Makepeace trailed behind him feeling a little sheepish but ready to justify her misplaced assumptions to herself when the loudspeakers informed everyone that the tote for the next race was open. Harry had to catch up with Dempsey or Jimmy as she had lost the form guide to them. She fussed around flicking between two pages of dog details and trainer information. Dempsey said he'd studied the probability and it would be trap 3 to win next

"Surely its 1 in 6 each time" Jimmy pointed out

"No": "No" both Dempsey and Makepeace chorused simultaneously and looked at each other rather surprised that they agreed on something and rather uncertain that their explanations would match.

Dempsey started "In poker…"

Makepeace countered "This has nothing to with poker…"

"You watch the cards sergeant and you keep a running check on what's gone before..." she conceded that with a slight movement of her head "…and so far traps 3,4 and 6 have won most frequently and the previous winning dog in trap 3 was on longer odds than the other winning dogs"

"What's you punt Harry?" Jimmy asked

Makepeace looked up from the booklet she had been studying "Chevington Lee in trap 6 and Good Fortune in trap 4: 1st and 2nd – my forecast"

"Oh well if you want to go in for clever betting" Dempsey was not going to be outshone "I'll make a tricast trap 3, 6 then 4"

"Nope – you're wrong" Makepeace reiterated

"You wanna to bet?"

"What?" Asked Makepeace rising to the challenge and following him towards the tote

"My hat"

***

"Have you seen Dempsey?" asked Dave as he came up to a huddle of SI10 officers

"Not recently"

"He and Harry were having one of their shouting matches"

"How do they work together; they seem to be forever disagreeing about something?"

"Every single thing – I think they are polar opposites"

"They must agree about some things" Tom suggested

"You should work out of the office more often – they are forever at each other's throats – you saw that the other day when you were in"

"I secretly think they both fancy the pants off each other"

"What?"

"Dempsey wants to get inside her knickers"

"That's crude!"

"Well I wouldn't mind"

"You can't work at SI10 if you see the women as different to the men"

"Well I've been in there when you could power half of London off the electricity those two generate"

"Dempsey breaks the rules and doesn't like paperwork - I thought that's why they argue" Billy contributed

"Harry always was best at writing up, even when I worked with her" Tom admitted

"She'll be promoted up, all the top brass like her – I bet one day she's commissioner."

"So anyway has anyone seen either of them recently?" Dave asked again

"Look there they are coming away from the tote"

Seven pairs of eyes watched them walk halfway down the terrace chatting as they went. Then they watched Harry move back up a step and take the hat off of Dempsey and start weaving her way along the row, as it happened, towards them.

Dempsey followed with a mock shout of objection and caught her as they passed them a few yards below. He grabbed her by encircling her waist with his arm and used his free hand to replace the hat on his head. The 'off' happened at the same moment and Dempsey had the pleasure of watching the race with his arm around Makepeace. She stood on tip toe, but otherwise remained frozen – she desperately wanted to win and desperately didn't want his hold to stop.

The race was a long one – one and a half laps and the lead changed several times in the first lap but settled to a fight between Chevington Lee and Good Fortune. Whilst Chevington Lee edged in front Dempsey kept quiet, as Good Fortune slipped past Chevington Lee in the last hundred yards Makepeace sank back down onto her heels.

"Seems like neither of us won that one" Dempsey remarked

Harry winced with a disappointment that had nothing to do with the race, more that she had failed to beat Dempsey. However she reached up and grabbed the hat to be met with his protestations.

"Hey!"

"I won it" she claimed

"No you didn't" – he took it back

"I was a whole lot closer than you – the dog in trap 3 came 4th" she grabbed it back from his hand "that is nothing like a win, mine were just the wrong way round"

"You still didn't get it right" he reached around her waist towards where she was holding it behind her back

"Closer than you" she put it on her head

"No win is no win Sergeant, a miss is a miss" their bodies were connecting and the tension palpable, their eyes locked yet again and a shudder ran down Makepeace's spine as Dempsey's lips brushed across her hair as he lifted the hat back onto his head.

"Dempsey" Dave shouted down

His face still touching Makepeace Dempsey twisted it around so he could whisper in her ear "better luck next race Harry." He turned to look up "Whatcha" he shouted back as he ran up the terrace to the crowd Dave was still standing with. Harry made her way up more sedately.

"I wanted to ask you about this training you're doing Dempsey"

"Fire away"

"Do you think the Met should give us all personal trainers?"

"Huh, you just want a blond bimbo to run round the park with you"

"No, Dempsey was saying that the thing about having a trainer is that they keep pushing you on, an extra half mile and things like that" Dave defended

"It's willpower you need not a woman" Tom laughed

"Jogging is about stamina but I want training in short sharp bursts when the villain makes a run for it" Jimmy mooted

"Those 100 yard sprint runners are well fast" Fry said with awe

"Yeh, but they can't keep going if you have a chase down the street - the long distance training is better" Tom pointed out

"Can't you train for both?" asked Fry

"You can't be good at both" Tom said knowingly

"Well you're crap at both Fry"

"I'm not that bad"

"What do you think Harry?" asked Billy

"Sorry – I wasn't listening"

"Does Dempsey need to train for speed or stamina?" Billy asked but he noted Harry's blank face "With his woman" he added as an explanation

"I'm sure he's well practised" she responded

"Yeh but you've been with him – what do you think?" asked Dave

Harry smirked as she recalled their earlier conversation and paused as she sought the right words "I've never found speed to be the most important feature" she winked cheekily at Dempsey "the climax of a chase needs to be well timed, it never pays for a guy to peak too early"

Dempsey growled