The young faces of the first two victims smile back at Andrea from the whiteboard. Moments of time captured when they were happy, their future was bright and they had hopes and dreams. A tiny pill ended all that, a pill that they'd taken, innocently hoping to feel an artificial high to add enjoyment to their night. They now lie on a cold morgue table, bodies a mere empty shell, all the things that defined them gone to a better place.
The door to the meeting room opens and Andrea swings around, Neil slows his movements, getting a moment to gather himself as he turns to shut the door.
"Have you been home?" He asks leaning against the nearest desk.
"No, have you?" Her eyes go back to the board where everything they know about the cases is laid out.
"I was thinking about Cally." Neil says of the one thing that still binds them.
"Oh I forgot." Andrea mentally kicks herself; her pet has been inside her flat for twenty four hours now. There'll be a mess somewhere, one that Cally will look apologetically at her for, even though it's Andrea's fault.
"There's an hour before we start." Neil reminds her and Andrea looks at her watch.
"I'll be back." Andrea picks up her coat.
"I'd like to come." The words catch Andrea, immediately she knows it's about Cally not her, "My car or yours?" She looks across at him.
"Yours," Andrea says and steps out, they say nothing on their way to the car.
"When did you last sleep?" Neil looks across at Andrea as he drives them to her flat.
"Why, do you care?" Instantly Andrea knows why the comment comes out. "Sorry, that was lack of sleep."
"I do still care." Neil sounds wounded.
"I know...I was out of line." The rest of the trip is taken in silence.
Cally's ears that pick up on things even Andrea can't hear, she hears the door open before Andrea's even through it.
Cally doesn't stop to acknowledge Andrea.
"Hello." Neil's voice comes from the middle of the stairs.
Inside there's a small mess on the 'in case of emergency' spot, newspaper put down in the laundry, it's easy to clean and goes in the downstairs bin.
Neil is nowhere to be seen, most likely at the park towards the end of the street.
Andrea goes back to her flat and puts out some food. When she comes out of the bathroom, having showered and feeling human again Cally is woofing the food down.
"The life of a dog, in one end, out the other and a play in between," Neil muses.
"A bit of human company and loyalty thrown in," Andrea adds, when the pattern has almost been licked off the bowl, she takes it away. "I had a shower, freshened up, do you want…" She trails off thinking maybe it's not a good idea.
"Thanks I'd appreciate it." Neil says quietly.
"I'll get you a towel." Andrea says grateful to be able to disappear.
Later when she's made Neil and herself a coffee, finished cleaning up from her dog's breakfast and centralising the toys, sometime she imagines Cally is what it must be like to have a young child, Andrea finds Neil in the living room. His head rests on the back of the sofa, hair still damp his same clothes on again, eyes closed, next to him his hand rests on Cally who gnaws at her rubber newspaper. She could have told him about the suit she hid, but…
"What time is it?" She asks but Neil doesn't stir.
Looking at him front on she notices the fatigue on his face, much like hers and just how relaxed he looks when he's asleep.
She knows she shouldn't but she can't help it, sitting next to him carefully she slowly brings her hand to his cup his cheek. With only the slightest touch at first she waits holding her breath for a reaction, when there's none she gets bolder and strokes his cheek with her thumb.
Neil's eyes snap open and Andrea recoils her touch, horrified to be caught in a pose that shows just how much affection she still has for him. She's not fast enough though, he catches her hand and puts it back, and a look passes between them – one reserved for when they want to start something. The look says I love you, I can't wait to intermingle my body with yours and there's no one else.
Caught up in that Neil leans in three quarters of the way to her, lips seeking an engagement with hers. But Andrea knows they can't do it, not here, not now, not without hundred maybe thousands of words and maybe not ever again.
"We need to get back." Andrea's hand slides off Neil's cheek and although his eyes still hold hers he back away.
Sighing, perhaps he realises what a mistake it would have been, or maybe its frustration, the inability to form a compromise between feeling betrayed by her and still loving her.
The car trip back is silent.
"Andrea thanks for coming." She feels on guard as she shakes Adam Okaro's hand, the respect she has for him makes her feel transparent, like he might see through her and to all her lies. The group is a who's who of senior officers at Sun Hill, there's only one she knows intimately and nearly kissed a quarter of an hour ago. "So we've got another." He begins.
"We don't know that yet Sir." Jack Meadows reminds him and Andrea casts her eyes over Neil who's flipping through the case notes.
"That's what the press will be suggesting." No one needs reminding of that.
"The press conference is scheduled for eight, they know they'll get comments and more information then, they know my office is the conduit of information. We'll keep them out of your face." Andrea steers the meeting in the direction she needs it to go. "We need to know what you want to say, to hopefully steer them away from making connections, though that's unlikely unfortunately."
Andrea looks at the faces of the people she used to call 'Sir' and 'Ma'am'.
"We need to get the anti drugs campaign out there again." Andrea's attention immediately hones in on Neil. "With an emphasis on the type of teenagers the first two victims were."
"Right," Gina joins in. "They weren't regular users, they were probably first time experimenters."
"So we play the 'you never know what effect it will have on you' angle, don't risk your life for a brief high, it's not worth it, don't cave to peer pressure. My office will roll out the drugs campaign that ran a while ago, those posters will be reissued to schools and community centres, shopping centres, pubs and clubs if they'll take them. You might find some schools will want you to talk to their students along with a community member who can cover the health issues of drugs, even someone who's been there and has suffered some consequences."
