Author's note: Ffnet continues to get rid of the paragraph formatting I do so I've reluctantly decided to put horizontal lines between sections even though I hate it. Grr.

Smith broke off mid-sentence as Kat and Spence returned with Jason Evans. Walking towards them, she said,

'Mr Evans, thank you for coming in. I'm Deputy Assistant Commissioner Smith. I'm leading the inquiry.'

'How do you do?' said Evans, holding out his hand.

Smith shook his hand, being careful to keep her expression pleasant and noncommittal. If he was the killer it was important to not to let anything slip. At first glance he seemed an unlikely serial killer but Smith knew that appearances could be extremely deceptive. In fact, as she watched him being led to an interview room, Smith was reminded of the words of one of the beat sergeants at her first posting; he'd said,

'Always watch the short ones. They have to be mean to survive.'

He'd meant in a fight but Smith had quickly learnt that it could apply to other situations too and never made the mistake of underestimating someone just because they were short or seemed weak. Turning to Spence, she said,

'Did you have to persuade him to come?'

'No, he was completely co-operative, Ma'am.'

'Suspiciously so?'

'I would say so, Ma'am. He's not old enough to view co-operation with the police as a given yet he came without even asking why we wanted to talk to him.'

'No questions at all?'

'No. Just put on his coat and came.'

'That's not normal. Did you tell him that he could have a solicitor if he wanted one?'

'Yes, Ma'am and that he could leave at any time.'

'Good. Did Doctor Foley do a profile before she was kidnapped?'

'Not a full one, Ma'am, as she didn't have enough information but she did say that the killer was probably abused by both parents as a child and may have been locked in a cupboard for long periods of time too.'

'So will the interview room make him sweat or will it seem familiar?'

'I don't know, Ma'am.'

'Let's go and look at him and see what we think.'

Spence obediently followed DAC Smith to the interview suite.

Grace cleared a space on the filing cabinet for their spoils whilst Boyd brought the first one through, repressing a smile as Boyd swore as he squeezed back through the gap. Despite the swearing, Boyd was smiling as he placed the first of the water dispenser bottles down. Grace had no idea how they had come to be overlooked but there were two more bottles to come and they each held five gallons of water. This meant that they had one hundred and twenty pints of water which was enough for about thirty days for both of them. By which time they would be dying of starvation anyway or in her case, probably already dead. Grace shook the morbid thought aside; there was no way that Spence wouldn't have found them well before that. Once he'd brought the third bottle through, Boyd smiled ferociously at Grace and said,

'We're going to get a chance to give that little bastard what he deserves.'

'Life in a secure psychiatric hospital, you mean?'

'Of course, Grace. What else could I have possibly meant?'

Boyd didn't even try to sound sincere and Grace fixed him with a stern look, saying,

'The people who died deserve justice, Boyd.'

'Don't worry, Grace, I'll make sure that they get it.'

Boyd's face was full of resolution and Grace knew that there was no point pushing him any more at the moment. She would save her arguments for when they were about to be face to face with Jason Evans again. By then, hopefully, Boyd would have calmed down. Even as she thought it, Grace admitted to herself how unlikely that was. Boyd viewed attacks on himself as part and parcel of the job but he had shown himself to be very unforgiving when it came to people attacking her. Grace knew that it was partly because they were friends but mostly because of Boyd's personality; as a dominant alpha male he was aggressively territorial and protective towards those he viewed as being under his protection. Add in his temper and it was probably going to be best to make sure that Boyd never came face to face with Jason again. For now though all Grace could do was distract him,

'So are we going to break through into the other room?'

'Am I, you mean?'

'Yes,' admitted Grace smiling, 'but I'll provide encouragement and supervision.'

'You mean you're going to sit on a chair and heckle?'

Boyd was smiling too and Grace felt the usual pull of his substantial sex appeal. For a moment she considered acting on it but she reminded herself that Boyd liked his women at least thirty years younger than her and suppressed the desire that she was feeling. Annoyed with herself, Grace stood up quickly. Two seconds later, she was desperately trying to stay on her feet as dizziness engulfed her.

Spence and Smith watched Jason Evans through the glass. He'd been waiting for over half and hour now but he wasn't fidgeting or frowning, in fact he seemed completely relaxed. Spence looked at Smith and said hesitantly,

'He seems calm to me, Ma'am. What do you think?'

'I agree. No point messing about then. Did Doctor Foley have anything else useful to say?'

'That he'd probably never had a sexual relationship and that he probably had trouble forming relationships altogether.'

'Interesting. When you picked him up, were you able to keep your hostility under control?'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

'Go in there and be his new best friend. See if he'll open up to you.'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

Spence took a deep breath and went into the interview room.

