Hours later, the pale morning light filtering through the window blinds woke Gail but she lay still, somewhat disorientated by the unfamiliar surroundings. After their initial awkwardness last night, they had settled down in the soft double bed, whispering trivial conversation back and forth and sharing small chaste kisses. Eventually they had both succumbed to their exhaustion, falling asleep spooned together with Holly's arms wrapped tightly around the blonde cop. To her complete amazement, Gail hadn't suffered any of her usual nightmares and she couldn't help but wonder if that had anything to do with the beautiful woman sleeping beside her.
Despite the lack of nightmares however, Gail still hadn't slept well. Even though they had made it out of the city, she had been on edge and had stirred at every single noise. Therefore she woke up exhausted and with a foggy mind, slowly remembering the events that had brought them here. At some point during the night they had shifted apart but Gail's arm was now stretched out across the bed with her hand resting on Holly. She closed her eyes again and smoothed her palm over the sheet; her fingers exploring the contours of the warm flesh underneath. The brunette sighed and shifted slightly under her touch, making Gail freeze as she suddenly realised she was inadvertently stroking Holly's ass.
She whipped her hand back towards her own side of the bed and opened her eyes to check whether the other woman was also awake. To her relief she saw that the doctor was still sleeping. She wasn't exactly averse to feeling up Holly but she would rather that the object of her affections was awake whilst she did so. It was definitely less creepy that way, so she filed away the map of Holly's curves in the back of her mind for future reference.
She glanced at her watch and saw it was still fairly early considering the long and stressful day they had suffered yesterday, yet she knew she wouldn't be getting any more sleep. Gail rolled onto her side and studied Holly's face as she slept. The brunette looked far more peaceful than the cop felt, that was for sure. Although Gail had managed to get them away from the immediate danger, she genuinely had no idea what to do next. She had been worried all night that someone would have figured out where they were hiding and that they would wake to the sound of the door crashing in. It wasn't just the armed thugs she was concerned about either; she knew the police would also be on their trail. Sanderson could explain why she had taken Holly and ran if he was in a fit state to do so but would he take the risk, knowing that someone had betrayed them? It might be more sensible for him and McNally to keep quiet; just tell everyone that they all had made the decision to try and get Holly out of the house and they had no idea what happened next.
She sighed and swung herself out the bed. There was no point worrying about what McNally and Sanderson would say to the cops. She had more important things to consider; like keeping them safe and working out who was on the Kolarov payroll. Gail grabbed some clean clothes from the open suitcase on the floor and padded into the living room to get changed. She checked the door and windows out of habit but didn't move the chest of drawers that was barricading the door as she didn't want to wake Holly. They had already discovered last night that there wasn't much food in the cottage so breakfast was out, but she was thankful when she found some instant coffee at least. She put the kettle on and poked at the nasty, dry granules, grimacing as they crumbled under her finger. They really needed to go grocery shopping today. Canned food was one thing but Gail Peck could not live on crap coffee for longer than twenty four hours.
Just as the kettle boiled, Holly appeared from the bedroom.
"Hey," she said, smiling at the blonde.
"Good timing," Gail replied as she grabbed another mug for Holly. She spooned more coffee out and poured the hot water into both mugs, giving them a vigorous stir in the vain hope of dissolving all the granules.
Holly stretched her arms above her head and strolled over to take the coffee, giving Gail a quick kiss on the cheek as she did so.
"Thank you. Good morning," she said.
"Hmmm," Gail hummed as she sipped her drink, feeling the caffeine kick-start her tired body almost immediately.
"I woke up and you were gone. It's still early you know?" the brunette asked, warming her hands on the mug.
"Yeah. Didn't sleep too well," the cop answered and Holly nodded sympathetically, wrapping an arm round Gail's waist.
"I heard you tossing and turning," she admitted. "Are you okay?"
"Just worried," Gail shrugged. She didn't want to pass her stress on to Holly.
"Come sit with me," the doctor suggested as she tugged Gail over to the sofa with her, allowing the blonde to curl up into her side. "I know you're still worried about protecting me. But you've got to try and relax a bit too. It was nice falling asleep with you last night," she said.
Gail smiled despite her brooding and she nodded her agreement. They sat quietly for a beat or two, sipping their coffee before Holly tried again.
