So...funny story...I was gonna upload yesterday, but thought it was Wednesday! My wonderful beta Ferndavant set me straight...but it was too late for me to post. Anyway... thanks to Bloo for helping me on my plotting sprees, esp. for her ideas for chapter 13! Also to Kimi_Cakes for coming up with the title for this chapter, and of course, to all of you who read review, favourite, and add to story alerts!
Oh yeah, btw! This is going AU series 3! (just thought i'd make a disclaimer here :P)
Chapter 10: Merlot
Gene stared at the clock, debating. On the one hand, going to meet Liz was always an adventure. She was funny, witty, and not nearly as annoying as other women. On the other hand, he always felt guilty when he was with her, as though he should be searching for Bolly instead of enjoying her company. Gene had never been able to stand up a woman, though. If he made a commitment, he stuck to it. It was both a blessing and a curse.
Gene looked at Alex's desk. It had sat untouched for nearly a month now. The only difference between the day she had disappeared and now was that some of the files had disappeared from the top of her desk. No one had nicked any of her pens; no one had moved her chair. It was like a shrine in the middle of CID, a tribute to the officer that had disappeared so suddenly, a reminder of what they were working on.
No one had any clue where she was, either. Since she had rung two weeks earlier, there had been nothing. Gene could only guess at her mental state by now. If he had broken her in two weeks, what would happen to her now? It came to the point where he almost hoped the bastard would take him, just so he could see how she was doing. He sighed. He knew that would never happen, as much as he wanted it.
Gene looked at the clock again. He had half an hour before he had to meet Liz, and they were only meeting at Luigi's. Gene reached into his pocket and felt the key that he kept there. Alex's flat key. He had taken it from her flat the day she had disappeared. Gene didn't want to risk anyone sneaking into her flat. He himself had not been there since the day she had disappeared. He couldn't bring himself to do it. It was weird, almost stalkerish. But now... it had been so long since he had seen her. He needed something to keep her fresh in his memory.
Mind made up, Gene put on his jacket and walked over to Luigi's. Instead of going down the steps into the restaurant, he headed up the stairs that the tenants used, straight to her flat. Gene took a deep breath and entered. It looked exactly as it had a month ago, with only a few changes.
The bottle of wine was gone, confiscated by forensics to see exactly what had been put in it. When the report had finally come through, it had not surprised Gene at all. There had been a liberal amount of tranquiliser in the bottle, enough to knock someone out slowly enough that they didn't become alarmed, but enough to knock them out within thirty minutes of drinking half a glass. A black powder covered everything, but the status of 'crime scene' had long been stripped from her flat. Gene went back to the loo, staring at the spot where he had found her smashed up wine glass a month previously. It was still there, shards littering the floor, glinting in the light.
Gene moved to her room. The bedclothes were off, taken by forensics to see if they had a trace of anyone else's DNA on them. He was slightly thankful she seemed to have changed them in the aftermath of their fight. He didn't need another murder enquiry on his reputation. Gene could only imagine the look on Keats's face if he were charged with murder.
Gene went into her lounge. A few of the pillows were thrown carelessly on the floor, the rest stacked up on one side. A blanket should have been on the other side, but forensics had taken that as well.
Gene inhaled deeply. He swore he could still smell the scent that was so distinctly Bolly, a mixture of wine and perfume and another smell he could not quite place, but seemed familiar. It was stale, but he could tell that Bolly had lived here.
Jesus, Hunt, he thought. Pull yourself together. You're turning into a right soft southerner.
Gene looked around the flat one last time. It served as a reminder that somewhere, Alex may still be out there. No. She was still out there. And he had to find her.
Gene looked at his watch. Five minutes, and he had to meet Liz. Seeing her right now was really the last thing he wanted to do, but she seemed to be a drug for him. When he was with her, his guilt for Alex being captured ceased. Her posh accent filled the hole that Alex had left behind.
Gene walked down the stairs, spotting Liz immediately at a private table. She was wearing a dark blue dress, showing off her considerable cleavage. Gene noted that Ray was having problems not gawping at it. Gene smiled inwardly. He got to the table, and Liz smiled dazzlingly at him as he sat across from her.
"You were almost late," she remarked dryly.
"I got caught up in work."
"Oh really?" she asked. "Anything you can tell me about?"
"Just went over a victim's flat again."
Liz leaned in, giving him a full view down her dress. Gene focussed on keeping his eyes on her face, pretending not to notice Ray elbowing Chris and pointing to Liz out of the corner of his eye. "What happened to them?" she asked interestedly. "Murdered? How? How much blood? How old were they? Was there a grudge?"
"If we knew that, the case wouldn't be open, would it?" Gene asked stoically, trying to control the anger rolling in his stomach at her assumptions.
Liz caught on to his tone, and leaned back. "I'm sorry, darling," she said flirtatiously. "I just find this sort of thing..." She trailed her hand down his shoulder to his chest. "Fascinating. Will you tell me what happened?" she pleaded.
Gene shifted in his seat. "My DI," he said. "Went missing about a month ago. Drugged and kidnapped."
Liz covered her mouth with her hand, pretending to be horrified. "Oh Gene, how awful. Were you and him close?"
You don't know the half of it, Gene thought. "Yes," he said. "Alex was the most annoying partner I've ever had, but also the best."
"You poor thing," Liz said, scooting closer to him, stroking his hair. Gene looked down into his whiskey. "Gene," she whispered.
