Raid on the Senses, chapter 3

Dempsey 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?"

"Of course." She said, shrugging a shoulder at him. He paused for a moment. "If we weren't partners, you know if we had met another way, d'ya think…" He stopped, unsure of how to finish. "Do I think what?" She said, her eyes never leaving his face. "D'ya think you'd …ever have…got the hots for me." He finished quickly. Her gaze never faltered but a smile spread across her face and she laughed, saying matter of factly, "I've already got the hots for you silly." And with that she turned around and slid off the sofa, crawling away from him on her hands and knees, mumbling, "God I'm thirsty now, where's that water?"

He had a fantastic view of her behind as he watched her struggle across the carpet. "Whoa, wait a minute tiger, what'd'ya say?" Suddenly he made after her, grabbing her around the waist and turning her around to face him. She looked down in surprise at his hands around her waist. He repeated, "What'd'ya say Harry?"

"I said I'm thirsty, I need some water."

"No not that bit, what'd'ya say before that?" There was a tense silence and eventually he gave up, saying, "I think I should leave now, or knowing you, you won't be thanking me in the morning!" He found the bottle of water then and pushed it into her hand as he pulled her up off the floor. She swayed alarmingly and he eyed the stairs. He didn't relish getting her up there and decided against carrying her up in favour of laying her back on the sofa. He'd wait for a while until she fell asleep. He got her back onto the sofa and held her head up for her to drink the water and he was relieved to see her drink most of the bottle. She lay back down and he went into the kitchen to get some more water. When he came back, she had her eyes closed, her head to one side and her arms flung above her head. He looked at her again, unable to resist. Her face was extremely flushed and her hair was fanned out on the sofa cushion. She turned her head slowly saying in a seductive way, "It's too hot Dempsey." She twisted her head again on the cushion. "Dempsey I'm burning up." Watching her he thought to himself, 'so am I sweetheart.' He pictured himself reaching down, taking hold of her wrists and pressing his body hard against hers. It took all his self-control to stop himself from doing just that. With a shake of his head he lifted her up instead to give her more water. "C'mon Harry, you gotta get some sleep now honey." He lay her back and she said nothing, closing her eyes. He sat in her armchair watching over her until his own eyes eventually shut.

Suddenly he woke and sat bolt upright. "Dempsey! There's something wrong." Makepeace was sat up on the sofa with her face in her hands. "I feel odd, I can hardly breathe!" He got up and went over to her. "You'll be okay Harry, look at me." He pulled her hands away from her face but she kept her eyes closed. He felt her clench his hand and she dug her nails into his palm. "Oh God, I feel so strange, is it supposed to feel like this?" He sat next to her on the sofa and pulled her to him, holding her head against his shoulder. With a wry laugh he said, "What you never experimented with this kinda stuff in the girl's dorms when you were younger Harry?"

"No I certainly did not." He pulled back then and looked at her, smiling, "At least I've got my old Harry back." A brief smile crossed her face but was quickly replaced by a deep breath as she closed her eyes again and groaned. "Dempsey, I don't feel good."

"I'm not surprised, you know that was a real dumb thing to do, even for the case. Don't try anything that dumb again, d'ya hear me?"

"Oh hell Dempsey, the case, did I blow it?"

"Oh no, you did a real good impression of someone completely outta their head on pills though." She groaned again. "I remember taking the stuff and bits in-between but it all went a bit hazy after that." She gave him a guilty look. "Thought I could handle it, guess not eh?"

"You feelin' better? Want more water?"

"Please."

He got up and she fell back against the arm of the sofa, closing her eyes again, fighting the waves of nausea and dizziness until he returned with more water. She drank it gratefully and sat back, risking opening her eyes again to look at him. He could see she was struggling to pull it together but he could think of no other way to help her. He stood then to return to the armchair but she misunderstood his intention and looked up at him with sudden alarm. "Are you going?" He was half standing but on hearing her question, he sat back next to her again. "You want me to stay?" He looked directly into her eyes, but they darted away then as she considered the question. She glanced around the room nervously, unsure of how to reply. "Well," she said slowly, "I guess not." She was completely incorrigible, he knew that she wanted him there; she looked so panicked and ill. "Look I'll stay on here, you get to bed. Then if you need me in the night, just yell."

"Well, if you want to then, you can stay." He gave her an incredulous look but said nothing.

She made to stand up then but faltered, so he scooped an arm around her middle and pulled her up again off the sofa. She stood, with his arm pressing her against him but she edged away at the unfamiliar feeling of it. He looked down at her. "Hey, I'm not havin' you fallin' down the stairs as well today, what am I, a flamin' nurse! Let me get you upstairs will you?" She made an uncomfortable sound at the back of her throat but let him manoeuvre her across the room and up the stairs. He could feel her tense with every small movement and he knew that his closeness made her feel uneasy. At the top of the stairs she moved away from him, saying, "I can manage from here thank you." He gave her a cynical smile. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."

As he made his way back down the stairs, he shook his head in disbelief at how she could be a hot, sexy temptress one minute, and miss ice maiden again the next. Being around her was like some mild form of torture, how much more could a hot-blooded male take?

He woke to daylight and a cramped, aching body from sleeping all night on the sofa. Hearing some noises in the kitchen he sat up to investigate. Makepeace was dressed and busying herself, putting dishes away and making tea. "Mornin' Harry, how's your head?" She approached him holding two mugs of tea and offering him one. "It's been better, did you manage to get any sleep on there?" She asked. "Hmm, not much."

