"Are you sure?" Carol asked him.

Kevin paused, knowing what he wanted to say, weighing it against the facts. "No," he admitted, "but I can feel it, guv."

"We'd better tell Brenda Woodson to watch her back," Don ribbed him.

Kevin smirked. "We shouldn't have to tell her, she should see me coming."

Before they got out of hand, Carol jumped in. "All right, all right. Let's remember why we're here, yeah?" Both men nodded and, satisfied with their response, she continued, "Okay. Convince me."

It had all sounded so plausible in his head on the way back to the office but now, facing the scrutiny of his colleagues, his boss, and Tony Hill, he wasn't so sure. "Well," he wavered, "she has the opportunity. Everything that might have applied to Ian Coles applies to her. Moreso, in fact," he said, warming up. "We said the person who took these boys would be close, but not in direct contact with them. Her husband being a referee gave her a perfect opportunity to befriend these boys in a round about way."

"Befriend the boys without the parents really noticing," Paula said, following his reasoning.

"Exactly. She admitted having Kieran Fisher over for tea. And I'm sure she knew the other boys, too. And I'm telling you, the resemblance between these boys and her brother is uncanny."

"What do you think the connection with her brother is?" Carol asked.

His enthusiasm faltered. "I haven't figured that part out yet."

"And I don't want to rain on your parade, Kevin," said Paula, "but there's no bath in that house."

He was undeterred. "Maybe she didn't kill the boys there."

"Or maybe it's not in a bath at all." Heads swiveled in Tony's direction. "We've made an assumption that it was a bath, but we have nothing to support it. Maybe these boys were killed outside. Or maybe they weren't drowned at all."

"You're doubting the visions of our psychic?" said Carol sweetly.

He didn't take the bait. "What I'm saying is, you're always reminding me we need evidence. There's no evidence to support any one theory regarding the fates of these boys." He turned to Kevin. "She's had a three year window of opportunity to take these boys, or boys of a similar kind. Identify the trigger."

"Separation from her husband; the disappointment of not having children. Possible estrangement with from her brother," he offered.

Tony showed his satisfaction with a smile. "Well done, Kevin."

The young man tried not to blush. "Three years of you hanging about, I should pick up something, yeah?"

"I hate to sound like a broken record here," Don interrupted, "I mean, identifying a trigger is all well and good, but the evidence?"

"If we go with her as our suspect, there's no way she did anything in that house," Paula declared.

Kevin concurred. "Definitely took place somewhere else."

"So we need to find out if she or her husband have another place. Considering he's staying in a flat, it would have to be a cottage or the like, somewhere outside of Bradfield. See what kind of records you can find, Don. Do we have anything else, Paula?"

She made a face. "Sorry. We've followed up on every potential nutter and possible lurker. There's nothing that's out of the ordinary or can't be explained. I think most parents were clutching at straws in the first place. Though I don't blame them, what with everything that's happening around them. We've got no witnesses to the kidnappings. Both Kieran and Thomas were walking home from the park when they were taken. And the kids who were playing with David at the time all say he was sitting off to the side; they didn't notice he'd gone until, well, he was gone."

Carol grimaced. "I don't think the parents are the only ones here clutching at straws," she conceded.

"Bring Ian Coles back in," Tony suggested. "Now that we know what we might be after perhaps we can get the substantiation we need through him."

Carol gave this some thought before agreeing. "Paula, give him a call. See if you can get him in here."

"I'm on it," she said, and departed.

"What about me, guv?"

"Go get yourself a coffee and take a breather, Kev," she commanded. "You did good work."

"I hope so."

Paula poked her head back into the room. "Sorry. There's a call for you," she told Carol. "Diane Cromwell."

Carol closed her eyes and sighed.

"Let me guess," Kevin predicted, "they've called in a medium." Carol shot him a sharp look and he coughed to cover his gaffe. "I'll be at my desk." he said, and beat a hasty retreat.

"It's just his way of dealing with things, Carol," Tony gently reminded her

"Doesn't mean I have to like it though, does it?" Rubbing her forehead, she murmured, "Sorry. Look, don't go anywhere; I'll be right back, yeah?"

"Yeah."

--

Only too aware of the flashing red light signaling the call holding, Carol sat on the edge of her desk clenching and unclenching her fists several times before she picked up the receiver. She punched the button to retrieve the call, "Carol Jordan."

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. "Miss Jordan, it's Diane Cromwell."

"I'm glad you called, Mrs. Cromwell. How are you?" Carol cringed at the question.

After another long pause, the woman answered, "As well as can be expected, I suppose."

"I'm sorry."

"I… I heard the Fishers called in a psychic."

"Yes."

