A/N: I'm going for the old 'one chapter every season' system. See you in the summer! lol

Chapter Seventeen;
Chris

"Millie?" Millie lifted her head slowly, the pain getting the better of her, before she dropped it again. Roger caught her before she could knock herself out on the pavement. "Okay, don't lift your head again." He chuckled as he said it and Millie almost managed a smile.

"Bloody Bolt." She groaned, rarely resorting to swearing, but her head hurt so much the situation called for it. "He hit me with a piece of that fence." She motioned to what she was sure was the direction of the vacant lot across the road from the pub.

"Craig?" Stevie's voice broke into Millie's ear and finally she opened her eyes. Stevie, Roger and Nate were around her, Roger crouching beside her as Stevie and Nate stood near her right hip. Stevie was looking around her, almost as if she were hoping to suddenly see Craig Bolt watching them, chuckling like a madman and stroking his ridiculously large moustache likely. Millie managed to smile to herself. No more Looney Tunes cartoons.

"Yeah. He came up behind me." She sat up slowly but Roger kept his hand on her back, just to be safe, and she rubbed her eyes. "But I saw him clear as day. It was Bolt."

"Okay, Nate, get her up. We're done here. Goodwin's not going to crack and we have no reason to arrest him… yet." There was something in the last word that made Millie glance up at Stevie quickly. Stevie wasn't going to let this go, it wasn't her style, and Goodwin had done the wrong thing by trying to outwit Stevie Moss. He'd made himself a powerful enemy. "Let's get back to the station." She smiled at Millie as Nate and Roger helped her back to her feet. "Roger, Nate, you want to stay here a bit longer and have a sniff around?"

Roger nodded. "That building yard over there is far too quiet for a weekday." He motioned to the yard across the road. The front gates were open but no one seemed to be working in there. "I know they say builders are lazy but that's a new level of."

Stevie chuckled. "Have you seen this place?" She shook her head a little. "It doesn't exactly scream 'fast-growing suburb of London' does it?" But she nodded and, helping Millie back to the car, left Nate and Roger to do their own thing. As Stevie and Millie drove off Roger glanced over at Nate. "Okay, let's go meet the only people lazier than you."

Nate sighed. "Got halfway through a day without you insulting me. I thought we were going to set a record." He followed Roger into the building site.

Neil stood waiting for them just outside of CID and Stevie chuckled softly. "Watch out, he's got that 'oh no you don't, and don't you dare question me' face on. Someone's about to get a spiel."

"Still better than a Max Carter insult." Millie returned, getting some of her old fight back now the stabbing pain in her head had softened to a dull thudding. She hadn't discovered until she went to touch her head that it was actually bleeding but now the warm stickiness of it in her hair was starting to annoy her. If Neil told her to go home she'd gladly oblige… but she'd be back before the day was out.

"PC Brown." Millie gave Neil a half-assed smile as he shook his head at her. "What are you doing here? You should be at St. Hugh's."

Millie shook her head. "I'm fine guv, really, I just want to get back to work."

But, as usual, Neil wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. "Get to St. Hugh's now." Stevie stepped forward to take her but Neil shook his head. "You have a call from Kingmarsh." He took the keys from Stevie's hands as she held them up and glanced past Millie. There was no one else in the hall. "I'll take you myself."

"Guv, it's okay, I'll get someone from uniform to take me. Really."

Before Neil could say anything however, Max appeared on the stairs, reading a sheet of paper, a cup of tea or coffee steaming in his other hand. He walked without looking up until Neil said his name, a haughty expression etched to his face before he seemed to notice Millie (the blood still on her hand though she'd attempted to wipe it off on her pants) and frowned. "Yes guv?"

"Take Millie to St. Hugh's." He tossed Max the keys, which Max didn't catch the first time and ended up having to regather from the ground, then turned and walked back into CID.

Max glanced at Millie. "What happened?"

Millie just shook her head. "Nothing, let's go." They managed to get out of CID, into the car and even halfway out the lot before Max spoke again. Millie frowned and looked out the window as he asked if she was okay. "Been better."

Max glanced sideways at her. "What's wrong with you today?"

Millie frowned. "Give me a break sarge, I just got clobbered with a fence paling."

"I meant before that. You were at my apartment last night then just disappeared and this morning you were avoiding me."

"Didn't realise you even noticed." Millie muttered softly.

"I wouldn't be a very good detective if I didn't." Max glanced across at her and Millie thought for a second there was a mocking smile on the corners of his lips. But then, in a flash, it was gone and he just looked bored. "So?"

"Nothing." She paused then looked at him from the corner of her eye. "In all due respects sarge, you made it clear from the start you didn't like my inclusion in the investigation team. Well, now I'm avoiding you, everyone wins." She shrugged. "I just want to catch Bolt and find Samuel, that's all."

"I'm not questioning your work ethic PC Brown…"

Millie cut him off. "Then there's nothing to talk about." She turned back to the window and Max frowned but he let it go. They were silent the rest of the way to St. Hugh's.

"What a man eh? Prostitutes and drugs and now hitting female police officers with a plank of wood?" Nate scoffed as they trudged through a vacant lot beyond the main gates of the work site. Here the ground thick with mud and precarious piles of wood (complete with nails pointing up) provided a twisted kind of obstacle course for the two uniformed officers to work through. Roger was striding through it steadily, his walk determined and his eyes straight forward, while Nate loped behind him like an oversized Golden Retriever, nowhere near as graceful. Roger just shrugged wordlessly. "Well, it's a bit scummy. I mean; to go for Millie. If he wanted to make a point he could've gone for anyone."

Roger paused. "That's just the thing though Nate – Bolt doesn't respect women. To him hitting a woman in uniform was probably some kind of twisted fun. Bring her down a peg or two. Back down to the women he usually deals with."

"Or he just figured that a female officer was a worthy replacement for hitting DC Spark with a plank of wood."

Roger gave a light laugh. "You know, you might be on to something there Nate. Who'd have thought this…" He paused as something caught his eye. A movement in the distance. He pointed towards some piles of stone to their left. "There's someone in there."

"What? The quarry?" Nate followed Roger's finger just as there came another movement. He almost stepped back. "You're right." He motioned to the far right of the small quarry site. "Go around." Roger nodded as Nate started towards the quarry. As they split up though something sounded. A crack, like a gunshot, and Nate instinctively hit the ground, barely missing a plank of wood with a nail up. He grabbed his radio. "Sierra Oscar 1 from 876. Shots fired. Patterson Road industrial site Kingmarsh. Assistance required." The radio crackle rattled back a reply as Nate lifted his head slowly to look for Roger. The older PC had gone. "275 from 876. Where are you Roge?"

Roger's voice came back clearly. "I'm fine Nate, but I've lost sight of our suspect. You okay?"

Nate sat up slowly, glancing at the spiked wood beside him. "Close call, and I don't mean the gunshot. You think it…" He frowned as he moved the piece of wood beside him, blocking what he could now see was a shallow ditch in the mud. "Roger, you better get back here." He paused, lowered his radio, and then picked it up again. "876 to Sierra Oscar 1." He waited for the response and when it came through he quickly continued. "Get in contact with Kingmarsh and tell them to get Crime Scene down here. We have a body."