"Are you still edgy that someone might find us here?" the doctor asked, trying to break Gail's mood.
"Yeah, a little," the blonde admitted. "The police will be looking for us now as well,"
"Is that a bad thing?" Holly queried before quickly amending her statement. "I mean, I know we don't want the inside man finding out where are. But you have friends too…"
"I have colleagues," Gail corrected, ignoring the eye roll she received in response. "There are people I trust, sure. But I don't know who sold us out, so I don't know how to avoid them. I could tell the guys I work with, like Olly or Chris but what can they do to help? It's not their case and we can't go back to the protection guys," the police officer rubbed her eyes as she thought about that. Ideally she would try and get Holly out of the country to be with her parents and sister but she had no clue how to do that without going through Steve, who would insist on bringing Ross Stone in and then things would be wide open again.
"So we have to figure out who it is? Then we can report them and go back safely?"
"Something like that. I'm kind of fresh out of ideas, Hols; I'm not going to lie. Maybe I didn't think this through properly," the cop replied. She frowned at herself. What sort of idiot rushes into this sort of situation without an exit plan? It had seemed so important yesterday to get Holly out of harm's way and away from the fucker who had snitched on them. But she now had no idea what to do, apart from holing up here and waiting things out.
"You had to think on your feet yesterday, under a hell of a lot of pressure," Holly reassured her. "And you got us out of there safely. We can figure out what comes next together,"
Gail smiled slightly and dropped her head onto the doctor's shoulder. It wasn't really a solution but she appreciated the fact that Holly had tried. They finished their coffee in comfortable silence, Holly using her free hand to comb through Gail's hair, trying to soothe the blonde's troubled mind.
Eventually she broke the silence; "So, what's the plan for today then?"
The police officer sat up straight. "I don't know about you but I'm starving. We need to stock up. But first I want to do a check of the area, make sure nobody is watching us or hanging around," she told her.
"Okay, let me get changed. I'll come with you," Holly said and tried to rise from the sofa.
Gail stopped her with a hand on her shoulder; "You should stay here. Just in case," she directed. The brunette frowned and opened her mouth to argue but Gail carried on talking, anticipating the opposition. "You promised me, remember? When it comes to my job, you agreed to listen to my judgement,"
Holly's mouth closed with a snap, knowing the blonde was right. She couldn't debate this without going back on her word, which was infuriating to say the least. "Just be careful then, okay? Please?" she implored.
"Promise," the blonde answered, getting up off the couch and offering her hand to haul Holly up. "Help me move the drawers?" she asked, moving towards the door and shoving at the furniture they had placed there last night. The pathologist did as she was asked and then unlocked the door. Gail put on her jacket and joined her near the entrance to the cabin. She pulled the brunette into a hug before releasing her.
"Lock the door after me. And don't let anybody in, no matter what they say," she instructed.
"Okay," Holly agreed affably, but the cop wasn't satisfied with that.
"I'm serious!" she said. "I'll knock three times when I come back and I'll give you the password. Then you'll know its fine to open the door,"
"I think that might be overkill," Holly said with a lift of her eyebrows, thinking Gail was joking. But when she looked more closely she couldn't help notice that Gail's jaw was firmly clenched. She had unconsciously straightened her posture and was standing stiff and poised, eyes boring through Holly as if she were a suspect under interrogation.
"You let Sanderson into the attic, even though I told you not to let anyone in!" Gail shot back and her shoulders tightened even more as she placed her hands on her belt and instinctively moved into full cop stance. The fact that Holly had opened the attic door for Sanderson despite Gail expressly telling her not to had been playing on her mind since yesterday and as soon as she saw the half smile on the doctor's face when she mentioned a password, she couldn't help bring it up. It was a prime example of her fear that the brunette wasn't taking her own security seriously enough at times. Cracking jokes when Gail was trying to give her instructions had only reinforced that worry and the blonde realised she was responding by slipping into her cop mode. She didn't want to have to directly order Holly around; she wasn't a member of the public who needed to be corralled into the correct course of action. Yet her safety was paramount and Gail was now solely responsible for delivering that. If she had to be a little harsh to guarantee her protection, then so be it. She really didn't want that to affect their burgeoning relationship but her feelings for Holly ran far too deep to risk her safety. The cop was more than willing to come across looking like a hard ass as long as it kept the brunette alive and safe.
