Chapter 20 - Time Is Running Out

Buzzz. Buzzz.

The sound of the intercom woke Andrea. She glanced at the time. It was one in the morning.

"Who would come here at this time?" Whispered Andrea aloud to herself through her groggy state. As she slowly awakened her mind she began to fear it could be the blackmailer as the intercom buzzed twice again. Whoever was there was being persistent.

Sliding out of bed, she exited her room into the hallway to answer. She was surprised to hear it was Neil. She let him in to the apartment building immediately even though she wondered why he was there in the middle of the night.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and as Andrea opened it she couldn't hide the shock that overcome her. Neil was standing there with a suitcase and a large black holdall; he looked tired. Andrea couldn't find the words to say.

"Philippa knows," Neil shrugged, looking at Andrea.

"And so you just thought you could move in here?" Andrea observed angrily.

"Well, yeah." Neil said, confused by Andrea's reaction. "Can I at least come in and we can talk about it?"

"I guess," Andrea sighed, letting Neil into the flat.

Neil left his luggage in the hallway and followed Andrea into the living room where she turned on a corner lamp, giving them enough light to see.

"I don't understand why you are so angry, I thought this was what you wanted?" Neil asked, confused by Andrea's reaction to him turning up.

"Oh, I don't know," Andrea began. "Maybe because only a few hours ago you left here telling me that we're not some kind of 'happy fairytale' and that you needed to go away and think about all of this. Now you're here telling me you've left your wife and want to move in with me."

"You're all I want, Andrea. What I said earlier...it was out of panic."

"Let's stop pretending here shall we Neil? You're here because Philippa found out and made you leave, aren't you? You didn't go home and decide to break up with her tonight."

"I'll admit, I didn't go home this evening with the intention of telling Philippa about us. For a start I thought we wanted to keep up pretences as to not draw any attention to us while investigating Gabriel," Neil sighed. "But when I got home and she already knew, I wasn't going to lie about my feelings for you. I told her I love you, Andrea."

"And then she kicked you out and here you are," Andrea said, rolling her eyes.

"She didn't kick me out. In fact, she wanted us to carry on with our marriage as if I'd never even met you."

"Sure she did."

"Philippa is one for keeping up appearances. She doesn't like her good reputation tainted. She also doesn't let her emotions get in the way of what she sees as the most effective course of action in her life," Neil paused, taking a deep breath. "I told her that I couldn't do that. I couldn't just make my feelings for you disappear and carry on my marriage as if nothing had happened. I love you, Andrea. Not Philippa."

"It's not exactly great timing, is it?" Andrea shrugged. "Like you said, with our investigation into Gabriel still ongoing."

"Nope," Neil agreed. "But the reason Philippa found out about us was because the blackmailer posted a copy of that photograph of us through my door too."

"Intended for you or for her?" Andrea asked, intrigued. She knew that the name on the envelope could help reveal the blackmailer's intentions and maybe even their identity.

"No name, just posted with the address."

"So we don't know if their intention was a warning to you or to reveal the truth to Philippa," Andrea observed, confused.

Neil shook his head.

"It has to be Gabriel though, doesn't it?" Andrea queried. "Because Bruce wouldn't get anything out of this. Honestly, I think he'd use it for the paper had he got hold of it. I don't think he knows about us."

"Are you sure?" Neil asked, concerned. "Our paths crossed a few times while you were still at Sun Hill and perhaps I might have come across as maybe, overprotective? Maybe Bruce made an assumtion and went to get the proof? And you did think he was following you the other day..."

"This isn't Bruce's style," said Andrea. "As I said, what would he have to gain? A picture sent to me, maybe. To control me back into being his star reporter and doing anything he asks in the future, or risk the photo being leaked. But I don't see what he'd get out of sending it to you or Philippa. As I said, for him, this would be story material."

"So let's say it is Gabriel then," Neil said, now pacing up and down in his detective work mode. "What does he gain from all this? He could have been trying to get us to back off, but allowing Philippa to find out gave me a lot less to lose and seems ... counterproductive."

"Maybe forgetting to put your name on it was a mistake? It could have been intended as a warning and not to reach Philippa."

"It seems careless for someone who has been so meticulous. We are talking here about someone who has managed to get into the Met with a false identity, work with a local sniper to take out criminals and then murder one of our colleagues, all undetected."

