I thought I'd take a little breather from Aftermath.. I have some thoughts about where to take it, but I don't know how far to push it, so I'm taking some time out and thought I'd give this idea a go instead. Let me know what you think if you can, as always it would be appreciated! xx

Chapter 1

'Er- where the hell is everyone?' Rachel looked around the office. She'd expected to arrive at an office that was almost frenzied in activity due to arriving late this morning. Instead, only Janet, Godzilla and Kevin were there.

'Ugh. That bastarding noro-virus. I told Kevin not to come in last week, did I not?' The three women looked over at him with disapproving looks. 'I specifically said "Kevin, don't come in, if you've got that bug it's bloody contagious and I can't afford for my team to be ill." Didn't I?!'

'I thought it'd left my system, ma'am!' Kevin protested, feeling a little put-out that he was once again getting in shit.

'I don't care what you thought, you should have bloody listened to me! Now we have more than half of our team off work with this stupid thing and I have... you.' The disdain was clear in her voice. She turned her gaze to Rachel. 'Where have you been? You're almost an hour late.'

'My bathroom flooded, boss. I did call to let you know, I left a message with Kevin.' Once again, heads turned to the direction of his desk; he'd miraculously disappeared.. probably to get out of the firing line. 'I had to wait for my sister to get to mine so she could let the plumber in when he turned up.'

Janet smiled at her with sympathy. 'If it's not one thing, it's another isn't it? You alright, mate?'

'Yeah.. I guess so. I'm trying not to think about how much damage it's caused and how much I'm going to have to pay out. I should have sold it last year when I had the chance. But anyway, what's going on today, ma'am?'

'Well, I'm waiting for officers to be sent over to cover for our team.' They collectively sighed. None of them enjoyed having officers in the office that weren't from their own syndicate. They didn't know how Syndicate 9 did things, they hated not being with their own team and it was just generally a nuisance. However, sometimes.. like right now, for instance, it couldn't be helped. 'I don't know how long they're going to be. I called them as soon as I realized we needed them, but you know what this place is like. Everyone thinks their team is more important and fuck everyone else's. I might as well set you to work now and then give the other officers their roles when.. if.. they bother to turn up.'

Janet and Rachel glanced at each other, Godzilla was not happy today. It was going to be one of those days. Kevin slunk back to his desk, a look of hope on his face, clearly wondering if he'd escaped the boss' wrath.

'Kevin, make a brew for everyone. Come on, move your arse.' Gill snapped, having less patience than usual which didn't bode well for her team. 'Janet can you update Rachel on what's been happening while I call up syndicate 5 again? They obviously need a kick up their arses. Then I'll come back out and tell you all what you'll be doing.' She marched back into her office, slamming the door shut behind her with more force than was necessary.

'Right.' Janet looked at Rachel with a tired grin. 'Top of our priority is the murder of Daysha Kaye, it-'

'Daysha?' Rachel interrupted. 'The same Daysha that we talked to a couple months back about that Leon murder? That Daysha?'

'Yeah. The very same. She was found last night with her neck and stomach slashed in the park around the corner from her house. I've already been out to her brother's place and informed him. Understandably, he's devastated.'

'Bloody hell.' Rachel sighed. She'd liked Daysha when they'd met her before. She seemed to be a nice girl. 'Hang on.. you've already been to see him?! What time did you get in this morning?'

'Early.' Janet replied, simply. 'I'd hoped to finish early-ish tonight so I thought I'd best put the hours in this morning, but it doesn't look very likely now does it.' She glared at Kevin who was approaching them with their drinks. He didn't pay much attention to the frustration aimed at him as per usual.

'That Daysha, she was the one who we talked to when that fella had his dick shoved down his throat, wasn't she?' He asked, without any sort of compassion, in fact he looked like he was trying to contain a smile at the thought of the bloke's demise.. Typical Kevin.

'Yes. Though can we not refer to a young woman who has just been murdered as the girl who was involved in someone getting their dick shoved down his throat, have some bloody respect. Anyway, you've been here for at least an hour, you should already know who she is.' Janet said sternly. 'Pay attention, Lumb.'