"But I knew it was him!" Holly exclaimed. She had heard Scott's voice outside the door and it hadn't even crossed her mind not to open it.
"What if you opened the door and he had a gun against his head?"
The brunette frowned, not having contemplated that at the time. "Well," she said, but couldn't think of how to dispute that so left the sentence hanging.
Gail gave a satisfied nod, "Don't even let me in unless I give you the password," she stated.
The other woman blinked at the tone in Gail's voice. That wasn't just a request to be careful; that definitely sounded like a command and Holly couldn't help bristling slightly. She had no problem deferring to Gail's authority when it came to police and security matters, but she didn't like being ordered about like one of the rookie cops she would see scurrying about the lab doing the detectives bidding. "What is the password then, you lunatic?" she asked, adding a touch of sass in to her own voice now.
The blonde had to think about that for a second. "The word from our first Scrabble game, remember?" She smiled, remembering that day and immediately feeling a lot more carefree now that Holly had agreed to follow her instructions to the letter.
"The one that isn't actually a word?"
"The perfectly good word that you unfairly banned!" Gail corrected her. Holly frowned and shook her head slightly in confusion. All of a sudden, Gail had slipped back into playful mood as if her previous bite hadn't even existed. It really was difficult to keep track of where the blonde was coming from.
"I don't think I'll ever forget that non-word," she told her seriously, not knowing how else to approach the change of tone.
"That's because you're very geekish," the cop laughed and she ducked to avoid the half-hearted swat aimed at her head before continuing; "I'll be thirty minutes, tops. But if I don't come back in an hour, call Oliver and tell him everything. You've still got those numbers I gave you yesterday, right?"
The pathologist nodded, so Gail dropped a quick kiss on her lips and slipped out the door.
"Stay safe!" Holly called after her before locking the door and heading back to the bedroom to pick out some of Gail's clothes to wear. She had expected there would be some awkwardness between the two of them this morning after falling asleep in each other's arms. Holly knew they were far too exhausted last night to think much about the ramifications of sleeping entwined in the same bed yet wasn't expecting Gail to be quite so cool about it in the morning. It had to have been a big step for her.
This morning when she felt Gail's hand caressing her backside, she had pretended to be asleep as she didn't know how to respond to the touch. As difficult as it was to not react, she was thankful that she didn't because Gail quickly scrambled out of bed. Holly assumed that the blonde was panicking and when she found her fretting in the kitchen, her heart plummeted, fearing the worst. Fortunately, it turned out that Gail was far more stressed about their current situation than the fact that they had cranked their relationship up another notch. Not that we're having a relationship, Holly corrected herself quickly. She had to keep reminding herself of their agreement because she felt so confused about it all right now. They were getting closer and closer, yet they still had a wall between them.
Last night when she told Gail that they were way past pretending they weren't 'having a thing' the cop had barely reacted, let alone denied it. Now they were finally on their own…and they had spent much of that time kissing, cuddling and comforting one another. It felt like a relationship…heck, she was even borrowing Gail's clothes which was a stereotype if ever there was one! Gail had been so sweet last night. She had behaved exactly like a girlfriend would. But earlier today the other woman had referred to their agreement about separating the personal and professional when telling her that she wanted Holly to stay in the cabin this morning. It had been a command, not a discussion. And those pointed remarks about Holly letting Sanderson enter the attic without question had been delivered in a short and sharp manner which was also so at odds with the caring girl who had cuddled Holly close all night.
The brunette sighed. She couldn't figure out where she stood, or what Gail wanted. There was nothing she could do about how things were developing between the two of them right now; all she could do was wait and see. Holly wasn't going to be coy though. She knew what she wanted. Her feelings for the sardonic blonde were getting deeper by the day. What had started out as an inappropriate crush had turned into genuine attraction and now? She wasn't afraid to admit it; she was falling for Gail and falling hard.
