"What?" Jack looked straight at Sandra. "When?"
"Last night." She sighed, suddenly aware of how tired she was. "Pat called me. He's in the ITU in City General." She looked at her feet for a moment, still hardly able to believe the least offensive, most happy-go-lucky person on her team was in hospital, the victim of an attack totally unrelated to their work. It seemed unreal. Jack nodded, deep in thought.
"A fractured skull." Brian shook his head. "One bloody hard punch."
"It was the boot in the 'ed they reckon." Gerry was still angry, unable to shake the feeling since he had found out the only reason his friend had been attacked was because of his sexuality. He had hated working hate crimes when he had been 'real plod' - the thought that his friends had been victims of such a crime made his stomach churn. Steve swore as Sasha frowned.
"Why didn't you ring us? Last night."
"It was three am. I knew I would be seeing you all in a couple of hours and there wasn't anything you could have done. MIU are running the case. I want to look into anything Ted might have been working on, just in case it wasn't random. In case it was linked to something that could be a UCOS case." Sandra sipped her coffee.
"Hold on a minute." Steve ignored the warning looks from Sasha and Jack. "You did ne call any of us because we were asleep and we were going to be together here. Now calling Gerry at three in the morning didne, Oh! Oh!"
"Yes, so? Problem?" Gerry huffed as Sandra raised an eyebrow.
"Not really the issue here, Ted is in Intensive Care with multiple serious issues and someone out there caused that." Sandra stated. "Jack, go through the cases Ted has worked on. Is there anyone from his past that would want this to happen?"
"He's an ex-copper." Sasha sighed. "He is going to have enemies. We all do."
Sandra nodded.
"And you said MIU are running it. Nat Chandler isn't going to appreciate us sticking our oars in." Brian reasoned. Sandra glared.
"We are not treading on their toes. We are checking our own work. Brian, help Jack. Steve you and Danny make sure whatever Ted has been working on recently is covered. The Evans case should be almost ready to go to the CPS. Sasha, liaise with CPS London, explain that there might be a delay because Ted is unwell. Gerry, you and Steve find out if there has been any attacks like this outside or linked to the George and Fox that we might not know about."
Steve and Gerry glanced at each other. "You find anything, send it to Ronnie Brooks. If it helps put the scumbag that did this behind bars then I'm sure they will appreciate the help upstairs. We know Ted. We know what his patterns were. If they need to talk to us, full disclosure, full assistance. OK."
"Couldn't have said it better." Strickland walked in as Sandra turned.
"Sir."
"This is not and will never be a UCOS case. For Ted's sake we are not going to risk a conflict of interest that any defence barrister could rip apart." Strickland looked around the office. "I mean it. I know we all think the world of Ted and Pat but nothing can get in the way of this investigation. Do I make myself clear"?"
"Sir." Sandra stated sharply before watching him walk out of the office. Steve mumbled something under his breath as Sasha glared. Sandra decided she didn't want to know what the Scotsman had said. "You heard him." She turned on her heel before heading into her office hoping that somehow they would be getting better news as the day went on.
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