One week came and went while a second rolled ever closer, and still Jesse had not shown his face inside the pub. Since my less than fruitful conversation with Nick a whole week had passed me by, filled with nothing but waiting and working. Lucifer and Malick would be seething with my slow progress, but at that point I was far beyond caring. I was having trouble enough keeping my head in the game, let alone taking time to worry about what repercussions would await me once I returned home.

Jesse leaving had left me about as distanced from my case as I could get while still actually working on it. Unfortunately, still being stuck in that village threw me even closer to the humans living around me. Spending so long in their company made it virtually impossible to not get involved in their lives; I was a barmaid, people liked to talk to me – a little too much from time to time – and the human blood in my veins started to enjoy the attention. She was still lurking in the shadows, allowing my more cold and disconnected side to retain control, but I could feel how unrestrained it was; waiting for a moment to pounce and bring on some attack of morals or sympathy.

Some of the Hybrids seemed to have complete control over the two halves of themselves; switching between the two – the human character they chose to play and their true demonic bounty hunter selves – like a scarily controlled case of DID. But I'd never had such complete control. Usually my cases were short enough for it not to be too much of a problem, but this case was starting to be more than a problem. I had seen a few others like me break under the pressure before, not many and none in recent years, but there had been a few, and it was never pretty.

Jesse finally wandered into the bar, Tuesday lunchtime, while I worked yet another split shift. Covering evenings only had gone out of the window and I'd found myself working more and more lunchtimes on top of closing. It was exhausting, but at least it kept me busy. He grabbed a seat at the bar – bypassing his usual table without his posse of friends surrounding him – and sank onto it with a loud sigh; plonking his hi-vis and hardhat down on the gleaming bar surface and showering it with brick dust and sand.

He sat glumly on the stool and messed his dark hair with grubby fingers, and I took a moment to take in his solemn appearance, almost grey complexion – despite having been working out in the sun all day – and the large bags that cast huge shadows beneath his chocolate brown eyes.

Without being asked, I grabbed a pint glass and went to the taps to pour Jesse's usual drink – his choice of beer ranked highest in the small total of information that I knew about him. I set it down in front of him; the small thunk of glass meeting wood drew his attention up to me and I offered a careful smile.

“You look like you could do with this one,” I said in a sympathetic tone.

It might not have been the best remedy, if he was already feeling as low as he appeared, but I had hopes that the alcohol would loosen his tongue a little. He'd seemed pretty chatty the first time I'd had a chance to actually interact with him, and he'd certainly been drunk. Already hard pressed for time, I was feeling the pressure to figure out this case, which meant I needed Jesse to talk to me; though the risk with alcohol was it could throw him lower into his mood, the last thing I needed was for him to clam up.

“Thanks,” he rasped with a forced curl of his lips that looked much more like a grimace than a smile. He reached around to the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet, but I shook my head.

“No, this round is mine,” I said. He furrowed his dusty brow at me and I shrugged, “call it pity.”

Jesse let out a huff of noise that could almost have been called a laugh. “Well, beer is the very best form of pity...particularly for me,” he said dismally. Grabbing the pint, Jesse downed about half of the glassful in one go before setting it back down. “Thanks,” he added.

It was easy to tell, having read Jesse's police record, that beer was a vice of his, this knowledge could be either a great help or a great hindrance. Alcohol might, in some way, be the key to his corruption, but if it wasn't and I got him wasted how much real information could I get out of him? Caution would be required until I was sure exactly how to push things.

“No problem, Lord knows I've worked in enough of these places to recognise the signs of someone in need of a few drinks.”

He didn't reply, but reached out for the glass and took another long draught of the cool liquid.

“It bust really have been some bad news to knock you like this,” I blurted. I needed to keep him talking to me, and perhaps the shock that I knew a little something about his plight would at least get him questioning me.

His eyes shot up and caught me in a chilling stare that was unnerving. I'd seen that look in people's eyes before – too many times before – it shouldn't have been a surprise to see it on yet another case, but Jesse had not struck me as that type of person. But there was a clue in those eyes if ever I saw one.

“Ah...when you hadn't been in for a few days, I asked your friend Nick what had happened. You were pretty drunk the last time I saw you and I just wanted to be sure you hadn't hurt yourself, or something.” I shrugged and even managed to raise a slight blush on my cheeks. “He mentioned something about family problems so I didn't want to pry but, well, apart from Frances, you're the first person I've properly spoken to around here. I was hoping to get to know you a bit, but then you go and disappear on me...and now I'm rambling like a crazy person. Sorry.”

Jesse shook his head, “No, it's okay. Actually, it's quite nice to know you noticed I wasn't around....um...Heather, right?”

I nodded, “Yeah, so you do remember at least that much from our first conversation then. I wasn't sure you would.”

He laughed then, a genuine proper laugh that time. It was nice to see his glum expression brighten, and the fear and surprise that the brief look in his dark eyes had shocked through me all but dissipated. But I would not forget it for anything.

“It's funny, Nick never mentioned that he'd spoken to you.”

“Yeah, I'm not surprised. I think he thought I was a little weird, or some kind of nosy stalker person prying into your business. He wasn't too keen to talk to me, and he's actually not been back in much since then. I think he's afraid I'm going to quiz him again or something.”