She may not have been scared to confess it to herself but there was no way that she was about to share that fact with Gail in such a direct manner. She knew it would be too much, too soon. She had been cautious throughout these past few weeks, believing that the other woman was confused about how she felt. Gail hadn't been with a woman before and was bound to be less confident than Holly. The pathologist didn't think she could stand it if the blonde suddenly backed off now so she was going to do whatever she could not to scare her off. For all her cockiness, Holly knew that Gail was insecure, especially about relationships. Those sorts of contradictions were one of the many things that drew her to the police officer. She had never met anyone who she found quite so fascinating and puzzling. And if there was one thing Holly loved, it was solving a mystery; it was why she had gone into her chosen career after all. Even though she had a feeling she could never truly solve the Gail Peck conundrum she couldn't wait to try. She grinned and shook her head. One thing was for sure; she wasn't going to figure Gail out in the twenty minutes before the blonde returned so she needed to stop daydreaming and put some clothes on. She resolved that she would listen to Gail and do whatever the blonde wanted when it came to her bodyguard duties. But that didn't mean she was fair game to be ordered about and Holly couldn't help but think they were going to have to talk about this soon.
By the time Gail did return, Holly was indeed washed and dressed and ready to answer the three knocks as promised. "Who's there?" she called.
"Gail Peck, Commander of the Universe, confirming all is safe and well and that the very geekish Holly Stewart can open the door!" came the reply.
Holly blinked at the ridiculous answer but the password was in there so she unlocked the door. "Commander of the Universe?" she asked as the cop marched on through.
"Yep. Which means I'm Steve's boss," Gail answered and the brunette decided not to bother asking what that was all about. She followed the blonde through into the kitchen area and watched her inspect her weapon, clicking back the slide to remove a bullet from the chamber and replacing it in the magazine. "You can put that away now," Holly said, the sight of the gun bringing the fear from yesterday flooding back.
"I'm just trying to help you out, you know – fulfilling your River Song fantasy," Gail joked, but she did put her firearm back in her under arm holster before taking the whole thing off and placing it carefully on the table top.
Holly giggled despite her unease because she couldn't deny that there was something hot about Gail wearing her holster so casually over her tight t-shirt. She exuded strength and confidence and because the top did nothing to hide her feminine curves, the combination was downright sexy. "You're such an ass," she told her, shaking her head and trying not to stare.
The cop grinned back and strolled over to where Holly was stood, grabbing her by the waist. "Hello sweetie," she drawled, lowering her voice as far as she could in an attempt to impersonate the Doctor Who character.
"Stop it! That's just creepy!" she squealed, wriggling out of the cop's grasp.
"But you like it, right? Am I recreating your dream woman?" Gail asked and tried to catch hold of the brunette again, but Holly seized her wrists with surprising strength and held her at bay.
"Right now, my only fantasy is finding you on my doorstep, wearing a sexy dress, holding a bunch of flowers and ready to pick me up and take me on a date," Holly breathed, before leaning in and kissing Gail soundly.
The blonde smiled into the kiss and when they broke apart she couldn't help ask; "You fantasise about me?"
Holly raised her eyebrows. Of course she did; frequently in fact and most of them starred a stark naked Gail writhing around underneath her. But she was trying to avoid those thoughts because she didn't want to put pressure on them by pushing the police officer into anything. It would be too easy to get caught up in the moment and fall into bed and she really didn't want Gail to rush into her first time. The pathologist knew that the blonde had never been with a woman before and she needed her to be absolutely certain; she didn't want there to be any regrets or hurt feelings. That applied to her own emotional state too…Holly didn't want to be an experiment. She knew deep down that Gail wasn't like that but she couldn't help the niggle in the back of her mind that told her there was still a tiny, miniscule chance the blonde was just curious. So the brunette tried to avoid the question by playing dumb. "It just would be nice to do something normal like go out for dinner, that's all,"
Gail nodded, her light blue eyes slightly darker than usual as she gazed into the other woman's deep brown orbs. She pulled her arms from Holly's grip and cupped the doctor's face with both hands, stepping in close once more and crashing her lips against Holly's. As the kiss deepened, she heard the brunette moan and she ran one hand straight down the front of Holly's chest, over her stomach and hooked her fingers into her belt loops to pull her hips closer. Gail nipped at the other woman's bottom lip before sliding her tongue past her open lips. Holly's fingers found their way under Gail's shirt and traced random circles across her back and ribs. Just before she could explore higher, the cop broke the kiss and they both stood there, catching their breath.
