Penultimate chapter ...


Millie shut her eyes tightly as if hoping to block out what she knew had just happened even without looking back. Sorrow and anguish slowly trickled through her veins, spreading to every part of her body. She felt cold, her limbs leaden and her mind unable to generate coherent thought. When she opened her eyes again, they immediately locked on to his, drawing her over to him, her feet instinctively carrying her forward towards the safety he could give her. No words were exchanged, there were none to suit. She was stopped short of her haven by a pair of hands accompanied by a familiar kind voice taking the child from her but without the baby's warmth she was even colder. She faltered, all that kept her standing was the constancy of his gaze.

Max forgot about the colleagues around them and the carefully kept secrecy of their relationship. His only thought was to absorb her grief and without interest in how his actions would look, he closed the distance between them, enveloping her into him. She buried her face into his neck, breathing him in with great shuddering gulps, her arms wrapped around his body under his jacket. His hands held her to him, one at her back and the other at her head, his fingers in her hair, clutching her so firmly that she couldn't move. Not that she wanted to. For as long as she stayed here, she didn't have to understand what had just happened.

Max didn't know what to say that could possibly soothe her. He rested his cheek on the top of her head, feeling her fingers dig into his back. The wetness of her tears dampened his shirt but gradually her shaking subsided and she made to pull away. She looked up at him, her eyes so full of agony that he would give anything to take away. Millie tried to turn her head in the direction of the car but he held her firm, refusing to allow her to see the scene behind her. The Astra windows splattered with Mike's blood, his body slumped lifelessly in his seat.

"Don't look. I don't want you to remember him like this. I don't want you to have this picture in your head. " It wasn't lost on him that for the first time that day she didn't fight him, she simply closed her eyes and tipped her forehead back into his chest. Activity reigned about them - officers setting up a cordon, onlookers jostling to get a better view, flashbulbs popping ghoulishly. Yet two people stood gripping each other as if they were completely alone, oblivious to the surrounding commotion.

After a while, Max had no idea how long, he was aware of a hesitant voice trying to attract his attention.

"Um, Guv? … Sir? …"

Max looked up to see Sun Hill Station's resident teenager nervously standing behind Millie. "Yes?"

Sunil gulped before continuing shakily, "the Superintendant wants to speak to you, says he can't get through on your number."

"Okay, thanks." Max paused, "Sunil, please can you take Millie back to the station?" he asked quietly, the young officer's eyes opening wide in shock that Max had both acknowledged him and knew his name. "Go back Millie, I'll get away from here as soon as I can" he whispered into her ear.


"How are you bearing up?" Smithy touched Millie's arm sympathetically. Unfortunately it was the arm Mike had gripped and was feeling tender now the adrenaline had well and truly left her system.

"Fine, sort of" she replied, doing her best not to show her discomfort.

"Max is after a few details about what happened when you were alone with Sumner. He wants to see you in his office, give me two minutes and I'll come up with you."

"It's okay. I'll be fine on my own."

"I'm sure you would be, but I'm still coming with you."

"Don't you trust me?"

"I don't want you to get railroaded," was the diplomatic reply.

Millie sighed and shrugged her shoulders, exhaustion was taking hold. Yet another well-meaning chauvinist and she wasn't in a position to answer back to this one, even if she'd had the energy. "If you really think it's necessary."

Less than five minutes later, Millie found herself herded into Max's office. She noticed he was clearly put out at Smithy's presence. Max, in fact, was dismayed when Smithy immediately followed Millie into the small room. He had only wanted the opportunity to get her alone to catch up with her, to know how she was doing and hopefully take her home, if she would let him. Instead, he had to quickly rethink his words, he needed an alternative reason to have Millie sent to him. In such virgin territory he resorted to what he knew best and came most easily. Attack.

"You deliberately disobeyed my instructions today, both at The Fox and then when we got to Sumner." In retrospect, he knew it was a poor response to his predicament, but it was the best he could come up with. Smithy stiffened instantly but at least Millie didn't appear to be taking much notice, she simply chewed her lip and stared down at the floor beside her.

"Er, I don't think this is the right time for this conversation. I thought you wanted to clear up a few details for the file before Millie goes home. 'This' can wait for another day."

Max bristled at Smithy's defence of Millie. "She put herself in danger and could have hampered efforts to rescue the child if Sumner had turned nasty."

"From what I have heard, she had an established rapport with him and used her initiative," Smithy retorted firmly.

Millie listened to her two superior officers argue over the top of her and sighed. It seemed that while their conversation was about her, she wasn't permitted to have a role in it. She rested an elbow on the desk next to her and allowed her head to drop into her hand, her fingers lacing into her hair, as she watched them square up to each other in a ridiculous display of machismo. Naturally she was drawn to Max, hands on hips, his chest puffed out with his own brand of arrogance, generally saved only for special occasions these days, days like this. She furrowed her brows slightly as an earlier thought returned to her.

"Please, stop." She looked up at Smithy plaintively. "He's right. I haven't been objective today. Thought I knew best, wouldn't listen to anyone else. If I had, then maybe …"

"Are you blaming yourself, Millie?" Max's voice held a note of uncharacteristic anguish that made Smithy snap back to him in astonishment at the sudden change in tone. Surely that wasn't concern for another human being, was it? "You gave him every opportunity to walk away." There it was again, Smithy's mouth gaped in disbelief. "Sumner made his own decision. Nobody could have done any more or better for him than you did."

"Mike. His name was Mike. He was just an ordinary man who had bad things happen to him. He … he didn't deserve to have his life fall apart like that."

"You are not responsible for the decisions other people make." Max left his position against the filing cabinets and crouched down in front of Millie. He took her hand in his. Smithy shifted uneasily and wondered if any of this was real or whether it was a dream. If it was the latter, why the hell did it have to have Max Carter in it? He watched on uncomfortably as Millie's tired, melancholic eyes looked down into Max's concerned ones. Deciding that although this felt surreal, it definitely was happening, he coughed self-consciously.

"Er, is there something going on here that I don't know about?"

Max reluctantly broke away from Millie's eyes, turning back to Smithy. "Can you give us a few minutes? Please?" That told him all he needed to know. "Millie and I could do with a bit of time …" The earlier altercation between Max and Millie now made sense to Smithy. Max hadn't been trying to exclude Millie from the operation because he didn't rate her ability, he'd been trying to protect her and while it wasn't precisely rational, Smithy knew he would probably have done exactly the same thing.

"Uh, yeah. Well, let me know if you need me, for … um … anything" he mumbled awkwardly as he left the office.


Stevie and Jo had been straining to hear what was going on since the first raised words. Their interest peaked when suddenly Max disappeared from view, leaving only Smithy standing and Millie's head visible through the blinds above the half wall of the office. Jo raised her eyebrows at Stevie when Smithy exited, carefully and deliberately shutting the door behind him.

"Definitely something going on" mused Jo out loud.

"Hmm" agreed Stevie, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Might have to do a little bit of detective work here … otherwise known as digging for gossip" and with that, off she set hard on the Inspector's heels.