After having concluded that Russian men might not be for him, not in that bar at least, Eddie returned to see how Harry and Dempsey were getting along. He found them in the same booth, oblivious to anyone apart from each other.

Woa, things were really hotting up between them two. Maybe they secretly got off on all the arguing? They wouldn't be the first.

Eddie coughed. "If you two want to stay here a bit longer, I'll meet you back at the car," he said.

Harry glanced up at him. "Hello Eddie," she sang, waving. "Where's your nice Russian?" she said, glancing behind him.

"Hmm, they're all a bit too… Russian," he laughed. "Bit of a communication dilemma. So, what you want to do now?"

"Shall we move on?" Harry suggested.

"Yeah," Dempsey smiled, "Let's find somewhere more cosy."

Eddie chuckled. "If you two get any more cosy, you're going to have to book your own room!"

Dempsey's face lit up. "Oooh, great idea."

"No, no, no," Harry said suddenly. "Oh dear."

Eddie and Dempsey both turned to her, slightly concerned.

"'Oh dear', what?" Eddie said.

"Oh dear, I forgot that I'm not good with a lot alcohol if I haven't eaten very much," she said, fanning her face with her hand.

"So, how much have you eaten?" Eddie asked.

She bit her lip. "Nothing."

"What?"

"Well, I had no electricity, remember? I'm in the electrician's bad books," she went on irrelevantly, pouting. "And I liked that electrician too; he was a good one."

"Come on silly," Eddie said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up out of her seat, "We had better get you some food before you pass out on us."

Dempsey's face fell, a deep frown wrinkling his brow as Harry was unceremoniously pulled away from him.

"Hey" he called after them, jumping up and following through the crowds, "Where ya taking her?"

"Burger stall is the best I can do at this time," Eddie replied.

Burger stall, nah, gonna spoil the mood.

Finally, when they had found the exit and the quieter refuge of the street, Dempsey spoke up.

"Listen," he said, "We aint havin' no English burgers." He pulled a face. "They don't taste right. You walk on, I've had a better idea." He took out his cell phone then and began to punch in a number.

Eddie urged Harry on, taking her arm in his, concerned that she should get some sort of food as soon as possible.

They only had to wait around for a few minutes more in Eddie's car before Dempsey caught them up and got in the back with Harry.

"You okay?" he asked, turning to her.

"Of course. So, what's the big secret?" she whispered.

"It aint really a secret. Ed, take us to the Park Lane will ya?" he said.

Harry's eyes widened in panic. "Park Lane, whatever for? Dempsey, I'm not dressed for the Park Lane and…"

"Don't worry, it's all sorted, we'll be eatin' privately," he assured her, feeling pleased with himself.

"What? Why? How?" she asked.

"Quit askin' questions will ya?" he reprimanded. "Come on Eddie, step on it!"

XxXxXxX

When they pulled up outside the Park Lane, Dempsey just about managed to get a protesting Harry out of the car and through the lobby to the lifts.

"Do you think anybody noticed us?" she said, glancing behind her. "I know people who come here you know."

"Harry, ya aint doin' nothin' wrong. Well, not too wrong." he grinned.

"Okay," she said, "What has your wicked mind got planned now? Out with it."

"Nothin' too wicked… yet…" he added. "C'mon," he said, grabbing her hand and entering the lift.

They got off at the 28th floor and headed for the restaurant, with Harry fretting about her attire for most of the way. When they arrived however, they found that the restaurant was in darkness.

"See, it's not open. We had better go," Harry said, doing an about turn.

Dempsey's hand shot out and grabbed hold of hers. "Wait, will ya?"

Dempsey pushed the rope barrier aside and entered the empty restaurant.

"What are we doing?" Harry whispered.

"There you are," came a voice out of nowhere. Harry jumped with fright and turned to see a young man in chef whites approaching them from the kitchen door.

"Hey, Micky, my main man!" Dempsey exclaimed, holding up his hand for a high five.

Harry watched, bewildered.

