Disclaimer I do not own New Tricks.

Care?

Sandra closed her eyes as she tried to focus on the events of the previous weekend. She knew she had meant to go to a conference with Strickland. It was the only hope she had that someone would have noticed her missing. Then there was Mrs Lewis who lived across the road. The woman was nosiness personified. The type of woman police really liked, except when they lived next door to them. She tried to concentrate but the constant blare of the radio, accompanied by the headache that was beginning to knaw away at her skull made it difficult to recall anything significant. She opened her eyes as she realised the man that had whispered in her ear should still be in prison.

"McCarthy. I should have guessed" She muttered under her breath as she felt her skin crawl. She knew the boys would never be allowed to pursue the case once she had been missed. Active misper cases were never part of the UCOS remit. Not many people outside of UCOS would even think to look so far back in her professional past. She shuddered as for the first time since she had opened her front door on Friday evening she began to think she really was alone.

Xxxxxxxxx

Emily and Clarky exchanged glances as they walked quietly into the UCOS office. Both were aware that along with Pushkar they had only been assigned to the case because they had worked with UCOS before. Clarky shrugged his shoulders as he saw Gerry staring at Sandra's deserted office.

"Dad" Emily started as she walked towards him. "Have you heard anything?"

"'ello Emily luv. Clarky" He sighed

"Gerry" Clarky smiled "Look has there been any news?"

"No. Nuffin. It's like she disappeared off the face of the Earth. Jack has gone to talk to her mother but I don't think Mrs Pullman will know anything. Or if she does she wont be able to tell us" Gerry folded his arms. He knew Strickland had pulled every trick in the book to make sure the three of them were assigned to the case. DI Wilson from CID had fought tooth and nail to head the enquiry and was still annoyed when DAC Strickland had stated he would be the officer in charge of the investigation. Sandra was a Superintendent and was likely to be made up to Chief Superintendent before long. That rank he had stated deserved the respect of being investigated by her peers and her own team. Therefore he had seconded Emily, Pushkar and Clarky to UCOS. The team had to have at least three serving police officers as well as the UCOS team. Gerry smiled as he thought of how upset regular CID had been. That at least had made his spirits a little lighter.

"Why wouldn't Sandra's mum know anything?" Pushkar shoved his hands in his pockets as Emily turned to him.

"She lives in a nursing home. She had a major CVA three years ago. She had another one earlier in the year. Her communication was affected" Emily watched as Gerry nodded.

"CVA?" Pushkar frowned.

"Oh, sorry medical term for a stroke. My sister is a nurse" Emily stated proudly. "Cerebral Vascular Accident."

"Anyway" Gerry tried to bring the younger officers back on track "Brian has gone down to records. He's gonna av a look, see if he can find something from the cases she worked on before UCOS"

"Good idea" Strickland appeared behind Emily as Clarky turned sharply.

"Sir, is there anything Sandra may have worked on that put her in the line of fire?" Clarky asked. Gerry rolled his eyes as Emily raised her eyebrows.

"She has worked on hundreds of cases since she was promoted to CID. She was the youngest ever female officer to gain the rank of DC. That in itself gave her enemies. Sexism took a while to die out" Strickland sighed.

"Really?" Emily folded her arms across her chest "The death of sexism? I thought it still had a pulse"

"Not in my station Detective Sergeant. If there is I want to know about it"

"Yes Sir" Emily sighed.

"And so do I" Gerry butted in as Emily shook her head and smiled. For a moment she realised how difficult it must have been for Sandra back in the days when she was a young WPC. Gerry turned as Brian and Jack entered the office together.

"Ah, Brian, Jack" Strickland sighed "Anything?"

"Not really" Jack sighed as he sat at his desk "I told her Sandra is missing and she asked me what happened between Angie and Dirty Den. I don't think she was able to process anything I said"

"That's sad. I really don't want to get old" Clarky sighed.

"Oi, she's five years older than me that's all!" Jack shouted. Strickland shook his head. He was glad that Gerry spoke up.

"And you Brian?"

"Sandra, like all of us in this job made a few enemies. I looked mostly at cases that came before UCOS. In 1989 she was the arresting officer in a murder case. The Royal Public House was burgled. The landlord shot and died on scene as the robber made his getaway"

"And?" Emily was rapt

"And two people were arrested. Eleanor Lincoln and her fiancé, fellow heroin addict Peter 'Mad Dog' McCarthy were arrested three days later. Sandra gave evidence in Court"

"I remember that case. It was solid. I was the DCI, Sandra was the DC. Just joined us felt she had something to prove. Only woman on the team" Jack shook his head "She was bloody good, even in those days."

"Hang on a minute" Gerry raised his hand "Can we all stop talking about her as if she is dead? She is still a MisPer as far as I am aware."

Brian closed his eyes at his friend's words. He shook his head. He didn't want to face it but he knew this time at least the others were not going to face reality.

"You know Gerry. The longer a MisPer is missing the more chance there is that we are looking for a body. That statistic doesn't change just because it's our Sandra that is missing" He placed his cycle helmet on the desk as he spoke. Everyone was quiet for a moment. Jack looked up at his friends. He could see Gerry was barely keeping his temper.

"She's alive" Gerry spat as he grabbed his jacket and marched out of the office. Emily went to follow him when Jack caught her wrist in his own.

"Emily luv. Leave him." She was about to protest "He's right. Sandra is alive. We just have to start looking in the right places"

"Such as?" Emily really was at a loss.

"Forensics will be back in the next few hours. Until then I want to talk to Eleanor and Peter. Seems as good a place to start as any" Emily nodded as she picked up her coat.

"Come on then" She smiled as Jack followed her out of the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sandra glared at the woman in front of her. She knew she recognised the skinny blonde. The woman wasn't much younger than her. The half light afforded by the daylight creeping through the half closed blinds made her look thinner, more angulated. Sandra racked her brains trying to put a name to the face in front of her.

"I know you don't I?" Sandra didn't like how croaky her voice sounded. The woman in front of her shrugged her shoulders.

"You might remember me"

"I think I do. Old Bailey about twenty years ago"

"You lied about me under oath"

"Oh I don't think so" Sandra glared.

"Really? You said I killed a man"

"That's right. Eleanor Lincoln. You were going out with a right psycho. What was his name? Mad Dog? Anyway you hit a pub landlord over the head. He died" Sandra was suddenly remembering her first case in CID. She had arrested the woman in front of her. Jack had arrested her boyfriend.

"Peter" Eleanor smiled.

"That's right" Sandra leant forwards "So what's this got to do with me now? You've been out of prison, what five years?"

"Four and a half. On licence"

"On licence? You do know you will go straight back inside when they catch you? And whatever you do with me they will catch you. You see twenty years ago I was a young DC. Loved my job and had a lot to live for. Now I really don't care what you do with me. 49, single, no kids no fella, even my mother doesn't know who I am anymore. Just the job. A job they can easily fill when I either leave or get killed. So you see why should I care what you with me? I am not going to be any use to you. I'm not scared. I just don't care anymore" Sandra shocked herself as she spoke.

"You don't care if you live or die" Eleanor scoffed.

"No, honestly I don't. And that scares the hell out of you doesn't it" Sandra smiled slightly as she realised that for the first time since she had been abducted she had the upper hand.

A/N Does Sandra really care if she lives or dies? Will Emily and the boys work out what has happened? Please review.