Harry was watching the Deadman brothers unload a truck in their yard, 'I can't be entirely sure but I think they're unloading gold bullion.' She handed the binoculars over to her partner. 'In which case we should probably nip down there and feel their collar.'
'They don't have collars, Deadman's are strictly tee-shirts and hoodies. And they ain't unloading bullion, they're unloading fake ingots and there's a guy timing them.'
'Ah, well then they're planning a robbery or heist in you speak, I suppose you'd be familiar with the mechanics of it since you make a very convincing under-cover thug.'
'Yeah, I knew you went for Johnny Lupino,' he grinned at her as she rolled her eyes. 'So, what we need to know is; where the gold bullion is in the city, how they move that around and when they're gonna perform the heist.'
'I'll get onto that, information on the first two may give us the when,' Harry picked up the RT and got onto Chas and asked for the intel.
'We should get back to the rancho cos Spikings will probably want a word,' he picked up his jacket and walked to the door. 'I feel bad you know,' he growled as they approached the urine scented lift.
'Unpleasant odour,' Harry agreed as they descended to the ground floor.
'I mean about Simone, I could have been nicer,' he looked awkward. 'I mean she came all this way to see me and… I feel bad that's all.'
Harry nodded. 'Well you weren't very nice to her but then perhaps she was looking for something you couldn't provide.' The doors opened and they made their way out of the lift.
He chewed on that comment. 'What, you don't think I can be nice to a woman?' He looked annoyed at that thought.
'I'm sure you can be very nice, Dempsey but only on your own terms,' she unlocked the car. 'I mean you're probably a lot of fun for an evening.'
'What are you saying here, you don't think I can hold down a long-term relationship? Well I have, Simone ain't the only dame I've dated, in fact she ain't even the most recent.'
'She isn't?' Harry looked at him curiously. 'I've never heard you mention anyone in particular.' Harry got into the driver's seat.
'Not since I've been here, I mean I had someone before I Ieft. She was a cousin of my partner so that all went belly up when what happened, happened. Kind of awkward at family gatherings when you've killed off one of the relations.' He ran a hand through his hair, 'we'd been an item for around eighteen months and then that was that.'
'I'm sorry,' Harry's blue eyes were sympathetic. 'It's just that since you've been here your relationships have been of short duration and for fun only.'
'Jesus, Harry. What do you think? I had a price on my head, target on my back. You think I'm gonna get serious with someone with all that going on. And anyway, if I did, it would be with…
'With what,' she questioned him as she started up the car. Harry had thought she knew Dempsey pretty well and had no idea that there had been other casualties of Joey's betrayal.
'Nothing,' he growled as he lit up a cigar and opened the window to stop Harry complaining, it didn't.
'My clothes smell of cigar smoke,' she pointed out. 'I should send you my dry-cleaning bill.' Her gaze flashed to her partner. He was in a funny mood today. Her mind moved to the mystery woman, eighteen months was a long time when she considered his track record over here.
'It's a nice smell, better than cigarettes.' He looked pensive, 'I suppose I could go back to the States, visit maybe.'
'There's nothing really stopping you now,' Harry admitted. She felt rather concerned about that. What if he liked it when he went back there, she knew he missed it sometimes? Perhaps he would want to stay in New York and take up the threads of his old life.
'Nah, my Mom's gonna visit me here. She's got a passport, visa etcetera, she's dying to meet you. I might have mentioned you once or twice and Simone seems to have talked about you plenty. She's got a big mouth, Simone.'
'Hmmm,' Harry knew that Simone suspected something was going on between the two of them and may have misled his mother. 'I'd be delighted to meet her, I can get the inside track on young James,' she laughed her gaze teasing him, 'if she's anything like you there'll be a million stories.'
'Yeah, well my Mom thinks I'm pretty terrific,' he smiled his face warming with the affection he felt for his mother. 'She thinks we're engaged,' he added almost as an afterthought.
