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 next morning, Anna had arranged for Helen to come down to the station so she could give her testimony.
She greeted her in the great hall and directed her towards a quiet room where she could ask her questions without being interrupted. The girl was about her height with red hair put into a ponytail. She seemed nice and far more well-behaved than the girls in the gang she claimed to have witnessed attacking William.
Anna knew how stressful coming into the police station could be, so she tried as hard as she could to make Helen feel comfortable.
"Tea? Coffee? Soft drink?" she asked.
"Just water, please," giggled Helen. "I'm seven months pregnant so I can't drink much, though, I'm, like, peeing forty times an hour at the moment," she said, putting a protective hand over her stomach.
Anna opened the final door before they could be alone.
"Have a seat," Anna showed her a chair at the other end of the table.
"Only eight weeks to go though!"
Helen sat down, holding her belly and Anna closed the door before going to the phone.
"I'll just be a minute," she informed her.
She took the phone and dialled the counter number.
"Hey, Gwen. Could you put a call through to Sergeant John Bates? Tell him I've got a breakthrough on the William Mason assault. Thanks."
After what she had learned the previous night, she wanted to see John's reaction to seeing Helen at the station giving her statement. She wanted to hear his version before assuming anything else. She had facts, but she didn't know the motives of his actions. And this confused her. She needed to go to the bottom of that. Maybe it was a part of her that still wanted to believe he wasn't the scumbag everybody wanted to paint him like.
A few minutes later, after Helen got her very useful information, anna heard doors banging. John, she thought. And he wasn't pleased by the sound of the doors.
He barged into the room, with a forced smile on his face.
Anna didn't hesitate and started the introductions.
"Hellen, this is Sergeant…" she began. But Helen cut her.
"Hello, Johnny. How are you?" she said, with a smile. Anna felt a bit jealous at her reaction to seeing John come in. But she couldn't allow herself to feel this way. It was unprofessional and there was absolutely nothing going on between them. The fact that she could think there could ever be something between them was ridiculous. He wasn't interested in her! The man was nice to her, it was true, and it was rare from him, but he didn't let anything on either. Anyway, he was more interested in hitting the bottle night after night than asking her out.
John got her out of her thoughts with his snarky remark.
"Jesus, Helen. Who ate all the pies?" He said referring to her growing stomach.
Helen fall back on her seat, a confused look on her face. It was obvious she knew him and he was usually nicer toward her.
"Helen witnessed the attack on PC Mason," Anna cut short to the greetings. "She saw the whole thing. It's a breakthrough."
"Right," John said without even looking at her. His eyes were fixed on Helen. "Well, that's something."
He leaned on the table, looking right into Helen's eyes.
"So, Helen, what did you see?"
"Um – Well…" She stuttered. She gave an anxious look at Anna.
"It's all down here," Anna helped her. "Signed and sealed," she pushed the papers towards John who gave it a quick glance and turned his gaze again as quickly on Helen.
Silence fell over the room for a few awkward seconds. And then Helen spoke up.
"I thought it was my duty, you know, to just stand up." John kept looking at her intently, making her visibly uncomfortable. Why was he such a prick? "I mean, those girls, someone got to… I should do my bit."
"Right," he said. "Public servant. That's you, Helen, he? Even when you're being dragged down by social services for leaving your one-year-old alone for the 19th time, and now he's in a foster home?"
"That is not fair!" Helen interrupted her cheeks red. "I was trying to hold a job down, and you know that!"
"Right, and I'm sure the defence barrister will be really, really understanding when this comes to court," he said, his voice low and menacing. He wasn't smiling anymore and he seemed really angry at the situation. He gave a quick look at Anna, who was bemused at how it had turned out and he left slamming the door behind him.
Something was strange. Even after bringing Helen into the station and presenting him with a done deal, he fought Helen's testimony. She had to go after him, she wasn't finished with him and his secrets.
"Helen, will you excuse me a moment? I just need a quick chat with Sergeant Bates."
She left her upset, alone in the room before charging after him.
"She's no good," he told her, once she had caught up with him.
"Sorry?"
"Helen Wright, totally unreliable."
He used his electronic badge to open the door but nothing happened.
"Gwen, buzz us through, will ya?" Then he turned to Anna. "Get rid of her." The door buzzed and he pushed it.
Anna was speechless. How could he ask her to do something like that? They needed her testimony if they wanted to avenge William and finally put those girls away.
"Hey, hang on!" she ran after him.
"What?" he asked annoyed.
"We can use this to drag the girls back in." She knew he wanted them away as much as everyone else, so what was he playing at? "We tell them we got a witness, reveal some of the facts from Helen's statement, and put some pressure on them." He looked at her angrily. "It might…" She didn't have the chance to finish her sentence. He turned around and entered the men's toilets. If he thought that was going to stop her, he was dead wrong. He was really starting to get on her nerves. She followed him in. Another policeman was standing in front of a urinal.
