headed outside. They strolled through the car park to where Eddie had parked his car.

Leaning against the side of it, he pulled her close. 'I missed ya babe,' he said softly.

'I've missed you too, Eddie,' she replied, looking up into his face.

He lowered his head and their lips met in a long kiss that quickly became deep and pa.s.sionate.

Eddie felt himself harden. 'C'mon, we'll sit in the car for a while. I wanna be alone with ya, babe.' He wanted more. He wondered how he kept in control when he was alone with her. They had gotten into heavy situations many times and every time, Kathy halted it.

As soon as they were inside the car, he pulled her close and kissed her hungrily.

Eddie let his hands roam underneath her blouse until they reached her bra. Deftly, he unhooked it, freeing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

She gasped as he lowered his mouth to her nipple. 'Eddie ...'

'Sssh,' he whispered and kissed her again, taking her hand and placing it on his hardness. Kathy was shocked at first but also amazed at what she was feeling.

Eddie murmured words of love in her ear. Her blouse was unb.u.t.toned and Eddie could see her erect nipples in the moonlight. Slowly, he kissed her and his hand caressed her breast, playing with her nipple. She moaned in ecstasy.

Eddie lowered her back onto the seat, kissing her neck, trailing kisses up to her ear. Gently, he nibbled the lobe. Kathy moaned with pleasure.

'Kath... Kath, babe, ya know I love ya,' he said softly then kissed her mouth again. His hand stroked her thigh and moved up higher. Gently, he started rubbing her through the material of her clothing. He found the elastic of her underwear and slipped his fingers inside.

Kathy stiffened but Eddie deepened his kiss. Kathy pushed at him and pulled away from his pa.s.sionate a.s.sault of her mouth.

Raising himself, Eddie looked down at her. 'Babe, no, ya gonna make me stop again?' He had hoped that she would give in this time.

'I can't Eddie, not here, not in the b.l.o.o.d.y car park of the club.'

'Then where? We can never seem to find the right place, babe. h.e.l.l, we've been goin' out long enough now that we shoulda found a place by now.' He was annoyed and d.a.m.n frustrated.

Kathy detected the annoyance in his voice. 'I know how long we've been going out together, s.e.x will happen when it's meant to. I'm not Dot; I can't do it in a car in a car park, that's just not me, Eddie.' Her reply also held a tone of annoyance and she sat up and started rearranging her clothes. She glanced through the windscreen as she b.u.t.toned her blouse.

'Eddie look, people are running from the club!' She pointed to the entrance of the club.

He peered through the windscreen. People were rushing out of the club, pushing and shoving each other in their haste.

Anger forgotten, he quickly tucked his shirt into his jeans. 'Quick, Kath, get fixed up. Somethin's wrong! f.u.c.k, listen...' The wailing of sirens was drawing closer.

'Eddie, hurry. There must be a fire somewhere here. Oh my G.o.d! Tam... Eileen! Quick, come on!' Panic rose in her voice.

They piled from the car and Eddie grabbed her by the hand as they ran towards the crowd that had gathered in the car park.

'Kathy... Kathy...'

Kathy could hear Tammi's voice. She turned to see her running towards her. She flew into Kathy's arms, sobbing.

'My G.o.d... Tam... What's on fire?'

'Oh Kath... it... it's awful!' Tammi sobbed near to hysteria.

'Here, sit on these bricks.' Kathy wanted to calm her sister down and find out what had happened. She steered her toward a pile of bricks stacked ready for the landscaping of the gardens surrounding the club.

After a couple of minutes, Tammi gained control.

'Kath, it was terrible. One minute we were having a great time, dancing and laughing, then I went to the toilet. Eileen was in there, we were just putting lippy on and talking... then it came from nowhere and we couldn't get out!' She wiped at her eyes smeared with mascara.

'What, Tam? What came from nowhere?' Kathy implored.

'Smoke... Thick smoke... We were terrified and we rushed to the door to try and get out. It was so hard to see, the other girls in there were screaming. We were all trying to get out at once, pushing and shoving. Kath, I really thought we would all burn to death or choke!' Tammi gulped, starting to sob again.

'Tam... Tam you're out now, it's alright. Tell me more. Once you got out of the toilets, what happened?'

'Well... we held hands. Eileen and I tried to get to our table, but we couldn't. People were running everywhere. Then all of a sudden, Darcy appeared with Laura. The barman helped us, he led us to the doorway and then we were outside. Oh G.o.d! It was so frightening... so frightening!' Tammi buried her face in her hands, shuddering.

Eddie came hurrying back. 'Eddie, what on earth is on fire in there?' she asked above the ruckus.

'Not sure! There's a b.l.o.o.d.y lotta smoke though!'

Tammi looked up, her face streaked with tears. She stood up, looking around frantically. 'Where's Eileen?' She scanned the crowd, spotting her standing nearby with Darcy. 'Eileen... Darcy...'

Eileen turned to Tammi. Her face showed the same fear and shock.

'Darc... Do you know anythin'?' Eddie asked as they came across.

'Yeah... well, the barman reckons it all seems to have started in the men's toilets.'

As Darcy spoke, Frank Smith appeared, his face blackened. He was gasping and coughing.

's.h.i.t! Look at him!' Darcy said loudly.

They hurried over to Frank and Eddie called to a police officer to get help.

'I'm... alright... just need some air,' Frank wheezed.

