So sorry for the lateness of this chapter, it was much harder to right than I imagined it would be and just to warn you it is quite dark in some places!
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Forcing her eyes upwards Alex found herself staring into the cold grey irises of James Rowlands.
'You're awake then, I was worried you were going to sleep through all the fun.'
Alex remained silent, knowing if she spoke her voice would crack and she had no intention of showing him how scared she was. So she sat, staring defiantly upwards. It was insane that her pride was so important to her when she was in so much danger, but it was.
'Aren't you going to ask me how you got here? What I'm going to do? Beg me to let you go?'
Alex felt a fleeting sense of triumph; her silence was bothering him then. He needed a reaction from her, needed her fear to make him feel powerful, without it he wasn't the one in control. She remembered Gene warning her not to play 'piss off the psycho'. Where was he? Didn't he know how scared she was, how much she needed him?
As if reading her mind Rowlands began a different attack. 'Do you know how easy it was to take you?' His voice had lowered to a hiss and Alex fought to repress a shudder. 'That oaf Hunt never even noticed you were gone, didn't look back once to check you were okay.'
'Piss off.' The words flew from her mouth before she could stop them.
Smiling, knowing he had found the weakness he had been searching for Rowlands continued. 'You were obviously of no importance to him, were you Alex? He didn't care enough to stop a murderer from abducting you.'
She closed her eyes, it wasn't true, he did care, he had to.
'And where is he now?' Alex could almost feel his excitement as he revelled in her pain. 'You've been gone for hours and still he isn't here to save you.' He crouched on the floor, bringing his head level with hers, his voice reverting back to that low hiss. 'He probably isn't even looking for you.'
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Gene yanked open the third drawer in Rowlands filing cabinet, tipping the files out onto the floor. He bent to rifle through them, finding nothing, not even sure of what he was looking for.
The door to the office burst open and Gene wheeled round, fists clenched, ready to beat the smug lawyer to within an inch of his life, further if it would help him find Alex.
'Guv!' It was Chris, tripping over his own feet in his eagerness to tell Gene his news. He stopped dead however when he saw the murderous glint in his Guv's eyes, taking in his aggressive stance, ready to explode at any second.
He began again, quieter this time. 'Guv, only one person on that street saw the car that was parked there. It wer a blue Rover.'
'Registration number?' Gene barked.
Chris shook his head. 'There was something covering it, whoever was driving that car didn't want to be traced.'
For the first time Gene felt a faint hope. The man they were looking for almost certainly drove a blue Rover; why else would the Registration have been covered? He remembered Alex's insistence that whoever they were looking for knew how police investigations worked. He frowned. The man who had taken her was intelligent enough to know his car could be traced through the number plate, but didn't have the criminal connections to acquire a stolen car. That seemed to fit Rowlands. He aimed an angry kick at the remaining forth drawer of Rowland's cabinet and it buckled easily, obviously not as sturdy as his own he thought, with a ridiculous sense of satisfaction.
He turned his attention back to Chris. 'I assume you've put a call out fer it, an' told Plod ter start compilin' a list of all Rover owners in the area?'
Chris nodded eagerly.
'Tell them the name they're lookin' for is Rowlands.'
Chris nodded again, leaving the office to use the phone at the secretary's desk.
Gene looked at his watch, it was close to one in the morning, Alex had been gone for five hours. The copper in him knew that it was too long. They had received no word from her abductor, no threats or demands, nothing that indicated he planned to keep her alive.
He felt the now familiar wave of hopelessness wash over him. He was going to lose her and he couldn't stop it from happening. He hadn't had enough time with her, no amount of time would have ever been enough, but this, this was too cruel. He hadn't even begun to tell her how he felt, what she meant to him. He realised with a shock that no one would ever know, nobody knew about their relationship. He would grieve for her as a colleague, nothing more, then continue on as normal, no one would know the pain he carried with him. It was more than he could bear.
