AN: I know. It's been ages, and I'm sorry, and I hope people are still reading this. But look! Shiny new chapter! Yay! And the next two chapters (yes, chapterS, with an 's') are almost finished! More yay!
Chapter Ten
"I'm coming." The sergeant slammed on the brakes, making the tires screech as she swung the car into an illegal U-turn and sped back the way she'd come. "What happened?" There was no response. "Millie?" Rachel frowned and pulled the phone away from her ear, glancing at the screen to see the call had been disconnected. She felt her heart leap into her throat as she shoved the device into the pocket of her jacket.
What felt like an eternity later – though it was probably only a few moments – she pulled up in front of Millie's building, haphazardly parking her car, not even bothering to lock it in her haste.
She raced up the stairs, feeling her heart pounding in her throat, and pushed through the door, scanning the hallway. She noted the door to Millie's flat was open, and felt knot of fear in her stomach tighten painfully.
Finally, she spotted her constable. Millie was sitting on the floor, pressed into the corner with her knees pushed up to her chest and her head down, a veil of hair shielding her face. Beside her, her phone lay on the ground where she'd dropped it, the battery free of its casing. Her position was so similar to that night that Rachel felt a chill run down her spine.
The sergeant was kneeling beside her in a heartbeat. "Are you hurt? What happened?" She cautiously laid a hand on Millie's arm and felt the constable quiver under her touch. She was shaking violently, and her breath was coming in quick, gasping sobs. Rachel moved her grip to Millie's hand, squeezing it gently. "Look at me, Millie. You're panicking, just breathe. Breathe." Her other hand went to Millie's face, brushing the hair away from her eyes and tilting her head up. The sergeant noticed she'd unconsciously slowed and deepened her own breathing, silently encouraging Millie to copy her.
Eventually the constable calmed down enough for her to talk. "He was here, Sarge. He knows where I live, he was here…" Her breathing was speeding up again, but Rachel squeezed her hand and interrupted her.
"It's okay, Millie. Just breathe. Are you hurt?" The constable shook her head, and Rachel let out a tiny sigh of relief. "Okay. Are you sure he was here?" Millie nodded her head this time, vigorously, and Rachel fished her phone out of her pocket. "Okay, I'm gonna call Stone and get a unit over here, alright?" Millie nodded and Rachel stood, dialling the other sergeant's number. She kept one eye on the door to the flat, aware that the assailant may still be inside. From her new vantage point, Rachel could see why Millie was so sure her attacker had been in her home. Starting a few feet from the open door, there were rose petal strewn around on the floor, and a single blood-red rose resting on the end table.
"I could have you, my rose."
The roses were obviously a message, and fear shot through Rachel as she realised what it was: I know where you live, and I can get in. The sergeant's heart pounded hard and her vision narrowed as she realised that, had Max not called her into the station, Millie would have been here alone when her attacker decided to pay her a visit.
She was distracted from her terrified realisation by Callum's voice in her ear. "Stone."
"Callum, it's Rachel…" She briefly outlined the situation, then jerked the phone away from her ear as Stone swore loudly.
"Sorry. I'll be there in five minutes." He told her, and before he hung up Rachel caught the sound of him flicking on the sirens.
As she slipped her phone back into her pocket and knelt down beside Millie again, Rachel was wishing fiercely that she was in uniform and had her asp. She felt vulnerable without it, and was uncomfortably aware the attacker might still be in the flat. As it was, she was torn between staying with the constable, and moving to check out the flat to make sure he wasn't waiting for Millie. Eventually, caution won out over curiosity, and she stood and offered Millie a hand.
"C'mon, we should wait in the car."
Millie stared at her for a moment, like she wasn't sure how to move anymore. Her eyes were red-rimmed and glassy, and her expression uncomprehending, but eventually she took the sergeant's hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Rachel could feel her trembling through their joined hands, and squeezed it gently in reassurance as she led her towards the stairs.
…
By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, Rachel could hear the distant sound of sirens growing closer, and it wasn't long before the IRV sped into view and swung in to park behind her own car. Stone climbed out of the car and hurried towards them, followed closely by Sally. The blonde sergeant was mildly impressed; for Stone to get there so quickly meant they either he'd been in the area already, or had set some new land speed records. Knowing Callum, probably both.
"Is she hurt? Did you see anyone?" The other sergeant asked as he approached them, his hand already hovering over his asp. Rachel felt Millie twitch slightly as the other officers drew closer and the constable shook her head to both questions. "Okay. We're gonna go up and have a look. Arun and Tony aren't far behind us. Stay down here and wait for them."
Rachel nodded her assent, and the two officers disappeared into the building. The sergeant felt Millie tremble again, and realised the constable hadn't released the death grip on her hand. Millie's eyes were glazed, and Rachel could see her heart pounding in the pulse point of her throat. It was obvious the constable was withdrawing into herself again, her thoughts working her back into a state of near panic, and as Rachel led her over to her car she cast around for something, anything to draw her out of that spiral.
