That afternoon, after Charlie had insisted on buying him lunch, they both went to interview Gale. Sawyer parked his car outside the grand-looking club that they'd be meeting Ben Gale in. It looked odd in the daylight, faded and deflated.

Charlie hopped out of the car, which was something that Sawyer was actually glad for – Charlie had been teasing him all the way here, asking if he'd ever been here before; Sawyer had denied it, but he didn't think that Charlie believed him.

The building's neon lights weren't yet shining, and there were several posters of the club's 'stars' stuck on the walls outside. Sawyer told himself not to stare and they walked up the collection of steps at the front, then in through the doors. It was like entering another world – they left London's drab streets behind and entered a seedy, steamy world of dirty promises and wide expanses of skin on display.

They were there mid-afternoon, so the club was empty of both dancers and customers. The lunch time show was over with and the cleaners and techies walked around, getting ready for tonight's show.

A woman, tall and powerful, appeared in front of them. Her eyes calmly took them in, before she beckoned them further inside. "Hello. I'm Miss Klugh. I assume you're the officers here to see Mr. Gale?"

Sawyer nodded. "I'm DI Ford; this is DC Pace."

Miss Klugh nodded, and looked at them both critically before smirking. Okay, Sawyer really didn't like that. "It's nice to meet both of you. Mr. Gale has a very busy schedule, so he'll only be able to give you fifteen minutes of his time. If you need more, you'll have to come back another day." The way she carried herself reminded Sawyer of one of his old middle school teachers. He couldn't argue with her; Charlie didn't raise an objection either.

Instead, they followed her as she led them towards Ben's office. She knocked once on the door and entered.

Ben sat behind a neat desk, smiling benignly at them as they entered. Right away it was possible to tell that this was a man who thrived on perfection. His office was spotless, with the filing cabinets well-utilised. Sawyer wondered if Charlie had already been here to give the room the same treatment he'd given his office. Even on the desk, all of the stationary was in the same parallel direction, facing the door vertically, like spikes. Two empty seats were waiting for them at the closest side of the desk.

"Come in, come in." He beckoned over to the seats with a smile that should have been encouraging. It just seemed forced. Sawyer felt tense quickly, but moved to sit down anyway. Despite the blue shirt that was slightly unbuttoned at the top, something about Mr. Gale just seemed to be dangerous. Maybe it was the too wide blue eyes, or perhaps just the predatory and intelligent look in them.

"I just heard about our Sunshine yesterday. It's awful news." Ben started speaking as soon as they'd sat down, with his every word careful and measured. Miss Klugh left the office and closed the door behind her. "I don't suppose you've got any leads from your enquiries so far?"

Sawyer smiled; he was too smart, or maybe too experienced, to be tricked by a faux-concerned question like that. "We're not free to disclose information on the case, Mr. Gale, as I'm sure you're aware. We're here to question you, not the other way around."

Ben didn't seem stunned or at a loss by Sawyer's blunt attitude; he just smiled like he already had Sawyer figure out. "Of course, DI Ford."

Sawyer frowned just a little at the use of his name. They hadn't introduced themselves to him yet. Sawyer tried to ignore it, knowing that Gale was someone that would do his research, and pulled a tape recorded from his pocket. "We'll be recording this conversation, to help with our enquiries. Okay?"

The 'okay' implied that Sawyer would personally arrest him and reinstate the death penalty if Gale refused. Luckily, he just nodded happily.

They sat awkward as Sawyer stated their names, location, time, date and all that crap into the recorder, then sat it down on the table. "For the record, Mr. Gale, you're the victim's past employer?" Sawyer started, easily enough.

"Yes. One of them."

"What do you know about the other means that Mrs. Kwon used to earn money?"

Ben smiled and looked down at his desk: Sawyer had already decided that he hated that smile.

"I'm aware that she had some… private clients."

"Could you elaborate on that?"

"She was a prostitute, Inspector," Gale snapped, losing his cool. He quickly found it again, smoothing down the material of his trousers and smiling again. He looked spaced. "I didn't view that as important – she was a club employee and then a friend first."

Charlie shifted in his seat. "A club employee and then a friend? I thought you two had known each other for years?"

This time Ben's unflinching gaze settled on Charlie. Sawyer could see Charlie squirming, and immediately wanted to demand that Ben continued the rest of the interview with his eyes shut.

"Semantics, Constable. Obviously I cared more for her as a friend than as an employee. We had a history."

"Can you tell us about that history?" Charlie asked. Sawyer smiled and relaxed, glad that Charlie had recovered again.

"We used to work together," Ben answered. "When I set up the club, I got a job for her here too. She was a good dancer."

Sawyer felt Charlie looking at him for help now, because Ben didn't seem to be giving them much of anything.

He nodded. "Alright. Do you know of anyone that might have a grudge against her?"

Ben considered it for a few moments, and realigned the pencils on his desk as he did so. "No one in specific. She was a wonderful woman. Maybe she managed to annoy one of her customers. Or maybe her new husband finally snapped. How should I know?"

Sawyer shook his head, but Charlie shifted forwards in his seat. "Her 'new' husband?" Sawyer quickly remembered - according the Jin and the marriage certificate, they'd been married for nearly a decade. Ben shook his head and waved the question away dismissively. Charlie didn't seem ready to drop this yet. "You and Mr. Kwon don't get on."