Ray stepped into the office and took in the sight of his Governor on the brink of collapse. It was too much for him, he realised. He had already lost one DI; to do it again would kill him He carefully stepped over what seemed to be the previous contents of Rowland's desk, swept carelessly to the floor during Gene's desperate search. Ray had worked with Gene for a long time, he knew when his boss was on the verge of giving up, and he knew what he needed to stop him from doing so.
'Find anything?'
Gene grunted.
'Why don't we get back out on the streets then? The disappearance of a senior police officer, that's big news, someone must know somethin'.'
Gene highly doubted that Rowlands had taken the time to inform the criminal underworld of his plans, but they had no other leads to follow. If he kept busy, if he pretended even to himself that he was doing something that might help to find her then he wouldn't go mad. He had to try.
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'You thought you were so clever didn't you? Hauling me into your station, embarrassing me in front of my colleagues. I could hear them gossiping about me you know, I lost their respect because of you.'
'Is that important to you James, respect?' Alex didn't know why she was bothering, no amount of dialog was going to convince him to let her go, but she couldn't seem to stop herself from trying.
'Without respect a man is nothing.' The emptiness in Rowland's voice and the blankness in his eyes terrified her. Then it was gone, his face twisted with the blind rage that had filled him moments earlier. 'You saw to it I was no longer respected. You deliberately set out to humiliate me in front of my superiors.' He lashed out, driving his shoe into her stomach, knocking her back on to the floor, the cuffs on her wrists cutting into to her.
Through the pain Alex felt a wave of disbelief, all this because she had spilt her coffee over him? She felt another stab of pain as he kicked her again, screaming his rage.
'Women you're all the same. You play your mind games, lead us on, then snap!' He hit her hard across her face. 'You change your mind, play the innocent child.'
'Is that what Emily did?' Alex gasped out, the pain in her stomach making it difficult to breath.
'She led me on and then turned me down. It was all just a game to her, she enjoying humiliating me, making me feel weak. Well I showed her.'
'You didn't though did you? You couldn't rape her; even in death she humiliated you. So you attacked another girl, Rebecca Taylor.' She lowered her voice to a whisper. 'She was raped wasn't she? You had no connection to her; you felt nothing for her other than that blind, all consuming rage, so it was easy.' Alex pushed herself back into a sitting position. 'It didn't stop you from thinking about Emily though did it? She was still in your head, taunting you, so you found another victim, Michelle Jenkins. She couldn't remove Emily from your thoughts either could she?'
'You know nothing about me!' He punched her hard, his fist hitting her jaw with a sickening crack. 'You think you can get inside my head again, No! You couldn't even begin to understand!'
He continued to rain blows down on her, Alex tried to bring her legs up to push him away, but she couldn't move, everything hurt so much. Her last conscious thoughts were of her daughter, she tried to picture her face as the world slowly went dark.
Sorry Molls, don't think I'm going to wake up after all.
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Gene slammed the door of the Quattro shut, before slowly making his way up the station steps. It was now nearly eight in the morning, almost twelve hours since he had seen Alex, twelve hours was almost certainly too long. He forced his feet to keep moving, it felt like he was giving up returning to the station without her and with each step he took he seemed to grow more exhausted.
His knuckles ached; he and Ray had visited every snout and grass they had ever encountered in their combined years at the Met. No one had known anything. Throwing punches and shouting, violence and threats, that was what he knew, that was how he solved crime. His instincts told him when someone was lying and then he used his fists to find the truth. This time his instincts hadn't told him they were lying and his fists hadn't been of any use either, because they weren't lying, no one knew where Alex was.
Ray followed slowly behind Gene, watching his heavy tread on the stairs. He had never seen him look so old, so defeated. He had thought it would help, getting back out on the streets talking to snouts, it was what they were both good at; it should have put them back in control but now the situation just felt more hopeless. He had always thought he would be glad when Drake went, when they no longer had to put up with all that crap she spouted, but he had never for one second imagined it would be like this.