"If they contact us, we'll be only too happy." Adam Okaro says as Andrea scribbles herself some notes.
"Is the dob in a dealer still operational?" Gina asks.
"Not specifically but we'll encourage people to call the general line where they can still be anonymous." Andrea continues to write. "Specifically what do you want to say about last night?"
"Nothing, investigations are continuing." Jack Meadows jumps in.
"Due respect that won't wash, they know you've been up all night, they'll want more than that to be satisfied." Andrea shakes her head.
"Too bloody bad," Gina backs Jack. "We don't have anything yet, it's been less than twelve hours."
"Are prints being run and evidence from the scene, are you talking to people in the area, that live on the streets, is the post mortem under way, is the missing persons database being searched?" Andrea feels like she's prying.
"Yes, but no hits yet," Neil informs her.
"O.k., eventually we're going to need something because if he goes nameless for too long he becomes just another street junkie and they loose interest if there's no weeping family. It might seem callous but we need this teenager to be properly mourned and remembered, he deserves it as well and as tacky and a morally grey area as the media coverage of funerals and those types of events are, it might guilt someone into saying something which could lead to an arrest but it all starts with us releasing information."
Neil is looking at her and she knows he's wondering if he's looking at the same person, it's a new and polar opposite attitude to the media. Andrea just hopes it goes someway back to him seeing he can trust her.
"Prints and missing person that's it," Adam Okaro allows.
"That brings me to the next thing; the press are going to start on about a bad batch of drugs out there."
"It has to be no comment or no connecting evidence between the deaths." Gina argues.
"Then, if there's a bad batch out there we want to use it to deter people from buying this stuff." Neil counters.
"The other thing is that this latest death doesn't fit the others, he's a street junkie and ecstasy is a party drug, he was covered in track marks." Andrea adds a third element to the mix.
"That's why we don't confirm a link or a bad bunch of pills till we're sure, twenty four hours." Adam is adamant. "It's only a possible third ecstasy related death."
"O.k. finally what can we say about the ongoing investigations?" Andrea looks across to Neil who's looking at her, she averts her eyes quickly.
"We're following promising leads and we're stepping up our presence around the pubs and nightclubs." Jack contributes.
"Suspects?" Andrea asks.
"We're still making enquiries and questioning friends and witnesses." Gina adds.
"O.k. so who goes into the firing line?" Adam Okaro asks.
"It shouldn't be me, this press conference is a major one and it could look as though you have something to hide or you're holding something back." Andrea excludes herself.
"My department's running the investigation, it should be me." Neil volunteers, Andrea's not sure how she feels about this although she agrees Neil is the right person.
"What time is it?" Jack Meadows asks.
"A quarter to nine." Andrea says and knows what the DCI is thinking.
"Don't worry these things never start on time and if they don't know one gets up and leaves, they've been instructed by their editors to stay until they get the story."
Neil arrives at the press conference after Andrea; sipping coffee he waits out the back for her to start the show. Biting on the lip of the cup of his lukewarm coffee he wonders what to make of his feelings and actions towards Andrea today but he doesn't get a chance to go in depth.
"Ready for the bait shop?" Andrea asks and Neil shoots her a questioning look.
She stays at a distance, "The room out there is full of suckers, leeches, maggots and night crawlers."
"Interesting to hear that coming from you," Neil comments over the lip of his cup.
"Jokes about professions are rarely untrue." Andrea says quietly, "I'm not like them anymore."
"Let's get this over with." Neil puts his coffee down and Andrea leads him to the next room and the long thin table, a few camera's flash, recording their entry.
"This is DI Manson from Sun Hill; he'll read a short statement and then answer a few questions." Always a few, no matter how long he stays at the table under the lights and their scrutiny.
"Last night at approximately…" Neil begins and Andrea tunes out, he's the consummate professional…with the exception of her, he needs no training, he could do this in his sleep.
Andrea scans the faces of the various news agencies and representatives asking herself if that would ever have been her, a senior reporter, chasing serious stories. She's alerted back to concentration with a curly questions but Neil handles it easily. She limits the time she spends looking at him in case someone with a camera sees something. Her eyes shift back and forth between the monitor in front of them and the gathering for the rest of the conference. In the monitor it's obvious just how tired she is, which is confirmed when Neil covers the microphone and tells her that's it, she realises she didn't hear half of what went on.
"Thank you ladies and gentlemen this press conference is over." There are a few shouted questions as always, the press know the game, they know there are some thing the police can't and won't ever release but they ask anyway in the hope someone will slip up, it's the same with questions asked at the end of the conference. Neil and Andrea retire to the back room.
Andrea catches Neil looking at her as he pours another cup of coffee. "You're not going back to the office are you?"
"No and neither should you." She braves. Andrea knows she'll have to review the video of the conference later, she can't recall much of it. Neil looks down at the coffee in his hand and puts it down realising its stimulants will only keep him awake longer.
"I'm sorry about before, at your flat." There's no need to explain, she knows what he's talking about.
"I wanted to kiss you too." Andrea lets him time to absorb the honesty. "I'll see you soon."
This case is nowhere near being over.