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"Chris, you're going to have to tell us everything. We need to know what happened before you realised Shaz had disappeared." Alex looked at him sympathetically. He looked terrible. He'd clearly had very little sleep, his hair was all over the place, and his eyes had taken on an alarming wild quality.

"No offence, Ma'am, but can't we just – just get out there and find her?"

"We've got nothing to go on, we can't just start searching the whole city," Alex pointed out. "We need to know where to look. You said you argued...so it's possible that she left voluntarily? Could she be with her parents, for instance?"

"I..." Chris passed a hand over his face. "Yeah, I...I suppose...I mean, it's..."

"Spit it out, Chris," said Gene gruffly. A detached observer might have thought him unmoved: his tone was just as brash, just as aggressive, just as unyielding as always, but Alex fancied that by now she knew him well enough to discern the genuine concern beneath the façade. Shaz might be, in her own words, little more than a glorified typist, but Alex knew that in Gene's eyes everyone on his team was of equal value, and when Shaz was in potential danger, it affected and worried him just as much as if it were Ray, or Chris, or even herself. She felt a sudden rush of affection towards him, and found herself wondering, not for the first time that morning, when they were going to have time to address all the things they would surely need to talk about before long...

"Sorry, Guv," said Chris hastily, and Alex snapped back to the present. "Yeah, well we...we did argue." He struggled to remember. "It was...it was one of those stupid arguments, you know? About the wedding. I mean, she's been stressed about it for ages, and we haven't been seeing eye to eye all the time...but she just flipped. I tried to talk to her about it, but..." He trailed off.

"Okay, so..." Alex sat up straight and fixed Chris with a piercing gaze. "You argued, and she walked off?" Chris nodded. "What happened then?"

"I tried running after her. I mean, it was dark, I didn't want her walking home by herself, I was worried...but I was just making things worse, and we were only a couple of streets away from her flat..." He raised pleading eyes to Alex, as if seeking absolution. "I let her go. I didn't think...I mean, I never thought anything would..."

"Of course you didn't," Alex reassured him. "There's no reason you should have. I know – I think we all know – that if you'd foreseen anything like this, you'd have acted differently. Of course you would. But the fact is that you didn't. We're not blaming you for anything, and I think –"

"I think what DI Drake is trying to say, Chris, is don't beat yourself up over it," interjected Gene. "Get on with the sodding story, will you?"

"Right," continued Chris, clearing his throat slightly awkwardly. "Well, I – I went home. I was so angry with myself, you know? I mean, it was all my fault, that we argued. I thought, if I just let it all blow over...but I couldn't sleep, I kept thinking about what I'd said, and what she'd said, and –" He looked up at them all helplessly. "We're supposed to be getting married. I...so I went back to her place...she wasn't answering the door but I thought she might be asleep. I..." His voice broke slightly. "I didn't want to wake her up."

"So what, you just hung around on the doorstep for hours?" said Ray incredulously. "You really are a twonk, Chris." Alex frowned at him. Sometimes Ray could be almost as crassly insensitive as his DCI.

"Well, yeah. I thought I could catch her when she left for work, or something. It wasn't that early," he said defensively. "But she never showed up, and I know she leaves the house at the same time every morning, she hates being late for anything, Shaz does." He paused for a moment and blinked rapidly. "So I ran over here, and that's when I called you, Ma'am," he finished.

"Thanks, Chris." Alex turned to Gene. "Where do we start, Guv?"

"Ma'am, we will...we will find her, won't we?" interrupted Chris anxiously. "I'd never forgive myself if – I mean, I don't know how I'd –"

"Give over, Chris!" said Ray with barely concealed impatience. "Ten to one nothing's even happened. She got fed up with you – well who can really blame her, you drip? – and she's done a bunk. She'll turn up; odds are she's staying with a mate or something."

"She's not staying with a mate, Ray!" Chris shook his head vehemently. "She wouldn't. She'd come in for work. And she wouldn't – she wouldn't just disappear. Not Shaz. She'd know we'd be going spare, she'd...she'd let us know where she was. I know she would."

Ray looked slightly uncomfortable. "Sorry, mate. I just think...I think we're overreacting. We go and check out her friends' places, we'll find her."

