Thank you all so much for your reviews.

This isn't the last chapter, but it's the one that wraps up most of the plot threads, particularly where the crime is concerned. I've left clues throughout the story, so I'm a little nervous about this chapter. I'd love to know if it worked in your opinion, if there were any developments you saw coming, anything you didn't and if there was anything that wasn't explained clearly. Please let me know, even if you haven't reviewed before. Thanks!

Four Mistakes

Alex crept round the back of the house that held Chris, Shaz following close behind. Alex scanned the ground, picked up a broken brick and hurled it through the window. Gently, so as not to cut her hand on the glass, she reached in with her hand and unfastened the window from the inside. It swung open.

The two women climbed in, finding themselves in a dark kitchen. Alex knew that whoever was in the house would have heard the window break so they moved quickly, out of the kitchen and up the stairs. But then, the point was to be found.

A door opened and in the doorway stood Leanne. Alex hadn't believed it was possible for a leather-skirted Barbie doll to look menacing, but as she took in Leanne's smirking face and her defiant gait, she found herself standing corrected.

"Gotcha," Leanne whispered, "Drake, I should have you killed for this. I did warn you Shaz."

"Where's Chris?" said Shaz angrily.

"In here," said Leanne, indicating the room behind her with her head. A pitiful moaning sound could be heard. Alex felt her hair stand on end.

"Let him go," Shaz demanded and Leanne burst out laughing. In Alex's opinion, it was more evil witch than Disney princess.

"Leanne," Alex said calmly, "Please think about what you're doing. Please don't go too far."

Leanne stopped laughing. Her face clouded over, her pretty features warped into pure evil. There was a flash of metal by her waist and suddenly a gun pointed straight at Alex.

"Get inside," she ordered, "Both of you."

Shaz hurried in, Alex close behind. Her stomach convulsed as she took in Chris' form. He was bound at the wrists and ankles and a gag was wrapped tightly around his mouth and a trickle of blood ran from his forehead down his cheek to the floor. He looked up at them with pitiful, bloodshot eyes.

Next to him, sitting on a wooden chair, was George Capstone, surrounded by the men that had kidnapped Chris hours earlier.

Shaz glanced warily at Leanne before hurrying over to Chris and sitting next to him. She took his head in her lap and stroked his hair, her tears mixing with his blood. Leanne shouted at her not to release him and she didn't dare to disobey. This was supposed to be her best friend. Shaz felt sick.

Alex meanwhile was looking at Capstone.

"So which was it," she asked, "Falcon or Trap?"

Capstone didn't answer but he looked at Leanne, as though asking permission.

"Come on," said Alex, keeping her voice carefully casual, "Indulge me. You've won after all. I'll take the secret to my grave." Leanne grinned widely.

"Horse and Trap," he said.

"You lied in the interview," said Alex and Capstone nodded, "Why?"

"It was Leanne's idea. She thought they'd suspect me if I said I was at the Trap, it was too close to the river. So I lied and got Jimmy to give me an alibi."

"How did you know we suspected you were somewhere else?"

"Shaz," said Leanne, spitting the name out. "God, it was beyond useful living with her during this. She told me some barmaid had seen George at the Trap. She said that made him a suspect."

Leanne smirked at Shaz. "She didn't know she was betraying you though. She trusted me, thought she was just being my friend, confiding in me about her day."

"She must have told you so much, things she didn't even know were useful to you," said Alex, "Not just about the case, but details of her job, relationships between members of CID-"

Leanne sniggered. "If you're talking about you and Hunt-"

"Do you remember one of the first things you said to DCI Hunt, Leanne?" Alex cut in. "You asked if all murderers make three mistakes, which get them caught. I've seen your room, Leanne. You read a lot of detective novels, don't you?"

"I love them," she said, and Alex noticed a layer of caution come into Leanne's speech. This was bad. She didn't want Leanne to be second guessing her.

"That lie, in the interview-"

"Was the first mistake," said Leanne, and the caution was gone. Had Alex imagined it? "I knew there was a transcript. Shaz always moaned about how many she had to type up and how boring it was. I knew George's one had already been done, I just had to get Shaz to change it and lose the tape."

"You sent her a letter," Alex whispered, "Typed on yellow card and anonymous. And this, Leanne, is where you showed how clever you were. The obvious thing would be to threaten her with Chris, either his death or his mistreatment in some way. But you didn't. It had to be either me or Gene, since we were the ones in the interview room, or Ray, who had gone to the wrong pub and had probably seen a transcript. We were the ones with the memories."

"I nearly picked you," said Leanne, warming to her story, "The beautiful DI Drake, the wise and clever Ma'am. Oh, Shaz looks up to you so much… she'd do anything for you, Alex…"

"And I was at the interview, same as Gene," said Alex. "Shaz looks up to the Guv just as much, if not more than me and you believe in win-win situations, don't you Leanne? If Shaz obeyed you, George would be off the hook. If she didn't you'd have the right, in your view, to off one of us and you'd get to the script some other way- or would you just mow down the whole of CID until no-one could remember?"

