Chapter 12

Drawing A Line

Makepeace turned the heat down and left the spaghetti to simmer whilst she went through to the sitting room to make her call.

Dempsey had been at the back of her mind all day and now finally at 7:00pm it felt like the right time to check on him.

It rang only twice before it was answered by Greg.

"Dempsey residence," he trilled.

"Hello! Greg, it's Harry." She tried to cover her surprise that he was answering Dempsey's telephone.

"Harry! Hi, baby-girl. How's it goin'?"

"Fine. How are things at your end? Are you coping?" she asked humorously.

"No problem. Got 'em both where I want 'em – tucked up nice and snug."

He then went on to explain at great length how he'd got them to eat a little soup and bread mid-afternoon before they all three listened to a play on the radio. Right now both Toni and Dempsey were sleeping whilst he was getting dinner together.

"Oh, that's a shame," said Harry, "I was hoping to speak to him."

"Don't worry, really, he's fine," and Harry could hear the smile in his voice. "I'll have him call you, okay?"

"If you would, Greg, thanks," Harry said before adding lightly, "I'll drop in to see him at some point tomorrow."

"I wouldn't do that."

His voice had suddenly darkened, carrying a dark assault that didn't suit him and certainly didn't suit Makepeace.

There was a stunned silence before she asked evenly, "Oh really? And why might that be?"

A breathy little snigger from the other end of the line made her hackles rise and her skin crawl.

"I guess you know him better than I do, sweetie but I got the idea Jimmy don't appreciate a lot o' fuss. Am I right? He's a grizzly bear hidin' out at the back of his cave right now."

He was covering over the harsh warning with sweet talk she realised.

Was she fussing though? Was she interfering even?

Dempsey was with friends… with Toni. They were evidently sharing a bed and ill or not, Harry's concern might be cramping his style.

It wasn't fair! Just when it felt as though she and Dempsey were… mental hesitation…were what? On the verge of something? Surely if that were the case then she needed to take a few steps back and think seriously about what she was doing.

She was already too emotionally involved and the idea of becoming physically involved had, since making a far from subtle appearance in her dreams this morning, also started to impinge upon her waking thoughts.

It wasn't good, what she was feeling, it could lead to so much complication and grief. But then again, in a way, didn't it feel inevitable too? There had always been that physical attraction between them (it would be stupid to try to deny it) and slowly she had discovered that the brash, in-yer-face New York cop had hidden depths. He could be kind and sensitive, gentle and considerate… and he was caring.

He cared about the little people they came into contact with; the innocents who somehow found themselves entangled within the fringes of an investigation, the victims of crime who were bewildered or heartbroken, indignant or angry and sometimes lost and grieving. He had a way about him that touched her. One well-chosen word from him had the power to soothe and sometimes she wanted that so much from him that she had to pull back for fear of losing all credibility.

As Harry strained the spaghetti, she was suddenly struck by the realization that there was something about Greg that she disliked intensely. She couldn't really even put her finger on it but there it was. Maybe it was just the way he seemed to have got things so cosy for Dempsey and Toni, the way he was taking care of them. If things had been different, it would be her looking after him; popping round to cook him a meal and check he had everything he needed, in fact, she would have called the doctor in by now. It had been unnerving to see him like that, just not Dempsey at all.

But taking care of her partner wasn't in her job description – not in that sense and it wasn't her place to dictate to his friends how she thought the situation ought to be handled… only Greg wasn't really a friend, was he?...

There was no returned call that night and by morning Harry had developed a feeling of distinct uneasiness.

Should she put it down to cop or caring?

"Dempsey still 'unwell', is he?" quizzed Spikings as he tweaked his thick, grey moustache.

Harry got his inference and didn't particularly appreciate it.

"Yes, Sir, it would seem so," she said indignantly, "and if yesterday is anything to go by, I don't think we should expect to have him back with us before the end of the week."

His eyes narrowed just a fraction.

"Really?" he smirked. "It's just that a little bird told me our American friend has American cousins staying with him at the moment."

He left it hanging in the air like a question.

"That would be correct, Sir."

"Hmm," said Spikings, leaning back in his chair. "Must be very inconvenient for him – or convenient," he waved a hand casually, "depending on which way you choose to look at it."

"He threw up into a waste paper bin at the embassy yesterday!"

"Yeeeees, well, that's what socialising to excess can do for you."

Makepeace shook her head. "It wasn't alcohol related and actually," she looked down at the floor as she marshalled her thoughts, "I'm quite concerned about him, Sir."

"Go on," Spikings prompted when she failed to elaborate. "He's a big boy. I'm sure he can sort himself out, you know."

