Chapter 21 - MIA

Smithy yawned as he wandered down the station corridor away from his office and towards the briefing room ready for his work day to begin.

"Tired are we?" Gina Gold asked, appearing suddenly before him. "Late night?"

"Actually, no Mam," he answered honestly. Yes he had been at Andrea's but he had left there not much after nine pm. However, he did have trouble sleeping because he was worried about the photograph Andrea had received and how much it would halt their progress into bringing down Gabriel. After physically seeing Andrea's proof that Gabriel Kent was using a false identity, he felt more driven to expose the PC's lies. He wanted to reveal that Gabriel Kent was actually David Kent to everyone right now, but he knew he had to bite his tongue and wait until they could prove that he had killed Kerry. That's the main thing Smithy wanted, justice for Kerry.

"Everything alright Sergeant?" Gina reiterated, noticing Smithy's distraction. "You seem a little out of sorts."

"Sorry Mam," Smithy mumbled.

"Anything I should know about?"

"No," Smithy replied, shaking his head. "Just a few personal things going on."

"You can always talk to me," Gina answered somewhat sympathetically.

"I know. Thank you Mam."

"Anyway, let's get into the briefing room and let the team know what is in store today, shall we?"

Smithy struggled to stay focused during the briefing except when he gave his own part of the brief, telling the troops that unrest on the Cole Lane estate was still ongoing and that a heavy presence in the area would still be required. Smithy found it hard not to look at Gabriel when he was speaking. He wanted to know for sure if it were Gabriel that had taken the photograph. Smithy also worried that Gabriel somehow knew that he was working with both Neil and Andrea.

As Smithy exited the room, he saw Neil Manson at the other end of the corridor. Checking that Gabriel had already left the vicinity, Smithy approached Neil and asked him if they could talk in his office.

"We need to make this quick Smithy, the murder case in CID is still ongoing as you know and to say we are busy is an understatement," Neil mumbled as he entered the Sergeant's office.

Smithy carefully closed the door behind them, making sure they had privacy.

"You asked about Gabriel's work rota. I got a copy right here," said Smithy pulling a piece of paper out of his drawer.

"Have you not heard from Andrea this morning?" Neil queried.

"Erm no, should I have done?" Smithy asked, confused.

"She did say she'd contact you this morning and I presumed she would have done already as she was awake when I left for work. Let's just say there's been some developments and I asked her to call you rather than us discussing too much in the station."

"What developments?" Smithy said before pausing as he realised something. "Hang on, you said she was awake when you left, did you go back and spend the night at Andrea's?"

"I've moved in with her," Neil sighed. "A copy of that photograph was sent to my address and Philippa found it."

"What?" Smithy said, taken aback. "That's not what I expected to hear this morning! I understand you moving out as a result of Philippa finding out, but is moving in with Andrea before all this is resolved a good idea? It could jeopardise everything we've been working on!"

"It's probably not the best idea, no." Neil mumbled while shrugging. "But I can't afford to live in a hotel for long; I have nowhere else really to go. And honestly, how much worse can it get? The likelihood is that Gabriel is the blackmailer and he has evidence of me still seeing Andrea. He could share it with the Superintendent at any given moment."

"What are we going to do?"

"We're not entirely sure, Andrea's working on it," Neil shrugged. "But the most important thing is that something is said to Okaro before the picture leaks at this station."

"But we only have evidence to prove Gabriel's real identity and that he knew Jason Hardy. We need more!"

" Look, I have to go Smithy," Neil said, reaching for the door handle. "Talking too much here isn't a good idea either. Let Andrea fill you in properly, I don't know what she's hoping to do. She should be in touch or you could call her."

With that, Neil quickly left the office, leaving Smithy alone.

Smithy was frustrated. He was angry that this photograph was threatening to entirely ruin their investigation. He desperately wanted to reveal Gabriel's identity, but not now, not like this. He wanted evidence that Gabriel had killed Kerry first, not that Smithy had a clue how to go about obtaining it. He could only hope that Andrea had an idea; she was clever after all.

However, Smithy started to wonder if perhaps he should have worked with Andrea on all this alone in the first place. She had asked him of course, but he'd turned her down. He regretted that choice. If he had just agreed to help Andrea when she had come to see him in the hospital then she wouldn't have involved Neil and the photograph of Neil and Andrea would never have been taken. The whole situation was such a mess. A small part of him still wondered if he should have gotten involved at all. He knew Superintendent Okaro wouldn't be happy when he found out and he knew it could impact his career. However, thought's of Kerry made Smithy want to push forward with everything. Without working alongside Andrea, bringing down Gabriel Kent may not have been possible for Smithy.

"Andrea," Smithy said as he heard her pick up the phone. "I spoke to Neil..."

"So you know Philippa found out then? She received a copy of the photograph."

"Yes. What a disaster!" Smithy exclaimed. "What are we going to do now? Gabriel must be watching us and like Neil said, what if he shares the picture here at the nick?"

