A/N: Hi, y'all. Here's a new chapter.
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"Steve, wait!" Kate cried out when her partner suddenly threw open the door and jumped out, rushing towards the cottage.
Swearing, she also got out of the car to chase after him. "Come on, Steve. Slow down!"
Ignoring her calls, Steve shoved his way through the undergrowth and brambles to get to the front door, which stood slightly open. He went abruptly still when he came to realize how extremely bizarre the whole situation was.
Kate reached his side, brushing errant leaves and pollen from her hair and jacket. "What now? Do you dare to enter?"
He glanced at her, looking unsure. "I dare not, but I have to."
"This is a private property, Steve. We're trespassing."
"I'm aware of that, ma'am. So you should stay out here. Let me go in there alone."
She sent him a pointed look. "Fat chance, mate. We're in this together."
The two partners exchanged brief smiles at that, and made their careful approach until they stood right at the cottage doorstep. After a brief hesitation, Steve placed his palm against the door and pushed. It slowly swung open on squealing hinges. The sound was unnervingly loud amid the eerie stillness of their surroundings.
"Why must it do that?" Kate complained, "Give me the creeps."
Instead of responding, Steve cautiously made his way inside, his footsteps echoing into the otherwise silent hallway. Even though it was bright daylight, the interior was dark and gloomy because all the windows had been boarded up with wooden planks. But there was enough light for him to see that the once beautiful cottage was now a total wreck. Broken pieces of furniture and bric-a-bracs were strewn everywhere. The staircase had partially collapsed, sagging against the wall. Puddles of rainwater were all over the dirty floor.
"Steve, look."
Turning around, he watched as his partner bend over to collect something from the rubble at her feet. She straightened up to show it to him.
"It's your call card."
Speechless, Steve took the card from her. "I gave this to Stellar last night before I left."
He then added with an earnest look, "See? I'm not crazy, Kate. I wasn't imagining things. I was here."
"I know, mate. I believe you," she replied, patting his arm. "Now what do you expect to find here exactly?
"Beats me." He shrugged and turned around to face the room. "But maybe if we go in further and check the rest of the house, we might find some answers."
"Do you think that's wise?"
"Why did say that?"
"Well, just look at the state of the house. It's an absolute dump. Those beams above us look unstable. Something might fall off the roof and hit our heads!"
He sighed in exasperation. "Okay, fine. You stay here. I'll be as quick as I can."
"DS Steve Arnott, don't you dare leave me behind," she fumed, and stuck close to his side as he began to head for the back of the house.
For a while, they spoke not a word to each other as they explored the lower level. They found nothing interesting except for more broken things and old furniture that had been left abandoned. Not to mention a family of rats, which caused Kate to squeal in alarm like a schoolgirl.
Seeing the amused look on her partner's face, she shook a finger at him and growled, "I'll kick your nuts if you ever mention that to anyone!"
"Mention what? The rats? Why, they're adorable. Oh, you mean how you jumped a foot high when—"
"Steve, I'm warning you…"
He was still grinning when, suddenly, Kate turned pale and started swaying on her feet.
"Uh…Steve?"
Frowning, he watched with growing concern as she blinked hard, touching her forehead.
"Kate? What's wrong?"
"I…I don't feel good…" Her eyeballs then rolled upward, right before she slumped over.
"Kate!"
Luckily, Steve managed to catch her before she could hit the filthy floor. Despite his frantic calls, Kate remained unconscious. So he swept her into his arms and ran out of the house.
When Kate finally came round not long afterwards, she found herself in the passenger seat of her own car, with Steve standing by her side and gazing down at her, her hand gripped in his.
"Kate? Can you hear me now?" he asked, looking extremely worried.
She groaned. "What the hell just happened?"
"You fainted, mate."
"That's absurd," she weakly protested. "I did not faint like a—"
Suddenly, Kate stopped speaking. She stared in fear at the house. "Steve…"
"What is it, Kate? Are you in pain?"
"No. No, I'm alright. It's just…" She swallowed hard and began to tremble. "Can we please get out of here? I'm scared, Steve. I'm really scared."
He nodded vigorously. He had never seen his partner so spooked up like this. And to hear Kate readily admitted it, was a sure sign of how terrified she was.
"Of course, mate. We should leave now. I'll drive."
Shutting her car door, Steve went around the front of the Volvo before getting behind the wheel. Turning on the engine, he glanced apologetically at his partner.
"I'm sorry, Kate. This was really a bad idea. I shouldn't have brought you here."
Reaching for his hand, Kate gave it a brief squeeze and said, "I don't blame you. It's not your fault. But something in that house told me that it doesn't like you in there."
Steve's eyes popped wide as he stared back in shock. "What did you say?"
"Before I blacked out, I felt a strange presence. It whispered to me that it doesn't like you in there. Or rather, it doesn't like you at all."
