Chapter Fifteen;
Carter

As Millie entered the next morning she registered Max and Hayleigh talking softly in the corner. Intrigue getting the better of her, she made an excuse to go close by making for a file on Stevie's desk. As she got there she caught only a small amount of the conversation. But it was enough to confirm all of her suspicions.

"… and that's only because afterwards you were snoring and talking in your sleep."

"I don't snore." Max protested, half-heartedly though.

Hayleigh just grinned. "Sure, and you don't talk in your sleep either. Or move around so much you were actually pulling the covers off the bed. It was like watching a dog trying to get comfortable." She did an impersonation that, under any other circumstances, would've made Millie smile. Now, however, she stood staring straight-faced at the desk.

"I hate you." He growled.

Hayleigh just laughed. "Sure, sure… that's what they all say."

Millie frowned at the desk then picked up a file and intended to make a hasty escape when Max suddenly said her name. She froze. The last thing she needed right now was to be caught listening in on a conversation she had never really wanted to hear.

"Millie," he touched her elbow and she turned with a smile. He gazed at her blankly. "Hayleigh told me you were at my place last night." She nodded. "Why?"

"Oh, I was in the area and just had a few thoughts on Sam. It's okay, I spoke to Will about them." She made to leave.

"What were your thoughts?"

Millie shook her head. "Don't worry about it." Clutching the file she rushed off.

Hayleigh stepped up beside Max who now looked thoroughly confused, watching the PC rush from the room. "Wow Max, you really have a way with her. You turn up and she rushes off." He turned his head and gave her a cold glare. Hayleigh just laughed as he walked away from her. "I'm just making an observation…"

"Who missed me?" Stuart entered the CID office with his arms held high and grinning like a fool. Stevie turned to look at him, about to reply, when her phone rang. She gave a smile and picked it up. Hayleigh gave him a smile, Millie ignored him, Max just shook his head and Will snickered. Stuart deflated quickly. "You make me sad."

"Okay, sorry, where have you been?" Will asked, giving Stuart a smile.

"I had to see someone about a lady friend of mine." Stuart explained and Millie looked up from her desk quickly. "The good news is; she's not dead."

"Who?"

"I told you, my Lady friend; my sister's dog got hit by a car."

Millie rubbed her forehead as she remembered Stuart's words… 'gotta go see a man about a dog'. She'd taken that like the saying but like everything else about Stuart, his words weren't sayings, they were always literal. "But I dropped you outside a pub sarge."

Stuart glanced back at her. "Where my sister's fiancé works. I wasn't dealing with the drama alone if Lady died. My sister would have been a mess!" He took a seat at his desk. "So what have I missed?" He looked around at them. "Millie! Tell me, Max made someone else cry overnight?"

Max looked up at the mention of his name and caught Millie's eye momentarily before she made a point of looking away. "No sarge."

"Well I am disa…"

Stevie cut him off before he could insult Max again. "Oi, good news; Goodwin just beat one of his patrons into a pulp. Kingmarsh are on their way down there now. Say we can talk to him when he's done."

"Not good news if you're that guy though, is it?" Stuart grinned. Stevie was still on the phone but she answered by raising her eyebrows mockingly. "How long til we get a go at him?" Stevie held up one finger. "An hour?" A nod was the only reply he got. "Okay." Turning sharply in his chair he pointed at Max and Hayleigh. "You two, follow up uniform's work with that break-in at yours Spark," they gave him a surprised look. "You think I didn't know? Oh, that's cute." He thumbed towards the door. "Go!" They slouched off barely saying a word and Millie lowered her head, determined not to watch them leave together. Stuart, meanwhile, had turned on Will. "Wanna go to Kingmarsh?"

Will smiled. "You know I'd love a day trip but I'm on TIU watch." He pointed to Millie. "Eleanor came to visit PC Brown last night, brought a new phone number with her, so…" He gave a brief shrug with a smile.

Stuart grinned. "And that I did not know. Ten points to you William." He smiled at looked back at his computer as Stuart rolled his computer chair towards Millie. He lost the stupid grin, turning serious again, and Millie looked up at him blankly. "How was she?"

"Driven. She makes out nothing is fazing her, that she just wants answers, but there's cracks." Stuart nodded slowly. "If we don't find Samuel soon then I think she might start doing stupid things to get her brother back."

Stuart frowned and leaned back in the ergonomic chair. "Well, we get him first then." Millie smiled. "Hey, you alright?" She nodded resolutely but avoided his eye. "You didn't jump on my chance to insult Max."

"I've run out of things to say."

Stuart laughed. "I know the feeling." He pushed off her desk and the chair rolled him away from her. "You going to Kingmarsh?" Millie nodded. "Good girl." Then, spinning back to his desk, silence fell again. Millie turned back to her computer with a frown.

It was childish but Millie couldn't help it, the inner schoolgirl had returned, along with the little green-eyed monster. Hayleigh and Max? She hadn't seen that coming but then again it all made sense. They were very alike in ways Millie had noticed from the start. Sure Hayleigh was loud and sometimes borderline annoying but there was a shared level of arrogance there at times, not that Millie meant that in a bad way, she just thought…

Millie dug the base of her palm deeper into her cheek as she stared at the computer screen in front of her, not really reading the file, just lost in her own thoughts. The room was relatively empty, save for Stevie in a far corner talking animatedly on the phone (Will and Stuart had gone in search of ice creams), so Millie had been left to achieve little in the last hour. But now words were returning to her head, little words spurned on by her schoolgirl jealousy, the mundane mood she was now in.

'There's a lot about Hayleigh Spark that few know.'

The words had come from Detective Sergeant Faison the day before; the DS adamant Hayleigh was hiding something, a lot in fact, from the Sun Hill team. Yesterday Millie had forced herself to dismiss it.

Now she was intrigued.

She picked up the phone and called him. He picked up on the third ring.

"DS Faison, it's PC Brown again. About what you wanted to tell me yesterday, about Hayleigh Spark… I'm ready to listen."