"I think Ray's right, Chris," interjected Alex, sensing that whatever her own concerns were, the most sensible plan of action was to hide them from the others until they were absolutely sure there was something to worry about. "Shaz can look after herself. And if she was as upset as you say she was, she might well have just packed up her stuff last night and gone to stay with someone for a bit. As for work, well if she came in here, she couldn't avoid you, could she?"

"I'm going to go along with these two on this one, Chris." Gene surveyed him, a deep frown etched on his forehead. "By the sounds of it, you're not number one on the list of people Shaz wants to see right now, are you?"

"I suppose not..." said Chris doubtfully. "But I really think I'm right, Guv, Shaz would never just go off without telling anyone –"

"We're not ruling anything out, Chris," said Alex gently. "If we don't find her, we'll rethink. But it makes sense, don't you think? We need to try the obvious first."

"She's right," said Ray shortly, not meeting Chris's eye.

Gene nodded decisively. "I hate to admit it, but DI Drake is talking sense, Chris."

"Look, I know Shaz!" said Chris desperately. "No offence meant, Guv – Ma'am – but you don't know Shazzer as well as I do, none of you do. She wouldn't do this to me – she wouldn't do this to us. It's not right. Can't we –"

"My apologies, Christopher, I'll just remind you whose department this is, shall I?" growled Gene, fixing Chris with his most ferocious glare. "You lot do what I say, and right now you and Ray are going to pay Shaz's parents a visit, while I go and meet her friends with DI Drake here. Got that?"

For a moment, there was silence. "Yes, Guv," said Chris miserably.

"Chris, if we're wrong, and Shaz isn't with her parents or her friends, I promise we'll treat the whole thing differently," said Alex. "I hope for her sake we're right, but if we're not..." She couldn't for the life of her think how to finish her sentence, but she could tell that all Chris's hopes were pinned on it. "Whatever happens, we will find her," she said finally. "I've got plans to be at a wedding tomorrow, and that's what I'm going to be doing."

"Thanks, Ma'am." Chris looked up at her gratefully, the despair in his eyes mingled with new hope. Alex wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand, having heard all the details from Chris, the most likely outcome seemed to be that Shaz, either because she couldn't face seeing him again so soon, or because she was upset and needed to talk to someone, or because she'd simply had enough, would soon be found safe and sound with either her parents or her friends. But on the other hand, knowing both Shaz and Chris as well as she did, Alex couldn't help worrying. She knew that the most practical option was to do exactly as Gene had outlined, but try as she might she couldn't quite shake the feeling that, whatever had happened, Shaz would never have disappeared without letting them know where she was going. It didn't add up. And in Alex's experience, when things didn't add up, that was when the alarm bells started ringing.

"I still think he's overreacting," Gene said as he turned the key in the ignition and steered the Quattro away from the station. Alex leaned her elbow against the car door and watched him for a second, took in the slight frown and white knuckles that said so much more than his words ever would. She had to fight the sudden urge to kiss him. Impossible man.

"Shaz goes missing the day before they're supposed to be getting married, at a time when Chris should have been walking her home. It's understandable that he's worried. He's blaming himself."

He glanced at her briefly, all bravado and casual dismissal. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "So he bloody should be. What kind of nonce lets a bird walk home by herself at that time?"

She didn't answer, just gave him a sideways look. Now that they were alone, away from the focus of CID and the company of their colleagues, she felt self-conscious. She wondered if he too was remembering last night - the desperate kisses that melted into caresses, the blazing trail of fingers on skin, the whispers that were so much more honest than they would ever admit to.

She felt muddled up, chaotic, confused, because the morning she'd imagined, those lazy few hours filled with slow kisses and hot coffee and minty breath had been stolen from them, and she couldn't help a faint pang of annoyance at the sheer injustice of the situation. The moment the thought came into her mind, it was immediately overwhelmed by guilt. Shaz was missing, for Christ's sake, and all she could think about was the loss of her anticipated mid-morning shag.

She snuck another glance at Gene, and then looked at her hands, heart racing. They should talk about this. She needed - they needed - to know if this, them, was going anywhere. She suppressed a shiver at the thought, part in anticipation of the image of him in her bed, and part in fear at the realisation that once would never be enough.

"Gene..." she started suddenly, but his hand left the steering wheel to rest on her knee, squeezing gently and effectively cutting her off.

"Let's find Shaz first, eh, Bolls? We can have this nancy talk I can tell you're bent on having after that."

She couldn't help smiling at him. "Mind-reader now, are you?"

