Chas, Thompson and a team had joined them shortly after at Lucky Willy's sister's apartment. The girl had been taken to the police station for further questioning, but she kept saying her brother had only asked to sleep over for a few days without explaining anything to her.
Thompson stayed on the scene to look for potential clues while Chas gave the couple a lift to their flat. During the journey Chas insisted that the death of Lucky Willy was unfortunate, but at least proved they were on the right track. But with their only witness on his way to the morgue, Dempsey couldn't help to think that once again, their lead was cold. Dead cold.
...
James was running like mad, he had to catch up with them, he had to save her. Jessica was running ahead of him in a long dark corridor, and a man he couldn't see properly was after her. This man was laughing like a maniac, running faster and faster. James suddenly spotted a door on his daughter's left, this was their only chance! He screamed for her to hide inside and when she had, he stopped to catch up his breath only to realise that in the meantime, the mad guy had caught Tommy. This nutcase was going to kill his son if he didn't do anything, but when he starting running again, they both disappeared...
Dempsey sat up in the bed, looking wildly around him. He was drenched in sweat and his breathing was uneven. It took him a few seconds to realize that none of this had really happened, that it was nothing but a bad dream. Harry was sleeping soundly on the other side of the bed. The alarm clock on the bedside table displayed 3.14.
Ruffling his hair, he got up and fetched the bottle of whisky he had brought with him. He took a swig. It didn't do any good. He took a second swig and was tempted to take another one, but stopped, the bottle halfway to his mouth. He lowered the bottle and looked at it for a while, then he decided that drowning his sorrow wouldn't help his family and he put it back in place.
He didn't want to go back to bed, he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, so he walked to the window. It looked out on a big avenue, he stared outside at the cars passing by for a moment. He couldn't help bad memories surfacing in his mind, and images kept flashing back.
After a while he couldn't stand it anymore so he shook his head wanting to shake off the bad thoughts and went to the fridge to get a beer. He came back, sat on the window sill and opened his beer.
Harry jumped slightly in her sleep and reached out to the other side of the bed. When her hand didn't meet James' body she opened her eyes and looked around.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." came from the left.
She screwed up her eyes and spotted him, drinking his beer. She frowned and got up. She put on her robe, grabbed a chair and sat in front of him.
"What's the problem?" She asked shrewdly.
"There's no problem. I don't feel like sleeping and I fancied a beer." He answered in a would-be casual voice.
"Why don't you tell me what's eating you?" she renewed the question.
He looked away and breathed heavily.
"I know you James" she went on "I observed you today. You were quiet, you seemed far away."
"Bullshit!"
Harry frowned. She hated it when he refused to talk. "You're not hiding something from me, are you?"
Dempsey felt uneasy; he didn't want another fight with Harry. "I was just thinking."
"Yes..." she encouraged him.
Looking nowhere but at his bottle of beer he croaked "Maggie would never have been dead if it wasn't for me."
"What's that non-sense?"
He looked up, as if he was both trying to read her mind and defying her to deny it. "You didn't seemed to believe it was non-sense" And when she looked puzzled he added "in Chas's office."
Harry frowned then she remembered. Her own voice sounded harsh in the memory "Well you were wrong and now Maggie's dead!" She closed her eyes. She never wanted that.
"That's not what I meant." She could see he didn't believe her. "Okay, maybe I meant it at that point but I was furious then."
"And now?" he bore his eyes in hers.
"I don't know" she answered honestly. "I still wish you had told me things before." She sighed. "But it doesn't mean you're responsible for it. Coltrane is."
"Coltrane, again and again!" he said in a low hoarse voice. "You know it seems like it will never end…. It seems he can screw up my life even from the grave. I can almost feel him, he's there, reaching out from limbo, groping around to catch me."
He buried his face in his hands, this was getting too hard. He felt Harry's hand on his knees and looked up, her big blue eyes were shining in the pale light of the night.
He swallowed hard, there was a big lump in his throat. "You know sometimes I wonder…" his voice was cracked "maybe you, you and the kids, would be safer if you were far from me. Maybe you'd be better off without me."
He felt the exact same way than he had some twenty-five years ago after killing his partner Joey. 'You shoulda had me Joey' he had said. Well maybe it would have been better. Then he wouldn't be facing Coltrane and his wrath for the third time of his life, and Harry wouldn't be in danger. Harry would be safe.
Harry shook her head and caressed his face, forcing him to look at her straight in the eyes. "That's the most stupid thing you've ever said." She whispered. "I love you idiot." She kissed him tenderly. "and I need you, we all need you, so don't start saying stuff like that."
He put his beer on the window sill and held her tight, as if his life depended on it. Slowly a single tear ran down his cheek. She was right, he couldn't let her down when she needed him most. No matter how hard this would be, he had to pull himself together and protect his family.