A/N: Please note that this is NOT set during DCI Banks, Aftermath, its just that was the only title I could file it under on here. It actually picks up from where the last series ended - part 2 of Cold is the Grave that aired on ITV.

Merci, and enjoy!

The taxi dropped her off outside the front of the police building, she thanked the driver, handed him the money and stepped out of the car. It was a horrible morning, the skies ominously dark, the wind picking up, the cold air stinging her face slightly after the warmth of the taxi. Annie wrapped her blazer tightly around herself as she walked purposefully towards the front door, just making it under the overhang when the rain started. There was suddenly a rush of people dashing from their cars in the car park to make it under the overhang in time, hauling their jackets and hoods over their heads as the rain began to thunder down, becoming increasingly heavy. Win dashed past Annie with a 'morning!', giving her umbrella a shake before entering the building, stuffing her keys into her handbag as she walked. Annie followed her inside, and was glad to realise that as she slid through the double doors, the dull reception area was actually rather warm. As Win wandered over to the reception, Annie headed over to the left and through another set of double doors, rubbing her hands together, keeping them warm. Just as she started assending the first the couple of steps in the grey, dull stairwell, Annie's mobile rang from deep in her bag.

'Awwwww shit.' Annie muttered, stopping on the 5th stair up and quickly raking through her handbag. Her blackberry rang loudly, echoing in the empty stairwell. Annie finally clasped her hand around it and quickly answered it before her answer machine took over. 'Hello?' she asked.

'It's Alan.' His voice was tired and strained sounding on the other end of the line. '...We've got another body.' he stated.

Annie exhaled loudly. 'You're joking.' she said, lifting her left arm and holding her head in her hand. 'After a day like yesterday, with Rydell and everything? Another murder?'

'Yep.' Was all Alan could reply. 'Where are you?'

'I'm here!' she replied, 'I'm on the stairs!'

'Good. I need you here.'

'I'm on my way up. I'll see you in a sec.' Annie replied, and hung up, almost running up the stairs as she threw her blackberry haphazardly back into her bag - no wonder she could never find it when she needed it.

She walked quickly along the corridor, her heels echoing loudly against the dark linoleium floor. Turning left at the end of the corridor, she walked almost right to the end and then turned left again, quickly pushing through another set of glass double doors into the office that was now so familiar to her. There were not many people there when Annie arrived. Win's desk was still vacant as she stood downstairs at the reception, as was Ken's. The only people that sat by their desks were Rob Simpson, a middle aged man who was renowned in the office as a bit of a joker. To be honest, Annie had never been particlarly fond of him, she just felt that he was a bit of an idiot sometimes. She could work with him fine, but that was as far as their friendship went. Opposite Rob was Sean Tully. He sat yawning, still getting to grips with the early mornings that came with his new job. He was a lovely young man who took his job very seriously and had ambitions to make it to the top one day - Annie had no doubt that he would. Sean smiled at Annie as she walked quickly through the open office space, and Annie smiled kindly back. She had a feeling he had a small crush on her, but he was only 22 - a full 10 years younger than her - and to be honest, Annie had always had feelings for someone else. Never the less, she was flattered. As Annie passed her desk, she dumped her handbag on her chair and continued walking, smoothing out her blazer and running a a hand over her hair to make sure she looked presentable. Reaching Alan's office, she saw him through the adjoining window, and he was leaning over some paperwork on his desk. As Annie knocked on the door, Alan's head snapped up and he met her gaze through the glass. He beckoned for her to enter.

'Boss.' Annie greeted him, walking forwards and sitting down in a chair opposite his desk. Her eyes quickly scanned his appearance, and she couldn't help notice that he looked as tired as she felt. He must have got about as much sleep the night before as she had.

'How are you feeling?' he asked her, and she knew immediately that what he really meant was, 'So, how are you coping after yesterday?.'

'I'm fine.' she replied surely.

'Sure?' he asked her, 'Cause we are gonna have a busy day. If you were affected by the Rydell case, maybe need some time off...'

'I'm fine.' Annie lied again, smiling to hide her true feelings. Truth was she had sat up most of last night, unable to clear the case from her mind. She kept seeing Rydell's lifeless face watching her every time she closed her eyes. The case had been such a damn shame on the whole family. 'Are YOU okay?' she asked.

'I'm fine.' he replied with a small smile, straightening his tie and lifting the papers from his desk. She knew him well enough that she could tell he was lying too.
'Anyway we need to get started on this. The de-brief is at half 9 but I wanted to go over things with you first.' Annie leant forwards in her chair, quickly shifting into work mode.

'Mark Daniels.' Alan stated, pushing a photo across to Annie. '27 years old, found dead in an alleyway out at Eastvale this morning - a small town about half an hour away. Looks like he was beaten to death, but he was found with a small stash of cocaine on him - and after what happened to Emily Rydell...we can't really jump to conclusions. His wallet isn't on him, we think it was stollen. He was with a friend at the pub around the corner that night so would most likey have it with him that night - hense the suspicions of it being taken from him - whether that was when he was dead or alive though is debatable.'
Annie took in the crime scene picture of the young man lying on his back, his face turned to the side and resting against the concrete. His face was swollen and covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises. His limbs were splayed around him, his pale shirt torn, with blood stains on both his shirt and his jeans.

