Ashes to ashes Fan-fic
This is a set stories of which some are linked, the first three carry on from each other.
Chapter 1 The dress#
Alex looked at herself in the mirror and gave her reflection an admiring smile.
"Not bad – not bad at all!" she told herself jubilantly
She was going out on a job and Gene had told her to "do herself up like a tart" but she'd done her own interpretation – it was classy, but was revealing enough to show she meant business.
They were hoping to dismantle a big money operation - involving a high end business man, who used his legitimate side as cover for his sleazy side -drugs, prostitutes and porn. He was very popular with the higher echelons of society, but he was making money off the back of suffering, he was also an a smug git – which really pissed Gene off.
Alex had been posing as a potential investor in his drug smuggling business and had been buttering him up for weeks, with phone calls and messages trying to get him to trust her. They had carefully laid all the groundwork, she was pretending to be a rather air-headed heiress called Marie Demonter who'd been abroad for some years (to explain why he'd never heard of her) and had got bored and come back home to make some money. She hoped she'd been convincing enough that he'd drop himself in it. She'd managed to meet him by gatecrashing a party they knew he would be at and that short meeting had got her an invite to his house for dinner to talk business.
Nicholas Ravell or Nicky to his friends - was getting too cocky by half, he'd already managed to wriggle out of two previous cases against him and he thought he was untouchable - that pissed Gene off even more! They had to get him this time, as they'd probably never get another chance.
She made her way into the police station and then upstairs to the office, her belly doing back flips with nerves. She'd made out this job was no problem to her and that of course she could pull it off – but could she? Had she really got what it took? She reached the door and took a deep breath before going inside. There were only a few people left in at this late hour and they merely glanced at her. They couldn't see what she was wearing under her coat.
She bit her lip before going into Gene's office. She stood at the door and he looked at her expectantly.
"Ready?"
"Yes" she replied trying to sound more confident than she felt.
"Right – lets get you wired up then!" he announced, picking up his jacket that he'd slung across the back of his chair.
The plan was that she would get wired up and try to get him to admit outright what he really did. This was tricky, as he was clever and although both he and Alex knew what he was talking about, he'd speak about it in a round-a-bout way, like never actually saying the word "drugs" but using allegory ;he was as slippery as an eel.
They made their way down stairs turning left into a door marked "tech" and walked in.
There was a uniformed policewoman in there who gave her a friendly smile.
Gene hung around by the door until an expectant look from the woman got him moving.
"Well I'll leave you to it then" he murmured
Once Alex had been wired up - which hadn't been easy under such a flimsy dress, she wrapped her coat back around her and walked out into the corridor where Gene was waiting, then he went in to get the listening equipment, as he would be recording it all on tape.
He said nothing as they walked out together, he seemed lost in thought. They climbed into the quattro and then drove off in silence.
After a while Gene broke it and said, " so you know what you've got to do then?"
Alex merely nodded
"You know if things get a bit too hot, just give me a signal and I'll be in there quicker than a boss up his secretary!"
" you have such a lovely turn of phrase Gene" she replied disparagingly
he merely smirked at her.
They arrived and got out crunching up the stone driveway to the door. Alex rang the bell.
Her belly was still doing back flips, but she held firm, it was nothing she couldn't handle wasn't it? He was only a cheap little spiv who thought he was the big 'I am'!
Shortly a man with a rather stony expression came and let them in. He looked curiously at Gene and she explained that she never went anywhere without her minder.
He led them from the hallway into a room with big squashy sofas and modern art on the walls a sort of waiting room for visitors.
"Wait here!" he ordered then disappeared.
Gene looked at Alex expectantly.
"Well? Are you going to take that coat off or what?" he asked impatiently " let the fox see the rabbit and all that?"
Alex reluctantly undid her coat and threw it down on the sofa. Her chosen outfit was a gold coloured dress, in clingy knitted jersey, the front scooped down into a very low cut roll neck and the sleeves were bat-winged, coming down just past her elbow, the fitted skirt only just about covered her bottom. The front came down too low to wear a bra with and in 1982 it was fashionable to go without anyway.
She flushed slightly as Gene looked at her agog, his eyes following up from the hem of the skirt to her cleavage and stopping there.
"Flippin Nora!" he exclaimed, then he drew close so that he was next to her ear, making Alex gasp
"If I was your father Bolly – I'd tell you, you weren't going out in that!"
"If you were my father I don't think you'd be looking at me like that!" She retorted. Her confidence was eroding, she needed boosting up, not intimidating!
At last he noticed her nerves and touched her arm lightly
"Don't worry Bolls!" he smiled reassuringly, "You'll 'ave him eatin' out of your 'and!"
She smiled back at him gratefully
But then he added
"Yeah, he'll be too busy looking at yer tits!"
She glowered at him.
Just then the stony face man returned
"He'll see you now!"he announced, putting out an arm as a gesture for her to follow him
"One word and I'll be in – just say .. Bolly!" he quickly whispered in her ear
Nicky Ravell (if that indeed was his real name) was lounging in an oversized office chair in his large study/come rumpus room with a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other. She tried hard not to laugh as she looked around– it was all sooo tacky! The office was all black and white plastic and melamine with dodgy modern art on the walls and jazz music playing quietly in the background. He looked younger than his 40 years, a self-made man who'd been tempted by the "dark side".
He smiled as he saw her and she saw his eyes look her up and down, but only briefly – not in the obvious way that Gene had.
"Ah Marie darling ..welcome to my humble abode!" he said with an attempt at modesty, stubbing out his cigar. He got up and kissed her on each cheek.
