Chapter 13

In the aftermath of Easter there was much left-over chocolate to be eaten and many jokes about Alex's rabbit costume for her to live down. She found herself the subject of graffiti that joined Simon's trouser tent on the walls of the toilets.

"I'm going to bloody publish a volume of this stuff," Gene grumbled one day, "graphic novel."

"It'll be banned under the obscene publications act," Alex told him, taking the artwork surprisingly in her stride which shocked Gene who'd thought she would be mortified. She'd been somewhat flattered by the proportions she'd been given in many of the pictures and also by the alleged flexibility that she'd been assumed to possess.

It was April 13th when Alex watched rather wistfully out the window as Shaz met Kim, exchanged a hug and set off for some latte-related rendezvous. She suspected this was planned for a moment when Simon wouldn't be watching with disapproving eyes. She was torn between feeling happy for Shaz and Kim that both had found someone with whom they felt so close and feeling jealous that she wasn't the one sharing a friendship with Shaz. Her limited access to Shaz reminded her of someone who'd been given visitation rights. Gene was the one who'd decreed what she was and wasn't able to do. She was still trying to work on him about that boozy night out. She was sure she could get around him somehow. She wasn't sure how but she felt it might involve spreadable chocolate.

Feeling a little guilty, she began to rummage through some of Gene's old files. She knew what gene had told her – any paperwork about Shaz would be long gone by now – but she couldn't let things lie. She wanted to know what happened to the girl. She needed to. Shaz had been a very good friend and seeing her again had brought so many memories back. Thoughts of that awful, fateful day when the truth had been revealed and they had all learnt the nature of the world filled her mind. They made her shudder inside.

She quickly skimmed through every cabinet. Nothing doing. She sighed in frustration. She knew Gene wouldn't have been lying but she wondered if he'd simply forgotten or overlooked something. He was the first one to point out how hazy his memory was of that time.

It had taken a few days to even get the opportunity to look. She knew he was out for some time and this was the best opportunity she was going to get. She'd already checked the archives and found nothing. It felt like a dead end.

She left Gene's office, trying to look nonchalant, and brushed the feelings of guilt away. She hated sneaking around behind Gene's back – she even still felt guilty about her illicit latte – but she really needed to know. She needed to find out how Shaz died before she went crazy wondering.

She walked past Terry who muttered something to Bammo about rabbit ears and fluffy tails, glancing in her direction, which made her blush. She ignored their glanced and instead started to think about the day they all learned the truth again. Herself and Gene beside a scarecrow; Shaz, Ray and Chris back in the office. She tried to think back to the day. How did they find out? She had some vague memories but it all seemed so long ago.

Keats revealed the truth to them… how had he done that? How did Keats usually reveal a terrible truth to someone?

"Of course," she whispered quite suddenly, "bloody tapes."

She bit her lip as the truth started to sink in. There was a tape… there had to be a tape. Keats's extensive video collection seemed to cover most things. Her heart started to race as she thought about it. Keats's old office in the basement… the one they'd left locked up for all those years… the one that –

She closed her eyes and swallowed back a wave of nausea. Her memory filled with those terrible first days after she had arrived back in 1995, when she had learned the truth about what her other self had done and how Keats had used her. She remembered hearing some vague things about Keats's office, trying to find something to use against him. She didn't know that much about it – she didn't ask either. There were some things she really didn't want to know. But she remembered Gene talking about Simon doing the dreadful research.

"The Key," she whispered. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in deeply. Could she even bear to do this? It seemed like a truly terrible thing to contemplate but it could be the only way. Eventually after she'd been thinking it over for several moments she realised that her sweating palms and racing heart had made the decision for her. If she wasn't prepared to do it then she wouldn't be feeling so scared. But her fear was great then she already knew a trip to the basement awaited her.

Quickly her feet took her down the corridor. She tried to wipe the fear from her face. Had to appear calm. Had to appear neutral. She found herself soon in the doorway of Simon's office and knocked a little unnecessarily seeing as the door was already open and he had already seen her there.

"Morning, Simon," she said, her smile wobbling a little.

"Morning," Simon smiled back a little tiredly. His eyes were bloodshot and Alex wondered if he'd had any sleep the night before.

"Mind if I come in?" Alex asked.

That seemed a little strange to Simon. When did anyone ever ask?"

"Sure," he said, standing up and indicating a chair. As Alex walked in and made it clear that she had no intention of sitting, preferring to pace up and down instead, he felt a little stupid for indicating the chair and decided to sit back down as fast as possible.

"So what can I do for you?" he asked.

Alex bit her lip. She looked at him a little guiltily.

"I was in need of some extra file storage," she said, "and the budget won't extend to a new cabinet. It occurred to me there are about four cabinets down in the basement that are just going to waste."

A cold fear struck Simon's chest.

"The basement?" he repeated. He gave an audible gulp.

Uh oh, Alex thought, that doesn't sound good.

"I think Gene said you had the key?" she asked casually.

Simon stared at her. He took a deep breath and tried to work out what to say. Her request had come a little out of the blue. He didn't like to think about the basement. Most of his time down there amongst the files had been spent blacking out. The time he hadn't been lying unconscious he'd spent discovering things that were best left forgotten.

