Hi all, I guess loads of you are watching the Olympics. But here we are with the next chapter.

Chapter 8

"Whass all this then?" Andy, the car salesman, stared aghast was he watched a huge flat bed lorry attempt to reverse into the yard of Jimmy's car dealership.

The rotund Lance guided the lorry driver in from the ground "Left hand down a bit, bit more, you got it. Now straighten her up mate."

"Oi!" yelled Andy racing across the forecourt "Mind my motors, they're worth a bomb."

"No mate, they are bombs, death traps the lot of 'em." Lance chuckled to Andy, his chins wobbling. "Hey, Bill, the kids worried about his paintwork." Lance shouted to the driver, Bill guffawed loudly from the driver's seat, half hanging out of the window.

"I didn't order this lot?" complained Andy, "Guvnor's gonna go mental."

"Don't worry...Jimmy knows all about it...he said to stack the barrels by the far wall." replied Lance.

"What the bleeding 'ell is it? What does Jimmy want with oil barrels? Take ten years to go through that lot." Andy inspected the stack of barrels curiously.

Bill having parked the truck jumped out and started to study the space where he was to offload his cargo. "Jimmy's doing me a favour. Ask no questions kid, I'll tell you no lies."

"Oh great, so this stuff's hookey...nice one." Andy huffed unimpressed. "Dontcha need a license to store flammable liquids at your gaff?" Andy had noticed the bright yellow diamond warning stickers plastered on the metal barrels.

"Nahhhhhh...it's fine, me mucker." Lance slapped his podgy paw on Andy's shoulder "It's only gonna be here for a bit. Who needs paperwork, waste of time for a couple of days."

Andy viewed Lance and Bill suspiciously, he had never seen the two men before. Since he started working for Jimmy, he had seen many a dodgy character come and go, but these two with their dangerous cargo were on a different level.

Bill satisfied there was enough space for all 60 barrels, climbed onto the truck and hoisted himself into the grabber control seat. Without hesitation he set too on the control levers and proceeded to direct the massive metal claws towards the first barrel.

"Hang about!" gasped Andy, "Don't ya need proper cages or summut to house them in, you can't just stack them on top of each other!"

"We've got pallets, muppet" sneered Lance "You don't need all that crap. Pallets thas all ya need. Safe as houses."

Andy had an awful feeling of dread, he watched on helplessly as Lance and Bill offloaded barrel after barrel. Bill with the grabber deposited the barrels; Lance then balanced a pallet on top of them ready for the next layer. To Andy, the stack had all the sturdiness of a Jenga tower and he didn't dare think as to what substance the barrels contained...clearly not motor oil. "Now you can stop right there, I'm not 'aving it. This lot is going to go down like a ton of bricks, it ain't safe. You can take it back to wherever it came from."

Lance thumped down the pallet he was holding. His cheerful demeanour suddenly turned stony. He grabbed hold of Andy, clamping a tree-trunk arm around his neck. Andy stiffened as he felt the cold steel of a gun muzzle jab into the small of his back. Andy fought for breath as Lance wrenched his head back forcefully. Lance growled into Andy's ear "Now listen here pipsqueak, your Guvnor has agreed to this. If you have half a mind to cause trouble, I will make you drink what's in those barrels...got it?"

"Yes." Andy managed to squeak.

Lance let go of Andy and he collapsed clutching at his throat.

"Now run along and sell one of you shit heaps and leave us grownups to do grownup things." sneered Lance, taking great delight in Andy's discomfort.

Andy slunk away, leaving Lance and Bill to continue their stacking.

"He said what to you?" Dempsey whispered to Harry.

"Shhh, it doesn't matter." Harry whispered back.

"Tell me."

"No." Harry hissed in hushed tones.

Spikings barked "Is there something more important than this Leftennant, Sergeant? Sorry if we're keeping you." Spikings glared at them from the front of the room. He was trying to brief the team, but his dynamic duo seemed to have other things on their mind.

"Sorry Sir." Harry apologised, giving Spikings her full attention.

