On the Thursday, much to Spikings' relief, Harry left work on time. She was having dinner with her father at his London residence; she knew that he, like Spikings, would be after some answers and wondered how much to say.

Harry showered and changed ready to go out. She looked at the clock, there was half an hour before she needed to leave; picking up the phone she dialled the number she had now learnt off by heart.

Sophia was edgy, Harry could tell purely by the way she had answered the phone. "Have you heard from James?" she asked, knowing that Sophia called him Jimmy and feeling slightly uncomfortable about that.

"Eddie called round, I gave him that tape dear and he promised me he'd give it to Jimmy"

"Thank you"... Harry held quiet for a moment waiting to see if Sophia would add anything more but when it seemed not she spoke again. "Did Eddie give any idea about time?" The silence that followed sunk like a lead weight in Harry's stomach "Or how James is?" she asked hopefully.

"Sorry my dear" Sophia pulled herself together to speak "I think James is ok, he's in court everyday" She tried not to give anything away as she had promised but her voice wavered.

"Sophia what is it?" Harry felt sick, "Please tell me, I can get no other information, I need to know if it's bad Sophia; I have to prepare myself."

"He walked out of protection"

Harry was shell shocked, Sophia let the silence hang; she had nothing to add or to say to help. She could imagine the lass' face, and the thousands of miles that unwillingly separated them.

"I see, thank you Sophia"

"Call again my dear, I'll see if I can find out anything else, but the court is closed to the public now, so I can't go down and see him."

"I know, thank you Sophia, thank you" Harry hung up and sat, her chin supported on her hands, staring into nothing. The chiming of the hall clock stirred her into action and she drove to her father's.

"Welcome my dear" her father stretched his arms out to his daughter. Harry automatically kissed his cheek "Now I have had Abbott cook us some of the new season grouse, and we have a bottle of Montrachet"

Harry smiled weakly, she tried to make it broader but her stomach was still tied in knots over her phone call to New York. She followed her father through.

"So that was very wild for you my dear to go off to New York, did you go with James" Lord Winfield decided he may as well bite the bullet as Harry didn't seem very forthcoming this evening so far.

"Oh I'm sorry Freddy," she put down her knife and fork a moment "James was called back to New York as a witness in a big Mafia and corruption trial, I went out to visit him."

"So tell me about New York then" he smiled encouragingly

"It's very big, very brash… and very friendly"

"So what did you see, and where did you stay"

"I spent some time with Dempsey's mother, and we stayed a few nights in a hotel by Central Park."

Trying to piece together clues Freddy picked up on 'Dempsey' as a bad sign and then 'we' as a more positive one.

"So did you go to the famous statue of Liberty?"

"In the end no, we ran out of time" well that was one way of putting it thought Harry; she started to eat again. Her father decided to rest his questions and spoke of Winfield Hall and how Mrs Protherall had started to call by and give the maids flower arranging lessons, and fancy new ways of folding napkins.

"Are you sure that's not just an excuse Freddy" a genuine smile lit Harry's face for the first time that evening

"I have no idea what you mean" Lord Winfield played the innocent, but they both knew he wasn't and that had been his news.

"Brandy?" Harry shook her head "Or how about a martini? I can't make them quite as well as your James" her father's blunderings suddenly brought a tear to Harry's eyes. Her father noticed her eyes brimming "Harry?" he questioned quietly "He is your James is he not?" he felt awkward but this needed sorting

"Yes Freddy he is my James" but saying those words caused the tears to overflow and run down her cheeks. Her father felt slightly awkward and stood behind her with his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh Freddy, he's supposed to be in police protection but he's refused it. I have no idea when it will be safe for him to come out of hiding, no idea if he is still a witness or if he is totally underground, no idea if I'll ever see him again" everything just began to flood out.

"My dear I really think to have half a chance to understand any of this you had better start a little nearer the beginning"

Glossing over the personal details Harry explained about how Dempsey had been summoned as a witness whilst they were in Ireland and how Spikings had given her a week off.

Then she told of how sitting in court that Friday morning she had noticed the nervous behaviour of two of the other onlookers, and the sudden movement she instinctively knew was someone taking aim. How she expected the aim to be to her left at Coltrane and her instant understanding that as it was to the right it was to the witness box and Dempsey. She had shouted a warning as she moved to bring them down and fortunately with Dempsey's quick reactions he had moved and received only a graze to his shoulder.

"The two men?" her father asked

"Would you believe got away, the panic of the other onlookers blocked me for a split second from bringing one of them down; that court room was full of incompetent police officers"

"Or bent ones" her father added and for the first time Harry considered that.

Hoping the tears would stay well held back Harry continued "They took James straight into police protection, they wouldn't let me see him" she felt a comforting squeeze from her father's hand on her shoulder.

"Eddie persuaded his Captain to help me, and those guys he worked with helped me in undercover as a doctor to check the wound" she felt her eyes well up again and felt the firm grip of James holding her so tight and once again his tears on her cheek as he kissed her lips and then her tear filled eyes. "Be brave and strong Tiger" he had said "I know you can do it" but right now she wasn't sure if she could, but recalling those words she bit her lip and resting her hand over her father's she spoke "They're good guys Dempsey's friends"

"Why don't you stop here tonight, it can't be good going back to your home feeling like this"

"Thank you Freddy" she paused and feeling so grateful for his support actually told him about their visit to the Bronx, seeing where James had grown up, the steps (or stoop as they called it) where he played out on with the other kids of the neighbourhood whilst the mothers talked across to each other. By the time she had finished she felt a lot calmer and with some happy memories made her way to her old bedroom and slept calmly.