This is dedicated to Gem, thanks for the support!
Part Four
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The morning after the night before, most of the team at Sun Hill were nursing hangovers. CID were definitely suffering the most, and John and Tess were certainly no exception.
Tess had walked into the CID office that morning with the hangover from hell. She felt like there was a team of miners digging away into her skull. Worse of all, she had to face John after their very public snog the night before. John looked up as she arrived and he flashed a very stony look at her, before burying his head back into his paperwork.
Tess had already been wishing that the snog hadn't happened. She knew that it would only further complicate her already tempestuous relationship with her colleague. However, she couldn't help feeling a slight wave of disappointment that he obviously thought the snog had been a mistake. She brushed away that thought straightaway – after all, she didn't fancy him at all, did she?
The rest of the nick were all full of gossip about the pair. Everyone had seen the snog, and they were all dying to know what the story was between them. Everyone was convinced that they fancied each other like mad, and they were highly amused by the fact that they were obviously in complete denial about it.
"Oi, wheres your girlfriend Sarge?" jeered Dave Quinnan, as John walked past him and Tony.
"She is not my girlfriend," John said through gritted teeth.
Dave and Tony both sniggered as they watched John stalk off in a rage.
Tess was also receiving the same treatment. When she went to the canteen to get herself a sandwich for lunch, she was subjected to a round of wolf-whistles and several cries of 'Shall I buy a hat for the wedding?'
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At least John and Tess were soon able to throw themselves into new investigations and take their minds off the events of the night before.
They managed to get through the majority of the rest of the day without having to face each other. Tess was investigating a case involving a man who was suspected of hanging around local schools and taking photographs of the children. Meanwhile, John was involved in the case of a missing fourteen year-old girl.
Tess was fed up of following this bloke around all day. So far, the most interesting thing that she had seen him do was to get himself a drive-through takeaway meal.
John was making some progress in the search for the missing teenager, Leah Rodgers. It was looking increasingly like she had been snatched by a man in a silver 4x4, who had been seen by some other teenagers, talking to the missing girl at the bus stop on her way home from school.
As Tess followed her suspect's silver 4x4, she had no idea that her case might be connected to John's…
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At the end of a very hard day in which John and Tess both felt that ultimately they had reached a dead end in their investigations, they both returned to the CID office. There was a real buzz about the Leah Rodgers case, and most of the officers were discussing the details of the case.
"So what car was this geezer she was talking to in?" asked Don.
"It was a silver 4x4, the kids don't remember the registration though," John replied.
The realisation dawned on Tess.
"That's the bloke I have been following all day, the one who has been hanging around schools and taking photos of kids…"
John and Tess looked at each other across the room. They both knew that they were going to have to work together again…