AN: Plot gets moved along a little. Enjoy and please review!

Ray's Arse-Bandit

Alex pored over the reports, going through the same sentences again and again. Nothing had really happened during the week-long stakeout except people going in, buying chairs, tables, bookcases and suchlike, then coming out again. Ray and Chris had described each person and each purchase in detail, probably as a way to punish her. Ordinarily, this would have backfired since detail was exactly what Alex wanted and reports of this kind almost never contained enough. It didn't backfire in this case. If there was any clue in there, Alex couldn't find it and neither Ray nor Chris had recognised it at the time.

Ray, incidentally, was in the Guv's office, going through witness statements regarding the Mayhew fire. A neighbour had heard noises and seen a gang of five people break into the house carrying chairs, tables, wardrobe doors, you name it. Of course, she wouldn't have been able to see any faces from that distance, that would have made Alex's job, and OK the jobs of everyone else in CID, far too easy. The gang had sped away in a white Ford Transit.

"How original," Alex had quipped. Gene had given her a dirty look, so Alex had decided to keep her mouth shut and just get on with it. She may have pushed Hunt too far already. She didn't want to completely lose him.

Now, Alex had noticed something in the reports. It was a ridiculously small something and the part of her consciousness that spoke with a gruff Manchester accent scoffed at her for even considering that it might be a clue. Nevertheless, she got up and went to speak to Chris.

What Chris said pleased her immensely and the Manchester voice in her head clammed up. With a grin she knocked on Gene's door and opened it.

"What is it, Bolls? Half price at perms-are-us?"

"No actually," said Alex, noticing that it was 'Bolly' again. "I wanted to ask Ray something."

"I was right then," smirked Gene. "Or is it seventy-five percent off?"

"Ray, can you look at this please?"

Ray took the piece of paper and frowned at it.

"My surveillance report. What about it?"

"Look here." Alex pointed to a highlighted sentence.

"The obvious arse-bandit went into the shop bein' observed and pointed to the 'Susannah'. The assistant came over and also pointed to the 'Susannah'. Then the-"

"Skip to the next highlighted bit Ray," said Alex hastily as Gene sighed in impatience.

"The assistant packed up the 'Susannah' and helped the arse-bandit carry it to his car." Ray looked up from the report. "So?"

"Ray, think very carefully. When you saw the 'Susannah' being packed up, was it one from storage? Or literally the one the customer pointed at?"

"Oh I see what you mean. No, it was the display table. The one there in the shop."

"That's what Chris said." Alex looked at Gene and was relieved to see the same expression on his face as she was sure was on hers, an intense excitement that came only with a breakthrough.

"The table he gave us wasn't the display one," said Alex.

Suddenly, the shutters came down over Gene's face and he poured some whisky into a glass.

"It doesn't yet mean anything. He could have run out of that model or…"

"Yeah, and maybe Ray's arse-bandit is a dealer or a user and the assistant knows this and sold him the dirty table-"

"Oi, he's not my arse-bandit!" protested Ray, "I'm not, you know…"

"Everything comes back to Farrant though, doesn't it?" said Alex. "His furniture in the fires and now this."

"What do you propose we do, Bolls?" Gene was leaning back on his chair a smirk playing around his mouth. Alex stared at him, surely it was obvious.

"We bring Farrant in, Guv, or at least demand another sample of furniture." Was he dense? Clearly not by the way his smirk widened as though that was exactly what he thought she would say.

"Not yet. You forgot the Mayhew connection." Gene took out a brochure from his desk and passed it to Alex. It was of Dominic Dexter paintings, brought out to publicise an auction this Friday.

"If we haul Farrant in now, we will lose the upper 'and," said Gene and Alex almost punched him, she could hear the same words in her cut-glass accent. "Better not to let them know we're onto them."

"So what do you propose?"

"Another undercover operation at the fancy black tie gallery opening and auction this Friday. Since we don't know how the circles of Farrant and Dexter overlap, we'll take our old cover stories, only this time, Ray, Chris and Shaz will be in for back-up."

"The story where we're engaged?"

The smirk fell away and Gene almost looked embarrassed. "That's what I said, Drake."