"I've got something here that belongs to you." Jack passed a slumbering Joey over to Abi whose face lit up with relief and delight at being reunited with her son. Sam cooed over the small child for a few moments checking him over and making sure he really was ok.
"Thank you so much Jack. Where's Jo? I take it she does know he's ok?" Sam looked around, expecting to see her lover arrive momentarily.
"Jo went after Lisa Carmichael when she ran down the towpath. Lisa had a bundle of sheets in her arms, we had no reason to believe it wasn't Joey she was carrying. Jo followed her onto a bridge, tried to talk her into giving herself and the baby up." The DCI struggled for words, the look of fear on Sam's face, he knew, would be forever etched into his memory.
"Where is she? What happened? Where's Jo?" As the questions poured forth, Sam's tone grew more hysterical, panic seizing her in a vice-like grip and refusing to let go.
"The bridge was condemned, it had been sealed off but Lisa got past the barriers and ran onto it. Jo followed. I'd just let her know that Joey was safe when Lisa tried to leap over the edge. Jo made a grab for her and pushed her to safety on the other bank. The strain was too much, the bridge collapsed into the river below. There's a team of divers on the way, but so far there's no sign of her. Lisa's in custody on her way to the station along with a man we also arrested at the house." Jack watched Sam slump back against the nearest wall, reaching out to her and guiding her into a seat.
"How far did she fall? Could she have survived?" Sam's voice was edged with a pain so raw each word sounded as though it was bleeding.
"The bridge was about fifteen feet above the water, there's always a chance she could have survived. The recent rain and snow had swollen the river, it was a pretty steady torrent."
"And icy cold. She'll be freezing. Jack we have to find her." Shakily, Sam rose to her feet, searching in her pockets for the car keys breaking into wracking sobs as she remembered Jo had driven them to the hospital. "It'll be going dark soon, we have to find her before then or they'll give up. She could be out there dying of hypothermia but they won't look once it's dark."
"Sam, listen to me, Zain and Mickey are there now, along with practically the whole uniform relief scanning the length of the riverbank looking for any sign of her. As soon as they find anything, they're going to let me know. There's no point in you chasing down there as well." Jack attempted to persuade Sam from leaving the hospital but found he was fighting a losing battle when Abi backed her mother having ventured from her cubicle to find out what was the matter.
"Mum, you've got to go and find her." Sam looked to Jack, who threw his hands in the air, knowing when he was defeated, and offered to drive the DI to the scene.
"How long ago did the divers get here?" Sam asked Gina as soon as she jumped out of the car.
"Only about ten minutes. They're just getting kitted up and ready to begin. They think there's about an hour of light left before they have to call it off for tonight." Gina offered Sam the facts, as pointedly and objectively as always, for which the DI was grateful, making it easier for her to remain focused and emotionally detached.
"Where are they starting?" Sam surveyed the fast flowing water, knowing that Jo could be anywhere up to a couple of miles downstream, the futility of the search washing over her but she shook off the melancholic thoughts with a steely determination to find her lover.
"The spot where the bridge collapsed. There was a lot of metalwork went into the water with DC Masters, they need to rule out that she was trapped under anything before widening the search." Gina indicated the remains of the bridge, very little of the structure having survived intact, some remnants just visible above the surface of the water. Sam stared down into the murky river, trying to block out images of Jo pinned to the river bed by tons of old iron, struggling to release herself, all the while the realisation growing that it was hopeless. Closing her eyes briefly, she shivered at the visions her thoughts conjured up before opening them again at the sound of a splash, ripples expanding outwards indicating the location of the diver's descent. Raising one shaky hand to her mouth, Sam traced the outline of her lips with her fingertips, concentrating on her last contact with Jo, the brief kiss they had shared as she raced off to rescue Joey.
"I love you, Jo Masters. Please be ok, please don't leave me on my own." Sam whispered, not caring if any of the other officers present heard her.
The search was progressing slowly with no sign of the detective's body, the hour of daylight slipping away too quickly for Sam's liking.
"Ma'am, we found this downstream." Emma Keane held a limp rag up for Gina's inspection, the colourful material catching Sam's eye.
"That's Jo's, she was wearing it earlier. Where exactly did you find it?" Sam gripped the saturated garment in her hands, never having been so glad to see the scarf, not ever having cared for it a great deal before but suddenly thinking it was the most beautiful thing she'd laid her eyes on.