They found CID empty except for Chris, hunched over his desk, surrounded by a mess of chocolate wrappers and half drunk cups of coffee. He was anxiously scanning what looked like every scrap of paper connected to the murder cases they had been working on, desperate to find the link he felt sure DI Drake would have been able to spot instantly. He glanced up hopefully as Ray and Gene entered the room, Ray gave him a warning look and he dropped his eyes back down to the file in his hand.
Gene glared around the room. 'Where's Granger? I need some coffee.'
Chris looked up in alarm. 'She's not with you?'
'No, I told 'er ter stay 'ere, so where the bloody 'ell is she?'
'I don't know.' Chris's face had turned ashen. 'I've been 'ere ages an' I 'aven't seen her. Viv said 'e saw 'er leavin' in a rush, I thought she must have been on 'er way ter you.'
'Ray, go an' ask Viv if she's been back since.' Gene pulled out his radio, barking instructions down it to Shaz, instructing her to stop whatever the hell she was doing and to get back to CID. There was no answer.
Ray burst back into the room, Viv says she left nearly an hour ago and 'e hasn't seen her since.
Chris moaned slightly, his eyes wide with panic.
'Granger!' Gene bellowed into the radio. No answer.
'Ray get Viv ter ring 'er flat ter see if she's there.'
'Already 'ave done Guv.'
The door burst open and three sets of anxious eyes turned towards it.
'There's no answer at her flat Guv.' It was Viv. 'I've sent plod round to check there and at Luigis, just in case.'
Gene slammed his fist into the wall, this couldn't be happening, he had told her to stay at the station. What did she think she was doing running off without a word? He couldn't panic, not again, think, react.
'Right Chris, put a call out fer a blue Rover that was in this area an hour ago, Ray..' Gene stopped dead as the door to CID swung open again.
It was Shaz, flushed and breathing hard. 'Guv I…' She was cut off abruptly by Chris flinging his arms around her, nearly knocking her over. 'What's going on?' She asked, trying to disentangle herself from Chris.
'We thought 'e 'ad you, no one 'ad seen you for ages an' we though 'e'd taken you too.' Chris gasped, finally releasing her.
'Where the bloody 'ell 'av you been Granger, an' why the 'ell didn't you take a radio?'
Shaz took a deep breath, looking distinctly nervous. 'You know you asked me to speak to Rowland's secretary, well the 'ole time I was speakin' to 'er I kept thinkin' there was somethin' she weren't tellin' me, like there was somethin' she was tryin' to hide.'
Gene felt his heart start to pound. 'Go on.'
'I know you told me to stay 'ere Guv, but I really thought there was somethin' she wasn't tellin' me, so I looked 'er address up an' went to 'er 'ouse. I talked to 'er, told 'er about DI Drake, how worried we all are. I think in the end she felt guilty.' Shaz paused, looking directly at Gene. 'She lied Guv, when she gave Rowland's an alibi, 'e wasn't at the bank with her the night Emily Hall was killed. She said that Rowland's had caught 'er stealin' money from a customer at the bank, an' 'e blackmailed 'er into givin' 'im an alibi.'
Gene felt numb. All this time he had dismissed her, told her there was no way their killer could be Rowlands, ignored her warnings about him. How had she known? Why hadn't he listened to her? He could have stopped all this from happening, if only he had believed her.
'Guv, there's somethin' else. I asked her if she knew anythin' about Rowland's, anythin' that could help us to find 'im.'
'And?' He snapped.
'She said she didn't know where 'e might 'ave gone, but she did know that ten years ago 'e was kicked out of the police force.'
'That's wot Drake said isn't it!' Ray exclaimed. 'She made us go back five years to search for any assaults committed by ex cops.'
'But this was ten years ago. Jesus.' Gene ran his hands through his hair, they had been so close, if they had looked back ten years instead of five…
Shaz nodded. 'We didn't go back far enough. She said she didn't know why, 'e always refused to talk about it, so I came back 'ere an' looked through the files.' She handed Gene a grey file. 'It's all in there Guv.' She said quietly.
