A quick chapter. Another one tomorrow :)

Dempsey was frustrated. He needed to go hunt down Jackson, and quickly before any more trouble erupted, but instead, he was stuck there at the guest house with no car. What was taking them so long? Okay, so they had only been gone fifteen minutes or so but… He pulled back the curtains once more and scanned the fields and surrounding countryside. Somewhere out there, Roberto had been murdered. Then a thought hit him as he remembered something that Doug had said the night before. That was it; he was going back to the club. At least he could find his way there without a car and maybe get a step closer to getting his hands on the evidence he so badly needed.

On his way out, he bumped into Mrs Bennett in the hallway and she stopped him by placing a light hand on his arm.

"Hello Mr Dempsey. I haven't seen much of you at all since you arrived. You haven't even tasted my home cooking yet young man," she reprimanded playfully.

He gave a small laugh. It had been a while since someone had referred to him as a 'young man.'

"Yeah, sorry Mrs B. I've been busy visiting a friend who lives nearby. We've been catchin' up; you know how it is."

She grinned. "Yes, I know. This friend, it wouldn't be Miss Harriet, would it?"

Dempsey was slightly thrown for a moment. How did Mrs Bennett know?

"This is a small village Mr Dempsey; not much goes unnoticed," she went on. "And didn't I hear a female voice last night?" She gave him a knowing look. "Against the rules of course, but," she sighed, "I was never one to spoil a bit of romance. She's a lovely lady."

Phew, seems like Mrs B was still oblivious as to what they had really been doing.

He nodded. "Yeah, she is," he agreed.

"How long will you be visiting for?" she asked.

"Dunno. Actually, I was kinda thinking of stickin' round here for a while…"

Mrs Bennett's grin developed again.

"… Gonna need somewhere more permanent to stay though. You know of anywhere close by?" he asked.

"Well, as you can see, there isn't much around here. Most of the buildings in this vicinity are owned by the proprietor of the Country Club down the road. He's a good friend of Miss Harriet's actually," she answered.

Of course, he remembered Harry saying that she had bought her house off Doug.

"Does he own any houses round here he rents?" he asked.

She smiled. "Yes, as a matter of fact he rents two houses nearby to holidaymakers; one is opposite the post office about a mile from here, and the other…" There was that cheeky grin again. "… is next door to Miss Harriet's house."

Dempsey's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Living next door to Harry? Yeah, now that was an interesting prospect.

A smile developed from him to match Mrs Bennett's.

Besides, just the thought of how much that would bug Harry in itself was enough for him to want to move in there.

"Now, I can't guarantee he will agree to rent you that house though Mr Dempsey because he likes to reserve it for visitors to The Club, but perhaps you could get Miss Harriet to persuade him," she went on.

Nah, he'd sort it out himself, and he knew just the bargaining chip to use too.

"Thanks Mrs B, you're an angel," he said, reaching forward to plant a kiss on her cheek before he turned to leave.

She smiled and touched her cheek.

At the door, he paused for a second and turned to shout out, "I'll be back lunchtime to try that home cookin' of yours, Mrs B." And then he was gone.

"Such a nice gentleman," she said to herself. "Aah, young love," she whispered wistfully.

XxXxXxXxX

When Dempsey entered The Club, he headed straight for the garden area, since it was the place he knew best and seemed to be where people congregated.

There were a few people sitting at the tables where he had first seen Harry a couple of days ago, and across the lawn, near the bar area, there were some members of staff busily clearing up the last remnants of the evening before. He decided to head towards them to ask if anyone knew where Doug was.

As he approached the bar, he became aware of a guy slumped over it, his head resting on his arms. On closer inspection, he realized that the guy was Eddie.

Dempsey placed on hand on his back. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

Eddie jumped up and turned to see Dempsey standing next to him. Eddie's face lit up with surprise.

"Hi, yes I'm okay thanks sweetie, well, sort of. Just a tinsy bit hungover," he sighed, reaching wearily for a bottle of water that was on the bar in front of him.

"Good night last night then?" Dempsey replied.

"Yeah, after work parties, great at the time, not so great the next day," he came back.

"You gotta work today?"

"Unfortunately yes, but I'm counting the hours till I clock off later and then I have the whole of tomorrow off. I'm going to lock myself away and do absolutely nothing. No booze involved!" Eddie exclaimed.

Dempsey laughed. "Good plan. Listen, I'm looking for Doug, you know where I can find him?" he asked.

Eddie looked up at him inquisitively. "He's probably in his office. Ask Hannah at the reception and she'll call him for you."

Dempsey smiled. "Thanks, keep drinkin' that water," he advised as he turned to head for the building again.

