Chapter Twelve;
Samuel

Millie paused the video at the sight of a dark-haired young man, but it wasn't him. She kept playing, covering a yawn quickly. It was only two but she was tired, and the obbo hadn't even happened yet! Max seemed to notice. "I'll have a coffee, white, no sugar." He slid five pounds across the space between them and Millie glanced at it.

"Subtle." She pouted.

He didn't look away from the screen so Millie just took the money and left. On her way through the halls she passed Nate Roberts talking to Roger Valentine. She stopped and smiled. "Hey."

"Oh look Roger, it's little Miss CID." Nate teased.

Millie just frowned and shook her head at him. "You know Nate, you're not as clever as you think."

"Ouch, that hurts on the inside." He tapped his chest and pulled a sad frown before grinning and turning away.

Roger glanced at her. "How's it going?"

Millie read from his expression that this wasn't about the case but about the last time Millie had been forced to work with DS Carter – the toy store break-in and Jensen case. That time Roger had played Millie's over-protective father-like figure and made sure Max's taunting didn't get to her. At the time it had, but since then Millie's crush on the moody Detective Sergeant had faded out to pretty-much indifference and she bore no grudges against him. Plus, she'd already proven she was no airhead. "It's fine."

"Okay, just making sure." He smiled in his usual way, that same 'you can tell me if you want' smile.

"No really, in fact," Millie lowered her voice. "It's scary, but he's been downright nice. You know, not nice-nice but DS Carter-nice."

"So, nice like a rabid dog that won't hurt you but looks ready to rip the throat out of anyone that even speaks to you."

Millie pointed at him with a grin. "Yes! That's it." She laughed and Roger relaxed. "Thanks Roger but really, I'm fine."

"That's all I need to hear." He touched her arm then walked away. Millie smiled after him warmly.

*

"There." Millie, having finished her tapes, leant over Max's shoulder and touched the screen with the tip of her right index finger. "That's him."

Max stopped the tape and played it back slowly, trying to get a picture but there didn't seem to be a great one. "Are you certain?"

Millie nodded. "The time fits and he's still wearing that green hoodie. See the emblem on the back?" She rested her elbow on the back of Max's swivel chair and put her chin in her palm. "That's him alright."

Slightly unnerved by how close she was, Max shifted the chair a little and she lost her balance, grabbing the table before she fell. She frowned at him, but he ignored her, just focusing on the one slightly presentable still he could find. "Print this out and see what you can do with it. Someone must know him." Then, standing and putting the remote down with a loud clap of plastic on wood, he left the room. Millie frowned wondering what she'd done now.

*

Twenty minutes later, having had no luck with the facial recognition software (the image too grainy), Millie packed up her picture and headed to the canteen to drown her sorrows in her friends' gossip. Down there she found Eleanor Roxon seated with PC Archer, just staring forlorn at the table. Millie went to her. "Ellie? What are you still doing here?"

"Just waiting for my mum, she had to go pick up dad from the hospital first. Anyway, I think she wanted to teach me a lesson. You know: here's the first leg on a path to gaol, act like your uncle and you'll be here all the time."

Millie put the picture down and took a seat across from the teen. "Look, your uncle took advantage of your good nature. People that take advantage of you are the ones at fault here, not you, as much as you like to blame yourself for it…" she drifted off a little then snapped back to reality. "The point is, if you keep at uni and stay away from your uncle, I'll probably never see you again."

Ellie smiled. "Thanks PC Brown."

"I'm just telling you the truth."

"No, for believing I didn't do anything wrong. The other officer didn't."

"DS Carter?" Ellie nodded. "Oh no, Max isn't too bad once you get to know him." Ellie gave a sceptical eyebrow and Millie laughed. "No, you're right, he's worse." Ellie's eyes fell to the picture on the table and she tipped her head slightly. Millie caught the look. "Ellie, do you know this guy?" She turned the picture so it faced Eleanor.

Ellie looked up, a mix of confusion and happy memories on her face. "Yeah, I do."

*

Millie pushed open the swinging doors of CID and held aloft a photo. "Found our mystery thief." She went to the whiteboard and stuck the photo up over where Stuart had written 'thief' and drawn a question mark. "You won't believe who he is." She grabbed a whiteboard marker and wrote in a name. 'Samuel Bolt'. She put the marker down and explained. "He's David Bolt's estranged son. He left the family home when David and Andrea separated six years ago, took to the streets and hasn't been seen since."

"So, if he's so long-lost, what is he doing breaking into his sister's room?" Stuart asked, raising an eyebrow. Millie nodded in agreement.

Max spoke up. "Let's find out."