I feel I can't say it often enough, but thanks again to everyone who keeps reading and reviewing.

Chapter 6

Viv walked into CID around noon. "Guv, man and woman at the front desk. They want to talk to you about the murdered girl."

"This better be good," he bellowed as he walked out of his office.

He had been in a bad mood all morning; the investigation was going nowhere, and he was dreading the inevitable talk he was going to have to have with Annie. Normally, he'd try to wiggle his way out of that sort of thing, but he had promised Alex, and part of him felt he owed at least that much to Annie.

"Shaz, where's Drake?" he asked the WPC, who was sitting behind her desk.

"Don't know Guv, went to the ladies' I think."

"Well go and get her then, quickly. I'm not in a friendly mood today, so I'll need her with me to make sure I don't beat anyone to a pulp."

Shaz quickly scurried off to find her, and returned not two minutes later with a very confused looking Alex.

"What's wrong Gene?" she asked.

"Viv 'ere tells me people want to talk to us about the murdered girl."

"Well that's good then, perhaps we'll finally be able to make a breakthrough." She said, sounding hopeful.

When they reached the front desk, Viv pointed them to a corner where the people in question were waiting for them. A man in his mid-20s, casually dressed in western attire, with black floppy hair and hazel eyes. Next to him, an obvious much smaller person, but formless, covered head to toe in a black burqa.

"Bloody hell" Gene muttered, as he took in the sight before him.

"Just don't say a word," Alex hissed at him. "They might have important information to share with us."

"You wanted to speak to us?" Gene said as they approached them and stuck out his hand. "I'm DCI Hunt, this is my colleague DI Drake."

"I'm Aziz, Rana's brother." The man replied as he shook Gene's hand. "And this is my sister, Layla."

"Nice to meet you both," a voice from under the burqa said.

"My condolences to you both. I am so sorry for your loss." Alex said, trying her best to address both of them equally. Even after years of all sorts of special trainings, she still found it hard to address someone properly without being able to make eye-contact.

"Thank you." Aziz replied. "I shall get straight to the point. The reason why we're here, is because we would like to take Rana's body home as soon as possible, so she can have a proper funeral."

Gene cleared his throat briefly. "I'm afraid we can't do that yet sir. We're in the middle of a murder investigation, which means we can't just release the body."

Aziz tried his best not to lose his temper, as this would get him nowhere. "But this, what you're doing, is against our beliefs. You can't just cut her open, her body has to remain intact. And in our culture, the dead have to be buried within 24 hours. Is it so hard to respect other people's traditions?"

Alex decided it was best to interrupt, before Gene would offend the man in any way, and all hell would break loose.

"Sir, we are aware of your beliefs and traditions, and we will try to respect them in any way we can, but in this case I'm afraid you will have to be patient, however difficult that may be. You want us to catch your sister's murderer, don't you?"

"Yes" Aziz nodded.

"Then please let us conduct our investigation our way. I promise you we will do everything we can to catch whoever did this."

"Alright then," Aziz answered, however he didn't sound convinced.

"Would you mind if we asked you both a few questions, seeing that you're here now?" Gene asked.

The man looked at him distrustful. "Why would you want to ask me or my sister anything? We have nothing to do with any of this."

"Don't worry, you're not suspects" Alex quickly added. "But I'm a psychologist, and I try to construct psychological profiles as part of the investigations, so anything you both could tell me about your sister would be most helpful."

"That won't be a problem, you can ask us about our sister, as long as it's done with respect."

"Good" Alex said. "Now if you would like to follow DCI Hunt to an interview room, then your sister can come with me."

At this, Aziz protested heavily. "Separately? You didn't say anything about that! If he.." pointing at Gene, "is going to be interviewing her, I will have to be there too. She can't be in a room with a strange man."

"Of course DCI Hunt will not be present during the interview with your sister. I will get another female colleague to do the interview with me," she assured him.

After they had installed both Aziz and Layla in separate interview rooms with a cup of tea, Gene and Alex quickly got together in his office to discuss their interviewing tactics.

"Bloody hell Bolls, these people are driving me bonkers with their stupid little rules and 'traditions'," Gene said, waggling his fingers in a very Alex-like fashion at the last word. He sat down in his chair and poured himself a generous measure of whiskey.

"I know Gene," Alex sighed. "But don't let that discourage you. These two might enable us to get to know a lot more about who Rana was, so please don't let personal judgement get in the way. I know it's hard, it's not easy for me either."

"That woman was completely covered Bolls. Had no idea who I was talking to."

"I think it's unnatural too Gene. But there's nothing we can do about it, can we? We just have to get on with our investigation and not get distracted by trivial things like this. Which brings me to my next point."

"And what would that be Bolls?"

