Disclaimer: I stole this disclaimer from a monkey. He owns The Bill. I just own his disclaimer!

A/N: aww, you guys with all your love and support. *gets teary* Nah, I'm good. I just have a long week of reading all your story updates now. Gosh I am so far behind. Didn't let up on the Mallie did you? Us Mallie-ites, we rule! Clare and Chris owe us some serious respect! lol. And extra kudos for Lala and chez Carter. I couldn't help it. Jealous Millie is fun Millie…

Chapter Fourteen;
Sandman

Millie spooned the cocoa and sugar into her favourite mug, frowning as her flatmate turned her stereo up to cover the screaming kettle, and leant on the kitchen counter patiently. It had been a long day. Heck, it had been a long fortnight. It had been mere days since the investigation into Bolt had started but Millie felt tired in ways she never had before. The emotional disaster that was the Roxon women, the missing Samuel, the ongoing trauma of working alongside Max Carter, a man who still, even after all this time, seemed determined to undermine everyone around him.

Just that afternoon he'd returned with a slightly shaken DC Spark and the information someone had broken into Hayleigh's flat. Millie sat the DC down and got her coffee as Max busied himself with being unhelpful by constantly asking who was behind this, was it someone she knew, how could he single-handedly fix the problem and become a hero again?

Millie smiled softly to herself. Okay, so she'd added that last bit in her head, but still… it was likely he was thinking it.

Then he'd mentioned Faison.

Millie glanced across at the kettle willing it to hurry up. DS Faison. He'd been so nice on the phone, so friendly, something that Millie wasn't quite used to after working with Max for 9 days straight. Okay, so he'd uncharacteristically stood up for her against that terrier Beth Green but he was still impossible 95% of the time. Faison seemed so genuine and when he said he knew things about Hayleigh that others didn't, things about the case he guessed (correctly) that she hadn't revealed, Millie couldn't help but wonder. What was Hayleigh hiding?

As the kettle stopped screaming Millie frowned to herself. "Look who's a moody pessimist who's impossible to work with now?"

But as Millie poured her drink she couldn't help but think again about where DS Turner had gone that afternoon, why he hadn't returned, and did it have a connection to Hayleigh?

The doorbell rang and Millie almost dropped her mug of cocoa. It was 8pm and certainly not the time for visitors.

When she reached the front door and pulled it open to find Eleanor Roxon standing there she nearly dropped the mug again.

"Can we talk?"

"Ellie, you can't sneak out like this, it's suicide." But Millie stepped back and let the girl inside, closing the front door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"It's about Sam and his theory on mum."

Millie heaved a sigh. "Ellie, don't listen to my wild accusations okay? I was tired and grumpy with DS Carter so I said stupid things." Millie was shocked at how easily she lied. This wasn't good. "I don't think your mum is Natovnia's ally."

"Liar. Samuel thought so too, that's why he ran away, isn't it? Why mum let him go." She drew something from her pocket. "I found this under my pillow this afternoon." She handed it to Millie and she unfolded it, reading some scribbled writing. "Witness Protection found his old mobile phone but it appears he got a new one." Mille hastily copied the phone number on the letter into an SMS then sent it through to Leon who was working the nightshift with the simple message 'TIU this'. "Why would he tell me to watch mum if he didn't think she was up to something?"

Millie refolded the letter. "Okay, honestly, I don't know if your mum's involved or not, but if she is then there's likely a very reasonable explanation like debt or a threat or something. She wouldn't put you and your brother in danger for something fickle. And does your mum look like a drug runner or a gun trafficker?"

Eleanor held up her hand as Millie offered her the letter back. "Keep it." She shrugged and looked away. "I didn't think mum had anything to do with dad's side of the family until I found an old photo. Mum, dad and uncle Craig together." Millie started to speak. "I know what you're going to say but see it first." She pulled the photo from her pocket and Millie scanned it. The three of them sat together on a bench at what seemed to be a family party. The grainy orange date stamp at the bottom indicated it was 1991. David sat on the far right side, talking to someone off camera, with Andrea in the middle, smile stuck on her face as she spoke animatedly to Craig. But there was something else in that look she gave her husband's brother. Something… not right.

"She's flirting with him." Ellie's voice broke Millie's musings and the redhead looked up quickly. "Millie, you're my friend, don't tell me I'm being stupid about this."

"No, you're right, she's flirting, but that doesn't mean they're involved with Natovnia and gun-running together. It wouldn't be the first time a woman's been intrigued by her husband's brother." She shrugged. "It might not mean anything."

"Can't you question her about all this? Make her talk about it?" Millie frowned. "Please, just ask DS Carter, see what he thinks?"

Millie couldn't help but nod. "Fine, I'll take it to DS Carter in the morning b…"

"Now."

"What?"

"Take it to DS Carter now, I'll come with." Eleanor brightened a little.

"Oh no you won't. I'm driving you home, watching you re-enter that house and then calling Beth Green to tell her she's doing an awful job watching you." Eleanor slumped. "Now let me find my keys."

Somewhere in her head Millie had imagined anywhere that Max lived probably surpassed the living standards of any mere mortal. People like Max on their golden pedestals didn't live in apartments like Millie's where the bathroom sink leaked and the heating cut out randomly. So when she got Max's address from the front office and saw he lived in a very normal block of flats with a very normal dull off-white exterior and a very normal nosey woman on the bottom level who told her flat 14 was on the fifth floor, she was quite surprised. The high-and-mighty Max Carter had a unit in a normal part of town and a very annoying neighbour. Who'd have thought it?

Reaching flat 14 Millie knocked twice on Max's wooden front door then, leaning back on the banister behind her, frowned at it. She glanced down at the letter and once again thought about leaving it till the morning. In fact, she was about to leave when his door opened. She glanced up, expecting to see him, instead coming face-to-face with Hayleigh Spark. Hayleigh grinned at the sight of her, but Millie was forced to smother a gasp. Sporting what looked very much like a men's robe, Hayleigh was leaning against the doorway like she'd been there for a while. Then Millie remembered. Hayleigh had been moved from her place earlier. So this was what Max had meant by safe house?

"Hey Mills, what's wrong?" Hayleigh gave a brilliant smile as if nothing were wrong.

Millie just looked down at the folded letter for a minute then gave a smile. "Nothing." She turned, making for the stairs, when Hayleigh spoke again.

"Mills, you okay? What are you doing here?" Millie stopped and Hayleigh continued. "Did you want to see Max? I can get him."

Millie glanced back. "No, don't worry about it, I'll talk to him in the morning." Then a brief smile Millie rushed back downstairs. As she dropped out of sight, Max appeared at the doorway.

"Was that PC Brown?"

Hayleigh nodded. "Yeah." She grinned. "Strange girl." Sliding past him, Hayleigh went back inside. Max frowned down the stairs after the PC and then, with a shake of his head, stepped back inside and shut the door.