Disclaimer: I don't own 'The Bill'

A/N: All I will say is: I apologise. I offer you no excuses, no explanation, just that I'm lazy! Let's see if I can finish this before I have another brain dead moment…

Chapter Fifteen;
Clues In What We Don't See

The house was deathly silent as Max returned home later than usual, which was saying something since his midnight returns were usually commonplace.

It was now a little before 2am and Max expected to find Millie asleep upstairs, the couch made up with pillows and one mottled old rug that smelt of mothballs, reserved solely for when Max was in the doghouse but upon entering the living room he found Millie waiting for him, her legs curled under her as she stared through the bottom of a mug of tea as if contemplating whether or not to drown herself in it. Max shut the door softly but she heard him and turned. "Hey," her voice soft, defeated.

Max looked at the floor, summoning the courage to apologize. He hated admitting he was wrong, even to Millie. "Look, Mills, I'm sorry about earlier in the canteen. I know you're worried and I should've been more… well…" he couldn't find a word to end the sentence with, but Millie did.

"Human?" Max glanced up at her, but despite the biting tone she looked neither angry nor defeated, in fact her lips formed a slightly mocking smile. "But if you were human Max, then you wouldn't be you." She patted the couch next to her and Max understood, taking a seat next to her as she put down the tea. "I know what you think, that I'm being stupid," Max made to protest but she shook her head. "Max, don't lie, you're not very good at it." He was quiet. "But I need to do something, anything, as long as I'm busy I don't have to think." She sighed heavily. "I can't even sleep because I can hear his cries. He's crying Max, he's so scared, and he misses us so much." Max grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "He doesn't understand what's going on."

"Millie, we'll find him, he'll be alright." He whispered into her hair that same empty promise he'd been telling himself now since Oscar was taken. He still didn't quite believe it, and was sure Millie didn't either, but it was nice to say something at least. "It'll be o…"

The loud ring of his phone punctuated his sentence and Max flipped it open, glancing once at the name. "DI Carter." He looked sideways at Millie as she sat up, frowning in the hope of good news. He shook his head softly, but it wasn't all bad. "Okay, yeah, sure will. Thanks Roger." He flicked the phone shut. "The council finally found the CCTV footage from the end of your mother's street. Roger's e-mailing it through, wants you to take a look." Millie looked ready to say something about it being against protocol, but Max had already stood and moved towards the computer. Just as he turned it on the ping of a new e-mail came over the small speaker. He clicked it up and enlarged the screen, barely noticing the petite frame of his wife joining him. The video came up instantly, Roger having edited it down to a small section he'd deemed relevant for them to see. It was about the time they believed Oscar had been removed from his grandmother's backyard.

"We can't see Mum's place," Millie whispered, her breath brushing across Max's unshaven face. He glanced sideways at her. "How will we know which one is t…" she stopped, her face turning a pale white. Her lips froze mid-sentence, her expression that much like a fish. Max realised instantly she'd seen something important and stopped the video, pausing on a grainy image of what seemed to be a maroon-coloured sedan.

"What is it?"

"The maroon sedan." Millie tapped the screen. "The days before Oscie was taken there was this maroon sedan out the front of the house. I saw it at the park too, the day you ran off, and when we went to visit my mother."

"What?"

"I mean; I checked the index and all three were different each time. The one parked out the front belongs to the guy down the road. I just thought they were the new trend but now I…"

Max shook his head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried!" She shook her head. "Would you have listened though Max? Or would you have written me off again, as usual?" She turned away, grabbing her tea off the table. "Just admit it Max. You don't listen to anyone. It's why we're in this mess right now." She stalked off to the kitchen as Max pulled his phone from his pocket and rang Roger back.

"Inspector Smith," Smithy answered the phone quickly, pressing it between his cheek and shoulder as he flicked through the CCTV footage and a short witness statement that had been e-mailed to him a little earlier by a rather grumpy DI Carter.

"Sir, this is PC Hendricks from Southport."

Smithy nodded though PC Hendricks couldn't see it. "Thanks for getting back to us so quickly. Any information on Polenski?" He grabbed the phone and held it up as he listened, shutting the folder in front of him.

"Yes, we found him sir. There was a slight mix-up with the spelling. It was 'P-A-L' not 'P-O-L' and he doesn't have a record, but we did find a business application for him. The application was lodged two months ago but rejected. He left town not long after that."

"What kind of business?"

There was a brief pause. "A, uh, strip joint sir," the young PC's throat tightened a little as he said that but Smithy just snickered.

"Of course." He shook his head a little. "Okay so who is he then? What do you know about him?"

"Very little sir. I'm faxing you a copy of his business application now. It includes a photo so hopefully that helps, but he never left any kind of forwarding address so we have no idea what's happened to him since then." As he spoke Smithy's fax machine roared to life, eliciting a small whirring noise and heavy 'ding' sound as the page came through.

"Alright, I've got it now. Thank you PC Hendricks." Smithy put down the phone and stepped over to the fax, flicking the page over and staring at the black and white photo knowing perfectly well who it was the minute he saw it.

"Jankowski." He frowned at the familiar face. "Why am I not surprised?"