Ok this is my next story. I haven't written anything in a while but here it goes. Please review and tell me what you think.
Alex sat in her kitchen one Saturday morning. The clock was edging closer towards ten o'clock, and Caras' Dad David still had not arrived. He was supposed to collect his daughter at nine to take her away for the weekend. Alex and David had split up before Cara was born, since then Alex had always felt that David was constantly letting Cara down. He was never on time, would cancel at the last minute and sometimes wouldn't show at all.
Cara was now 14 and quite used to her Dads ways. No matter how much he let her down though, Cara would always forgive him, and this annoyed Alex a lot.
David had moved to Spain about a year previously, and was only back in Britain temporarily. He had been trying for the last month, (since he returned) to persuade Alex to let Cara move to Spain and spend time with him and his new family. Alex hated the idea and didn't want it to happen. David wasn't accepting no for an answer, and Alex wasn't prepared to give him a yes. David wanted Cara to make the decision, but Alex couldn't let her decide between them. So Alex said she would think about it.
Alex drank the last of her cup of coffee and walked across to the sink. As she did so her back door opened and in walked Gina dressed in her uniform.
"You were supposed to be at work nearly an hour ago." She said as she hugged her daughter.
"I know Mum, I'm sorry, but David hasn't shown up yet. I've phoned him a few times but he's not answering." Alex replied sounding exasperated.
"I thought as much. Don't worry 'bout it. We're not understaffed anyway." Gina reassured.
Alex walked over to the kettle and was filling it with water when there was a knock at the front door.
"Ah that'll be him now." Alex said irritably.
"Don't be too angry with him; not in front of Cara anyway. He's her Dad no matter what, and seeing the two of you at each others' throats isn't going to improve the situation, is it?" Gina explained.
Alex knew her Mum was right and relented a little.
Cara walked in to the kitchen closely followed by David. He was a tall bloke with short blonde hair, sparkling green eyes and a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts; All things that first attracted Alex to him.
"Where have you been? You said nine, it is now ten." Alex asked as calmly as she could.
"Well done Alex you can tell the time." He mocked. Cara glanced up at her Dad and glared slightly.
Alex sighed and waited for an explanation.
"Jacquie wasn't feeling well. This pregnancy is taking its toll on the both of us." He answered.
"Well you'd better get going then hadn't you? After all, we don't want Jacquie left on her own." Alex said.
Cara ran in to the hall and grabbed her bag of things and David followed her out to the car. Alex went out to say goodbye to her daughter.
"Now you be good and do as your Dad says ok? Phone me and let me know when you get to wherever he is taking you, alright?" She said as she held Cara close.
"Yeah will do Mum, bye." Cara replied quickly before running to the car.
Alex watched the car as it drove off, Cara waved out of the back window as it did.
"Right we'd better get going ourselves, otherwise we may not have a drugs case left to work on when we get back." Gina said as she joined her daughter.
"Yeah, how is that going? I've spent ages on this and would hate for it to fall apart now. That little toe rag Buster Jones has a lot to answer for." Alex said as she got into the car next to her Mum.
For the past month CID and Uniform had been working together on a massive drugs deal. A low level junkie named Andy 'Buster' Jones was well known to Alex for petty theft and drug offences. He had been arrested by Tony Stamp and Rodger Valentine on suspicion of robbery a few weeks previously. This sparked a huge operation which the Superintendent even got involved with. The reason for this was discovered during the interview. Jones' had found a new dealer after his previous one had gone down for a twelve year stretch.
This new guy was far more ruthless and devious than his predecessor. Buster had got himself into a lot of debt; he owed nearly ten grand and had no way of paying it back. The dealer was forcing Buster to do jobs for him to try and pay back some of his debt, only CID was more interested in getting the bigger fish than the small fry. The dealers name was Salim Haaque, and it turned out that he worked for someone called Archie Foster. Foster was a notorious career criminal and CID were desperate to pin something on him.
