Fanfiction between DS Max Carter and my own character, Caoilainn O'Keeffe. It's mainly set around the time of series 24 and 25.MAX
I walked into CID right on time, Stevie on the phone, Grace on the computer showing the DI one thing or another. It was an apparently normal day, good I had only just got back from a week holiday I took before I lost it at the end of the financial year.
"How was it?" Asked Banksy as he approached my desk.
"It was boring. I did nothing, although it made a change." He smiled,
"Wait until your married and you don't want nothingness because it means you've done something wrong." I chuckled. Damn, what was my password to the computer? Stevie turned around to see my confused face,
"What's the problem, sarge?" She asked,
"A week's leave makes you forget your password." I replied tapping my fingers on the desk, "Ah, got it." I stated once I had remembered.
"Don't suppose you have remembered about the new training DC joining us." I had. Stevie continued, "Well I looked up her name and it seems as though she's Irish. I sighed; great CID would be turned into something from Great Fat Gypsy Wedding or whatever it was called. Terry entered CID chatting to a uniformed officer; he caught the DI's attention who excused himself from Grace.
"Right, everyone listen up." Silence spread around the room. "As you are all aware, a new training DC is joining us today from neighbouring Barton Street. Please make her welcome and show her we don't bite." Some laughed at the comment, "Right anyway, last night there was a serious assault on Hightern Road near an industrial estate. Uniform attended the scene and forensics have been there since 5am. Grace, CCTV, Stevie and Terry get down to the hospital and Max, I'll brief you in my office." I headed over; I would be stuck with the new recruit.
"Max, this is Caoilainn O'Keeffe. Have I pronounced that right?" He asked, she nodded, "this is DS Carter, he is going to be your CO today." We nodded. She was very good looking, light blonde hair, very slim and she was just too good looking to be an officer. "Anyway, I want you two to head to the scene, that way you can get to know the uniformed officers and the area." She smiled. We headed to the door, "oh Max, how was the holiday?"
"It was definitely a change; I went from working to doing nothing of the sort." I replied.
We headed out of CID, "How do you pronounce your name?" She smiled,
"I knew that would be one of the first questions, it's Kay-linn and the surname is how it's spelt." She said. She had a soft light accent, it suited her.
"Well I'm Max as you probably guessed but in front of other officers call me sarge, or they'll get jealous." She smiled again.
"When did you move here?" I asked as we headed down the stairs.
"When I was 17. I finished my A-levels then came over here." She anticipated my next question, "Previously, I lived in Armagh, in Northern Ireland." I vaguely recognised the name.
"Why did you leave?" I asked as we walked through the doors, I had decided it was easier to walk to the scene; it was no great distance away. She hesitated,
"When I was younger, there was trouble. It was often attacked by the IRA. It got to a point that I knew that, although things were better, we would all still live in fear of what had happened. My parents weren't happy, they are very traditional and wanted me to stay there but I couldn't. They don't often speak to me anymore; my two sisters and my brother do but not my parents." I felt sympathy towards her. I was curious about her,
"If you do t mind me asking, are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Don't worry, I'm used to it. Neither, I have been brought up to believe in God and to follow the bible, but I didn't go to Church. My family were too scared to ever admit which one they were, so they practised parts of both as the fundamentals are the same. Anyway, have you always lived in London?" She was good, quick thinking. I could see myself getting on with her.
"Yeah, I have but." We arrived at the scene. "Well, here we are." We took out our warrant cards and showed it to the police officer at the tape. Smithy met us,
"Sergeant Smith, this is DC O'Keeffe." They smiled at each other. "What have we got?" I asked.
"Well, we found an IC 2 female, whose name is Carol Walker, in her 30s lying here with bruising suggesting a sexual MO. And then 5 metres or so away, and IC 3 male with stab words in the chest and back. Oh, by the way," Smithy added as we walked away, "Eddie isn't very happy today."
"Thanks for the heads up." I replied. "Eddie, what have we got?"
"Well, so far everything is fairly self explanatory. The male was stabbed where he was as there are no traces of blood anywhere else and the women was sitting down against the wall, drinking" he pointed to a wall near the area where the man had been stabbed, there were a few bottles of cider next to where she must have been.
"Prints?" Caoilainn asked, Eddie groaned,
"Well uniform contaminated the scene when they found them, so it will take a bit." Eddies stomach rumbled, "Sorry, I'm on a diet, only eaten 99 calories in the past 4 hours." I smiled,
"Thanks Eddie." We walked away from the scene, "That was Eddie, our CSE. Strange man always gets an answer but doesn't really like being rushed." She nodded. "Coffee? I know a cafe nearby."
"Yeah, why not?" she replied.
CAOILAIN
We walked down the street, he indicated to a cafe.
"Coffee then?"
"Yeah." Max headed over to the counter,
"Two coffees to go."
"White?" asked the young man standing behind the counter; I nodded when Max turned round.
"Yeah, both white." We stood waiting,
"Right, sarge, you know about my background. What about you?" he smiled,
"What's to tell?"
"Anything." I replied, "Where did you work before Sun Hill for instance."
"I worked in CO19, before, but"
"Two coffees?" the young man interrupted. After, Max didn't finish his answer.
"Back to CID?" I asked,
"Yeah, we just will walk past the scene; check that nothing new has been found." I nodded.
"So anything interesting?" the DI asked as we walked back into CID.
"Not much only that the man was stabbed where he was found and same with her."
"Well, the CCTV shows nothing as it doesn't work. And Stevie and Terry said that a large amount of an unknown substance was found in her blood along with a large amount of alcohol. It doesn't look as though she had any defensive wounds. But the man had nothing in his system but has defensive wounds on his hands."