Horns blared as Makepeace did what appeared to be an emergency stop. 'What did you say?' She turned to look at him.
'You'd better park up somewhere Sergeant or we're gonna get rear-ended.' He could see by her expression she was made up about his news.
Harry carefully drove them into a side street and stopped. 'I don't think I can have heard you correctly. Did you say your mother thinks we're engaged?'
'Yeah, funny story,' he took a drag on the cigar. 'She wanted me to go back home after Coltrane got sent down and the easiest excuse I could find was that I had a girl over here. Then she assumed it was you, cos of what Simone told her and I just played along.'
'Well, we're not engaged,' Harry was quite upset that he'd used her as an excuse because she had feelings for Dempsey and as far as she knew they were unrequited and now he'd used her as some kind of smokescreen.
'I didn't want to go back after everything that happened,' he looked at her his gaze dark with pain. 'It was difficult so…
'So, you thought it was a good idea to rope me in,' she concluded in a terse tone.
'Well, I know you better than anyone else over here so she knew all about you and she was always asking if there was something going on between us, so…
'So, it was convenient,' Harry summed up the situation. 'Well, you'll have to tell her that we're not engaged because I'm not meeting her under those circumstances.'
'She's only here for ten days. I know it's a lot to ask Harry but she'll be hurt if she thinks I lied to her. C'mon you've gone undercover as my wife, it'll be just like that.'
'You never cease to amaze me, I should be used to it but somehow you still manage to provide shock and awe.'
'Oh, and she knows about the Hall and your father….
'Unbelievable,' Harry ground out through gritted teeth. 'So, you're expecting Freddie to be in on the act too?' She gave him an icy blast from her blue eyes. 'Freddie, gets easily distracted he'd be hopeless.'
'Well, he wouldn't have to know it was a fake engagement,' he could see that suggestion had gone down like a lead balloon.
Harry started up the car and drove back to the offices of SI10 and at this point she wasn't speaking to her partner.
-oOo—
Spikings viewed Harry's rather affronted manner and wondered what the Yank had done now and sincerely hoped her resignation wasn't winging its way to his desk for the second time that year. 'Everything all right, Sergeant,' he queried tentatively.
'I'm fine sir,' she responded in a cool tone tinged with a certain amount of resentment.
'So, you think that the Deadman brothers are planning a robbery and its bullion they're after,' Spikings summarised their report.
'It certainly looks that way sir, yes.' Harry responded curtly. 'They were timing their team who were unloading what looked like bullion but on closer inspection it was a dummy run.'
'Good job you didn't go in there blasting with that cannon of yours,' Spikings fired off at Dempsey.
'It was me that noticed the bullion was fake,' the American protested giving Harry a resentful glance as she hadn't mentioned who had spotted that.
'Well we've got intelligence on all the gold moving around the city and Fry has it all mapped out in one of the interrogation rooms, with vehicles and timings. Perhaps you'd like to go and study that and come back with a plan.'
'We'll go and make a plan,' Dempsey said in a mock confiding tone to Harry, who didn't look receptive to his humour.
'Yes sir,' Harry responded politely and left the room.
'Lieutenant,' the Chief Superintendent called him back. 'What exactly have you done to Sergeant Makepeace,' Spikings looked grim. 'I knew I should have split you two up after that business with Crazy Joe. Have you sorted things out yet?'
'It's a work in progress,' Dempsey looked awkward. 'Certain events have er…. Something's come up and Harry is kind of pissed about it.'
'I can tell that and nobody's ever accused me of being a sensitive man. I don't want the details but my advice is buy some flowers and possibly jewellery and put a smile on her face.'
The American looked uncertain. 'Gordon, do you really think…
'Not again Dempsey, I've given you my two-pennies worth. I'm a Chief Superintendent not an agony aunt, get out and get on with it.' Spikings dismissed him from his office. 'Yanks!' He growled in a derogatory tone as the Lieutenant beat a fast retreat.
-oOo— (1)
