Final chapter is here at last! Acknowledgements and thanks are at the end, to mark the occasion - in the meantime enjoy the conclusion!

oOo

The day dawned bright and clear and it was still early when gentle rays of sunlight peeked through the curtains, finding two slumbering figures curled up on the sofa amid various papers, pens, notebooks and empty mugs. As the room brightened, there was a sudden but soft beeping noise coming from some distance, jerking them both out of sleep.

Kerry jumped, surprised to find herself in a foetal position at the end of a sofa that certainly wasn't hers, using a small red cushion as a pillow and a few scattered sheets of paper in place of her duvet. She sat up as it dawned on her where she was, only to find Debbie in almost the exact same position at the other end of the sofa, not looking her usual preened self with a groggy expression and hair everywhere.

"That's my alarm clock," she murmured, shuffling off the sofa and disappearing into her bedroom. Seconds later, the beeping stopped and she re-emerged.

"I didn't mean to stay over," Kerry yawned, smiling sheepishly. "I don't remember going to sleep, it just kind of happened..."

"Yeah," Debbie nodded, sitting back down. "Oh yeah ... weren't we contemplating the meaning of life at that point? I think we got a bit over-tired; we kept going off on tangents after about 2am."

Kerry rubbed her eyes. "That's it. We paused for a moment of quiet reflection and ..."

"And here we are," Debbie replied, flopping back into the sofa. "Quiet reflection isn't good. Bad idea. Sleep inducing."

There was a moment's pause.

"That stuff last night," she began again, suddenly a lot more awake, "Does it still make sense to you? Do you still think it's worth following up or are we both round the bend?"

Kerry had a quick look through the crumpled sheets of paper bearing notes they had made last night. "It makes a lot of sense," she said finally. "We're right and we know it – it wasn't our imagination; this really happened."

"Good," Debbie nodded quickly. "Just checking. What time is it now?"

"Five past seven. Ok, how about I nip back to mine, have a shower and stuff, then come back, pick you up and we go from there. Oh, hold on, you're not supposed to be back at work – what shall we ...?"

"I'll sweet talk the DCI," Debbie dismissed the problem with a wave of her hand as if this was something she did on a regular basis. "I'll think of something, don't worry. But," she hesitated, "I'm not sure we should tell anyone else about this, not the ... you know."

Kerry shook her head reassuringly. "Let's face it, nobody in their right mind would believe us. Everyone else has more or less forgotten her. Probably best it's kept just between the two of us – or ... or three, in a way, I suppose ...?"

Debbie smiled. "Yes ... yes, I think you're probably right."

oOo

Two hours later, Debbie and Kerry had found themselves a room somewhere upstairs at the station with a free computer and telephone. Few people had arrived yet, so fortunately hardly anyone stopped Debbie to welcome her back or ask why she had returned early. Kerry had already slipped a note onto Claire Stanton's desk requesting that nothing was done regarding 'the skeleton' until she had spoken to her and also mentioning that she was 'following up a lead – very important' so she would be late into work.

"Right, so we need to find out ..." Debbie pulled a notebook out of her handbag, "When the passage was built, whether Graham North really did work in the building, and what it was back then, and how Eve's body could possibly have been concealed down there without anyone else noticing."

"Well, it won't be any good calling the office, seeing as it's not there any more," Kerry raised an eyebrow while flicking through the telephone book. "Better try the council, I suppose."

Suddenly the door opened and they both spun around to see Jack Meadows standing in the doorway, his mouth open in surprise.

"Debbie!?"

"Hello, Gov."

"What are you doing back? You've got another two weeks of leave!" His voice was a strange mixture of concern and barely disguised happiness.

"I know," Debbie began slowly. "I'm not actually back yet, I'm just, uh ... following up a lead that won't wait 'til I get back for real. Won't take long," she added with a persuasive smile. "You won't tell Mr. Brownlow, will you?"

Meadows gave her a disapproving look. "He's not in today," he sighed. "Just as well, for your sake. I don't suppose either of you want to tell me what this is about?" he narrowed his eyes and looked back and forth between them.

"Not really," Kerry muttered.

"It might be nothing, Gov," said Debbie, nonchalantly. "But if anything comes of it, you'll be the first to know." She gave him a winning grin as he raised an eyebrow and closed the door behind him.

"So it all fits?" Debbie pushed her chair back from the desk and looked up at the ceiling. "Every bloody word."

