thanks to dolphin crazy, starfish saver, bex, vikki, becki and sn0zb0z for reviewing, and eys vikki, damn non working author alerts to hell ;)
Chapter 13
They entered the room together, Phil still not having a clue what they were doing there.
"So will you do it?" Danny asked as soon as he sat down.
"I don't know? Will I?" Phil whispered to Sam jokingly. She merely nodded, her face deadly serious
"I'm in." Phil nodded to Danny, only knowing that he'd just agreed to con a drug dealer, nothing else, "So what do I need to do?"
"Nothing really, if you're the roper, I'll be the inside man."
"The what?" Phil asked, wishing the man would talk in simple terms.
"The roper's the one that 'ropes' in the victim, Hendon in this case. The inside man in the main man. He'll be the one that organises the exchange of money, and is basically in charge throughout the con. Sometimes the roper pretends to be reeled in too, for authenticity, right?" Sam said, looking at Danny for confirmation. He nodded, looking at her with a confused expression, so Phil knew this wasn't just something Danny had explained, she actually knew about conmen.
"How did you know that?" he asked
"Some of us listen in meetings Phil," she rolled her eyes, but he could tell she wasn't really annoyed with him.
"I already told you, I had a sore head." He argued
"You already admitted that you hadn't listened to a word Neil said." She countered
"Ahem." Danny cleared his throat, and Phil looked away from Sam. They would finish this argument later.
"Sorry." Sam said. She sounded embarrassed, "You were saying about Phil being a roper?"
""If he can approach Hendon, and convince him that I'm a big time drug dealer who's willing to sell to him, then I can give him the drugs, call in some police and get him arrested."
"That is so not going to work." Phil pointed out
"You got any better ideas?" Danny snapped
"No, but you do realise, the second Hendon's arrested, he's going to name you as a drug dealer. You'll get the same sentence as him."
"I will?" Danny asked. He hadn't thought about that
"Unless we make it an official police investigation…" Sam said
"Okay, do that then." The con artist said impatiently. Sam and Phil traded a glance. That was just like criminals. They wanted a fast result, and they couldn't guarantee one.
"To do that we need to get Ms. Monroe to name Hendon as her attacker and as a drug dealer, do you think she'll do that?" Sam asked exchanging another glance with Phil. Phil stared into her eyes, trying to read what she was thinking, but not having much success. The con man stood up with a sigh
"I can try, but I can't promise anything. I'll call you if she agrees, if not, I'll think of something else, he's not getting away with this." He was once again using the tone of voice that worried Sam- the one that suggested that he was about to do something dangerous. Like going after Hendon by himself,
"Maybe you should just let it go. If Stacie can, why can't you?" Sam asked, trying to talk him out of whatever he was planning.
"I just can't ok?" he asked heading towards the door. Phil started to follow, but Sam grabbed his arm,
"Try to talk him out of it, okay?" she whispered
"Of what?"
"I don't know whatever he's planning…" Phil just nodded and followed him out.
As Danny hailed a taxi, Phil stood still, not knowing what he should say. Sam wanted him to talk Danny out of doing something stupid, but he knew that if it was Sam in that hospital bed instead of Stacie he'd kill Hendon if he had to. However Danny was leaving and he knew he had to say something, or else he wouldn't be able to look Sam in the eye all day.
"Danny!" he called as he opened the cab door, "I know where you're coming from… If it was someone that I cared about as much as you care about Stacie in that hospital bed… I would want revenge too, but try not to do anything stupid, okay? I'll get Zain working on something. We'll get Hendon one way or another" the con man stood still for a few seconds, and Phil wondered what was going on behind those brilliant blue eyes, before he simply nodded, and got inside, slamming the door behind him. Phil knew it was unlikely, but he hoped he'd managed to get through to him.
"What did you say?" Sam asked as soon as he got back inside
"Not to do anything stupid."
"That's it? I knew I should have done it myself." Sam complained
"No not just that…"Sam was still looking at him impatiently, so he elaborated, "I just said that I would do the same as he was thinking if I cared about someone as much as he cares about Stacie, and that I would get Hendon without Stacie's statement if I had to."
"You can't promise that."
"It'll stop him doing anything stupid for now though." Phil pointed out
"Maybe, but it could make things worse in the long run…"
"Maybe." He reluctantly agreed, and they fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence.
"I was thinking…" Sam began, "You did me a favour by agreeing to do that con. That makes us even for the Zain thing…" she paused and Phil had a horrible feeling that he knew where she was going with this, "So you don't need to take me out for dinner."
"Right okay…" he said, feeling disheartened.
"I really shouldn't anyway." She went on, sounding like she was trying to justify it to him and herself, "I'm still seeing Stuart, and I'm on a diet…"
"Fine. Whatever." Phil snapped, turning his back on her and headed to CID
"Phil!" she called after him, but he ignored her.
Phil groaned as he saw Stuart standing my Sam's desk. What had he done to deserve a day like this?
"Where's Sam?" Stuart asked him,
"Coming now." He said, trying to ignore him. And sure enough, a few moments later, Sam came up, a little red in the face.
"I think we should break up." Stuart said bluntly, as soon as he saw her,
"You what?" Sam asked
"If you don't stop having an affair with Hunter, I don't think our relationship can survive."
"I'm not sleeping with Phil!" she shouted, not caring that everyone was staring at her, and silence had engulfed the room apart from the steady scanning noise of the photocopier. Stuart looked around at everyone, before pulling her into Neil's empty office and shutting the door.
"So… are you?" Terry asked Phil
"No!" Phil said, ignoring everyone, but secretly desperate to know what was going on behind the closed door. Eventually, they emerged and Stuart headed out the double doors without as much as a goodbye to anyone.
"You okay?" Phil asked her
"Yeah, I think so." She said
"What happened?"
"He believes me. We're still together."
"Oh… good." Phil forced a smile
"It's weird though. I sort of don't want to be. Part of me really wants to be with someone else."
"Looks like you have some thinking to do then." Phil said, returning to his seat, refusing to make this easy for her.
Lots of SPness in the next chapter. And yes, if youre nice and review, they'll get together in chap 14 :D