"Take Chris with you to interview Aziz," she said determinedly.

Gene nearly choked on his drink. "Why? I always take Ray to interview people if you're not there. Chris will be no bloody use to me."

"That's exactly my point. How is Chris ever going to learn if you never let him? Besides, you and Ray will probably beat the man to a pulp, and since he's not even a suspect, I don't think that will go down very well."

"If you're sure Bolls.." Gene said, looking pretty displeased. "And who will be comin' with you then?"

"Shaz" she answered resolutely. "I think her shot at proper policing is long overdue, plus I think she'll be really good at it."

"She's got some decent brains in that head of hers," Gene agreed.

"Right, that's settled then. Let's crack on," Alex said as she opened the door of Gene's office.

"Don't get too sure of yerself Bolly. You sure you're not after me job?" Gene said, half-teasingly.

"I wouldn't dream of it!" She replied in an overdramatic tone.

When Alex and Shaz entered the interview room, they were surprised to see that Layla had taken her burqa off. She was beautiful, and the spitting image of her sister, Alex noticed.

"I took it off, since there are no men in the room," she explained, as she saw the surprised look on their faces.

"Yes I understand," Alex said. "To be honest, that's not why I looked so surprised. You look exactly like your sister."

"I know," Layla nodded in agreement. "We could always pass for twins, apart from the fact that I'm a year older than her."

Alex and Shaz sat down opposite Layla, and Shaz put pen and paper down in front of her, to take notes.

"Shall we begin?" Alex asked. "What can you tell me about your sister?"

Layla thought for a moment, before she started speaking."There isn't much to tell really. We don't lead very exciting lives. She was a happy girl most of the time. She liked fashion and shopping, and reading magazines. She had an obsession with all things foreign, which annoyed me a bit, but apart from that, nothing."

"What annoyed you about her interest in foreign things?"

"Well, no offence, but you western people are all unbelievers. I can't believe how she could possibly be interested in anything this world had to offer, and how she secretly preferred it over her own. She should've just been content with what she had." Layla answered coldly.

"I see," Alex said. "So how did you feel about your sister going to Europe on her honeymoon?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious how I felt about that, isn't it?" Layla replied. "She could've just stayed closer to home."

Alex glanced over to Shaz, who was busy writing everything down, before continuing. "Is there anything else we should know about your sister? Anything springs to mind that could help with our investigation?"

Layla shook her head. "No, nothing at all. Like I said, there isn't much to say about her."

Alex felt the interview was going nowhere, so she decided to end it. Even if the girl knew anything else, she didn't intend on telling her. "Okay, I guess that's all for now. Thank you for your time Layla."

Alex and Shaz stood up and waited for Layla to put her burqa back on, before escorting her back to the front desk. At around the same time, Gene and Chris emerged from another interview room, with a very shaken looking Aziz. After thanking them again for their time and cooperation, the foursome returned to CID to discuss the interviews.

"Aziz looked in a right state Gene, what did you do to him?" Alex asked, as the four of them sat down in his office.

"Nothing Bolls, I swear. Chris can vouch for that." Gene said defensively.

Chris nodded." T'is true ma'am. Guv didn't touch him."

"Then what happened?"

"We just asked him about his sister, what kind of girl she was. And 'e just broke down completely." Gene said.

Alex was sure she heard him mutter 'bloody poof' under his breath, but decided to ignore it.

"He seemed genuinely upset at the death of his sister," Gene continued. "Said him and his sister were sent by their family to collect the body. And he thinks the husband is a twat."

Alex raised her eyebrow at this last comment, which made Gene rephrase his comment.

"Okay okay Bolls, he didn't say it like that. But it's safe to say he doesn't like him."

"Well it's not the outcome I would've expected to be honest," Alex said. "You're saying the brother was completely devastated by the death of his sister?"

Both Gene and Chris nodded in agreement.

"Well, the girl didn't seem upset at all. She was very cold and distant, and it seemed as though she couldn't care less, right Shaz?"

"Oh yes, definitely ma'am. The whole interview felt very strange to me. She just sat there, and talked very nonchalantly about her dead sister as if she was talking about a pair of shoes that she'd lost." Shaz answered.

"So, what are you two saying?" Gene asked as he leaned back in his chair. "Do you think she's involved in her sister's death?"

Alex shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest, I've no idea. She was behaving oddly, but that's nowhere near enough reason to suspect someone. Plus, they both said they only just arrived in England to claim their sister's body, so she can't have been directly involved."

"Great, so apart from the fact that we now know that her family's disturbed, we're still no further," Gene said as he stood up. "I need a bloody drink."

He marched past them out of his office. "Right, beer O'clock starts early today, because I need a drink, and you're all buying me one. Now, mush."