"Whatever it took," said Leanne nastily, "But I didn't pick either of you."

"No," said Alex, "You were intelligent. You chose Ray."

"It was your fault," Leanne hissed. "You told him to go to the Falcon, to search for information. And Shaz said they had been talking in the kitchen of CID, that Ray thought it had been the Falcon in the interview."

Wouldn't it be bad if something were to happen to Ray? Change the name of the pub in Capstone's interview transcript to the Horse and Trap. If you don't, we will kill Ray Carling. If you tell anyone about this note, we will kill Ray Carling.

"Be honest, Leanne. Were you intelligent enough?"

"No," said Leanne, her face falling slightly. "Even though the official records said what I wanted them to say, you and Ray remembered differently."

"Shaz told you about me fighting with DCI Hunt. Ray told her he was sure it was the Horse and Falcon and she told you all of this."

"First, I needed to get rid of you," said Leanne and Alex felt her blood chill. "You or Hunt, it didn't matter."

"So you sent me those notes to get me out of the Met. If I didn't you were going to kill Gene. You nearly did. Another win-win situation."

"George helped me," said Leanne, smiling sickeningly at him. "He knew some guys who could stage a robbery. And it wasn't quite win-win. There would still be one of you left in CID."

"Wouldn't that have been a problem?"

"No," said Leanne, "The others would have forgotten or be unable to second-guess themselves. Except that it didn't work."

"What did you do to Ray?" asked Alex.

Leanne's eyes narrowed. "Did Shaz lie to you?"

Slowly Alex shook her head. "I was hoping she had."

"Corruption on a bigger scale, isn't it Alex?" she said with a sick sort of glee. "Losing a tape and incorrectly taking a statement is one thing, what she did to Ray… I didn't know the bitch had it in her."

Shaz flinched, but she didn't move from her position on the floor or stop stroking Chris' hair all though her hands were shaking.

Changed our minds. Carling will die after all. Sorry to go back on our word- but what can you do about it? Confess to changing the transcript and you'll rot in prison and you can't change it back now. Just let it go.

"How nice of you to warn her, even if that was your second mistake," said Alex sarcastically, "What made you change your mind?"

"It was at the party," said Leanne. "Ray was talking to you about being convinced it was the Trap. He said something about seeing a transcript before Shaz changed it, he still remembered, he was still dwelling on it. I thought you were the biggest threat. Shaz told me you were the one fighting with Gene over the name of the pub. But if Ray thought that he had seen another version of the interview, well as long as he was still around, he was dangerous. He nearly put two and two together that night. He came home with me and I listened as he and Shaz talked about it. He really thought he had seen the original transcript."

"The win-win situation was crumbling around you."

"But Shaz helped me out," Leanne smirked. "More than she knew at the time. Ray getting his hair cut by me in our kitchen- Shaz offered to clear up so she that's how she got the hairs- then she scattered them around the crime scene and under the dead girl's fingernails…"

"And so you're off the hook," said Alex bitterly. "All that worrying, all those threats and someone else is sent down for your crimes!"

"It seemed so. I wish I'd thought of it myself. And I didn't even need Chris' betrayal," Leanne said, her eyes moving from Alex's to connect with Shaz's who froze. Alex felt her hatred for Leanne rise, which was surprising as she didn't think it was possible. Why bring it up now?

"What did Chris know?" asked Alex.

"At the time, nothing."

"What time?" said Shaz, speaking for the first time then clamming up fearfully.

"Your birthday party, Shaz," said Leanne, a note of laughter underlying her speech, as though this was the part she loved, the bit where the beautiful but bitchy princess gets off with her best friend's boyfriend. "Chris and I snogged in the Ladies."

Shaz looked at Chris, clenching her jaw as though to hold back a fresh wave of tears. Chris pleaded with her, but couldn't make himself understood through his gag. Alex knew what he was trying to say, that he was drunk, that she came on to him.

"It wasn't anything personal," Leanne sneered, unable to contain her laughter. "I was just collecting stuff to use. I didn't know if threats would work on Shaz any more, she knew that I wouldn't keep my promises and I didn't like not having power over her, what if I needed her to do something for me again? Then I thought that maybe I could lure her in with information."

"Did you ever need to?" whispered Alex, her mouth dry.

"Yes but it probably wouldn't have worked anyway. Anyway, that kiss turned out to be more useful than I could have ever dreamed."

Don't blow it now, Alex. This was the bit of the story she was most unsure about. Everything up until this point she was able to use her own memories and Shaz's confessions to piece together the story. Now, only Leanne and Chris could fill in the blanks.

"What? How?"

"Chris came to my flat the day after the party. Shaz was out and he let himself in. He made his way to her room but stopped outside mine."

"Why?"

"He heard talking outside mine and pushed the door open, thinking maybe Shaz was in there. She wasn't, George was."

And suddenly Chris had doubted everything that had happened so far. Of course Ray wasn't a murderer, of course Leanne was a nasty piece of work- she was sleeping with one of the suspects whilst living with an officer investigating the case.

