Chapter Thirty Four

Cause I'm out of my mind

I'm out of my mind

I'm out of my mind

I'm out of my mind.

James Blunt – Out of My Mind

I was in the social services building, moving quickly towards the reception desk, my eyes and hands searching through my hand bag for the gum I knew I kept in there somewhere. I walked smack bang into someone. Mumbling my apologies I gazed up with surprise to see the Flack's face mimicking my expression.

"Don?" I frowned as he crossed his arm over his chest looking immediately defensive.

"Carmen? What are you doing here?" he asked gruffly, looking around.

"I could ask you the same question." I said raising an eyebrow, curious.

"Mac gave me this case to run with." I informed him. Flack's eyes narrowed.

"I was just questioning them." He said suddenly. I eyed him suspicious and confused.

"Questioning…?" I repeated.

"Ok, ok, I wanted to see how the little guys were doing." He told me resigned. I stared at him fitting things into place. Talk about a guilty conscience.

"Ahh, so big bad Detective Flack as a heart after all?" I teased. He leaned into me whispering conspiringly.

"Don't let it get around."

I shook my head grinning widely.

"You were really good with Joshua, how did you do it?" I asked thoughtfully thinking back to last night. Flack shrugged.

"I got a lot of kids in the family, got a lot of cousins, nieces and nephews." Flack explained. His ability to handle the baby was now no longer a mystery.

"So you're the fun Uncle Don?" I asked my mind going back to the way he seemed to click with the children straight from the beginning. He smoothed some hair away from my face, his gorgeous blue eyes on mine.

"You'll find out at Christmas. My parents invited you over, they know we're together and they…I was wondering if you wanted to come over for Christmas Day, or Boxing Day, or both. It's a massive family thing, but it is a bit overwhelming." He admitted thoughtfully.

"But you are welcome to come."

I felt a huge smile take over my face.

"I'd like that." We were on the move towards reception again.

"I took Danny once." He told me.

"He gets on better with the kids than with the rest of my relatives. They were a bit apprehensive towards him because he's from downtown New York. Don't worry they'll like you fine." He said quickly.

"They're over that whole complex. My mom and pops like you a lot. So they've been spreading the good word." He confessed with a light chuckle.

"You make me sound like a saint." Flack shrugged with a pained look on his face.

"To them you kind of are." I tilted my head grimly in response.

"What about you?" I decided to change the subject.

"A baby Flack Jnr in your thoughts?" I asked playfully. Don looked away down the corridor where he's come from.

"I'd like to have a family one day, you know like my mom and pops, big family, loads of kids, house wife to cook me meals when I arrive from a hard day at the station." He laughed looking at me pointedly. I glared at him light heartedly, before feeling a pang of sadness take me.

"You've got the wrong woman then Flack." I told him half serious.

"I think I got the right one." He said, from the look on his face I knew he was being sincere. I withdrew form the banter, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Look I've got to get back to work… See how the kids are doing and get a description of their mother, I'll catch up with you later." We said our good byes before going our own separate ways.

---

"Hey Millie, remember me?" I said giving Millie a five finger wave as she. Millie's arms were around my waist, hugging me before I had even a chance to register the fact she'd moved.

"Carmen! You came back." She said hugging me fiercely. I smoothed her hair surprised by the reaction I was getting.

"What have you been up to kiddo?" I asked crouching down to her level. She pulled a piece of paper off the table and showed me a drawing she'd done.

"They let us colour and draw, I read this book." She held out a book to me. I picked it up and flicked through it.

"I'm impressed." I told her. It was true I was impressed how well she was doing.

"Millie, is it ok if I ask you a few questions about mommy?" I asked her curling up on the red bean bag. Millie's head rested on my shoulder as she flicked through the book she'd previously given me. Millie nodded.

"What colour hair does mommy have? Is it dark like yours?" I asked stroking Millie's hair away from her face. Millie shook her head.

"It's yellow with black bits at the top." Millie told me. Bleached blond then.

"How long is mommy's hair? Is it short like yours?" I asked. Millie nodded in response, eyes still on the book in front of her. Millie's hair was longer than a bob.

"Do you have the same colour eyes as mommy?" I asked glancing at the pictures in the book.

"Mommy's eyes are different they look like grass." Millie told me. Green then.

"Do you know how old mommy is?" I asked filling in each level of the descriptions as they came into my head.

"I think she's twenty four, she had a birthday a few weeks ago, I think one of her cards said twenty four."

"You're very observant." I told her surprised she remembered that. Man that was young, that meant she had Millie when she was at most eighteen. I could see how parts of her life story went.

"Ok, you've been really good so far. Did mommy have any friends that she brought to the house?"

"She brought Geoffrey home a lot, he's really tall, mommy said over six foot and he had drawings all over him." Tattoos? Was Geoffrey a pimp? Most the girls that lived in that area were working girls, and it had already been confirmed by neighbours that Tracey Gibson had been leaving the house ay strange hours of the night. After reading to Millie for a few minutes I left the social services building with a many thoughts running around my head, there was only one place I could go to get more answers. Avoiding the patches of ice on the ground I tread carefully on the way to the station house.