"You and Katie seem close." Inwardly, Rachel winced as she said it. The question was another of those pointless platitudes they'd been taught, and it felt insincere even as she uttered it. But Millie seemed to recognise what the sergeant was trying to do, and her breathing slowed somewhat as she made an effort to focus the jumbled haze her thoughts had become.
"Yeah, she, um..." She paused and shook her head slightly. "Yeah, we see each other a bit. She manages one of those all-night cafe places so sometimes we have breakfast or something if I've been on nights…" Millie trailed off and released Rachel's hand as if she'd only just noticed she was still holding it. She disguised the motion by reaching for the door handle, but Rachel found that she missed the warmth of the grip almost immediately. Millie dropped gently to sit sideways in the passenger seat of Rachel's car, but winced and put a hand to her stomach as the motion pulled at her injuries.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, meaning more than just her obvious wounds. The flashing blue lights of the IRV were the only illumination in the growing darkness, and their colour made the already pale constable look almost translucent. She looked very small, sitting there, and as Rachel's adrenaline wore off, she realised she was genuinely afraid for her constable.
It took a moment for Millie to answer and when she did, her voice was shaking. "He knows where I live, Sarge... If I hadn't gone to the station he would've…"
"But he didn't." Rachel interrupted her, trying desperately not to dwell on that possibility herself. She crouched down in front of the constable and tilted her head, forcing Millie to meet her eye. "You'll drive yourself crazy with 'what ifs', Millie. You're okay. Just focus on that for now."
The constable nodded, and took a deep breath, but any response she might've had was drowned out by the wailing of sirens as the second IRV came skidding into the street, pulling up behind the first one. Rachel stood as Arun and Tony came towards them, concern written across their faces.
"Sarge," Arun nodded in greeting. "Millie, are you okay?"
The constable had calmed enough to answer without her voice shaking. "Yeah, I'm fine. Honest." She added when Arun's eyes flicked from the healing cut on her head to the bruises just visible under her jacket. Millie shifted slightly, obviously uncomfortable with the scrutiny, letting her hair fall forward slightly and shaking her sleeve down to cover her injuries. The other constable seemed to get the message, and backed off somewhat.
"Can you tell us what happened, Millie?" Tony asked from behind Arun, his notebook in his hand.
Millie smiled slightly at the older constable and nodded. Then she took a deep breath, steadying herself, and started talking. "Sergeant Weston dropped me home, and when I got upstairs I noticed the door to my flat was open. I looked inside and there were…" She stopped and took another deep breath, and Rachel slipped a hand onto her shoulder. Millie gave her sergeant a small smile before continuing. "There were rose petals everywhere. I knew… I knew he'd been there, so I called Sergeant Weston and she called Sergeant Stone."
Tony nodded. "Did you see anyone hanging around? Sarge?" He asked as he was writing. Both women shook their heads.
Stone and Sally had re-joined them as Millie was talking. "The flat's clear." Sally told them. "We called Eddie; he said he'd be here soon."
"What do you want us to do, Sarge?" Arun asked, looking between the two sergeants. Rachel looked at Stone, aware that she was off-duty, making it his call.
"I want you three to go talk to the neighbours, they might have seen or heard something." The three constables nodded and vanished back into the building.
"Did you find anything in there?" Rachel asked her counterpart.
"Not much. It doesn't look like he went much past the entryway, we couldn't see anything else disturbed. Just the rose petals and one other thing." He took out his phone, flicking through it briefly before handing it to Rachel. "We left it in-situ for Eddie, but I snapped a picture of it."
The blonde sergeant looked at the phone briefly, then – after a short internal debate – handed it to Millie. On the screen was a picture of the rose that had been lying on the end table, but Rachel guessed it was the piece of paper underneath it that had caught Callum's attention. It looked like an embossed business card, but there were only two words on it, written in ornate font. Forgive me.
"Does that mean anything to you, Millie?" Stone asked, watching her reaction. The constable shook her head again as she passed the phone back to him. "Okay. Well, we'll get Eddie to check for prints."
"Could it have been Jake Cassidy?" Rachel suggested, but Stone shook his head.
"Nah, the obbo team would have stopped him if he came anywhere near here. I'll check with them, but I don't think it's likely." The sergeant looked down at Millie, who – though she'd stopped shaking – still looked pale and scared under the lights of the IRVs. "You won't be able to go back into the flat until Eddie's done, and I don't think it's wise for you to be alone tonight. Do you have someone you can stay with? Your sister, maybe?"
"She's working all night." Millie replied, and Rachel could see the glimmer of despair in her eyes as she looked towards her flat.
"You can stay at my place, if you like." Rachel offered, surprising herself. She had made the suggestion as an almost automatic reaction to that hopeless look, not stopping to consider the emotion behind it.
She'd surprised Millie, too, judging by the new expression on the constable's face. "I'd…Are you sure? I don't want to be a hassle…"
"No, I don't mind." If anything, the sergeant realised, she'd prefer having Millie somewhere close by, somewhere she could make sure for herself that the constable was unharmed.
