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Chapter Two;
Ainsley Arms

"Alright ladies, update for the DCI in about forty seconds, so fill me in." Stuart sauntered into the room and dumped a handful of folders on his desk. No one had seen him since Saturday night, having been rostered off for Sunday and Monday.

"Where did you spend your days off then?" Stevie asked with a grin.

"Sunny Acapulco," Stuart teased. Stevie raised an eyebrow. "If Acapulco is somewhere near my sister's place in backwater Birmingham." He took a seat at his desk and rolled his hand. "Come on then, updates."

"I got to meet the lovely people of St. Hugh's… twice." Hayleigh frowned up from her desk where she sat, one wrist bandaged, flicking through a file.

"Yes, I heard, how are you?"

"Seriously wanting to hurt whichever prick organized the attacks, and after Sunday night I can be pretty certain who that is." She pulled from the file a piece of paper and handed it over to Stuart. It was her statement about Sunday night's attack in the pub bathrooms. "Don't recall her exact words, but they were something like 'he says he'll get you for years of lies'. You can have two guesses to who she's talking about, but you won't need the second one."

"Our elusive friend Mr. Bolt." Stuart put down the statement and glanced at the others, smiling briefly at Millie as she entered the office, looking a little puffed, and took a seat. She was back out of uniform and sporting jeans and a new black suit jacket over a tan-coloured blouse. "How are the Bolts settling in?"

Millie glanced up to speak but Max spoke up over her. "Samuel said he heard Bolt's alias 'Chris' mentioned at the Ainsley Arms on the Kingmarsh patch." Millie dropped her eyes back to her files as Stuart turned his attention on Max and Stevie who was seated nearby.

"Well, I spoke to Kingmarsh and they said they've been keeping watch on the Ainsley. Drug dealers' paradise." Stevie added, joining in and dropping a one-page summary of Kingmarsh's investigations onto Stuart's desk. "So it doesn't surprise me at all that Craig could be found around there, scurrying back to his natural habitat."

"What are the locals like?"

"Racist, sexist and xenophobic drunks and druggies who all survive on welfare or crime."

Hayleigh raised her eyebrows. "Craig's finally amongst equals then?"

"Did Kingmarsh get a chance to speak to any of the locals, identify Bolt?"

Stevie shook her head. "No one talks over there. Getting any names is like extracting blood from a stone. Naturally they don't have any CCTV either, but we did get something." Stevie smiled at Millie who wasn't watching. "Well, PC Brown got something anyway."

Millie glanced up and Stevie nodded for her to speak. She started tentatively. "Uh, it was Eleanor, talking about how she managed to get her hands on her uncle's drugs. Apparently he mentioned in passing someone named Bryce or Brian, she wasn't sure."

"Thankfully PC Brown is naturally inquisitive." Stevie smiled before holding up a photo. "Bryce Goodwin. 23-years-old, works behind the bar at the Ainsley." She passed over the photo along with a wrap sheet. "Minor offences as a teen, but put away in juvenile for a year when he was 16 for stealing a car. Guess where?"

"Manchester." Stuart read off the wrap sheet. "Any real connections to Bolt?"

"Weak. He went to the same school in Manchester as Samuel and Eleanor, but they don't remember him." Millie spoke up. "He's a bit older than them so it's no wonder really. I know I was a bit scared of the older kids in school, let alone what it would be like if your uncle was the town's least favourite brothel owner."

"Okay, so how exactly can we tie them together any more than a passing name, a shared home town and a new friendship called the Ainsley?" Stuart asked. Stevie shook her head. Millie hung hers. "Ok, circumstantial. So I say we give your new friends at Kingmarsh a call and get them to find some excuse to bring Goodwin in, don't you?" Stevie nodded and grabbed her phone, wandering away from the group. "Oh, and where's Will?"

"Forgot to mention Dunn. He checked himself out of hospital after PCs Gayle and Taylor checked him in on Friday. Evaded uniform, headed home, drank himself stupid and was found by PC Taylor on Sunday morning in a severe case of alcohol poisoning. They had to pump his stomach, liver damage they're saying." Hayleigh filled Stuart in. "Some idiots just never learn."

"So Will is…"

"At St. Hugh's making sure our only witness to Natovnia's break for the high hills doesn't bugger off and drink himself retarded again."

"Wait, he went home?"

Hayleigh laughed. "Yeah, back to the home of the creepiest landlord this side of London. Broke in through the back window, crawled into an empty house and passed out from scotch-related stupidity on his old living room floor where PC Taylor found him a day later."

"What an idiot…" Stuart started, only to be cut off when Sgt. Smith burst into the room. "Where's the fire Smithy?"

"On the Maycroft actually. I tried calling up here but it seems none of you turn phones off silent. Fire broke out in a flat on the Maycroft little over an hour ago." They gave him a blank look. "It's the home of Nikolai Brecht's brother, the one currently living at her Majesty's pleasure."

"Nice. Okay, Max, Millie and Stevie, join uniform down there."

Hayleigh frowned. "Oh come on, let me out of here." She motioned back at Stevie who was still on the phone. "She's busy anyway, so come on."

Her voice was getting far too close to child-like whining and Stuart gave in. "Fine, but only because you're staying with the Firies to write up their report on the cause. If I find out you went even a few millimetres away from the chief, I will put you on desk duties until Craig Bolt walks in here begging to be gaoled."

Hayleigh held up a notepad and pen. "Report detail, you got it boss." She gave a stiff salute with her bandaged hand then followed Smithy, Millie and Max from the office just as DCI Meadows walked in and glanced around at the silent room, empty save for Stevie in the corner chatting away animatedly, phone pressed to her left ear.

Stuart just smiled. "You missed the party guv, but it's okay, I'll give you a wrap up." They walked into the nearby briefing room leaving Stevie alone in the empty room.