Rachel had a sip of her tea. 'Poor Daysha. What's the plan of action?'

'Dunno. Haven't got much sense out of Gill this morning, she's been muttering all sorts of threats but that's about it. She should be out in a minute.' Janet glanced over through the office window just in time to see her boss slam the phone down. 'Any minute now.' she added, in a sing-song voice.

As if on cue, Gill stormed back into the office. 'Do they honestly think I have nothing better to do than fucking chase up on whether they're doing what they're supposed to be doing? What has happened with this fucking place the past few years? Making a mockery of the police force. Fucking idiots.' she muttered to herself, causing her three colleagues to take a precautionary step back in alarm. 'Right,' she addressed her team, forcing herself to sound a bit calmer. 'Apparently, the officers are on their way, like they were on their way an hour ago. So, I'm not fanny-arsing around waiting for them to arrive. I want us to do door-to-door, ask them the usual.. if they know Daysha, when they last saw her, had they seen any suspicious activity around the park last night, all that shite. I've got uniforms going through some CCTV we managed to collect, not my first choice of course, but we're all running low on options and officers right now. I'll be pairing you off with uniforms when you're doing your door-to-door inquiries, sorry about that. Rach, Kevin.. you'll be on that. Janet I want you to go to Daysha's school, talk to teachers, peers, try and figure out a bit more about her. When you're done there I want you to go back to her brother, Kriss. His FLO will be there of course, which is fine, but I want you to ask him about if Daysha had any enemies, if her behaviour has changed lately, just try and get as much information as you can. And I'll have to stay here to wait for these cocking officers. I'll phone up Scary Mary to see if she can spare the time to actually do her job and give me the specifics of the attack. And I'll get someone to hurry up on going through Daysha's mobile et-cetera. Are we all clear?' she looked at her team, knowing that today was going to be a long day. They all nodded their agreement and she swanned back into her office.

'Where are the uniforms going to be?' Kevin asked much to the disbelief of his two colleagues.

'Kevin, we do door-to-door on practically every case we get, how have you not understood how this works by now? Fuck. They'll be meeting us down there, like they do every single time.' Rachel said, shaking her head at the stupidity that was Kevin.

'Keep your hair on,' he sulked. 'And what's Her Majesty on about anyway, with the FOL.. LFO.. whatever it was she was on about?'

'Are you purposefully trying to piss me off?' Janet asked, showing just how stressed she was as she was usually the more kind to Kevin out of the team. 'Family Liaison Officer, dipshit.' Kevin blushed, knowing that even for him that had been a rather idiotic question. Janet turned her attention on Rachel, giving her arm a quick squeeze as she walked past. 'Right, I'll see you later, pal. Good luck.. it's going to be a shitter of a day.'

'Ain't it just. See ya later, Jan.' Rachel replied, for the first time in her life wishing she had the dreaded noro-virus, anything that would mean she wouldn't have to be in the office today.

xxx

'Hello, I'm DC Rachel Bailey from the Manchester Metropolitan Police, Major Incident Team. Can I ask you a few questions in regards to an incident that occurred last night?'

She was an hour into her door-to-door inquiries and Rachel was bored out of her mind. A very new and very ditzy uniformed officer had been assigned to assist her, PC Holly Roberts. Apparently, Holly had been with the force for a mere three weeks and when Rachel had attempted to make conversation and asked why she'd wanted to join, Holly had responded that she didn't really know, it just might be fun. That had ended any further possibility of chit-chat. Rachel might as well have been on her own for all the help PC Roberts was. After the first four houses they'd visited, Rachel had learnt that it would be much easier if she tasked her underling with making tea, or leaving the room to contact the office, just anything so that she wasn't in with Rachel.

'How many more have we got to do?' PC Roberts asked as they left yet another house, breaking Rachel out of her thoughts that included putting together a letter of complaint to send to Holly's supervisor. Honestly, she had been useless this morning.