"Alex," he began quietly, "I'm not going to give you the key. I'm not giving anyone the key. You and Gene were right to leave it locked all that time. No one goes down there."

Alex hesitated. She wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"I… only wanted some furniture," she said.

"Believe me, the cabinets are probably cursed," Simon told her, you don't want those. I'm sure you can rake one up from somewhere. No one needs furniture enough for a trip down to the basement."

Alex continued to pace. This wasn't going to plan. She needed to find another avenue. She needed to find a way to get that key.

"Simon," she began, you… you went down there, didn't you?"

Simon stared at her. He didn't want to discuss the basement. He'd rather discuss corn plasters than the basement.

"Yes," he sight tightly, "why?"

Alex took a deep breath.

"It's been so long since I was down there," she began, walking a little slower, "I can't really remember what it was like."

"So you just remember the filing cabinets?" asked Simon. He saw her looking a little sheepish. "Look, what's this all about?"

Alex's heart was thumping. She wasn't sure how to get out of this mess now.

"I was wondering," her voice wobbled a little, "did you happen to see any tapes down there?"

"Tapes?"

"Videos."

Simon shook his head slowly.

"Alex, I can't remember," he sighed, "I was looking at paperwork. I don't really remember the rest. There was a telly and a really ancient video recorder so it's possible but I don't really know."

Alex nodded slowly. She didn't think she was going to get any more information from Simon so she decided to halt that line of questioning for now.

"Thanks, Simon," she said quietly with a thin smile. She left his office knowing that she'd confused the poor man beyond compare and probably caused him untold amounts of suspicious thoughts as well. But she knew she couldn't give up now. Questioning Simon wasn't the way to go, so that left her with only one option – taking matters into her own hands. She thought about it all the way back to her office. There had to be a way to get the key. Where would Simon keep the damn thing? Probably not at home, she thought. Not unless it had a Red Dwarf keyring attached to it.

"Hmm… that's it…" she whispered to herself, a dumb but ideal plan coming to mind.

If Simon didn't keep the keys at his flat then they were likely to be in his desk somewhere. So all she needed to do was to lure him away from his desk. What would he leave his office for? Aside from Robin, what did he love more than anything in the world?

It only took a few moments to type up the message. She couldn't resist giggling to herself as she did so. It was just such a silly plan that – even if she couldn't find the key – it certainly doubled up as a perfect late April fool. The very least that would happen was the opportunity to brag to Gene about getting one over on Simon.

She clicked 'print' and waited for the printer on her desk to whirr and spin the sheet of paper out into the open. She grasped it and scanned the information with a smile.

"Perfect."

Now all she needed was a willing volunteer or a victim, and luck was on her side. She noticed Eddie walking past and hurried to the door. She threw it open quickly and called after him down the corridor. He stopped and glanced around at her.

"Hmm?" he said, a little distractedly. He smelt like a bonfire.

"Eddie," Alex said, a little breathless from her hurry, "can you do me a very quick favour?"

"I'm about to take some witness statements," Eddie said, glancing at the clock, "there was another arson attack in the night. Just got back from the scene."

Alex wrinkled up her nose. That explained the smell.

"It won't take a moment," she said, "urgent case just arrived. Message for DCI Shoebury. Can you take this to him?"

She held out the piece of paper which Eddie took a little curiously.

"Sure," he said, "uh, why can't you -?"

"I have to rush off on another case," Alex soid with a falsely apologetic tone, "thanks for your help, Eddie."

She dashed out of the door and down to the opposite end of the corridor to stand back and watch from a safe distance.

A confused and slightly annoyed Eddie was left with a piece of paper in his hand. He sighed and shook his head.

"Doesn't look like I've got much choice in the matter," he mumbled.

He slouched along to the open door of Simon's office and knocked a little cautiously.

"Hi," Simon looked up.

Eddie entered slowly and handed him the sheet of paper.

"Message for you from DCI Drake," he said, "sounded urgent.

"Thanks, Eddie," Simon took the sheet. His eyes scanned the paper and grew wide in horror. It couldn't be… it just couldn't be… no one could be so callous… "shit!" With a gulp, he got to his feet and ran from the office with a cry of, "the bastards!" and let his legs take him down the corridor and out of the building.

Eddie shook his head and sighed. This place was just getting weirder. e took one final glance at the sheet of paper laying on Simon's desk.

"Urgent Memo:" it said, "all available members of CID to report to the local Woolworths store where an entire delivery of Red Dwarf videos have been stolen."

"Weirder and weirder," he sighed and set off back to his own case.

A/N: The flu is fading from the household but my updates will be unpredictable for a little while. The chapters of both stories I posted tonight were supposed to be my 'celebration-and-excitable-announcement' chapters that I was going to post last night. I'm 12 weeks pregnant today and after a rocky start with a lot of bleeding (I have a history of recurrent miscarriage so the last couple of months have been really scary) things seemed to be going well. I had my 12 week scan yesterday which went perfectly, until I started bleeding immediately afterwards and spent half the day in A&E. I honestly don't know what's going to happen from here so updates might be sporadic, or – if I am put on bed rest – I might go mad writing. At the moment I won't be able to write for a little while but hope to be back on form soon. Any positive thoughts you can throw this way are appreciated x