He felt a tap on his shoulder, it was Alex.

"Gene, aren't you forgetting something? I thought you were going to talk to Annie?"

Bugger. He'd completely forgotten about that. "Oh yeah, s'right Bolls. I'll better do that first, before I get a few pints down me neck."

"Right boys and girls, you go ahead to Luigi's and I'll be there soon. Don't forget to bring your piggybanks."

Talking to Annie hadn't been as bad as Gene had imagined it to be. In fact, he was glad that Alex had convinced him to do so, even though he'd probably never admit it to her face. The conversation had started off rather awkwardly, as Gene didn't know where to begin or what to say and Annie had no idea what he wanted to talk to her about. So eventually he had pulled himself together, and had started talking about how guilty he had felt about just taking off like that and not keeping in touch during a time when she obviously could've used all the support she could get. He also told her how much he missed Sam, something he hadn't even be able to admit to himself until very recently.

Annie had then reassured him that she didn't blame him for the way he had acted, and that she understood why he had behaved the way he did. Even though he'd never verbally expressed it, she too could see that Sam's death had affected him immensely, and that he'd had to deal with it in his own way. She also told him she very much appreciated the fact that he had come to her to talk things through, and she wholeheartedly accepted his apology; adding that she hoped that contact would be maintained from now on, and that maybe he could even try and play a more active role in his godson's life. He promised her he would do that, and on that note the conversation was ended, and Gene headed to Luigi's for that much needed drink.

When he entered Luigi's, he was surprised to find Alex there. He took a moment to look at her, before going over to her. She hadn't noticed him coming in yet, and she was sat at a table in front of the mural, happily chatting away with Chris and Shaz and clearly enjoying herself. It used to be such a normal thing, heading for Luigi's after work, sharing more than a few drinks and talking about everything and nothing. A complete waste of time when you thought about it, but many of Gene's happiest moments since he had come down to London had been right here, in the little Italian trattoria, in the company of Alex.

Even though his current situation with Alex was better than he could ever have dreamed of, he still missed these drunken banter filled evenings. Most nights, Alex didn't come to Luigi's with them anymore, obviously because of Molly, but also because she was usually too tired and just wanted to go home after a long day's work. Gene understood that completely, and usually just stopped off for a quick pint himself before heading home. Sometimes he skipped the drink completely, and headed straight home, preferring to spend a quiet night at home with Alex and Molly rather than seeing Chris and Ray lighting their farts and hearing them sing horribly out of tune. He really was going soft.

The next day finally brought some much needed progress to the case.

An anxious looking Shaz practically ran towards Alex as she returned to CID after her lunch break.

"Ma'am, there's something you need to know." She said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Easy Shaz, slow down, take a deep breath." Alex replied as she took off her coat. "What's wrong?"

"Well, remember when we went to interview the sister. She was acting all cold and indifferent and it gave me a very strange feeling that I haven't been able to shake off every since. So I decided to investigate some things, you know, background checks and things like that. I hope you don't mind."

Alex motioned her to continue. "Of course I don't mind Shaz, what did you find out?"

"Before the interview, the brother said they'd only just arrived in London to collect their sister's body, right? Well, I checked, and as it turns out, they were on a flight coming in to London, 3 days before Rana's death. They even checked into the same hotel."

"Oh my god, so perhaps they are involved in all of this after all. That's some brilliant work you've done there Shaz. Thanks to you we might finally get somewhere with this investigation." Alex said as she placed her hand on the young woman's arm.

"Thanks ma'am."

"Have you told the Guv yet?" Alex asked.

"No not yet." Shaz replied.

The two women quickly made their way over to Gene's office to tell him about Shaz's latest discoveries. On the one hand it cheered him up, as they were finally making progress with their investigation. On the other hand, it pissed him off immensely, knowing that those two had been lying all along.

"Well done Granger." He said, causing Shaz's cheeks to turn a bright shade of pink.

"Thanks Guv."

"Right, let's pull 'em in for questioning then." He said as he went to fetch his coat, Alex following closely behind him.

Shaz stayed behind in Gene's office, unsure of what to do next.

"Granger!" Gene's voice bellowed from outside the office. "Get yer coat, you're coming with us."

He didn't have to tell her twice. She practically ran after her two superior officers, glad to finally be fully accepted as a part of the team.

"Like I told you 3 times before, I don't know what you're talking about."

Gene was really starting to lose it now, as he slammed his fist down on the table in anger. "You're bloody pissing me about, and have been doing so since you first set foot in this station!"

Aziz remained seemingly calm, but Alex could tell he did feel intimidated by Gene's actions.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you." He said. "Perhaps the airline got the date wrong, we really did arrive when I said we did."

