14Author's Note: This story is a sequel to Stealing Time ( s/8606859/1/Stealing-Time), which should be read first in order for this to make sense.
'You've got nuffin', copper.' The words were spat rather than spoken, spittle collecting in the corners of the man's mouth.
Alex sat back in her seat to avoid flying saliva and crossed her arms. Beside her, Liam Clarke opened the manila case file they'd brought in and started laying photographs out on the table in front of their suspect, Carl Morrissey.
'These are the owners of the shop your friend turned over last night,' he said evenly. 'Charlie and Marie Benson.'
The photographs were horrific to say the least. The owners, a couple in their mid-thirties, had been beaten to within an inch of their lives.
'And this,' Liam said, producing another photo, 'is their son, David. He was sleeping upstairs, heard the attack, came down and ran into someone.'
The boy had been hit, hard enough to send him flying across the shop and through the broken window.
'He is eight years old,' Alex said. 'We know you were there, Carl, and we know you weren't alone.'
'So some kid got in the way and got hurt,' the man said, leaning back in his chair. 'Not my problem, is it, darlin'?'
'Tell us –' Alex began.
Suddenly the door to the interview room was thrown open hard enough that it hit the wall. Alex turned in her seat to see Gene stalk into the room and slam the door behind himself. He was still wearing his coat and gloves and had obviously just come straight from the hospital.
'For the benefit of the tape, DCI Gene Hunt has entered –' Liam began.
Gene cut him off. 'Interview suspended at –' he looked at Alex.
'Oh-nine-thirty-seven,' she supplied.
Gene nodded and shoved the tape recorder off the table, not watching as it hit the opposite wall and smashed. He grabbed Carl by his shirt and hauled him out of his chair, shoving him into the wall.
'Guv!' Alex and Liam exclaimed at the same time, rising out of their chairs.
Gene was holding Carl clear off the ground. 'Morrissey, you piece of shit. You're gonna tell me exactly where your partner is or I'm gonna see to it you don't walk out of this station on your own two legs.'
'Police brutality, Mr Hunt!' Carl said, sounding panicked.
'Not at all, sunshine. Lots of stairs in this nick. You might 'ave a nasty fall,' Gene said. 'Or…' he brought his knee up into Carl's groin and dropped the man to the floor.
'You've got nuffin',' the man said again, groaning the words this time.
'No, see they've got nothin',' Gene said, jerking a gloved thumb over his shoulder at Alex and Liam. 'I, on the other 'and, am cursed with a very good memory for faces. Despite the fact that rememberin' a petty little scrote like you is beneath me, I remember yours.' He punctuated the last word with a vicious kick to Carl's ribs. 'Little visit to Manchester about fifteen years ago ring a bell? Course, you were just a shoplifter then. Where's Carson?'
'Carson?' Alex asked.
'Where is 'e, Morrissey?' Gene demanded, ignoring Alex. 'Come on, we both know you're not the brains of the operation!'
'Guv-' Alex said again, stepping forwards this time.
''e's gone 'ome!' Morrissey said, before Gene could put the boot in again. 'And I never touched the kid!'
Gene kicked him anyway and turned to Liam. 'Clarke, get this snivelling little toe-rag down to the cells.'
Liam pulled Morrissey to his feet and walked him out of the room. Alex turned to Gene.
'What the hell was that?' she demanded. He pushed past her and she followed him into the corridor. 'Guv!'
'Goin' to see the Super.'
He rounded a corner she caught up with him, grabbing his arm and stopping him in his tracks. 'Gene, talk to me.'
He pulled his arm out of her grip and leaned against the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets. 'Charlie Benson and 'is missus're still in intensive care.'
'And David?'
'In a coma. Lost an eye when 'e went through the glass and damaged his spine. They don't think he'll walk again.'
'Oh, god.'
'I want this bastard, Bolls.'
