Disclaimers: Most of the dialogue is from the episode. I don't own The Ghost Squad or Downton Abbey. I don't own the characters either. I hope you'll enjoy it.

"The car had been dumped in the canal, back in the service centre. The owner's going potty. Seems to think it's our fault for some reason. Need two bodies down there. Digger, Grant, that's yours," said DI Carson in the meeting room, full of police officers.

Anna was standing at the front, near the door. She glanced at the back and spot John quite easily at the last row of men standing. There weren't enough chairs and as they had arrived late, their only option was to stand and fill the gaps around the officers who were sitting.

He had changed his clothes from earlier when she had gone to his cell. He was now wearing his uniform, though his bullet-proof jacket was opened, and his shirt wasn't correctly put inside his trousers. He wasn't wearing his tie and had his collar opened, letting appear some hair on his chest. He had his head in his hands and was rubbing his face, trying to wake up.

"Oh, this is a good one," DI Carson went on. "Danielle Parker has missed her probation."

This caught Anna's attention. She remembered hearing the name in conversations between the men. She understood that a gang of young female delinquents were wreaking havoc in the neighbourhood near the station. Downton was a little town in Yorkshire, but it still had social housing at the periphery where they were mostly operating.

"Mother hasn't seen her last night. Last seen in a light blue tracksuit on the estate," Carson said, his pad in hand. He looked at them again. "Tragic, I know," he said in a sarcastic tone and everyone laughed a little. "Still, just in case something's happened to the little slag, I need a volunteer to go down and look sympathetic."

Everyone got quiet. They were all avoiding DI Carson's gaze as if this was the worst mission of their career. They could hear the phone ringing in the other room. Anna understood that the girl had caused a lot of damaged and crimes in town, but nevertheless, she was still a human being and if she was missing, they should do their job and search for her. Still, no one moved until a low voice from the back of the room resonated.

"I'll take that one."

Anna turned around to see John raising his hand to make himself noticed.

"Sergeant Bates, thank you very much. Your reward's in heaven," Carson said.

"Great. So that's another thing I'll never get to see, then," John joked. The officers around him smiled and laughed. Anna kept analysing his posture. But he just seemed tired and brooding, not unlike any other day. But she knew she had to be cautious. The incredible arrest rate of Sergeant Bates was mainly focused on the same group of people. Danielle and her gang. And now John had volunteered to go investigate when he was in a bad state and everyone was avoiding it. Either he was a saint or he was hiding something. Anna thought it was more likely the second one. She had to act.


After the meeting, everyone got back to their jobs in a loud brouhaha. Anna almost lost sight of John but she managed to follow him. In the hall heading outside, she accelerated a little bit to walk by his side.

"Sarge," she called out to him.

He turned his head without stopping to see who spoke.

"Anna, you all right?" he asked.

She continued to follow him and decided to entertain him.

"Yeah, I'm good thanks. I wondered if I could tag along."

He frowned and gave her a look, interrogating her. She tried to think of something to justify her eagerness to come with him.

"Well, it's just I've heard all about Dani Parker, but I've never actually had the pleasure," she told him.

"You won't today either if she really has gone AOWL," he pointed out. Anna bit her cheek. Why didn't she think of something better to say?

"Oh, yeah, I know, but still…"

Anna knew her only option now was to play on the affective part. So she put on her cutest smile and looked at him with puppy eyes.

"Com'on," she said. "You could do with the company".

John didn't seem convinced.

"Why? What are you going to do? Wank me off on the way?"

Anna was a bit surprised by what he said. She blushed a little at the thought but kept her composure and her head straight.

"I wasn't planning on it but, jeez, if you sweet-talk me into it…"

He blushed in turn and turned his head away. It was clear he hadn't expected her to answer back with attitude at his provocation. Anna understood at that moment that it was all male humour and that beneath all of this talk, there was a man who wasn't as tough and as confident as he was trying to make people believe.

"You're funny for a girl," he finally said. He looked around as he opened the door.

"Common, then" he reluctantly said. "You're driving."

She didn't make him ask twice and followed him to the car park.


They arrived in front of a building. Anna was still new to the neighbourhood and every building was looking just like the next one. She looked around and noticed a security camera on a street lamp. She would have to remember to check them later.

When they arrived on the right floor, John knocked. A woman answered. Dani's mother, Anna thought. She led them to Dani's bedroom. They started looking in different places and a few minutes later, John looked out the window. Anna was looking for clues inside her cupboard.

"So what's gone?" he asked her, in a rhetorical tone, while walking towards her closet. "A few clothes, her phone. No money to speak of. She'll be back in no time"

Anna went beside her bed and started looking under it. And then she saw something on the side of the duvet.

"Probably gone shopping on a nicked credit card," he went on. "This is a waste of time. Common." He started heading out to the door.

"This is blood" she stopped him, holding the piece of the duvet with a few red stains on it.

He stopped beside her and looked at it.

"Nah, it's mud, common" he shrugged without looking properly.

"No, have a look at this," she said with a bit more authority than she had intended.

"No, Anna," he raised his voice.

She looked up at him and rose to her feet.

"Danielle Parker gets her kicks from waving a kitchen knife at pensioners, all right?" he said.

