As Jo strode into CID, not in the best of moods, she could immediately tell that something was wrong. Grace, Mickey and Jack were looking at her warily, as though she was a time bomb about to explode. Waiting for them to make the first move, Jo walked to her desk and turned on her computer. She was aware that they were watching her, but only glanced up when the DCI approached her desk.

"Jo."

"Guv."

There was a long pause.

"So… what's the deal with this armed robbery case I've been dragged in to help with?" Jo asked, leaning back in her chair and looking carefully at the DCI.

"Two masked men armed with sworn-off shotguns burst into the jewellers on Esmond Street just after nine. They got away with nearly twenty grand's worth of jewellery."

"Any CCTV? Anything on the vehicle they used?"

Jack nodded. "A white van registered to Nicky Dockery. We've checked the CCTV in the area and it seems that the driver was a woman. We can't get a clear view of her face, but we've recovered the van and forensics are looking at it now. CCTV from the shop clearly shows Nicky Dockery and someone we suspect to be Jake Webster."

"Right… So we need to pull Dockery and Webster in for questioning then, Guv." Jo suggested, her statement coming out as more of a question than a certainty. She was sure that there was something she wasn't being told.

Nodding, Jack looked away as the brunette sent him a curious frown. She grabbed her jacket and headed out of CID with Mickey in tow. The two DCs made their way to the Larkmead Estate, banging on the younger Dockery brother's door and returning him to the station. He was the typical mouthy twenty-something-year-old wannabe hard man; full of attitude and bravado. Instantly Jo felt her hackles rise as he looked her up and down before making several completely inappropriate comments. She verbally slapped him down quicker than he could form a response, leaving him to be processed by the custody sergeant.

The interview itself was as frustrating as Nicky Dockery. His answers to their questions were mostly made up of 'no comment' and 'I don't know'. Suspending the interview after half an hour, Jo and Mickey made their way back up to CID to find out whether there was any new information that might help them draw a confession from the man. Forensics had got back to them and Jack sent the two DCs down to the scene to check things out for themselves.

"What have you got for us, Eddie?"

"For you, Jo, anything you want." The Crime Scene Examiner joked, earning himself a light swat on the arm.

He proceeded to talk them through the scene, overexcited about his findings as always. He pointed out several sets of fingerprints that had already been sent back to the lab for analysis, before moving round to the driver's side of the cab to show them something.

"A jumper?" Mickey asked, looking a little confused at the pride the CSE showed as he pointed to a pile of black fabric on the seat where the driver would have sat.

"A cardigan." Eddie clarified. "But that's not the best part." He picked up a clear plastic bag from beside the item of clothing and held it out so that they could see what was inside. "We found these hairs on the cardigan and they undoubtedly belong to whoever was wearing it. Forensics should be able to give us something, anyway."

Jo frowned as she looked at the contents of the evidence bag. Several long, red hairs were coiled inside it and the brunette's heart sank slightly. "Let me see that…"

"With pleasure." Eddie agreed, handing her the cardigan.

Examining it quickly, Jo confused both men by raising it to her face and smelling it. "This is mine."

"Yours?" Mickey frowned. "How can you tell? It just looks like any other cardigan to me."

"This rip here happened when I got caught on a nail during an obbo and these buttons are missing because Hannah… well, they're missing." She replied, refusing to meet their eyes. "Besides, it smells of Han's perfume. I'm willing to bet that the hairs you found on it are hers."

"So how did it get into Dockery's van?" Mickey mused, rubbing his chin and looking around.

Leaving Eddie to continue his examinations, the detectives headed back to the station, each mulling over the possible reasons why Jo's cardigan might be in the van's cab.

"Do you not think something strange is going on here?" Jo muttered as Mickey parked the pool car outside Sun Hill and they got out. "First an anonymous phone call means that Hannah is found at Stella Webster's flat with her body and then my cardigan is found in the getaway vehicle used in an armed robbery. Both cases have connection to the Dockery brothers."

"Are you thinking that someone might be trying to discredit you and Hannah?"

"I don't know… I haven't worn that cardigan in months, but she has. Stella Webster was Han's informant. Maybe this is about the drugs deal between the Dockerys and the others." Jo sighed. "Or maybe it's just a complete coincidence. Either way, Hannah had nothing to do with that robbery because we were both at home."

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"Jo? We've got the forensics back from the van." Mickey called, heading into CID and making his way over to the brunette's desk. "You were right, the hairs on the cardigan belonged to Hannah, but the finger prints belong to Jake Webster, Nicky Dockery and..." He paused until Jo arched an eyebrow. "Ellie McKay."

"Ellie?" Jo gasped. "We need to bring Jake in."

"We don't know where he is." The young man told her with a shrug. "Uniform went looking after Stella's death, but no one's seen him since last night."

"Well that makes things more difficult."

Mickey folded his arms and looked slightly awkward. "Hannah wouldn't have any idea of where he might be, would she?"

Jo snorted. "No way."

"A description has been circulated and all units have been told to bring Webster in if they see him. Hopefully we'll find him soon and manage to get some answers from him." Grace told them, leaning against Jo's desk and folding her arms.

"What are we doing about Dockery?" Mickey asked. "If we charge him then that'll screw up the raid on the warehouse. His brother won't go ahead with the deal if he thinks we're watching them."

"It's not a speeding ticket though, is it?" Jo pointed out. "Dockery robbed a jewellers with a shot gun."

"It's the Guv's call." Grace shrugged. "We leave it to him to decide. Whatever happens, Dockery's going to end up behind bars, though."