"So like I said to Neil, I don't expect that to be Gabriel's plan. Not yet anyway. I think he expects Philippa to cause a scene and Okaro to find out about Neil's affair that way. But he doesn't know Philippa. Neil says that Philippa won't breathe a word of it to anyone, she'd be too embarrassed."

"Well let's hope Neil's right," sighed Smithy. "But what are we going to do?"

"Obviously, it still puts us on a bit of a time crunch," Andrea mumbled down the phone. "Once Gabriel realises Philippa isn't going to reveal the truth to the station then he'll go to plan B. I imagine we have today, maybe tomorrow at most. But I have an idea and hopefully it'll work."

"Can I ask what this idea is?"

"I'm still working on it," Andrea said. "But it bases around the idea of getting a confession."

"A confession, how?" Smithy questioned, intrigued but also doubtful of how they would ever make Gabriel confess.

"I don't know, exactly." Andrea muttered. "But I have got him to confess to me once before."

"Please don't tell me you're going to do anything stupid."

"No," Andrea muttered. "It's just an idea I'm working on. Let's say I'll call you in a couple of hours?"

"Okay, " Smithy said, hanging up the phone. He was dubious how Andrea was going to get Gabriel to confess again. Was she planning on recording it? He had so many questions but he thought he would wait until she called him back like she said she would.

Smithy continued to work which was a good distraction from what was going on with Gabriel. It was a busy morning for Sun Hill with many of the officers still stuck patrolling the Cole Lane Estate; it meant all other calls were having to be dealt between a minimal workforce. Not to mention CID still had their murder case on going as Neil had said, they were extremely busy too. Paper work as usual was also piling up.

Over an hour had passed when Gina Gold appeared in his office.

"Sergeant Smith, the Superintendent would like our presence down on the Cole Lane Estate. Support our troops." Gina Gold instructed, motioning for him to come with her.

"Does it really need both of us, Mam?" Smithy asked. He was keen to do paperwork for the day so that he could easily keep an eye on his phone for when Andrea called back.

"The Superintendent asked for both of us, so yes it does," Gina said, rolling her eyes. "Why? Something more important to do?"

"No, Mam." Smithy stood and followed Gina out of the office.

As they drove towards the Cole Lane, Smithy wondered if he should be happy he was going to where Gabriel was posted so he could keep an eye on him, or whether he would have been better to avoid Gabriel entirely. Smithy knew that sometimes he struggled to keep his own emotions in check; he had fought with Gabriel before over his relationship with Kerry. But Smithy knew he had to rein it in and that as much as possible it would probably best to avoid too much interaction with Gabriel.

Stepping out of the car, Smithy could see PC's Harman, Stamp and Hollis all standing at the bottom of one of the many looming blocks of flats. Gina and himself approached them.

"PC Harman," Gina said as they stopped next to their colleagues. "Did I not partner you with PC Kent?"

"Yes, Mam." Honey Harman nodded, looking awkward.

"So then where is he?" Gina asked, clearly annoyed.

"He had to go to an emergency dentist appointment, Mam. I assumed you knew..."

"Unfortunately PC Kent must have forgot to notify myself or Sergeant Smith. It's not safe patrolling around here alone so I suggest you stay with PC's Stamp and Hollis until PC Kent returns. Then tell him I want to see him immediately and return to the station."

As Smithy stood listening to the conversation, he began to worry about the real reason for PC Kent's disappearance. What was he up to? Was he going to reveal all? Had Andrea done something stupid? Was she in danger? All these thoughts ran through Smithy's mind.

"Mam, I just need to make a quick phone call," Smithy said, walking away from the group as he dialled Andrea's number. She didn't answer. He looked at the time. It was almost 10am. It had almost been two hours since he last spoke to her. She hoped she would call soon like she said she would. He knew he shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. There was a chance Gabriel was actually at the dentist but he couldn't shake that niggling feeling that something wasn't right.

"Sierra Oscar 54 to Sierra Oscar 416, can you return to the station immediately?" Smithy asked into his radio, calling out Gabriel Kent. Even if it were innocent the fact Gabriel hadn't told his superiors that he needed an emergency dentist appointment was grounds too call him in without raising suspicion. "54 to 416, are you responding?"

"For God's sake Smithy, we will deal with Gabriel upon his return from the dentist. I am as annoyed about him going AWOL as you are. But he probably laying down with his mouth clamped open right about now," Gina said in response to hearing Smithy's call to Gabriel over the radio.

"And what if he didn't actually go to the dentist, Mam?"

"Where else would he be Sergeant? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"No, Mam," Smithy lied. "It's just PC Kent isn't the most trustworthy officer..."

"And so we will deal with him upon his return and verify where he's been!" Exclaimed Gina. "I know you don't see eye to eye with Gabriel and quite frankly I am not his biggest fan, but this isn't something that needs to be dealt with in this precise moment. We need to make our way round the estate and see how all the officers are coping."

"Mam, can I just head back to the station?" Smithy asked, wanting to go so he could try and reach Andrea and make sure she was okay. "I have lots of paper work to get done..."

"Sergeant Smith," Gina Gold snapped. "I know you too well. You have been acting strangely all morning. There is something you're not telling me and I want to hear it now."