Hello! This is my first S&B fanfic, so i'm a little nervous... tell me what you think? Next chapter will be up in a few days X
"Gill. It's been three months since DC Bailey disappeared. You're already one man down- don't you think it's time to replace her?" Gill narrowed her eyes at the assistant chief constable Karen Zelinski who stood in front of her.
"Until I hear Rachel tell me for herself that she no longer wants to work here, or I see her body in the morgue her desk will remain hers, and her place on my team stable. Ma'am." Gill told her firmly, her tone giving no room for manoeuvre.
"You're treading a very thin line, Gill. Is she really worth it?"
"Absolutely." Answered Gill. Without a word, the assistant chief con walked out, leaving Gill to drop her face into her hands and sigh.
"Was that about Rachel?" Gill looked up to see an exhausted Janet standing in the doorway.
"Yeah. On at me about replacing her. " she answered. Janet's eyes widened.
"Are you?" she asked. Gill shook her head.
"Course not. This would be a tad easier if we could find her though." She said pointedly. Janet let out a sigh.
"She doesn't want to be found, Gill. Her phone's been switched off for months, none of her cards have been used and nobody's spoken to her or seen her." Janet sat down heavily, running a hand across her face.
"This isn't like her. Why would she just up and vanish?" muttered Gill, not for the first time. Janet sighed again.
"I don't know."
FLASHBACK- 2 MONTHS AGO
"Morning all!" Janet breezed in, dumping her bags and coat on the desk. Mitch, Rob, Pete and Lee grunted in greeting.
"Boss in yet?" she asked as she sat down.
"Nah, not yet. Neither's Rachel." Rob answered. Janet frowned.
"Huh- she said she was coming in early." She pondered for a moment, before shrugging and beginning her paperwork.
"Morning." Gill strode in, laden down with files and bags. They greeted her absently, until a few minutes later she reappeared, flushed and looking worried.
"Where's Rachel?" she demanded. They glanced around at each other.
"Not yet in." Janet said. Gill was silent for a long moment.
"Shit."
"What's wrong?" asked Rob, standing up. The others did the same. Gill looked uncertain for a moment, not a common look on her face.
"She left this on my desk." She handed Janet the handwritten paper in her hand. Janet frowned as she slipped her glasses on, reading aloud.
DCI Murray
I'm sory that I have not done this in person, but I didn't want a long goodbye with the teem. I can no longer carry out my job as wel as it needs to be done, so therefor give resignation, effective immediatly.
My apologes for the suden departure.
Rachel Bailey
Silence fell as Janet finished reading.
"She didn't write this." She said confidently.
"Janet…" began Rob with a condescending tone, but Janet cut him off before he could say the inevitable.
"No. She didn't write this- look at it! A child could have written better than this! It's full of spelling mistakes... Rachel's a perfectionist, and clever! She doesn't write like this!" Janet said waving the paper. Gill snatched it, studying it for a moment.
"She's right." She confirmed.
"If Rachel didn't write it… then who did? And why?" asked Pete.
"And where's Rachel?" Lee questioned solemnly. Nobody answered.
PRESENT
"She must have had her reasons." Reasoned Gill quietly. Janet raised an eyebrow.
"She sends a note that looks like it was written by a four year old under duress, but seems to disappear of her own free will. How is there a logical reason for that?" Gill didn't answer.
One month later.
"Ma'am, there's a PC here, reckons she spotted Rachel last night up in the town centre?" Mitch poked his head around the door, excitement flushing his features. Gills head snapped up hopefully. After months of not so much as a sighting, any news was welcome.
"Send her in." she instructed, putting her pen down as the uniform walked in.
"Ma'am." The PC nodded respectfully.
"PC…?"
"Stevens, Ma'am. Samantha Stevens."
"Take a seat, PC Stevens. You think you saw DC Bailey?" Gill asked, getting right to the point. Samantha nodded.
"I'm almost positive it was her- I helped on a case a few years back that she was working. She's… ah, pretty unforgettable."
"Where was she?" asked Gill, inwardly smiling at the woman's description.
"Just walking through the centre." Samantha said. "She was with a teenage girl, who looked to be about sixteen? They were just walking, laughing and joking together."
"What time was this?" Gill asked, wondering just how certain of her identification this PC was.
"Around half seven? I got CCTV- figured you might want proof." Samantha said as she withdrew the tapes from her bag. Gill smiled, impressed.
"Well done. Where d'you work out of?" she checked as she took them.
"Here, ma'am. Just on the beat." Came the reply. Gill regarded her for a moment, before nodding.
"Good eye." She complimented, before dismissing her and calling out to Lee.
"Get this set up, now." She threw him the tapes, before looking at the file that sat prominently on her desk. Missing persons report for DC Bailey, Rachel. Four months missing.
"Boss!?" hollered Lee. She entered the briefing room to find the entire screen crowded around the smart board.
"Run it." She instructed. He fast forwarded it to the right time, before playing it. They watched in stunned silence as the miniature Rachel walked across the screen with a teenager, laughing and looking very much OK. The girl said something, and Rachel shoved her mockingly, laughing harder and taking off as the girl chased after her. They disappeared from sight, and Lee paused it.
"Your PC was good." He said as he switched the tapes. "She got the ones from the surrounding streets too, so we can follow them up, find out where she goes."
They watched as Rachel and the girl walked down a few streets, following their progress from camera to camera, before suddenly, they didn't appear on one.
"That's weird- there're no side streets down there. It's just one road." Frowned Pete.
"Maybe they doubled back." Suggested Mitch. Lee went back and fast forwarded.
"Yeah- they turned around and headed down Old Kent Road, back towards centre." He showed them the pair walking quickly.
"Is it me or do they look nervous?" asked Mitch.
"No, they do." Agreed Janet, leaning forward slightly. They watched quietly as Rachel and the girl began to walk faster, checking over their shoulders as Rachel gripping her phone in her hand. Suddenly, a man stepped out in front of them from an alley, walking towards them ominously. Rachel paused, reaching out to stop the girl and they began to walk back the way they'd come, but another man was already standing there. Janet gasped as Rachel spun on the spot, eyes darting from the two men, before attempting to sprint past one of them with her companion, gripping her hand tightly. He caught her around the waist and stopped her, dragging her back as she fought him while another man appeared from nowhere and held a knife to the throat of the girl. Her mouth was open in a silent scream, but the man clapped his hand over it.
A van pulled up, and the two men hauled a fighting Rachel to it. She twisted and scratched, reaching out to the teenager, who was desperately trying to escape the knife, but they bundled her into the back area and slammed the door shut. The knife wielding man pushed the teenager to the floor, pressing the knife into her throat and saying something to her, before he jumped into the passenger seat and they sped off, leaving the girl on the pavement.
"Oh my god." Whispered a wide eyed Janet.
"We need to find that girl." Said Gill, as they watched her pick herself up from the floor, tears streaming down her face as she stumbled away, out of sight of the camera.
"I need to call the assistant chief con. Find that girl!" Gill swung out of the shell-shocked room, already dialling the phone in her hand.