For several moments, he could only gape at her in astonishment as he began to recall the similar things that Stella had told him earlier.
He doesn't like you to be here.
He really doesn't like you.
Shit, he now thought. I've got this all wrong.
Giving the cottage a last angry look, Steve put the Volvo into gear before reversing down the path until he found a space wide enough to do a three-point turn. With the car now pointing at the right direction, he stepped on the gas, driving as fast as he could down the narrow lonely road towards civilization. And sanity.
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Fifteen minutes later, the two AC-12 officers were seen sitting together at a corner table of a downtown Starbucks. Steve was nursing his Caffè Americano, while Kate was slurping through her venti cup of Java chip Frappuccino. There was a plate of chic-o-cheese in front of them, still untouched because they had no appetite to eat even though it was already past lunch time.
Kate took her last sip before putting her cup down onto the table with a muffled thunk, grabbing her head with a moan. "Aghh…brain freeze…"
That broke the spell, causing Steve to chuckle. "You should take it easy with that. Wouldn't want you to knock yourself out again, like a poor damsel in distress. I'm not your knight in shining armor, mind."
She glared back. "Piss off, mate."
Steve laughed all the harder, and Kate's mouth twitched until she also erupted into laughter. The occupants from nearby tables eyed them both warily, thinking it weird to see this well-dressed adult couple losing it like a pair of silly teenagers.
"Oh, God…" Kate said, wiping tears of mirth from the corner of her eyes. "Thanks, mate. I really needed that."
Steve smiled in return. "You okay now?"
"Yeah. Better." She nodded. "But, seriously, Steve. What really happened back there?"
"You're asking me?"
"Well, between us, you're the psychic."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not a psychic."
Kate started ticking with her fingers. "Firstly, there was that strange boy you found in Queen's Chase woodlands several months ago, which led to an old mass grave of missing children. Secondly, you knew where to look for your missing brother last October even before anyone else realized he was in trouble. And thirdly, this. Whatever this is."
Sighing, Steve ran a hand through his hair. "I can't explain it."
"I definitely can't explain it, either. Though I think there's a reason why this strange things keep happening to you."
"Why do you think?"
"You have a gift, Steve."
"Oh, puh-lease." He snorted. "I won't call this a gift. A curse, more likely."
And then he sat up straight. "A curse."
Kate frowned in puzzlement. "Steve? What are you—"
"Right before she tried to leap off the bridge, Stella told me that she was cursed."
"Okay…" Kate still didn't get it. "So what exactly are you trying to say?"
"I'm not sure, but…Look, what if there's more to this story? What if Stella was not running from her abusive husband after all, but from something else?"
Kate shuddered, rubbing both her arms. "Jesus. I'm getting goosebumps again. This is nuts, Steve. Can we just drop it for now?"
"Kate, you know I can't simply forget all this. Unless we find the answer soon, this whole thing will bother me for the rest of my life."
She pondered a bit, and asked, "Fine. So what do we do now?"
Steve grinned. "We're professional investigators. We investigate."
Before Kate could respond, her mobile phone chimed, signaling an incoming text. She picked it up to check the message.
"It's the gaffer," she told Steve. "DI Evans has been arrested and is now in custody at Fairview Station. The gaffer wants us to set the interview for tomorrow morning."
Moaning, Steve dropped his head into his hands. "Oh, bugger. I totally forgot about work."
"Wait, I got a plan."
Steve wearily looked up. "What kind of plan?"
"I want you to concentrate on Evans' case, Steve. Compile all the paperwork and presentation documents for tomorrow's interview. Meanwhile, I will dig deeper into the background of Stella and her husband through the PNC. I might find something."
He gaped at her. "You would do that?"
"Sure. Wouldn't be too hard, right? This way, we will accomplish both tasks at once."
"I agree. What a grand idea." Steve began to smile again. "So back to the office, then?"
"Yep. Back to the office."
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Later that afternoon at the AC-12 headquarters, Kate approached Steve at his workstation.
"So, how is it going?" she asked. "All done?"
"Done and dusted, ma'am." Steve nodded.
He beckoned Tatleen over, passing her the casefile folder. "Make four copies of this. Send a copy to DI Evans' solicitor, and keep the rest under lock and key until tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Sarge." Tatleen nodded and quickly moved away to carry out the task.
Steve gave his superior his full attention. "How's yours gone, ma'am? Find anything interesting?"
"I found a lot. Come over to my place and I'll show you."
Kate took Steve to her desk. He dragged a chair from an empty workstation nearby and sat down next to her.
Turning her computer screen for Steve's view, Kate said, "There is no record of Stella Morrison on PNC, but I found her somewhere else. She was listed as a misper in the missing person database."
Steve nodded his understanding, knowing that there was more to come. "Go on."
