Note: This is more of a 'fill in the gaps' chapter and doesn't really advance the story but I feel it is a necessary chapter.
Said And Done Chapter 2
Gene should have been ecstatic. They'd just collared four scumbags in the middle of a Post Office blag and convictions were a certainty for all four blokes involved. However, Gene's thoughts were elsewhere as he pondered his most recent visit to his mother the previous evening.
Each time he went not only had his mother's desperation intensified but so had her need to distance herself from Gene. Oh she was polite enough, pecked him on the cheek when he arrived and then again when he left, but something was missing. There was no eye contact between them and she chose to sit in the furthest seat from him which wasn't her normal seat of choice. Whenever they'd had conversations previously she always addressed with the term 'son' or 'love', but not anymore. Now it was just 'Gene', delivered in a rather cold tone. He wished she would just come out and say it instead of putting on this act. She blamed him. Gene knew that was what she thought and there were times when he thought it too.
He'd wanted to help; to do something. However, he acknowledged that, as usual, his method was aggressive and only resulted in stirring up hostility. Maybe he should have tried harder with Sam Tyler's 'softly, softly' approach. Then again, Stu was his brother for crying out loud! Surely he knew Gene well enough to know that although he was being aggressive, Gene only had his best interests at heart; wanted to help him. Gene smiled bitterly. Or maybe the drugs had done so much damage that Stu didn't even know Gene anymore. Stupid addict. After Gene's last attempt to talk some sense into him, Stu had done a runner and so the present situation arose. On one level, Gene could understand that Stu might want to make him suffer for 'interfering' in his life, but why punish their mother as well? She didn't deserve this. Stu's blatant disregard for their mother was what made Gene angry more than anything else. While Gene tried to pick up the pieces of his mother's shattered life, she projected her feelings on to him by blaming him for the situation; with the belief that he had pushed Stu away by constantly going on at him.
Well, that was one possibility for his brother's disappearance.
Gene had explored many other possible reasons for Stu's downward spiral in the eleven long months since he vanished. It could be rebellion. With a law-abiding (most of the time) copper for a brother maybe Stu just wanted to be the antithesis of Gene. Or perhaps Stu's downfall was just another after effect of their father's brutal legacy. After years of being beaten and made to feel worthless maybe it was inevitable that Stu would be left with more than just bruises. But, Gene countered, why didn't I suffer the same fate? He wasn't an addict. Despite Tyler's admission that he was "a borderline alcoholic", Gene never let alcohol control him. With that last thought, Gene was interrupted as Ray Carling poked his head around the door of Gene's office and inquired,
"We're off to The Railway Arms, Guv. You comin' ? We're celebatin' the result of that blag bust"
Gene looked up and nodded swiftly.
"Don't have to ask twice, Raymondo"