"This way, Guv." Emma set off at a trot with Sam in hot pursuit, Gina rolling her eyes before following on behind, not sharing her probationer and the inspector's optimism but understanding Sam's need to think positively. "It was caught in the bracken just here." Emma crouched beside the river, pointing to the spot on the riverbank, the furthest point searched so far from the site of the collapse. In the dwindling light, Sam scanned the spot before sweeping her gaze down the river for any further flashes of colour or shapes that seemed out of place, wracking her brain for details of Jo's outfit. Seeing a small flat area a little way down on the opposite bank of the river, Sam squinted at a dark shape motionless on the beach, partially obscured by grass and riverbank foliage, trying to make up her mind whether it was a natural debris or whether it could be a human body. She set off running down the tow path, eyes never leaving the form for fear it would not be there when she looked back, heart hammering as she drew level, frustration growing as she realised she was still too far away to identify the form with any certainty in the gathering gloom.
"Jo? Jo, can you hear me?" Knowing she was grasping at straws, Sam called out to the shape on the opposite side of the river. There was no audible response and no movement leaving Sam frantically searching for a way across the river, needing to know if it was her lover lying so close and yet so unbearably out of reach, possibly gravely ill.
"I've just had word from the divers, they've been down to the wreckage, searched all round it thoroughly and from what they can see, there's no body trapped underneath it. That said, it's getting too dark down there to keep searching, the light's fading quicker than we hoped." Gina was taken aback by the wild-eyed stare Sam pinned her with.
"Is there another way across this river? A bridge near here? Preferably one that won't dump me in the water?" Sam paced the tow path, craning her neck in both directions looking for possibilities mentally gauging her chances of making it across the fast flowing expanse without being washed downriver.
"There's always the boat the divers are using, why?" Gina followed Sam's outstretched arm pointing towards her find. "Sam, I think that's just part of a tree come down with all the rain." The more Gina squinted at the shape, the less convinced she was, seeing Sam's point, the outer layer looking more fabric-like than wooden. Grabbing her radio, she called for the boat to be sent down the river to them, instructing them to search the opposite riverbank when they reached their location, frustrating Sam by not allowing her to clamber into the boat to inspect the shape herself. "This is Inspector Gold, can we have paramedics down here on standby just in case." Gina shushed Sam, assuring her it was just a precaution.
One of the men in the boat hopped ashore examining the large dark form, turning to his audience on the opposite shore holding up Jo's trench coat but giving a thumbs down. Panic momentarily seized Sam, thinking that he meant it was her lover but that the woman was beyond resuscitation. A voice crackled over the radio, "we need more people over here to search the woods. Looks like she's dragged herself out of the river and headed off into the trees. There are footprints in the mud leading into the wood and this jacket didn't climb onto the log by itself." The voice sounded annoyed at the thought of a wild goose chase through the miniature forest.
Grabbing Gina's radio, Sam barked into it, "this is DI Nixon from Sun Hill, get me over there now with a flashlight. DC Masters is my colleague and for all we know she could be injured. At the very least, she is likely to be suffering from hypothermia from the water which will leave her disoriented and confused. We need to find her before the temperature drops any lower." Gina took back the radio organising her troops into teams, sending Tony and Reg in the area car around the roads towards the back of the wood, hoping to head Jo off.
Sam led the way into the imposing darkness beneath the canopy of trees, calling out Jo's name as she went, leading other officers to do the same. They soon left the meagre daylight behind as they searched the densely wooded area for any sign of their colleague, spreading out to cover as large an area as was possible whilst still being within sight of one another. Sam strode on ahead of the group, trying to put herself in Jo's position, wondering where she might go and how rational her thought processes were likely to be given she must be dangerously cold and possibly injured from the fall into the river.
"Sierra Oscar 595 to DI Nixon." Tony's voice sounded loud in the eerily quiet darkness.
Grabbing the radio she had purloined from the pocket of her overcoat, Sam responded, "Go ahead Tony."
"We've found DC Masters, Guv. By the road on the other side of the trees, about half a mile up the river from where the bridge collapsed. We're going to need the paramedics." With little thought for her own safety, Sam raced through the undergrowth, calling for Gina to send the paramedics immediately to Tony's location, intent on reaching her lover's side, fearful of what she might find, so grave had Tony's voice been.
Sam sank to her knees beside the prone form of her lover, the brunette's skin devoid of any colour aside from the ugly scarlet gash oozing blood from her forehead. The blonde DI stroked a hand down Jo's face, tearing her own jacket from her body at the feel of her icy skin, wrapping the heavy woven garment around Jo's upper body hoping to nurture the tiny flicker of life still beating within her.
"Come on sweetheart, stay with me. Joey's safe, he and Abi are waiting for you at the hospital. You can't go anywhere yet, you promised me we'd get married once Joey was back with us." Sam stroked Jo's soaking hair away from her face all the while as she spoke to her quietly, offering her encouragement to keep her fragile grip on life, occasionally breaking off to check her pulse, struggling on each occasion to locate it but eventually finding it sluggishly beating. Sam looked up as the paramedics arrived, moving out of their way to allow them access to work on stabilising the deathly pale brunette.
"Ok, I'm getting no output from her. Start CPR."