Vince watched as a crane pulled a rusty car out of the river, the second one of the day. The water poured out of it slowly, seeping through the gaps by the doors, boot, bonnet. When it was sufficiently drained the crane let it go and it slammed onto the bank. Vince winced at the sudden noise and his heart pounded in his chest as a few policemen looked through it quickly. Finally, the most senior of the officers shook her head to say no one was in it.

The police had been combing the river for four hours. They'd stopped all the cars from going across the nearby bridge and there was a line of flashing police cars all along the riverbank, which only served to draw the attention of people walking past and it wasn't long before a big crowd of people and paparazzi had gathered by the barrier nearest Vince. Every now and again a noise news crew helicopter would fly over, or a particularly brave (or possibly mad photographer) would leap the police barrier and take a few photos before being caught by the police dragged back behind the 'safety line'.

"Hey Vince. Can we have your autograph?"
"Vince? What's happened?"
"Vince we love you!"

"Can't somebody shut them up?" Vince grumbled to Alice, as she handed him a plastic cup of steaming coffee before sitting down on the bench next to him.

"Who?"

"Them." he nodded his head at the group of squealing fans as one screamed,

"Vince I'm pregnant with your child."

"Morons" he muttered, taking a sip of his drink and watching a police diver enter the water carefully. He shuddered at the thought of what they might find.

"You cold?" Alice asked. "I can get a blanket from the ambulance if you want."

"I'm fine."

"I'd better ring mum and dad a minute. They said they wanted to know what's happening."

"Nothing's happening." Vince groaned. "What I want to know is if they don't find him, how are they going to know he's defiantly not there?"

"I think they'll be pretty sure if they stop looking."

"I can't deal with this Al. The not knowing is killing me."

"Well, would you prefer to leave?"

"No." Vince shook his head, and looked up anxiously as one of the divers emerged from the river, then he gave the sign that he'd found nothing and Vince breathed a shaky sigh of relief.

--

They sat in silence for a while, watching as diver after diver entered the water and came out with nothing. Suddenly, a diver emerged in a state of near panic and the fifty or so policemen and women leapt into action.

"What's going on?" Vince squeaked, clutching Alice's arm.

"I don't know." They stood up and moved closer to the river as another diver leapt into the water, followed by another one. Moments later the three emerged holding a lifeless body. The corpse was passed to those stood on the bank.

"Is it him?" breathed Vince. His knees buckling beneath him. He swore he'd have fallen if he hadn't been leaning on Alice.

"I don't know. I can't… I can't see his face. There's police in the way."

"Move." muttered Vince. "This is killing me."

"Miss Moon." said a voice from behind them. They span round and found themselves facing an important looking police officer.

"Yes." she answered.

"We think we've found Howard." Vince's heart plummeted and he heard Alice sob beside him. "We need positive identification. Are you up to it?"

Alice shook her head. "I can't. I don't want to see him if he's d-..." she broke down into tears. Vince put his arm round he shoulders and she sobbed into his shoulder. Then he took a deep breath and said, "I'll do it."

"It should be a relative really." the policeman frowned.

"He's practically family." Alice wept, "He's Howard's boyfriend."

"I know who he is." Everyone knew who he was. "Okay, but you have to understand he's going to look different. He could have been down there for a couple days. He's going to be bloated and grey and he's going to be…"

"Please stop talking." begged Vince. "He'll look different, I understand."

"Okay Mr Noir, if you could just follow me." Vince nodded and followed the policeman towards an ambulance.

Everything was silent now. Vince walked past the police and the news crews, each person with their head dipped in respect. There was no talking, no radioing, no flashing blue lights, no photographs. Just deafening, ear-splitting silence. Vince gulped as he reached the body bag. The eerie silence, the blue of the police lights, the bitter cold wind, the hundreds of eyes fixed straight on him; none of it felt real. It was like a dream, or more like a terrifying nightmare.

"Are you ready?" the officer asked. Vince nodded, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He heard the zip of the body bag being undone, but he couldn't look. He wasn't ready. He didn't want to see the cold, dead face of his love. He didn't want know it was all over. Not yet. Just not yet!

"Vince." the officer said gently. "Can you take a look for me please?"

Vince opened one eye, he gasped. He dropped to his knees and he cried. He cried and cried as though he'd never ever stop.

Sorry it's short but it was either this or a 4,000 word chapter and i thought that was just too long.

Also, as a sort of reply to JantoFan: No, i'm not going to leave you with the preivious cliff hanger over christmas. i'm going to leave you with this one, partly because I'm mean and partly because I'm not sure what happens next myself yet.

Anyway everybody, have you a wonderful christmas time!!
Hope Santa brings everyone everything they want and more!! And i hope everyone eats far too much on christmas day, i know I intend to.

Hope you're still enjoying the story,
love ya!
Sisi...xx