"Is that the only thing you fantasise about, Hols?" the blonde asked, her voice husky with desire.
"I think maybe one day you'll find out," was the pathologist's reply. They both stared at each other for a long moment before Holly forced herself to look away or else she would have ravished Gail there and then. She stepped back and blinked away that thought. "So, you said something about shopping?" she asked, trying to ease the sexual tension that thickened the air around them.
Gail swallowed her disappointment, knowing the brunette was doing the right thing. They couldn't let things get too far; now really wasn't the time. Besides, she couldn't pretend she wasn't nervous as hell about taking things further. But oh God, how she wanted to.
"Yeah. We need to get some food because this whole not eating thing is not an option for me. And probably visit a Canadian Tire. I gave Andy half my ammo," she told the other woman.
"And maybe some clothes for me? Holly suggested.
Gail swung round to face her, running her eyes down the brunette's body. Holly had borrowed a pair of jeans and a white cotton shirt, which looked far better against the doctor's tanned skin than it ever did against her own pale tones. "What's wrong with sharing my things?" she queried with a touch of acidity. "Not enough fleece for you, Holly? Not enough backpacks?"
Holly smirked at the cop's indignation and rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying, I'd maybe like some of my own stuff…" she began, but before she could finish her explanation, Gail was jumping in again.
"What is with you never buttoning up a shirt anyway?" she asked, pointing at the open buttons around Holly's neckline. So the shirt was probably a little bit more of a snug fit on the doctor than it was on Gail but there was surely no need to leave that many buttons undone? It was seriously distracting and it was certainly not helping Gail's efforts to cool off.
"I just like wearing them like this," Holly shrugged, looking down at herself and not seeing the problem.
"And you always roll the sleeves up too," the blonde grumbled, as she continued her inspection and paused on those forearms which were enough to make her want to shove Holly back against the wall and pick up where they had left off a couple of minutes ago.
Holly ran a finger under the rolled up cuff around her elbow and shrugged again. "I'm used to doing it at work, to keep them out the way," she explained, not really sure why Gail was picking on how she dressed until she saw the blonde bite her lip and look away. Ah. That's why. She enjoyed the rush of power she got from turning Gail on like that and couldn't help winding her up a little more. "I could take it off, if you like?" she asked, moving her hands to the first button which happened to be just over her cleavage.
"No!" Gail almost yelled, stopping her in her tracks. "I'm just saying. You seem to be fine wearing my things so I don't know why we need to go shopping, that's all. We need to save the cash we've got because we can't get any more,"
Holly took pity on the blonde and dropped her teasing. "I just wanted to stop somewhere that sells underwear because although I can deal with sharing your stuff, I do draw the line at that," she clarified.
However, that image really didn't help with the thoughts currently running through Gail's mind. Was Holly saying that right now she wasn't wearing any…no. Don't go there, Peck! She abruptly turned away, grabbed her weapon and jacket from the table then marched through to the living room. "Shopping!" she shouted back to Holly. "Hurry up, nerd!" she added as she slipped out of the front door to wait on the deck in the cooler air.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Their shopping trip took the best part of the day as Gail insisted on driving at least an hour away from the cabin. She didn't want any locals remembering them and passing on information if someone did come snooping around. She was pretty sure that since nobody had showed up yet it meant all of her precautions had paid off and there was no way they were going to be traced easily. But that didn't mean someone couldn't follow them eventually; either the cops or Kolarov's people. And right now, both were equally dangerous.
After shopping, Gail had managed to fit in a nap for a couple of hours in the afternoon, which did wonders for her exhausted state of mind. She was currently outside the front of the cabin once again, curled up in one of the armchairs and Holly was perched next to her reading a book she had found tucked away on one of the book shelves.
To an outsider, it may have looked like the cop was simply relaxing in the cool evening air but the brunette knew differently. As mercurial as Gail was, Holly felt like sometimes the blonde's moods called out to her like a siren. She didn't even have to look at Gail to know she was brooding. She could practically hear the cogs whirring around in that brain of hers and she could feel the worry emanating from her like a thick fog, wrapping its way round them both and drifting out into the surrounding woods. It was like she was tuned into Gail's radio signal; connected by some strange sort of static in which she could sense even the slightest change.
