“Well, what did you think of it?” said Frankie. She, Jamie and the other hostess at the orgy had only made polite small-talk during their journey to their respective homes. Now she seemed nervous, perhaps guessing that Jamie was not happy.

“Why didn't you tell me that they wouldn't be using condoms?” she asked. “Do you remember when we first had sex? You told me never to have sex with a man I didn't know unless they were wearing a condom, yet you persuaded me to go to that place knowing they wouldn't be wearing any! Was it because you knew I'd refuse to go if I'd known that in advance?”

Frankie's face was bright red. “I'm sorry Jamie; yes I did know about the condoms of course, but I really needed you to go with me.”

“Alright Frankie, tell it to me straight. What was going on here?”

Frankie looked like she wanted to cry: “I'm so sorry Jamie, I shouldn't have got involved with them but the money was too much of a temptation.”

“Oh well, it's over now,” said Jamie, and then, seeing the look on Frankie's face, she said “What?”

“Oh Jamie, I'm so sorry, but I promised you would go to two of the meetings. That's all, I promise.”

“Two? Are you crazy? And what if I refuse to go?” said Jamie, her voice rising a couple of octaves.

“I don't honestly know,” said Frankie. She was openly crying now. “All I was told was that it wouldn't be a good career move for either of us if you didn't go.”

Jamie felt her heart pounding, she was so furious: “Are you saying we could be attacked or worse?”

“Maybe,” replied Frankie in a small voice.

“But you've already been to the house quite a few times, why would they settle for me only going twice? Are you telling me the truth, Frankie? I need to know.”

“They like to have a few regulars, but the men like a turnover too. There'll be someone new to take your place after the next meeting.”

Jamie was nearly speechless. She stared at Frankie. “I need some sleep,” she snapped. With that, she turned and walked into her bedroom, shut the door firmly behind her and turned the lock. She undressed, put on her nightdress and got into bed, but she couldn't sleep for quite some time thinking about what had happened. At one point she heard Frankie knocking softly at the door.

“Please let me in Jamie,” Frankie said and it sounded like she was still crying. Jamie ignored her. One thing she had decided on was that she wouldn't be sharing a bed with Frankie anymore. Eventually, she fell into a troubled sleep and finally woke up about nine o'clock in the morning.

When she walked into the kitchen in her dressing gown, Frankie was there similarly dressed. She looked at Jamie through eyes which still looked red from crying or lack of sleep.

“Alright, this is what I'm going to do,” said Jamie. “I'll do the second meeting since I think it would be too dangerous not to. You'd better not have been lying to me because this really will be the last time. As far as we go, we can still work together at the club, but we're not going to be lovers anymore. I'm sleeping in my own bedroom from now on.”

A thought crossed Jamie's mind: “Did they pay you anything for recruiting me?”

Frankie's face turned bright scarlet. “Two hundred pounds,” she said. “I'll give it to you.”

“Keep it!” snarled Jamie. “I don't want your dirty money. Anyway, you're going to need it. I can't share a flat with you now. It's your choice, either you leave or I will, and stop bloody crying! she screamed. “You brought this on yourself by being greedy. We have a good thing going at the club, but you wanted more. Well now you can see where it's got you. Anyway, I've got to get dressed. I've got a job to go to; the way you're going I don't think you'll have yours much longer.”

Without getting any breakfast Jamie stormed out of the room, had a shower and got dressed. When she picked up her bag and walked out of her bedroom, Frankie was still sitting at the table in her dressing gown. Jamie glared at her but said nothing and walked out of the flat.

When she arrived at the club, Donny said to her 'Where's Frankie?”, since he was so used to seeing them arrive together.

“She's still getting ready,” said Jamie. “She'll be here soon. We've got a rehearsal.”

She walked down to the front of the room where Archie was playing a new song on the piano. “Where's Frankie?” he said.

“She'll be here soon, we had a row this morning, she's probably sulking.”

“O.k.,” he said, used to occasional fights between the girls. He and Donny used to jokingly say it must be the wrong time of the month.

Jamie and Archie ran through a couple of songs and Frankie still hadn't turned up.

“I'll ring her,” said Jamie and went to the phone in the hall. She dialed the number of the flat and it rang out with no answer. “What's the silly bitch playing at?” she muttered to herself. She suddenly had a bad feeling about it. What if...?

Jamie hurried to find Donny: “I need to go back to the flat,” she said. “I think something's happened to Frankie. Can you call me a taxi please?”

While he did so, Jamie walked out of the front door of the club and waited impatiently for the taxi to arrive. She jumped in and gave him the address; a sense of dread was building up in her mind. When they arrived there she almost threw money at the driver and said “Keep the change” before rushing into the flat calling out Frankie's name.

