Chapter 1
It had been a day like any other so far – boring as hell. After she got cleared for the Chen shooting she figured Lieutenant would let her get right back to working with Art. That hadn't been the case. Instead, he was still apparently weary of her ability to be a good cop and had her riding the desk for the past month. She may have well been the goddamn secretary for the station at this point, it was so bullshit. She only got to help out with cases by doing work inside the station and that didn't really offer much help to anyone.
Obviously, she couldn't just come right out and bitch at Lieutenant Hardcastle for being such a hard ass on her. Instead she had resorted to silent protests and spending as much time away from her desk everyday as possible. Her best way of doing so was through leaving the building altogether and what better reason to do such a thing than lunch? Beth loved food so she got the best of both worlds, plus the tech guy, Raj empathized with her struggle and had taken to joining her every day for her extra-long meals.
Here she was now, returning begrudgingly back to the station. She was sure to find a stack of bullshit paperwork left on her desk to occupy her time for the rest of the day. Hardcastle would no doubt comment on her liberally lengthed breaks but not actually chew her out for it because he knew he was the one responsible for it. Popping a piece of gum in her mouth as she entered, she did a quick survey of the area. She froze mid-step when her eyes landed on Detective Angie DeAngelis' desk. Angie had adopted Hardcastle's view of her ever since the shooting and they had actively been avoiding each other at the station, too professional to actually get into it with each other.
Beth only stood still for a half a second before springing into action. She managed to let out a short groan at Angie being the one she would be getting into a scuffle with in a few moments but she didn't have a choice at this point. The lanky guy sitting opposite Angie was giving her attitude that much was for sure considering the detective looked none too pleased. She was also sporting a nice developing black eye and Beth inwardly smiled.
She pushed passed Angie and knelt in front of the guy, grabbing his chin forcefully between her thumb and forefinger. She forced his gaze to meet her eyes and with gritted teeth spoke, "What the hell did you do?"
"Oi! I told ya I had connections here," he replied, looking at Angie again.
"Beth, what the hell?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing DeAngelis. What have you got him on?"
The woman shrugged stiffly. "Nothing really. We caught him coming out of the warehouse of a known Pouchy associate so Art and I brought him in to ask some questions."
She was still gripping Felix's chin tightly but all her focus was on Angie now. "So he didn't have any drugs on him?"
"No."
"And does he know anything about the drug ring?"
"Doesn't claim to."
"Then we're done here," Beth stated calmly and pulled Felix up by the collar of his shirt. She fished her car keys out of her pocket and slammed them into his hand. "Go wait in my car and don't even think about taking off."
"That's not really my style is it, Beth? Wrong sibling," he smiled sarcastically. "But while we're on the topic of our woebegone sister, you might wanna help her get out of whatever mess she's in now."
"She's here?"
Felix nodded grimly in response, knowing exactly how his foster sister felt at the news. It was similar to his reaction the day before when he found out. "She got back last night."
"Fuck. Okay just go outside and wait for us there. I'll handle it," she instructed and watched the man strut his way out of the building like he owned the place.
Angie was still standing next to her looking pissed off. "What the hell was that, Childs? You can't just barge in here and let a potential information source walk."
"Yes I can, Angie. He obviously didn't know anything and you weren't letting him exercise his right to fucking leave."
"You don't have a problem with our tactics with other perps."
"Yeah well those other perps aren't my brother, DeAngelis."
"Bullshit, he's not your brother. The guy's fucking British."
Beth rolled her eyes and started off to the interrogation rooms. "Foster brother, Angie. I'm adopted."
So her boring as hell day had suddenly gotten a lot more action packed but in a completely horrendous way. She didn't exactly expect to see her younger foster brother sitting in her division today and definitely did not think her twin sister would magically appear in town again after being gone for ten months. But of course when Sarah comes back from her time away, she has to make an entrance and get herself arrested within hours of being back.
She approached the interrogation rooms and halted when she passed the adjacent observation room. Lieutenant Hardcastle was watching the events in the other room very closely. She took a few steps back and entered the room, taking up a silent position next to him. She took one look at the woman her former partner was grilling with questions and sighed. "Fuck."