Millie looked down at her hands briefly, then smiled tentatively at Rachel. "Okay. Thanks, Sarge."
…
"Okay. I'll see you in the morning, then. Thanks, Callum." Rachel hung up and slipped the phone back into her pocket, pausing for a moment to rub a hand across her face. She could feel the weariness creeping over her, a result of days with only restless sleep and an aftereffect of her adrenaline rush. She rubbed her face again before making her way into the living room where Millie was curled up on the sofa, staring at the TV with a blank expression. The constable didn't react to Rachel's presence, and the sergeant took a moment to evaluate the other woman. She hadn't moved since Rachel had left the room to take Stone's call, and she'd barely said a word since they'd left her flat. The only light in the room came from the television, and it gave her a hauntingly pale glow, reflecting off her glassy eyes to give the constable an almost unearthly appearance.
'She looks like a ghost.' The thought floated, unbidden, into Rachel's tired mind, and she shook her head gently to clear it. A moment later, another one rose to take its place. 'God, she's beautiful.'
That thought stunned her out of her contemplative haze, and the sergeant blinked in surprise before shaking herself and flicking on the lamp on the end table, washing the room in a low, warm light, dispelling the ethereal glow and startling Millie out of her trance.
"Sorry," the sergeant muttered, willing away the blush her realisation had brought to her cheeks. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"I'm fine." Millie replied, her tone suggesting she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else. "What did Sergeant Stone say?"
"Eddie's just about finished. He's found a couple of partials, and he seems to think he might be able to trace the paper the message was written on." Millie nodded, but kept her gaze on her hands as Rachel continued. "Stone called the team they have on Jake Cassidy, and it wasn't him. Apparently he's spent the day drowning his sorrows with various narcotics and entertaining the streetwalkers down near the docks." Millie pulled a face at that, and Rachel grimaced. "They're violations of his bail conditions, at least, so they have something to pick him up for when the surveillance deadline is up."
Millie nodded again, then asked, "Can I go home tomorrow?"
"The locksmith's there now, changing the locks. Callum said he'd drop the keys off in the morning, but Millie…" Rachel hesitated, reluctant to bring up the subject. "I don't think you should stay there. This guy's already got in once. Is there anyone you could stay with for a few days? Katie?"
Millie's head snapped up at that, anger dancing across her features that surprised the sergeant. "No! No, he doesn't get to do that. He doesn't, I won't let him…" The constable didn't seem to notice the tears trickling down her cheeks. "That's my home, he doesn't get to take that…He doesn't…" She trailed off, trying to control the sobs wracking her body.
Rachel moved around the sofa to sit next to her, alarmed by the constable's sudden outburst. "Millie—"
"I'm sorry. I'm fine, I'm fine…"
Rachel reached out and took her hand, silencing her mantra. "Millie, you're not fine. And that's okay. What you went through… Nobody's expecting you to just shrug it off." Reaching out her free hand, the sergeant brushed back the hair that was veiling Millie's face, revealing her red-rimmed eyes. "You don't have to keep it all in. You can talk to me, Millie."
The constable was silent for a long moment, and when she spoke her voice was very quiet "I just…I just don't understand. Why me?" She turned her head, meeting Rachel's gaze properly for the first time since they'd left her flat. "Why is this happening to me?" Rachel felt her heart constrict at the emotions in her eyes, and squeezed her hand gently.
"When we arrest him, you can ask." That reply felt trite and inadequate, and the sergeant felt her anger flare. She was sick with frustration, and desperately wanted to catch whoever was doing this to her constable. She wanted Millie to be free to go home without having to worry about the psycho breaking in a doing god-knows-what as she slept. She wanted to embrace the constable, to protect her and tell her that she was safe, and—Rachel blinked and broke off her angry train of thought. It was heading in a different, surprising direction, one the sergeant wasn't entirely prepared to deal with. She shook herself inwardly, forcing the implications away and focusing on Millie, who had started talking again.
"And now I'm letting him chase me out of my home." Millie continued, as if Rachel hadn't spoken and oblivious to the sergeant's conflicting emotions. The constable's breath was still coming in uneven gulps, and Rachel could see her hands trembling.
"You can't think of it like that, Millie. It'll be okay." Unable to resist any longer, and burying her new realisation in the back of her mind, the sergeant gently pulled the constable towards her and wrapped her arms around the shaking woman. Millie stiffened slightly at the contact, but quickly relaxed into the hug. They stayed in that position as Millie's breathing slowed then evened out, and Rachel barely registered that the constable had fallen asleep before she too had drifted off into the welcome oblivion.
AN: So yeah. There's that. Also, I went back and rewrote the first chapter. No new plot details or anything, just fleshed it out a bit. Review, lemme know what you think. And if you're still reading this. Which would be awesome.
PS: It won't take me another two years to update this time, I swear.