Kerry switched the computer off, perched on the desk and nodded. "Yes. All true."

"So the tunnel was meant to be an extension?" Debbie pondered.

"Yep," Kerry nodded again, pushing the telephone away. "The guy said that according to the plans it was going to be additional space for the basement; storage or whatever, but when they got that far it was discovered that they didn't have planning permission for the space they were hollowing out; it belonged to someone else. They'd just turned a corner when they were ordered to stop. It was left as it was in the hope that they'd get permission, but it never happened and it was just ... left as it was.

"So the manhole ...?"

"... was an emergency exit for the builders," Kerry continued. "It was never meant to be permanent but, like the tunnel, it seems to have just been forgotten about. Incredible, isn't it. But then, there are no pipes, cables, anything...they'd have had no reason to dig up the road and find it, not in that exact spot, anyway."

"So the building was stopped as soon as permission was denied," Debbie said slowly, working her way through the details. "And the bit they'd just dug, around the corner, collapsed just after that because it wasn't finished. Of course ... if they were just going to leave it all there, that wouldn't have been a big deal – and if something had been hidden in there, then buried, deliberately, I think we can assume, nobody would find it for years."

"Exactly. He even added that a few people who worked there up until last month didn't like going down there because they claimed it was haunted. Laughed about it on the phone, of course, but...?"

"Oh God," Debbie sighed, putting a hand over her eyes.

"And since Graham North did work there, he'd have had the opportunity whenever the place was left overnight," Kerry added. "Would have been risky, but possible. Died of lung cancer in 1967. There must be some way to prove this, you know."

"How?" Debbie folded her arms. "Where's our evidence? 'Oh yes, Sir, we have it on very good authority from the ghost of the victim!"

Kerry managed a weak smile at the absurdity of the whole thing. "Good point."

"I mean, it will be investigated," said Debbie. "We are looking at a murder, after all, but we have no solid evidence whatsoever. We know it's true," she added, "but we could never prove it."

"And it's not as if he could be charged," Kerry sighed. "He died in ... yes, 1967, only a few years afterwards. Maybe they will find some evidence now they've found the body, after all he was only questioned, never arrested or anything."

There was a noise outside the door, followed by a knock and Claire Stanton appeared.

"Ah, here you are – DCI Meadows said I might find you here. Said you've been in here for ages; what's ...? Oh, welcome back, Debbie."

"Thanks," Debbie smiled.

"Anyway, I got your note," Claire said to Kerry. "No problem. We've found the mother of the missing girl; she still lives locally so someone will have to pop round and tell her. It's ten to two now..."

"We'll do it," said Kerry instantly, looking quickly at Debbie who nodded in agreement.

"Are you sure?" Claire asked, obviously taken aback. I wasn't going to ask either of you, in light of ... well, you know. I was about to do it myself if nobody else is free."

"No," Debbie said. "Please, let us. We ... well, Kerry found her technically, and we'd, uh, we'd like to see it through to the end if that's all right."

Claire looked puzzled, but after a moment seemed to understand. "Ok, if you're sure. There will be a full investigation of course, do warn her, 'cause it's likely to be dredged up again."

"Right," said Kerry, somewhat shakily. "We'll ... go and take care of that, then." Claire smiled uncertainly and left the room.

"Ready?"

Debbie stood slowly and pulled her jacket on. "As ready as I'll ever be."

oOo

The door opened slowly, obviously on a security chain and only a little way. An elderly woman peered cautiously at Debbie and Kerry though her spectacles.

The two women looked at each other quickly and both realized that the other was thinking the same; they had both pictured Eve's mother as being in her late twenties or early thirties, though now, of course, she was more like sixty-five.

"Um ... hello, are you Mrs Jordan? Barbara Jordan?"

"Yes," said the woman, looking slightly wary. "Can I help you?"

"I'm DS McAllister and this is DC Holmes," said Debbie, producing her warrant card. "Could we please come in for a moment, we need to talk to you about something."

"Could I see that again, please, dear," Mrs Jordan asked. "You can't be too careful these days, can you?"

"That's very sensible of you, Mrs Jordan," Kerry said, then immediately hoped she hadn't sounded too patronizing; something she knew she was often guilty of.

"Oh yes, that's fine," the old woman smiled, handing the warrant card back to Debbie. "Do come in. Would you like a cup of tea?"

"I won't, thanks," said Debbie, surprised how on edge she was already and did not want to delay the inevitable any longer. A glance towards Kerry told her she was feeling exactly the same.