'Look, it's not fun, and it's not particularly interesting, but you just need to get on with it. We may find a lead, that's what you need to focus on.'

'Well maybe it would be more interesting if I was allowed in with you while you did it.' Holly grumbled.

'Well, maybe you would be allowed in if you were more appropriate. In the first house you pretty much told the woman that she needed to lose weight, in the second house you were more interested in talking about the local nightclub than getting any answers, and in the third, deny it as much as you like, I swear I saw you nodding off. So, as it happens, there is no way on earth I'm letting you question these people. You give us a bad name.'

'But-'

'Oh please... give it a rest. Now, let me talk to this next person in peace!' Rachel rapped on the front door smartly, her badge at the ready. Next to her, Holly was looking like a sullen teenager. God, she was like the female Kevin.

'Er- what?' A man that Rachel faintly recognized was squinting as he opened the door.

'Hello. I'm DC Rachel Bailey from Manchester Metropolitan Police, Major Incident Team. Can I ask you a few questions in regards to an incident that occurred last night?' she said automatically, trying to place the face in front of her to a name.

'What incident?' The male asked, not moving from the door.

'I'll explain when we're inside. Can I come in please?' Aha, Reno Matthews. They'd also talked to him a while back when they were working on the murder case which had involved Daysha. He was a dirty prick from what she remembered.

'Why?' He asked, his voice filled with barely-veiled anger.

'Because we want to ask you some questions. We're doing house to house inquiries and you're the next on the list.' Rachel attempted a smile, but he just gave her the creeps. She noticed Holly take a step back and almost try and shield herself behind Rachel. Definitely another Kevin, she groaned to herself.

'Fine. Go ahead, door on your left.' He finally stepped back to allow the officers access. 'I just need a piss.' He said, leaving the women in a room that, to be frank, absolutely stank.

Rachel, always one to follow her instincts, walked over to Holly and stood next to her. 'Go back out front and radio the station. Tell them that we're with someone called Reno Matthews and he is acting suspiciously. Tell them to inform DCI Murray, she'll remember him. Make sure you go out front though, I don't him to be aware of what you're doing.'

'This is more like it!' Holly grinned, causing Rachel to shake her head again. 'Okay, tell them his name, he's acting suspiciously, tell DCI Murray. Right?' she checked, as she started heading for the door.

'Yes. But for God sake, be quiet! Oh, I give up, just go out front and make the call. Make sure you don't close it fully behind you, won't ya?'

Holly left then, leaving Rachel in the room alone. God, the smell was horrific. It reeked of urine and she squealed as she saw a mouse run across the room. She cursed when she heard the front door close and started to head out of the room to re-open before Matthews appeared. Too late. He came back in the room with a look of suspicion on his face.

'Why is that bitch out there?' he asked, the distrust showing in his eyes.

'She just needed to do something, that's all.' Rachel said, trying to inject a sense of reassurance in her voice, but she suddenly realized that sending Holly out was the completely wrong decision. Now she was left in here alone with this man.

'I know what you're all like. Fucking pigs. I remember what you were like when Leon was killed. You're trying to set me up, aren't ya?' he was stood in the doorway, the only exit there was in this room.

'No, Mr Matthews, of course not! PC Roberts is dealing with something else entirely. It's okay.'

'Fuck you, you little bitch.' He growled. 'So what if I did kill the slut? She had it coming to her. You all do.'

Rachel was frightened now and she hated the feeling. 'Sir, would you mind letting me out? We can talk about this further but I'm feeling slightly uncomfortable now.'

He laughed at her and slowly shook his head. 'Don't think so, sexy. Think you're going to be my little friend.' He pulled out some rope from his pocket that Rachel hadn't noticed until now. As he advanced, she started lashing out but he was stronger than her, taller, and within a couple of seconds she was on the floor, face down, his knee in her back to hold her there. He deftly tied the rope around Rachel's wrists tightly before also tying the other end to the piping of the radiator. 'You shouldn't have messed with me, darlin'. Bet you're regretting it now, ain't ya?' As he looked down at her, he spat, showering her face with vile saliva.