Anna bit her bottom lip, knowing what he was about to say next. She knew that he was right in a way but it was not how justice worked in her book.

"She and her gang are responsible for 90% of the crime on this estate. Everything you see in this room will have come from thieving," he said pointing out at various objects in the room. "And that includes mud, blood, shit… whatever. I'm off," he said, not even looking back and walking through the door.

Anna couldn't help feeling that John knew something and was deliberately trying to sabotage the investigation of Dannielle's disappearance. She looked one last time at the red stains on the duvet and followed him.


They exited the building and walked toward the car. Anna wasn't looking at John, she was upset by his behaviour and would have wanted the chance to look more closely at the blood found on her bed. What happened to Danielle Parker that night? Why was there blood on her duvet, at home and why was she nowhere to be found?

"You gonna sulk?" he asked her after he obviously saw her attitude change.

"No," she answered, not wanting to talk about it now. She had too many questions swirling in her mind and she was afraid to realize that maybe the rumours about him were true. "I'm maintaining a dignified silence."

They went to either side of the car.

"I promise she'll be back," he assured her as if he was reading her mind. "And then you'll wish it had been serious."

She watched him opening his car door, trying to understand what he had meant when a scream resounded, coming from a block away from where they were. John put his peaked cap on, closed the door and both of them started running towards the screaming.

Anna saw him slow down and heard him call for backup on his radio. She continued running around the block and saw a group of girls attacking two boys. They were on the ground, being bitten and kicked.

A police car arrived just in front of her and William and Joseph came out of it, running towards the girls with Anna. They must have been near when John issued the call. They tried to stop the girls from kicking the guys who were now covered in blood and hunched up on themselves. But the girls were too aggressive and numerous for them to contain.

Until an authoritarian voice calmed them down.

"Children, children!" It was John, walking towards them, his stature imposing. He was tall and broad and it was no doubt that the girls feared him a bit. His menacing presence stopped them. It was impressive in a way. Only seconds before they were debating and screaming, kicking police officers. But as soon as they heard his voice, they backed track a little. It was clear he was the one in charge of the situation.

"Right," he said. "Who's been stealing who's Barbie doll, then?" He scanned the girls' faces but seemed to stop on one in particular. "Nathalie, come here," he ordered. But the girl in pink he was calling wasn't moving. "Come here!" he insisted, his voice more menacing. The girl finally moved and stopped right in front of him.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I'm very well, thank you for asking. How are you Johnny?" she defied him, chewing her gum. It was obvious that he tensed at the way she deformed his name, almost as if to belittle him.

He smiled, but it was clear he was angry.

"You playing up?" he asked.

"Where is Danielle?" Moseley interjected. So this was Danielle's gag, anna thought. That's why the girls were so comfortable with them. They had been arrested so many times that they knew them by their first names.

"I don't know," Nathalie answered, getting closer to John's face to provoke him.

"All right, and you're filling in her absence, are you?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Anna really didn't like the tone she was using while talking to a police officer. She seemed to think she was above the law, and maybe she was right. After so many arrests, she didn't have been convicted of any crime and was still free, attacking boys in broad daylight in the streets.

"You keep them in order," John said to her, showing the other members of her gang. "And you, gay boys, piss off. Go on.

Anna saw that John's face became tender when he turned to them even though he was employing harsh words. At first sight, it would have looked like an officer abusing victims, but looking closely, Anna understood his choice. He was being harsh to toughen them up and at the same time, keep some respect from the girls. It seemed to work as they went away and the gang laughed.

"Nat, you keep them in line," he came back looking at her more seriously.

"Or what? You're gonna arrest us all again?"

"They can arrest me anytime," another girl said, twirling her poney tail and giving a wink at William.

"I'm not gonna arrest you, Nat." He got closer to her face and he grew darker. "You know what I'll do."

This chilled Anna. The way he said it was like a threat and he looked like he wasn't joking and would execute it. But what was he referring to? She couldn't help but think of the meaning of his sentence. Everyone was silent and it seemed that Nathalie, for the first time in their encounter, appeared really scared of John. She stepped back a little.

"Come on," she told the others and they went after her.

But a few meters away, they seemed to be back at their usual provocation as they turned around and gave them fingers and yelled at them before taking off for good.

"Is she your type, William?" Joseph tried to lighten the mood. John laughed and William smiled.

"These kids are charming," he answered. "I live around the corner and they're at it day and night."

"Oh, William, are you saying the ASBO isn't working?" John joked.

"But the Prime Minister told me he'd make everything all right," Anna joined in.

Everyone laughed at that and they went to their cars. Anna had now understood why they were using so much sarcasm and humour. If every working day looked like this one, it was no wonder they were trying to escape the horror with it. It was like a defence mechanism. She was starting to like this group more and more and she finally felt accepted by them even though she was a woman and the new recruit. Being with them on a mission and joking with them seemed to have done the trick.

But one thing was still disturbing her, and it was Sergeant Bates. She was sure he was hiding something and his threat towards Nathalie just made her uncomfortable. She had to dig up information on him and she was more than determined to find out what happened to Danielle Parker and what was John's role in her disappearance.