The next day, Liz is working late in her office, having promised Steve she would make dinner for them both later tonight and so is waiting for him to finish. She had seen officers escorting Roz Huntley and her lawyer, who she had heard from whispers about the office was also the lawyer of her husband Nick, Jimmy Lakewell, into the interview room where Steve, Kate and Ted were waiting. Steve had seemed much more confident going into the investigation after their conversation the day before, a weight having been lifted from his shoulders, helping him to raise his head higher. Some of that cockiness she had become so fond of over the years, despite the trouble it had often caused, returning to his demeanour.
Something was still on his mind, though. She could see it glinting in his eye whenever he glanced her way, his brow conflictedly creasing before softening as she caught his eye - almost as if he were about to say something before catching himself and swallowing it back down.
Curious. But she won't push. He had already come so far in opening up to her about his injuries.
The group has been in there for over an hour now, finally having the chance to arrest Huntley and make her answer for the gaps in their investigation into her obvious misconduct. Most other AC-12 staff had headed home by now, leaving just her in her office and the others in the interview, though Liz had also heard Desford was in the building somewhere, listening in to the recording.
Suddenly, Liz hears the interrogation room door fly open, watching as Ted storms out to grab his jacket from a nearby desk, donning his hat and instructing a handful of officers to follow after him.
"Secure these exits," he hears him shout to two uniformed officers, urgently.
Liz stands from her desk, curious as to what is going on and admittedly frightened by his tone, and stands in her doorway to watch as he leaves in haste. Kate then runs by, Liz calling out to her, the woman slowing her pace as she passes by her office, encouraging the woman to walk alongside her over to her own desk.
"What's going on?" Liz asks as Kate frantically busies about her desk, collecting files and turning on her computer.
"Huntley provided evidence against her lawyer, Lakewell. Him and Hilton are in on it, they arranged the attack on Steve," Kate says, quickly.
"Hilton? The ACC?" Liz exclaims, shuddering.
She had known. Maneet had told her all those weeks ago. Why had she not said something sooner?
Things had moved so fast since then, and with Steve in his condition, she had not found the right time to disclose it or work out how to best approach the matter so Maneet would not have to face such harsh consequences.
"Gaffer is on his way there now, I'm going with him," Kate says before moving past her in a hurry, grabbing her own coat and following after the older man.
Liz turns to look into the interview room, seeing Steve sitting opposite Roz Huntley, Jimmy Lakewell standing helpless in the corner of the secured room. Looking to the exits, Liz sees a uniformed officer now stationed at every one. Unnerved, she moves over to the glass room, Steve noticing her and giving her a concerned glance. Liz raises a brow, unsure if she can actually enter the room with the other two present, unsure of officiality and the level of threat from the other two. Instead, Steve wheels himself over to the door, opening it just slightly and resting it against the wheel of his chair to prop it open so he can speak to her.
"You ok?" he asks, looking over his shoulder briefly.
"Yeah, what's going on?" Liz asks, a little breathless as she glances uneasily to the other two in the room with him.
Steve goes to respond, to sum it up as best he can, but it is Roz Huntley who speaks up first, facing forward and solemn, "There was a conspiracy. I was never in on it."
The woman, her arm in a sling with dark circles sagging her eyes - exhausted - continues to drawl, tiredly, "I thought I was playing them, but I was the one being played."
Steve scoffs, "That's half the story. Hilton counted on you putting your career ahead of the truth."
Huntley almost seethes, "Jimmy set me up with Hilton. He knew how desperate I was to close the case, and how open I was to being pressurised."
"No one needed me to point that out," the other man in the room now speaks up, looking over at the woman, bitterly.
Liz is not entirely sure what is going on, only watches as they continue to bicker. She is sure Steve will fill her in later, whenever whatever is going on is done with.
"Tim Ifield dead, Michael Farmer and Hana Reznikova in prison," Steve points out to the woman, "From where I'm sitting it looked like you made those choices all by yourself."