"I can hear your brain whirring away like a bleedin' helicopter. Never simple with you, is it?" He risked a glance at her and she met his gaze, eyebrow raised in challenge. He looked away again, cleared his throat. "So, er...seeing as we haven't had this chat yet, does that mean there's a strict no-touching rule until we do? Or is it more like all-bets-are-off, have-at-it sort of situation?"

Alex pretended to think, although her heart hammered first to burst in the chassis of her ribs. "Well, I suppose it means that there are no rules yet, and when there are no rules..." she trailed off, caught the grin that tugged at one corner of his mouth.

"All bets are off?"

"That is the logical conclusion."

He swung the car into a parking space against the kerb and turned to face her, propping one elbow against the seat and watching her closely. "Under all this psycho-twattery and metaphors, Drake, are you inviting me to give you a good seeing-to?"

She leaned towards him. "Yes Gene," she murmured, mouth so close she could feel his breath on her lips. "I believe I am."

His kiss, when it finally came, was the opposite of what she'd expected. The heat, the ferocity, the intensity she'd anticipated after their interrupted morning was replaced with a softness, a tenderness that was somehow all the more breathtaking. His hand found her cheek, thumb brushing her skin as he kissed her once, twice, three times, short, gentle kisses that left her quivering with want.

"You're full of surprises," she whispered, curling one arm around his neck to pull him back down to her, and he let her kiss him for a moment before groaning and pulling away.

"Do you have any idea what you do to me, Bolls?" His eyes were closed and she was reminded suddenly of the innocent youth he'd been in sleep, cares wiped briefly, temporarily away. The thought made her smile and she pressed one last kiss against his mouth before moving out of his grasp and opening the car door. He followed, letting it slam behind him. "Bloody women," she heard him mutter as he joined her in front of the small terraced house, but his hand snuck quickly across to pinch her bottom. The front door opened just as she let out a tiny shriek of surprise.

"Er...can I help you?" A woman was standing in the doorway, hair short and choppy and brighter than the sun, and the sight of her made Alex freeze just for a moment, because she had a sudden flashback of Shaz in that club all those years ago, carefree and alive. She shivered.

"Hello love, I'm DCI Hunt and this is DI Drake." He brushed past her and moved inside, ignoring her protests. "You a friend of Shaz Granger?"

The woman folded her arms. "What's it to you?"

Alex stepped in hurriedly, noticing the way Gene bristled at her attitude. "I'm Alex Drake. You are...?"

"Angela. Angela Barnes. Is Shaz in trouble or something?"

"We're..." Alex trailed off. "We're not sure, exactly. She appears to have gone missing. When was the last time you saw her?"

Angela gave Alex a long look, her grey eyes narrowed, before nodding slowly and letting a smile steal across her face. "Oh, I get it. Shazzer's done a bunk and now you lot can't find her. Well, if you think I'm bailing on Shaz to help you fascist pigs you've got another think coming."

Alex sighed. "It's not like that at all. Something serious could have happened to Shaz. All we want to do is make sure she's safe. Have you seen her?"

"Oh yeah, I've seen her." Angela leaned back against the doorjamb, still smiling. "I think she said she'd fought off a three-hundred strong gang of chimpanzees and planned to get the train to Timbuktu."

"Listen," Gene had been standing quietly while they spoke but now he lost patience, stepping so close to Angela that their faces were just inches apart. "I've got a bloody DC moping around my office saying his girlfriend's been kidnapped, and all you want to do is play the bloody fool! Now are you going to answer my colleague's questions or will I have to arrest your scrawny arse for obstruction?"

He was breathing heavily and Alex laid a gentle hand on his arm, drawing him away and back to her side. She'd had another glimpse of his concern for Shaz, for the deep fear that simmered away beneath the mask of nonchalance and confidence, and it chilled her, because if Gene Hunt wasn't completely sure they would find her, all of her own hope melted into nothing.

"Pig," Angela spat, backing away to perch on the edge of the sofa. "Shaz has told me all about you, about how the only things you let her do are typing and tea-making. Absolutely worships the ground you walk on though, silly cow." Despite the viciousness of her words, Alex heard an undercurrent of affection. Angela was obviously close to Shaz, and she seemed to realise now that her friend could be in trouble. "I haven't seen her though. Not since last week." She paused. "Ziggy might have. He's asleep upstairs. I'll go and wake him."