Frankie was lying on her bed, still in her nightdress, her eyes closed. Jamie rushed up and shook her but there was no response. She held her wrist and felt a faint pulse. Looking at the bedside cabinet she saw an empty pill bottle.

“Oh shit, shit, shit! What have you done Frankie?' she screamed. She rushed to the phone and dialed 999, asked for an ambulance and gave them the details and address. She opened the front door and then returned to Frankie and patted her cheek. It felt cold to her touch.

Now it was Jamie who was crying: “I'm sorry Frankie, I shouldn't have said the things I did. Please don't die. Where's that fucking ambulance? Don't they know someone's really sick here?”

The ambulance arrived in five minutes but it seemed like five hours to Jamie. Two paramedics ran in through the door and Jamie called to them from the bedroom. No doubt they had seen plenty of things in Soho, so the sight of a male in a nightdress didn't bother them.

“Do you know what she's taken?” said one. Jamie handed him the empty pill bottle and he showed it to his partner. “Sleeping pills! Right, we need to get her to hospital right away,” he said. While his partner ran back to the ambulance to fetch a trolley he checked Frankie's pulse and in less than two minutes Frankie was loaded into the back of the ambulance with an oxygen mask covering her face.

“Can I come along?” said Jamie and when the paramedic nodded, she jumped into the back, the doors slammed, and the ambulance headed off to University College Hospital, its sirens blaring and lights flashing. The journey only took a few minutes and Frankie was raced into the Accident and Emergency Department and straight into a cubicle.

One of the nurses said to Jamie: “I'll show you where you can wait, miss. She's in good hands now.”

Jamie sat in a large waiting area for what seemed like an age. There were plenty of other people there, a large television was sitting in the corner, showing a programme but with the sound turned down, and there were piles of old magazines, but Jamie just sat there, thinking to herself 'This is all my fault. What if she dies? I'll be responsible'

Eventually, a nurse appeared and asked Jamie to come to the desk and provide some details about Frankie, including whether she had family to be notified.

“She's never mentioned any. I think she's estranged from them. You understand she lives a rather Bohemiam lifestyle, like me.”

The triage nurse permitted herself a slight smile: “We don't bother about such matters here; we treat everyone, regardless of age, race or gender-presentation.”

Jamie explained that they were flatmates and had had a terrible row that morning.

“But I never thought she'd try and kill herself,” she wailed, her eyes filling with tears.

“I suggest you go back and sit down; she's being well looked after,” said the nurse in a soothing voice.

Jamie sat down again for about an hour until a young man in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck arrived in the waiting room and called her name. Seeing the look on Jamie's face he hurriedly said: “Frankie's ok. Come into this side room and I'll explain.”

Once they had some privacy, he continued: “As you know, she took a large dose of sleeping tablets, so we had to pump her stomach out and give her some other treatment, and she's coming round now. We'll have to keep her in overnight for observation but she should be right to go home tomorrow.”

Jamie started to cry again, but it was tears of relief: “Thank you so much doctor.”

“She'll need to rest for a few days. No more sleeping tablets in the house, alright?”

“Oh yes, I'll make sure of that,” said Jamie. There was nothing more that she could do, but she realised that Donny still had no idea what had happened, so she found a public phone and rang him.

“The silly cow!” said Donny. “What did she want to do that for? I should sack her.”

“Please don't do that, Donny. It was probably my fault. We had a terrible row this morning but I never thought she'd take all those pills.”

“What was the row about?” asked Donny.

“It's a private matter. I'm sure we'll sort it out,” said Jamie.

“This 'private matter' wouldn't have anything to do with the Hellfire Club I suppose?” said Donny.

Jamie gasped: “How do you know about that?”

“There's not much goes on that I don't know about,” said Donny. “I was approached to see if any of my girls were interested, but I managed to fend them off. But when one of your singers comes to work every fourth Monday, looking like she hasn't slept a wink all night, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to work out what's going on. By the way, you didn't look too hot yourself this morning.” He snorted: “So that's it, she recruited you didn't she, and now you want out?”

Jamie was so glad Donny couldn't see her bright red face.

“So how many more times are you contracted for?” said Donny.

“One more time, well that's what Frankie told me and she swore it was the truth.”

“Well, I suggest you don't try to get out of it. These are powerful people and it doesn't pay to get on the wrong side of them. As for Frankie, she'll have to choose between Hellfire and Lewy's, she can't do both. Anyhow, what time can you get here? You've got a show to do this evening.”

“I can come now,” said Jamie. “They're keeping her in overnight and I think she might have to rest for a few days.”

This news was met with another snort. It sounded like Frankie was skating on very thin ice.

“I'll see you soon then,” said Donny and hung up the phone.