"Except by me," Andrea smiled. "Everybody makes mistakes from time to time, and honestly his behaviour and small acts of corruption I picked up on while working at Sun Hill made me question his integrity as a police officer. His first huge mistake was raping Kerry because while she had cried rape before and it was unlikely anyone would believe her, she still told me, and naturally that made me observe him more closely even though I didn't know that much about him at the time. When we discovered Kerry had been pregnant with his child when she was murdered it made me really pay attention. I didn't buy the whole secret affair story. Kerry had told Smithy she loved him moments before she died. Why would she do that if she were so in love with Gabriel? That's why Smithy and I became suspicious. And since then his mistakes have been catching up with him."

"Whether the absence of a name on the envelope put through my door was a mistake or not, my concern is one of them has been sent to Sun Hill. Maybe even direct to Superintendent Okaro. If it has, our investigation is going to be over because it will be the end of my career."

"There's still Smithy," Andrea shrugged. "Gabriel would still need to find something to stop Smithy continuing with it all. I'm not sure he'd have the intention to end your career because I'm not exactly sure what Gabriel would get out of that. I still think it was meant as a warning."

"We're taking a big risk if we continue with all of this," Neil said, once again pacing up and down.

"What other choice do we have though? We can't just let Gabriel get away with it all."

"I agree," Neil nodded. "But we have to admit he kind of has the upper hand here. He could succeed in ending my career before we've even done anything."

"If it's him that definitely sent the photographs."

"Who else could it be? We'd be kidding ourselves not to consider him as our prime suspect."

The reality was it was unlikely it would be anyone else. No one else would seemingly have anything to gain from blackmailing them. They both remained silent for a small moment, wondering what they could do. They were in a tricky situation, one that would not be easy to get out of. Andrea knew that she should be thrilled that Neil was here, with her, finally. However, she couldn't feel happiness in this moment and only found the weight on her shoulders getting heavier as everything continued to get more complicated. Of course she still wanted to be with Neil, but this isn't at all how she had wanted it to happen. Her original plans of them somehow having both their careers and each other seemed to be slipping further and further away. Now the prospect of bringing down Gabriel seemed to be slipping out of her grasp too. Andrea had never felt less in control of her life and she knew that she had to do something. But what, she wasn't quite sure yet.

"I think you should just go to work tomorrow and act normal. We can't know if Gabriel has sent that picture to anyone in Sun Hill, and we'd be stupid to ruin everything now out of that fear," Andrea proposed. Although she knew their time was running out, they at least needed to find out if any other moves had been made by Gabriel.

"That's easy for you to say, what if I walk in there tomorrow and get confronted with that photograph?"

"Trust me, I had to walk in after my expose. I know it's hard. But we don't know if Gabriel would have shared it there at all. And honestly, knowing him... I don't think he will."

"I wish I could have that confidence."

"I know it's a risk but what else can we do? Walk in there and tell the super everything?" Questioned Andrea before thinking what else might get in their way. "I'm assuming Philippa won't make this whole affair known?"

"No." Neil shook his head. "She'd be too prideful to anyone to speak of our separation."

"And that's why I think Gabriel wouldn't have shared the photograph at Sun Hill. I think he'd expect the truth to come out from Philippa, but he doesn't know your wife and how she would rather pretend everything is normal. What better than the scorned wife revealing our relationship rather than a letter that could have a small possibility of being traced back to him."

"Maybe," Neil nodded. " But it's still a huge risk. I'm not sure we'll have time to get evidence for everything Gabriel has done. We might be best to turn in what we have to prove his real identity so at the very least he is removed from Sun Hill."

"Removed from his career, maybe charged with identity fraud but yet gets away with conspiracy and murder?!"

"I know it's not ideal, Andrea," Neil sighed. "But what choice do we have? How are we possibly going to get the evidence we need? We haven't yet come up with a solid plan, let alone one we can implement quickly."

"I know," Andrea replied, frustrated. "I think we should give ourselves tomorrow to think. I know you have work but I will do my best to find anything on Gabriel or come up with any kind of reasonable plan. If I can't, then I'll let you take the identity evidence to Superintendent Okaro."

"Okay," Neil said warily. "But I want you to be careful. We don't want to aggravate Gabriel any more than we already have.

"I know," Andrea agreed. "Just a day to think. Give me a chance to talk to Smithy. That's all I want."

Neil nodded in response before continuing their conversation by asking, "so, am I okay to stay here tonight?"

"Of course you are," Andrea smiled.