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Another LOM reference and there was one back in chapter 13 too. Still shouldn't prove too much of a spoiler though…

Cool Glass

Gene Hunt knew many things. He knew how to administer the perfect bruise-free groin slap. He knew how to identify beers from fifteen different Manchester pubs. He even knew how to get a woman from pub to his bed in five hours- all though how this hadn't worked on Drake yet, he'd never know.

One more thing he knew was worming its way from the back of his mind. Gene knew that it was possible for a man to appear overwhelmingly guilty of a murder he didn't commit.

But, he realised, as he poured himself another scotch, admiring the burnt brown colour in the dim light of his office, the evidence against him had been circumstantial. Here, Ray's DNA was found on the dead girl, with no other way of getting there.

He had hoped that Drake would shed some light on the matter, that he could take every fact to her and she'd arrange them, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, to show a beautiful picture in which Ray was innocent and some cowardly piece of scum would rot for a thousand years in the slimiest of Her Majesty's Prisons.

She hadn't and the candle he'd held for Alex had flickered, unfairly he'd admit, and had almost gone out when he'd seen the contents of the shoebox. She had lied to him and deceived him all though God knew what he would have done differently if the letters had come to him threatening to end her life. The longer he had spent at her flat, and the more they had talked, the more he came to understand her side and the dilemma she had faced.

He finished his drink and rested his forehead against the cool glass of the wall that separated his office from the rest of CID. He stared, as he always did on evenings like these, at Alex's old desk. Now and then he let his eyes flicker to Ray's and let a pang of sadness and betrayal wash over him, like icy water.

As he stared at Alex's empty desk, something in the forefront of his vision caught his eye. He took his head off the glass and looked away sighing. Damn Drake and her letters, they were making him hallucinate.

He looked back. It hadn't disappeared. Slowly, as though he was approaching an endangered bird, he opened his office door and crept over to Shaz's desk.

It was real. He picked it up with trembling hands and examined it. Frantically, he grasped for Shaz's phone and dialled the only number he had ever memorised before dashing of the station and into his Quattro.

XXX

The place was fantastic. White candles dripped hot wax onto wine bottles and discreet waiters offered each gentleman diner a menu and his lady companion a rose. Chris had expected Shaz to object and make some comment about how un-feminist it was to expect that the man would order for both but she simply blushed and fingered the rose petals as Chris made the order. She seemed nervous.

He couldn't really afford this, but Shaz had insisted and he knew it might be the last date he would ever have with her. She might never want to share a meal with him again.

XXX

Alex hurried down the stairs outside her flat and ran outside to be confronted with a beautiful red Audi Quattro. She threw open the passenger door and got in. Gene slammed his foot on the accelerator and they sped away.

"What is it?" asked Alex.

"You're sitting on it," Gene replied shortly.

Alex rummaged around on her seat, and Gene pretended not to watch. Finally, she brought out a piece of yellow card.

XXX

"There's something I want to tell you, Shaz," said Chris, nervously.

Shaz smiled back, but not widely. Shit, did she already know? And if she did, why was she here with him?

Chris opened his mouth to tell her everything, but the food arrived. As Shaz took her knife and fork and started cutting up her steak, Chris bottled it. He'd tell her after the meal.

XXX

Alex snapped her head from the yellow note to Gene. For one moment she thought that the mystery had been solved, that Gene had been the one that had delivered those notes to her. He knew where she lived, he could have left the note by her door after leaving Shaz's party and left another when she was in hospital. He knew her well enough to know what buttons to press, how to manipulate her for his own ends.

Then she came to her senses. Of course it wasn't Gene! Why would he threaten her with his own life? What possible reason could he have for wanting her out of the Force? Why would he deliver her a note in person like this? And, above all else, Gene wasn't like that. If Gene wanted a fight, it was out in the open. If he ever wanted to fight her- and back when she worked for him, it seemed like that was all they did- he would not go about it in this way.

"Where did you find this?"

"Shaz's desk," he barked.

"It was Shaz who sent me those notes?"

"That's what I thought," said Gene, as they careered round a corner. "But I think she's been receiving them, same as you. I don't think that's her first one either."

Alex turned back to the note. She turned it over to reveal the same black typed writing she had seen before. She began to read.

XXX

Chris paid the bill- Shaz offering to pay half and Chris only just managing to refuse- and they went for a walk along the riverbank at Shaz's insistence. A full moon shone, making Shaz's hair gleam. Chris wondered if he should say something romantic about it, but he decided against it. He needed to tell her something more important.

XXX

They left the Quattro by the restaurant that Shaz and Chris had just vacated. Gene stormed in, all guns blazing, only to come out ten minutes later bellowing, "They're not there, they're not bloody there!"

Alex scanned frantically along the riverbank outside. She couldn't see anyone. "You take the Quattro and go that way," she said to Gene, pointing to the right. "I'll go left."

As she ran, she searched desperately for them, praying it hadn't already happened. It seemed her prayers had been answered and she saw them in the distance. She grappled in her coat pocket for a radio before remembering she wasn't a DI anymore.

She stopped running and called out to them and they turned. Chris walked back to her but Shaz stayed still.

A van sped past Alex and pulled up beside Chris. Three men wearing balaclavas sprang out of the back and pounced on Chris. Alex started running again but she was too late. By the time she had reached Shaz, Chris was in the back of the van, headed for God knew where.

Shaz turned around and tried to run, but Alex was too fast for her.

"What have you done, Shaz?" she said, sadly.

"He'll be OK," said Shaz desperately, "I did it for you, Ma'am."

On the passenger seat in the Quattro lay a piece of yellow card with black typed words on it.

Go to The Olive Tree tonight with Chris and take a walk along the riverbank. Do not stop us from kidnapping him. If you do not follow our instructions, if you tell anyone about these letters, we will kill your precious Ma'am. Don't think that this time you can stop it.

Don't worry. We will not kill Chris.