Ben sighed. "No, I supposed not. I've only met him a few times." He shifted in his seat and rolled up his sleeves again. "But I suppose you could say that I'm predisposed to dislike him."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Sun and I… We have more than a simply professional history together."

"You two had a past relationship?" Charlie asked. Sawyer nearly snorted at how completely surprised Charlie sounded. Still, he understood it. The idea of this odd little man in front of them having a relationship with anyone seemed bizarre.

Ben just smiled wistfully. "Yes. We were together for three years."

"And how did it end?"

Ben looked down at his pencils. "She left me for Jin." Sawyer didn't allow his face to show anything – but fuck. That could be a motive, couldn't it? He stopped himself from jumping to conclusions. "Sun just walked out on us."

Sawyer frowned. "Us?"

Ben looked up again, frowning and seemed confused. "Yes. Us. Me and Sun. Our relationship – she just walked out." His words seemed scattered and less controlled now, but Sawyer nodded.

"Okay. We'll need you to tell us where you were on the fourth of November."

Ben waved a hand vaguely. "I'd need to consult my diary, but I was probably here, at the club all night."

Sawyer was cut off from asking any further questions when the door to the office opened, revealing Miss Klugh. "Ben, your 2.30 appointment just arrived."

"Who?"

"Mr. Rom."

Ben seemed to recognise the name, as he looked back towards Sawyer. "I'm sorry, officers – I wish I could have been of more help." He stood up and motioned towards the door. "Good luck with your enquiries."

Standing, Sawyer and Charlie filed out of the room. On the way out, Sawyer felt Charlie's fingers brushing very lightly against his palm. He tried not to react, but just from that barely-there touch he felt butterflies in his stomach.

Fuck, he was so far gone.

He looked down and fought off a smile as he let his hand take Charlie's as they walked through the corridors, passing by various cleaners and technicians.

Ben moved back to his chair as the door closed behind the two detectives. It was always a mildly nerve-wracking experience to talk with the police, but as the owner of a chain of night-clubs – and hotels, and corner shops, actually – the trouble tended to go with the territory.

But Sun? Why her? She was good. You wouldn't have thought so – she was a dancer, she was a whore. She was amazing. Just young. Just naïve. Just misguided.

And now 'just dead'. Ben sighed and looked up as Ethan entered the room. He'd arranged the meeting, directly after the police interviews, for two reasons: to give the police a timetable, ad so that he could discuss the happenings with Ethan right afterwards.

"Ethan," he said as a greeting. "You were right. They wanted to know about Sun."

Officially, Ethan was the manager of one of his hotels, out in Cornwall. Unofficially, he did a little of everything. "What did you tell them?"

"The truth," Ben said. Ethan looked sceptical, so he conceded and shrugged. "More or less."

Now, Ethan looked thoughtful. "Do you need an alibi?" he asked.

"No. Do you?"

Ethan looked down and didn't answer, which made Ben's chest tighten painfully.

He looked down at his desk, staring at the neat arrangement there to calm himself down. "You here with me," he said carefully, finally looking up at Ethan meaningfully. "All night. You were here with me."

"I didn't do it, you know."

"I'm sure."

"I didn't. I found the body, but it was already dead. I thought I took care of it, so they wouldn't be able to ID it. But I didn't kill her. I wouldn't do that."

Ben didn't respond to that, unsure what to say. He'd heard of the state the body had been in when they'd found it; he could only assume that that had been Ethan's doing. The man was competent, but blunt. He didn't have the delicacy needed to handle situations like this.

On the other hand, he didn't seem to have the morals that would hold him back either.

"Alex went missing that night. She said she was going to study with a friend, but she didn't come back until three a.m.," Ben said quietly. She'd been in a mood as well, as always.

He loved his daughter so much, but he didn't seem to know her at all. She was only fourteen, and yet she already seemed like such a different creature than she had been when she was a toddler, when he and Sun had been raising her together.

"Maybe you should talk to her," Ethan suggested. "Find out what she was up to."

He'd have to. A talk with Alex – he didn't like the sound of that. She seemed to hate him these days; and she'd seemed to detest Sun. Sun had wanted custody. He knew she'd been in touch with her lawyer about it, but hadn't ever been brave enough to talk to Alex about it. He supposed there was no point now.

"Yes. I know. Just… get rid of the case for me, Ethan. I don't care how. And keep Sun's lawyer quiet. I don't want the police to know about Alex."

Ethan didn't flinch; he just nodded. He was good like that – he knew how to silence people.

He looked thoughtful, with a small smile. "The two detectives on the case are… close, aren't they?" he asked, trying to get his bearings. He could be pretty observant when he needed to be. There was a reason Ben kept him around.

He nodded – he'd noted the way that DI Ford would look at the other, and the eager to please look in DC Pace's eyes. "I think so. They want to be closer than they are." He paused to think. "You can exploit that, if you must. I'd rather you were a little more subtle about the whole thing. Remember what happened last time?"

Ethan shivered. He remember, then. Good.

"Don't mess this up, Ethan. I won't stand for it again."

Their eyes met and Ben made perfectly sure that Ethan knew what would happen if this investigation progressed any further.

Ethan swallowed, mouth dry, and nodded. "I won't mess up, Ben. Don't worry. I promise I'll stop them this time."