Disclaimer I do not own Scott and Bailey or any of the characters.
I am really sorry I haven't updated for absolutely ages. I wasn't completely happy with the last chapter but hopefully they should get better. Hope you like it.
Janet pulled her phone out of her bag and quickly started to scroll down her contacts. It didn't take long to find Gills number, she pressed the diall button.
Back in the office Gill was just finishing some paperwork which had taken longer than she expected when her phone rang. She picked up the phone "Hello Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray, Manchester Major Incident team" she sighed.
"Gill, I think something has happen to Rachel"
"What? She isn't at home?" Gill questions worriedly.
"No and I've found her keys outside her flat and there's, there's blood on the path, it looks quite fresh" Janet replies, now extremely worried for her best friend. Whilst talking Janet is pacing, thinking of worse case scenarios.
"Okay Janet, listen to me. I want you to phone Rachel's sister and see if she has heard from her. I'm going to send some officer to talk to Rachel's neighbours and anyone who might have seen anything. Okay?" Gill spoke with her usual calm and collected voice but inside she was panicking.
"Okay, I'll speak to you soon. Bye" Janet hung up.
Janet found Alison's number and pressed ring. It started ringing but she didn't pick up and it went to voicemail so she left a message "Hi Alison, its Janet Scott I was wondering if you have seen or heard anything from Rachel this morning. Please ring me back when you get this. Thanks bye."
Janet phoned Gill and let her know Alison didn't pick up but if she didn't reply after a while she'd try again.
Meanwhile, Rachel was crouched in the corner of the basement, wrapped in the thin blanket and rocking gently backwards and forwards. "They'll find me soon, of course they will" she tried to reassure herself, it wasn't working. After contemplating what would happen to her for a long time she managed to drift off into an uneasy sleep.
Rachel bolted upright when she heard the basement door slam shut and key turn in the lock. She couldn't see anything in the darkness but then she heard breathing which wasn't her own.
"Hello" Rachel whispered into the blackness. She could now distinguish an outline of a person. The shape came closer.
"Rachel, is that you?" asked a voice which Rachel immediately recognised.
"Alison?" Rachel said quietly.
"Rach, what is going on?" Alison asked trembling.
"You remember the gang Dom used to go round with?" Alison nodded "Well the 'leader', Bruno, wants revenge on Dom for dobbing them in" Rachel explains.
"Then why are we involved, Dom's in prison anyway?" Alison questioned.
"Exactly Dom is in prison so Bruno can't get at him directly. So Bruno decided he'd go for us instead" Rachel sighs "Before you try, the doors locked I heard the key being turned earlier"
"Damn"
"My thoughts exactly" Rachel replied.
Whilst this was happening Janet was still trying to get hold of Alison trying her mobile, work and home phone then her husband, Tony. He hadn't heard anything from either Alison or Rachel. Janet was now worried about both the sisters and relayed her worries to Gill who was equally concerned about the two.
News of Rachel's disappearance hung over the office, everyone doing the work in silence. There wasn't the normal joking and chatter. Gill called Janet into her office.
"Have they found anything?" Janet asked worriedly.
"No I'm afraid not. As we already have a case and we have personal links with Rachel and Alison the case is going to be passed to another syndicate." Gill spoke calmly.
"Who's?" Janet questions, frustrated. She wants find her friend and believes syndicate 9 are the best syndicate to find Rachel and Alison, they know them the best. However her professional side knew the syndicate was too close to the case to be involved.
"DCI Dodson will be heading the investigation. We will find them Janet, don't worry" even though Gill knew Janet would worry till they had found Rachel. "Janet, if you need some time off that's fine"
"No, I'd rather be doing something. Not just sitting around at home thinking the worst"
"Okay. If you need to talk you know where I am" says Gill showing her softer side.
Janet returned to her desk. She tried to get on with her work but couldn't stop thinking about Rachel. They had made some progress with their current case, Harriet Taylor; they had two suspects currently being interviewed. One a neighbour with a record of child abuse who has no alibi and the other her brother, Daniel. Before Harriet died she had found out Daniel was taking drugs and was going to tell their parents.
When it got to 9:00 pm Gill let everyone go home. She decided to give Julie a call and see how they were getting on with finding Rachel and Alison. After two rings Julie picked up.
"Hiya slap" Julie used her usual greeting.
"Hi you fat-arsed bitch"
"Do you want to go to the pub after I've finished here?" Julie knew Gill would need to relax after the day she'd had.
"Yes please, slap. Text me when you're done"
"See you in a bit, bye"
"Bye" Gill hung up and sighed. Whilst she waited for Julie she decided to get some paperwork done.
An hour later Gill and Julie sat in The Grapes sharing a bottle of red wine.
"Have you found anything?" Gill questioned.
"Not yet but we're gathering CCTV, have officers on house to house and have people searching the surrounding area. We're trying to find someone who knows both of them and would have a motive. There's little family; dads dead, we're going to try and talk to the mum tomorrow" Gill sighs "what?"
"Their mother is a drunken idiot but I don't think she's involved" Gill comments.
"Okay, we'll see if she knows of anyone who might be involved. Then there is their brother Dominic but as we know he's in prison"
"I remember Rachel telling me about him. He got into a bad crowd when he was younger and he got sent down for armed robbery but he dobbed the rest of the gang in. Safe to say they weren't very happy"
"We will find them Gill" Julie gave Gill's shoulder a comforting squeeze.
After a while the two women called it a night and both headed home with a promise from Julie that she would ring Gill if they found anything.
Rachel and Alison sat shivering; the thin blanket not really helping. The door banged open making them both jump; one of Bruno's minions chucked a loaf of bread and a bottle of water at them and left without saying a word. Every time the door was slammed open Rachel hoped it would be Janet and the rest of the syndicate 9 but it was always Bruno taunting them or one of his minions.
"What are we going to do, Rach?" Alison whispered.
"They'll find us" Rachel said confidentially but in her head she added 'I hope'.
I hope it was okay and I'll try and not leave it so long between chapters from now on.