Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except my precious baby Alfie which I write this on! –huggles him-

Chapter Nine;
Andrea

Eleanor opened the door and gave Millie and Stevie a warm smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, something that didn't surprise Millie after everything that had happened, but still intrigued her. "Oh hey," she waved them in, "what're you doing here?"

"It's about your brother."

Eleanor's smile fell quickly. "He's uh…" she glanced back at Andrea who'd entered the room. "He's gone."

Stevie slumped. "What?"

"We couldn't stop him. He said he'd had enough of being locked away like a criminal and left." Andrea explained as Eleanor scuffed the carpet with the toe of her sneaker. "He went the back way as David spoke to Witness Protection. They don't know he's gone."

"So, in other words, you didn't just LET him go, you helped him?" Stevie blew up as Millie frowned at Eleanor who now refused to meet anyone's eye. "He's putting himself in danger by leaving here and you just let him?"

"My children aren't criminals!" Andrea blew back, frowning at the DC with venom in her eyes. "Why should they be locked up?" Stevie gave an angry sigh before grabbing her phone and stalking into the relative quiet of the lounge room nearby. "The real criminals should be locked up." Andrea muttered, turning her eye on Millie as if hoping the uniformed officer would see what the detective could not.

But Millie wasn't keen for nice today. She'd worked hard to get the higher-ups to give the Roxon and Bolt families a chance. Now they were throwing that in her face. She turned right back on Andrea with a few accusations of her own. "How well do you know Nikolai Brecht, Archibald Natovnia or Ben Holman?" Andrea was speechless. "Or what about the Harley Club? Ever been there?"

"What are you asking?" Her voice wobbled with uncertainty.

"I'm not asking anything actually, it's more a sort of accusation, see your son beat up Mr. Holman this afternoon because he wanted to know more about a woman Natovnia calls a confidant. A tall, thin, well-dressed woman known only as Andrea." Eleanor looked up at this. "Coincidence Ms. Roxon that not only has she your name, your looks and connections but has also now caused your son so much distress that he'll put his life on the line, as well as beat up a relative innocent, for information."

"I am not the woman you're looking for PC Brown and it disgusts me that you'd even insinuate that."

"Much like it disgusts me that any mother, who has finally got her son back from the clutches of death, would let him back out into a world that wants him dead."

Andrea's face flushed angrily. "How dare you?" Beth Green and few others from Witness Protection chose this moment to walk in. "How dare you question my love for my son?" With an angry finger pointed ahead of her, she showed Millie the right way to leave. "Get out! Get out of my house and don't come back!"

Turning on her heel and flashing Beth and Stevie a blank look, Millie did just that.

*

The near-empty CID room met DC Sparks' eyes as she walked back in that afternoon, released from the confines of St. Hugh's barely half an hour earlier. She recognized a few faces but none on the case so, with a sigh, took a seat at Stuart's desk and flicked through the file before her, a brief summary of what they'd found so far all jotted down in Stuart's disturbingly neat handwriting. She was soon distracted by Neil Manson's voice as he re-entered the office, catching sight of her and calling her name.

Hayleigh glanced up quickly. "Five minutes of your time if you have it to spare?" She gave a quick nod and followed him into his office with a small scoff.

"I have that and then some sir." With the briefest of smiles he shut the door behind her and offered her a seat. "What's this about?"

"I received a call last night from Manchester Central. According to them they haven't had an update on how the case is going for over a week. You were supposed to be updating them through their head of investigation."

Hayleigh frowned. "I know sir but, see, there was a change of head. The old head moved on and left his second-in-charge in control."

Neil checked his notes. "Detective Sergeant Faison."

"That right sir, Faison." Hayleigh gave a small sigh. "DS Faison and I worked together for a while sir. He knew I was undercover and to be honest I think he resented the fact I got sent under when it was really he who wanted the job. Thought I was lucky whereas he deserved it because he was smarter."

"Yeah, well, unless you start updating him more often he says he's going to come down to 'help out'." Neil's comment came complete with air quotation marks. Hayleigh found interest in the carpet. "Do you think you're capable of that or will I have to ask someone else?"

There was a long pause and then Hayleigh gave a bright smile. "Perfectly fine. I'll clear the air when I next call him."

"Well, better sooner than later. He's expecting a call for updates right now. You can fill him on what you know, the rest should be on Stuart's desk." Hayleigh's smile fell quickly and Neil repeated the previous question.

"Sure, fine, thanks sir." Hayleigh trudged off, her head down, and back to her desk. Neil watched her go with furrowed eyebrows. There was something else going on in the head of DC Sparks, that much he was certain of, but this behaviour hadn't eased his worry one bit. Quickly he sat down at the computer and bought up again her history in the force. There was a lot to read but he skimmed it quickly, glancing up at Hayleigh every time he hit something new. And every time he looked he noted she still hadn't picked up the phone.