Hey. Thank you for my lone reviewer, losttimelady, for your opinions on the last chapter. Sorry I couldn't post before today but I've been at Uni Open Days and all sorts. If there is anything you are unhappy with in this story, let me know.

Enjoy!

Eventually encouraging themselves to dash downstairs, the members of CID present nearly crashed directly into poor DC Cartwright who had just came back from fetching the shopping at the Gov's request; a pint of milk, another bottle of Whisky, three packet of Marlboros (telling her that all three packets would be required because of the day he was bound to have) and a tin of 'oops.

She squinted at the four men bounding towards her, an unsure looking woman close behind them.

Gesticulating over to the girl, Annie turned to Gene, his face hard with focus. "Sir, is this our new..."

"Never mind all that bollocks, you can get acquainted in the Cortina! Ray, Chris you take the other car. I don't want Dorothy 'ere nearly shitting 'imself coz we've got too many people in this motor!"

Sam sighed heavily. "We'd be breaking the law rather than upholding it!"

"You'd better get used to 'im talking this kind of shit regularly, luv." Gene stated, in a mere attempt at keeping up appearances with his unacknowledged daughter.

"Will do." she replied, smiling through gritted teeth as Chris opened the back door for her to get in. She nodded, blushing at his gentleness.

Gene groaned. "I told you not to prat about you nonce! Go play Romantic-Shakespeare-arse-licker to Ray!"

Doing as he was told, DC Skelton's head sunk a little, sulking his way over to the passenger seat of the titchy blue car.

Hearing the motor rev up, Sam held on for dear life, advising Casey to do exactly the same thing.

Annie smiled over to the new recruit, not quite sure what to say. In her mind, she looked awfully young (too young) to be doing this job; it was full of dangers, some of which a woman of her age did not know how to contend with, without the battles of puberty and ever changing hormones. None the less, she was more than prepared to be helpful to her, feeling she'd already been allocated the job of glorified babysitter anyway.

Screeching round the corner of the road, Gene examined Casey's face in the wind mirror; she looked a mixture of nervous and a little angry, still trying to maintain confidence and professionalism deep within the whirlwind of emotions.

"What's the matter, kid?"

Gene's voice, harsh and unyielding, woke Casey from her day dreaming. She glanced up at him, blinking as if he'd asked what the meaning of life is.

"Nothing."

Gene snorted. "Huh, just the kind of answer I'd expect from a teenager."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "I take it you have experience in them matters then?"

Gene's eyes followed the trend of Tyler's, his lip snarling as he chose to ignore his Inspectors moody comment.

Annie pushed her hair behind her ears, holding onto the bag of shopping to make sure that the Whisky didn't come in contact with the floor; the rate the Gov was driving, it was a wonder that they were still in their seats!

Pulling up on the pavement, Casey waited until all of the other officers began to emerge from the car before joining them. Really, she was keen to show eagerness but not so keen on the idea of being viewed as over zealous. She could only imagine the kind of abuse she would get for that.

Plumping up his chest and peering at the school (kids hanging out of the window as if they were trying to cause themselves damage, teachers yelling at them until they developed laryngitis) Gene was glad that he was no longer a student.

"I can see why you wanted to get out," he snorted, directing his voice over to WPC Carlisle.

"Yeah, it's hardly what you'd call appealing is it?" Sam interjected, thinking back to his school days, how he tried to be the perfect academic but sometimes let his peer's taunts overshadow him.

"It's a real dump inside," she sighed, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Seeing DC Skelton park fairly neatly behind the Governor's car (but not too neatly to be regarded as fussy or a nonce), him and DS Carling parked up, making their way over to the foursome.

"This takes me back," Chris mused aloud "I 'aven't missed it like."

"You used to come here, then?" Casey questioned, spinning to see the brunette a little better.

Chris gulped, shocked that someone had paid attention to him. "Yeah. I didn't exactly enjoy me school days. Didn't really get on with the kids that well."

"Neither did I." she frowned, following her superior officers inside the bleak, multi-storey building.

The Gov waltzed over to the front desk, resting his arm against it as if he was sat in the Railway Arms, expecting another pint from Nelson. "Alright, luv? I'm DCI Hunt, 'ere to sort out some sort of burglary from last night?"

The girl at the desk, with her thick glasses un-cleaned and biscuit crumbs spilt down her ill fitting blue top, gazed up at him. "Oh yeah, did someone call for you then?"

Gene scowled. "Yes, about ten or so minutes ago!"

"Oh yeah, that was me!" she tittered, Gene rolling his eyes in exasperation. "I'll get our headmaster for you."

As she rose from her seat, remembering to take her cup of coffee with her when she was over half way across the other side of the room, the Chief Inspector shook his head at the plain incompetence of some people.

"Gov, what's meant to 'ave 'appened?" Annie quizzed, trying to pick up for lost time.

"Apparently, sometime last night, a bunch of youth bastards were 'anging around 'ere. Then, there's meant to be all broken glass or sommats so they called us in."

"Who saw that it was a bunch of youths?" DI Tyler asked, avoiding Gene's terminology.

"Some poor soul who lives across the road saw some of 'em running backwards and forwards all night."

"Was he up all night then?" Casey muttered, looking up and regretting her rather sarcastic notion. "Sorry, I just thought that seemed a bit silly, that's all..."

"No, it's a good question, Carlisle, one that I intend on working out once this slow fucker gets their sorry arse over 'ere!" he yelled, slamming his fist against the desk; he had no time for waiting around all day like some sort of fairy.