"As I was saying," Continued the Guv "MacKintosh seems to be making some very funny friends, not that Dempsey and Makepeace would have noticed, they seemed to be preoccupied with winning pub quizzes." A titter echoed around the room. "Fond as I am of a slap up curry, it won't impress upstairs. So, it's all thanks to young Fry here we have a lead at last."

Dempsey shot a teasing glare at DC Fry "You sneak."

Fry simply beamed at him, it felt good to get one up on his American colleague.

"It appears MacKintosh has teamed up with Bill Thompson."

"I thought he was still in prison." piped up Harry surprised.

"He was Harry, until two months ago, got early parole for good behaviour. He's been a good boy so they saw fit to release him back out into the big wide world. Fry saw them being very cosy in the Kings Head Balham."

Chas added "Bit off patch Guv, thought Thompson's stomping ground was Acton."

"It was, it was a surprise to me, then again he's been away so long a new mob may have moved in on his manor."

"What's this lead." asked Dempsey, getting bored with the history of London gangsters.

Fry answered "I didn't hear much..." he began enthusiastically "But Thompson was calling in a favour from MacKintosh...something to do with a delivery. MacKintosh was agreeing to take delivery of something."

"So," Dempsey shrugged "The guy's into his cars...it's a garage...a garage needs cars."

"Perhaps they're stolen cars...we know he's illegally selling insurance write-offs." added Harry.

"Whatever it is, the delivery is leaving a scrap-yard in Peckham." Spikings turned to face a map on the wipe board. "It's here. " He indicated "Owned by one Lance Doran."

"Urrrrrrghh!" everyone groaned in the room at hearing the name Lance.

Spikings beamed at the assembled officers "So, we could have a right little round up here...three villains with one stone...well? What are you waiting for? Get on with it."

Dempsey turned to Harry "You heard the man, let's get on with it." He stood up heading for the door.

"Hang on a minute." She protested "I think Spikings meant hit the phones...you know Dempsey, desk work?"

Dempsey was halfway out of the office "Desk work, yadda, yadda, yadda, heard it all before...are you coming?"

Harry threw her hands in the air "I have no choice."

Thomas entered the prison, the least favourite part of his job. He hated the peculiar smell of unwashed sweat, testosterone and cheap ladies perfume which hung in the air of male prison visitor rooms. He had done many of these visits before and knew to avert his eyes from the prisoners and their wives and girlfriends. One look in the wrong direction could easily be misconstrued either as a challenge or a leering glance, not that Thomas ever found the scantily clad women attractive. They were too brash and cheap looking for his liking, too much bleached blonde hair and garish eye shadow. They were even more unattractive when they spoke, dropping their 'H's and chewing gum between every swear word. 'Common' always sprung into his mind. Thomas's mission was to talk to Jeremy Chapman and get out of there as soon as possible.

Jeremy looked up as Thomas approached. "I was expecting Robert not his wet-behind-the-ears whipping boy."

"Robert is busy." replied Thomas tartly.

"He still hasn't bothered to come and see me and I'm paying him." Jeremy whinged.

"You'll see him soon enough." Thomas sat down and opened a brown folder. "Now, the inquest is under way and SI10 have been notified, as have DS Makepeace and Lt Dempsey."

Jeremy gave a smirk "Bet that went down well."

"Not especially, they tried to worm their way out of it on the grounds of impartiality, hence you are officially my client and not Robert's...we have to make sure we play by the book...understand?"

Jeremy nodded "Makes sense."

Thomas pulled out a biro from his jacket pocket and clicked down the nib. "You have already given us some information; however anything else you could think of would be a bonus."

Jeremy looked perplexed "Like what? I've already given you as much information as possible."

"Well, we've had some information come to light which could strengthen our argument that DS Makepeace was not in a professional mind when she killed Monica. You have already suggested that Makepeace had some sort of vendetta against Monica which arose over an argument over a man..."

