Bodie and Doyle were casually browsing through the bookshelves, trying not to look as though they were searching for anything other than the latest bestseller. What they were seeking was information; and the required information didn't come in paperback form. They were supposed to be meeting Bodie's informant and the man was late. Doyle didn't trust many of the people from Bodie's not too legal past. A lot of them proved unreliable and quite often dangerous.

Doyle was having a rest, reading a magazine seemingly engrossed in it, whilst he kept scanning the room looking for someone out of place.

"Fifty says he doesn't show." Doyle looked up from his magazine with surprise. The guy was after all Bodie's informant and if he didn't believe he was going to show, what on earth were they doing here.

Doyle ignored the bet, reluctant to take the long odds. "So if you don't believe he's gonna show what are we doing here?"

"Why? Aren't you enjoying my company?"

"Sure the company's fine. But if that's all you was after we could have been in a pub, with a pint and a hot dinner," Doyle said, remorselessly hitting Bodie with all his weaknesses. Bodie considered it very unfair of Doyle to resort to such tactics and decided to answer Doyle's original question before his mate started describing the dinner they could be eating.

"He's a bit unreliable okay, that's why I don't think he'll show. He said he was onto something big and told me to meet him here. I couldn't very well not show up just because he's been unreliable in the past."

"Yeah but why'd I have to be here? And why this place?"

"What you'd let me go off and talk to strange men on me own?"

"How strange?" Doyle asked and was met with silence. "Okay so why here?"

"He's very fond of poetry our informer. He probably wants to catch up with his reading while he's here."

Doyle gave him a sharp look, "Where'd you meet this guy?"

"At the poetry reading classes. We had them in Africa. We'd all sit around discussing the finer points of Byron over afternoon tea."

Doyle returned to his magazine with the realisation that Bodie wasn't going to give him a straight answer. As the minutes passed, Bodie decided he was bored and it wasn't much fun watching Doyle reading. So he took the bull by the horns and decided to interrupt Doyle.

"Doyle, what you reading?"

"Magazine. There's a fascinating article in here talking about sex and chocolate. Apparently chocolate produces the same chemical reaction as organism, and a lot of people going without eat chocolate as a substitute."

"What's so fascinating about that?"

"Well nothing, but you do eat a lot of chocolate. Are you going without sunshine?"

"Give me that." He snatched the magazine away from a sniggering Doyle, and began looking at it. "Doyle this is a woman's magazine," he said incredulously.

"So? Just picked it up off the table before."

"So, didn't your mother tell you that men and women are a little different from each other?"

"Sure, sugar and spice and all things nice wasn't it?"

"You don't believe a word of it my little Ray of Sunshine, some of them can be right bitches."

The aforementioned Ray of Sunshine retrieved his magazine from Bodie flicked through a few pages and then settled into reading another interesting article.

Bodie sighed. Doyle was proving to be no fun tonight. Then his eyes lighted on something more picturesque behind Doyle than the row of books he'd originally been gazing at. "Ray take a look at that."

Doyle twisted around and looked over in the direction Bodie indicated.

"Not really your type is she?" He asked giving the blonde a once over, "I thought you were into skinny birds."

"I like my mice well fed."

"Yeah?" Doyle asked suspicious.

"Yeah. Besides check out the tits on her, they've got to be at least a D cup."

Doyle relaxed, his universe once again restored, Bodie was his usual self. "I see. Go on then, chat her up."

"Don't be coarse Raymond. Besides our informer might have sent a bird if he couldn't make it himself."

"Yeah he could, but it's not very likely is it?"

After another check of the library perimeter and aisles they conferred with each other. "Seen any sign of him?"

"No. You?"

"No."

"Who says it's a him anyway? Maybe it's the girl."

"You tried that one before Bodie."

"Yes and I didn't resolve it either. I think I should try a tougher interrogation method. Take her somewhere a bit more secluded."

"Like where? This is a bleeding library not the back row of the cinema." He replied raising his voice slightly and was promptly shushed by a very mean looking librarian. Doyle was feeling a bit annoyed. He was coming to the conclusion that Bodie had made him come with him to meet his informer with every intention of sloping off and leaving him to do all the work; as usual.

"A complete waste of time, he's not going to show." Doyle said thirty minutes before closing time. He was feeling disappointed that the better part of his evening off had been ruined and it was all Bodie's fault.

"Home?"

"No we still have half an hour until closing time mate," Doyle said, overcome by a feeling of maliciousness, deciding that no matter how much he was suffering himself Bodie's suffering would be worse. In fact this was almost worth the miserable evening off he'd had; almost.

"Doyle." Bodie pleaded.

"He's your informer. Something important you said."

"I didn't say that, he did."

"No but you did say we still had to check it out."

"Listen I've got the phone number of a lovely brunette. She's yours if we go home."

"Bribery Bodie, I'm surprised at you. If I was still a copper I'd have nicked you for trying that."

"If you were still a copper Doyle I wouldn't be your partner would I? And I'd have went home hours ago with that blonde for more pleasurable pursuits."

"I'm surprised you ever get any work done."

"Oh here he is."

"Who?" Doyle asked completely forgetting why they were there.

"The informer, who else?"

"See if we'd gone home before you'd have missed him."

"Shut up Doyle." He turned his attention to the man coming towards him, as did Doyle. Catching a look at the man for the first time, Doyle was surprised at the man's appearance. Boldly Bodie stepped forward in order to greet him in his own special way. "What time do you call this then? You've had me waiting for hours."

"Sorry darling, but I had to do my hair before I left, it looked a frightful mess." Doyle was amused. No wonder Bodie hadn't wanted to say too much about his informer; how could he have told him that the guy was a raving queen? And wasn't he standing unnecessarily close to Bodie? Could this have been why Bodie had wanted him there? As a chaperone? Well he could have just said something, instead of keeping him in the dark about the whole thing. This deserved a special kind of punishment, he thought with amusement as he excused himself to the toilets.

"Doyle." Bodie called after the angry figure, "Doyle wait up, will you wait up?" The figure stopped but didn't answer. Bodie strode over to him noting the taught muscles under the T-shirt. "Look I said I was sorry, didn't I?"

"No wonder you didn't tell me why you wanted me there. When I first saw him, I thought you wanted me to act as a chaperone, I mean I didn't expect you to try and pimp me out to him."

"I didn't try to pimp you Ray."

"Well it sure as hell felt that way when I was practically molested in the loo."

"It's your own fault for wearing those tight jeans. Listen, I did only want you there as a chaperone. I mean how was I to know that catching a sight of your butt in those tight jeans would drive me completely out of his head and he'd move his attentions on to you?"

"You could've told me he was gay. I'd have worn something different if I'd known."

"Sorry Sunshine, never thought about it."

"So what was this important information he was going to tell you?"

"Oh that. Turn's out it wasn't quite as important as he'd led us to believe. He wanted to tell me he was giving me one last chance to change my mind and go off with him before he started looking for someone else. He reckoned he'd found someone too."

"Who?"

"I couldn't say exactly but he was looking at your butt at the time." Bodie replied with a smile.

"Oh I'm glad you find that amusing Bodie, because you're going to have to tell the Cow that the informer turned out to be useless."

"Me?"

"He's your pigeon." Bodie made a face and Doyle realised that seeing Bodie getting chewed out by the Cow may have been worth his miserable evening after all.

The End

and I'll pass your comments along to Kiki.