"To be honest at the moment I couldn't tell you what was happening. The Super is being a pain; he is so desperate to get a result he's getting in the way. I'm not convinced we're going to get a result on this one. Archie Foster is bad news; we've never been able to pin anything on him." Gina sighed with frustration.
Gina had been after Foster for a very long time; in fact it spanned for most of her career. During the course of the investigation, concern for the safety of the officers involved had increased. There were three SO10 officers placed undercover as drug runners. One of Fosters' top men was arrested after information was passed to Sun Hill officers about a different case; the undercover officer was revealed to be a grass and subsequently beaten. The officer was put into intensive care as a result of his injuries. Luckily no-one in Fosters firm had twigged he was a copper but needless to say it had left everybody on edge.
Alex had been deeply involved with the case. Buster Jones had become her sort of informant over the past couple of years, and she worked closely with him on this case.
Alex and Gina walked towards CID almost immediately after arriving at the station. There was some serious tension amongst top brass and it concerned Alex a lot.
"Inspector Gold can we have a word please?" John Heaton said as he beckoned Gina into his office.
Gina looked at Alex and shrugged her shoulders. Alex made her way in to CID to catch up with the morning gossip. She sat on the edge of Jo's desk and chatted happily with the other officers; she had one eye on the door though waiting for her Mum to come in. She was curious to find out what the Super wanted with her that needed such urgency. She didn't have long to wait to find out what it was, except it wasn't her Mum that came through for her, it was Jack Meadows. He walked through the swing doors and looked straight at her.
"Sergeant MacDonald, can you follow me please?" He said as he hovered in the doorway.
Alex got up and walked over to her Gov'ner, she followed him into the Superintendent's office. She saw her Mum sat in one of the chairs in front of Heatons' desk. Gina looked as white as a sheet and as for the Superintendent, he looked very worried.
"What's happened?" Alex asked quietly.
"Andy Jones was found dead this morning by Jamaica Docks. He had been beaten almost beyond recognition and then shot. This note was found in his mouth." Heaton explained as he handed Alex the note that was contained in a plastic evidence bag.
"This is what we do to grasses. Anyone involved with him will suffer the consequences, filth and all." Alex read aloud.
"We've had a tip off that you were seen talking to Jones a couple of nights ago, in the alley just off Brude road. We're concerned that the last part may be referring to you, although it could apply to all of us." Heaton said.
"Uh huh, so does this mean I'm off the case then?" She replied with a slight smile.
"The operational duties only, we still want your input in CID." Jack explained.
"Well I suppose that is only fair." Alex tried to make light of the situation.
Deep down though, everyone knew this news wasn't good. Gina and Alex walked down the back stairs to the sergeants' corridor and into Gina's office.
"Are you ok?" Gina asked as she made them both a cup of coffee.
"Yeah I think so. I've had death threats before and coped alrigh', why should this be any different?" She tried to reply calmly but didn't sound very convincing.
"Yes but this is different. Archie Foster is a very dangerous man; I just need to make sure you're alright." She said as she handed Alex her cup.
"I'm fine, surprisingly. I did expect to feel... I don't know, scared I guess, but I feel nothing. In all honesty, I'm more worried about what I'm going to do about Cara. David's given me an ultimatum about letting Cara move to Spain with him." Alex explained as she took a gulp from the steaming hot liquid in front of her.
"Have you asked Cara what she would like?" Gina asked.
"No I haven't. I don't want her to feel like we're making her choose between me and David. No child should be made to choose between their parents', it's not right." Alex said irritably.
The truth of the matter was that she was scared to tell Cara in case she chose David over her. She didn't want to lose her daughter to a country where she would never see her.
"Where's he taken her for the weekend?" Gina Pressed.
"I'm not sure where exactly, but I think it's some sort of activity centre type thing. She'll have a ball I'm sure." Alex commented.
At that moment there was a loud knock at the office door. It was Smithy looking as if something very serious had happened; and unfortunately, something had.
"Alex, David is in the front office for you. It's Cara, she's gone missing."