Disclaimer: The Bill doesn't belong to me. If it did I'd be a very rich woman but I don't so I'm not.

Left or right?

Chapter 1 - Coincidence

One moment, that's all it takes, to change a life, for better or for worse. Just one moment, one decision, one move. Left or right.

My alarm didn't go off that morning. I knew before I opened my eyes that something was wrong, something was different. It was too light and the noises from the street below weren't right. I turned over, yawning, and glanced at my alarm clock. 7:52. Shit.

Within seconds I was up and out of bed, with one hand I was cleaning my teeth, with the other combing my hair.

Back into my bedroom, I threw on the first clothes that came to hand, jeans from the day before, t-shirt that I had found screwed up at the bottom of a pile but that looked clean.

Down the stairs, grabbing my keys, wallet and jacket from where they had been thrown the night before. My stomach rumbled hopefully as I passed the kitchen but I ignored it, not enough time.

I dived through the door and was in my car before the clock had reached eight. Rain splattered the windscreen as the wipers creaked across the glass; the sky was grey with thick rain clouds and the pavements and roads shone with precipitation. I reached the end of my road and paused, hand hovering over the indicator. Left or right?

Looking left I could already see the queue forming along the damp road but it was a shorter, more direct route.

Right was the 'scenic' route, snaking along miles of residential streets, parks and corner shops. It was twice as far but guaranteed to be free from traffic.

Left or right? Which would you have chosen?

Left

After hovering over the indicator for a second Mickey knocked it into the left position and pulled out, tyres skidding slightly on the wet tarmac. He drove down the road for a few hundred yards before slowing to a stop behind a red fiesta with an 'L' plate slapped at an angle on the back.

He glanced at the rear view mirror as another car skidded to a halt behind him. The driver looked over at the passenger seat and picked something up, he looked at it for a moment before lifting it to his ear.

Mickey frowned with annoyance at the man's blatant disregard for the law. He considered for a second getting out of the car and warning the man behind him, he'd seen enough car accidents caused by a driver illegally talking on a phone to know the sheer stupidity of doing it.

However, he took one look at the amount of rain streaming down the windscreen and decided against it. What was the point? He would get soaked and the guy would apologise and then do it again as soon as he was out of Mickey's sight. He sighed, hoping that this idiot wasn't the next person to be pulled from the wreckage of his car because of that one call that just couldn't wait.

He looked away, in front he could see the cars all pulling forward slightly. He took his hand break off expectantly as the learner in front promptly stalled. It took several painstaking minutes for the learner to slowly turn the ignition off, then on again, put the car into first gear, take the hand break off and then pull forwards two meters to only to stop again.

Mickey pulled forwards into the gap just vacated and looked into the mirror to see if the phone guy would end his call before doing the same. The guy however seemed to havedisappeared, after a moment he reappeared after sitting back up withwhat looked to be a diary in his hand. Mickey watched in disbelief as the guy seemed to be concentrating so much on what he was writing that he didn't even notice the traffic had moved forwards. "Idiot." He muttered under his breath.

The light pitter-patter of the rain turned into a loud drumming as it got heavier. It was going to be a long journey, he thought, but at least everyone would have been held up by the traffic and would be late as well.

Eventually he made it into the station, only twenty minutes late.

"Sorry Guv. Traffic was awful." Mickey said taking of his jacket and sitting down at his desk.

"That's alright. I was late as well. Can you and Jo investigate a theft at the Leisure centre?" The DCI said handing Mickey a file.

"Sure Guv." He opened it, glanced through and then handed it to Jo. "Come on then." He asked her while she read the file.

They walked back through the station, Jo withher head in the file. "Sergeant Smith and PC Stamp are attending a hit and run on Wethington Way, victim is an unidentified woman, so PC's Fletcher and Noble will be doing a house to house to identify her. Sergeant Stone and PC Valentine will be patrolling the High Street, there's been an increase in bag snatches over the last few weeks..." Inspector Gold's voice rang out as they walked down the corridor past uniforms briefing.

