Raid On The Senses chapter 2

Dempsey and Makepeace arrived at Austin's under the names of Jennifer Peters and Jack Hoften and were greeted by a hive of activity inside. As they walked to the bar Dempsey noticed more than one pair of male eyes on Makepeace, it wasn't going to be so easy to wheedle out Campbell at this rate, he thought to himself. "What would you like to drink," he asked her "tequila?" He said with a raised eyebrow. "No thank you Jack," she said sarcastically, "think I'll stick to the wine." He ordered their drinks and scanned the room to see if any one of the men stood out, but he noticed nobody different or fitting the description that Spikings had given to them. Picking up his drink he said to Makepeace, "shall we mingle?"

"By all means." She said making her way around the bar.

At the back of the room there was a thin passageway, which they followed to find a small room behind it. Makepeace glanced back at Dempsey, a hopeful look on her face. The room had only a few tables in it with comfortable booths for people to sit at. However, the tables were being monopolised by a fairly large group of people who were chatting and laughing loudly. As they walked in some members of the group looked up at them so they settled themselves at a nearby free table.

Dempsey was sat near to a young woman who seemed to have had more than sufficient alcohol and who kept glancing over at him with suggestive looks. She went into her handbag and pulled out a cigarette so Dempsey saw an opportunity and reached over to light it for her. "Thank you." She said smiling at him and swaying slightly. Dempsey leaned close to her and said under his breath, "Mind if I borrow one of those, my girlfriend here and I have had some cross words so I could do with a cigarette." He had to concentrate not to give himself away with his accent. "Help yourself." She said offering him the packet. He took a cigarette and lit it. Makepeace looked at him warily and he said in a hushed voice, "Go with me on this one will you." Then he leaned back to the girl. "She can never relax, gets worked up all the time. Mind you she is starting to like the more exciting stuff." He lifted his cigarette and gave it a purposeful look. "Yeh, I can quite go for that kind of thing myself." She said, looking at him with renewed interest.

By this time a few more of the group members were looking over at them and the distraction caught the attention of a man whom Dempsey was sure must have been Campbell. He was in his fifties, wearing an expensive suit and he gave off an aurora of authority. He was sat surrounded by women and he looked over at them with interest. Dempsey turned to Makepeace saying under his breath, "Do you see him? keep his attention, once it's lost we are in trouble." She nodded. He turned to the girl next to him then, asking, "Can I join you?" She looked pleased and moved over on the booth to make space for him.

Makepeace felt a little annoyed by the fact that he had left her sitting practically on her own, she realised that he wanted to give Campbell an opportunity to approach her but she felt a lot like he had left her to the wolves! Nevertheless, she looked over at Campbell and smiled, crossing her legs to expose a little more of them. It seemed to be working because he appeared to be no longer showing an interest in the conversation around him and his eyes were now firmly fixed on Makepeace. He motioned to a woman in the group who was standing near to him and she bent so that he could talk into her ear. Then the woman looked across at her and began to approach her table. "Mr Campbell over there would like to know if you would like to join his table since you seem to be on your own." The woman had a soft, sing song voice and she too seemed to have had her share of alcohol. "Thank you I would." She said rising to follow the woman back to the table, throwing Dempsey a look over her shoulder as she passed him.

She had an uneasy feeling as she sat next to Campbell on the booth but fortunately there were plenty of other women around her also, to chat with and balance out the sexes. Campbell was quick to supply her with more drink, as he made vague conversation with her. He was more interested in leering at her legs than the conversation she was trying to uphold. She looked across at Dempsey to see he was looking directly at her; the woman had her arm linked with his and her head rested on his shoulder. Then Campbell reached to her lap and put his hand on her leg, trying to draw her attention back towards him. At that Dempsey abruptly stood up and the woman's head fell back onto the headrest of the booth. He strolled towards their table and bent to shake hands with Campbell. "Hello, Jack Hoften here and this is Jennifer Peters."

"Take a seat." He said holding Dempsey's glare.

He sat down opposite them and Campbell removed his hand from Makepeace's leg, she felt a huge sense of relief and relaxed more after that. Hours passed with a lot of flirting between the men and women. Makepeace had a few more glasses of wine but managed to avoid accepting another drink from Campbell, the last thing she wanted was to get drunk in this type of situation. Dempsey seemed to be enjoying himself, with young women practically draped all over him. Then he got up to find the toilets and the atmosphere of the table seemed to change. Firstly Campbell turned to her saying, "I am having a small get together tomorrow if you and your partner would like to join us?"

"I think we would like that, thank you."

"Come around 6.00 to the old theatre, Pickering Street. Do you know of it?"

"No but I am sure we will find it."

"I own the building, I think you will enjoy the experience." Makepeace was suddenly thrilled to have succeeded in getting an invitation out of him so that she had considerably helped with the investigation. Her feelings must have showed in her face but Campbell mistook her reaction when she said, "Thank you, I will look forward to it." He looked at her intently then and she felt slightly anxious again. She glanced around for Dempsey but he still hadn't returned to the group.