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I don't suppose…"

She waited for her to finish, and when nothing else was said, Carol softly replied, "We weren't able to get anything of any real merit, unfortunately." No matter what her own personal views were of Brenda Woodson and her ilk, there was no sense in sharing those with a woman who already had enough to deal with as it was. "We are following up on a couple of leads, Mrs. Cromwell. I don't want to get your hopes up, but I also want to assure you that we are pursuing this investigation to the fullest."

"I know. Marcus told us you questioned him." There was a shaky laugh at the end of her comment.

Carol smiled at the memory. "Yes, I think perhaps we were a bit overzealous in our questioning."

"No, no," Diane quickly said. "Be as zealous as you like. That's what we want, isn't it? We want you to do everything you can." Her voice cracked and Carol heard her stifle a sob.

"We are doing everything we can," Carol re-assured her. "And the minute we find out anything, we will let you know, I promise you that, Mrs. Cromwell."

"I know," she said at long last. "Thank you."

"Thank you for calling."

Carol replaced the receiver back on its cradle and let out a long heavy sigh into the silence of her office.

--

"Went well?" Tony asked as Carol returned to the room.

"Better than expected," she replied. "Kevin will be pleased to know they didn't hire a medium."

Their exchange of smiles was a welcome relief to the sombre mood that permeated the office.

"She's an incredibly strong woman, considering what she's going through. I don't think I could do it, I'll tell you that much."

Tony shook his head in disagreement. "You never really know what you're capable of until you're faced with it, Carol."

She wondered if he was basing his comment on his own personal experiences, many of which Carol knew were filled with their own kinds of horror. It was in these quiet moments that she wondered if she really knew him, if she ever would. His eyes never lit up at the completion of a case the way hers did. She worked on setting it aside and moving forward; he carried it with him. Maybe it was because she worked in monochrome and his world was awash with greys. She wondered what he saw in his face when he looked in the mirror, besides the lines that told a story of every nightmare he ever had. It was when he smiled that she felt joy, a relief in knowing some of those lines were created by happiness in his life. There weren't many, she admitted, but there were more now than when she had first met him, and she took some measure of joy from that as well.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

She looked into warm blue eyes that had taken a respite from turmoil and now looked back at her with a hint of sly curiosity. "I was thinking how much I liked your smile." At the first sign of his brows lowering in puzzlement, she interjected sternly, "Smiling. Not frowning." He couldn't have stopped his smile sneaking out from the corner of his mouth if he tried.

For the second time that day, Paula interrupted them from the doorway. "Ian Coles is here."

--

If he was nervous the first time he was in for questioning, Ian Coles was downright jumpy now. As Tony and Carol sat opposite the referee, he crossed and uncrossed his arms at least twice.

"I was told on Friday that my services as a referee were no longer needed," he said by way of introduction.

Carol paused, midway to her chair, then sat. "I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Coles."

"Word got out about the pictures," he accused. "I'm a bloody pariah."

"They didn't come from this office, I assure you," she replied. "I am sorry," she repeated sincerely. In Carol's book, no one deserved to be judged by the ignorance of others.

He waved off her apology. "A lot of good it does me, doesn't it? So, are you going to arrest me?"

Carol's notable impatience came to the fore. He had made his point, and to belabour it was only pissing her off. "Should I?"

Realizing he was pushing his luck he shook his head. "No."

"Good. So let's just chat then."

"About what?"

"How long have you been separated from your wife?"

His brow wrinkled in confusion. "What? I… about six months, why?"

"No kids?"

"No."

"Is that a conscious choice, or…?"

His expression remained one of puzzlement. "I don't understand what this has to do with anything."

"You don't have to understand, Mr. Coles," Carol told him. "Considering the severity of the situation, would it be so hard to just answer my questions?"

Looking down sadly, he replied, "No, I suppose not." He rested his head in his left hand and kept his eyes down. "It was a conscious choice. Ruth is a wonderful person; very kind, very loving. She would have made a great mother. But she's… she panics around children, I suppose is the best way to put it." He looked up and saw both Tony and Carol waiting for more. "She worries unnecessarily, worries she's going to drop them or hurt them in some way."

"It's a natural reaction," Tony explained. "Most adults when confronted with the unpredictable nature of a child feel experience a moment of panic, a loss of control."

"You can't possibly understand what it's like for Ruth; she trembles, has difficulty breathing, gets dizzy spells. I've never seen anything like it."

"And what was your reaction to the decision to not have children?" Carol asked.

"We discussed it before we got married, so it wasn't a surprise to me. At the time, we were young. I didn't want children then anyway."

Carol caught the tense. "And now?"

"Now," he sighed, "now I'm living in a flat by myself."

"It's why you became a referee," Tony noted. "To be around children."