Rachel, terrified and in pain from the force this bastard had used, began screaming wildly. Matthews slapped her hard across the face before shoving some sort of material in Rachel's mouth. She didn't know what it was, but it tasted fucking gross and made her gag slightly. She watched, wide-eyed and helpless, as her attacker walked out of the room and she heard some sort of noise, the sort of noise that would result in something heavy being dragged across the floor. Suddenly, the noise stopped and Matthews walked back into the room. 'Oh.. you're wondering what that is, I bet.' Unbelievably, he sounded almost jolly and conversational, which probably unnerved Rachel more than when he was angry. 'That was the wardrobe. It's heavy, I've probably hurt my back a bit now, bloody thing. Needed to put it in front of the door, you see? In case any of your buddies come looking for you.' he was smiling and talking as if he were merely describing the weather to a friend. 'I reckon.. it'll take.. what? Half hour, at the most, for your filth to be told about this little adventure.' He chuckled, once again in a rather friendly manner. 'That officer that was with you.. I mean, she's pretty.. but really? She looks like an idiot. I'm guessing she won't realize what's happened for a while yet, so.. we're safe for now.' He winked conspiratorially as he leaned forward and tucked a strand of Rachel's hair behind her ear. She flinched at his touch, causing him to grab her roughly by the chin. 'Don't fucking start. Don't make this more difficult for yourself than it needs to be, skanky bitch. I know what you're thinking... you think you'll be out of here soon enough, the police will come and knock down the door and that'll be it. But it won't happen like that at all. They'll send their negotiator and they won't lift a finger if they think I'll kill you.' His menacing voice sent a chill through Rachel. 'Fun, isn't it?' he asked, his tone returning to a more genial sound. She couldn't keep up with him.

Rachel felt a tear fall, followed by a few more. She knew he was right. The police would do as much as they could to ensure her safety, she could be in here for ages. Hell, she could.. and it was looking likely, Matthews was definitely a sociopath.. she could die in here. She whimpered softly, her cheek throbbing from the punch she'd received just now and flopped against the radiator feeling hopeless.

xxx

Janet walked into the office noting the different faces and once again silently cursing Kevin for being the cause of the team having to have all these stupid cover officers. She'd been to the school, but as she'd expected there was nothing new to add to the information they had really. Daysha was a quiet kid, a bit of a bookworm, shy and well liked by the teachers. She had few friends, though this was more due to her quietness than her being unlikable and not one person Janet had asked had been able to come up with a motive for her death. Although she was supposed to go to Kriss Kaye straight after her visit to the school, she made a detour back to the office as she'd forgotten her purse.

She knocked on Gill's door before going entering and sitting down at the desk opposite. 'Had any luck with Scary Mary?' she asked with a resigned voice, they all knew Mary would do what she had to do in her own time. And she wasn't called Scary for no reason.

'Stupid bitch.' Gill muttered, still staring at her computer screen. 'Oh.. her, not you.' Gill clarified hearing Janet gasp. 'Not really, she just went off on one moaning about their being too much work for her team, blah blah blah. Apparently too many people are being selfishly murdered for her liking at the moment. So I hung up on her. She'll call through when she's got any news. What are you doing back here?'

'Just came to pick up my purse, forgot it earlier. Been to the school and it was just as we thought it would be. Haven't heard one person give a reason for Daysha being murdered. I'll head off in a minute to get to her brother's. How are the.. officers?' she asked tentatively.

'Moody little bastards. They arrived about 45 minutes ago without so much as an apology and then wondered why I bollocked them. Then I rang up their DCI and bollocked him too. I've told them what's going on and I've already warned them that if I catch any of them slacking I'll be personally seeing to it that when they go back to their syndicates, they'll be placed on Disclosures for a month. Ah well, time will tell I guess. We're lucky that we should have our team back by the end of the week, so that's something.' she leaned back against her chair and rubbed her temples tiredly.