This was the final straw for Gene. He jumped up and grabbed the man by his lapels, half dragging him across the table of the interview room. Alex shrieked and jumped up, away from the two men.

"Bolls, go and get Ray for me will ya."

"And then what?" she asked. "Beat him to a pulp? Allow Ray to kick 7 shades of shit out of him? I don't think so!"

"If you don't get him then I will. I'll make this scumbag over 'ere talk, one way or the other."

Aziz, who by now was trembling like a frightened little puppy, overheard their conversation and decided he'd rather not be beaten to a pulp by DCI Hunt and this Ray they were talking about.

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you. Just please let go of me!"

Gene let go of him abruptly, which caused Aziz to stumble backwards and nearly miss his chair.

"Right, I hope you're telling the truth this time, otherwise you're gonna wish you'd let me kick the shit out of you right now."

"Okay, so we did get here 3 days earlier than I told you. But not for the reason you think. We were sent here by our family to keep an eye on Rana. You see, right after she left, my sister Layla found Rana's diary, which she kept hidden somewhere in her room. I suppose you know that Rana had planned to run away and stay in London?"

Alex looked up in shock at that last question. How could he possibly know that? She thought to herself. "Yes, we did know that indeed. I'm just surprised to hear that you knew about it."

"It was all in her diary," Aziz explained. "So my sister and I flew over to London and checked into the same hotel, so we could stop her as soon as she tried to run. The first 2 days weren't a problem, Rana and Nour didn't leave each other's side for a moment, so we just had to make sure that she didn't see us. But on the third day, the day she disappeared, we lost track of her. We knew they'd had breakfast together, and afterwards they went back to their hotel room, still together. I went out to get a newspaper, and when I came back Layla told me Rana had left by herself. She had tried to follow her, but Rana had apparently gotten into a cab the moment she was outside, so Layla had lost her. That's the last time we saw her, and that's the truth, I swear!"

"Did you know she was pregnant?" Alex asked out of the blue.

This question caught Aziz by surprise, but he quickly composed himself. "Yes," he said in a low voice, sounding ashamed. "We read that in her diary as well. That's partially why it was so important to get her back home soon. We couldn't allow her to put our family to shame like that, something needed to be done about it."

"Any idea who might've been the father?"Alex asked.

"No idea," he said determinedly. "She never met strange men. It's not allowed in our country, and besides, she wouldn't have had the chance to do so, or everyone would've known about it. She's got her own driver, and I'm sure he would've refused to let her meet with strange men."

"Then how would you explain her condition then? I'm sure people in 1983 don't believe in immaculate conception anymore." Alex stated.

"As I told you before, I don't know!" He sounded frustrated and desperate. "Can I go now?"

Gene stood up. "No so fast. Me and my colleague are gonna discuss this outside. And don't you dare move in our absence, or I'll break your scrummy little neck."

"DI Drake, a word."

"Wow, that puts the story into a whole new perspective," Alex said as she closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

"So what d'you think Bollykeks? Is he telling the truth?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, I think he is."

"Unfortunately, I think so too." Gene sighed. "Still think he's a tosser though."

That comment made Alex laugh, it was so typically Gene. But she was glad he agreed with her, and that the violence hadn't gotten out of hand.

"Still, it doesn't bring us any closer to finding that girl's killer."

"You know what I've been thinking?" Gene said. "What if we've been reading too much into all of this? Maybe she did just wander off on her own, and ended up being smacked over the head by a lowlife scummy junkie."

Alex shook her head. "No. Without all the extra background information on her life, I might've been able to believe that to be a credible story. But with all that we know now, it seems impossible to me. Someone close to her is involved in this; someone who knew her secrets."

"Gut feeling?" Gene asked.

"Yes, that too."

Gene looked at the door of the interview room. "So what are we gonna do about him?"

"Release him, it's all we can do. We've nothing to charge him with, so.."

"I guess you're right," Gene said. "However, I'm gonna have him kept under close surveillance."

"That sounds like a wise idea." Alex nodded in agreement.

"Right, let's tell him the good news then shall we. That he's free to go."

"Wait." Alex stopped him as he was about to re-enter the interview room. "We should get a DNA sample from him as well."

Gene looked mildly surprised. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," she replied. "But something's telling me we should."

"Gut feeling again?" Gene asked.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Alex answered.

"Okay Bolls, I don't see why not. It certainly can't do any harm."

They turned around and went back into the interview room to tell Aziz that he was free to go, and asked him if he was prepared to have a DNA test. He was hesitant at first, but when Alex told him this would help to rule him out as a suspect for this case, he immediately agreed.

He was then released and Gene and Alex returned to CID, still none the wiser.

TBC

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