He turned to look at her and was surprised as her lips met his. She kissed him fiercely, barely concealing her passion. Gene matched her intensity, but it felt wrong. It tasted wrong. He wanted the flavour of the house rubbish, the scent of Alex's perfume. Instead he was met with the taste of whatever kind of cocktail she drank, the too sweet smell of her perfume. Gene pulled away. She looked at him, her eyes dark with desire.
"Gene," she whispered.
"No," he said firmly. "I'm drunk." That was, in fact, a lie. She knew it as well as he did.
"I'll see you later, then?" she asked.
"Yeah," Gene said, already beating himself up for turning his back on Alex for that moment.
"I'll call you tomorrow," she said, smiling. Gene watched as she left the bar, downing the rest of his whiskey in one.
~(*)~
Ray stared across the room at the woman his Guv was sitting with. He knew what attracted the Guv to her. She was fiery and posh. She reminded him of Alex. The Guv had met with her on several occasions over the past few weeks, but Ray knew that they had all ended with the Guv going home, alone, completely sober.
Ray watched as Liz leaned over to the Guv, showing him her cleavage. He elbowed Chris.
"Look," he said. "Guv's staring at her face. Tenner says if Drake did that he couldn't stop staring at her tits."
Chris just looked at him, and Ray realised what he had said. Alex Drake's name had become a taboo. No one said her name around the office. To mention her last name in any conversation not pertaining to her case warranted a glare from the Guv if he was in a good mood and a bollocking if he was not. No one touched her desk without permission from the Guv or even looked at it if they could avoid it.
The desk was a reminder of the part of the family that was missing, a shrine to her. To touch her desk was to disrespect her memory.
Ray knew that Keats did not care about this, and often sat in her chair, feet on her desk, talking about how they needed to move on, put this case on the backburner. He had told the Guv on more than one occasion that she was probably dead already, so what was the point?
On these occasions, Ray had seen the anger flare up in the Guv's face, the temporary clenching of his fists, the deep breaths he had inhaled to keep himself from ripping Keats to pieces. Ray understood; he felt the same way. He didn't love DI Drake like the Guv did, but he had respected her. His relationship with her was much like the Guv's was with Sam. There was a mutual respect between them, but they didn't always agree with each other. One would insult the other jokingly, and the other would come back with a joke just as insulting.
Ray had been shocked when he hadfound out DI Drake had been taken. He hoped they found her soon. It was tearing the Guv up inside, and Ray felt like he had lost a mate.
Ray finished his beer. He was quite drunk by this point. The Guv had already gone home, sending Liz away after she had kissed him earlier in the night. Ray waved goodbye to Luigi and stumbled up the steps. A taxi was driving slowly down Worship Street. Ray ignored it and kept going towards his flat, but it slowed and came to a stop beside him. The driver rolled his window down. His face was in shadow.
"Need a lift, mate?" His voice was familiar.
"Nah," Ray slurred drunkenly. "No money."
"Don't worry about it," the driver said. "Consider it an act of charity."
"Yer not gonna preach ter me on the way 'ome?" Ray slurred.
"No. The Lord decides when you will get preached to."
Ray smiled and practically fell into the car.
"Where to?" the man asked.
"Live on Cowper Street," Ray managed.
"Not a problem." The car started up. Ray, lulled by the motion of the car and the alcohol, fell into a booze induced sleep.
~(*)~
Gene stared at the clock. Gone ten in the morning. Ray should have been here by now. A small pit of worry was starting in his stomach. It had been about two weeks between the nutter taking Shaz and Chris, and it had been about two weeks since Chris returned. His face had mostly returned to normal, all the swelling down, but his lower eyelid was still tinged yellow.
"Chris," Gene said. "Do you know where Ray is?"
Chris looked up. "Not a clue, Guv. Last I saw, he was getting pissed at Luigi's last night, making fun of that posh bird you're seeing...oops. Sorry, Guv."
Gene smiled humourlessly. "Shaz, ring Ray's flat." Shaz nodded, picking up her phone quickly. Gene stood by the door of his office, hoping severely that Ray answered his phone, that Ray had just gotten pissed and was sleeping off his hangover, even though Ray had never done that in the entire time he had ever worked with Gene. Though, wasn't there a cliché about there being a first time for everything?
Shaz hung up the phone, looking downcast. "Nothing, Guv. "
"Right. Granger, you go to his flat. Chris, you walk his route home, talk to anyone who might have been on the street last night. I'm going to talk to Luigi. Take the radios."
Shaz and Chris nodded, and the three left in their separate directions, Shaz in a car, Chris walking to Luigi's with Gene and then continuing on. Gene walked down the stairs, knocking loudly on the door. An annoyed looking Luigi opened the door.
"Signore Hunt, you know I do not open for another hour..."
"I know Luigi, but I need to ask you a question."
Luigi's brow furrowed and he looked up at Gene. "What's wrong?"
"What time did Ray leave last night?"
"Some time after you, Signore Hunt. Probably around 11 or 11.30. He was very drunk, though."
"Guv," said Shaz's voice over the radio. "He's not answering at his flat."
Gene raised the radio to his mouth, but before he could depress the button, Chris's voice spoke.
"Guv, I've got a man here who says he saw Ray get into a car last night at about 11.30. It turned onto Paul Street, in the direction of the station."
Gene swore. That was the in the opposite direction to Ray's flat. "Right," he said into his radio. "It looks like we've had a fourth officer kidnapped in the space of a month."
God, he sighed to himself. Keats is going to love this.
...to be continued...