"Shall we?" he indicated the door and she followed him into a huge dining room, with panelled walls and a huge table that could easily seat 12 in the middle. It was set for two down at one end.
A portly lady with a rather stern face came in and served them their food.
Alex could hardly eat a thing - even though it was delicious, she was too nervous and tried to make it look as though she had by pushing it around the plate.
She couldn't help thinking that most women would probably be impressed by all this, if they didn't know him well. He wasn't what she expected, though, she thought he'd be some arrogant, smug, over-amorous lothario, but instead he at least seemed alright -he was polite and quite good company.
When they came to the end of the meal they retired to the living room. There more squashy sofas, expensive looking antiques, an ornate fireplace and a large TV in one corner.
He'd brought over a carafe of whisky and two glasses
"Drink?" He asked
"Erm.. yes please" Alex answered hesitantly, she didn't want to have too much to drink as she'd already had wine with the meal and wanted to keep a clear head, but at the same time she needed some Dutch courage!
He opened a small box on the table in front of them and brought out another cigar, then lit it. He drew in a long pull but made sure he breathed the smoke out away from her face.
How thoughtful - Gene never does that! Alex mused.
"So! Lets not waste any more time shall we! Let's get down to business - how much do you want to invest?" He asked, leaning back and raising his eyebrows expectantly.
Alex grinned back trying to look as confident as possible.
"Well.." she replied raising one eyebrow "that all depends on what you can give me in return doesn't it!" she giggled, sipping her drink.
He smiled knowingly then his eyes flickered down, momentarily distracted. Alex looked down also and saw that she was showing a good portion of her right breast. She blushed, smiled and adjusted her dress.
"I've got a nice little shipment coming in from Cuba now, it's top notch stuff!" he smiled, taking a sip from his own glass
"What sort of stuff?" she questioned, leaning in
"Oh I think we both know what we're talking about here don't we? I don't have to spell it out!" he teased
Alex smiled and giggled coquettishly, while wiping one finger around the edge of her glass. "You have nothing to hide from me, I can keep a secret!"
He looked her up and down shrewdly
" I bet you've got a few of your own hidden away in that pretty head of yours!" he said leaning in closer.
She chuckled and looked down, then suddenly looked up, flashing her eyes at him and smiling.
"So - if you tell me how much we're talking, I'll be more frank with you" he smiled
Alex told him the first amount that came into her head.
"How does... half a million sound?"
He pursed his lips and shrugged "sounds good to me!"
"Have you got any here... that you can show me? So I can – you know 'try before I buy'"
He smiled "sure I have!" He got up and went over to a desk at the other end of the room, took a key out of his pocket and unlocked a draw in it. She watched as he pulled out a bag containing white powder and carefully lock it again.
"I always keep some for personal use" he said sitting down again, this time right next to her.
"So .. shall we?" he asked, clearing the table off in front of them and tipping the contents onto it.
She tried to stay calm, she really hated drugs – she'd seen what they did to people.
"there would you like me to line it up for you?"
"Yes please"
She watched as he scraped the white powder into lines with a piece of ripped off magazine.
"Why don't you go first?" she asked hopefully, she sincerely hoped she wouldn't have to take any - only as a last resort if he got suspicous!
But without any ado he leaned over and snorted some of the stuff up his nose. She grimaced in disgust.
He leaned back looking satisfied and smiled stupidly at her.
"Your turn now" he prompted but Alex quickly changed the subject.
"So when is the shipment coming in then? She asked candidly, she felt sure he wouldn't be so furtive now and added "and where?"
"What's with all the questions? Why can't you just relax and have some fun? Come on I thought you wanted to try it?" he leaned over her clumsily, but she moved niftily out of the way. He wasn't giving up that easily though. He got up to grab her and stumbled, taking her with him.
"So when is it coming in?" she asked, trying to push him off
"Oh tomorrow ..6 a.m. Dover!" he answered irritably, his usual inhibitions dissolving.
"and it's all pure cocaine – yes?"
"yes, yes! Of course it's all pure cocaine – what do you think? Don't you trust me or something? Right - now that we've done business - lets have some fun! You were giving me the come on just now, what's changed?"
He made a grab for her again and tried to kiss her but she turned her face away.
"No! Lets have some BOLLY!" she shouted and Gene came suddenly bursting in through the door with a face like thunder.
Before Nicky could react, he had been grabbed by the collar of his shirt and dumped unceremoniously on the floor. Gene dug one knee into his back and held his wrists with one hand, while showing his police identification with the other.
"You're nicked son!" he growled, clipping on hand cuffs
"You've got no proof! I've only got enough for personal use! That's entrapment, that is! My lawyer will get me off on a technicality!" Nicky cried desperately, struggling to try and free himself from Gene's firm grasp.
"Not this time scumbag!" Gene spat back, pushing his knee harder into Nicky's back. "This time we have it all on tape!"
"What, where?" Nicky looked across curiously at Alex
"Yeah where have you got that wire stashed Bolly?" Gene looked at Alex curiously
She smiled mysteriously"wouldn't you like to know?"
Gene pursed his lips at her, then looked down Nicky again
"Right lets call the boys in blue! This place is gonna be searched from top to bottom – and so are you - literally!" he announced, giving Nicky an extra nudge with his knee.
Nicky groaned, either from being under Gene's weight or from knowing that the game was finally up.
As soon as the police arrived Alex and Gene left them to it and after watching Nicky being loaded into a squad car they went back to the station to drop off the equipment and deal with the paperwork.