Chapter Seven
1997
Gene knew there were no such things as coincidences.
This was something that he sometimes struggled with. It would have been far easier if he still believed in them. That luxury had been more or less taken away from him when he ceased to forget about the nature of his world. OK, so there was the very occasional one that occurred, like when he just happened to be passing Latte Land in time to laugh his head off at the sight of Simon slipping on a dropped cappuccino and mopping up a lot of coffee with the backside of his trousers. But by and large coincidences were a thing that did not exist. Instead, 'coincidences' were very pointed messages.
If only he still believed in coincidences he'd have regarded the large coincidence sitting on his desk as simply that; the copy of the Daily Mirror he'd passed in the canteen and picked up for the fine art of procrastination that morning. It was a quiet day and his mind was on everything but the job anyway. There was another day before his new recruits would be arriving while he was still nursing a face full of bruises from his altercations with both Simon and Keats and several cases were drawing to a close and needed little attention.
The paper had been sitting on his desk for about an hour after its sneaky abduction. He'd been busy putting Bammo in his place for organising a CID Impressions Night in which everyone had signed up to portray Gene himself and all seemed to be using the exact same script. Gene felt sure that he didn't use that kind of language and illustrated the point with long tirade full of 4 letter words while Bammo became intimately acquainted with the filing cabinet.
Eventually CID fell quiet and he had some time to look at the paper in peace. As he unfolded it his eyes were drawn to the headline before him; Deadly Drug Sweeps City.
"So you've gone for the subtle approach," Gene mumbled as he sank into his chair, put his feet on his desk, picked a bit of dirt off his boot with a pen and began to read the article. He exhaled loudly as he scanned the story. It was nothing he hadn't heard before; warnings about drugs that had been mixed with something as yet unidentified but deadly, responsible for a sudden spate of deaths. But then what did the idiots expect if they were going to pump that kind of crap into their veins anyway? As much as he hated to admit it he'd seen one druggy too many laying in the gutter and although his passion for getting the perpetrators off the street stayed as strong as ever there was a part of him that felt the corpses got a little taste of what they deserved.
He flicked over the page to continue the story and read in silence for a minute more but suddenly a name caught his eye and a string of expletives came from his mouth. He tried to get to his feet, got his boot caught on the desk and tumbled off his chair instead. When he finally regained his composure and stood up properly he reread the page again to make sure it wasn't all in his imagination.
No, it wasn't.
"Officers are looking to speak to known dealer Arthur Layton for his possible connection to the affected substances."
"Well blow me head off with a mutant toaster," Gene declared. He stared at the name for quite some time. He hadn't heard, seen or thought about Arthur Layton in a very long time. The last time the name had appeared was in Nailer's files when he and Simon had stolen a bundle of papers from Keats's flat over a year earlier. Layton himself had been very quiet for some time – and after appearing in Nailer's files Gene couldn't blame him, especially being the cowardly little rat he was, but out of the blue here he was, under suspicion, coming hot on the heels of Alex's messages from the night before.
"No such thing as bloody coincidences," Gene mumbled. He scanned the words again. "Alright. Which officers are looking to speak to Layton and why are none of them me?"
It was time to do something about that. Somehow Layton was Alex's route home and he wasn't going to sit back and let some un-named 'officers' get their hands on the runt. Not when Lady B was relying on him to help her back. He marched from his office, the door opening wide to let him pass, then closed with a slam behind him.
As the office fell silent, a tiny twinkling of starlight passed by overhead. No one could see. No one to care. But it wsthere.
~xXx~
2012
"Kim?"
Kim looked up as the nurse entered her room.
"Yes?" she said quickly.
"We can take you down to see him now."
Kim closed her eyes momentarily and breathed a sigh of relief. Every time someone came in she assumed it was bad news.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
Alex felt awkward as she watched Kim being helped slowly from her bed into a wheelchair. That wasn't the Kim she was used to seeing. There were certain people that she just couldn't stand to see weakened by pain and Kim, it seemed, was one of them. She gave her a sympathetic smile, wishing she could do more to help. She noticed Kim clinging to something and hiding it in the palm of her hand. She wondered what it was but thought it best not to ask.
"I'm afraid visiting hours are coming to an end," the nurse turned to Alex and told her.
Alex felt a little taken aback.
"Oh," she said with a frown. Well what had she expected? An all-night pass to guard Kim in case a random object fell out of the sky from 1997 and landed on her head or something? She closed her eyes for a moment as she realised she had nowhere to go. Almost as though she read her mind, the nurse asked;
"Do you have somewhere to stay? We could find you the numbers of some local hotels and guest houses?"
Alex shook her head slowly. If she was honest she just wanted to be as close to the hospital as possible in case anything happened. She felt the corner of her mouth twitch into a smile.
"Thank you, but I'll be fine," she said, "I have some accommodation."
Kim glanced at her curiously but the look on Alex's face told her not to ask so instead she said a quiet and fond goodbye and allowed the nurse to wheel her from the room. The last thing Alex heard from Kim were the words,
"Can't you go any bloody faster? I saw a tortoise on crutches overtaking us a while back."
