May Day! Part Thirty-two

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

I, too, will apologise for this part up front. Time is against us and the plot needs tying up. If anyone wants to revamp this or write something completely believable, please do (with my blessing) and I, or BSL can delete this post. I think I’ve left it so that an epilogue can be written if desired.

 

 

On to the story….

 

“I wouldn’t know,” Murphy camped it up, pursing his lips.

 

“You’ll have to take his word for it,” Bodie warned, moving away to pick up the rest of the photographs that were littered about. Williston stood looking pathetic, clutching his arm.

 

“What are you going to do with those?” he asked, when Bodie drew near him.

 

“They’re evidence,” the agent told him. “Why?”

 

Williston cleared his throat. “Erm… well….it appears I’m on one of them.” He gave a false laugh, high and twittering. “Ironic, isn’t it? I specialise in surveillance equipment and someone has caught me doing something completely innocent, yet it looks so damning.”

 

“Welcome to the club,” Bodie murmured. He shot a look at the shop owner. “So, why are you so bothered about it? I wouldn’t have thought it would bother a man with your reputation.”

 

By this time, Doyle and Murphy had moved in silently to flank Bodie. They looked a forbidding team; faces set grimly, wanting questions answered. Williston licked the beads of sweat off his upper lip. If his arm didn’t hurt so bloody much, he’d … no, his arm was hurting.

 

“I need a doctor,” he said, petulantly.

 

“We need answers,” Doyle told him. “Why are you so bothered? What are these photos being used for?”

 

“I have a …. business partner. I didn’t tell him I was going to the Embassy Ball because he doesn’t approve of some of my friendships…”

 

“Like the Ambassador’s son?” Bodie asked, flicking through the photos. “He’s very flexible.”

 

“We’re not--” Williston started to deny. “You see how easy it is to misconstrue?” His face contorted in pain. “I need a doctor.”

 

“And the answer to my second question?” Doyle asked.

 

Williston considered, thinking back to the question. “A photographic exhibition,” he answered.

 

“An exhibition?” Murphy queried. “Of what? Ordinary people doing ordinary things?”

 

He made it sound unlikely, but Williston nodded, eagerly. “That’s right. But that damned woman took some of them from difficult angles so as not to be seen and …”

 

“…it makes them look worse than the original situation was,” Bodie breathed. “Bloody ’ell.”

 

Doyle exchanged a look with his partner. “So why is Seaton trying to blackmail us?”

 

Williston looked shame-faced. “Ah,” he said.

 

“Ah?”

 

“Seaton was showing me the photographs. Gloating over them. Saying they reinforced his views that moral standards were on the decline. I tried to tell him they were perfectly innocent, but he wouldn’t listen. So… while he was distracted, I tried to take my photos out of the pile. Unfortunately, I hadn’t time to put my reading glasses back on and I picked out the wrong ones. Yours,” he said, pointedly, looking from Doyle to Bodie.

 

He went on, “I thought that Morris…. Major Cowley… would help, so I sent them to him, hoping CI5 would confiscate the photos before the exhibition. I didn’t realise there was one of Morris too.”

 

Murphy stepped forward and Williston took a step back. “About that,” Murphy said, conversationally. “What’s the innocent explanation for Cowley having his cock in his hand?”

 

Bodie and Doyle winced, but Williston didn’t bat an eyelid. “He was taking a leak. Outside in the bushes. That’s all.”

 

“Cowley was pissing in the geraniums?” Murphy was having trouble keeping a straight face. Doyle had to turn his head, because he knew if he caught sight of Bodie he would start giggling.

 

“Well, when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go,” Bodie drawled, the corners of his mouth twitching and Doyle snorted.

 

There was a rustling behind them and White appeared, dishevelled, with gun in hand.

 

“Thomas, my man!” Bodie greeted. “Just in time. You can take Mr. Williston to the hospital for some much needed treatment. Murph will accompany you. I trust your chariot is nearby?”

 

White nodded, clearly confused, but reassured by the sight of Murphy, who was apparently agreeing with the madmen.

 

“We’ll see you back at HQ,” Doyle told them. “And don’t forget to bring the witness with you.”

 

“Witness?” Bodie asked as they negotiated the maze, walking back to where Doyle had abandoned the Audi. “Didn’t he start all this?”

 

“Well, technically, yeah. But I can’t see a prosecution happening, can you? Cowley will slap a D notice on everything, reinstate us, and….”

 

“What?”

 

“He knows about us.”

 

“Yeah, but he knew before, didn’t he?”

“Did he? I never told him.”

“Well, neither did I, so you can stop looking at me like that, Doyle. I’m just saying, with the size of the files he has on all his agents, do you really think he’d miss something like this?”

 

“But we’ve been discreet. We’re very good at that.”

 

“And he’s very good at uncovering secrets.”

 

“Speaking from experience, Romeo?”

 

Bodie smirked at Doyle’s raised eyebrows. “Do me a favour. Under fifty goes for my men as well the birds, sunshine.”

 

Doyle grinned. On reaching the car they both got in, slamming the doors at the same time in perfect synchrony. Doyle leant his elbow on the door, tapping his fingers against his teeth, before going on, “Mind you…. I’m gonna need a lot of therapy after seeing that photo of our George.”

 

Bodie leaned in so their shoulders were touching and turned his head, his lips almost brushing Ray’s cheek. “I’ve got a couch you can lie on. Do you want to play psychiatrists and patients?” he leered.

 

“Only if it’s not my mind you’re trying to get into, sunshine.”

 

“Oh, I was thinking about a much different head.”

 

Doyle snorted and turned the key. “Work first. Play later.”

 

“Is that a threat or a promise?”

 

Doyle pushed him away, but his fingers grazed Bodie’s knee as he shifted the car into gear and looked ahead. “Definitely a promise.”

 

 

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - I think that about wraps it up, personally! Deleting/fixing-wise - if you write it and post it, it stays... *g* My plan was to give the whole thing a quick beta before I throw it open to the archivists and/or archive it on the Dialj User Info page, but I'm definitely not going to change whole chunks, unless everyone who contributed agrees/suggests it etc.

Well done with the wrapping up - all the little ends neat and tidy - that's quite a feat!

Wheeeee and thank you!

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

Phew! Thank goodness for that :) I wanted to post as quickly as possible in case anyone fancied writing a smutty epilogue, so I didn't give it the thorough read-through that I like to do.

Thank you for the kind words, and for letting me play. Hasn't May gone past quickly???