'We need to find out who killed him and why.' Alan concluded. 'Straight back into the deep end I'm affraid.' he sighed, taking the picture back from Annie and slipping it into the open file on his desk.

'Can I ask why you wanted to go over it with me before the de-brief?' Annie asked quietly, obviously not completely thrilled to have another very serious case on her hands.

'...I like the way you think. I like the way we can work together. We usually get some good ideas. Thought it would be wise before I tell everyone about it to see what you think about potential suspects...whatever.'

'Right!' Annie replied, completely flattered. She tried to hide the fact she was, and sighed.

'Well...what do you think?'

Annie rested forwards on the desk, shuffling her chair in closer. 'Suspects?' she asked, and Alan nodded. 'Well...the friend he was with? Who he or she is, when they went their seperate ways...anyone else in the area really...the barman from the pub they were at...and what about the drug dealer?' Annie asked, looking up into Alan's eyes. 'The one he bought the cocaine off. Do we know who that is?'
'Not yet.' Alan replied. 'Although I agree with everything you just said. We're on to finding out who they are. If Mark Daniels owed them money, it would explain why the wallet is missing.'
'Exactly.' Annie replied, and the pair fell into silence, looking into each others eyes.
'Good work, Annie.' Alan said after a moment, smiling softly.

The be-brief went smoothly, as Annie sat quietly and listened to Alan go over everything he had just gone over with her half an hour before. Annie sat beside Win, the only two female officers on the team always supporting one and other and working well together. Win had a notepad out and was scribbling small notes down as Alan talked. Annie merely sat back in her chair, listening. MacLaughlan sat behind Annie and Win, his arms folded, his steely gaze never leaving the screen. On the other side of the projector, sat Ken, Sean and Rob in a line - although Sean was the only one taking notes. Behind them, sat a number of uniformed officers, most of which Annie knew very well. Occassionally, Alan would make eye contact with Annie as he spoke and his eyes swept the room. Having already heard the case in detail, Annie watched Alan instead. He paced backwards and forwards in front of the projector, pointing his clicker at it every so often to change the screen. He looked different today than most other days, Annie thought. His shoulders were slumped and his walk was not the usual purposeful stride, but a slow paced shuffle backwards and forwards. They dark room and single bright light from the projector only seemed to highlight the subtle dark circles under his eyes and the thin frown lines on his forehead. He looked absolutely knackered, and Annie couldn't help but feel sorry for him. After the be-brief was over and the scraping of the chairs on the linolieum brought Annie back to the present, she stood slowly and waited behind as everyone slowly filled out of the room.

'A word please, DS Cabbot.' Alan said to her as she removed her blazer from over the back of her chair. He beckoned her to the front of the room by the large screen. Annie wandered up to him, pulling her blazer on.

'Sir?' she asked.

'You were not listening to a word I was just saying there were you.' Alan chuckled, his air of authority disappearing in their private conversation. It hadn't been a question, it was a statement.

'Yes I was!' Annie replied, gasping in mock surprise.

'No you weren't, I could see it written all over your face. Every time I looked at you were were away in a dream.' he laughed softly, and Annie decided his mood was decent enough to tell him the truth.

'Okay, I'm sorry - I wasn't listening,' she confessed, 'but we've gone over the case already, I'm fine with it.' she justified, looking into his smouldering deep green eyes.

'I know. I just went over the same things so you're safe. If I HAD gone over some new material though and you weren't listening, I can't promise I would be as forgiving as I am now.' Alan smiled.

'Yeah yeah I understand. Boss.' Annie added slightly sarcastically, turning to walk away.

'I wasn't finished!' Alan said, and Annie turned back to him, raising her eyebrows. 'You and Win are going to take a statement from Mr Lee Works. Mark Daniel's friend that he spent the night with in the pub. And that WAS new information that you missed, so technically I should be quite angry at you right now.'
'Aww you can't be too angry at me for long.' Annie teased, before turning on her heel and calling over her shoulder. 'I'm on it boss!'
Alan watched her depart from the room, her ponytail swinging slightly as she pulled the door open and disappeared, without looking back. Alan sat down on one of the chairs, holding the Mark Daniels murder file in his hands. He yawned massively, and slouched back in the chair, sitting quietly on his own in the dark room.

After the half an hour drive to reach Eastvale, Annie followed Win as they walked up the small concrete steps to a large wooden door with the words 'Norton Court - Flats:16-31' plastered on to it. Win reached out to the pannel in the wall at the side and pressed the small matalic button for number 22. She pressed it twice, and a the pannel buzzed. After a moment, a voice came on the end of the speaker.

'Yeah?'

'Mr Works?' Win asked, exchanging a look with Annie, who stood behind her. Annie looked up at the building as the voice on the speaker answered.

'Yeah?' he said again.

