Episode 6 Part 1:

A few hours later and a groggy Meredith began to come to, for a moment the fog in her brain clouded her thoughts and she tried to rub her forehead in an effort to clear it, but as she went to move her arm it refused to co- operate; tugging harder in confusion Meredith slowly realised why, her hands were bound together and shackled to something. Then suddenly the memories hit her, the fight with Gavin and fleeing to her car waking up only to find herself in some warehouse district and when she had turned to question James it went blurry. Straining her eyes in the dim light Meredith tried to make out her surroundings, but all she could see were boxes stacked all around her and the thick steel pipe she appeared to be shackled to, straining against her restraints Meredith tried to wriggle a hand free but her captor appeared to have been prepared for that and in addition to the tightly knotted rope he had cuffed one of her wrists to the pipe with handcuffs and a thick padlocked chain.

Starting to really panic Meredith was torn, she could cry out and try and raise the alarm but on the other hand that would also alert her captor that she was awake and she desperately needed time to think. Stifling the tears that threatened Meredith tried to concentrate on who could have done this, of course there was one obvious candidate, one person who would have the skills and the know-how to arrange for this; perhaps this was part of that elaborate revenge he was supposedly helping that Will Montague with? But deep down despite his more than qualified credentials Meredith couldn't bring herself to believe it was Gavin behind all this; it just didn't feel like his style, ruining her financially or blackmailing her, even robbing her now that would have made sense but kidnapping? So who else could it be?

However just as she was wondering about that very thing a strong light directed into her eyes was switched on and Meredith winced in shock burying her head in her lap. "Please whoever you are, just name your price and I'll pay it...." She began determined to keep the fear out of her voice.

"My my caving in already how the mighty have fallen..." A confident and cocky, and immediately recognisable voice crowed out and Meredith's head shot up, squinting through the darkness she managed to lock eyes on a face she knew.

"You!" She gasped astonished.

Across town Gavin Cochrane paced the room, if a few hours ago anyone would have told him he would voluntarily spend the afternoon in a police station willingly assisting the police with their investigation then he would have laughed in their face, but nether the less here he was. However just as the last few times he had visited the police their exchanges had been less than satisfactory. He had immediately called the police on finding out Meredith had been kidnapped, and he was now certain that was the case, she hadn't reappeared at her office and her cleaner had answered the phone at her apartment so she certainly wasn't there and according to her secretary she had missed all of her afternoon appointments so far.

But even so despite his, Danny's and Meredith's driver James's statements the police could only treat it as a missing person's enquiry and that only became active after 24 hrs. That was not good enough for Gavin, he already had his own people hot on the trail but the police had resources he hadn't and he was damned if he was going to let them sit aside and do nothing whilst Meredith was in danger; especially as Danny had finally recognised the driver of the vehicle. So here he was pacing around a police interview room, waiting until some inspector or sergeant finally finished his bloody tea break and condescended to see him, in order to keep his temper in check Gavin contented himself with thoughts of the revenge he would exact when they caught the bastard; smiling tersely he swore that when he caught up with that particular fellow he was going to make him wish he had never been born.

"Will why are you doing this?" Meredith asked for the second time.

"Why not?" Will retorted. "It's something to do and I have plenty of free time on my hands since I can no longer afford to paint!" He added venomously. "You've single-handedly ruined my life, so I thought its time for a little payback, no make that a lot of payback."

"But I can change that; I could release you from your contract..." Meredith began.

"A little too easy..." Will retorted as he paced up and down in front of her. "Besides you've taken more than that from me, but you'll find that out soon enough..." He trailed off laughing hysterically as he drew closer to her and for the first time Meredith got a good look at his eyes and she gasped in horror, he was high as a kite, his pupils were wide and dilated and skin looked pale and clammy.

"What have you taken Will?" She asked.

"Me?" He asked innocently as he slumped down next to her. "What makes you think that?"

"You look ill." Meredith replied. "Let me out of here and I can try and get you help, get you into a clinic, the best clinic I can find..."

"Oh so now you want to help me?" Will snorted, chortling loudly as if she had told a joke. "Well it's too late for me now, so why should I stop it's the only thing that makes the days bearable."

"But it doesn't have to be like that, if you start painting again...." Meredith began.

"What I could put all this behind me and still have a long prosperous career?" Will snapped furiously, the vein in his neck standing out hideously as his face flushed almost purple in his rage. "You know I thought that too once, but then the other day I found out something that put paid to that forever!"

"But if I released you..."

"I would still end up dying anyway." Will hissed grabbing her roughly by the hair and forcing her head back, pushing up his sleeve he thrust his needle marked arm in her face. "See what you did!"

"I didn't know..." Meredith began unable to stop the tears from rolling down her face.