"And so your third mistake, sleeping with Capstone in your own bed, where anyone could have caught you. Did you send Chris letters too?"

"No," said Leanne, "I just threatened him there and then, said I would tell Shaz about the kiss. He said he was about to tell her anyway, so I told him I'd lie. Say that as well as the kiss, we'd slept together, that he had come back for more, not George."

"He could easily have denied both," said Alex.

"I suppose. Admitting to the kiss but not the shag would have looked weird, from Shaz's point of view, surely there would have been more? And I'm her best friend, of course she would have believed me if I said both had happened. Incidentally, you found us at Luigi's, didn't you Alex? If Shaz had asked you if you had seen anything, could you have lied to her?"

"Wait a minute," said Shaz's shocked voice, "You knew?"

"Well Alex?" Leanne asked, "Can you lie to her?"

Alex looked at the floor rather than look at either of the two women. "Why did you kidnap Chris?"

"He was going to tell someone. The threat wasn't enough, we had more to lose than he did. Either Shaz or Hunt, and I knew that it wouldn't matter if I went ahead with my threats in the aftermath. If they knew about this little conflict of interest and hauled me in for questioning…" she trailed off thoughtfully.

"Yet you used threats again."

"Yes. I thought that just 'information to her advantage' wouldn't be enough to persuade her to betray her boyfriend. I still wondered if she'd do it, if she still trusted me. She did though." Leanne shot a poisonous look at Shaz. "I used you, Alex. I saw you at the party, I didn't want you to have too much contact with your former colleagues, you were still discussing the case. Your existence was still a threat. If I had to kill you, then so be it."

"Why me? Why not DCI Hunt?"

"I thought about it. He seemed to have forgotten what was really said in George's interview," Leanne sneered. "If Shaz did nothing and I ended up having to kill him, what would be the point? You were much more dangerous."

There was silence as Alex planned her next move. To her surprise, it was Leanne who broke it.

"How did you know about George and me?"

"I didn't," said Alex, "Not for sure. It's just that your bed stinks of Old Spice and I remember him wearing it in his interview."

"How do you know what my bed smells like?" asked Leanne suspiciously, her eyes narrowing. Alex ignored her.

"Did you kill those women?" Alex asked.

"No," said Leanne and Alex laughed now, a hollow laugh with no humour in it.

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"I was there, of course I was," said Leanne, "Those whores all worked at the same joint and George's wife was the boss. She's a cold hag of a woman, doesn't really care if George looks elsewhere for what she can't give him. He only stays married to her for her money." George shifted uncomfortably but didn't tell Leanne to stop.

"So you're his whore?" said Alex, earning herself a slap round the face, which Alex compared unfavourably to Shaz's.

"No," Leanne snarled, no laughter in her voice anymore, "I'm his lover, his only lover."

"What were those girls?"

"Dalliances. His wife owns a brothel so I guess prostitutes are part of the perks of marriage to her. He doesn't have to sign in the account book because he doesn't pay them- they shag him or lose their jobs."

"Did you mind him sleeping with these girls?"

"I hated it," said Leanne, and Alex saw in her eyes the depth of her hatred, the mad jealousy that had driven her to conspire murder, the insecurity she felt in her relationship.

"We would meet each girl in a pub- usually the Trap all though not always. We would get the girl drunk and lead her to the river. I would watch as George would kill each one, to prove that they meant nothing to him, that he would only ever sleep with me. We had caught up on the backlog within a few days. Then he strayed again. I made him kill the last one."

The psychologist in Alex was finding this fascinating, but she held herself back. Instead she turned to George and said, "Is this true?"

George nodded. "Yes, it's true."

"How did you find us here?" said Leanne suddenly, as though the thought had just occurred to her.

"You wrote this address down. Shaz took an impression from the paper underneath. Your fourth mistake Leanne."

Leanne shrugged. "You talk about these mistakes as though it matters. But it doesn't, not anymore, not for you. I meant what I said in those letters." She took out her gun and pointed it in between Alex's eyes. "Shaz told you about the letters. All three of you know what happened. You all have to die."

"Shoebox," said Alex.

The look of confusion on George and Leanne's faces turned to horror as uniformed policemen burst through the door, cuffing George. Alex used Leanne's hesitation to run forward and knock the gun out of her hand. As Leanne tried to run past her and escape, Alex managed to barge into her and pin her up against the wall.

"What's this, police brutality?" Leanne hissed.

"I don't work for the police anymore, thanks to you," Alex snarled, her hands itching to sock Leanne on the nose. "You deserve to rot in a cell somewhere for what you did to those girls and what you did to Shaz, to Ray, to Chris, Gene and me."

"You all deserved it," Leanne spat and Alex really did hit her then, hard across the face. It felt brilliant.

Leanne was cuffed. Alex hurried over to Shaz and together they untied Chris. Finally, Gene stepped through the door, just as uniform were leaving the room.

Shaz stood up to meet him and tremblingly held out her hands in front of her. Gene looked at her sadly, snapped handcuffs around her wrists and led her away.