"This is Harry," he said, introducing them, "Harry, Micky."

She shook hands with the man.

"What's up?" the man said to Dempsey. "Thought you'd disappeared for good, either that or gone off my food."

"What? Are you kiddin' me?" He turned to address Harry, gesturing towards the man. "Best food in the whole damn city in here …only the stuff you cooked though, Mick, rest aint no good. Yeah, I hadda go back to New York though, sort some things out," he informed him. "You been promoted or something'?" he asked, taking in the man's chef's whites. "Lookin' good there Mick. You'd almost think he was a real chef, eh," he said to Harry.

She laughed, glancing from Dempsey to Micky and back again, trying to figure out how on earth these two men knew each other.

"You haven't changed Jim," he said, play punching his shoulder. "Listen, we'll have to catch up another time; I've got to go. Help yourself to anything in the end fridge but don't stay too long, eh."

"No problem. Thanks Mick," Dempsey said, reaching into his pocket for his wallet.

Micky waved a dismissive hand at Dempsey. "We'll settle it another time. Nice to meet you," he waved at Harry. "We'll catch up soon," he said to Dempsey before rushing away.

"Yeah, see ya Micky," Dempsey replied, heading across the restaurant towards the kitchens.

"Dempsey?" Harry said, following him. "What are we doing?" she repeated.

He pushed open the kitchen door and entered, making for the fridges.

"Gettin' food," he answered simply.

"But we can't just eat their food," she said, watching with a frown as he found the end fridge and opened it to inspect the contents.

"Why not? It's great stuff," he replied, gesturing to the fridge.

She leant back against the counter top and watched him, crossing her arms. "How do you know this Micky anyway?" she asked.

He pulled out a couple of dishes of food to take a closer look.

"Came here too late to eat once. Met Micky in the bar after he'd finished work. Turned out he'd got a few problems with parking tickets. He was good at cooking, I was good with parking tickets. It was a win, win situation," he explained.

"Hmm, sounds very underhanded to me," she said. "No," she concluded," picking up the two dishes of food from under Dempsey's nose and returning them to the fridge.

"What ya doing?" he frowned, eying them longingly.

"We can't do this; it's not legal," she announced.

"Eh? Are you nuts?"

He went for the food again but she stepped between him and the fridge, blocking his way.

"No Dempsey, I'm a policewoman and a good one. I have a reputation to uphold I hope you realize," she replied primly.

He stared at her for a long moment and the silence seemed to stretch on. Then, without warning… he burst out laughing.

"What?" she giggled. "I don't see what is so funny about that at all," she said, contradicting her words with her own laughter.

"'I have a reputation to uphold I hope you realize,'" he mocked in a posh English accent. "Makepeace, you're a real piece of work, you know that?"

"Stop it Dempsey," she said, slapping him on the arm playfully. "I'm standing firm on this."

His eyes lowered to her feet.

"Brrr, well, I'll stand firm over here," she chuckled, moving forward and closing the fridge door.

"Harry… thought you were hungry?" he sang.

"No, not really," she replied. "Not anymore."

"Are yooou sure?"

She shook her head.

"You know what's in that fridge?" he said, folding his arms across his chest.

What?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Truffle butter poached lobster risotto," he began, "And Aberdeen beef fillet with mushroom jus, and also, sweet honey and sesame chicken goujons…"

Her mouth watered the more he spoke. "Ooooh… no, no," she insisted, not to be tempted.

She sighed and thought for a moment. There had to be a way around this that her conscience would be happy with.

"You know, Chas knows quite a lot about hotels," she said moving from the fridge to glance around the kitchen. "Ah," she said, apparently finding what she was looking for.

What the hell was she going on about now?

"Yes," she smiled, seemingly pleased as she examined the phone system on the counter top.

Dempsey edged towards the fridge again.

"Leave that fridge alone," she said, not even needing to look up.

He rolled his eyes. "So what's Chas got to do with this?" he asked.

