3.05 Extreme Prejudice
Defence
Dempsey has to persuade a heavily armed man not to kill them all.
"How did you persuade him to come down?" Harry asked.
Dempsey shrugged. "Slapped him around a little." He could not help mirroring Harry's smile as he realised that she knew he was lying.
"You seemed to be getting on very well with him."
"Well, you know, he's just a kid on the inside. So that's how I treated him. He was just scared, had no one to help 'im."
"No wonder you bonded. You're both children."
"Dempsey! Makepeace! I want you back in the office in an hour; you need to give statements."
Dempsey looked sullenly at Spikings' retreating back. "We just stopped half the London police force gettin' shot, he could give us a bit o' time to catch our breath."
"He is."
"Whaddaya mean?"
"It only takes twenty minutes to get back to the office from here."
"In that case, Lady Makepeace, would you accompany me for a cup of tea?" Dempsey suggested in his best English accent, holding out his arm.
Harry linked arms with him. "Certainly, Mr Dempsey."
"What, I ain't good enough for a 'Lord'?"
"Most of them would have a heart attack if you walked in and told them you were a Lord."
"Your dad didn't," Dempsey pointed out as they got into the car.
"He's a special case."
"How come?"
"He's special. Anyway, he probably only puts up with you because I like you."
Dempsey grinned, seizing on the words. "You like me, huh?"
"Just a figure of speech," Harry excused herself quickly.
"Nah, I think you really do. I think you secretly got the hots for me." He grinned at her. "Look, you're blushin'!"
"I am not blushing, Dempsey, I'm just hot."
"I'll second that!"
To Harry's relief, at that moment she spotted a cafe and pointed it out. They parked and went inside. Dempsey ordered a tea, a coffee and a piece of chocolate cake while Harry chose a table.
As Dempsey sat down with the order he said, "My mom used to say I had eyes the colour of chocolate cake."
Ever since that night, what felt like lifetimes ago, when she and Dempsey had been Debbie and Danny, Harry had been inexplicably preoccupied with finding an excuse to hold the back of his neck again. She thought maybe it would suggest that some of it had been her, after all. Maybe because it was an expression of closeness. For whatever reason, she grasped the back of Dempsey's neck to look into his eyes. "Definitely chocolatey," she agreed, twisting a lock of his hair around her finger so that it pulled gently on his scalp.
Dempsey's eyes crinkled at the corners as his gaze flickered from Harry's eyes to her lips. He was desperate to say that he wanted to kiss her, but he was afraid of scaring her away again, so he said nothing.
"Edwards tried to tell me you're a killer," Harry said, twisting his hair around her fingers.
"What did you say?" Dempsey asked, trying to concentrate on the conversation and not the delicious tingling feeling that Harry's fingers were creating.
"I said I know you better."
"Defending my honor?"
"Are you going back to America?" Harry asked abruptly.
Dempsey searched her face, hoping that meant that she did not want him too. "Not yet."
"Soon?"
"Maybe for a holiday... but I'm pretty happy over here at the moment."
Harry nodded and had to remove her hand as she turned to hide her smile in her tea cup. "Good."
"Why, would you miss me?" he asked hopefully.
Harry managed to meet his eyes as she said, "Yes."