A/N: Hope this'll do for now. Updates'll be every few days now I'm just working on this, criticisms welcomed (when I'm in a good mood).
Sam was stood in a toilet cubicle soon after lunch reflecting on her morning meeting with the DCI and her impending talk with Eva.
Jack Meadows had been angry but had kept his tone calm and fair, as a father himself he would've been imagining what it'd be like to see your child shot. He'd just asked her the plain facts and she'd told him, it seemed Manson had given the same talk as Jack didn't pick up on anything. After careful consideration she'd decided not to try and drop Manson in it. Reason number one, it looked unprofessional and, number two, it gave Neil the chance to wriggle out of what was coming to him.
And that brought her onto the meeting with Eva.
When Sam had called Eva the ex- Sun Hill officer had been understandably confused, after all, Sam hadn't been in touch with her for months and then she suddenly phoned her out of the blue. Reluctant to risk being overheard, Sam had just asked if they could meet up and Eva had agreed without hesitation, perhaps she had an inkling about the subject matter.
But Sam was growing more than a little wary of trying to take on Neil Manson. He'd already proved he wasn't afraid of a confrontation, he could make life very difficult for her if she didn't manage to bring him down.
Prevailing over that though was her sense of doing right. Not only was Abi in hospital because of him, he also looked set to disrupt Tony's life again and that meant she couldn't sit back. Her self- respect would be shattered if Tony was harassed and she didn't do anything about it.
She was broken from her thoughts by the sound of the outside door swinging open and was about to make herself known when a mobile beeped and a clear voice started speaking. It was PC Dunbar.
'Hi, it's me... I might have something... no, not about that. A few years ago a PC was accused of child abuse... no, he was innocent. The point is the DI here doesn't believe him, he's asking questions... alright, I'll see what I can find out, bye.'
The mobile beeped again and Sam heard Andrea leave. What the hell was the woman up to?
Jim had just tried and failed to catch up with the Davies and was walking back into the station when he was stopped by Marilyn on the front desk.
'The DI wants to see you in his office as soon as you get in.'
The DI? 'Did he say why?'
'Nobody tells me anything,' she complained lightly. 'All he said was I should tell you.'
'Thanks, Marilyn,' Jim said absently making his way up the stairs to CID.
What would the DI want with him? Jim hadn't really had much to do with the guy, all he knew was that he had tried muscling in on Ramani's territory when he'd first started. Apparently he wanted CSU to run his way which was kind of understandable because he did have the final say on the department but when Samantha Nixon had been temporary DI she hadn't bothered. It had been a big change to adjust to.
'You wanted to see me, Sir?' he asked knocking lightly on the office door.
Manson looked up. 'Jim, come in.'
With slight apprehension Jim shut the door behind him and took a seat opposite the DI. 'What's this all about?'
'There's a guns deal going down in a few days, I'd like you in on the operation.'
'Me?'
'Yeah,' he said. 'You've done good things in the past, I think you'd be a useful addition.'
This was unexpected, he was in CSU not CID. 'Who else is involved?'
'Well, it's pretty low-key, I'm thinking you with Rob Thatcher, Samantha Nixon and I'll be there obviously.'
'Hasn't Samantha got a few problems at the moment?' Jim voiced his concerns.
'If you're talking about her daughter then yeah,' Manson admitted. 'But the guy we're after, Sean Cooper, is the man responsible, I think she'll be more than happy to be in on the operation.'
'If you say so,' Jim answered diplomatically, although he personally thought Samantha would have a hard time keeping her objectivity.
'Thanks for coming, Eva,' Sam said as they walked through the park. She'd arranged their meeting there so Manson wouldn't have a clue what she was up to, she needed to keep this under wraps for as long as possible.
'You sounded a bit stressed,' Eva said. 'Thought maybe we should do this sooner rather than later. So, what's up?
'Well,' Sam wondered where to begin. 'Abi was shot yesterday.'
'What?!'
'She came with us on an obbo,' Sam explained. 'Got in the way of a bullet.'
'Us?' Eva questioned. 'Wouldn't happen to be talking about your lovely DI, would you?'
'How'd you guess?'
'Call it a copper's hunch,' Eva said. 'You want something on him, don't you?'
Sam sighed. 'It's not just me he's getting at, Eva.'
'Why, what's he done?'
'He's dredging up all of Tony's child abuse allegation, it's like he thinks Tony's about to jump on every kid in the station.'
Eva looked at her curiously. 'Bit too concerned for others, aren't you?'
'I always have been,' Sam defended.
Eva snorted. 'From what I remember it was always looking out for number one.'
'I wasn't that bad!'
'Oh, yeah!' Eva laughed then became serious. 'Why do you want to help Tony so much? I know he's a nice guy but you're risking a lot going up against Manson.'
'Abi was nearly killed of him, he muscled you out of your job, Eva. He's got to get what's coming to him.'
'Sam, what do you want from me?'
'Something I can use,' she replied. 'Something I can look into.'
Eva let out a small sigh. 'Manson's got something on the DCI.'
'What?'
'Jack had an affair with a case witness, Manson knows about it,' Eva explained. 'That's how Manson got me out of Sun Hill.'
'Blackmail,' Sam said. 'But there's no way we can get him for that without exposing Jack.'
'Yeah, that's why I had to leave.'
'At least I can take a peak into his old cases,' Sam pondered. 'There might be something there.'
'Good luck,' Eva said. 'And Sam?'
'Yeah?'
'Let me be there when it blows up.'
'Not a problem.'
