~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You sucked me in and played my mind.
Just like a toy,
you would,
crank and wind.
Baby,
I wouldn't give till you wore it out.
You left me lying in a pool of doubt.
You're still thinking you're the daddy mac.
You should've known better but you didn't now I can't go back…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Life Goes On- LeAnn Rimes.

The sky had just turned a purple-red colour above the heads of Max Carter, and Ashley Cooper. The dark chocolate brown hair of the younger woman shone brightly as she un raveled a crumpled up sheet of newspaper and threw it down into the small pile of rubbish down by her feet.
The two officers from Sun Hill rummaged though the garbage cans which belonged to the house of Alyssa Monroe.
"You know; I don't think I could have asked for a crappier afternoon to be at work" Ashley winged as her grey/blue eyes scanned the street.

Max continued to throw rubbish out onto the street, slowly making a small pile "What'd you mean?" He asked the 24 year old officer who was now placing her brown shaded sun glasses on top of her head.
"Well look at it. Its twilight, people are out having fun. There's a really hot guy walking towards us. And what are we stuck doing?" Ashley exclaimed as she threw her arms up in the air; allowing a bit of juice from a juice box to drip down her arm "Yuck" She quickly threw the box away and continued to rummage through the bin.

Max looked up from where he was re-searching the rubbish which was already on the ground " Finding out a reason to why someone would want to break into Alyssa's house" He explained as he resumed to search though the rubbish.
"We're going though bins" Ashley replied dryly as she held up a pair of tattered runners "This wasn't really on my agenda today" She called out as she buried her head inside the bin, her left foot lifting up.

"Then you shouldn't have drank so much last night" Max stated as he pulled open a plastic bag; revealing food scraps "Who would have thought that so much stuff can fit into one bin" He said as he threw the bag behind him, hitting the ground with a ruffled splatter.
Ashley pulled out a water bottle "Excuse me; you were the one who didn't think I could drink you under the table" She threw the bottle at Max who caught it with ease.
"And what a mistake that was" He commented from where he was now knelt on the ground

Ashley laughed "And not a hangover in sight" She smiled as she reached the bottom of the bin "End of the road"
She took a step back and looked at her gloved hands in disgust "Although, the fried breakfast I had this morning is about to come back up if I don't take these slimy, disgusting, stuff covered gloves off" She began taking the gloves off.

"You have to put the rubbish back in the bin" Max said as he began to place his own pile of rubbish back into his bin.
Ashley poked out her tongue and began piling the rubbish back into the bin "So what have we gotten from this experience. Except for a new stress level" She stated as she picked up a large pile of rubbish between her hands and placed it into the bin.

"We've learned that we can rule out going though the bins again" Max said, helping Ashley place her own stuff into the bin.
Ashley picked up the last of the news papers and took off her rubber gloves; also throwing them into the bin "Okay, so either it was just a random attack…or…

"She's covering for someone" Max interrupted as he pulled off his gloves and threw them into the bin; walking towards his car "Are you coming or not?"

"So we've found a fat lot of nothing…" Ashley started as soon as she walked into the office. Braiding her hair into one messy plait at the back of her head "…Except a lesson. Don't ever rummage though the bins of someone else. They stink" She told her friend DS Stevie Moss as she flopped down into the chair behind her desk.
"And that Monroe is defiantly hiding something" Max commented as he sat down in his own chair.

"Okay, so let's go back over it for a moment" Jo said as she stood up and walked over to a large screen; "At 1700 hours last night, Alyssa Monroe was found beaten in her home by her son Jason King. At the moment we have a few witness statements, a victim who's refusing to press charges or talk about what happened to her. So far we have no murder weapon, no M.O; just a fat lot of coincidences" She explained; placing her hands on her hips.

Ashley nodded "Pretty much. But we think that Alyssa may be covering for someone" She stated as she leaned back in her chair and placed her feet on the desk; showing her red converses to her work mates.
"Like who though?" Stevie asked, leaning back on Ashley's desk and crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's where my brilliant idea's end I'm afraid" Ashley said sheepishly.
Max bit his bottom lip "What about Jason? What has he said?" He asked, looking around at his team.
"Uniform said that he just came home to find his mum lying on the kitchen floor with the bruises we saw at the hospital. He called an ambulance and then called the police. He's pretty distraught actually" Jo explained.

Neil came out of his office and walked down to where the team was talking about the case in the glow of their office lamps "I think, you all may want to go home for the night and pick up on the case tomorrow. You all look dead on your feet" He pointed out.
Ashley gave a small snort and pointed at Mickey "He always looks dead on his feet. But thanks anyway Gov" She stood up and grabbed her backpack, shrugging it onto her shoulder "You guys coming?" She asked.

Mickey and Jo nodded "Yeah. We're coming. I'll see you tomorrow" Jo said as she waved goodbye and walked out of the office.
Mickey did the same and followed suit while Ashley watched as Max walked over to the whiteboard and began to scratch his chin "You're staying here?" She asked, she had never been the last to leave before; so she had never seen Max in the 'brewing' kind of mood before.

"I'm just confused" He stated, placing his hands on his hips and staring directly at her.
Ashley raised an eyebrow "How come?" She asked, standing next to him.
"Don't worry. I'll catch up with you tomorrow" Max said, turning around and walking out of the office; leaving Ashley with a confused expression on her face.