Disclaimer: I do not own thee. Thee belongs to the TV show archives now...

Credit to: ankaz123, my BETA and 'why, this chapter could have some Mallie interactions here, here and here' mentor. If updates keep coming you can thank her - she has a large whip and I'm genuinely scared for my life...

Chapter Eighteen;
Andrews

As soon as Max and Millie arrived at the hospital he ushered her gently towards the nurses counter, Millie worried he'd do something 'typically Max' like demand she get looked at straightaway, but instead he was surprisingly polite to the nurse on duty. "Hey," the younger girl looked up with a smile. "PC Brown here just got collected with a fence paling. It's not the best morning for it, we're quite swamped, so if you could pull a few strings and get her out of here as quickly as possible, I'd really appreciate it."

The nurse nodded. "Of course." Reaching behind her she grabbed a small light and a pad of gauze. She handed the gauze to Millie and she pressed it to the back of her head to step the bleeding as the nurse scanned her eyes across the counter. She smiled. "Focus is fine but to be safe we'll do a scan. Can you wait fifteen minutes? There's a patient in there already, but you'll be next."

Millie stepped in before Max could say anything. "Yes, that's fine, thank you." She started back to the chairs and Max followed, hands shoved in his pockets, that natural slump in his posture as he sat down next to her and stared at the wall. Millie glanced at him. "You don't have to wait."

Max looked up. "It's fine." He went back to the wall but Millie sensed there was some other reason for his waiting. She knew he was right when the two people at the nurse's counter moved to sit and the counter was free again. He stood. "Stay there." Millie scowled at being told to 'sit and stay' like a dog but she didn't say anything, just watching him as he headed to the counter again with that alligator smile etched to his features. "Hey again." The girl gave another smile. "Look, I'm investigating a man named Nikolai Brecht who's been in here a few times. You've been really helpful to my friend and I was wondering if I could push that kindness a little more."

She smiled warmly and typed the name into the computer. She looked back at Max as it came up. "Would you like to see the patient's file Detective…"

He whipped out his badge. "DS Carter, and yes, that would be great."

"That would also be a breach of 'patient privacy', Detective Sergeant." The girl smiled, playing Max's game as well as he could, and Max nodded slowly. He glanced back at Millie who, pretending she hadn't been watching Max flirting, glanced down at her nails.

Max looked back at the nurse stood to put away a file. "Could I talk to a nurse who has treated him then?" The nurse gave him a blank look. "Just to see what they thought of him."

"I treated him, when he was in here not long ago," she tapped the computer screen. "I'd show you but, well, I can't." She gave a soft shrug and sat down again. Max didn't move and eventually she looked up. "What's he done?" There was a hint of intrigue to her tone and Max forced back a smile knowing he was getting somewhere now.

"Plenty. Drugs, underage prostitutes, deaths. A young man is missing, connected to his group of allies, and we're worried he may not come home. His little sister is frantic."

The girl bit her lip gently. "My older brother and I don't talk much." She gave a soft sigh then leaned forward. "Look, I can't show you the files, but I was on afternoon duty a few months ago when your Nikolai Brecht was in here. He had an appendix removed. Real charmer really. The nurses liked him." She paused. "He had a private room, wing D," she pointed to her left down a corridor nearby. "Paid for it with cash. I mean, that's not rare, we get that a lot actually, especially old people, don't trust the NHS."

"But he stood out?" She nodded. "Why?" Max pushed.

"My superior told me he'd requested no one come near him without his prior say-so, all visitors had to be pre-approved, not just by us but by him. And he wanted their bags searched." She frowned. "I think he was a bit paranoid, mentioned someone might come get him when he was down, but he only got one visitor the whole time, a woman, if I remember right."

"Who was she?"

This time the nurse glanced at the computer, scrolling through the file a bit, and though Max tried to look she turned it away from his sight with a smile. She stopped and glanced up. "Roxie Andrews."

Max frowned for a moment and then he got it. "Did she have ID in that name?" The nurse nodded one last time. "Thanks for your help," he glanced at her name badge, "Karen." She smiled warmly at him as he turned and walked back to Millie. As he sat back down she glanced up at him again, frowning at the look on his face before he looked up at her, meeting her eye. "A few months ago Nikolai Brecht was in here and he had a visitor. Roxie Andrews." Millie got it straightaway; Max saw it in her expression. "Two guesses who that is – you won't need the second one."

...

Will frowned at the last of the report, the one he'd been left to finish up alone in CID, before hitting print calmly. As the printer whirred to life Will's desk phone started to ring and he picked it up quickly.

"TDC Fletcher."

Will's voice was a little muffled as he answered the phone with a pen in his mouth and the woman on the other end was quiet for a second. "Is this Will Fletcher?"

Will opened his mouth and the pen dropped out. "Yeah, sorry, it is."

"Natalie from TIU." Will nodded, picking up the pen to write down whatever she was about to say. "In regards to the Samuel Bolt SIM." Will murmured a 'yes'. "The phone is back on. His last call was from Teasedon Road, Canley."

Will grinned. "Great."

"A message was sent too. Do you want to know what it says?" The woman sounded a little put out and Will decided to play it safe and be nice.

"Yeah, that'd be great, thanks."

"It was to the registered phone of a Ryan Trent. It says 'dear pigs, come find me, Teasedon Rd, I'll be waiting on the canal road'."

Will's brow furrowed. "What?"

...

"I love searching for clues in mud," Nate muttered, shaking a large clump of wet clay off his hands as he tried to keep hold on the metal bar he'd picked up. He shook it a bit to clear its mud too but nothing stood out so he let it fall back to the ground. "Unless the murder weapon is something obvious, like a bright pink umbrella, we're never going to find it here." Nate and Roger weren't the only ones searching for a weapon, Crime Scene had been at the yard for about 35 minutes and quickly determined they were after a blunt object, and now a good 20 officers were combing the mud. But, by Nate's whinging, you couldn't guess that he wasn't standing alone in the rain like a discarded puppy. Roger glanced up from his own mud pile. "I mean, come on – it could be anything here and after the rain and in this mud, I'm pretty sure blood splatter will be long gone."

Roger just smiled. "I've always loved your optimism PC Roberts. It really brightens my day." Nate gave a light chuckle. "You're probably right but it's the job Nate, squelching through mud, finding nothing." Roger pushed aside a large pile of chicken wire. "I'll tell you what though – first person to find something worth noting gets shouted three rounds ton…"

Before he could even finish the sentence Nate gave a happy yell. "Phone!" He fished it out of the mud and wiped it off on his shirt, rubbing it a few times before he tried to turn it on, growling as nothing happened. "Looks like this is Tech work now."

Roger smiled. "There's that pessimism again. Give me your phone." Nate frowned. "Well do I look like someone who has one?" Nate handed over his own phone as Roger took the muddy one as well. Opening up both phones, pocketing the broken phone's pieces and whipping off his gloves, he handed Nate his SIM card and placed the muddy phone's one inside. Then, putting the phone back together expertly he turned the phone back on. It took a minute and then an 'Orange UK' logo sprung up and the phone whirred to life. He handed Nate the phone. "He of little faith."

Nate laughed. "Not bad for an old man." Roger just smiled as he drew out an evidence bag and put the muddy phone inside. Nate continued playing with the phone for a bit before he stopped. "Check out the last text message." He held up the phone for Roger to read. "Unknown number."

Roger read it out softly. "I think that's an invitation I can't pass up." He picked up his radio. "Sierra Oscar 1 from 275. We're following a lead back to the canal path off Teasedon Rd." There came a quick 'okay' then Roger looked at Nate. "Let's go join the party."