Summary: Mickey is on the trail of a loan shark, however when they finally find a suspect it has further consciquences, causing Mickey to reveal more about himself to his collegues, including Jack.
Characters: Mickey, Jack, Smithy and plenty more having some stage time too.
Rating: 13

Chapter one

(I would like to say thanks to Thatkilguekid who has once again done an incredible job of betaing)

Jack stared at the young DC, he wasn't afraid of meeting his eyes, Mickey was focusing so intently on his computer screen that he hadn't noticed anyone all day. He had that vacant exp​ression on his face, the one where he didn't want to show any emotion that could give away any real feeling.
He had been trailing a loan shark the past few days. So far they had witnesses identify him as Noel Krash, a nasty piece of work. If people couldn't pay financially then he made sure that they would pay physically, and then stole their valuables for cash anyway. Yesterday it seemed Mickey had this man at a dead end, but when back up arrived he said they had the wrong person, and refused to comment further. He seemed rather rattled at the time, and the dark drizzly night made it unclear to see what exactly had happened but now Jack could see the mauve marks around his neck, the split lip and deep cut beneath his right eye. Something had happened, maybe they threatened him. They'd certainly beaten him. Jack couldn't prevent the sharp intake of breath from escaping when Mickey moved, his collar twisting round to reveal more vicious bruising.
He knew they hadn't spent much time together since he became superintendent; they saw less of each other at work and as a result the dent in their friendship grew. Even though there was a stretch of distance between them that had only widened as their ranks drifted further apart Jack still would have liked to think that their friendship was strong enough that the young lad could come and talk to him if he needed him. After all they had been through together, why did it suddenly seem as if they could no-longer trust each other?
The deep black dents in Mickey's fragile frame became too much to bear, the silence too much of a burden to maintain - he had to do something.

"Mickey?"
No answer.
"Mickey are you alright?" He ventured, placing a hand on the DC's shoulder startling him; he flinched from the touch, flesh still tender as a result of the bruising still fresh against his skin.
"Guv? I mean, Sir?"
"Is everything OK?"
"Yes Sir. Just going through statements from Tuesday. I'm sure it sounds like it must have been the same man as last night but…."
"What?"
Mickey shook his head. "It can't have been. I mean, err, well the two instances had different characteristics."
Not falling for the whole story Jack probed deeper, tackling the DC's evasion head on "Mickey what exactly happened last night. Who is this man?"
"No-one Sir. Like I said, he must be someone different. I was wrong, I got the wrong guy." He spoke quickly and defensively, a brusque edge to his words.
"How did you get those bruises?"
"What?" The collar was pulled up in an attempt to hide the truth, clearly aware of what Jack referred to.
"There are marks on your neck and face Mickey. Who did that?"
"I don't know. No-one, I guess it's from when I fell down the stairs."
"What, marks round your neck?"
"Look Sir, I'm kind of in the middle of something so if there isn't anything you need me to do then I should get this finished." It wasn't spoken harshly, but forcefully and with haste.
Jack knew Mickey well enough to realise that he wasn't going to get anything out of him at the moment, but something was definitely up.

Determined to get to the bottom of things Jack decided to investigate the matter personally. Regardless of whether the person involved was a loan shark or not, he had still seriously assaulted a police officer.
"Smithy, you were on last nights raid weren't you?"
"Yes Sir." He stopped in the corridor.
"You said there were CCTV cameras about?"
He nodded. "I guess we saw about two. But it was too dark to se anything, with the mist…"
"Yeah I appreciate that but could you look through them just in case. I don't want anything to be missed out." He turned to leave but Smithy carried on.
"Sir, we were told it was the wrong person. Has this got anything to do with Mickey only I saw him this morning and…."
"We'll find that out." Jack gave him a firm look, and did his best to communicate some sort of understanding that for now, this was between them.
"Yes Sir." Smithy nodded.
He wasn't sure what made him trust Smithy more than anyone else, but he had noticed the friendship formed with Mickey, and the trust he showed during the Delany case made him seem trustworthy enough for this, should they uncover anything of a delicate nature.

Smithy was true to his word; an hour later he came back clutching the tape, with a confused exp​ression.
"Sir." He knocked on the door.
"Come in."
"I've looked through the CCTV footage and from what I can tell he looked like the same man involved in the burglary on Tuesday and the assault from last week."
Jack closed his eyes briefly. Mickey had lied, straight to his face. He swallowed the betrayal and attempted to dampen the anger he could feel mounting, there was no way Mickey would have missed such vital information, yet lying about it made no sense. Jack couldn't contemplate a plausible reason for the young DC to lie.
"So you're saying that this is Noel Krash?" Jack questioned.
"Except." The look of doubt creased Smithy's face as he faltered. "Except I think the barman gave us a false name."
"Explain." The Super was walking around the room now, pacing as he did whenever a problem was to be solved. Smithy couldn't help but to notice that there was now a pathway where the carpet was starting to erode.
"Well. I managed to follow him with CCTV and I think I got him using a cash point. Now I traced his card and didn't get the name Noel Krash. The card belongs to a Colin Webb. "
Maybe Mickey had a reason to lie after all.