"You'll be stuck like that if the wind changes, you know?" she advised, glancing over at the blonde and noticing the furrow in her brow. As soon as she said it, the silly old wives tale invoked a clear image of her mother telling her the same thing when she was little and Holly suddenly missed her. She pushed away the thought, concentrating on pulling Gail out of her funk rather than settling into one of her own.
However, Gail had barely noticed that she had been spoken to, let alone heard the exact question. "Hmm?" she mumbled, feeling Holly's eyes upon her.
"I said you'll end up with that frown permanently if the wind changes," repeated the pathologist.
"I don't think that's scientifically possible, Dr. Stewart," the melancholic woman replied, so lost in thought that the jibe only carried a trace of her usual sarcasm.
"Well, there's always an exception that proves the rule. Are you staring at the road again?"
Gail shook her head and turned to face the other woman. "Nope," she answered honestly, "Just thinking,"
"What are you thinking about?" Holly asked, shutting her book with a snap in order to give the blonde her full attention.
Gail shrugged and sighed all in one motion. "Everything."
"That's a lot for one person to cover. Wanna share?"
The cop gazed over at Holly, the need to express her jumbled thoughts conflicting with the desire not to worry her. However, the open and frank way in which Holly returned her stare meant the first option won.
"Just everything. Who sold us out, what to do about it, are we okay here, how can I get you back safely and then when we do return, how do I find another job after I get fired?" Gail recited, ticking each item off with her fingers.
"What do you mean, fired?" the brunette asked, confused. It probably wasn't the thing to concentrate on out of that long list of problems but it was the only one that hadn't crossed her own mind during the day.
"I've broken every rule in the book, Holly. They will be out looking for us not just because they're going to be concerned about you, but because they will think I've gone rogue. I've gone underground with a witness, I left the crime scene…I left my partner bleeding out. I stole a car, I got Chris to lie for me, I haven't contacted anyone. Oh, let's not forget that I've shot two suspects in the last week. Fuck, I've started a relationship with the woman I was supposed to be protecting. Seriously Hols, my rap sheet is growing by the second," Gail's voice was matter of fact but Holly couldn't fail to notice the flicker in her eyes as she listed her misdemeanours. She was scared.
"They can't fire you, Gail," she said firmly, whilst her inner voice was screaming out that the other woman had used the word relationship. She shushed herself and tried to focus on Gail.
"'Course they can. They probably should!"
"But they'll have to let you explain all of that and once you do, they'll understand,"
The cop shook her head. "Just because you do something for the right reasons, doesn't mean they let you get away with whatever you like. They'll still say I went about things the wrong way,"
"I'll back you up. I'll tell them whatever you need me to tell them," Holly promised, "And Scott will support you too," she added.
"If he's even alive," Gail countered, flippantly.
Holly stared at her for a beat then abruptly got up and walked back inside. The blonde watched her go, her face expressionless until the door clicked shut and she screwed her eyes together and dropped her head into her hands. Okay, so she shouldn't have said that, but there was no point pretending. Sanderson could be dead, she could get fired and this whole situation was a complete mess. She was only saying it like it is. And if Holly couldn't deal with that, then fine.
Although…it was kind of her job to look after Holly and not freak her out by being her usual bitchy, cold self. And with that thought, her defiance collapsed as quickly as it had blown up. Another screw up to add to the list, Peck. She tried to summon up the courage to go and apologise but ten minutes later, she was still parked in her armchair when the brunette poked her head round the door.
"Are you coming in or what?" she asked, then disappeared again.
Gail frowned and scrambled up to follow her through the door. As soon as she entered the cabin, she stopped short in surprise. The fireplace was glowing and Holly was sitting on the couch, holding out a bag of cheese puffs and a beer.
"Someone paid attention in girl guides," the cop said, pointing at the crackling fire.
"Chemistry, actually. Sit down," Holly instructed, motioning Gail towards the other end of the couch and the blonde did as she was told.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that about Sanderson," Gail began, but the doctor interrupted.