The policeman and an ambulance officer attended to him and, within minutes, they had his breathing under control.

'What started this fire?' Darcy queried.

'The ceilin' ...It all started in the f.u.c.kin' ceilin'.'

'How? Surely it wasn't deliberate?' Kathy asked.

'Well it all started in the ceilin' above the men's toilets.' Frank coughed.

'That explains why there was all that smoke in the ladies', they're right beside the men's toilets,' Tammi remarked.

'Tam's right, it just poured in all at once!' Eileen added.

'We won't know how it started till we've had time to inspect things. It could've been an electrical fault. We'll know more once we've had a good look. It was d.a.m.n lucky it was noticed so quickly. The insulation didn't get a go on. If it had, there wouldn't be any club!' Frank said as he got up to walk away.

He clutched his head and sat back down unsteadily.

'You alright, mate?' Eddie asked.

'I will be. b.l.o.o.d.y smoke got to me a bit.'

'Darc, you look after Eileen and Frank. I'll take Kath, Tammi and Laura home,' Eddie said.

'Look, there's Dad and Uncle Karl, they're coming over!' Kathy waved to her father.

'You kids okay?' Digger asked, worried.

Between them, Tammi and Kathy told the story.

Digger hugged Tammi tightly. 'b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l. If anythin'd happened to you...'

Tammi looked up at her father. Tears poured down her face. She held on to him and he felt her tremble. He told Eddie he would take her and Laura home.

Kathy said she would go with Eddie after she checked on Francis and Beth.

People were everywhere in the car park. Police cars, fire trucks and ambulances parked willie nillie. Confused patrons all tried to leave at once. This caused traffic jams, which created headaches for the already frustrated police. It was a chaotic scene.

Later, Eddie and Kathy sat outside Kia-Ora. A few minutes pa.s.sed before either one spoke.

Finally, Kathy murmured, 'Eddie, I'm sorry about before.'

Eddie heaved a sigh. 'I know ya are, babe. You're beautiful, I want ya to know that. I can't help myself at times. I'm a man, Kath. It's b.l.o.o.d.y hard to keep control, ya know.' Eddie was frustrated with the situation. 'Kath, we've been going out long enough now. Why can't we make love?'

'I just can't. Like I said, I'm not like Dot, I can't do it just anywhere.'

Eddie didn't want to hear her excuses. He'd heard them many times. 'Forget it, we'll get there one day I s'pose.' He shrugged in resignation. Taking her chin in his hand, he turned her face to him. There was no pa.s.sion in his parting kiss.

Kathy watched as Eddie drove away then slowly walked inside. 'I can't do what he wants. For some reason I just can't go all the way with him,' she thought miserably.

He watched the firemen wind the hoses onto the trucks, observing the faces of the remaining people that stood around still stunned by the night's events.

A smile spread across his face and his hand slid to his crotch. He was hard, he always was at fires. They aroused him so much... He had to relieve himself, again!

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Police swarmed the Valley Sports Club. Orders were given to comb the building thoroughly. Not one corner was to be overlooked.

'Cunnin' b.a.s.t.a.r.d slipped that coil in the air vent,' Detective Bennett said to his partner Simpson.

'Yeah, but how the f.u.c.k're we gonna get an I.D on him? There was a huge crowd here last night. It's gonna be near impossible to pin it on any one of them,' Simpson answered.

Bennett raised a clenched fist. 'We've gotta get this p.r.i.c.k. There coulda been many lives lost here last night,' he snapped. 'It's been more than a f.u.c.kin' year with no fires and now it's started up again. This was more sinister than before he aimed to kill a heap of people here tonight!'

'Yeah, well the people around here've had it! They'll take matters into their own hands this time. What worries me is that some innocent person will get hurt,' Simpson said, turning serious.

'I know, mate... I know! But h.e.l.l! Where do we go from here? We have a few mosquito coils... big deal. How do we connect anyone to those?'

'Well maybe once we have all the names from the visitor's book, we just might get a lead. We'll need the names of all the contractors and workmen too. We'll know who went in there, and also the barman should be able to help. He was on all day and whoever planted those coils had to do it during the day. s.h.i.t, imagine if that roof insulation had really caught on?'

's.h.i.t mate... The place was packed. People would've died for sure. This b.a.s.t.a.r.d's out to kill! It's like he's got a huge vendetta against the locals here. The question is why?' Bennett shoved his hands into his pockets and stood surveying the smoke-damaged walls of the auditorium. 'b.l.o.o.d.y mess... Real b.l.o.o.d.y mess!'

'Excuse me, Detective Bennett!' a female voice inquired beside him. Bennett turned to face the woman looking up at him.

'I'm Rose Adams, the evening receptionist. The club secretary asked me to let you know he's in his office with the visitor's book if you would like to go on up and see him.' Bennett was instantly alert.

'Thank you, we're on our way. Simmo, grab one of those young constables and they can make a list for us.'

They followed Rose Adams to the club secretary's office.

'Gentlemen, please have a seat.' Tom Berry shook their hands and gestured to the vacant chairs.

'Thank you.' They made themselves comfortable.

'Dreadful mess, this,' Tom stated in a serious voice.

'You bet it is. We need a list of everyone who came through here. Contractors, workmen, staff, everyone!' Simpson said in a firm voice.

'Of course, the book's here. Mind you, there's quite a list and as far as the staff, workmen and any others, I can have that ready for you tomorrow.'