"Hey do you mind?" he said. John turned around, a bit surprised to see her.
"Oh, relax, Chris. Everyone knows you've got a small cock. John here has a whole routine about it using finger puppets. Now, fuck off, will you?"
Chris buttoned up and left without saying a word. John, on the other hand, was standing still, looking straight at her.
"Thanks for that," he said.
"Why can't I use her as a witness?" she asked, tired of turning around the pot.
"Because there are better ways of getting Nathalie Groves without dragging that poor cow into it.'
"Doesn't feel like it."
"No?"
"No! It feels like you're screwing the investigation."
He left out an awkward laugh and then his face became very dark and very serious. He was now looming over her, towering over her small height, his finger raised in front of her face.
"You listen to me," he said. "An you listen good. I know for a fact… I know that in six months' time, and that's if the CPS can even be bothered to bring this to court, Helen Wright's gonna be sobbing in the witness box because Nathalie's lawyer is gonna make her look like a lying piece of shit. That and the fact Nathalie'll be staring at her from across the dock, giving her this," he imitated the gesture of putting a finger under the throat, slicing it. "Don't you ever, ever accuse me of messing this case up on purpose, do you hear?"
Anna nodded.
"Hm?" he asked for words.
"Sorry," she said, unable to look him in the eye.
"Now I'm gonna piss," he informed her. She didn't move. "You wanna watch?" he teased, pushing her aside so he could stand in front of the urinal. He opened up his trouser, but Anna stayed still. It was now or never. She needed to know about Danielle.
"Why didn't you tell me you'd seen Danielle Parker the night she vanished?"
He paused and slowly turned his head to her. His hazel eyes were darker than usual. She had taken him by surprise and she could see he was trying to understand how she knew that. But instead of answering, he turned back again facing the wall and opened his fly, chewing his gum.
"I've got four older brothers, you can't shock me."
But this didn't work. John ignored her completely. Anna had bluffed by staying thinking he would answer after she told him she knew he had seen Dani that night but he seemed as determined as her to unsettle her. Blushing, she turned away. She decided to try another tactic.
"Look, I'm sorry about Helen, I've got a big mouth. But what is it with Dani?"
"So I bumped into the little bitch," he began, closing his fly. "So what? You want me to tell you what happened?"
Anna nodded, not wanting to stop him into his explanations.
"You want me to tell you what happened?" he repeated, getting closer to her. "After the mouthful she gave me, a girl her age? I'll tell you what happened." Anna was caught by surprise when he grabbed her by the back of the head, his nose almost touching hers. "I grabbed her, just like this, and I told her exactly what I thought of her. Now, you know, I'm a cop, maybe I could have been a little bit more polite, but I think she got the message. And then, I phoned her mum, and I sent her home."
He released her. She was a bit shaken up and relieved. Relieved because she was sure that a few more seconds with his face so close to her she would have commit something she would have regretted. She knew he was trying to scare her, but it didn't really work. If only he knew what she was thinking right now… She decided to accept his words
"Anything else?" he asked.
She broke eye contact with him as an answer and he left the toilets.
Now, she had her explaination.
Not far away from the station, Helen was being escorted home in a police car. She exited and thanked the young policeman and waved goodbye before heading towards her building.
Unbeknownst to her, Nathalie and her gang was just across the street. Nathalie watched her going to her apartment with a hard look on her face.
On the other side of town, Jimmy was discreetly parking his car in front of John Bates' house. After he had learnt of the new information about John, he had decided to investigate a bit more further into his life. He had made sure John would not be back anytime soon as he was working and his neighbours were all out.
When he arrived in front of the locked front door, he used his tools and managed to open it.
He looked around for a bit, and entered the living room. Picture frames were all over the walls, showing a younger Bates with his wife, holding a baby in his arms. They seemed happy. Another one, a school picture, showed a little boy. Probably his son, the one who ran away according to rumours. On the coffee table was a bottle of scotch with a glass by its side.
Jimmy then climbed the stairs, where a picture John's graduation was on the wall. He was younger and thinner than now and was smiling in his brand new police uniform. He then found his bedroom. It was a bit messy, with stuffs lying on the ground and his bed was undone. The guy was probably to tired and hangovered on the morning to tidy up before going to work and spent his nights out, or in as the bottle suggested dowstairs, drinking.
Jimmy laughed to himself when he saw porn magazines on the floor, half hidden under the bed. He kneeled to look at them when he saw something else under the bed. He reached for it and was surprised to see a woman's sweatshirt with some blood stains on it.
"Fuck," he said, realising it was Danielle's sweatshirt.