Boyd watched horrified as the colour drained out of Grace's face and she started to sway. Hurrying over to her, he put an arm around her and helped her sit on the bed, saying,

'What's wrong?'

'I feel really dizzy.'

'Lie back.'

Once she was lying on the bed, Boyd sat down and lifted her legs on to his lap so her feet were elevated.

'Are you in pain?' he asked.

'No. I think I probably just stood up too fast. My blood pressure's been a bit low recently and, well, not eating won't be helping.'

'No. When we get out of here I think you should go on a high calorie diet. None of that healthy crap you keep eating.'

Grace chuckled weakly and said,

'I've been on a high calorie diet ever since I finished my chemo, Boyd. I'm not completely stupid, you know.'

'What about those salads and vegetable dishes you've been having?'

'Necessary to replace the vitamins and minerals I lost. Besides, just because something's vegetarian doesn't mean that it's low calorie.'

Boyd grunted, unconvinced then said,

'When we get out of here I'm going to find out which restaurant in London has the highest calorie foods and we're going there every day.'

'I'm not eating the same food every day, Boyd. And you'd be fed up of it within a week too. Why not find the top twenty instead? It's not as if there's a shortage of places to choose from.'

'All right, the top twenty it is. And no low calorie foods at home either.'

'I'm not a child, Boyd, I don't need you or anyone else telling me what to eat!'

'Just trying to show concern for a colleague, Grace.'

'Really?'

'You keep telling me I should be more considerate.'

Grace gritted her teeth, knowing that the anger she felt was partly irrational. Forcing the anger out of her voice, she said,

'Being considerate is good but I suggest that you look up benevolent sexism when we get out of here.'

'How is wanting you to be healthy sexist?'

Boyd's voice was irritable but Grace had known him for long enough to see that he was genuinely confused by her annoyance. With an inward sigh, she said,

'It's not. It's how you expressed it that's the problem. If Spence had been ill and lost a lot of weight and you were concerned enough to say something about it, what would you say?'

Boyd shifted uncomfortably and said,

'I wouldn't. I'd get you to say something.'

'I'm in Outer Mongolia and Kat and Eve are out. It's got to be you; what do you say?'

'I don't know, Grace, and what does it matter? Spence is fine, it's you that needs to put on weight.'

'Indulge me, Boyd. Imagine it was Spence; how would you tell him to eat more?'

Deeply uncomfortable with the idea of commenting on another man's weight, Boyd fidgeted for a few seconds then said,

'I'd probably say something like, "Make sure you get some food down you, you look like a bloody skeleton!".'

'Exactly. You'd assume that he knew what foods to eat to put on weight. So why did you assume that I don't?'

'I don't know.'

To Boyd's relief, after looking thoughtfully at him for a few seconds, Grace let him sit there and think about it. He knew why he was so over-protective towards her but the last thing he wanted to do was tell her about his feelings whilst they were trapped in a basement. Instead he thought about whether his over-protectiveness was sexist. After several minutes he realised that his protectiveness towards Grace was caused by such a mixture of guilt, love and fear that he had no idea if sexism played a part in it too. Shaking his head, he turned his thoughts back to more practical matters instead. Grace's colour was a lot better so he said,

'Has the dizziness passed? Do you want to try sitting up?'

Smith looked through the glass with mounting frustration; Spence wasn't getting anywhere. Jason Evans was polite and co-operative and sticking to his lies. She had told Spence not to confront him with the time discrepancy yet so he didn't really have any leverage and Spence's 'I'm your friend' routine, despite being very good, was not having any effect. The search teams hadn't had any joy so far and DAC Smith knew that the commissioner would already be wincing about the cost of the search. They had to find a way to narrow down the search or they had to break Evans. Striding back into the squad room, she barked,

'Updates. Kat, you first.'

'I've found two more couples who disappeared on a second Friday in February. Eve and Frankie are checking to see if they match any of the remains.'

'Good. Any more CCTV sightings of Boyd's car?'

'Yes, Ma'am. It passed an ATM near the dumping site just before four,' replied one of the uniformed officers.

'Any footage of the driver?'

'It's blurred, Ma'am, but you can see that it's a white male and too short to be Superintendent Boyd.'

'Send it to Technical Support, see if they can clear it up.'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

'Anything else?'

'Is anyone tracking Evans' return journey, Ma'am?' asked Kat.

'The time frame's too big; we don't have the manpower.'

'Perhaps not, Ma'am. Inspector Jordan called him at home at about quarter to five and he was in.'

'Hand over what you're doing to someone else and start looking in to it.'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

'Good work.'

For the first time since she'd heard the killers MO, DAC Smith felt a tiny slither of hope that they might find Boyd and Doctor Foley alive. But only a tiny one.