It wasn't true that Harry had it in for Monica, although she despised the woman, more like it was Monica hated Harry for stealing Robert. When Harry and Robert had first got together, Harry had no idea that Robert and Monica were still and item. In Monica's eyes Harry had done to her exactly what Pipa had done to Harry...all over the same man!

Thomas left the sentence open for Jeremy to fill in the gaps himself.

"You mean Robert," Jeremy paused to think "What new information?"

"Harriet Makepeace has a man...somewhere...god knows who, I've already scoured the society pages and there is no mention of anyone of any note...nothing at all...that suggests she's taken up with someone she wants to keep secret... could Monica have found out who that man is?"

Jeremy knitted his brow in thought "Possibly, but Monica would have said something...she was always a one for gossip...unless..." Jeremy suddenly broke into a huge grin.

"Go on." encouraged Thomas.

"Monica had this weird idea that Harriet had a thing for Dempsey, can't see it myself, but that would definitely be one to keep under wraps...'Lady heiress bonks New York policeman from the gutter' you can hear the horrified gasps in Sloane Square from here..." he chuckled.

"Have you got anything that may back up that theory." asked Thomas hopefully.

Jeremy leaned forward; he had a mischievous glint in his eye "How ethical does it have to be?"

"That depends..."

"Is it illegal to bug someone's apartment?"

"Unethical, could be deemed as an invasion of privacy, but as to illegal I have no idea...are you telling me Monica bugged Harriet's apartment?" Thomas was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Harriet and Dempsey's apartment" he corrected, " They shared a single bedroom holiday apartment in Spain." Jeremy's grin widened "For her own amusement she recorded everything."

"Good grief!" Thomas exclaimed. Now he was very unnerved with the whole case. Normal sane people didn't bug other people's apartments and record everything, the idea smacked of stalker behaviour. Not only that, Thomas was well aware that Monica had deliberately set out to get Dempsey into bed to score points off Harry. He was starting to think that it wasn't just his boss who had an unhealthy fixation with Harriet Makepeace, but also Monica Grey. The entire inquest could be blown and Thomas and Robert's careers as well. "Recorded everything?" he said slowly just to make sure he had heard correctly.

"You'll find the tapes in Monica's stuff somewhere, the Spanish just packed every up, I'm afraid I couldn't face going through her suitcase...too upsetting."

Thomas nodded. "I understand. Okay, that gives us start." Thomas rose from his seat, he'd heard enough. Surely Robert wouldn't insist they use the tapes, it would be career suicide. Thomas left the prison, his mind in a haze. He struggled to believe what he had just heard, by all accounts Monica Grey had several screws loose and now he was starting to doubt the sanity of his boss for taking the case in the first place. He started the car and headed for Jeremy's apartment.

"There's nuthin' here...zilch, it's just a junk yard." Dempsey complained standing in the middle of Lance's scrap yard in Peckham.

Harry stood next to him amongst the wreckage and debris. He carried on "What the hell could Jimmy want with a pile of trash...it's worthless crap."

"Maybe it's already been shipped out...whatever it was. There must be some clue somewhere." Harry wandered off to give the yard a proper reconnoitre. Dempsey followed kicking the odd scrap of metal out of the way. He found her round the back of a corrugated shed at the far end of the plot. She was stood still staring at an empty space. "Space for cars?" she asked him gesturing at the void.

"Maybe, but it looks like something was stacked up here, see the marks on the fence? Something's been pushed up against it, something greasy." Dempsey walked towards the fence to take a closer look. As he walked the ground squelched under his feet, he stopped and examined his trainers "What the hell?" he frowned.

Harry peered over being careful not to stand in the squelcheyness herself "I believe it's called gunk in the trade." She said helpfully.

He wrinkled his nose up "This is no ordinary goo Harry, it smells of chemicals."

"Isn't it normal for a place like this to have chemicals...for cleaning perhaps?"

"Ain't much cleaning been going in this dump...nahhh, this is some sort of solvent, we're talkin' heavy industrial use here, like somethin' you'd find in a paint factory."