"No, you shouldn't. I know you're stressed but you still believe that you have to pretend to be fine for me. So, I'm only going to tell you this once more. Like I said when we got here, we're in this together. You need to talk to me when you're upset. So eat your horrible snacks, drink your beer, burn stuff in the fire and chill out for a bit," and with that, she tossed the packet over and passed her the bottle.
Gail blinked in shock. That settled it: Holly was officially the perfect woman. "And I thought being involved with a woman was gonna be much harder than dating men," she mumbled. Luckily for her, Holly only half heard that and chose not to pursue it.
As the police officer ripped into the bag of cheese puffs, Holly quietly addressed the earlier statement. "Scott will be okay,"
"Okay," Gail agreed, through a mouthful of cheesy goodness. She wasn't sure whether the doctor was trying to convince her or herself but she would go with it.
"You can only deal with one thing at time, Gail,"
"I know,"
"So. Who is it? Who's the corrupt cop? Don't tell me you haven't been thinking about it," Holly asked.
Gail chewed through another mouthful before answering with a sigh, "All day long."
"We figure that out and we can sort this, right? So who is it?" she persisted.
"Argh. I don't know," the blonde said, drumming her fingernails on the side of her beer bottle in frustration. "I've run through all the possibilities and none of them fit." She stuffed another handful of Cheese Puffs into her mouth and tipped the packet back to finish off the dust in the bottom too.
Holly grimaced at both the eating habits on display and the lack of direction in the conversation. "Same for me. But talk me through it,"
The police officer sat up straight and flicked the empty foil packet into the fireplace, watching it burn and shrivel in the flames. She wiped her fingers on her jeans in a fairly unsuccessful attempt to get rid of the orange stains, before giving up and leaning across to grab Holly's hand instead. "Okay. There are five of us on the team," she said and she fiddled with the doctor's fingers until all five digits were raised. "For starters, now is probably a good time to tell you that it's definitely not me,"
Holly snorted at that as Gail folded down the brunette's thumb. "Good to know,"
Gail nodded seriously before continuing her thought trail. "It can't be McNally. She just wouldn't," she said and pushed down another finger.
"Are you sure?" the brunette asked and the other woman nodded fiercely. Gail was positive. Andy was just not the type. She may have seen the dark haired cop bend rules from time to time but she was too much of a Girl Guide to break the law. She could never be one of the bad guys; that moral code of hers just wouldn't let her. Unless it came to sleeping with your friend's ex of course but taking bribes was a huge step up from that.
She tapped the tip of the brunette's middle finger a couple of times. "Sanderson," she drawled, naming that digit. "He knew someone had sold us out. He worked it out when we were attacked,"
"That's what you guys were talking about in the attic," Holly remembered, thinking back to the cryptic conversation the two police officers had shared whilst she was trying to treat Scott's shoulder.
"Yep. And he got shot. Which I'm assuming wouldn't have happened if he was the inside man. So I'm saying it's not him either," Gail deduced, and she folded down that middle finger, leaving two remaining. She looked expectantly at the pathologist, wondering if she would argue. When Holly simply nodded, Gail was incredibly thankful. She desperately didn't want it to be Sanderson yet she knew that was dangerous because it skewed her thoughts. She had tried to be objective in discounting the younger officer, looking at the facts and finding the logic. She just couldn't see how it could be Sanderson; he was the one she had spent the most time with and none of his actions suggested any ulterior motive. And at the end of it, he had been badly injured – not to mention he had been the one to encourage them to escape from the attic. He had put his life on the line to protect Holly. So it couldn't be him. It was a huge relief that her conclusion wasn't just shaped from her own feelings about the lanky officer, but that the logic and facts led there too. She didn't think she could have dealt with being betrayed by the guy who wasn't only her partner but her friend too.
"Chen or McGregor then," Holly stated, wiggling her two remaining fingers back and forth and breaking into Gail's reflections.
"Chen or McGregor," she repeated. It was the conclusion she kept coming to throughout the day, no matter how she looked at it. But she hadn't found a way to separate the two and pinpoint the guilty party.
"Which one?" asked the brunette and it seemed she was pondering the question herself as well as asking Gail. "Neither of them were at the safe house that night," she offered.