Hannah informed Doug that Dempsey was there to see him and Dempsey was told to wait in the garden café for Doug; he would be there shortly.

On his way back out, he passed Eddie again carrying a tray full of glasses.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Eddie laughed. "Did you find him?"

Dempsey took a seat at a nearby table.

"Yeah, he's comin' down," Dempsey replied.

Eddie balanced the tray on the table.

"Where's Harry?" he asked. Dempsey reached across to pull the precarious looking tray further onto the table. Eddie gave up and fell onto a seat with a groan. "I will get some work done at some point. Is she okay?" he went on.

"Yeah, she's gone to see Richie," Dempsey informed him.

Eddie pulled a face as though he wasn't impressed. "How long you staying here for?" he asked.

"I dunno, I might stick around for a while," he replied, glancing about the gardens.

Eddie smiled. "That will be nice; Harry and you can spend some time together, catching up. I'd have loved to have known her when she was a policewoman, such an exciting life," Eddie replied dreamily.

"Yeah, but it aint all a bed of roses; it can be dangerous too," Dempsey answered.

"Yes, I suppose, but exciting too, eh? I'd like to be a cop. What do you think?" Eddie said, sitting upright and straightening his ruffled clothes, "would they let me into the force?"

Dempsey didn't look convinced and replied, "You'd have to do a hell of a lot of training first."

He sighed and seemed to wilt in his chair again, "Yeah, they said the same about being a firefighter. Ooops, got to go; here comes Doug," he said, jumping up suddenly and reaching for the tray. "Catch you later."

As he watched the comical Eddie rush away, he laughed to himself.

Dempsey stood to greet Doug as he approached the table. He held out a hand to him and they shook before sitting.

"Thanks for comin' down," Dempsey said.

"Not a problem," Doug answered, "I could do with a break anyway. Would you like a coffee?" he offered.

"Sure," Dempsey replied.

Doug beckoned over a waitress and ordered two coffees.

"What can I do for you?" Doug said, turning back to Dempsey.

"Well, I've kinda got some free time on my hands and I got to thinkin' 'bout the security issue you got here. I guess, once a cop, always a cop," he laughed, " never off duty."

Damn it, he was trying to give a reason for being so interested in Doug's security but he had the awful sense that he was sounding kind of dumb in front of Doug.

Doug didn't seem to react to Dempsey's comment and simply watched him thoughtfully, waiting for him to continue.

"Yeah, so anyway, I don't think this place is secure enough at all. Anyone can just wander onto the premises," he warned.

"Hmm, you could be right there; we had a stranger here last night. Did you know anything about that?" Doug asked.

Woa, Dempsey had to be careful here. Was Doug testing him?

"Yeah, I did hear people talkin' 'bout that," he said vaguely. "So that's my point. I was thinkin', I could take a look at your security here and help ya out. I remember you mentioned about the guy over the road who had recently updated his security. He must have had problems too. Maybe I could talk to him. Check on his security and see how he's dealin' with it."

Doug nodded, but Dempsey still wasn't sure if he was convinced. Maybe that was just his way.

Their conversation was briefly interrupted then by the arrival of the coffees.

"Have you and Harry spoken about this?" Doug asked, thanking the waitress and picking up his coffee cup.

Damn, no, he hadn't let Harry in on the plan, but he was certain she would go along with it.

"Sure. But Harry's gone to see Richie now, so I thought I'd come see you this mornin'," he answered.

Finally, some kind of expression swept over Doug's face. "Harry is with Richie?" he asked with surprise.

"Yeah."

"Right." He fell silent for a moment and Dempsey wondered what was going through his head. "Okay, well I do need to sort this problem out," Doug admitted finally. "Perhaps you and Harry can work on this together. I'll set up a meeting with you and Brian; he's the farmer from across the road. I'll pay you and Harry for your time of course," he assured him.

Dempsey shook his head. "I don't need payin'. But I am lookin' for somewhere more permanent to stay. I'm at the guest house down the road at the moment but there aint much room there. Mrs Bennett said that you rent the house next to Harry's. I'd appreciate it if you'd rent it to me for a few months. Means I'd be nearby too for workin' with Harry on the security," he pointed out, taking a sip of his coffee and mentally crossing his fingers.

Doug searched Dempsey's face for a moment before nodding. "I'll try and get in touch with Brian about meeting you. Let me think about the house; I need to check the bookings," he replied. "Give me a contact number and I'll get back to you later today."

Dempsey knew that Doug was going to check up on him, most likely with Harry. But if she was okay with everything, knowing how highly Doug regarded Harry, he'd agree to at least the meeting with the farmer… and that, after all, was the most important thing.