Jesse laughed again. “He's a good guy, honestly. He's been my best friend for so many years and has seen me through all kinds of shit, he's just looking out for me.” He leaned a little closer over the bar, “between you and me, I've had really horrible luck with women over the years, so he's probably a bit suspicious of what you want with me.”

While his words certainly did explain a little about Nick, I wasn't exactly sure what to do with the information. I had no response to give to Jesse's words, so was pleased when he continued of his own accord.

“So, why me, of all people?” he asked.

I felt confused by the question for a moment, but then it dawned on me, he was wondering why I'd specifically been asking about him rather than trying to befriend the next person who'd come along and actually stuck around.

Oh, because it's my job to corrupt your soul, I thought to myself – yeah that wouldn't pass for a reason.

A shrug lifted my shoulders. “I dunno. Like I said, besides Frances and Alan, you were the first person here to really talk to me, albeit drunkenly. And y'know, they're my employers, it would be nice to have a friend here too. I guess you were just lucky to come along first.”

“So, you wanted to what? Go out somewhere, is that what you're carefully avoiding saying?”

It wasn't what I was avoiding saying, but it would do, but it would do. I looked Jesse in the eye, the twist of his lips had turned into a smirk and I rolled my eyes. He thought I fancied him; oh how quickly all his woes could be forgotten if he thought he was on the brink of getting a date.

A sigh escaped my lips and I smiled, I would feed his ego if it meant I could get some real work done. I wasn't sure if he genuinely thought I wanted to go on a date with him or if he was just teasing me, but it was nice to see him smiling – happy people are much more inclined to talk.

“Yeah, I suppose. Something like that,” I finally replied.

“Well don't sound too enthusiastic about it.”

“I am. I would like to actually remember what it's like to have a social life. I just know it might not be the best of times for you. So feel free to shoot me down in flames.”

A pained expression fell back over Jesse's face as my words reminded him of his earlier mood and the reasons he'd been feeling that way.

“I'm sorry, I didn't men to drag it all back up again. Not when you'd just started to look like you weren't drowning in it any more. Just...forget I said anything at all, okay,” I muttered quickly, kicking myself for having potentially blown my opportunity to spend some time with my mark when there wouldn't be a bar separating us.

I made to turn away from him, I'd go and load the pot wash or something and figure out how to repair the mess I was making of my case. But Jesse called me back.

“No, I mean yes, the timing is kinda crappy but I think some company might be exactly what I need. The guys are great but they're not exactly the most sensitive of companions, might be nice to hang out with someone not so crass and boisterous for a while.”

“Well, great. I will do my best to distract you.” I smiled. Yeah right, I was going to ply you with drink and then question him to death about his 'family issues'. That look in his eye had told me something, and there in lay the key to his corruption. It all had something to do with his family and I was going to dig until I found the gold.

“How about tomorrow night, think you'll be allowed the time off?” he asked.

“Well, I'm definitely due a day off by now, don't think I've had a proper one in the two weeks I've been here. Frances won't like it, but, y'know what, I've been working lates pretty much every night; all so she and Alan can go and fuck each other senseless. I'd say she owes me a night off.”

“Oh okay, wow, that was way more information than I was expecting.”

The expression on Jesse's face made me laugh uncontrollably, I was glad the bar was reasonably empty or I'd have earned even more strange looks than I got.

“Sorry, but it's the truth. I swear blind that is the only reason they even hired me, not getting enough 'alone time' together with having to work late every night...okay I am going to stop talking about that now.” His expression had twisted even further into one of disgust and I had to try hard to hold back the laughter.

“Um, yeah, please do. Seriously, the image of Frances is going to haunt me, I may never enjoy sex again and I'm going to be blaming you.”

It seemed that there really was a big difference between knowing something to be true in some dark and secluded part of your brain, and in having your attention specifically drawn to it. Frances and Alan were a happily married, middle aged couple it was fairly obvious that they would probably still have a healthy sex life. But knowing the hows and the wherefores of it all was above and beyond comfortable knowledge for this guy who had been a patron of her pub for some years now.

“Well, I certainly didn't mean to ruin your sex life. But, really, I can't be the only one burdened with this information any longer. Tell you what, tomorrow I'll buy you enough drinks to, hopefully, blot out the memory of what I just told you, how does that sound?”

“Sounds good to me,” he hastily agreed. “You sure tomorrow won't be too short notice for Frances, I know she's a bit of an iron lady around here.”

“Probably,” I admitted with a slight sigh, “I'll talk to Alan first, I'm sure he'll be able to keep her sweet for me.”

Jesse cringed again at those words, quickly sunk the remains of his pint and stood from the bar stool. “Okay, that's it. I'm going before you can scar me any further. So, seven tomorrow okay?”

“Sounds good. And can we go somewhere that isn't here? I'm beginning to go a little stir-crazy cooped up in here all the time.”

“Yeah, no problem. I'll think of something. See you then.”

Looking considerably happier than he had when he'd first wandered in, Jesse made his way to the door. I wasn't going to rely on Frances to actually let me have the night off, I would ask out of courtesy and would go to Alan first, but this bar job was just a convenient cover, my real job came first.

“I'm looking forward to it,” I called after Jesse's retreating form. And the strange part, I think I actually was.