Roz shakes her head, defiant, "I am not a bad person. Maybe you would have done the same if you were in my situation."
"I'd have stopped sooner," Steve states, adamant, "I'd be able to walk and you'd have two hands."
Liz's gaze flicks to the woman's arm sling, not having known her injuries were to such an extent. What the hell happened? She turns away from the woman then and to the other man. Though not entirely sure of the full situation with Huntley and what exactly she is guilty of, Kate had said this man is in-part responsible for what happened to Steve, of setting up his attack. And that is enough to make her hate him.
The man catches her eye, buckling under the young woman's glare, taking a seat. Steve seems to notice the way Liz has tensed beside him, her arms now folded across her chest as she stares Lakewell down.
"So who's Balaclava Man?" Steve says, trying to break the heavy silence and get answers.
"Balaclava Men, plural," Lakewell discloses as he turns his gaze away from Liz, knowing it is too late for him so he may as well speak, "If you don't do their bidding, a body gets taken out of cold storage with your DNA all over it."
Liz tenses at the familiar MO.
Lakewell shakes his head with a shrug, "You think Hilton's top dog? How come he bricks it every time a new body is found?"
"Tell us who he is. We'll give you immunity," Steve tries to barter, desperate for answers.
"There are some people there is no immunity from," Lakewell states, clearly afraid, diminishing Steve's hopes.
"Thanks for holding them," a voice suddenly speaks up behind Liz. She turns to see Jamie Desford approaching them, determined, "We're taking it from here."
He barges past her and into the room, forcing Steve to wheel himself backward and out of the way.
"Taking him where?" Steve asks as Desford pulls out his phone from his pocket.
"Protective custody. Assumed name, undisclosed location," Jamie explains, quickly, the phone to his ear.
"I'll need to run that by the gaffer," Steve says.
"Yeah, sure," Jamie brushes off, looking away.
Steve sends Liz a wary glance before wheeling himself out of the room and to the nearest desk.
"Yeah, good to go up here," Jamie says down the phone, avoiding Liz's eye, "You set up downstairs?"
Steve pulls his own phone out of his pocket, calling Ted who immediately answers, unnerved, "Steve!"
"Sir, just to let you know, AC-9 are here to take Lakewell into protective custody."
"Hlton's been tipped off. Do not comply!" Ted shouts down the phone.
"Will do. Thanks, sir," Steve says, pretending all is fine and the tone of Hastings' voice has not unnerved him. With a wary glance over his shoulder to the people in the room, including Liz just outside it, Steve wheels himself back around, "Yeah, all good."
"Yeah, good," Jamie says, once again putting his phone to his ear and informing someone, "Yeah, we are on our way down."
Steve then watches uneasily as Desford instructs Lakewell to turn around and places him in handcuffs.
"Where am I going exactly?" Lakewell asks as the cuffs are secured around his wrists.
"I am not at liberty to disclose," Jamie informs, leading him out of the room.
"What about me?" Huntley asks.
"Uh, a different custody location. Another team's coming for you," Steve watches as Jamie lies, passing him by.
"You'll want the DIR disk," Steve says, gesturing to the recording machine and trying to buy some time for the others to return to AC-12, "I'll run off a copy."
"Nah, no, you're alright, mate," Jamie says, sweat dripping from his brow as he pushes the other man forward past the desks, "I don't want to hang about. Standby for further instructions, yeah?"
Liz catches Steve's eye as they watch them pass, and immediately knows something is wrong. She can tell by the way Steve's brow has creased slightly in the middle, his right eyebrow now raised slightly higher than the left. Her heart begins to beat a little quicker, tense.
Steve wheels himself slowly after them, Liz remaining by the interview room where Huntley remains seated, also watching the two men approach the lift to leave.
Jamie presses the button to hail it, becoming stressed when there is no following sound of it beginning to open or move. He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand before turning back to Steve, "What's wrong with this thing, man?"