"She's not saying a word," her boss muttered with a short chuckle.
Beth wasn't surprised. Sarah had had enough brushes with the law to know to always keep her mouth shut to avoid making things worse for herself. Not to mention she had been telling her sister for years to always stay silent and to call her. The police detective sister would solve the shit storm for her somehow.
"You know, I never knew you had a twin sister, Beth."
She shrugged indifferently. "I like to keep my work and personal life separated, sir."
He nodded in understanding and looked down at her curiously. "So what do you think?"
"About what?"
"Does she have anything to do with the drug ring? You know Art and Angie have been trying to get this bust for months."
Beth shrugged and continued to stare at her twin. "Your guess is as good as mine. I haven't seen my sister in almost a year. Probably just the wrong place at the wrong time though."
"Wrong place, wrong time, with drugs and a wad of cash in her bag?" he asked skeptically. "Well you wanna go in there and get to the bottom of this? Art's doing a fucking brutal job, he hasn't even gotten a name out of her."
Beth chuckled at that and smiled guiltily at the older man. He looked back knowingly, getting the hint that the silence had something to do with her passing on knowledge of the system.
She took a breath as she stood outside the interrogation room. She had no idea what she was walking into with Sarah right now. She hadn't spoken to her sister in ten months. She just disappeared one night without so much as a word or a warning. Sure, there had been signs that she was getting restless but Beth never expected her to leave for so long.
She grabbed the door handle and turned it, forcefully pushing the door open and breezing into the room. Sarah was sitting with her back to the door and didn't even flinch at the quick entrance of another officer.
Art looked up angrily and his face flashed surprised when he saw his former partner standing in front of him. It didn't escape him that the girl he was questioning looked eerily similar to Beth but he didn't read too much into it. He had been working with Beth for a few years and had never heard anything about her having a sister so he chalked it up to being nothing more than a creepy coincidence.
"What have we got?" Beth asked abrasively and walked around the metal table to stand next to Art's sitting form.
In classic Sarah form she refused to make eye contact with her sister after hearing the familiar voice. She kept her eyes on the table in front of her, her fingers fidgeting lightly on it. Beth easily picked up on the restless tendency and shook her head in exasperation already. She wasn't about to play nice with her disappearing act sister.
Art sighed angrily at the question and shrugged in defeat. "I don't fucking know, Childs. She won't even tell me her name. Me and Angie picked her and some other punk up. This one had some coke in her pockets and five thousand cash in her bag. No I.D, obviously."
"Sarah Manning, 28 years old, born March 15, 1984," Beth spoke evenly without letting her eyes stray from her sister.
Art flashed her a look of confusion, brow furrowed deeply. "What? How the hell-"
"Is something fucking funny?" Beth cut him off when she noticed the small smirk playing on Sarah's lips. A light laughter escaping her a moment later.
Sarah looked up for the first time and locked eyes with her twin defiantly. "Just you."
Beth shook her head when she was able to really take in Sarah's appearance. She looked like shit. Sunken eyes and waxy skin are all she needed to see to know that Sarah really was using again. The fact that she had drugs on her person when arrested was enough to tip her off, but Beth so badly wanted to remain naïve for even a minute longer. Unfortunately, seeing the physical indicators were too much to deny the obvious. Sarah was no stranger to drug problems when they were teenagers but she had cleaned her act up a long time ago. Old habits die hard, Beth thought with an inward sigh.
"Oh yeah, what about me is funny to you right now?"
"Ah, the cold bitch shite you're tryin' to put on for me. S'cute, really."
Beth turned her back to the woman and chuckled mirthlessly. Why hadn't she known Sarah would pull the arrogant punk character today? She felt her patience already wearing thin and all her anger at her sister over the last ten months came crashing back to her in a single moment.
She whirled back around with fire in her eyes. "WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" The level of emotion had her perfect North American accent falling away for a moment and her English roots seeping through.
