Last Heir (Part one) A Dempsey and Makepeace fan fiction

Makepeace made her way across a row of outstretched feet, apologising under her breath, as she headed for the spare seats at the far end of the cinema. 'Trust Dempsey to get them there late,' she thought as she eventually found an empty seat and fell into it. Dempsey climbed past her and sat in the next chair. "You want some pop corn?"

"No, shhh." He loved goading her. "Cola?" She glared at him. He sat back in his chair munching on the tub of popcorn he had bought and Makepeace settled in her seat to watch the film. On finishing the popcorn, Dempsey placed the empty tub on the floor and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, a grin on his face. He mimicked a yawn and began to stretch, with the idea of putting his arm around her shoulder. She glanced at him with an incredulous look. "You have got to be kidding Dempsey!" His arm stopped in mid air above her shoulder. "Ah well, you can't knock a guy for tryin'" He leant towards her, his elbow rested on the back of her chair, and he whispered in her ear. "Next time we'll come early and get seats in the back row."

"Early would be good." She said with disdain. "You think that's a good idea then. Hey, I could snoozle your neck, you like that, eh." The hand on the back of the chair moved to her hair and he ran a finger along her neck. She pulled away.

"I'll tell you what I don't like James…"

"Ooh, I love it when you use my first name."

"…people in cinemas who turn up late and distract everybody by constantly talking!" He smiled then, sitting back. "Okay, I can take a hint."

The film was long and not particularly enthralling and Makepeace was exhausted from the day at work. She sat with her head propped on her hand and fought to keep her eyes open. At last the credits came up and she rose abruptly to leave before the crowds. "Hey, slow down tiger, you in a hurry or somethin'?" They had reached the door to the cinema but had failed to miss the crush. "Sorry, I'm just tired, I really can't wait to get to my bed." The people pushed to get through the door and Makepeace found herself slowly jolted in the opposite direction, back towards Dempsey. She turned to speak to him but was knocked suddenly and he took the opportunity to pull her towards him, catching her around the waist, her arms squashed in between them. "Can't wait eh, such enthusiasm Harry!" She entangled herself from him and made a bid for the door.

At last they managed to reach the fresh air of the High Street and made their way back to Dempsey's car, which was parked about four hundred yards away. A silver Ford Granada pulled out onto the road, approaching the cinema on the High Street. At the wheel was an indistinguishable figure holding an AEK-919K and silencer, his eyes were scanning the surroundings, searching for his target.

Dempsey threw his arm around Makepeace's shoulder. "Ready for bed partner?" They approached his parked car and he stopped to find the keys in his pocket.

There was a sudden disturbance of the air and a series of abrupt, dull bursts could be heard. Dempsey grabbed Makepeace's arm and pulled her down behind the car before a screech of tyres, as the silver Ford Granada sped off. They stood slowly, looking over the top of the car to see the windows of a vehicle opposite smashed. Dempsey ran across the road and peered into the car where a man was slumped over the steering wheel. He opened the door and checked the man's pulse. Makepeace ran across the road. "I'll get an ambulance."

"There's no hurry, this man is dead."

Makepeace sat in Spikings's office at SI10 yawning loudly as she tried to fight her tiredness. Spikings was leaning on his desk opposite her. "Are we keeping you awake sergeant?"

"No Sir."

"Good because this is big, really big. This Mr Chapman who was shot to death tonight works, correction, worked for the Government, in defence no less. And since you two seem to have a habit of dead bodies falling at your feet the department wants us to look into it." Dempsey and Makepeace glanced at each other and then back at Spikings. "See what connections this man had and maybe we can come up with a reason why someone would want him dead."

"Now Sir?" Spikings looked at Makepeace incredulously. "Yes now sergeant, I want you to find us something to go on before you leave this office." He paused. "Well go on, do your Sherlock Holmes bit!" They rose to leave.

Makepeace was at her desk; she put down the telephone receiver as Dempsey approached her with a mug of coffee for each of them. "You come up with anything yet?" She took a sip of the coffee. "Actually there's some quite interesting stuff here. It seems that Mr Chapman was largely in charge of gathering information on Russian arms and defence. Information was passed to him through an MI5 agent, name of Nathan Lock, who in turn presumably got his intelligence through a British secret agent in Russia itself. I'd like to bet that the assassin was Russian."