"Well how could you? You blocked all my calls, and told your security people to keep me out of the building." Will snapped twisting her hair viciously and causing her to cry out in pain. "After I lost my painting I lost everything, but I still tried to keep everything going, it just happened so easily and then I was doing it every day and then I couldn't afford it anymore so I moved to another dealer...Do you know what that is like, having to beg someone for something, being treated like dirt but having to come back and take it, doing disgusting things just to get a teaspoon of something that becomes like air. Then going to these seedy parties just in the hope someone will pass around what they've got left, and letting them do whatever they want to you in exchange, not caring about the shame or the pain because you've got nothing left but the habit!...No of course you don't!"

"I'm sorry..." Meredith mumbled, doing her best to ignore the growing feelings of terror in the pit of her stomach.

"You're sorry....You're SORRY!" Will bellowed, smacking her hard round the face and drawing blood. "Tell Meredith how much more sorry are you now?"

"I'm very very sorry..." Meredith mumbled through her split lip, shaking as the taste of her own blood filled her mouth, and bracing herself as she saw the next blow heading her way, catching her hard across the cheek despite her efforts to cower away.

"Not as half as sorry as you are going to be!" Will gloated. "You see it doesn't matter to me Meredith, I've already got a life sentence, but by the time I'm through with you, so will you..." He trailed off laughing hysterically once more.

"About Bloody time." Gavin demanded as the door to the interview room finally opened and he whirled around to face the new arrival. "My my I didn't realise they'd demoted you!" He hissed mirthlessly as instead of the lackey he had been expecting in walked a certain DCI Carol Jordon, accompanied by DS Don Merrick. "So delightful to see you both again, so do what do I owe this honour being sent a both the organ grinder and the monkey."

"I see you've lost none of your legendary charm Mr Cochrane." Carol retorted quickly moving to take a seat at the table and waiting for a reluctant Gavin to sit before she opened the new file in front of her. "So what can we do for you today?" She asked.

"Well you can start by doing your jobs!" Gavin snapped. "I've been here for hours now and you've done nothing, nothing at all to find her, dear god anything could have happened." He added running his fingers through his cropped hair.

"I presume we are talking about a one Meredith Gates." Carol replied quickly studying the case file in front of her and frowning slightly when she scanned the different statements.

"Yes." Gavin replied tersely. "She was abducted from outside my offices, and personally I can't understand why you aren't a little more concerned."

"Well how do you know she's not just hiding from you, I mean we don't exist simply to chance up all the girlfriends who may have skipped out on you?" DS Merrick joked, but the look of pure fury on Gavin's face soon silenced him.

"That's enough Don!" Carol snapped, her concern mounting as the picture of what they were dealing with began to form. "So according to this Danny saw the car being driven by a William Montague, the same William Montague who came to see you almost a month ago asking for your help to get even with Ms Gates, I suppose being a newly reformed character you turned him down...?" Carol asked mockingly.

"It was and is complicated, Meredith and I were already acquainted, I told him I'd see if I could persuade her but I left it at that, I never heard from Mr Montague again!" Gavin retorted.

Frowning at this Carol once more flipped open her file. "Now that is interesting, contrary to what you might have thought Mr Cochrane we have been taking this seriously, very seriously and we've been running extensive background checks on the suspect he has a previous, he was picked up and charged for drug offences, got away with a caution but we noted at that time his mobile number, as that the contact number he gave us for forwarding to the substance misuse support services. However we've just received his statement for the last month and interestingly enough he made fifteen calls to you, mostly to your gallery, a couple to that club you own and even one to your own personal mobile, a call I might add that was answered!"

"What!" Gavin blurted out.

"So I take it that call wasn't answered by you?" Carol demanded. "That there's no chance you were both in this together, and you invited Ms Gates to visit you at your gallery this afternoon with the specific intention of giving Montague the opportunity he needed, then you come here and pretend to co-operate in order to throw us off the scent."

"No!" Gavin snapped. "I would never harm a hair on her head!"

"Why because you're a changed man?" DS Brandon sneered.

"No because I love her damnit!" Gavin retorted angrily slamming his fist down hard on the table and causing both the officers to jump in their seats. "I mean I care about her, I could never hurt her in the way you think she's too important to me, why the hell else would I be here otherwise asking for help from the very people who were willing to ignore the truth and lock me up for crimes I didn't commit!"

"Alright Gavin calm down." Carol muttered as she shuffled her papers uncomfortably. "We'll do whatever we can...But you have to leave this to us, none of your stunts!" She added pointedly. "Despite what he's done I have no desire to have to fish Mr Montague out of the Thames tomorrow just because he decided to take your girlfriend on an impromptu jaunt!"

"You find her alive and well and I promise I won't as much as look at him!" Gavin replied tersely meeting DCI Jordan's eye and holding it.

"I believe we have a deal then, we'll keep you informed." She added standing up slowly and walking towards the door, pausing for a moment to stare in amazement at the man sat by the table, it was hard to believe it was the same man sometimes. "We will find her!" She added softly, causing a distracted Gavin to glance back up.

"You'd better!" Was all he could growl, before he once more began pacing the room.