Will's farewell

Millie hadn't taken any nights off, so she was relieved that when she rang in to say she wasn't up to singing tonight, her boss had been really good about it. She was surprised how much she actually liked Curtis Jenson. He really was the model employer. He appreciated her talent, he listened to and respected her opinion about things and he paid her well. He had a bit of slimy air about him, and of course he was the head of a crime network, but hey, she joked to herself, you can't have everything!

Her heart simply wouldn't have been in performing tonight. She was all too well aware that somewhere across town all of her friends from Sun Hill were together having a good time at Will's farewell. Work had been her excuse for not attending, but really she hadn't wanted to go because, of course, she hadn't wanted to run into 'certain people'. But after Will had told her that Sally had deliberately not invited Max to her send off, that reason had disappeared. In fact, the thought of seeing Max and explaining things to him was quite appealing. It was 930 pm, there was still time to get there. It wouldn't take her long to dress and do herself up a bit. Millie picked up the phone and booked the taxi.

Max was sitting alone at the bar, drinking a beer and not talking to anyone. He acknowledged people when they spoke to him, but he wasn't going out of his way to be friendly. He was tired and preoccupied. So Millie had wanted to talk to him. What would she have said? And how would he have reacted? Was there some way he could think of to get in contact with her now? Maybe she would change her mind and show up tonight after all.

Max knew he was just wishful thinking. He had made up his mind that he'd stay for a respectable amount of time, then slip out quietly. He surveyed the room from his bar seat. Near the door he saw Eddie talking excitedly to a woman whom Max thought he'd seen somewhere before. He looked up and caught Callum Stones' eye and Callum smiled knowingly and winked at him. He remembered now. What was her name? Linda - the FIO in the Devlin case. Smithy was sharing the knowing looks now, but with Stevie beside him there was no way he'd make a move on Linda. Max looked Callum in the eye and accepted his challenge. He felt he could win anyway. Last time he'd seen her, she'd seemed to be signaling her interest. Of course Max had been focused on the case and Eddie as usual had no shame in schmoozing in where he could, but had circumstances been different, Max was sure she would have been 'up for it'.

He couldn't believe his luck when she left Eddie's side and started to head his way. Callum gave a bow of defeat. Yeah, this was just what he needed; a bit of a fling to take his mind off … he stopped himself from thinking her name. He remembered Linda was engaged or something, so there'd be no complications, no difficulty getting rid of her afterwards.

Linda sidled up beside him. Her jeans was tight and her top low cut. She'll do, Max thought to himself.

"Detective Sergeant," Linda said with a smile.

"Hi Linda, it's Max in case you've forgotten," Max pulled out the stool beside him for her to sit on.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten," Linda wiggled onto the seat. This one's in the bag, Max thought to himself.

"Drink?" he asked her.

"A pint thanks," Despite her feminine wiles, Linda liked to give the impression of being one of the boys.

"Cheers," Max said taking a swig of his beer.

"Cheers," Linda took a swig of hers. They stared intently at each other over the rims of their mugs.

"Excuse me Ladies and Gentlemen," Max and Linda's gaze was broken by the voice of Smithy, who was holding a microphone. "As you are probably all aware, PC Nate Roberts is quite the amateur film maker. In honour of Will's departure, he has made this tribute as a memento for our friend William. Lights please!"

Linda edged closer to Max in the darkness. The movie began, with the predictable shots of Will in uniform, Will out dealing with the general public, driving the area car etc. Then began the 'Will with his friends' footage. Max chuckled along with everyone else, until there was a shot of Will with a certain ginger-haired PC. There, on the big screen, was his missing Millie, and seeing her in motion was a whole different thing to seeing her in the stillness of her photo. She was smiling and giggling. There was a scene in which Nate had invaded the women's locker room and caught Millie and Mel getting ready. There was nothing indecent, but while Mel was embarrassed, Millie started to ham it up for the cameras. She winked, raised a foot onto the bench and slid away the towel that covered her lower half to reveal her thigh as she blew a kiss to the camera. And then there was Millie and Will, obviously singing karaoke, looking pleadingly into each other eyes, holding hands. In every shot Millie seemed so happy and vibrant, so different to the side of herself she had shown to Max.

The movie went on and there was Max himself, standing with Millie, and the two of them were reading something he was holding. They were in the background of the footage. The purpose of recording this had obviously been a spectacular tumble of Will's in the foreground, but surprisingly he and Millie didn't seem to notice. Max could see was how close they were standing, and how occasionally Millie's eyes flickered up from the page to look at him.

Max was transfixed by this image, and stared at the screen completely unaware that at the entrance to the club, Millie stood in the doorway looking up at same picture trying not to let it sap her of the courage to face everyone.

Linda sensed she was being ignored. She placed her hand on Max's arm. He was suddenly aware that Linda was speaking to him.

"Who's the ginger?" she asked.

"What?" Max was annoyed and the hand didn't stay there long.

"The redhead. I can't believe what she was wearing!" Linda was getting the feeling she had been forgotten. She didn't hesitate in getting catty.

"Sometimes there's no need to gild the lily," Max retorted. For some reason, Max found that he was more upset at hearing Millie criticised than he was at the prospect of missing out on this 'sure thing'.

"What are you saying?"

"Just that some women are naturally attractive and don't need to go out of their way to impress."

"Unlike me?" Linda batted her eyelashes at him.

Max sighed. There was no reason to take this out on Linda. "No, I never said that. I was just saying that Millie is a natural beauty."

"I don't know about that, but for someone's who's not here, she's getting an awful lot of your attention, at the expense of those of us who are here. I hope she's worth it," Linda said reproachfully.

"I guess she must be," Max's saying this was as much a revelation to himself as to Linda.

"Well, I guess now you just have to choose between the absent beauty or me then," Linda said icily, making it clear she wasn't going to play second fiddle.

"You're right," Max grabbed his keys and jacket, "Sorry for wasting your time."

Max stood up and walked out. In a better lit and less crowded space, he might have noticed a delightfully gilded lily in the form of the shapely redhead in a little black dress, who was weaving her way through the crowd and into the bar just as he made his way out into the night and went home.