Disclaimer: I own nothing, BBC, Kudos, Monastic and Mary Hoffman own everything...

Thanks very much to everyone who's read and reviewed so far, and for putting up with the hiatus over Christmas while I've been posting "Candlelight". I hope everyone hasn't got bored with waiting! Anyway, normal service resumes here, and I'll try to keep the updates regular throughout the rest of this story - PC and family circumstances permitting.

Please keep the reviews coming in, we writers need encouragement!

Alex's legs buckled beneath her, and if Ray had not put an arm around her waist she would have fallen.

Gene, what have I done to you?

"Murder? Gene? But why?"

"Sorry, Boss," said Ray more gently, as he supported her. "I've given you a shock."

"Not half so much of a shock as I'll give you if you don't tell me why they think Gene murdered me!" Alex snapped. "For God's sake, take me to him."

"I'll tell you as we go," said Ray, still with surprising gentleness. "You're right. I must get you to 'im as soon as possible. Save 'is poor old heart from breakin'. I've never seen 'im the way 'e's been since you disappeared."

As he spoke, he imperiously waved the traffic to a standstill and helped her to stumble across the road. She had never felt so grateful for the big, capable DS, making a mental note to ask him sometime if he had started his career on traffic duty. Her progress was so agonisingly slow that disgruntled motorists started hooting their horns, and he was later to admit that he had come within an ace of picking her up and carrying her, except that he knew that only the Guv could do that and live.

When they reached the other side of the road, she turned to face him. "Now tell me."

"'E came into the station that morning sayin' you were ill, and at lunchtime 'e went back to the flat to check on you," Ray explained softly as he supported her, step by tortuous step, along the station frontage towards the entrance. "'E came back mad as 'ell, sayin' that the place was empty an' you must 'ave buggered off on your own. But when you didn't come back later that day or the next, 'e got worried and started gettin' us to run a search on all the places 'e thought you might be, checkin' up who's on the loose who might 'ave a grudge against 'im or you. 'E couldn't shake the idea that someone might have kidnapped you to get at 'im. Like I told you, 'e went to the press, there was a TV appeal - "

"Oh, Ray, he didn't go on television again for me?"

"Not 'im, 'e knew better than to risk cocking it up again. 'E left it to Shawe Taylor." His face darkened. "Then a week ago, 'e was taken off the case and they started questioning him."

"But why?"

"'E was the last person to see you alive," said Ray grimly, " and you'd 'ad a heated argument the day before in front of at least a dozen witnesses. The theory is that you'd continued rowing after you'd got back to the flat, and 'e hit you too hard and killed you by accident. Forensics went right through your flat and his, and the Quattro was impounded. Traces of your skin and 'air were found in the boot. They think 'e hid your body in the flat, transferred it to the boot overnight, and disposed of it the next day when 'e was driving around like a madman, searchin' for you."

"But this is ridiculous! We always argue! You all know that. It doesn't mean anything. And Gene would never harm me."

"This isn't about the team, Boss", said Ray quietly. "We all know 'e's innocent. But there are people up there who want 'im out. 'E doesn't fit in with Scarman's idea of policing. This is their perfect opportunity to discredit 'im. They've got themselves enough evidence to put 'im in the frame. Even if they can't make the charge stick, the mud would stick. Sooner or later it'd end 'is career an' destroy 'im. Thank God you're 'ere, Boss - for both your sakes."

As he spoke, he was tenderly helping her up the steps and through the entrance. As they reached the desk, she caught sight of Viv, his eyes like saucers.

"Viv, you can tell the team to call off the search for our missing DI," said Ray briskly. "I'm taking 'er straight to the Guv. Where is 'e?"

"The temporary Guv is in our Guv's office. As usual," Viv said pointedly. "Our Guv's being interviewed." Ray nodded his thanks and steered Alex towards the corridor. As they passed through the swing doors and inched their way along the corridor, Alex heard angry voices issuing from the interview room. The first, which she did not know, was cocky and arrogant.

"Now, come on, Hunt, why don't you make it easier for yourself? You have a reputation for violence, and your bad temper is legendary. We accept that it may have been an accident. The two of you had been quarrelling earlier in the day. There are witnesses who can confirm that. When you both went back to her flat, the quarrel flared up again. Maybe she lashed out at you. She'd done that at least once before. You struck back to defend yourself -"

"No!" Alex recognised the barely suppressed fury in Gene's voice, but there was something else which she had never heard there before, the desperation of a cornered animal. She shuddered. My proud Lion surrounded by jackals. They want to pull him down. I won't let them.

"Maybe you hit her harder than you intended. Maybe she fell and struck her head. Whatever, you were left with a dead DI and a restaurant full of your colleagues downstairs."

"NO!"

"You waited until the middle of the night, then you took the body downstairs and hid it in the boot of your car."

"NO!"

"The following morning, you went to work as usual and claimed that DI Drake was ill. At lunchtime, you returned to the flat and raised the alarm. Later in the day, you drove away alone on the pretext of searching for DI Drake. That was when you disposed of the body. Where is it, Hunt?"

"'Ow many times do I 'ave to tell you meatheads that I've never laid a violent finger on 'er? I love that woman. I'd lay down my life for 'er. I'd sooner shoot meself than do 'er any 'arm!"

"Traces of her hair and skin have been found in the boot of your car", a third voice said harshly. "How do you explain that, if her body hasn't been there?"

"I've already told you," said Gene wearily. "'Er washing machine broke down the week before she disappeared. We took a load of stuff back to my place to wash it. The bin bag split when we were gettin' it out an' all the dirty washing spilled inside the boot."

"You don't deny that you were quarrelling on the day she disappeared?" said the first voice.

"Of course not! The whole of CID 'eard us. It didn't mean anything, we'd called it quits by the time we left work. We bought each others' drinks at Luigi's, and at closing time we went upstairs to the flat. We were fine by then."

"What were you quarrelling about?"

"Professional differences," said Gene wearily. "As usual. We respect each others' working methods but that doesn't mean we 'ave to like 'em."

"Not about another man? A beautiful, intelligent woman like her could easily have found someone better than you - a coarse, violent, hard-drinking brute ten years her senior."

"Something I've thought meself," said Gene very honestly. "But no, it wasn't."

"She had a reputation for promiscuity. You were jealous."

"She played the field a bit when she first joined my team," Gene admitted. "But not for a year, and certainly not since we got engaged five months ago."

"Another woman, then? Let's say that you have past form - "

"No. There's no other woman in the world for me, now. Never will be."

"I put it to you," said the harsh voice, "that you resented DI Drake's success. You knew that she was the future of policing while you're forever stuck in the past."

"Was! Why do you say was? We don't know she's dead! I pray she's alive!" Gene roared. "She's so full of life! An' while you're busy tryin' to build a case against me, you're neglecting the search for 'er! She could still be out there, injured or lost, or bein' 'eld prisoner by some bastard, waitin' for me to find 'er!"

"You knew how bad she made you look, both personally and professionally. You knew she'd destroy your career and then leave you. Maybe she told you that evening that she was leaving you. So you killed her."

"NO! NO! NO! " Gene howled. "I left 'er asleep in bed that morning, an' when I came back at lunchtime the flat was empty. I don't know where she is. I wish to God I did. I'd give the rest of my life to know she's safe and well!"

Alex and Ray had reached the door at last. That corridor had never seemed so agonisingly long. She paused for a second with her hand on the door handle, and looked at Ray. He nodded briefly, and she opened the door.

"DI Drake entered the interview room at - " she glanced at the clock - "nine forty-six."

TBC