Gene turned to Alex as Angela disappeared, one eyebrow raised. "Ziggy? Bleedin' hell, Bolls, we seem to have accidentally landed in La-La Land." He shook his head. "I thought Granger was sensible enough not to hang around with tossers like these."

Alex smiled. "It's the eighties. Everyone has a cause."

"Yeah, well, in a minute my cause is going to be knocking their bloody heads together." He rubbed a hand wearily across his eyes and she felt a rush of sympathy for this complicated, idiotic, wonderful man with his foul mouth and soft heart. She felt privileged suddenly to have seen him with his guard down, to be one of the very few he let in, and she turned his face gently towards her, moving to feather the lightest of kisses across his lips. It was natural, somehow. It was right.

"We'll sort it," she insisted, sensing that just once it was Gene who needed reassurance, and he caught her hand where it lay against his cheek, lacing his fingers through hers as their hands came to rest in his lap.

"I know. Have faith in the Gene Genie, Bolls."

She kissed his cheek this time, needing to touch him, to comfort him, yet aware of their surroundings. "I know we're not talking about us until later," she said softly, leaning briefly against him, "but we'll be okay too."

"Course we will. Un-bloody-breakable, that's us." There were footsteps on the stairs and he got abruptly to his feet, pulling his hand away from hers with an expression of embarrassed discomfort on his face that made Alex smile.

Angela entered first, followed by a tall, skinny man with a shock of dyed black hair and bright blue eyes. He offered his hand to Gene.

"Ziggy Roberts." He had an easy smile, and Alex understood as he turned to her why Shaz liked him. His whole stance was relaxed, laidback, the complete opposite of the obtuse Angela, and she warmed to him instantly.

"I'm Alex Drake and this is DCI Gene Hunt. I understand you're a friend of Shaz Granger?"

Ziggy nodded, flopping down onto the sofa and stretching his long, gangly legs out in front of him. "I've known Shaz for years. We grew up together." He paused. "Bet Ange here hasn't offered you a cup of tea." He gave her a reproachful look and she folded her arms again, immediately defensive.

"They should be out looking for Shaz, not hanging around here drinking tea. Their bloody fault she went missing in the first place."

Ziggy gave another of his serene smiles. Alex wondered if anything ever ruffled him, stealing a sideways glance at Gene, who seemed to be rapidly running out of patience. He cleared his throat.

"Listen, Zoggy-"

"It's Ziggy."

"-Strewth." He took a deep breath, and Alex hid a grin. "All we want to know is whether you've seen Shaz since last night. If I wanted a bloody lecture on policing, I'd've taken this one out for lunch." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Alex.

"Sorry about Angela. She's staunchly anti-institutionalist. She thinks that the solid structure of the police is merely a way of clamping down on libertarian ideas and enforcing doctrine." He paused, cocked his head as if in thought. "As for Shaz, I last spoke to her a couple of days ago. She was checking to make sure I was coming to the wedding. She seemed stressed, but she gets like that sometimes. She always wants everything to be perfect."

"Do you think it could have got too much? That she might have run away?" Alex pressed.

Ziggy shook his head slowly. "Not Shaz. She's mad about this Chris guy. Anyway, she wouldn't want to let everyone down." For the first time, a ghost of a worry passed through his electric blue eyes. "You'll find her, won't you?"

Alex tried for a smile, but she had the feeling it was far from convincing. Gene picked up the slack.

"Course we will, son." He fixed Ziggy with a steely glare. "But if I find out you've been lying to me, I'll have your knackers between a pair of bricks so fast you won't know what's hit you."

Without waiting for an answer, he turned on his heel and slammed out of the house. Alex shrugged apologetically, moving towards the door just as Angela returned with the tea.

"Sorry, we'd better be going," she said, ignoring Angela's glare. "Thank you for your time. We'll keep you updated."

It was with a sigh of relief that she let herself out of the house. As interesting as she found Shaz's friends, with their ideals and their morals and their carefully cultivated rebellions, the atmosphere was a little intense, a little suffocating. She felt as though she was trying to fend Angela off with one hand while shaking Ziggy into some sort of reaction with the other, all for the simple knowledge that they knew no more about Shaz's whereabouts than she did.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice straight away that Gene wasn't alone on the pavement. He was entwined with a blonde woman, her hands on his bottom and his on her back, and as she looked on, aghast, horrified, sick with dismay, she reached up and found his mouth for a kiss.