Janet gave her a warm smile before starting to get up. The phone rang, which made Gill swear loudly at it before picking it up.

'DCI Gill Murray.'

Janet couldn't hear what the other person was saying, so was trying to judge Gill's expression to help her know if it was good news or bad news.

'Yes, I'm DCI Murray!' Gill snapped to whoever it was, sounding exasperated. Janet smiled.

'WHAT?' she screeched, causing Janet to jump, her heart bursting into a gallop. She looked at Gill, oh God, she looked devastated. This couldn't be good news. Janet sat back down and tried to wait patiently, her foot tapping restlessly against the floor.

'Shit. Shit, shit, fucking shit.' Gill was looking around her office and her hand was clenched tightly around the receiver. 'Well what are you all doing?' there was a pause. 'I don't give a SHIT about you waiting for fucking command. I'M your command, get it? Get down there NOW!'

Janet felt concerned, thinking that another body had been found though even if it had, Gill rarely lost control like this. There was another pause from Gill as she waited for a response.

'I don't have time for this. I'll be in contact shortly.' she said hurriedly before slamming down the phone and looking at Janet with panic etched on her face.

'What's wrong, Gill?' Janet asked, wondering what on earth had happened to cause a reaction like this from her boss.

'It's.. it's Rachel.'

Janet's blood ran cold. She'd never understood that expression before, thought it was just a silly saying, but now she knew. Her blood ran like ice through her veins. Her eyes bulged, and she felt her heart twist violently. 'What?' she whispered. 'What's Rachel?'

'She's been taken hostage. By Reno Matthews. The guy who we questioned a couple of months back in relation to Daysha.' Gill glanced down at her hands, noting that now her knuckles were white with the force she was clutching the table.

'What the fuck are we waiting for? Let's get down there.' Janet stood up and ran for the door.

'Janet.. stop.' Gill pleaded, not liking how out of control she felt and how worried she was.

'Gill.. we can't just stop. This is serious. We need to get down there right now.' Janet's voice sounded strangled as she tried to quell the nausea that was rising up from her stomach.

'We're too involved. We might mess up the situation by letting our feelings for Rachel over-ride our judgement. Maybe we should let someone else get down there.' When she looked up at Janet, she was met with a look of incredulity.

'Are you joking? This is Rachel. It's RACHEL for fuck sake! I am not letting some fucking idiot that I don't even know go running in there and potentially fuck everything up. I don't care if you don't want to do this, I'm going down there and I'm getting her out of there. Right now.' Janet was wild-eyed as she tried to focus. Everything had been tipped upside down in less than two minutes... how the fuck was that possible?

'Janet,' Gill said more firmly, 'I know this might look as if I don't care, but deep down you know that's not true. I care about Rachel a lot, and I don't want to jeopardize things by us accidentally putting her in more danger because of how much we care about her. You know it can go that way sometimes, that's why when something like this happens another team gets involved. Not us. The officers need to have clear minds in order to get the best result.'

'Why are you wasting my TIME?' Janet was literally shouting now, causing the new officers to peek through the office window in alarm. 'Let me tell you straight.. I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck. What. You. Think. Is that clear? That is MY best friend in there, MY Rachel, having god knows what happen to her, and you want me to sit here and pretend it's not fucking happening? Have you lost your MIND? Don't be ridiculous, Gill. Now, you can either give me your permission to go, or I will go without it. Either way, I'm going. It's your choice and you have about two seconds to make it because every minute I'm here talking through this SHIT with you, I could be down there HELPING Rachel.' She stared down at Gill with her piercing blue eyes, the anger flashing clearly. 'Fucking sack me if you want, but I'm getting my arse down there now. No matter what you say. You can't stop me.'

'Fine,' Gill sighed, picking up her bag from her feet. 'Let's go.' As they raced out of the office, Gill called behind her to the officers looking on in surprise; 'Mark? John? Samuel? Oh, I don't fucking know your names, the one with the bald patch.. you're in charge.'