Harry was thinking "How easy would it have been for Jimmy and Lance to get their hands on that sort of thing? It's not like they could just pop down to their nearest 'Do It All'"

"Yeah, heavily regulated, well it is in the States. I doubt Jimmy and Lance know what they're dealing with." Dempsey wandered over the fence and hoiked himself up to look over. "There's a stream here Harry, that's bad news." He jumped off the fence and brushed the dirt off his hands "If this shit get's into the drinking water we could have a hellavu lot of sick people on our hands." He turned to face her "We have to find these chemicals...and fast."

Maddy followed the directions of the helpful officer on the front desk of Fenchurch East police station. She soon found herself at the daunting double doors to CID. She took a deep breath and walked in. To her surprise she found it empty. It looked like the inhabitants had left their desks in a hurry as coffee cups, newspapers and football magazines were strewn around hastily abandoned. She looked around cautiously making sure she was alone, once happy, she started leafing through various files on various desks. She quickly found Leroy's and the files she was looking for. She paused, did she take them and run...no that would be dishonest not to mention stupid. She settled for quickly thumbing through them trying to commit all the information to memory.

"Can I help you Mam?" Leroy growled.

Maddy jumped a mile in the air in shock "Oh ermm, I'm sorry ...I was just...erm." she blustered.

"Shall I take those?" Leroy took the files she was holding, faintly amused by Maddy's embarrassment.

Maddy drew on all her courage to look Leroy in the eye, but it was short lived. First of all she found herself staring at Leroy's chest; her eyes were forced to travel up his toned, athletic body to reach his face. He towered above her slight, short frame. As her gaze finally reached his features she was instantly struck by his dark chocolaty eyes, his bright smile and his perfect gleaming teeth. She was lost staring at him in bewilderment, totally mesmerised.

"Are you okay miss?" He grinned in his low voice.

"Yes!" she squeaked. "Lt Banks!"

Leroy baffled by her reaction, took her in both hands and led her to a chair. "Say's why don't we sit down right here and you tell me why you're here."

Maddy obeyed, eyes still fixed on Leroy's. He sat opposite her and coughed uncomfortably as he realised she was clinging onto his hands. "I could do with those back."

"Oh yes...soooorrry!" she quickly snatched her hands away "Sorry."

"Let's start with your name."

"Maddy." She said breathlessly, she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"Right Maddy, how can I help? You look like a girl who wants my help."

"The files, I need those files." She was struggling to keep her voice level as her heart pounded in her chest. She had never met a man who had this effect on her, she couldn't understand it.

"I can't let you have them honey, I need them, Police business. Question is what do you need them for?"

Maddy was trying to think of any excuse which wasn't the truth. She failed, she had to tell Leroy a partial truth anyway. "My friend is in trouble, I just wanted to help her. I was hoping the information in those files could give me some answers...your turn, why do you need them?".

"Same as you, my friend is also in trouble." He replied honestly.

Maddy smiled "Harry Makepeace."

Leroy returned her smile "James Dempsey."

Maddy laughed nervously "Looks like we're trying to solve the same problem."

Leroy looked at Maddy curiously "How did you know where to get these files, how did you know I had them?"

"I was the idiot who barged into you at the records office." She all of a sudden felt guilty and blurted "Do you want to go for coffee? Dinner, I'll buy you dinner to say sorry." 'where did that come from?'

"Not until you tell me how you knew where to get these records? Harry wouldn't have told you. No offence, but this is serious business, Harry wouldn't want you pulling files on her husband."

Maddy blushed again, Leroy was reading her like a book. She sighed hard and confessed "Robert Makepeace is my cousin."

It was Leroy's turn to look shocked.

Maddy tried again "Please, let me take you for a coffee and I can explain."

Leroy shook his head and smiled "No coffee...I distinctly heard the word dinner. Do you like pasta?"

Maddy nodded enthusiastically "Italian is my favourite.

"Give me your address, I'll pick you up at seven."

I know I promised Galex from now on, but this chapter took longer than I thought...they will be back and heading home next chapters, promise, promise, promise.

Please keep reviewing, I know there's a lot going on.

QQxx