Chapter Seven: Ghosts

Budapest was a beautiful city. Vibrant, heady, full of light and life. And like any city, it had its seedy, ugly side, which was where Mia found herself. Beautiful places were always beautiful in their own way, she thought; but ugly ones were always ugly the same. Graffiti, run-down buildings, trash littering the pavements.

Two people were having a loud argument on a corner. The man pushed the woman and she staggered backwards into the road, a passing car swerving, its horn blaring as it barely missed her. She flung herself at the man, fists slamming into his chest. He overpowered her easily, grabbing her thin wrists and holding her arms wide. He was laughing at her. She screamed abuse into his face.

Mia hunched her shoulders, careful to avoid eye contact with anyone.

'Scum,' her companion noted, glaring contemptuously at the pair still locked in their struggle.

She murmured non-committedly, tried to keep focused. She was running on adrenaline, caffeine and too little sleep. Not a good combination. That was when you got sloppy. And she couldn't afford to be sloppy, not now. But she still thought longingly of that clean, comfortable hotel room with its view across the river.

Mia shook herself and followed Tamás down a side street. She was glad of his company. He was wiry and grizzled, deep lines in his face, skin tanned until it was as dry as leather. But he was sharp and quick and right now what she needed.

The bar did have a window, thickened with grime and condensation so that seeing in was impossible.

'Are you sure you want to go in there?' Tamás asked.

'Want? Not even slightly.' She grinned at him. 'Just have to, that's all.'

He grimaced, pushed the door open. The place stank of alcohol and stale sweat, air bruised with the fug of cigarette smoke. Her stomach roiled.

The barman was big; his nose had that squashed look that comes from being broken too many times. He watched them disinterestedly. They walked up to the bar.

'Inspector.' A flash of gold from one of his few remaining teeth. 'I thought you had retired.'

'You know policemen, Mihály - we don't retire, we just crawl into the woodwork. We're looking for János Ulpius. He isn't in any trouble,' Tamás added quickly.

A shrug of monumental shoulders. 'What's it to me if he is? He's over there.'

They looked across. A heavy-set man at a corner table staring into a half-empty glass.

'Thanks.'

ooOoo

When Harry answered the doorbell, he found the last person he would have expected.

Manoeuvring Juliet into the house was not easy, but was manageable with the aid of her driver. A light-eyed man who watched her slightest movement with the intense concern of intimacy. He remained outside. The pavement was slick with rain, shining under street lamps. The night scene looked almost romantic. Their encounter would be anything but that.

There was no pretence at niceties.

'I had a visit from Nigel Marston today,' she began.

'Nothing unusual there.'

'He said you were keeping bad company, Harry. And that there might be consequences.'

'I see. Well, they've already been here.'

'Who?'

'Two thugs. They delivered their message through Livia.'

'Livia?'

'Yes, Carmine's daughter. You remember Carmine.'

Juliet frowned. 'From Naples?'

'The same.'

'You really do believe in the old networks, don't you?' It was an observation rather than a question.

'Some of them.'

Juliet leaned back in her chair and felt exhausted. Harry was sitting near her, their voices low. This is what you're reduced to, she noted - secretive conversations when still in private. The fear of being listened to, watched, all the time. It was just one more thing in her life that drained everything from her.

'Is she all right?'

The lines in his face were more marked and she wondered when he had last slept. 'She's very upset but she'll be fine.' His eyes focused on her. 'Why did you come, Juliet?'

Loyalty? For old time's sake? Because a stand had to be made sometime? 'Why don't you just let it go, Harry?'

'I can't.'

She tossed her hair back impatiently. 'Why? Why do you always have to make everything so damn difficult?'

'There's- there's a life at stake, Juliet. I'll see this thing through to the end.'

'It may very well be the end of you, Harry.'

'Then so be it.'

'You don't mean that.'

'Don't I?'

They watched each other.

Juliet sighed heavily. 'So who is this bad company?'

Harry didn't answer, moved away from her, pacing the room restlessly. He never had been able to sit still for long, Juliet thought with an inner smile that she ruthlessly suppressed. 'What do you think I'm going to do? Go running to Marston and report back?'

The bitterness in her tone stopped him. 'I- Do you remember Mia Kenton?'

A flicker across her features. 'I thought she had a breakdown.'

'Mia did not have a breakdown,' he responded frostily, 'she merely came to the conclusion that she could no longer give what the service demanded of her. It is probably the most sane decision she ever made.'

'And helping you now is probably one of her less sane.'

Harry's path took him back to the chair beside Juliet's. 'Possibly.' He scrubbed at his face.