'We've got Morrissey…'
'Like I said, Morrissey 'asn't got it in 'im. Trust me, Bolly, it was Carson. Uniform pulled the pair of 'em in when I was still in Manchester. Carson bit one of my officer's fingers off, then stabbed 'im in the face with 'is own keys. I want this bastard, Bolls. Even if I 'ave to collect him meself.'
He turned and strode off again, leaving Alex alone in the corridor.
\/\/\/
At seven PM most of CID were sitting at their desks, sending occasional glances at Gene's office. The Guv himself had been closeted away with the blinds drawn for the best part of the day. Even Harper had only dared interrupt once to offer him tea.
Alex was just about to rise and go into Gene's office when the door finally opened.
'You lot still 'ere?' Gene demanded. 'Get over to Franco's, mine's a large scotch. Clarke, Drake and Tremaine, wait a moment.'
After the rest of CID had headed over to Franco's, Alex turned to Gene.
'What's going on, Guv?'
'My former colleagues in the GMP have confirmed that Lenny Carson's been seen at some of his old haunts today. I've suggested to the super that a couple of you, ably led by my good self, head up there and pick 'im up.'
'What did he say?' Liam asked.
'He agreed. Was concerned about leavin' the department without a DCI or a DI, so Tremaine?'
'Yes, Guv?'
'Pack yer bags. Bolly and Clarke, which of you?'
'I'll come,' Alex said quickly.
'Right,' Gene said. 'That's settled then. We leave first thing tomorrow mornin'. You two head over to Franco's. Clarke, stay 'ere a minute Couple of things I want to go over with yer.'
/\/
'You ok, Bolls? You were miles away.'
Alex looked up as Gene took the seat opposite her, depositing a tumbler of scotch on the table between them. 'Sorry, Guv. Miles away. What did you say?'
He shot her a glance that was half amused, half exasperated. 'Nothin'. You don't 'ave to come, you know. Wi' me, I mean. Unless you don't trust me an' Simple Simon to behave ourselves without you there.'
'It's not that. I'd like to,' she said brightly. Her smile dimmed as she continued. 'Unless you'd rather I didn't,' she added, watching as he filled her wine glass almost to the brim.
She was certain he knew he wasn't supposed to, that he did it to see if it would annoy her. Surprisingly it didn't. She was going to drink the wine anyway. The realisation that it would have irritated her to no end before gave her pause. Was it that she no longer minded, or that she didn't mind because it was him doing it?
He shrugged, turning his attention back to his own glass. ''s either you or bloody Clarke. At least wi' you we can save a bit o' cash on the 'otel bill.'
She rolled her eyes at him and took a sip of wine, careful not to spill the overfilled glass. 'Bit presumptuous,' she said, glancing over at the rest of CID, gathered around the next table and indulging in a slurred drinking song.
'What?'
'Assuming we'd be sharing a room,' she supplied. 'We're going up there for a case, not a dirty weekend.'
He smirked. 'Up to you, Bolly. Just don't come cryin' to me when you get lonely without the Gene Genie to keep you warm.'
She snorted derisively at that. 'Well, then. I suppose I should get all the quality time I can.' She rose, pulling her jacket from the back of the chair. 'You coming up?'
''spose I bloody better had do, if I'm not getting any while we're away.'
\/\
The corridor wasn't one she recognised. It was untidy, grey smoke curling towards the ceiling. She was standing beside Sam Tyler, following his gaze, she saw an older man aiming a gun towards them.
No. Not towards them. Alex focused on the man standing with his back to them, mirroring the older man's posture. Gene.
Glancing at Sam, who didn't seem to know she was there, she moved around until she could see Gene more clearly. His hand was shaking. She'd never seen him shake. Usually he was so sure of himself, so certain.
'Are you really capable of taking me down?' the older man said. 'After I made you?'
Alex watched as Gene lowered his gun, his arm shaking as though it was too heavy to hold up.