After a further five minutes, the ambling woman from the office returned, puzzled for a brief second as to who she was dealing with. Remembering what she was meant to be saying, she turned to the superior officers, pushing her glasses against her brow. "I'm sorry, he said he'll be about ten minutes, he's on the phone to a parent. He told me that I could take you to the crime scene, was it?" she murmured to herself, rubbing her chin and making her way - slowly - over to them. "Oh yes, I'll take you over to the crime scene and he'll hopefully be along soon."

"Terrific," Gene growled, already fed up with her sluggishness.

"If you'd like to come this way." she said, sauntering in front as Sam grabbed his notebook from his back pocket, ready if anything unusual was set to occur.

On their way towards the field and back of the school, all members of Manchester's A Division couldn't help but notice the unruly children and slack teachers. Cursing flowed the corridors as they walked on by, a paper aeroplane hitting the receptionist right in the head but she didn't even flinch. Sam guessed that she was desensitised to it all, choosing to ignore rather than directly doing so.

Turning another corner, Casey gulped, memories young and old coming back to her; she detested this place, absolutely hated it. It made her grateful that she was away from the place, that she never had to spend a full day here never, ever again.

"Here we are," the office lady spoke, seemingly out of breath from their around the school trek. "Here is where the little scallywags must have broken in by."

Near the school pitch, behind which were a bunch of conifers and bungalows, was a broken window.

"They must have broken in by using this bust chair," DC Cartwright observed "Does this belong to any of the rooms?"

The receptionist thought about it briefly, recollecting some rather crucial information. "Underneath all of the chairs are where they belonged to, written in permanent black marker pen."

Taking a clean tissue from her handbag, Annie grabbed one of the chairs legs, flipping it over. "Bio. L5."

"Does that mean anything to either of you?" Hunt questioned, glancing at Casey and Chris.

Carlisle nodded confidently. "Yeah it's Biology, laboratory 5."

"Ok, Carling, Skelton and Cartwright, you stay 'ere and scan for clues. Me, Dorothy and the new Nancy Drew will go to Biology and dissect the place apart."

Feeling rather useless - and more than a little out of place - the lady from the office swung her arms together. "Ok, sir, what should I do."

"You wait 'ere until the 'eadmaster finally finishes gabbling on and tell 'im to come find us," Gene ordered, the trio wondering off to a department which Casey was quite fond of actually.

She was one of the 'science geeks' as some of the boys had once chosen to put it. She'd never seen herself like that though; somehow she just kind of understood it and was a near straight A student in the subject. She didn't take the exam though, through her own personal reasons, something she deeply regretted.

Wasting little time in leading the Gov and DI Tyler around the school, Casey stopped dead in her tracks once arriving at the class room. She gasped, standing still and rigidly against the wall.

"Great," she sighed, feeling a mixture of disgust, awkwardness and shyness creeping over her and strangling her professionalism.

"What's up?" Sam quizzed, turning to face the cowering young woman. Although she was trying to look brave, trying to keep her cool, there was still doubt plastered all across her face like nettle rash.

"N-nothing." she stammered, hopping her grown up like facade would be able to be maintained, at least for a little while longer.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded reluctantly yet sharply, feeling helpless as Gene crashed through the door into biology, disrupting the class' madness for at least a brief moment in time.

The teacher, balding with what little hair he had left as grey as a ghost, turned to look at Gene, simply shrugging his appearance.

"Which one is it you want?" he asked rather slovenly, as if it was an everyday occurrence, a burly copper charging in your door.

"No, we don't want any of the charming little bastards yet." Gene replied, stifling a laugh at his own cynicism.

"No, sir, we're here about the break in last night." Sam interjected, feeling that his phrasing might be more valuable in such a matter as he presented his Inspectors badge.

Casey hung around outside. 'Please say that I don't have to go in there.' she pleaded, her thoughts locked within her mind. She couldn't bare it, not with all of those familiar yet vulgar faces surrounding her.

Pressing herself against the wall even more so, she tried to blank out all sense of hearing, trying to ignore them talking to that old dog, Mr. Bourne. If boring ever needed personifying, he was the man to do it.

Sam, noticing the missed presence of his trainee by his side frowned, wondering back into the corridor, a question marking his face. "What's the matter?"

Gathering her thoughts quickly, Casey stood taller, her shoulders turned inwards. "N-nothing. I'm fine."

"Ok, well we're going to start looking for any clues in here," Sam hinted, holding his arm out as a sign for her to enter the room first.

Folding her body inwards, trying to defend herself as best she could, Casey crept into the Biology room, her mouth quivering; she felt eyes upon her, scorching her but still sending a shiver down her spine.

The gossip subsided momentarily although it felt like it lasted thousands of years; everyone stopped what they were doing, gawping at a shirking Casey, happily letting her hair flop across her face.

"OI CASEY, GET YOUR TIT'S OUT!" one of the lads crassly shouted, his face elated as he usually got away with that kind of chauvinism.

Well, at least not today.

The Governor, not liking the place from his initial impression, snarled, his nostrils flaring. He liked the lads turn of phrase even less. He waltzed over to him, chest heaving, macho and authoritative.

"Think again if you think you can talk to one of me officer's like that," he sneered, laying a hefty slap across the spotty lad's ear hole, cackling at his cruelty as the pupil fell to the ground, his mouth wide with shock.

"You're gonna fucking pay for that!"

"Oh, is that right?" Gene scoffed, kicking the youngster in the gut. Casey cowered, un-expecting this random act of disgraceful violence.

"That's enough, Gov!" Sam cried, pulling him back. "Leave him!"

Gene, spittle landing like bombs over the teenagers body, began to calm down, his anger subsiding just a little when the twat didn't bother to fight back.

Before things could get anymore out of hand than already possible, another familiar face came back into Casey's life; the Headmaster, Brian Mills.

To be continued...

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