Steve shrugs, acting indifferent, "Slow this time of night."
Liz knows that is not the case. If AC-12 has secured the building, the lift is stopped out of order to prevent any exits. Liz can hear Roz stand from her seat, moving to be beside her, also having caught on to the young officer's strangely erratic behaviour and curious as to what is going on.
Desford presses the buttons a few more times, shifting uneasily on his feet before rounding back on Steve, "What the hell are you trying to do?"
Steve knows Desford has caught on, that he cannot keep up the pretence any longer, so lowers his voice, "Listen to me, Jamie. We know someone tipped off Hilton."
Liz deflates at the information, feeling the woman beside her tense too at the explanation.
"He sent you, didn't he?" Steve asks the young man, who looks to each of them, unnerved.
"I just need this lift working, mate," he tries, knowing he has been caught.
"The lifts have been disabled," Steve informs him, raising his voice, "And you need to wake up, mate. Lakewell isn't going into custody. HIlton's never going to let that happen."
This seems to catch Jamie's attention back from the failed lift, him rounding on Steve with a raised brow.
Steve continues, encouraged by the man's naïve confusion, "I bet you he even told you what route to take, didn't he? No prizes for guessing what's going to happen in transit. You'll just be collateral damage."
Jamie's fists begin to shake at his sides as Steve's words settle, him clearly realising the truth of his situation but too stubborn to back down.
"I'm not going anywhere," Lakewell insists, fearing for his own safety.
Jamie reaches for him anyway, grabbing him roughly by the arm and forcing Lakewell alongside him as he heads another way, "Come on, we're taking the stairs. And you're talking bollocks."
"He's right, Jamie," Liz then speaks up, moving closer to them with Huntley beside her. The young man whips his head to her, his step faltering slightly, not having expected her to say something. He's listening. There's a chance.
"No, no Hilton's got my back, 110%," he shouts as he once again starts to move towards the stairwell.
"That's exactly what he said to me," Huntley speaks up now, venom and despair lacing her tone.
That seems to get Jamie to stop and take another look back, halting just outside the doors.
"You walk out of here, you're a dead man," Steve states, bluntly.
Jamie seems to think it over for a moment, his eyes frenzied as they flit between each person in the room, surveying his options.
"Armed police!" a voice can suddenly be heard reverberating up the stairwell from the foyer below. That seems to trigger Jamie's flight, him beginning to once more push the handcuffed man to find another exit.
"Stop him!" Steve yells to the uniformed officers who begin to approach-
Until Desford pulls a gun from his inside pocket.
Liz takes a step closer to Steve, standing just behind his wheelchair as Jamie points his gun toward each officer, still pulling Lakewell along with him.
She has to stop herself from reaching out when Steve wheels himself forward closer to the man a little, arms then resting in the air beside him head in a surrender, "Don't do this, Jamie!"
Liz inhales sharply as Desford turns the gun to him, pointing it at Steve's face. It shakes in his unsteady hand.
Huntley also takes a step closer, holding her sling and pleading to him, "Jamie, don't…Jamie there's still a way out of this for you. Don't trust the wrong man. Don't make the same mistake I did."
A gunshot is then heard downstairs, making Liz jump. What the hell is going on?!
Desford seems shaken by the sounds too, his eyes wide in fear as the gun shakes even more in his hand. It is still pointed to Steve who makes another approach, speaking softly, "Cooperate with our inquiry into Hilton and you're in the clear, but that's only if no-one gets hurt!"
Steve's eyes flick quickly over his shoulder to Lizzie, who stands watching with a hand over her mouth, eyes wide in fear.
They can hear shouting downstairs in the silence of the office as Desford weighs up his options. Then, there is another gunshot.
Desford jumps again.
"All you've got to do is give me the firearm," Steve says, as calmly as he can, reaching his arm out slowly.
Jamie watches the movement of it, the gun wavering in his hold.
