Chapter 6

Encounters in Clubland

Makepeace and her party of theatre-goers had arrived just ten minutes previously and upon seeing the threesome approach the far end of the bar, she shrank back into the crowd, her heart suddenly pounding.

I don't need this. It's not fair.

He had his arm around his wife, his head close to hers, obviously asking her what she wanted to drink. And there was a man with them – short, slim, bleached blond hair gelled up into impossible spikes. Who the hell was he?

"Are you alright, darling?"

Charles was looking down at her enquiringly as she unconsciously clung to his arm, peeking over his shoulder.

"Fine. Let's dance."

Without letting go of him, she slid her gin and tonic onto the bar, whisked his scotch out of his hand and proceeded to drag him along to the dance floor.

"My, my but we're keen!" Charles laughed above the pulse of the music.

He took a few steps to the side, gyrating round her. Harry's arms shot out and dragged him back in front of her, this time keeping a firm hold of his lapels.

"Not particularly, there's someone just turned up who I'd rather not have to speak to, that's all."

"Really?" Charles grinned, his curiosity piqued. "Do tell."

Harry shook her head impassively. "On a need to know basis, you don't need to know."

"But of course I do! It's my absolute right to know if I'm to be taking up the mantle of your protector." He began to look around with an exaggerated craning of the neck. "Lady or germ? Claws or clutches, Harriet? Tell me who it is I'm saving you from."

Makepeace pulled him in closer, hissing, "Charles, will you please stop that!"

"So spill… and I want all the goss."

Harry frowned and rolling her eyes said, "A colleague from work, that's all."

"That 'James' fellow?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes, him."

Holding Harry about the waist, he laughed loudly. "Top chap! What's the problem"

"No problem, it's just that I'd prefer not to have to spend every waking hour with the man."

Charles had now spotted Dempsey in the crowd. "Appears to be mixing it with a quite statuesque redhead and rather a sweet little boy," he observed. "More of your colleagues?"

"I don't know them," which was true. Harry justified – she had never been introduced.

This was almost farcical though. What was the point in avoiding them and just what exactly was she so upset about? There was nothing between her and Dempsey and never would be. If he'd had a wife tucked away all this time then so what? Marginally annoying that he hadn't chosen to confide in her about it and from a female standpoint, hideous that he had been running around London like a prize bull in a red mist. Still, not her business – not her concern. She wished she had that G&T back in her hand again.

The song they were dancing to drew to a close and Harry quickly excused herself to slip away to the ladies. Even though Charles had been effectively shielding her from view, she had felt far too exposed out there and so the claustrophobic quarters of the toilet cubicle felt like sanctuary.

She sat on the toilet seat lid, hunched over and staring down at the pointed toes of her black patent shoes. This was the second time in as many days that bloody Dempsey had reduced her to hiding out in a public convenience.

She needed to go home; she wasn't having fun and wasn't likely to with Dempsey and his wife loose in the club because she just couldn't stand the thought of a confrontation. She knew she was being silly – resistance was futile – because sooner or later it was going to happen. She was simply delaying the inevitable, wasn't she?

The cackling laughter coming from a group of girls gathered by the basins was grating on Harry.

Apparently some American movie star was in the club and it would appear they were trying to determine the best way to go about striking up a conversation with him.

Harry grimaced. Another good reason for calling it a night; some bigshot celebrity plus entourage taking over the club with his gaggle of drooling sycophants.

Eventually, the noisy gathering drifted away and there remained only the general sounds of running water and the click of stiletto heels on tile as females criss-crossed from cubicle to sink.

Venturing out, Harry reapplied her lipstick in front of a full length mirror, turning back just in time to come face to face with a woman emerging from the end door.

"Oh, hi!" said the statuesque redhead. "We met someplace the other day… the SI-10 building, right? Yesterday!"

Smiling politely, Harry feigned dawning recognition. "Ah, yes, in reception, that's right."

Thrusting her hand out to shake, Dempsey's wife said happily, "I'm Toni."

"Harriet."

Toni's smile broadened. "Harriet? Like in 'Makepeace'?"

"That's right…" Harry began.

"Shit, girl! I heard all about you," she laughed. "You're Dempsey's partner-in-crimefighting."

Just wonderful. There was no escape now.

"For my sins," she grimaced.

"Wow. How 'bout that, ha? Coincidence or what? You hang out here a lot? Pretty classy joint. You come here with Jimmy?"

"I come here quite a bit, yes," Harry answered, feeling slightly bemused by the quick-fire questioning. "Once or twice with him but usually with friends."

Toni cocked her head to one side. "What, Jimmy don't count as a friend?"

Was she being cross-examined?

"A friend and colleague, yes."

Turning from the sink to grab a paper towel, Toni gave her a curious little smile.

"He's a cute guy though, huh?"

"Errr, well, I'm not sure 'cute' is a word I would necessarily choose …"

What exactly was she expecting her to say?

"And funny too," Toni continued ignoring Harry's reserved reponses, "don't ya think? Jeez, Demp could always tickle my funny bone."

"You must have missed him a great deal."

Pity the same couldn't be said for Dempsey who seemed to have been managing very well without his wife.

Toni appeared to be considering Harry's last words.

"You know, I guess I have. Didn't really think about it 'til we met up again yesterday but yeah, we were real close for a time."

She was taking a very blaze attitude toward their relationship.