Another man entered the scene, aiming a gun at the older man's head. 'If he isn't capable… I am.'
Seeing he was surrounded, the older man backed away, towards the wall.
'I trusted you, sir. I believed I was helping you investigate Malone!' the younger man seemed desperate, but his hand was steady as he cocked his gun. 'You're supposed to be the example!'
The older man looked back at Gene and Sam. Sam looked scared, unsure of how this was going to pan out. Gene… Gene looked blank.
'So. Which on of us is going to have the balls to shoot first?' the older man asked, his voice dry.
Inside the skin of a second, Gene raised his gun and shot the man in the leg.
'Something in him…' Sam said. Alex looked at him but realised it wasn't the Sam present at the time speaking. The words came from her files. From Sam's report. 'For everything that was wrong with him he had this sense of… of what was right, what had to be done, that was so rigid he could shoot the man who taught him everything.
'Well that's good, isn't it?' Alex asked, not really expecting an answer as she watched Gene move to look down on the man on the floor. Harry Woolf, she remembered from her files. Gene's mentor, if Sam was to be believed. 'It's what makes him a good copper, a good man.'
'D'you know what happens to something that's too rigid when it comes up against an irresistible force, Alex? An impossible choice?' Sam's voice came, startling her. 'It snaps.'
'I'll call you an ambulance,' Gene said. 'Guv.'
'You think he's going to snap.'
'I think he's going to break.' Sam was looking at her now, and the scene around them was disappearing, becoming hazy.
Noticing he was fading too, Alex called out to him. 'Sam! You can't just say something like that and walk away! Sam!' But he was already fading, she could feel herself surfacing.
'You know, if I wasn't so secure in your affections, Bolls, I might be worried.'
'What?' She asked sleepily, opening her eyes to see Gene giving her an unreadable look. She glanced at the clock. Two AM. Can't have been asleep that long, she mused.
'Callin' out another man's name in yer sleep like that,' Gene continued.
'I –'
'So come on, sleepy knickers. What's got you dreamin' about Sam Tyler?'
'Sam – '
'Tyler,' he repeated.
Alex looked up at him where he leant against the headboard, gazing down at her from beneath his lashes. 'Just a… dream,' she said, moving up the bed so she could rest her head against his chest. He shifted slightly to accommodate her and she turned her face into him, smiling against his skin as his arm slid around her shoulders.
'About Sam.'
This was obviously bothering him more than he wanted to let on, she realised. 'I was in the Railway Arms,' she said, feeling him tense beneath her and deciding it was probably not the best start she could have made.
'With Sam?' he asked, his tone completely casual.
She glanced up at him. He was looking up at the ceiling, his mouth set in a pout. 'Just a memory, I suppose. A mixture of my files on Sam and the man himself from when I met him in the Railway Arms. Before I came back.'
'You sounded angry with him. Might even go so far as to say you were a bit… desperate.'
'Well I can't have been, can I? Only you make me desperately angry.' He smirked at that, his body relaxing somewhat. 'What time do we leave?'
'Simon should be at the station at about seven, then we'll pack up the Merc and be on our way.'
They lay in companionable silence for a few moments. 'We were talking about you,' Alex said. 'Well... Sam was.'
'Really? Why?'
She remembered the look on Gene's face in her dream, the way his hand had been shaking. 'I… can't really remember,' she lied.
'Hmm. And what were you taking about?'
'Oh, I don't usually talk much in my dreams.'
'Is that right? Might try and book my next day off there.' She slapped him lightly on the chest and he chuckled quietly. Then he scooted down the bed, pulling her with him. 'Need more sleep if I'm gonna drive to Manchester tomorrow, Bolly.'
'I might get up for a bit,' she said. 'I'm not really tired.'
He looked thoughtful for a moment before a wicked gleam grew in his eyes. 'Reckon I can help you out there, love,' he said, reaching for her.
Hmm not sure about this one... please review and let me know whether I should continue x