Coles nodded.

Tony tilted his head. "And how did your wife take it, you being around children? I mean, you had Kieran Fisher over for dinner on more than one occasion. How did your wife handle that situation?"

His eyes lit up. "She was fine, absolutely fine. A bit nervous at first, but so was he. After a while, they got along famously."

"Perhaps it was the age group," Tony speculated. "At that age, children are quite durable. To some extent, they can be left to their own devices without causing much worry. They can articulate what they want or what's wrong to some degree, so that an adult who might otherwise feel helpless is made to feel they can make things better for the child. The fulfillment of a natural tendency to protect."

"Did your wife take part in any of the activities of the Knights? Did she go with you to games or volunteer in any way?"

"Not really, no," he answered. "Although, the last year or so, she was coming to more games. I think the times Kieran came over showed her she had nothing to worry about."

"But she still didn't want children."

"No."

Tony leaned forward and clasped his hands on top of the table. "It's an unusual fear your wife has. Most people, when exposed to their fear will gradually defeat it over time. Your wife's willingness to be in the presence of children should have steadily grown stronger, and her tolerance of younger children would have increased. Any idea what might have caused this fear in the first place? Most fears develop in childhood –do you know of any event that would have triggered such an anxiety?"

"It was the brother," Carol replied, as if the answer was written on the table.

Tony's eyes widened and he looked at her in amazement. "Of course!"

Coles' mouth was agape. "Yes. How in the world…?" When the pair didn't respond, he continued, "She was ten, he was six. They had gone swimming somewhere south of Bradfield, where their parents had a cottage. She barely ever spoke about it and when she did, it was like pulling teeth. It's very difficult for her, even now, over twenty-five years later."

Carol felt like she had been punched in the stomach. "He drowned."

"Yes."

She stole a quick glance at Tony. His ashen face spoke volumes.

"She couldn't help him?" Tony inquired.

"She couldn't swim," Coles said in return. "She was torn between running for help and leaving her brother to drown alone."

Carol frowned. "How far was the cottage?"

"I don't know. I've never been."

"Explains the bath," Tony murmured.

"Pardon?"

"Hmmm? Oh, sorry. You didn't have a bath in your house. Among other things, your wife's hydrophobic." Blank stares came back from Carol and Coles. "A fear of water."

"Well, she's not manic about it, if that's what you mean," he defended, "but I suppose I wouldn't say she's overly fond of it, either." A thought occurred to him, and he sat back with his arms folded. "Wait a minute. What does all this have to do with the missing boys?" His face slowly went from confusion to suspicion to shock. "You can't think… Ruth would never… oh my god."

Pulling out a piece of paper and a pen from her jacket, Carol asked, "Where's this cottage?"

Coles blinked. "I don't know; I told you, I've never been. Doesn't matter anyway. Her mother died shortly afterwards and her father passed on a little over a year ago. Ruth had the place demolished. I guess it was the only way she could try and start fresh."

"Any other place she might go to?"

"No," he answered. "Even without kids, we're not exactly well off." He looked shell-shocked. "I can't believe this."

"Mr. Coles, I can't urge you enough –this goes no further than this room." His eyes remained glassy. "For your wife's sake." This got his attention. "Think of what you've gone through all because of a small part of your past being exposed. Even in the best case scenario, if this were to come out about your wife, think about how it would affect her."

"Yeah." With more conviction, he repeated, "Yeah." He ran a trembling hand through his hair. "I suppose you'll… you'll bring her in to speak with her." Carol nodded. "I'd like to be here when you do. For her."

"That would be good, Mr. Coles. There's an area downstairs by the front desk where you can wait, if you like. I can send someone for you as soon as your wife arrives."

"Okay," he agreed and stood up. Using the edge of the table for support, he barely staggered out of the room.

The door scarcely clicked shut before Carol swiveled to look at Tony. "Well?"

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think it supports Kevin's theory, and he'll be very happy when I send him over to pick her up, the clever bastard."

Tony smiled but said, "Get the location of the cottage. She won't be at home."

"But Coles said it was demolished." He waited patiently for her to sigh, "All right, all right. I'm on it." They both stood up at the same time and bumped into each other. Holding his arm for support, she said, "If she's not at home, are you up for a ride?"

"Of course."

"Good."

She could feel the fire begin to build inside her, as it always did when she grew confident a case was nearing its end. She would only show this enthusiasm to him, because she knew that if it went badly, he would remain at her side. She searched his eyes for a similar spark, but found none. His blue eyes gazed back, a hint of torment, a hint of pain, but also a fair amount of empathy and strength. She framed his face with her hands.

"We all need our anchors, Tony."

He was three steps behind her as he tried to decipher her meaning.

--