Harry had intended to apologise, she didn't actually know what she was going to say but she had the right intentions ever since she had woken at 5.00am that morning. She had opened her mouth a couple of times already but nothing had been forthcoming; now she placed a mug of black coffee in front of Dempsey and quietly asked him if there was somewhere they could go to talk.

"Don't we have a snout to question?" he suggested

"Who?"

Dempsey looked into Makepeace's eyes, she seemed faraway and not following his reasoning "It don't matter we're not really going to see one are we?" he reasoned

She still looked slightly out of it "So we can talk" he prompted

"Good idea" she smiled and seemed to switch back on

Once again it was Dave who sprung through the office door and lit a forest fire with one small spark.

"Hey she's quite a cracker!" his comment was directed at Dempsey, of that there was no mistaking

Dempsey ran his finger along his lips instructing Dave to zip it, but although Harry noted it Dave was too full of himself and had turned to Tony to fill him in and totally missed the sign.

Dempsey made towards the door, but Harry sat back down.

"It was her that you were coming out of the travel agents with wasn't it?" Dave checked "about 4.00 yesterday afternoon"

"Ohh when Spikings was looking for you Dempsey and you were wagging it!" Watson worked out

"You were covering for me?" Dempsey checked suddenly fearing an onslaught from Spikings as well as the one he knew was about to hit him from Harry

"Sure man, we covered you"

"Listen Harry and I are off to see a snout…"

Harry rose "You might me Lieutenant, I've got other things do – I assume you can cover me too Watson"

Watson looked baffled and his gaze flitted from Makepeace to Dempsey and back "Of course" he mumbled "no problem, anytime"

"Good" Makepeace replied as she swung her handbag over her shoulder and marched out of the office.

Dempsey followed "Don't bother" she threw the words over her shoulder "go find a low life scumbag to talk to; that seems about your level"

******

Dempsey stopped in his tracks. Bloody Harry could be so damn infuriating and part of him was getting fed up with her lack of tolerance. He acknowledged that he had be intolerable in the past but he had changed, well he thought he had but it seemed Harry harboured old prejudice after old prejudice; if she didn't start looking forward then there might end up being nothing to look forward to. Shit, why were relationships so hard? With that thought and the earlier intention of talking to a snout both running through his mind Dempsey decided to track down Dan – his words were sometimes off beat and incomprehensible but buried amongst all that last time were the words of advice that saw him on the road to telling Harry that he needed her. And if all else failed he would drink whiskey until he was numb

******

Harry drove home; she was furious once again. She didn't know if she was madder at herself or Dempsey, apportioning her anger didn't help. She picked up the videos and stuffed them in a bag, threw the newspapers and magazines in the bin and found the sock Yasmina had spotted. That prompted her to look for more clothes and she pulled out boxer shorts, socks and one vest from her laundry basket. Like a treasure trail that sent her to the chest of drawers which now had a draw full of his spare clean underwear, and that pointed her towards the wardrobe which now seemed to house several shirts and a jacket. She kept the clean separate from the dirty but otherwise stuffed everything into any bag she could find.

The bathroom seemed even more poignant as she threw razors, aftershave, and toothbrushes together and a bathrobe. 'Damn you Dempsey' she yelled 'I really thought it wasn't another bloody woman, why the hell did you come back here last night – to tell me? You sat there drinking beer and watching TV whilst you waited to tell me about some other bloody woman' She lugged the bag downstairs and lined them all up by the front door – she couldn't bring herself to put them on the doorstep – only because it looked cheap. She threw the empty beer bottles in the bin and poured herself a glass of gin, she picked up a bottle of tonic water but replaced it unopened, with one hand she drunk gin from the glass, with the other she swigged it straight from the bottle.
'Who was she? A mistake that you were never going to tell me about? Or one that you were going to confess and plead forgiveness?' Harry threw her questions out to the four walls but there was no reassurance returning to her and with her frustration rising rapidly she picked up a cushion and threw it at the silent walls.

******

After several hours and a zig zag tour of south London Dempsey found Dan. The bottle of whiskey he had bought Dan was a good third of the way down already. There was a fire cracking in an old oil drum and some of Dan's artwork on the wall.

"There you are Dan" Dempsey slurred slightly you're a hard man to find

"Those who seek and find will get their just reward"

"Is that good?" Dempsey asked wondering if he would understand anything his off beat snout would say

"I've got no information on the street so it must be personal" Dan predicted

"Dan tell me some more about women" Dempsey invited as he passed Dan the gift of an opened bottle of malt

"Women don't like the dark. It scares them."

"Nah harry doesn't get sacred in the dark."

"You shouldn't leave them alone in the dark for too long. The mists swirl round and they become disturbed." Dan continued

"What mists?" Dempsey asked

"The yellow and green they rise and swirl around women's heads." Dan's hands moved as he swirled them around to mimic the mists "Mist muffles the ears and blinds the eyes and in the darkness they become irrational."

"But I already said she ain't afraid of the dark."

"I'm not talking about the darkness of the night time" Dan stopped swirling his hands round his head "no this is figurative."

Dempsey shook his own head "I'm a simple man Dan I think you might need to spell it out a bit" he admitted

"What haven't you told her?"

"Nothing!" Dempsey paused trying to work our if that was the right answer, then in case he was wrong he continued "I mean everything… I mean I told her I needed her and I cared and even that I loved her, god damn it I love her." Dempsey brushed his hand through his hair as he spoke

"You wouldn't be here if you hadn't told her that." Dan philosophised "There must be something you've not said" he questioned again

"I'm telling you I've said everything"

"Women always presume the worst" Dan tried to think how to get the answer out of Dempsey "Tell me your dreams"

"Well I want to take her to Paris so I've been having these secret French lessons…"

Dan almost cried; Dempsey was so blind "You've kept her in the dark for too long the mists have risen" he proclaimed

"Yeh yeh the mists" Dempsey scorned

"Don't mock" Dan admonished

"I wasn't" Dempsey protested half heartedly "have some more whiskey it's a good Irish malt."

Dan took the bottle and drank before continuing "Jealousy and envy they're bedfellows that tear the truth apart"

"Are you telling me she's jealous of nothing?" Dempsey was beginning to seriously think he had no idea how women worked anymore.

"It's not nothing to a women I told you they're sacred of the dark."

"Ok ok I'm getting it." Dempsey swigged from the bottle before passing it back to Dan. "It sure took a long time to find you Dan." He admitted

"Enlightenment comes to all who seek"

"So tell me what that picture you've sprayed on that wall means?"

"That's innocence eating a child"

"Tell you what let's just finish this bottle?" Dempsey suggested and sat down and spat into the fire.