"Maybe, but whyd'they go for Chapman? I mean, surely Lock would be a more likely target as he would have direct contact with the agent in the field, that's assumin' that the assassins want to locate the agent through these men."

"Yes, I see what you mean. Another thing springs to mind, why would they want Chapman, or Lock come to think of it, dead? It was a drive by shooting, they didn't even attempt to take him alive for interrogation."

"Right."

"Hmm." Makepeace looked thoughtful as she bit her lip. "Looks like we should pay this Mr Lock a visit, see what he knows. Do you think we can finally go to bed now?" Dempsey raised an eyebrow. "I hope we can…" he paused, "finally."

The following day, Spikings set up a meeting for them with Lock at MI5 and they entered his office, curious as to what he would be able to tell them. He was a tall, dark haired man, in his late thirties, well dressed with a thin but impressionable face. "Come in." He shook hands and introduced himself to Dempsey and then turned to Makepeace. She held out her hand but rather than shaking it, he took it in his hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing it instead. She glanced at Dempsey with a look of surprise. "Sergeant Harriet Makepeace, I have so long wanted to meet you." He gestured to the chairs and they took a seat. "You have?" Dempsey looked on with a slight frown on his face. "Yes you are quite the topic of conversation wherever I go lately." Her eyes widened in disbelief. "At work, in social circles, I keep hearing your name. Therefore you can imagine when Chief Superintendent Spikings telephoned to arrange the meeting that I thought to myself, how interesting it would be to finally meet you." She replied in a slightly mocking voice. "Why thank you, I'm quite overwhelmed." Dempsey glanced down at the floor with a mock look of nausea on his face.

Lock went into his desk drawer. "Also, I fished this out to show you." He handed her a photograph across the desk and pointed to it. "That was my recently deceased father, Piers, and you know who that is with him."

"Freddy, I've never heard him talk of a Piers before." She looked up, suddenly realising her faux pas. "Sorry, it must have been when I was very young that they knew each other." She passed him back the photograph. "Presumably. Unfortunately I am still organizing my father's affairs. Piers only died last month and what with me being his only heir, and this recent murder of Chapman, I'm going to have one hell of a lot of work on my hands. It's good to have you on board."

"So what exactly was your connection with Chapman then?" Makepeace enquired. Lock sat back in his chair. " I would receive information from our agent in the field and liase with Chapman." Dempsey broke into the conversation. "You have any reason to believe that Chapman would be a target for the Russians?"

"Well, we all work in high risk jobs, it comes with the territory." Makepeace added, "Tell me, had Chapman ever actually been threatened, or expressed concern to you about the Russians in particular?"

"He was always concerned about them, he would have been a fool not to be."

"And you?" Dempsey prompted. "Are you concerned for your own safety, particularly now?"

"Well I am more equipped to deal with this sort of thing, and I have a better understanding of the Russians themselves, got to know how they think. Plus I have the added advantage of firsthand information from the field agent."

"All the same, we will be requesting extra protection for you. With what you know, the last thing anyone wants is for you to disappear."

"I do have protection already organized here Mr Dempsey." He said in a slightly patronising tone. "Sure but you can never have enough protection in this game, right?"

"And you Mr Dempsey?" Dempsey laughed." Aint no one can get to me, I've got Sergeant Makepeace here." He said with a grin and Lock raised an eyebrow. Makepeace cut in. " We are going to need access to all the files relating to the Russian contacts you have Mr Lock." He turned to her smiling. "Of course, I will see what I can do to get around the red tape, obviously you realise that some of the documents are highly classified."

"We would be grateful." She stood abruptly to shake Lock's hand. Suddenly she felt it wise to get out of there while they were still ahead, considering the inexplicable tension that seemed to have risen between Lock and Dempsey.

As she stood to go Lock looked slightly taken aback. "Look, I'm having a party tonight on my recently acquired boat. It's kind of a boat warming party on the Thames. He looked directly at Makepeace. "Would you like to join us?" Makepeace's eyes darted to Dempsey and back to Lock as she paused, wondering how to reply. "Oh, erm, I'm not sure..." Dempsey interrupted. "Sure we'll come won't we Harry?" Both men's eyes were on Makepeace, she frowned slightly but turned then to Lock. "Yes, thank you." A look of triumph spread across Lock's face. "Excellent, my secretary will let you know the details and she will arrange for a car to pick you up."

More chapters to follow, please read and reveiw