When she turned back she saw that a few members of the group were looking at something under the table with Campbell. He turned then and slipped something into her palm. "Something for you to enjoy before then." She looked down to see that he had put a pill into her hand. "I hear that you enjoy this kind of stuff." He said with a knowing look at her. She was torn, this is what they were investigating and it could be the beginning of uncovering his entire operation but suddenly the whole group were looking at her and she felt pressured. She looked around again for Dempsey but he was still nowhere to be seen. Damn, where on earth was he? "Did I hear wrong?" Campbell said with a frown. "No, no." she said. Then she hesitated for a moment but could not delay anymore without jeopardising the case so she popped the pill into her mouth and swallowed it with a swig of her drink. She sat for a moment, anticipating a reaction to the drug, but she felt nothing.

Then she heard, "Excuse me, can I have a word with Jenny here for a moment." And Dempsey grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the group, and across the room. He led her down the corridor again and they sat on a sofa at the back of the front bar. It was in a small area, half blocked from sight by a partition, so he turned to her to talk. "What the hell did you just take?" She looked at him sheepishly but tried to shrug it off. "I'm fine Dempsey, and better than that, I've got us an invitation to his place tomorrow." She said with enthusiasm. "You've also got the attention of a real sleazy bastard in there. You'd better watch yourself Makepeace."

"Oh Dempsey, I've been fighting off men for years," his eyes became intent, "I can deal with him." He looked at her thoughtfully then for a few moments.

"Well if we have an invite let's make our excuses and go then." Dempsey said rising off the sofa. He looked around then but Makepeace hadn't moved. "You go and tell them we are leaving Dempsey, I'll wait here for a bit." She said looking down and grasping the table in front of her. "Are you okay?" He said with a frown. "Yes I'm fine, go and tell them." He left her then and she sat taking in a deep breath. In the back of her head she knew what seemed to be happening to her, but at that moment she avoided thinking of anything that would dull her sudden bright mood.

She leaned forward to look past the partition and over at the bar. All the people were chatting, laughing and enjoying themselves and she suddenly wanted to be among people again but her legs had unexpectedly decided not to work. Looking down at her feet they seemed to be a long way away. She laughed to herself, "How did that happen?" She said out loud. She sat back on the sofa and brought her feet up under her, by her reasoning to bring them back closer to her body. As she looked down at the table in front of her she seemed to be seeing every minute detail on it, the grooves in the wood, the paper in the beer mats and some small grains of salt that had been spilt. She leaned forward and trailed her finger through the grains, smiling to herself. "There are more grains of salt in the world than…" She paused thinking. "No that's not right at all, silly me. There are more grains of…sand, yes that's it. I knew I'd get it. More grains than…"

"What you doin?" Dempsey stood over her with an amused grin on his face. "Hello you." She said. "Come sit down here."

"I think we should go now Harry." He looked at her incredulously. She looked up then suddenly. "No, no I can't." She said seriously. "My feet are too far away you see, I'm just waiting for them to come back to me."

"Oh Lord," He said sitting down and folding his arms with a beaming smile. "Have you ever stopped to think that there are about a million or so grains of…" She paused thinking. "Sand in the world and what that means?"

"No, what does that mean Harry?"

"I don't actually know but it's an interesting thought though, don't you think?"

"Okay, it's time to go." He said standing. "Party pooper." She countered, grabbing him by the sleeve and dragging him back onto the sofa. "Anyway we can't go yet, I'm too thirsty. I think I could drink the whole ocean right now." Then she looked at him. "James, will you be a darling and go get a bottle of water from the bar for me." She looked down and started to fiddle with his shirtsleeve. "I'd be really, really grateful." He stood up with a suspicious look. "Listen to me Miss mischief, don't go anywhere before I come back. Okay?" She blew him a kiss.

When he came back to the table, to his shock and amusement she was lying down across the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. "Oh you got it for me, you're my hero." She said, reaching up and tugging on his jacket. "I'm a bit tired now though darling, I think I'll take a quick nap."

"Oh no you won't darling, we have to get out of here." He reached out to pull her up. "Oh but baby you can't make me go, I'm way to, to tired. I'm going to sleep here." She leant back and pulled him to sit on the sofa again, "Come sleep here with me James."

"Great," he said to himself, "now she asks!" He stood up yet again and in one swift movement picked her up around the waist and threw her over his shoulder. "If we don't go now you're gonna give us away darlin'." He carried her out to the car park through a side door and put her in his car, securing a belt around her.

Half an hour later he was stood by her front door, holding onto her and trying to find out where she had put the keys. He got them out of her bag and let them both into her house. She stumbled over to the sofa and flung herself down, he hesitated then but after a few moments he walked over and stared down at her. Her eyes were soft and dreamy as she stared back at him and he stood there for a while with their eyes locked. Then his glance began to rove over her as she lay on the sofa in that tight black dress. He allowed himself the luxury of being able to look openly at her without her disapproval. "Are you looking at me James?" He sat down then on the sofa, at her side and she moved up then putting her feet under her again. He watched her, mulling something over in his mind and then he broke the silence. "Harry, if I asked you something now, would you tell me the truth?"