'I think I know what that this all about- My God, Harry, what did you do?' He met her eyes. Juliet despised revealing her feelings, on any level. And she wasn't very good it. She raised a hand and briefly touched his face with her fingertips. 'Careless love.'

Harry let out a breath. 'It happens to us all, in the end, it seems.'

Her hands were clasped together in her lap. 'Really?'

'Juliet-'

She shook her head. There was no going back and there was nothing to say. 'What do you need?'

He was very still for a moment, the flash of surprise in his eyes and then his shoulders relaxed slightly. A tiny movement that would be unnoticed by all but the most watchful eyes. 'Time. A few days. Just something to slow Mace down for a few days.'

'Didn't somebody once give a warning about the dangers of a spy in a hurry?'

'Do not start quoting bloody fiction at me,' he growled.

A smile played at the corners of her mouth. 'Fine. Time...' She sighed. 'There are, well there were- I don't know how much it would help-'

'Juliet...'

She smiled wryly. 'There have been some questions raised about financial irregularities connected to the JIC and Mace in particular.'

He looked at her in disgust. 'Financial irregularities?'

Juliet shrugged. 'It worked for Eliot Ness. It would give Mace and some of his friends a few very uncomfortable days if nothing else. I could push for those questions to be raised very loudly.'

A momentary hesitation. 'When?'

'Now. Tonight.' Another slight show of surprise, to her amusement. 'I always have been a fast worker, Harry.'

'How could I forget?'

Juliet would hold this over his head for years, he thought.

But he could live with that.

ooOoo

Harry's first meeting that morning wasn't until half-nine; he allowed himself the very rare luxury of not going into the Grid first. He listened with half an ear to a highly respected former politician being interviewed on the radio and amused himself with a running commentary on proceedings based on what he could remember of the man's security file. An incident involving two call girls, copious amounts of cocaine and assorted leather accoutrements featured strongly.

The sound of a key turning smoothly at his front door alerted every sense. Harry left the radio on and moved cautiously towards the hallway, keeping his back to the wall. He threw the kitchen door open: it banged against the wall, masking his entry into the hall and eliciting a strangled gasp from his intruder.

George barrelled past him and scrabbled at Livia's legs until she picked him up.

They stared at one another.

'I thought you'd be at work.' There was a note of accusation in her voice.

'And I thought you'd be at home,' Harry stated flatly. 'Where you are supposed to be.'

George had started to lick her face enthusiastically; Livia tried to hold him away from her mouth. She seemed to be using the wriggling armful as a barrier between herself and Harry.

'I thought about that,' she said. 'And – well, you did say that those men wouldn't come back, didn't you?'

Her smile was overly bright. Forced. Harry stepped away from the doorway. 'Let go of the dog, Livia. Come and sit down.'

Livia and George parted company reluctantly. She sat at the kitchen table, her hands clasped in front of her. Harry tried to remember when he had last spent this much time with Livia, fully aware of the irony that some of the people he trusted most in the world were those he hardly ever saw. She accepted a cup of tea and seemed more rattled by their sudden reversal of roles than anything else.

'I thought that we agreed that it would be better for you if you stayed away. And safer.'

She tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear. 'It was really you they were trying to frighten not me, wasn't it?'

'And they succeeded,' he replied drily.

She grinned at him; she had the sort of smile that lit up a room. 'Yeah, right. Okay, honestly, d'you think they'll come back here?'

He regarded her thoughtfully. 'Probably not.'

'Well – there you go then. Anyway, I, uh, I asked Carlo to come round in a bit.' Livia looked slightly shame-faced. 'That's all right, isn't it, Harry?'

Carlo – one of Livia's numerous brothers – was, as Harry recalled, about eight feet tall and almost wide. He smiled. 'That sounds like an admirable idea.'

George had clambered up into her lap when he thought no-one was watching. Livia played with his ears. 'Besides, I know what this place looks like when it's left up to you.'

She was definitely feeling better, he thought.

'I better take him for a walk.'

'Wait until Carlo gets here.'

Livia rolled her eyes at him. 'All right. I'll have another cup of tea, then. Bit more sugar in it this time, please.'

Harry pushed the mug back towards her. 'You'll have to get it yourself – I'm going to work.'

Her dark eyes sobered. 'Papa said he has some advice for you.' Her Italian was heavily accented. Let the snake think you will grab its tail, but then crush its head. She considered this aphorism. 'I think he might have just made that up.'

Harry laughed. 'Probably. But I'll bear it in mind all the same.'

TBC