Just for a second, Alex felt her whole world tilt, teeter dangerously on its axis and then settle back into a plain of hurt and anger. She brushed past them, grimly satisfied as Gene pushed the woman away, and threw herself into the Quattro, slamming the door loudly behind her.

And she thought this might have gone somewhere. She thought - she actually believed - he cared about her.

She didn't look round as he climbed in beside her, just kept her eyes staring fixedly out of the window in an attempt to hold back the tears.

"Bolls...I was going to tell you, I swear. It just..."

"Wasn't the right time," she finished bitterly. "I get it, Gene. I'm just a shag, something you can boast about to Ray later. Whatever, it's not like I care anyway. It was never going to work - you're hardly Daniel Moore." Her last comment was intended to hurt and she swallowed back a ball of tears, prayed that her voice was steady. "It's better this way."

There was a long silence. "Fine then. Good. Hunky bloody dory."

And with a screech of tyres, the Quattro roared away.

"Take your hands out of your pockets, will you?"

"What are you on about? Why?"

"Well, it don't look very smart, does it?"

"We're here to find out if she knows where her daughter is, not ask her to judge a beauty competition, you div."

"I'm just saying."

A shadow rippled behind the glass panel, and a moment later, the door opened. Shaz's mother stood in the hallway, dusting off her floury hands on a checked apron tied around her waist. With her sharp eyes and slight build, she bore such a striking resemblance to her daughter that Ray did a double-take. She glanced at him with no recognition, but as soon as she looked from him to Chris, a startlingly familiar smile lit up her face.

"Chris!" She looked slightly surprised, but pleased nonetheless. "How nice to see you. Day off? Isn't Sharon with you?"

"Oh..." Chris glanced at Ray and grimaced. "She's...not with you, then?"

"No." Shaz's mum frowned. "Why would she be? Sunday afternoon's usually the only time she makes it over here. Why do you ask?"

Chris hesitated. "Mrs Granger, this is –"

Holding up one finger to stop him, she gave him a reproving look. "If I've told you once, Chris, I've told you a thousand times. Call me Mary."

"Oh...well, Mary then...this is Ray – I mean, this is DS Carling."

Ray held out his hand for her to shake, and she stood back to let them into the house. Chris was looking distinctly nervous, and Ray deduced with a mixture of trepidation and irritation that most of the explaining was going to be down to him.

"Why don't you two sit down, and I'll put the kettle on, shall I?" Shaz's mother showed them through into the little sitting room off the hallway, bustling out again before either of them could so much as open their mouths.

"What are we going to say to her, Ray?" said Chris in a low voice, as soon as she had left the room. "She's going to be..." He trailed off helplessly.

"Look, I'll do the talking." Ray gave the bookshelves a cursory inspection, found nothing to his taste, and turned back to Chris. "All we have to do is tell her what's going on, and ask her if she knows where Shaz might be. We don't want to worry her, do we? Most likely the Guv and DI Drake are going to find her anyway. Nothing's happened. I'd put money on it."

"That's not what it's going to sound like to her mum though, is it?" Chris's gaze strayed to the mantelpiece, where a large photograph took pride of place between a pair of mismatched candles. Shaz smiled out of the frame, flanked on either side by two boys whom Ray assumed to be her brothers, one perhaps a couple of years younger than her, the other not more than eleven or twelve. Both of them were dark-haired with the same bright, intelligent eyes as their sister. Chris picked up the photo and looked at it helplessly, as if, just willing it hard enough would make Shaz step out of the frame towards them. His hands were shaking, and the frame looked as if it was about to snap under the pressure.

"Give that here, div." Ray prised the photograph out of Chris's hands and stuck it back on the mantelpiece, almost knocking over the candles in the process. "You're worrying about nothing, mate. You're going to feel really stupid when the Guv turns up this afternoon with her, aren't you?"

"Nice to know I've always got your support, Ray," said Chris, his voice as close to icy as Ray had ever heard it. "I really appreciate it." Catching Ray's eye, he relented, closing his eyes briefly and pinching the bridge of his nose. "There's no point arguing about it, mate. I know something's not right."

