Disclaimer: 'The Bill' belongs to iTV and Talkback Thames

The Noble Fight

Chapter Five;
Secrets

When Max arrived home from work, pushing the day's events into the back of his mind and wiping the worried look from his face, he was met by Oscar's usual excited questions. He let the boy ask them one-after-another, barely stopping for a breath, as he went to the kitchen expecting to find Millie avoiding him. But she wasn't there. He frowned and looked at his son. "Oscar, where's mum?"

Oscar pointed to the back garden. "So did you catch any bad guys?"

"Plenty." Max answered without even thinking, glancing at the back door that was now swinging a little in a slight breeze. He assumed the worst. "Oscar," Oscar looked up at his father with wide, obedient eyes. "Stay here for a moment, I'll be right back." Oscar nodded and took a seat on the lounge as Max made for the back door. He grabbed it as it smacked against the wall behind it again, kicking a small ornament garden frog against it like a doorstop. The back garden was dark and he couldn't see Millie anywhere. The memory of the face of the man from the park floating back into his mind, he intended to turn back inside and grab Oscar, when Millie's voice floated towards him. And she didn't sound harassed at all.

"No, no, I just thought maybe if I could find out some more…" she wandered into the light from the kitchen window, talking on the house's white cordless phone. She stopped when she spotted him watching her. "Look, Jen, can I get back to you about this? Yeah, thanks." She lowered the phone as she hit the 'call' button again, ending the call. "Hi." She gave a small, forced smile.

"Hi. Who was that?" Max motioned to the phone.

Millie held the cordless up as if on show. "Oh, that? Nothing." She frowned as she came towards him. "Why do you look so worried?"

"I'm not." Max again forced the worried look from his face. As she slid past him he gave the dark garden one more glance and shut the back door behind them. He stood in the doorway watching as Millie stuck the phone back on its base and made for the kitchen. "Are you alright?"

Millie looked back at him, hiding a guilty look. She was physically fine, but the maroon sedan kept niggling in the back of her mind and she just couldn't figure out why it was getting to her. Of course she wouldn't tell Max that. Despite many things changing between them, his ability to shut down her theories with a huff or a blank look continued, and she hated them. So she kept this one to herself. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason." He leant on the doorframe, but it was far too stiff to be offhanded. Millie ignored the secrets they were keeping from one-another and went back to analysing the pasta bake in the oven. As she stood and closed the oven door behind her she noticed he was still watching her and as usual she couldn't read his expression.

Strangely enough she felt very uncomfortable and changed the subject. "Uh, some mail came for you." She motioned to the sideboard and Max made for it, snapping it up. He dropped two bills back onto the table and skimmed a postcard from his parents who were enjoying their retirement in the south of America at the moment before passing to Millie. She read it with a smile. Finally, all that was left of the pile was one hand-addressed letter. He ripped it open and out fell two things. One was a note and the other was a small toothpick flag, like the type they stuck in frankfurts or party pies during national day celebrations. He picked it up and fingered the sharp toothpick tip as he frowned at the flag, recognizing it within half-a-second of seeing it. White and red. It was the Polish flag. He shoved it in his pocket, out of sight of Millie, as he opened the note. It was written entirely in Polish, the same scrawling handwriting from the note that afternoon.

'Did you miss me DS Carter?'

Max stared at the note for some time before Millie's soft laugh awoke him and he shoved the note and envelope in his pocket with the flag. She was still reading the postcard, smiling at his mother's words. As she reached the end she handed it back to him. "Your mum sounds a bit confused by t…" she stopped, noticing him staring at her. "What's wrong?" He looked away. "Max, talk to me, is this about yesterday? Why you ran off?"

"I ca…" he was interrupted when Oscar appeared in the doorway.

"Mu-um." He beamed at his ability to split the one syllable word into two. "When's dinner?"

Millie smiled at him. "Soon." Oscar bounded off again.

Max's eyes followed him and then he looked back at Millie. "I'll get changed." She gave a silent nod, watching him leave the kitchen, his hand still in his pocket. More secrets.

Suppressing a sigh, she stuck the postcard to the fridge and went back to dinner.

*

Three days later the third letter came. It was left on the windshield of the family's Ford. Inside it was another toothpick flag and a handwritten note, this time in English. It simply read 'say hello to Millie and Oscar for me'. Max crumpled it up and threw it in the bin, but as he turned back to the car he realised Millie was standing on the front doorstep watching him. He met her eye as she frowned. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

Millie looked about ready to fight him but then she deflated. "Okay, if you don't want to tell me…" she turned and started back inside.

Max followed impulsively. "Millie. Mills stop." She paused just inside the doorway but didn't look at him. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, I just can't."

Millie shook her head. "That's a poor man's excuse." She turned on him quickly, taking him by surprise. "Either you want to tell me or you don't."

"Fine, I don't want to tell you." He shrugged. "Is that what you wanted to hear?" Part of her appreciated his honesty. The other half wanted to hit him with something but there was nothing close to hand. She frowned and averted her eyes. He sighed. "I have to get to work, just trust me okay?" He kissed the top of her forehead and turned away before she spoke again.

"Oscar and I are having lunch with a family from Preschool. He'd like you to be there."

Max stopped, feeling he owed her at least one thing. "What time?"

"Two, at the Archer Café on High Street."

"I'll be there." Then, with a nod, he was gone. As his car rounded the corner and out of sight, Millie opened the garbage, pulling out the note and toothpick flag. She read the note with a frown before turning her attention to the flag and rotating it in her fingers as she analysed it, unsure what any of this meant.

Then, with another look down the empty and maroon sedan-free street, she tossed them back in the bin.