The slip seemed to further amuse Sarah and she clapped her hands at it. "Ya know, after all these years even I thought you'd lost your accent. Good to hear the real Beth again."
"Jesus Christ, Sarah. Fine! You want the accent? Is tha' gonna make you start talkin?" she demanded and allowed her natural dialect to come through.
Sarah smirked triumphantly and shrugged, to which Beth knew was her conceding. "Alrigh'. First, where is Vic?"
"Who fuckin cares?" Sarah snorted angrily and glared at her sister for bringing up the unfortunate man in her life. "I hit him first this time, with an ashtray. So he's a little blue."
"Wait!" Art finally interjected and looked back and forth between the two women. "Who the hell is Vic and why do you have a British accent all of a sudden?"
"He's her deadbeat drug dealer boyfriend. And I'm from England, Art. I've always had the accent, I just don't express it."
Art shook his head still obviously confused by the entire interrogation. All he wanted to do was turn the questioning onto Beth, becoming more confused by the entire unfolding situation, but he leaned back in his chair signalling to Beth that she could continue. He figured it would probably be better to observe the apparently siblings' interaction for answers rather than grilling either one of them for more information.
"What were you and Fe doing at that warehouse today?"
"Nothin," Sarah responded dryly and averted her eyes from Beth's once more.
"Sarah."
"Wha?"
"I need you to tell me what you're involved in."
"Nothin! Christ, Beth you know I wouldn't get caught up in that shite!"
"Then why did they find coke in your pockets?" she asked gently. The subject of Sarah and drugs was definitely delicate for their entire family. Especially between the two sisters, considering how much their relationship suffered when Sarah had her first experience with addiction.
"Bloody hell," Sarah muttered to herself. She didn't want to have to explain this shit to Beth, knowing the disappointed look she'd see in her twin's eyes as soon as she confirmed the obvious. "Vic got me using again, tha's why I left. I didn't want you guys to deal with it again, yeah? But things went to shite with me and him so I stole a brick of coke he brought back one day and got the hell outta there. I called Fe because he knows some people and they sent us to this guy today. Said he'd be interested in buyin off us."
"Why'd you have to take it, Sarah?"
"I wanted to start over and it would be quick cash, ya know? It's all I know how to do. I jus' wanted to get Kira back as fast as possible. Fuck Beth I didn't know I was talkin' to some drug lord! He tossed us a few dimes when we left and tha's it."
Beth ran a hand down her face in frustration. She contemplated her sister's story for a moment and tried to really piece it all together. Sarah was a con artist through and through, but she had never been able to fool Beth. It had been such a long time since they last saw each other though, she needed the extra time to make sure she wasn't being played. She eyed Sarah for several moments, watching for the tells that she was bullshitting but found none of them. "Okay. Then we're done."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I believe you, I'll vouch."
Art was still sitting next to her and looked up in shock. "You're joking right? You're just prepared to let her walk because she's supposedly your sister or something? It's not gonna be that easy, Childs. I'm still charging her with possession. She's not going anywhere until the fine's been paid. She doesn't exactly look like the reliable type to let go on a promise to appear."
"Fine. Do what you gotta do, Art. Charge the fine to my credit card," she replied easily.
The dark skinned man was about to continue to fight but the door to the room open and Lieutenant Hardcastle stood in the opening. Beth could just make out DeAngelis standing behind him and rolled her eyes. "We're done here, Detective Bell. Process Miss Manning's paperwork and charge the fine to Beth's card like she asked. She's of no use to this investigation."
Art become stone faced and shook his head angrily at the defeat. He stood abruptly and pushed his way out of the room. Angie tailed behind him immediately. Beth looked at the lieutenant and smiled in thanks at him. He nodded in understanding. "Childs, if you need to take some time off in light of these events, take as long as you need."
"Thank you, sir," she said politely and moved to stand next to Sarah once he had disappeared.
It wasn't lost on either of the sisters that this was their first time alone in a room together in ten months. Beth squeezed Sarah's shoulder softly in a show of love and support. "Let's get out o' here dipshit."