The brunette DC shook her head. "Unless this spooks them into calling the deal off. If we don't catch them in the act we don't have enough evidence to pin anything on them. Can we get Dockery to name Webster as the second man in the robbery?"

"You know as well as I do, Jo, he's not saying anything. We still don't know who the woman in the van was, either... unless it was Ellie." Mickey replied.

"No... it wouldn't be Ellie. I don't know why her prints were on the van, but she can't be involved. There's something really not right about this." Jo muttered, standing up and moving to the board covered in information on the drugs raid. "Everything's too… interlinked." She sighed distractedly as her mobile began to buzz. "DC Masters."

"Ellie's gone." Hannah's voice came through the phone, sounding confused and slightly dazed.

Jo instantly put the phone on speaker, instinctively knowing something was wrong. "What's happened?"

"I… I don't know. Freya said she woke up and Ellie wasn't there, but her mobile is. She assumed she was downstairs because she's not sleeping brilliantly at the moment, but she couldn't find her so she came to wake me." Hannah said slowly. "She's not here."

"Is she in the garden?"

"At three in the morning in March?"

"I'm just asking, Han, calm down." Jo told her. Pre-empting the rant that she knew would be sent her way at that request, the brunette glanced at her colleagues. "Could Ellie have gone to see Jake?"

"What? Jake? I… maybe?"

"Can Ellie drive?" Grace asked, causing Jo to turn and glare at her.

"No? She was never interested in learning." Hannah replied, obviously confused by the question. "Why?"

"Because we're looking for a female getaway driver in an armed robbery that Webster was involved in." DC Dasari told her bluntly.

"So you automatically thought of my daughter?" The red-head snapped. "Have you got any evidence or is this just a wild stab in the dark?"

"Ellie's prints, Jo's cardigan and your DNA were found in the vehicle."

Hannah breathed out heavily. "What? How? Actually, I don't care about that. Ellie is missing."

"I'll send Uniform round, sweetheart." Jo assured her, preventing Grace from saying anything to wind her girlfriend up further. "Just sit tight and wait."

As soon as the call ended, Jo stalked to her desk and grabbed her jacket. She headed out of CID, ignoring the calls of her colleagues and jumping into a pool car. Following a hunch, she drove towards the address on the Larkmead Estate where Jake lived with his mother. Jo parked up outside Atwell House and took the stairs two at a time, before she ducked under the police tape across the door and looked around.

"Ellie…" She sighed, relieved to see the teenager sitting on the sofa, staring at a patch of darker carpet in the middle of the living room floor. "What are you doing here?"

"How did you know I was gone?"

"Your Mum's panicking. I was called into work earlier and she phoned me."

"Why do you put up with her?" The teenager asked, not lifting her gaze from the blood stained carpet. "She's a fucking nightmare."

"She is." Jo agreed with a smile, moving to sit beside Ellie. "But I love her."

"Why?"

The detective laughed softly. "Lots of reasons; some I'm sure you don't want to know." She paused, before reaching out and squeezing the teenager's hand. "You used to be so close… what happened? This isn't just about me, is it?"

"It's Dad."

"Jake?" Instantly Jo's mind snapped back to detective mode. "What about him?"

"I love him… he's my Dad. But…" She trailed off for a moment. "He's bad for Mum; really bad. Whenever he comes back into her life things go wrong. She was lying about how she got that bruise on her face, wasn't she? Was it him?"

"Yeah… she refused to take money off him outside a pub and he smacked her." Jo replied. "He was under surveillance, so we could have charged him, but your Mum wouldn't."

"Doesn't surprise me… she's blind to his faults."

Jo chuckled. "Sam and I told her the same thing. Although she has admitted that he's changed during his last stint in prison."

"Don't be fooled by that." Ellie told her with a sigh. "He's been pushing her around and controlling her for as long as I can remember; he's given her bruises, cracked ribs, even a fractured cheek bone. She hasn't… Has she… Has she slept with him?"

Not feeling the need to lie to the teenager, Jo nodded. "Yeah, she did; a couple of days ago."

Ellie was surprised by how calm Jo was. "And you're alright with that?"

"Hannah was drunk and upset and lonely. It didn't mean anything and it was partly my fault. I had a date on Friday and the way I told her wasn't exactly tactful." She explained. "But it was also what we needed to come to our senses. So in a strange way, I owe Jake."

"He won't like that…"

"What d'you mean?"

The teenager looked uncomfortable. "Dad phoned me just before you and Mum broke up. He was asking about Mum and I knew he was fishing around, so I told him about you and her. He was really annoyed. When he found out you'd moved out he was really pleased. I was more worried that she might let him back into her life, than angry with her."

"You need to tell her that, Ellie." Jo insisted. She paused. "Sweetheart… have you seen Jake tonight?"

"Yeah… he phoned me at about half ten and said he needed to speak to me. I wanted to tell him to leave Mum alone. Freya was already asleep so I crept out of the room and went downstairs. You and Mum were talking and didn't hear me go out. Dad picked me up in a white van."

The detective's grip on Ellie's hand tightened at that information. "Were you wearing a black cardigan?"

"No…" She plucked at the hoody she was wearing. "I was wearing this. There was a cardigan in the van, though."

Standing up, Jo pulled the teenager to her feet and wrapped a tight arm around her. "We need to go to the station, sweetheart. I'm going to have to take a statement from you."

"What's Dad done?"

"I think he's trying to discredit your Mum by planting evidence at the scenes of serious crimes."

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you all have a FABULOUS DAY! :D

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