Mickey and Jo slowly made their way through the ever present traffic and parked in front of the leisure centre.

"Morning, I'm DC Webb, this is DC Masters from Sun Hill, can we speak to the manager please." Mickey asked the man on the reception desk.

"You here 'bout the break in?"

"Yeah."

"I'll get the manager for you." The man said. He lent through the open doorway behind the desk and shouted. "Gary, police are here."

Another man came out through the door. "Thanks for coming, come through." He said. They followed him down a corridor and into an untidy office. "Sorry about the mess, been busy, what with all the bad weather, people haven't got anything better to do when it's raining."

"Can you tell us what has been stolen?" Mickey began.

"Yeah, it's a bit strange, as far as I can tell the only thing missing is a disc from the CCTV. They ignored my laptop and just took the one disc."

"Do you know what was on the disc?"

"I don't know. It was from the 24th of August but I'd not had any reason to look at it."

"Did anything unusual happen on the 24th?"

"No, not that I remember."

"How did they break in?"

"There's a dodgy window in the staff toilet, won't shut properly, when the cleaner went in this morning it was wide open but I checked around myself when I locked up last night and it was definitely shut then."

"Who knew about the window?"

"Any of the staff could know about it, it wasn't a secret."

"Have any of them been acting strangely at all?"

"Well it might be nothing but the assistant manager didn't turn up for work this morning. He was supposed to be in and eight thirty, I've tried his mobile and home phone but there's been no answer. It's not like him, he's usually very reliable, never been so much as a minute late before, normally he's early."

"Can you give me his name and address?"

"Yeah it's Steven Andrews." The manager sat down in front of the laptop. "His address is 17 Wethington Way."

"Right, we'll go round to his house and get a forensic team to come down and check for finger prints. Oh and have you got any CCTV from last night that might be helpful?"

"I don't think so, we've got CCTV covering the entrance and the public corridors but nothing in the staff only areas, there was never been any need for it."

They drove to the address they had been giving.

"What's that?" Mickey asked nodding towards two police cars parked in front of 17 Wethington Way.

"Did I hear something about a hit and run in this road this morning?" Jo wondered.

"Yeah, wasn't Inspector Gold briefing uniform on it back at the station?" They got out of the car and headed towards.

"Bit of a coincidence innit? Mornin' Smithy." Mickey said as they walked towards him. "We're investigatin' a guy who lives at number 17."

"There might be a connection. Diane knocked on the door of 17 during the house to house, the door was open and we've found blood in the kitchen. The house belongs to a Mr and Mrs Andrews."

"Yeah, Steven Andrews, that's our guy, didn't turn up for work today at the Leisure Centre which was broken into last night."

"We spoke to the lady at nineteen, her description of Lyndsey Andrews matches the hit and run victim."

"How is she?" Jo asked.

"Tony went to the hospital wiv her, it isn't looking good, she's got serious head injuries."

"All seems like a bit of a coincidence, doesn't it?"

Right

He pushed the indicator down, took another look at the increasing queue and lifted it back up into the right position. His tyres squealed on the rain soaked road as he pulled out and sped along around the corner leaving the traffic jam further and further behind him. Grinning at his lucky escape from the jams he slowed slightly to turn a tight corner.

Suddenly as he came around the corner a blur shot out in front of him. He slammed his foot on the break stopping only inches from the woman who was now rushing around to the driver's door. Mickey jumped out of the car and walked towards her.

"What were you doin'? I could've killed you!" He shouted.

"Please my husband … a man with a knife … got him."

"It's alright. My name's DC Webb, from Sun Hill. That's your name?"

"Lyndsey Andrews."

"And your husband's name?"

"Steven."

"Where's your husband?"

"Our house." She sobbed pointing to the house behind her.

"Show me." Mickey said following the woman towards the house. "Was the guy wiv the knife still in your house when you left?" He asked as they ran up the path.

