15

The wind was whipping around the sand dunes as they stood in the darkness. Anna looked around and in the distance she saw the car Jack had given the whore, the bright deep red tickled her pink. A scarlet letter kinda car. Apt.

Morgan looked towards the house and wondered if they were all asleep, about to say something when he noticed her pulling something from her handbag and before he could even realize his mistake in thinking it might be a hanky, so stupid being here in the darkness with this mad woman who had a gun that was to his head, the gunshot loudly barked even in the wind.

In the house Ianto woke with a start, laying there as he tried to work out what had woken him and he rolled to Jack "Jack, something banged outside. I think… never mind. I will go check."

Ianto rose to pull on some pants but Jack was already there, pulling up his own pants. "What did it sound like?"

"A loud bang. Maybe a pot of colour fell, John will not leave them alone" Ianto muttered as he shoved his feet into slippers, and then the car alarm had Jack running in just his boxers.

By the time they were outside the wind was dying and the car chirped to silence as Ianto hit the button on the keys, then he frowned as he saw the passenger door slightly open "Jack? Was that locked?"

"I thought it was" Jack replied with confusion, stepping off the porch into the half light of the security lights to walk around and look in "There's something under the seat, sort of shoved there but sticking out."

"What is it?" Ianto asked as he moved closer, pulling his old fuddy-duddy dressing gown to match the old man PJs around himself as the wind whipped up again.

Jack crouched and removed the lump and shook it, the gun dropping from the fabric into his hand.

"My dad's gun?"

"Drop it… drop it… no wait… here, give it to me" Ianto seized it from him and Jack watched with confusion as Ianto frantically wiped the gun over with the cloth, his hands shaking as he removed Jack's fingerprints before he ran around the side of the dwelling, heading for the pier.

Jack was beyond confused now as Ianto disappeared into the darkness.

What the hell?

.

.

Toshiko arrived and started to download the footage from the CCTV cameras around the house in the study as the police arrived, shaking hands and talking quietly. Ianto said they had others asleep, please keep it down. He then went in to 'check' on them, slipping into speak with Toshiko.

"Tosh, stop it a sec. The camera overlooking the pier, can you single that out and remove that footage? It shows me down there… doing something" Ianto hissed, still shocked that their neighbour had rung the bloody cops on them for the bang… whatever it was. I guess the car alarm didn't help. "And can you scrub all audio? Like… entirely form all footage? I know that is a separate file, one for visual, one for sound. No sound please."

Toshiko did not question him, silently erasing that camera like it was not there, John quick to slide out and physically remove it before the cops went around with their torches to check for themselves what was there.

It was in the early hours of the morning that they found Morgan's body.

Ianto was shocked, this was not what he thought it was and now he knew they were in deeper shit that first thought. Jack has not lived the same world as him, did not know the dangers of the gutter but Ianto did.

Fist thing's first.

"Oh my god… did the person who killed him try to take our car?" Ianto asked as he interrupted the conversation in the kitchen. "Oh god, Jack he might have shot you too if you had run out any faster. Oh god, I have to sit down."

"At this stage Mister Jones, we are not sure what is going on here. There was a loud bang, you went outside to find the car door open but nothing else?" the cop asked, Ianto knowing he had seen the footage. So had he. Time to shine. Ianto gave a shuddering sigh and glanced at Jack like he was afraid.

"No… the car alarm was deafening and once shut off it was silent. Just the wind. Yeah… my bloody dressing gown came open with the wind… Jack did not need to be excited when he was supposed to be checking the car door for any damage but I had a hell of a time to tie it up." Ianto laughed sadly, and then looked like he might cry. "What a horrible end to a lovely evening. We went to for dinner you see, a date night. Oh god. We could have been shot too."

"You ran around the side of the house... why?" the detective asked.

"To check the side door was locked, I didn't want to go inside in case the kids had woken. I didn't want them to come out into the cold for this. I thought it was just some local kids after the car stereo… my god. What if they ARE related" Ianto shivered "Poor man, does he have family? Do you know who he is?"

"well, thank you for being so cooperative, maybe we will see something helpful in all of this footage" the other detective said as they prepared to leave.

"Taddy?"

Jack was first to turn, seeing Mac in the doorway of the bedroom with bed-head exactly the same as him, his face softening as he saw the sweet boy. Jack was moving before he even thought about it, crouching to scoop his son into his arms. God, he was real.

"I'm sorry, you did say there are kids here?" the detective suddenly looking around more intently at the lack of photos etc.

"My sister is in the other room with her two and this is ours. We lost our house in Wales due to a fire, are rebuilding" Ianto said as he watched Jack hugging the child like he might be torn away from him.

"So I am sure the footage will show you both entering and remaining until after the gunshot, hopefully that will be picked up by the camera's audio too" the other detective soothed his partner.

"No audio, more expensive package" Ianto calmly said as he glanced at Tosh who nodded her agreement. Any and all audio was removed so they did not know the instructions being given while Ianto's back was to the camera. The gun was never visible "But the camera on the corner of the house faces in the direction of the body… maybe you can enhance it or something?"

Time to ring Archie.

And give John another jobbie too.