"Look," she said sitting on the chair opposite him, "I owe you an apology for last night, you were right, I never should have taken that pill. I'm bloody well furious with myself for doing it. Can we possibly put this all behind us Dempsey?"

"Sure, your problem is that you were too intent on busting 'em all. You gotta slow down partner, your safety always comes first."

"Alright Dempsey, I know, let's just put it down to a momentary lapse shall we?"

"Well, I'm gonna go home and get a shower, you could do with layin' low today until I pick you up later. Get some rest, whatever he gave you hit you pretty hard." He stood up to leave. "Yes, I know." She said sheepishly. "Oh and Dempsey," she paused, "Thank you for staying, I do appreciate it."

"No problem sweetheart, what are partners for?"

At 6 o clock that afternoon Dempsey and Makepeace arrived at Campbell's converted theatre. A tall, attractive, dark haired lady let them in and led them through the theatre itself, past the rows of seats to the front area where the stage must have originally been. There were sofas and tables dotted around the place and Campbell was sat at a table with three women and another young couple. Looking closer, Dempsey recognised one of the women from the previous night, she had offered him a cigarette and fallen asleep on him. She smiled at him as they approached the table. Campbell stood. "Welcome, I am glad that you made it." He turned to one of the women then. "Get them a drink." The woman poured a glass of wine for Makepeace and handed it to her saying, "How would you like to see backstage? I think you'd be impressed." The woman watched her as she handed Dempsey a drink also. "Yes, I'd like that." She led Makepeace backstage, accompanied by another guest, while Dempsey sat making idle conversation with the woman he had met yesterday.

Moments passed and then Dempsey looked up suddenly. He turned around to see that both Makepeace and Campbell had gone. He didn't like it, Campbell was trouble. He excused himself and headed towards the voices he could hear coming from the back of the stage and found them. They were sat in a small room, one of many that were behind the stage; presumably they were dressing rooms when the place had been a working theatre. Dempsey walked into the room to find Campbell sat on a sofa in between the two women, and Makepeace sat on a separate chair to the side of them. He walked over to Makepeace and stood behind her, placing a possessive hand on her shoulder and giving Campbell a purposeful stare. Campbell looked up at him and smiled, inviting him to sit down. Dempsey took the empty chair opposite Makepeace. "Whiskey?" He offered Dempsey, holding out a decanter. He let Campbell fill his glass. "And the lovely lady? Would you like more wine?" Campbell motioned to one of the women and she brought a bottle of wine to him. "Thank you but I have had sufficient." She said with a glance at Dempsey. Ignoring her statement, Campbell proceeded to fill her glass anyway. She really did not want anymore; firstly because she was still feeling slightly nauseous from the after effects of the pill she took yesterday, but also because she really wanted nothing more to do with Campbell at that moment. However, if they were going to put this man behind bars then they needed to catch him selling drugs, which he wouldn't do unless she played along with him. She smiled at Campbell and took a small sip of the wine.

Campbell turned to Dempsey. "That's how you get women to do what you want, you have to be assertive, show them who's boss. In my experience women rarely know what they really want. Don't you agree Jack?" Makepeace had to fight the urge not to throw her glass of wine right in the arrogant bastard's face. She looked across at Dempsey, waiting for his reply. On seeing her face he thought it wise to be noncommittal and he simply gave Campbell a nod of his head. "Mind you, you two seem to have it all Jack, I can tell. How did you get together then?"

"Oh, it was through work, but it wasn't always easy with Jenny here, she took some time to give in to my charms, didn't you Jen?" He said looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Campbell continued, "Is that right Jennifer?" He looked interested. "Well I tried to resist his advances but he was persistent so I eventually gave in to him." Dempsey looked at her with a thoughtful expression." Yes you did, didn't you Jenny, tell them all about it."

"Oh, I'm sure they don't want to hear all about our love life Jack!" She said raising her voice slightly and glaring at him. Campbell quickly interjected. "I am always interested in hearing stories from the people I entertain. It means that I get to know them better, you never know who you can trust these days."

"That's true enough, go on Jen, tell him about how I seduced you that night when we first got it together." He threw a challenging look at Makepeace from across the room. She gave him a fake smile that barely hid her annoyance. "Well erm, I invited him to my house and cooked him a meal, steak I think it was, wasn't it Jack?"

"Yes, go on." He knew she was stalling. She reluctantly continued. "He put some music on, turned the lights down and sat next to me on the sofa…then …er…" She could feel Dempsey watching her intently. "He, erm, reached over to run his fingers through my hair." His eyes were locked onto hers. "Then he moved over and started to kiss my neck, lots of tiny kisses that broke down my will." She returned Dempsey's challenging look. His whole body was alert and focused on her, registering every detail of what she was saying. Campbell watched her adding, "And you liked that, didn't you?"

"Yes I did, but I tried to push him away, only…" Dempsey interrupted. "Only you wound up pulling me towards you and kissing me full on the mouth, isn't that true Jenny?" He didn't let her answer. "We ended up making love over and over again all around your lounge that night, didn't we?" He gave her a burning look, she stared back directly into his eyes. "Yes, we did Jack."

Campbell broke the silence. "I'm not surprised, there aren't many couples I know of who have as much sexual attraction between them as you two have." They had almost forgotten that Campbell was there and, at his comment, both Dempsey and Makepeace looked at him suddenly in surprise. Campbell stood then abruptly. "Come on ladies, let's leave these two love birds on their own for a while shall we?" They stood and left the room.