"Stella Morrison née Harris, 28 years old when she was reported missing. A witness saw her take a leap off the north bridge on the night of 13th February 2009. The authorities sent a search and rescue team downriver, but her body was never found."
"Shit."
"Exactly." Kate nodded. She clicked a button on the screen until a different page appeared. "I found Alex Morrison though PNC. He has been cautioned and arrested a few times, but mostly over minor offences. Drunk and disorderly, DUI, the lot. The last one dated over seven years ago. He is 42 years old, newly married with two kids, and now worked as a supervisor at a distribution center. Just your local average Joe."
Steve sat back. "No report on him as being abusive to both wives?"
"None."
Rubbing at his jaw, he sighed. "Right. It seems that Alex was not the one that Stella was truly afraid of. That's good then, especially knowing that the boys now live with him."
Kate gave him a very odd look.
"What?" Steve asked, puzzled.
Another page filled the screen when she clicked on her mouse. "Declan and Damien Morrison, aged 8 and 6 respectively. They were found dead in the upstairs bathroom tub of their home in the afternoon of 14th February 2009. It was to be believed that they were drowned by their own mother before she fled the house. The bodies were discovered by their paternal grandparents who came to investigate when their calls to Stella's phone went unanswered the entire day. Their son, Alex, was away in France at that time."
All the blood drained off Steve's face. "But…but you said Alex has two kids?"
"Those are his children with his current wife, a pair of five year old twins. A boy and a girl. His eldest sons have been dead for eleven years."
"Oh, God…" Steve moaned, and buried his face in his hands.
Kate quickly looked around. The gaffer was sitting in his office, engrossed with a telephone call, while the rest of their co-workers were occupied with their own tasks, completely unaware of the unfolding drama at DI Fleming's desk.
"Steve? You okay, mate?" Kate quietly asked, her hand on her partner's shoulder. She herself had been quite distraught after she made that shocking discovery.
Taking a deep shaky breath, Steve dropped his hands from his face. "Not really."
Kate noticed the sheen of tears in his brown eyes. "Same here, mate. I feel you."
For a while, the two partners sat together in silence, until Steve sat up straighter and asked, "Okay. What now?"
"What do you mean, what now?"
"This whole story has no closure. I mean, there must be a reason why I met Stella on that bridge," he said. "And why did she took me to that old house? For what purpose?"
Kate bit her lower lip as she thought. "Maybe she's asking your help?"
"My help to do what?"
"To set her free."
Steve's mouth dropped open. "Jesus, Kate. Where in the world did you get that idea?"
She looked a little pale. "I don't know, Steve. That thought just popped up in my mind."
They stared at each other some more in grave silence.
"You two ready for tomorrow?"
Both Kate and Steve yelped in surprise when the booming voice of Superintendent Hastings cut the silence as he suddenly appeared from behind them.
The gaffer gave his two best officers a funny look. "What's wrong? You look as if you've seen a ghost."
Kate managed to emit a weak smile as she rubbed her chest over her wildly beating heart, while Steve rose to his feet, albeit unsteadily. "We're ready as you are, sir. DI Evans' solicitor will receive the case docket by the end of the day."
"Good, good. Well done." Hastings looked carefully at them both. "You're sure you guys alright?"
Kate and Steve nodded vigorously with fake happy smiles. The gaffer still looked suspicious, but for once he chose not to meddle in their business.
"Very well," Hastings said, putting on his service cap. "I'll be off now. So should the both of you. We have a major interview tomorrow, remember?"
He watched as his two officers simultaneously glanced at the clock on the wall.
"6 p.m already?" Kate wondered out loud.
"Do we still have time?" Steve then said.
"Time for what?" Puzzled, Hastings watched as Kate and Steve exchanged a telling look between them.
"We need to go through Evans' casefile once more, in case there are some loopholes we've overlooked," Kate quickly gave the excuse with a straight face.
"Okay. Do that. Don't stay up too late though." The gaffer shook his head as he walked away towards the access gate, mumbling to himself, "Jeez. I sound just like my mother…"
Staring at their boss' retreating figure, Steve told Kate, "You lied through your teeth there, ma'am."
"I didn't lie," Kate said, turning back to her computer. "We are going over the casefile, just not here. We do it in my car."
After several clicks of her mouse, the printer nearby whirred and a document slipped onto the tray. She went to collect it and handed it over to him.
"Alex Morrison's current address," she said. "I think we should talk to him to get the whole story. Once and for all."
Steve looked up and grinned. "Kate, you've read my mind."
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TO BE CONTINUED…
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A/N: The story is still not over. Stay tuned for the next chapter.
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"He's a laugh a minute." – DS Steve Arnott.
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* ABBREVIATIONS:
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AC - Anti Corruption
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DI - Detective Inspector
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DS - Detective Sergeant
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DUI - Driving Under the Influence
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PNC - Police National Computer
