After a very tense and awkward time spent with Richie, when neither he nor Harry broached the subject of anything that had happened the night before, but both were excruciatingly aware of it, Richie and Eddie finally returned to the Club in Dempsey's car, whilst Harry informed them that she had some more errands to run.

She had intended to explain Dempsey's actions, or to apologize for them, or something, but Richie hadn't seemed at all in the mood for any conversation, let alone one like that, and so Harry had left it alone, contenting herself with at least seeing that he hadn't been completely traumatized by Dempsey.

During the journey from Richie's house into the city, Harry's thoughts hovered on Dempsey's actions that morning towards her. It wasn't long, however, before she was chastising herself for overthinking what had happened. It wasn't out of character for Dempsey to be concerned over her safety, or anyone else's for that matter; that was just his way. Okay, so he had overreacted more than usual, but then, as he said, he'd lost Danny because of this mob and, knowing Dempsey, he probably felt a fair amount of guilt over that. She could well understand his panic at the thought of also losing her, particularly since he appeared to have practically led the Borelli's to her front door. But something didn't ring true about that theory: that it was the Borelli's who had been behind the break in last night. Harry had the feeling that, if this had been the case, neither Dempsey nor her would be alive that morning to tell the tale.

Still, she also had the sense that time was running out for them and something had to be done soon to incriminate Tony before it was too late. With this is mind, her car automatically found itself heading in the direction of SI-10. Her biggest concern was how she was going to broach this with Spikings and how much she was going to tell him. If she didn't play this right, not only could Spikings refuse to help, but he could insist on bringing Dempsey in. She had concluded however, that the benefits of involving SI-10 did actually outweigh the risks. Firstly, With SI-10 at her disposal, she could investigate the case far more quickly and thoroughly than she could on her own. And secondly, she did believe deep down that Spikings cared enough about Dempsey to help as much as he could if things were not to go Dempsey's way in the end.

Yes, all of this made perfect sense to her, so why then had she been sitting in her parked car for the past fifteen minutes, a couple of hundred metres from SI-10? Was she really doing the right thing? What would happen if it all backfired? Dempsey had a lot to lose. She went over the conversation she would have with Spikings over and over again in her head, trying to anticipate every way he might react and every question he could have for her. Finally, she was driving herself to distraction and admitted defeat, starting up her car and driving the final stretch to SI-10. She would just have to dive right in and hope for the best.

Walking across the SI-10 car park always gave her a certain feeling of excitement in the pit of her stomach. What would that morning bring? Would she be up to the challenge? And, in the 'Dempsey' days, what mischief would she have to deal with that day?

As she strolled down the corridoor towards the office, she smiled at the familiar sound of Spikings's voice booming out.

"What the bloody hell is going on here then? We've got a major drug ring, two murders and a kidnapping on our hands, and you lot are acting like it's feeding time at the zoo! Get some bloody work done!"

Harry stood at the door, waiting for Spiking's to finish his outburst. Finally, he looked up and noticed her.

"Makepeace," he said with surprise. She rarely came into SI-10 unless he called her in for a case. "I hope you're here to tell me you're coming back full time. Maybe you can get some work out of this lot!"

She smiled. "Can I have a word, Sir?" she asked.

He gave a curt nod, his eyes motioning towards his office. She followed him, passing Chas on the way with a smile.

"Well, well, well, can't stay away from us after all Harry," he said, closing the door after her.

She laughed. He moved around his desk and took a seat. She sat opposite him.

"Have you given any more thought to returning full time?" he pushed.

"Of course, but it's a big decision," she said by way of an excuse.

"Hmm, we certainly have enough work at the moment. Seems like the thugs and crooks are having a field day these days," he replied wryly.

"Well, I've stumbled across my own criminals this time sir; think I've found more work for you," she answered.

He groaned. "Go on. What kind of criminals?"

"Mafia," she replied cautiously.

"Mafia?" he repeated with surprise. "Not more mobsters! We have units all over London working on Mafia cases lately. Someone's going to have to consolidate this whole mess soon." He went on in a hushed voice. "Word is, there is an international crime ring forming and every bloody aspiring gangster is coming out of the woodwork."

Harry listened thoughtfully, taking in what Spikings had said.

"Hmm, interesting. Shall we have a small whiskey, Sir?" she said, out of the blue.

Spikings wasn't averse to the odd tipple now and again when the stresses of the job dictated it, but it was unlike Harry to suggest it.