"Mrs Jordan ... this is rather a sensitive matter," Debbie began slowly, "And I'd rather you were sitting down."

The old woman's expression suddenly turned from cheerful and friendly to one of great fear.

"Not Steven? Not my son? Oh no, there's been an accident?"

"No, no!" said Kerry, hurriedly. "Nothing like that." She suddenly realised that actually, yes it was something like that, though of course, not her son.

"Oh, thank goodness for that," Mrs Jordan sighed, sitting down in her armchair. "I'm sorry, dears, I've always been a bit paranoid like that. He's the only family I've got, you see, now my husband's passed away. Though not for long; my first grandchild is due in the next couple of months," she added, smiling proudly.

Kerry perched on the settee opposite Mrs Jordan, already able to feel her heart beating faster than usual. Debbie felt too restless to sit down but eventually did so anyway, for the old woman's sake if not her own.

"That's them, there," Mrs Jordan pointed at a silver-framed photograph on the mantelpiece depicting a handsome young man in his late twenties with his arm around a slightly younger woman with flowing red hair who was visibly pregnant. Kerry and Debbie looked, smiling obligingly, but then Kerry's eyes strayed to another photograph beside it, a much older one of a little girl ...

She gasped, but quickly disguised it as a cough, noticing that Debbie was now gazing in that direction too, her eyes widening slightly.

"That was my daughter," the old woman said, smiling but with obvious sadness. "Was taken from me, sadly, a long time ago ..."

"We know," Kerry blurted out, a little too suddenly.

"Actually, Mrs Jordan, that's why we're here," Debbie said gently, but with a slight tremble in her voice. "It's about Eve."

For a moment, there was silence. Debbie and Kerry were almost too on edge to move at all and stayed sitting but hardly daring to breathe. Mrs Jordan sat up slightly in her chair, though still looking alarmingly calm.

"Eve ..." she murmured. "Her body's been found, hasn't it?"

Again, there was silence, and neither Kerry nor Debbie dared even look at each other. Finally, fighting her building emotions back, Debbie nodded.

"Yes, it has." she said. "I'm sorry."

The old woman sat back in her chair, took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "I must say, I'm quite surprised," she said eventually. "After this long I didn't expect that she would ever be found. I must admit, never knowing all this time has been ... wearing."

"And not even knowing if she was alive," said Kerry, sympathetically.

"Oh, I always knew she was ... wasn't alive," replied Mrs Jordan, matter-of-factly. When you have children you can sense that sort of thing. People kept telling me there was always hope that she'd be found alive, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. So," she said after a long sigh. "Where has she been all this time?"

"This is going to sound a little strange," Kerry began tentatively, "But you know the council offices in town, just off the high street?" She was about to continue when the old woman interrupted.

"You mean where that explosion happened a few weeks ago? I saw about that on the news ... something about an underground tunnel that had been sealed off for nearly forty years. I presume that's where ...?"

"That's right, yes," said Kerry regretfully, looking at the floor.

"Mmm, yes, I suppose that would make sense. Someone we thought might have been involved used to work there. It would be hard to prove now, though; he died a few years afterwards himself, but then it would appear our suspicions were correct after all if that's where she ... I suppose there will be a murder enquiry now, assuming of course that it wasn't just an accident ...?"

"It, um, doesn't look like it, no." Debbie bit her lip. "So yes, I'm afraid it's likely that you'll be asked some more questions by our colleagues."

Mrs Jordan nodded slowly. "I never trusted him. Once he was cleared I kept my feelings to myself, you know, the police had done their job and had arrived at a conclusion, but somehow I always knew he had something to do with it. When I heard he had died I actually felt a little more at peace, strangely enough, even though I had no proof."

"Sometimes you ... you just know, don't you," said Debbie dreamily, fully aware that if any of her other colleagues could see her now, they would assume she'd had a personality transplant.

"That place ... that was where those two policewomen were trapped, wasn't it?" Mrs Jordan said suddenly. "Lucky escape, I hear. They were from your station too, I think; do you know them?"

There was an awkward pause. Kerry and Debbie looked at each other.

"Actually," Kerry said uncertainly after a moment, "that was us."

"Really?" Mrs Jordan looked shocked. "I only asked because I wondered if it was them, or rather, you who found her. Are you both all right now?"

"We're fine, thanks," Debbie smiled reassuringly. "Kerry's back to normal and I'm returning to work in a fortnight. But yes, it was us, well, Kerry who found the sk... Eve."