"It was a mutual separation?" Harry asked judiciously, realising that their estrangement must have been not only a number of years ago but a mutual decision.

Toni stared at her blankly. "I'm sorry?"

Harry felt quite awkward now, realising that somehow she had managed to get the wrong end of the stick.

"I'd assumed there had been some sort of a… a split," she floundered miserably.

The blank expression melded into a gorgeously sunny smile. "Wait, I get it now! You think me and Dempsey are married for real! Honey, him and me were married in badge only – years ago."

Harry smiled politely as she tried furiously to assimilate the facts she had been given.

"You worked together? Undercover?"

"Three months. Had a nice gated residency on the Upper West Side. Boy, did we lower the tone of that neighbourhood!"

"I see." Harry felt herself tense momentarily before an unexpected thrill of relief coursed through her. "That's quite a long time. It was deepcover then?"

"It was big. Took out a major player in a New York drugs cartel who Mr and Mrs Van Gaver just happened to move in next door to. We got a lucky break when we found out the guy's wife had been sleepin' around. Gave us an angle. Ended kind of badly though… messy if you get what I'm sayin'."

"I had no idea Dempsey had had another female partner. I'm just a bit surprised he never mentioned you."

Toni grinned. "Oh we were never partners. We worked in the same department and got teamed for the op. 'cause we fitted Captain O'Grady's criteria. A one-off deal. We were never officially partners."

Harry nodded her understanding. "The criteria being a young, attractive couple to play the role of husband and wife for a few months."

"Somethin' like that, yeah." She grinned at Harry's complimentary statement of fact. "We got the job done anyways."

"So now you're here on holiday?" Harry asked tentatively, wondering who the bleach blond man was again because he certainly didn't appear to be husband material.

"Yep. Ten days in the UK then ten days seein' some of Europe; France, Germany, we might even pull in Spain and Italy. We got a pretty relaxed itinerary."

"Are you travelling with your husband?"

Toni laughed raucously. "With a friend – Greg. I ain't got a husband, honey – I ain't the marryin' kind."

Harry felt as though she was riding a roller coaster right now and she was desperate to get off. First Dempsey was married to her then he wasn't, the man she'd then thought must be her husband was actually just a friend and now that only seemed to leave one foot loose and fancy free individual visiting another to catch up and reminisce over old times. She wondered how the friend was enjoying playing gooseberry whilst they 'got re-acquainted'.

"You gotta come and say hi to the guys!" Toni enthused, putting a hand on her arm. "Lemme buy you a drink."

No. She couldn't. She really didn't know why but she just couldn't. How could she bear to watch this gorgeous creature shine so brightly at Dempsey's side? They had history and oh so much more in common than she and Dempsey had and the fact that these thoughts were such an issue for her was quite alarming.

"Oh, I'd love to," Harry gushed but I'm with some people and we're just about to move on… they're waiting for me."

Those waves of glorious red hair! He'd be running his fingers through it by the end of the night, whispering sweet nothings into her ear.

"He's gonna kill me when I tell him I found you in here and couldn't get you to come join us."

Hitching the strap of her evening bag up a little higher on her shoulder, Harry smiled. "I sincerely doubt that. Really, it was lovely to meet you Toni but I must go."

She had her hand on the door as somebody pushed their way in and Harry was able to use the entrance as a blind for her escape. As she turned and raised her hand in farewell, she noted the disappointed look on Toni's face.

"We'll get together next week, okay?" Toni called.

Stop being so bloody nice, Harry groaned inwardly.

Justin was the first of their crowd that she spotted. He was ordering at the bar and she went over and stood on tiptoe to shout into his ear, "I'm going to call it a night, TinTin. Got a splitting headache. Can you let the others know for me?"

"You're going?" asked Justin in surprise. "So soon? Are you alright, Harriet?" he said, looking down upon her solicitously.

"I'll be fine, really. It's nothing that a good nights' sleep won't cure."

He took hold of her shoulders. "Well, if you're sure…" he said, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. "I'll walk you out to the taxi rank."

Justin handed some notes over the bar and asked the barman to hold onto the drinks for five minutes.

Dempsey's crestfallen face belied his light-hearted words. "Guess the others are gonna catch 'em up later, huh?"

The three of them watched Harry and Justin weave their way hand in hand through the throng of clubbers towards the exit.

Drawing on the cigar in his hand, Dempsey then waved it in her general direction. "Either that or the guy's gonna get some action tonight." He laughed unconvincingly.

Toni made a sympathetic face.

"Hey, no, good luck to her," Dempsey shrugged it off casually. "Whadya know, she's human afterall."

"Meaning?" asked Toni. "Is that another way of sayin' she's immune to the Dempsey charm?"

He hung his head in mock disbelief. "Get serious here! Of course she ain't immune, just that I ain't never put the moves on her."

Greg raised an eyebrow. "Why do I find that so hard to believe?"

"She's my partner and I respect her!" he protested.

But Toni interrupted. "Yeah, Jimmy, why is that so hard to believe? Greg's only just met you but already he's got your number," she grinned.

Dempsey jammed his cigar between his teeth, looking from one to the other.

"Couple o' wise-guys I got here!"

Plea: When you're not a proper writer, reviews are the only thing you have to go on to know if you're getting it right or not so your feedback is really, really appreciated it you can spare a couple of minutes.

As an added incentive, if I hit 10 reviews for this chapter by Sunday or sooner, I'll post the next one straight away.