"But that's just it. You know Dempsey, he'll never admit defeat, particularly when he thinks it's something within his control but… I don't know," she shrugged, it's probably nothing."

"Spit it out, girl. You've obviously got something to say."

She lifted up the two folders she had cradled in her arms and hugged them against her chest, turning away a little as she attempted to put her thoughts into words.

"These friends… well, the guy, Greg. He's sort of taken charge, looking after Dempsey and his other…friend… Toni."

"And this Tony, he's ill as well is he?"

"She, Sir. Yes, she is."

Spikings raised his eyebrows for Makepeace to clarify.

"Toni is a woman, Sir." She was trying to keep her voice as modulated and natural as possible but Spikings, not one to miss a trick had obviously detected a certain awkwardness.

"So Greg and this Toni, a couple, are they?"

"Definitely not. Greg is a fully-fledged member of the Middlesex regiment as my father likes to say."

Spikings smirked, remembering the euphemism from his own military career. "I see." He lifted the letter file from off the top of his pending tray and opened it up. "All good friends and jolly good company then, aye?" He began methodically applying his signature to the foot of each sheet it contained.

"Something like that I suppose."

"Well?"

"Well, I'm sure it must be my imagination but it just seems as though Greg doesn't want me anywhere near them. I can't get to talk to Dempsey and he vetoed my suggestion that I drop by later on today."

Good grief, how stupid did that sound?

"And you find that surprising, do you Sergeant?" Spikings asked, not looking up from his task at hand. "Isn't this friend simply looking after Dempsey's interests? Probably thinks you'll be harassing him about work."

"I don't feel it's that at all, Sir," she answered quickly. "It's as though he wants to… I don't know, hide them away or something. I find it quite unsettling," she added meekly.

Spikings sighed, letting his finger run down a paragraph of text. "Missing your partner already?"

"They worked together for a short time – Dempsey and Toni. She's a detective… they worked a case together several years ago apparently but from what I've gathered, he and Greg had never met before."

She had ignored Spiking's sarcastic query out of a need for self-preservation. Although he was probably right, missing Dempsey wasn't an adequate enough word. She needed to be there for him, she wanted to be able to comfort him – she wanted to care for him because she cared about him.

Besides, it wasn't such a big deal. Partners - you were there for each other, that was how it was supposed to be she reasoned with herself. You had to be close to get the job done, to make the whole thing work.

This mornings' dream slid silkily through her mind before unexpectedly cascading down through her body in a torrent of longing.

That close? Would it still work being that close?

The answer was patently obvious. There would always be the Toni's of this world cropping up, women who were too good an opportunity to resist, dalliances to be savoured, if only for the night. It was just that… it felt as though there was something between them that was far greater than any of that. In some inexplicable fashion she was bound to Dempsey, an 'us against the world' feeling that accepted his shortcomings and forgave him his sins. In a way, she loved him, as a friend or, so she imagined because being an only child she really had no idea, a brother. And yes, maybe she loved him just a little bit more than that too…

"And you have a problem with this Greg character because…?"

A tiny bit embarrassed, Harry refocused on her boss.

"Because… I don't know exactly, Sir, it's just something about him that worries me and I was wondering if you might possibly be able to use your contacts within the N.Y.P.D to check for any record he might have."

"Really, Makepeace," Spikings dismissed, "you think I'm going to use valuable police resources, not to mention my time, following up on your pet peeve?"

Harry had to grit her teeth. "It isn't a pet peeve, Sir, I can assure you, it's a genuine concern for a colleague."

"Sounds exactly like a pet peeve to me. If you're so anxious maybe you should just go round there, throw your weight around a bit."

Makepeace hadn't really expected his cooperation, therefore she wasn't disappointed by his lack of enthusiasm in the matter. And anyway, she had nothing whatsoever to base her concerns on other than what she deemed to be Greg's peculiar attitude. Spikings could be right and the man simply didn't think it appropriate that Dempsey's work colleague should be chasing him up when he was off duty and sick. But then, surely she hadn't come across in that way had she?

He was right in what he said regarding a visit of course. She had been reluctant to go for fear of upsetting the apple cart; these people were his friends from another life she knew virtually nothing of. Who was she to waltz in and take over?

His partner.

And wasn't she a friend too, a good friend? It had only been a day and yet already she found herself adrift without him.

"I'll go over later," she agreed with Spikings.

"You do that. And take him a bunch of flowers." He smoothed down his moustache with the side of his forefinger and smirked. "He'd like that."

"There wouldn't be much point, Sir. The way he's feeling at the moment, it wouldn't get a rise out of him."