"Just give me the fire-arm," Steve pleads.
Jamie seems to consider before several officers with guns come barging through the doors, "Armed Police! Armed Police!"
Liz takes a step back, noticing Hastings and Kate also running into the room, Ted with a shotgun in his hand. They halt when they see Desford, training their weapons on the young man.
"Drop the firearm, Jamie," Ted instructs.
"Do as he says, Jamie," Steve pleads, "Listen to him."
Red dots shake against his chest from where the guns are trained on him. Jamie huffs deeply, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
"There's a fella lying dead downstairs because he didn't cooperate," Ted informs them, to Liz's shock and disgust, "Don't test us, Jamie."
Jamie looks around the room, to all the guns and gazes turned his way.
"Come on, mate," Steve tries again, "Give me the gun."
Jamie hesitates, then slowly lowers the gun until it rests in Steve's hands. The room lets out a collective breath. Steve closes his eyes in relief, wheeling himself backward so officers can make the rightful arrests. Jamie is pushed against a wall and searched down for any more weapons, Lakewell is moved away though still cuffed, and Huntley is escorted by another officer back to the interview room to await her own arrest. Liz hangs by the edge of the crowd, not wanting to get in the way as well as to have a moment to recover her nerves. She watches as Ted nods to Steve, Kate patting him on the shoulder, and then as Steve's eyes search the room before finding hers. They both breathe a sigh of relief.
A week later, the two AC-12 officers along with their Superintendent are sitting in the conference room, looking across the various images pinned to the three boards in front of them. Everyone and anyone they have investigated that could be linked to organised crime is there, staring back at them. They turn to the door as it begins to open, Liz peeking her head around it.
"Come in, Beth. Come," Hastings encourages, folding his arms where he perches against one of the tables.
Liz closes the door behind her, moving further into the room to stand beside Steve, placing a soft hand on his upper back in greeting. He turns to smile at her as she lowers it to her side, trying to be subtle as he shifts his weight to lean closer to her on his crutches. She had smiled so brightly when he had turned the corner of the hospital corridor after his rehabilitation appointment four days ago, looking up from her seat to see him walking - though shakily - with the assistance of his new crutches. He was sure his legs would give out because of it, trembling more under the weight of her relief than his own body. But she was there, as always, skipping over to him and placing an arm around his shoulders to help him on his way.
They had rushed back to the office pretty swiftly after that - as fast as he could, insisting to walk the short way from the hospital to the office to get some practice using the crutches - upon getting the call ACC Derek Hilton was dead. Found with a gun in his hand, a hole in his head. Ruled as suicide officially, but they knew better. The body of Oliver Stephens-Lloyd, a social worker trying to blow the whistle on child sexual exploitation, had also been found at that same site many years before, AC-12 having come across his death during their investigation into Sands View Boys Home in the years prior. His death was made to look like suicide too.
Hilton had been tipped off by Jamie, could have easily made a run for it. Or, perhaps, he knew the game was up.
All proceedings against Michael Farmer were discontinued, Lakewell had pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and declining to enter the witness protection scheme, and Roz Huntley had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Timothy Ifield and also perverting the course of justice. It should have felt like a victory. Although, with all the images and names and statements and dead-ends and holes on display on the boards, it feels like anything but.
He watches as Liz turns to look at the board, eyes scanning over the images. Her brow creases before she settles on one, her face then falling completely. The rosiness of her cheeks have faded instantly, her bottom lip suddenly chewed between her teeth. Her eyes have dulled, despite the slight shimmer of what he fears are tears. Following her line of sight, Steve's heart falls as he too glares at the image of the man looking back at them. Cottan.
Steve forces himself to stand straighter, neither swaying closer or further from her - torn between the two. He is disheartened, yes, seeing the effect the man clearly still has on the woman. But he is more so concerned as she stares, eyes glazed with memories of all that had transpired between them and because of him.