Gene snatched it from her, scanning the paper urgently. Ten years ago James Rowlands had been arrested for assaulting a woman after she fed him false information concerning a robbery. He had lured her to an abandoned factory then viciously assaulted her, before leaving her for dead in the factory. He had been arrested but no charges had ever been brought, due to a lack of evidence. A cover up Gene thought bitterly, slamming the folder onto Chris's desk.
'Shaz, 'av you got an address fer this factory?'
Shaz handed him a scrap of paper with trembling hands. 'Do you think that's where she is Guv?'
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The cold metal blade against her cheek jerked Alex back into consciousness. For the second time that night she forced her eyes open, instinctively pulling away from the knife pressed against her. This reflex movement made her head spin and her entire body throb with pain. She could feel the bruises that had already formed under her clothing as she tried to twist away from Rowlands.
He grabbed her face, pulling her back towards him, his other hand idly toying with the knife. Alex found her eyes unwillingly fixed upon the knife as he rolled it between his fingers and she couldn't suppress the whimper of fear that rose up in her throat.
'Please… don't.' Her pride and bravery were all but forgotten now, she had seen the previous three victims, she knew what was going to happen to her, how she was going to die. Gene hadn't found her, how would he? She was trapped in an abandoned factory, probably miles from where she had been taken, how would he know to look for her here? She didn't think she had ever wanted anything more than she wanted Gene right then. She needed him to find her, to save her as he always did, to carry her out of her dingy prison, telling her in his own brusque, gruff way that everything would be okay.
She heard his smug laughter above her head, but she couldn't take her eyes away from the knife in front of her.
'Begging didn't help them, and it certainly won't help you.' He bent to the floor again, running the knife along the length of her body, laughing as she flinched away from him. 'Where to begin.' He paused at the soft flesh of her stomach, slowly popping open the buttons of her blouse.
'No!' She struggled, yanking desperately at the cuffs that bound her hands behind her. 'Please! You don't have to do this.'
He pressed the knife against the gentle swell of her stomach. 'Oh I think I do Inspector, you started this, with your questions and accusations, now it's time to face the consequences.' He sliced the knife across her stomach, creating a long, shallow cut and Alex cried out.
This was it, she was going to die. She felt the blade cutting into her again, deeper this time and she forced herself to think of Gene. Block it out Alex, if you don't think about it then it's not really happening. She focused her mind on his face, she could see the piercing blue eyes, the firm pout, that stray lock of hair that always fell forwards over his face. She closed her eyes and forced herself to ignore the searing pain in her stomach, she could smell his aftershave, his strong arms around her as he moved above her, his gruff voice whispering in her ear.
The she could hear him shouting, the words echoing round the empty room, sounding distorted. Shouting, why was he shouting? She felt the knife being snatched away from her and her eyes snapped open. Gene was stood over her, flinging Rowlands away from her as if he were no more than a rag doll, bellowing at Ray and Chris to get him away from her.
He had found her.
He was kneeling next to her now, fumbling behind her back for the cuffs. She heard the click as they were released and felt her arms fall limp to her sides. He took her face in his hands, wincing as he took in the bruising to her jaw.
'Alex. Alex look at me, it's okay, it's over.'
She brought her eyes up to meet his, feeling fresh tears form as she gazed at him.
'You found me.' She whispered. 'How did you find me, how did you get here?' It suddenly seemed very important.
He regarded her steadily. 'Told you once before Bolly, I'm everywhere.'
'I needed you and you were there.' She finished in a whisper.
He placed his hands around her waist, lifting her as gently as he could.
She leant against him, her legs shaking from the effort of standing. He had found her, of course he had. She felt him pulling her shirt closed over her exposed flesh, before wrapping her in his coat. Ever the gentleman.
He lifted her into his arms, carrying her as if she was made of glass. 'C'mon Bolls, let's get you out of 'ere.'
She didn't know why she had been surprised that he had found her, after all he had been saving her since she was eight years old.
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So that's the last chapter, hope it wasn't too soppy at the end! A massive thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and alerted this story, I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. I do have ideas for a sequel if anyone is interested??