"It's all right," the old woman smiled sadly, fully aware of what Debbie had almost said. "After forty years there wouldn't be anything else, would there? I hope it didn't, you know, alarm you too much. She was just like that though; always making jokes, laughing... full of life. And bright as a button; she wanted to be in the police when she grew up. She would have, too, you know ..." she faltered and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Shall I get you a glass of water?" Kerry asked quickly, making to rise.

"No, no thank you, dear," said Mrs Jordan, quietly blowing her nose in a handkerchief. "I'll be all right. Well, I'm very grateful to you for finding her, even though I dare say it wasn't deliberate," she added with a small smile. "At last, I know what happened to my little girl. Both of us will be able to sleep soundly now. If there is anything up there," she mused, looking out of the window up at the sky, "She'll be with her father. And in a few years we'll all be together again."

Kerry swallowed hard, feeling her eyes prickle, then reached slowly into her pocket.

"There is one other thing," she said quietly. She drew out the necklace and, unable to think of anything to say, simply lay it out on her hand and leaned over to show Mrs Jordan. The old woman adjusted her glasses to look closely at it and as she did so, her eyes grew wide and she put a hand over her mouth in surprise.

"My goodness," she whispered. "I'd forgotten all about this. It was a present for her tenth birthday, which of course would turn out to be ... her last birthday. Wait a moment."

She stood slowly and walked across the room to a tiny set of drawers perched on the sideboard next to a vase of flowers. She opened the middle one, removed a small, yellowing envelope and gingerly tipped the contents into her hand. Then she returned to her chair where Kerry and Debbie were waiting, both unsure of what was coming next.

"Here," she said softly, opening her hand to show them. In her palm lay a necklace almost identical to the one Kerry held, except it was its mirror image and the letters read "one" and below it, "cial". With trembling fingers, Kerry gently laid her half beside it so that the heart was completed and the words read "Someone Special."

"She was, you know," the old woman smiled, as a tear meandered slowly down her wrinkled face. She really was."

It was already beginning to get dark as Debbie and Kerry walked slowly up the street towards the car. Although the winter sky was still relatively blue, a dark haze seemed to glow around everything and the moon was already shining way above them. They walked in silence for a while; too wrapped up in their thoughts to say anything out loud.

They reached the car at the top of the hill, where a small grassy area provided a beautiful view, which stretched right across the valley onto the town below. Kerry unlocked it and was about to open the door when she paused and instead leaned on the roof, looking across at Debbie, who was doing the same thing and was obviously in deep thought.

"Do you think it's true?" she asked quietly. "That Eve couldn't ... 'move on' as such, until her family found out what had happened to her?"

Debbie shook her head, looking away. "I don't know, Kerry. I don't know what I believe any more." She moved around to the front of the car and perched on the bonnet, looking out over the valley. After a moment, Kerry joined her.

"This was bound to change us," she said gently. "I keep finding myself thinking about things I would have just dismissed as rubbish before. And you," she added, with a smile, "I finally find you're human after all!"

Debbie looked up sharply, but with a sheepish grin. "Mention any of this in the office and I'll have you on paperwork for a month. But ... yeah, you're right. I never let things in, I never let things affect me. I suppose it's always been my way of coping," she added, somewhat regretfully.

"We all have different ways, of coping," Kerry shrugged. "But maybe this whole thing will have done us some good. It sounds corny but I do feel like I've got to know myself a bit better lately. And at least now, we know that ... that there is something more out there.

"It just took an explosion and a near-death experience to make us realize it," Debbie said with a hollow laugh. "And a kid who'd been dead for forty years."

Kerry looked up at the sky, which was now darker and scattered with countless stars. "I just hope she's happy now, wherever she is," she smiled sadly.

As they gazed across the valley, a bright star in the distance suddenly streaked across the sky in front of them; a flash of light which lit up the tableau for a split second before vanishing behind the moon, disappearing forever into eternity.

oOo

I'd like to thank all my regular readers/noters particularly Solostarr, Gem6 and miz greenleaf; your support and the fact that you've taken the time to note each one and reassure me I wasn't mad to think anyone would like it has been invaluable. I don't have any more Bill fics in the pipeline, but I never say never! Chances are there will be some more Casualty and/or Harry Potter ones appearing one day so watch this space! Thank you all again. Hugs to everyone to deserves one! Love Ems xx