'DS Jackman and DC Cabbot. We are hear to speak to you about Mark Daniels.'

'What about him?' the voice from the pannel asked, sounding bored.

'...Can we come up?' Win asked, after sharing another glance with Annie. 'We would rather discuss it in person.'

'Sure whatever.' The voice answered, and seconds later, a loud buzzing noise emmitted from the pannel and the door clicked open.

Annie followed Win the whole way up the 2 flights of stairs, both ladies' heels echoing loudly in the concrete hallway. Number 22 was the second door they came to on the second floor. Win knocked on the door, and within seconds, the voice from the speaker on the pannel - Lee Works - opened the door. He stepped back to let the two officers into his small flat. As Annie passed him, her eyes flitted over his appearance and she analysed him. He was a tall, athletic man, who stood in baggy blue shorts and a white t-shirt. He stood in his bare feet, and looked even more tired than Alan had that morning. His short blonde hair sat messily on top of his head - he had quite obviously just gotten out of bed. He had piercing blue eyes, and a small voice in Annie's head told her that really, he was quite an attractive man.

'Can I help you?' he asked them both.

'Like we said,' Annie piped up, 'DS Cabbot,' she said, pointing to herself, 'and DS Jackman.' she pointed to Win. 'Are you Mark Daniels friend?'

'Yep.' Lee answered simply, shrugging.

'And you were with him last night?'

'...Yep.' Was all Lee answered, his face confused.

'What time did you go your seperate ways?'

'Why?' he asked, looking between Win and Annie.

'...Mr Works, I'm affraid we have some bad news.' Annie started, 'Mark Daniels was...found deceased last in the alley behind the pub 'The Brewery' last night.

Lee paled. His cocky, manly demenour quickly disappearing and being replaced with a look of instant shock and horror.

'I'm sorry.' Annie added, as Win slowly looked around the flat.

'Have you known Mark Daniels a long time, Mr Works?' Win asked.

'No, not that long no.' Lee answered quietly, running a hand down his face and exhaling. 'We have both just moved to the area from London. Bumped into each other at the pub one night, got talking. Been mates for about a month, there abouts. He was a good lad.' Mark looked at the ground.

'Did you meet at 'The Brewery'? Annie asked.

'We did actually, yeah.' Lee answered. He leant back against the wall and looked back down at his feet. 'Jesus I can't believe this.' He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling loudly again. 'Do you know how he died?' Lee asked.

'We have reason to believe he was beaten to death, but we are currently still investigating.' Win answered.

'Jeeeeesus.' Lee repeated again.

'Did you know that Mark was taking cocaine Mr Works?' Annie asked him, and Lee lifted his head slowly.

'No...why?' he questioned, his forehead crinkled in confusion and surprise.

'He had some in his possession. So you don't know who he was getting the drugs from?

'No, sorry.' Lee answered.

Annie glanced and Win, who nodded. 'Well, look Mr Works, we are going to have to take a statement from you, for official purposes. Are you okay to give one?' Annie questioned, and Win took a small notepad from her bag.

'...I guess so.' Lee answered, watching Win as she took out a pen too.

'Well, come and sit down, and we'll get started.' Win said, guesturing to the white couch in the centre of the room.

'So you met at half past 8, had 4 pints each and then you left?' Annie asked, reading the statement they had taken from Lee and confirming it all with him.

'Yes.' Lee answered, sitting back on the couch as Annie and Win sat opposite him on the two white chairs.

'And you think that was about 11 that you left The Brewery?'

'Yeah, it was about then.'

'And you said that as you left, Mark stayed behind, chatting to the barman that he has been friendly with since he moved here too, yes?'

'Yes thats right.'

'You said that Mark did have his wallet on him last night too?'

'Yep.'

'And after you left, you came straight back here.'

'Thats right.'

'Will anyone be able to back that up? That you were home here for around quarter past 11?'

'Ummm, maybe. The hall echoes quite a lot, I'm sure someone heard me walking past that late. You could check with my neighbours I suppose.' Lee shrugged.

'Okay. And you say you had no idea Mark was taking cocaine and you don't know who he would have gotten it from?' Annie questioned.

'Nope, sorry. Had no idea.' Lee sighed.

'Okay.' Annie answered, as Win folded the notepad closed and placed it in her bag.

'Well, we have everything for now, but we will be back in touch with you, Mr Works.' Win stated, standing up. Annie did the same.

'Alright. Thanks.' Lee answered, as he stood to show them out. The three of them walked slowly towards the door, and Lee reached out and opened it for them.

'Thank you for your time, Mr Works.' Win said, and both her and Annie walked out into the hall.

'No problem. Hope you catch the person that did it.' Lee answered, struggling to keep the bitter tone out of his voice.

'We will.' Annie answered surely. Both her and Win nodded to him and started walking towards the stairs.

Lee Works watched the two officers go, before closing his heavy wooden door with a sigh.

A/N, a bit rushed and I haven't really had the chance to look overly is properly, sorry for any mistakes! chapter two coming soon! :) L x