"What's not right?" Ray and Chris whipped round to see Mary standing in the doorway, a tray of tea precariously balanced on her hip and a questioning frown creasing her forehead. Ray hurried to take the tray from her and put it more safely on the coffee table, leaving Chris to answer her question.

"It's...look, Mrs Granger – Mary – I..." He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes flicking everywhere but at her. "I really don't know how to say this, but it's...well, it's Shaz, she's...she's..." He turned helplessly to Ray, who shrugged and helped himself to a biscuit, deciding to let Chris have a go after all. No doubt DI Drake would have known exactly how to handle this situation. He would never have admitted it to her, but right now they could really have used her help.

"She's what?" Mary's face was draining of colour as she felt for the back of a chair.

"She's..." Chris didn't seem to be getting any further with this sentence. In fact, he seemed to have lost the power of speech, and was doing a fairly good impression of the goldfish Ray had won for his niece at the funfair not long ago. "Well, the thing is..." Perhaps it was time to step in.

"She's done a bunk," said Ray eloquently, through a mouthful of custard cream. Ignoring Chris's glare, he swallowed and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "We thought she might be here."

"But she's not," said Chris helpfully.

"What do you mean, she's done a bunk?" asked Mary, her voice rising with every syllable.

"Well, she's kind of...gone," said Ray, at a loss as to how many interpretations there could be of the phrase "done a bunk". Mary looked understandably shaken, but as comforting stricken mothers wasn't high up on Ray's personal skills list, he chose to ignore it. "Chris here reckons she's been done in or something," he said conversationally, and Mary blanched. "Course, that's just this div overreacting," he backtracked hurriedly, catching sight of her expression. "The Guv's checking out Shaz's friends right now, and my money's on her being with one of them. Like I said, you don't want to listen to anything this div says, he's convinced she's lying under a bridge somewhere, you should hear him when he –"

"Ray, stop...just stop talking," said Chris, his expression horrified.

"Let me get this straight." Mary lowered herself into a chair and took a deep breath. "Sharon has disappeared? Why...why would she do that? Where would she go? What...I don't understand. What would make her...?"

She looked at Chris with an appeal in her eyes, upon which he turned crimson and became extremely interested in his fingernails. Ray sighed heavily and jerked his thumb at Chris. "They had a fight last night. Shaz ran off. Haven't seen her since."

"But...but you haven't checked with her friends yet? You don't know she's actually missing?"

"The Guv and DI Drake are doing it now." With what looked like a huge effort, Chris forced himself to look her in the eye. "Look, I'm..." He took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry. I really didn't...I mean, it wasn't even a serious argument. I know I shouldn't have...but I never thought...we were only two streets away, I never thought..."

Ray was on the verge of stepping in to put an end to Chris's misery by saving him from his own ramblings when Mary took a deep breath and shook her head firmly. "I don't want to hear your apologies, Chris. I know my daughter, and I know that she sometimes takes things too much to heart. But I also know that even if she did run away from you, she would always come back. If that's the case, I don't think you'll have to wait long. If not..." Her carefully maintained composure slipped slightly, and her hands shook as she smoothed her skirt down. "If not, then it's nothing to do with you, and I know you'll move heaven and earth to find her." She smiled wanly. "I think you're blaming yourself more than enough for both of us."

Ray cleared his throat awkwardly. Chris was blinking furiously, his throat working as he fought back what Ray could only assume with some disgust were tears. Shooting him an exasperated look, he pressed on with the questions. "Erm...so, Mrs Granger...there's nowhere else you can think of that Shaz might go, then?"

"Not that I can think of." Mary picked up the teapot in unsteady hands. "She doesn't have that wide a social circle, you know. She's got me and her dad, and the boys...and then there's you lot, and she's got a few friends I know she sees quite a bit, but that's the lot." She clasped her hands together anxiously. "You will let me know, won't you? If DCI Hunt has found her today...or if you need any...any more help. I'm always around."

"Absolutely," Ray assured her. "We'll give you a ring as soon as we hear from the Guv."

Mary gave him a tight smile, and offered them the plate of biscuits. Hospitable as she was, and reluctant as they were to leave her on her own, Ray and Chris didn't linger. It was now imperative to get back to the station and compare notes with the Guv and DI Drake. Despite his confident bluster, Ray had a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach. As they stood to leave, he glanced back at the photograph on the mantelpiece. Shaz's eyes seemed to follow him out of the room. He shivered. The sooner they found her, the better.