She laughed. "We were on surveillance today at the hotel where Danny was staying. So, we were pondering where his room might have been and Chas said that hotels tend to fill up rooms either on the lower floors, or on the top floors first. The middle floor rooms are most likely to be empty."

"And?"

"Well, we are on floor 28, which is at the top. So… floor 14 is most likely to have empty rooms," she concluded.

Hey, he liked where this conversation was going.

"Yeah, empty rooms," he replied, his face lighting up.

"Okay," she went on, picking up the receiver of the phone and dialling. "Room 143 I think."

He watched, intrigued.

She listened, but her eyes widened in panic as someone answered on the other end. "Awfully sorry," she said, "Wrong number." She swiftly hung up the phone. "Oops."

"What does Chas know?" Dempsey chuckled.

"What's your lucky number?" Harry asked with a slight smile.

Dempsey grinned. "Five," he said.

"Okay, let's try once more," she replied, picking up the receiver again. "Mine is three, so room 135 it is." She dialled the number and waited anxiously. No answer. She continued to wait. "Guess what?" she said.

"No one home?"

"Doesn't look like it." She grinned, placing the receiver down.

"So, what now?" he asked. "Wanna break into the empty room?"

She tutted. "Of course not. Now we order room service," she said, reaching into her bag to pull out her mobile phone.

"Why don't ya use that one?" he asked.

"Because you are going to put me through to room service," she said, dialling the number written on the kitchen phone.

He laughed, shaking his head at her. "You really are nuts, you know that?" he said, reaching across her to pick up the receiver of the kitchen phone when it began to ring.

"Yo," he smiled, answering, "Park Lane kitchen, 28th floor."

She chuckled. "Hello, could you please put me through to room service?"

"Sure. Hey, you sound sexy, wanna get a room?" he said cheekily, his eyes assessing her reaction.

She smiled. "No, I don't think so," she stared at him. "We don't even know each other."

"Yeah, but what a way to find out," he grinned.

She tutted and placed one hand on her hip. "Would you mind awfully putting me through now?" She pointed to the button.

He grinned and pressed it. "Certainly moddom."

She waited. The phone was answered after a few minutes.

"Ah hello, yes, could I order some room service for room 135 please?" She waited to see if the person would think anything was amiss. "Oh thank you." Clearly they didn't. "We would like… " She thought back. "Truffle butter poached lobster risotto. Yes, we've heard that you do that. It's been highly recommended. Would it be possible at this hour? We'd very much appreciate it." She glanced up at Dempsey. He was watching her incredulously. 'One or two?' she mouthed to him.

'One," he mouthed back. ''cause I want that steak."

She nodd

"Yes, and we would also like some sweet honey and sesame chicken goujons. Great. And lastly, can we order a beef fillet steak with mushroom jus? Oh, of course," she said, mouthing to Dempsey, 'they are going to check.'

Dempsey motioned to the fridge in front of them. "It's in here!" he mouthed.

"Shh," she mouthed back. Then a thought hit her. "You don't think they'll come up here to get it, do you?" she said, placing her hand over the mouthpiece.

He shrugged.

She thought about it for a moment. "Nah," she concluded.

Well, if they did, Dempsey and her would be upstairs waiting for the food by then anyway.

"Oh you can. Thank you so much, you've been very accommodating."

'Champagne!' he mouthed urgently before she hung up.

"Oh, and one more thing, could we have a bottle of champagne too? Yes, that would be lovely. Many thanks," she said, finally replacing the receiver.

"'Many thanks,'" he mocked.

"Well, that's that sorted out," she said, standing to leave.

"Just one thing," he said, "How we gonna get in the room?"

"Err…I'll be searching for the key in my bag just as the food arrives," she informed him.

"Right. And where we gonna eat the food?"

"Here of course," she said, heading for the door.

He followed.

"Where else?" he said sarcastically.

Crazy, woman! Hmm but, 135, their lucky hotel room!

He grinned at the thought.

Another chapter soon.