"So, what have we got?" Hastings asks suddenly, breaking the quiet.
Steve takes a deep breath, both relieved and bothered by having the chance to turn their thoughts away from the man who betrayed them, and that Lizzie has now turned her attention to him again.
Steve points to an open file, an image of a man lying dead with a bullet wound on his forehead shown beside a profile.
"The man you shot in the lobby, sir," Steve begins, "he's been identified as a known violent criminal with long-term associations going all the way back to Tommy Hunter. Activity on Balaclava Man's burner phone matches all his known haunts."
Kate speaks up now, turning the page in the file for Steve who would otherwise struggle to reach because of his persisting injuries, "His biometrics are an exact match to the images of Balaclava Man captured on the night of Leonie Collersdale's disappearance and the day of the attack on Steve. Even down to his boot print."
The woman slides out a picture of the man, walking to the board to pin his photo up with the rest.
"You got him, sir," Steve nods, confirming.
"I got one of them," Ted shakes his head, "There may be others still at large. God knows what they're up to."
"And the consistent method has been to exploit vulnerable young women," Kate says, as Steve turns to look back at Liz, noticing her eyes have drifted back to the photograph of the other man, "to blackmail officers into fearing they'd be incriminated in serious offences."
"They had that hold over Hilton too," Steve says as he looks away from Liz to the others, getting himself back on track after being distracted by her distraction, "Whether or not he was 'H'."
"'H'?"
The three AC-12 officers turn to the young woman as she speaks up, quietly, tearing her eyes away from the board. Liz folds her arms, frowning and waiting for one of them to explain the codename.
They glance between themselves, silently asking who is ready to take this one. Steve clears his throat, knowing it should be him.
"As, uh- as Dot was- after he was shot, Kate asked him to blink on the first letter of whoever is behind all this," Steve says, swallowing uncomfortably as he watches her shoulders tense.
"We believe 'H' is a codename for whoever is at the top, running things from inside the force," Kate continues, helping Steve who is clearly bothered by Liz's apparent distress at being reminded of that day.
A silence lingers over them as Liz nods, slowly, her eyes flicking to the picture of the man once more before she moves to sit in one of the chairs, looking timidly to her feet.
Kate watches as Steve follows her with his eyes, slightly swaying uneasily on his crutches. She can tell he wants to comfort her, though bittered somewhat at her evident continued grief. After what Steve had disclosed to her about Liz, how he feels about her, Kate knows it is not a bitterness to the woman. No, it could never be. It is a bitterness toward the ghost of that man that still haunts them both. The pain of what he did that scars them, deep under the surface. That prevents them from both truly moving on, together, without Cottan looming over them.
She is glad Steve has spoken to her, told the truth about his injuries and that he has struggled. But she can tell by the way he still continues to only risk glances at her when he knows she isn't looking, snapping his eyes forward at the slightest turn of her head as to not get caught, that he did not confess everything. Kate knows so much has been going on, but cannot help wonder how much longer it will take for Steve to break - or perhaps even Liz, if her suspicions are correct...
"So that means Hilton was not top dog," Kate then says, continuing their discussion as to break the heavy silence.
"Top in the police," Hastings says, raising a suggestive brow, clearly still suspicious about the dead ACC.
Steve looks back to the image of the man, "But not among the real criminals."
Ted shakes his head as he looks to the younger man, "What, bent coppers not criminal enough for you, son?"
He lowers his head, a little embarrassed at the Superintendent's tone, "Sir."
But Hastings sends him a smirk, assuring him the comment was all in jest. A weak attempt to lighten the mood while considering the daunting task that lay ahead of them, having missed their man once again.
Ted raises his chin, assuredly, "I am satisfied 'H' was ACC Hilton."
Kate and Steve share a look, not so convinced. There has to be more to this. There are two many holes. This is far from over.
"Take my photograph down off that board, Kate," Hastings then instructs, voice stern.