Jamie took a taxi to the club and when she arrived, Donny took one look at her and said “You look like death warmed up. Go and get yourself something to eat and be back in time to change for the show.”

Jamie toyed with the idea of asking him if she could have a night off, but knew the answer to that before she asked, so she did as she was told and went for a meal at the local café.

Lou, the owner took one look at her and said “My God girl, what's happened to you? You look like...”

“Death warmed up,” Jamie finished for her, and went on to explain about their row and what happened to Frankie, but without mentioning the Hellfire Club. The less said about that the better it seemed.

Once she had a meat pie, chips and a cup of tea inside her, she began to feel better, and returned to the club looking more like her usual self. Donny was unusually kind.

“I need you to sing tonight, and I think it will do you good too,” he said. “Stay in your dressing room between shows and you can go home after the second one. I don't imagine you feel like entertaining the customers tonight.”

“Thank you, Donny,” said Jamie, feeling tears start to sting her eyes.

“You're a good singer and I don't want to lose you. Remember what I said, do the Hellfire one last time and then steer well clear of them. It's up to Frankie what she does, but if it affects her work here, and I think it's started to, then I won't have any more use for her, and you can tell her that from me.”

Jamie sang in the two shows and then took a taxi back to the flat. She felt totally exhausted and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The buzz of the alarm clock dragged Jamie from the depths of sleep. She peered at it with bleary eyes and silently cursed under her breath, finally staggering out of bed and going to the bathroom. After that she walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil and put two slices of bread in the toaster. Then she rang the hospital to check on Frankie. Jamie was put through to the ward and spoke to a nurse who informed her that the doctor hadn't been to see Frankie yet, but she was almost sure that she would be sent home.

“She's awake now and ate some breakfast. Discharge time is ten o'clock,” she said. “I suggest you bring some clothes for her as she was wearing a nightdress when she came in.”

Jamie had no doubt that the nurse knew Frankie's true gender, but was pleased that she chose to use the female pronoun. That was kind. She ate her toast and drank a cup of coffee before going into Frankie's room and sorting through the drawers and wardrobe to assemble some underwear, stockings, shoes and a plain dress. She also put some basic makeup items into a plastic bag to take to the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital information desk she found out the ward where Frankie had been taken and presenting herself at the nurses' desk, was given the room number of the single room where she would find Frankie.

“Hello Jamie,” said Frankie. She was sitting up in bed looking a great deal better than when Jamie had last seen her. She also looked embarrassed which had brought colour to her cheeks. “I'm sorry to have been such a nuisance yesterday,” she said. “I'll find somewhere else to live as soon as I can and then you won't have to worry about me anymore.”

“Let's not talk about that now,” said Jamie. “I'm sorry I got so mad at you. I said things I shouldn't have said. Can we put it behind us and carry on as before?”

Frankie burst into tears: “I'm so sorry for getting you into that mess at the...”

“For heaven's sake, Frankie, save that 'til later,” Jamie cut in, afraid that people might overhear Frankie. “Best not to talk about it here. Have they said you can go home?”

“Yes, the doctor's been and he says I'm alright to go.”

“Good. I've brought you some clothes to put on, do you want some help?”

Frankie managed her first smile: “I think I can manage alright,” she said, so Jamie pulled the curtains around the bed and went to sit by the door to the ward. After Frankie was dressed, she rang the buzzer and a nurse came to escort them down to the front door of the hospital where taxis were waiting, and they were driven back to the flat.

“I haven't thanked you for saving my life,” said Frankie once they were indoors.

“Well I think it was my fault that you nearly lost it, so I suppose that makes us even,” said Jamie. “Promise me you won't give me a scare like that ever again.”

Over a cup of tea, they discussed the Hellfire Club and Lewy's and Jamie asked Frankie if she really wanted to keep going to the Hellfire Club meetings.

“I know the money is good but is it really worth it? They'll get tired of you eventually and by then you will probably have lost your job at Lewy's. Donny knows what you're doing and he's not happy about it, especially the way you look after one of those nights.”

“You're right, Jamie, I'll ask them to let me stop coming. The men like a change in the girls, so they're probably getting tired of me anyway. I'll have to do one or two more and then I'd like to call it quits.”

Jamie felt enormous relief: “I don't really want you to leave the flat,” she said, “I've got used to having your ugly mug around.” Frankie managed a laugh at that and promised to behave herself while Jamie went to work that evening.

“Donny's a good boss, but you can only push him so far. Tell him what you intend to do and I'm sure he'll be alright with it,” Jamie said.

Frankie took two more days off and then returned to work. The story was that she had accidentally taken an overdose of sleeping pills, and everyone appeared to accept that. Whether they believed her or not is another matter.

To be continued

Next time: Bad times at the Hellfire Club