He eyed her suspiciously. "Everything alright, Harry?" he asked.

She nodded. "Sort of, but think you might need the drink for this one, Sir."

A frown wrinkled his brow, but he stood and opened the cupboard door which concealed his secret whiskey bottle, pouring two drinks for them, and handing her one before taking his seat again.

He took a sip of the liquid, his eyes not leaving her face as he did so. Her heart beat nervously. God, she hoped that he wasn't going to explode and take out half of SI-10 with him!

"Go on then, what is it?" he urged her.

She inhaled deeply. "Thing is Sir, I had a visitor the other day… a visitor from..." Here went nothing. "… across 'The Pond'," she said, testing the water.

He stared at her for a moment, his expression blank, before his whole face abruptly changed with recognition.

"Are you suggesting Sergeant, that that unruly, irresponsible, trigger-happy, Yankee Doodle Dandy is back here in the UK?"

"Afraid so, Sir," she cringed.

He threw his hands up in the air. "Bloody marvelous! Come on then, what's he done now?"

"Err, he hasn't exactly done anything," she began, trying to soften the blow. "You know what he's like," she went on, wrinkling up her nose, "he just attracts trouble."

"And when you say 'trouble', I take it you mean Mafia, right?" he responded.

She nodded. "He's been investigating a New York mob for years…"

Spikings groaned again, running a hand over his head.

"… and well, when things got too hot for him there, he decided to come back here. Only, he sort of… brought the Mafia with him."

"We have enough of our own Mafia here thank you Sergeant. Tell him to take them back!"

"Well, that's another thing," she went on, "Maybe they didn't just come here after Dempsey. I mean, maybe that wasn't the main reason. I was thinking that was odd," she admitted. "Why would the two brothers, the two bosses, come out here just for Dempsey? Perhaps they were here to meet with other mobsters?" she suggested.

Spikings nodded, his mind seeming to wander for a moment, before he answered,

"Where's he staying?"

She was slightly thrown for a moment by his sudden change of subject.

"In the guest house just at the bottom of my road," she admitted.

Spikings grinned, as though not entirely surprised with her answer.

"Sir?" she queried, wondering what had amused him.

"Hmm, well, that's good," he went on, "you can keep an eye on him there then." He went then to move out of his chair but stopped and seated himself again, adding , as an afterthought, "He knows he can't stay there for long though, doesn't he, sergeant? If he thinks he can just waltz back here as though nothing has changed, he's going to be very disappointed."

She finished a sip of her drink and placed the glass back on the desk. "I know sir, those were almost my exact words to him."

His grin grew.

Harry always did know how to put him in his place.

"Once…" Spikings pointed twice towards the ceiling, "… they get wind of this, they'll send him packing; they weren't exactly over the moon about his last little stunt," Spikings stressed.

"I shall relay that message to him again," she answered.

Nevertheless, Harry didn't really want to dwell on the thought of Dempsey disappearing out of her life again. All she needed to focus on now was getting him out of this mess. Anyway, Dempsey was anything but predictable. What he was going to end up doing after all this was sorted out, was anyone's guess.

"About these mobsters, Sir," she pushed, "if the Borelli's, the mob from New York, are involved with them, then arresting Borelli could prove to be a considerable chink in their armour."

Spikings was already ahead of her on that. His only concern now however, was keeping Dempsey under control.

"Do you think you could get enough evidence to bring these Yankee Mafia down?" he asked.

She nodded, "I think I could, Sir."

"Hmm," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I don't want Dempsey anywhere near this though," he pointed to her. "You find these men, and Dempsey is not to know where they are, under any circumstances," he stressed. "I'm not having Dempsey go rushing in there like Raging Bull!"

"Of course not Sir, that goes without saying."

"Right, well, you get working on this then Harry. If this all ends nicely," he continued, smiling, "with a little luck, they might put more Mafia cases our way."

Harry pointed out tentatively, "Wouldn't that stretch your already rather heavy workload, Sir?"

"That lot out there could do with some stretching," he replied. "And besides, cases of this high priority could be just what SI-10 needs right now. Who knows, we might even go international," he winked at her, holding up his glass.

She looked impressed, picked up her glass and clinked with him.

Harry was amazed at how well Spikings had finally taken this. She wondered if he would feel quite the same, however, when he found out about the buried body!

Another chapter to come very soon.