The woman does as he asks before returning to lean against the table beside him. Steve once more glances at Liz seeing her already looking his way. They share a small smile, one he hopes comes across as encouraging, similar to the many she has sent to him over the past few months, before both turning to join Ted and Kate looking over the board.
There are so many images, Liz is unsure where to start even looking. Hunter, Denton, Waldron, Huntley, Hilton, Dot - just to name a few. Feeling her eyes drawn to his image in particular, Liz allows herself to glare. She has to confront this, not buckle under the pressure of it as she has allowed herself to so ignorantly until now.
"This is beginning to feel like a life's work," Ted then states, sighing before he stands and leaves the room. Steve and Kate share a glance as he goes, clearly agreeing.
Liz then suddenly stands from her seat herself, mumbling something about 'seeing them later' before heading out the door her godfather had just left. Steve feels himself drawn behind her, moving to push himself from the table but groaning with the effort with his still-injured spine. She likely needs time alone, despite his heart aching to follow her. So he stares after the woman until the door slams shut behind her, closing Liz out of his sight.
She is not entirely sure why she came here. Liz had only ever visited this place once, a long time ago last year. She had only stayed a moment, briefly passing it by out of curiosity of what the plaque would look like. The one she convinced Hastings to have commissioned in exchange for her taking a few weeks off work, back after it all happened last year. It was as plain as expected, nothing fancy at all. Just his name - Matthew Cottan - his date of birth and the day he died. But Liz believed he deserved something, to be remembered.
Liz thought it might help, coming here. Get her to look at things more objectively in the quiet, realise things she may have missed when blindsided by emotion. Just as she had with him. Liz refuses to allow that to happen again, and perhaps that is why she wants him to be remembered. Hoping to never forget how easy it was for her to be turned, manipulated by something so simple as kindness and praise. Whether it was more than that, for either of them, is beside the point. She should have known, could have done something - anything!
But no. Instead, he is scattered somewhere. A sparse piece of cracked stone barely clinging to the wall, starkly contrasted by other names surrounding his, donned with flowers and other precious items of remembrance. That is all that is left of him now - that, and the ache in Liz's heart.
Not to mention the chaos he left behind too. The lack of leads, the loss of time and the scarcity of hope.
She wants it to be solved, she has to know. What is really going on? Who is behind it? More so she can begin to comprehend the most important question of all: Why?
Steve - despite his assurances Dot had truly cared for her, and stresses of the reasons why he would have - would say she is being too sympathetic. That she should try to forget and move on.
But this isn't about Steve. Or Dot for that matter.
This about her. Her being true to herself.
And truthfully?
She is tired. So, very tired.
Tired of the stress, of the cost, the confliction, the guilt - tired of being tired!
Liz just wants it to be over with. Or to get away, even. Just for a moment.
The case is going nowhere, not for a while. And, yes, they need to stop whoever is out there doing whatever they are doing. But they should not pass this opportunity to breathe.
Liz trusts her friends to do the right thing and try their hardest, as always. AC-12 are the best at what they do. So what is there for Liz?
Do what you do best, a voice, sounding eerily like her own, whispers in her head.
And what is it I do best? she asks herself.
You listen.
And so, for once, Liz listens to that voice in her head, not dismissing it as in the disinterest of others first and selfish.
She deserves to be selfish, doesn't she? After everything that has happened?
Still, Liz finds herself considering everyone else's situation first before indulging in her own - like an impulse.
Steve is recovering well, Kate has promised to reach out and talk to Mark, and Ted is, well, Ted. They don't need her, not really.
The only person who truly needs her attention right now is herself.
If you were your own client, what would you say?
Liz thinks on it.
That I need to do what is best for me.
And so, wiping her eyes of the tears that had welled there, Liz takes in a breath. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she dials the number. As she waits for it to ring, she gives the plaque before her another glance and reads the name one last time.
Liz then turns and walks away, leaving him behind, as a voice speaks to her on the other end of the call.