"Perhaps, the man was protecting her, due to how out of it she must have been. Someone came over with a grudge against her. He tried to protect her, they stabbed him and raped her whilst him watching. Possible jealousy?"
"I'm guessing you have come across a case similar?" asked the DI, I nodded,
"When I did a few weeks before applying at Barton Street, the first case was very close. Did anyone get sent down?"
"No, there wasn't enough forensics, mainly because she was a prostitute so,"
"No clear forensics." I nodded,
"Well that fits," said Grace, I ran her face through the system and she's Kelly Adam, she's a prostitute. And the man, is Joe Menders, has no form."
"Sounds like the same person." Remarked the DI.
"Also, in the previous case the CCTV was out of action." I sat down on a desk.
"Right, Caoilainn, can you talk to your ex-colleagues at Barton Street and get as much information on that case, and if they give you stick, get them to talk to me."
"Ok, gov."
MAX
She picked up the phone and asked numerous questions, writing down as much information as it seemed she could.
"Max, Max." The DI was trying to talk to me, Terry leant over,
"I know she's good- looking, sarge, but she's too good for you!" the rest of them tried to cover their laughter. The DI began speaking again,
"Right, now I have your attention, I want you to go to the hospital. The man has now woken up and is able to talk, get anything out him. Take Caoilainn with you as it looks like she's almost done."
"Mr Menders?" he nodded, "I'm DS Carter and this is DC O'Keeffe. We are investigating the assault on you and a woman earlier today. Can you remember anything? What did he look like?"
"It was a woman." He replied simply, "She was taller than me." I looked at him; he was around 6 foot tall.
"Were they behind you or in front?"
"In front, I think."
"Can you remember any physical details?"
"Bits, she was wearing a short dress, fishnet tights and heavy make-up." I looked at Caoilainn, she asked
"Do you remember what the knife looked like?"
"It was about 10 inches, like the ones butchers use. I also heard a male voice after I was stabbed, but I don't know because I was drifting in and out."
"Ok thanks, you've been a great help Mr Menders." He smiled. We walked away, "Butchers knife and the description of the woman, co-incidental. I think has not telling us something." She nodded, Copy-cat to your Barton Street one?"
"No, I don't think so. The description of the woman is the same, same description of the knife." I sighed,
"Well let's hope Eddie has some forensics." She smiled.
"Eddie, anything?" I asked,
"No, nothing Sarge." Eddie said,
"How many calories are in that then?"
"290." Eddie said, "so now I've had 600, 100 over my diet." I laughed,
"Well, see you tomorrow then."
I went back up to CID and she was still there, sitting at her desk.
"Still here?" she sighed, "No more forensics has shown up so it's not looking great."
"That's frustrating." I nodded in agreement, "So why did you leave CO19?"
"Buy me a drink and I'll tell you." She smiled,
"I was planning to go home tonight, but I suppose one drink won't matter." I smiled.
"Shall we go then?" she got up, and we headed out.
"Ok, there you go." She placed a pint in front of me,
"Well, a few reasons. I took out two targets on two separate occasions," I saw the slight alarm on her face. "It was then taken through the DPS and all that, they were both considered justified. The press began sniffing around and they thought that it would be best if I went somewhere else. Also, taking up the job of a DS has benefits to it." She smiled,
"So, when you said you lived in London you followed it with a but." I smiled,
"You're good. I'm half polish so although I lived in London, I spent a lot of the time in Poland."
"Which side?"
"Mothers." I stated
"Do you speak much Polish then?"
"yeah, I do. Do you speak Irish?"
"Not much, I speak the odd bit, enough to get around." I smiled. I finished my pint and noticed she had finished her drink,
"Another, ill pay this time?" she nodded in response.
"What happened to you going home?"I asked,
"An Irish girl can't turn down a drink." I laughed, "But I had better go home soon."
"I'll get a cab then."
CAOILAINN
"They'll be here soon so we might as well go out and wait." We got up and headed out. It was chilly for March and it was raining. We stood under the overhang of the pub in silence,
"Where is it?" asked Max after a fair few minutes.
"Patience isn't your middle name is it?" I asked with a smile, he chuckled.
"No, don't have one, you?"
"I'll pay for the cab if you can guess it."
"Its Irish isn't it?" I nodded, "now that's unfair." I laughed.
"Is this us?"
"Yeah, what street are you?"
"Helens Street." I answered.
We got in the cab,
"Margret?" I shook my head, "um, Cara? Ciara? Oh I don't know, I don't know any Irish names. Tell me and I'll just pay."
I wrote it down on a piece of paper that I had in my bag, Ealga.
"Pronounce it correctly and I'll go half." I laughed at his attempts, nowhere close.
"Tell me then."
"Ale-ga" I said,
"Never would have got that."
"What number, love?" asked the cab driver.
"17" I replied, "Do you want a coffee?"
"Is it going to be an Irish one?" he asked,
"Could be, if you wanted one?" he nodded, "here we are."
Max paid whilst I unlocked my door. He followed me in,
"Nice place." I smiled, we walked into the kitchen. I put the kettle on and got out two Irish coffee glasses from a cupboard. I went and got the Irish whiskey and poured it in, equal measures in both along with a bit of sugar, I gently whipped the cream. I poured the coffee into the glass and topped with a bit of cream.
"Wow." Max said when I handed it to him, "No mistaking your Irish roots." He smiled,
"The sitting rooms through the door, it's comfier in there." I lead the way and sat on the sofa. He sat the other end.