The cop nodded in agreement. "Right. And I think if you had set that up, you would want to be well out of the way. But on the flip side, neither of them knew we were going to go for a run. That was only planned the night before and I didn't tell them. So they couldn't have passed that info on and arranged that attack,"
"True. And Jake helped get me out of the courthouse when that guy was watching me," Holly added.
"But McGregor was all over it afterwards. It would have been a pretty elaborate fake reaction if he had set the whole thing up. Same with the jogging; why would he move us to a safe house afterwards? It makes you harder to get at," Gail flopped backwards in frustration and Holly followed so they were both leaning against the back of the couch, staring into the crackling fire.
The doctor gave up on holding her hand up as a physical count of their options and dropped it onto Gail's leg as she shuffled closer to the blonde. "What's your gut telling you?" she asked, poking her gently in the side.
"I want it to be McGregor," she slowly replied. "But I know that's only because he's been on my case these past few weeks,"
"He's a decent guy," Holly said, feeling the need to defend the Sergeant. He may not have been the officer she got along best with…but he was the boss. He had to be the professional, detached one, the guy who would enforce the rules and quite frankly, keep everyone in line.
"So is Chen. Or so we thought. But somebody sold you out, so we're wrong about one of them," Gail countered.
"I know," agreed the brunette, as she absentmindedly drew patterns on Gail's thigh and contemplated the problem. "What I don't understand is, whoever it was must have had plenty of other opportunities to let the gang get to me. Why do it when you guys were on shift?"
"To ease suspicion perhaps?" Gail offered.
"Yeah, sure. But that only made it even harder for Kolarov's people. Why not just let slip a location when they were on shift and put up a half-hearted defence? Then there would only really be one protection officer fighting back. They could have made it look realistic," Holly argued.
"Or even bumped off their partner so there would be no witnesses," Gail suggested darkly.
"It doesn't make sense," huffed the pathologist in frustration. She hated not being able to figure out a problem. This was like one of those tricky cases at work where all the possibilities seemed to be eliminated. Holly was well aware of the famous Sherlock Homes theory but it wasn't applicable in her job. There was no impossible, there was only evidence. And if the evidence she had in front of her didn't give her an answer, well that meant she didn't have all the evidence and there was more out there somewhere. But in this situation, she didn't have something physical to examine, to pull apart and to unravel. There was no black and white test to do; only murky grey areas to blunder through, half formed speculations, sketchy guesswork and so, so many if's, but's and maybe's. It was infuriating and she let her irritation show by growling out loud.
Gail laughed at her and threw an arm round her shoulders, pulling her in to her side. "You sound exactly like how I've felt all day!" she said.
"Well this detective stuff is hard work! It's all 'suppose this' and 'suppose that' and trying to get inside people's heads. I don't know how you do it," Holly replied and dropped her head onto the blonde's shoulder in defeat.
"I'm not a detective," the cop demurred.
"Yet," came Holly's reply. Gail had to grin at the matter of fact way she said it. It was nice to have someone with that level of faith in her, even though it was only because Holly clearly didn't know how much of a screw up Gail was when it came to her career.
They lapsed into silence once more, and watched the fire as it died down to embers. Gail got up to place another couple of logs in the grate then settled back with Holly curled up against her.
"Well who else is involved?" Holly suddenly asked, making the blonde jump slightly.
"What?"
"If it can't be one of the five of you, then who else is on this case?"
"There's loads of cops working the Kolarov case but we're the only team involved in your protection," Gail replied, thinking it through.
"But McGregor reports to someone right?" the doctor persisted. "Who is his boss?"
"I don't know," answered Gail, suddenly realising she didn't have a clue how things were set up outside of her immediate team.
"Someone has to be in charge overall. Who runs the case?" the brunette queried and Gail had to pause before she replied. There was a sense of unease gathering in the back of her mind.
"In Vancouver, there's a Guns and Gangs detective called Ross Stone. He's in charge of the Kolarov case," she said slowly.
Holly nodded. "And what about here in Toronto?"
"Detective Steve Peck. My brother."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A/N: Oh oh. Steve, Steve, Steve.
In other news, this chapter tips the story over 100,000 words. Scary stuff.
And lastly, thanks to Kravn for epically beta'ing this one!