"Yeah, they were in the kitchen. He just kept on screaming 'you're going to pay' over and over again."

"Alright, wait here." Mickey said to the woman after calling for back up on his phone. He quietly entered the house through the front door, he carefully made his way through the hall and towards the back where he guessed the kitchen was.

He stood beside the open doorway and peered round to get a look at the kitchen. It was empty so he stepped in. His eye caught on bloody hand print on the edge of the patio doors which were open and the pool of blood on the floor in front of the table. He took a quick look out of the patio doors and into the garden which also seemed empty and undisturbed.

He made his way back up the hall and to the staircase checking each room as he passed it. The top floor also appeared empty so he went back down stairs and out of the front door just as a police car pulled up. Smithy and Tony jumped out.

"What've we got, Mickey?" Smithy asked.

"Looks like we might have an abduction." Mickey said walking towards Smithy. "Mrs Andrews stopped me and told me that a man wiv a knife had her husband, Steven Andrews. I've checked the house and it's empty but there's a pool of blood in the kitchen n the patio doors are open. Looks like they went out that way. I'll call the DCI."

"Tony, d'you want to look after Mrs Andrews, see what you can get out of her. I'll call for back up and secure the scene."

Tony led the distraught wife back into the house and sat her down in the living room while Smithy got on the radio to call for back up.

"Guv. It's Mickey. I got caught at a possible abduction on my way in."

"Wondered where you were. Tell me about it." Jack replied.

"A guy armed wiv a knife broke into 17 Wethington Way and threatened a Steven Andrews. Apparently he was shouting 'you're going to pay.' His wife Lyndsey Andrews ran out into the road as I was driving past and when I went into investigate the house was empty and there's blood on the floor and by the open patio doors." Mickey summed up.

"Right, I'll send Stuart and Kezia out, when they get there you can come back to the station and make a statement."

"Right Guv." Mickey said. He hung up the phone and headed back into the house to talk to Mrs Andrews.

"Is it alright if I ask you some questions?" He asked.

Mrs Andrews nodded, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"Can you tell me what happened this morning?"

"I'm not really sure. I was upstairs getting dressed and I heard shouting so I came downstairs and this man was stood in the kitchen and he has a knife in his hand and he was shouting at Steven that he was going to pay. That's when I ran out of the house and stopped you. I didn't know what else to do."

"Did you recognise the man?"

"No," she said tearfully, "I'd never seen the man before in my life."

"And your husband, did he seem to know him?"

"I don't know, I couldn't tell."

"How's your husband been recently, has he been worried about anything or acting strangely? Has he had anything on his mind?"

"Er, well, yes. He's seemed distracted for the last few weeks, he's been working very hard, doing long hours."

"What does he do?" Jo asked.

"He's the assistant manager at the Leisure centre."

"Hello?" Stuart called from the front door.

"Excuse me, there's more officers." Mickey said standing up and going out to meet Stuart and Kezia.

"Morning Mickey, you can't help but run into cases, can you?" Stuart said with a grin on his face.

"This one kind of ran into me. Right, Mrs Andrews was upstairs when she heard shoutin', she came down to find a man who she didn't know threatenin' her husband Steven with a knife and tellin' him that he was gonna pay. She came out to get help, stopped me and when I came into look around the place was empty." He led them through to the kitchen. "There's blood on the floor and a bloody hand print on the door which was open when I came in. According to Mrs Andrews her husband has been distracted recently and workin' long hours, he's assistant manager at the Leisure Centre."

"Wasn't the DCI going on about a break in a the Leisure Centre last night?" Kezia asked Stuart.

"Yeah, Jo and Terry are investigating it."

"That's a bit of a coincidence, innit?" Mickey said frowning.

"I don't believe in coincidences." Stuart said.

"Right, I've gotta show my face at the station, see you two later."

And comments good or bad would be really appreciated. Apologies for any inaccuracies between the stories please point them out and I will put them right. I'm sorry also if this fic is getting a bit confusing. I'm confused but thats normal to be honest.