Alex got to her feet, laughing gently to herself. It may have been hard to see Kim in pain and less than her usual tough self but the old Kim was still in there.
With some reluctance she got to her feet and prepared to leave the hospital. She didn't feel she should be deserting her friends and was especially worried about Kim being alone that night but she wasn't feeling strong enough to argue with the hospital's policy, and she also needed some time by herself. The fact that everything had worked out so spectacularly differently to the way she had anticipated had left her feeling lost and she needed to regroup. She knew as a fact there was a notebook in the car and she was going to need some quality time with it that night.
Very slowly she walked out of the room and along the corridor. She felt drained and shattered, her whole body aching with exhaustion. She suspected that her planned accommodation was possibly not the best for a 24-week-pregnant woman, especially not one who was drained and still suffering a little from shock, but for personal reasons it was the best place for her to be.
She made her way out of the hospital and out to the Fiat, thankful to the helpful local officers who had kindly driven it there on their behalf amid the fallout from the shooting and Kim's accident. With a smile she unlocked the door and climbed inside. It was a taste of home, a familiar place to stay. She knew Gene had spent the occasional night in there and they'd been on more than one stakeout in that car. It was as close as she could get to spending the night with him.
"I miss you, Gene," she whispered into the dark evening. Every now and then she was sure she could catch a whiff of his scent on the driver's seat. She felt sure she should have been home that night. Something had gone wrong and she had to find another way back. But in the meanwhile, she was as close to home as she was going to get.
~xXx~
1997
"Is this going to take long?" Robin asked as he followed Gene to his office, "only I need to explain to some twat called David why it is not possible to teach his dog to sniff out 'bargains in the January sales'."
"Won't take long," said Gene, "just needed to get yer professional advice on something. "
Robin walked through Gene's doorway and closed the door behind him.
"Has this got anything to do with a notebook?" he asked warily.
Gene looked slightly alarmed.
"Not if you want to keep all yer limbs," he said. He paused for a moment as he sat in his chair. "How did you know about that?"
"Simon warned me you might want to have a word," he said.
"Oh, he did, did he?" Gene asked. He looked at Robin. "You two speaking then?"
Robin looked down.
"Kind of," he said.
"Well I bloody hope you are," Gene told him, "because I need all the help I can get, Batman."
Robin pulled a face.
"Can you not call me Batman?" he asked. The murderous look on Gene's face made him gulp and instantly regret opening his mouth. "I mean, can't you just give me a different nickname? You call most people by their surname, don't you?"
"Yes," Gene began crossly, "but yours is just a bloody name! Everyone'll think you're called Thomas!"
"It's better than 'Batman'."
"It serves you right for having a bloody name as a surname," Gene told him.
"Then can't you just call me Robin?" Robin pleased.
"That would be too easy," said Gene. He scowled. "I'll bloody call you Mister Stringer if you're not careful."
"Oh, Simon would be well and truly impressed with that," Robin folded his arms and pouted.
"Look," Gene cried crossly, "I didn't bring you here for a debate about yer name - This is bloody important so shut yer facial letterbox and listen." He sighed and tried to stem his anger for a few moments. Eventually he calmed down enough to find his netbook and pass it across the desk to Robin. "Right. If the name debate is over then take a look."
Robin started to read down the list but it didn't make a lot of sense to him.
"Who's been painting pictures of Alex?" he frowned, "I don't get it."
"You might have noticed I 'ad a few things on me mind when you came to get yer laundry last night," Gene told him.
Robin sighed.
"Well that made two of us," he said.
Gene hesitated for a moment.
"Bloody hell, I forgot you'd knocked Stinger up," he said.
"Knocked her…" Robin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh, I bet Alex had a great time hearing all these euphemisms. Did you actually manage to use the term 'pregnant' at any point?"
Gene frowned.
"I don't remember you being this lippy last time you were here," he admonished.
"Maybe because I hadn't met Kim then," Robin said quietly. He bit his lip. "Sorry."
Gene gave him a warning glare for a few more moments, then got to his feet and started to pace.
"I had a shock last night," he began, "Like I told you at the time, bloody telly started answering me back."
Robin hesitated.
"Are they in league with these killer toasters or something?" he asked.
"No," said Gene, "there was a posh, mouthy tart on the telly who seemed to have a message for me." He sighed and sat back down. "Never had a message like that before. Bloody Bolly talking to me over the screen. He paused. "Told me Arthur Layton is the key to getting home. Said she needed my help."
"Layton?" frowned Robin, "that's a name I haven't heard for a while."
"Seems since he started it he has to finish it," Gene explained, "he put that bullet in her head, now somehow he's her way back."
Robin bit his lip.
"And he caused the car accident," he said quietly, "the one that sent her back before."
Gene nodded slowly.
"They say thing come in threes," he commented, "They usually don't mean scraggly little dealers who smell like compost though." He steeled himself to move onto the next point. "This morning someone left a daily rag right where I was passing and it as looking lonely so I gave it a new home." He reached for the newspaper but found nothing. He shook his head and frowned then started to search all over his desk, then underneath it, then around the rest of the room. "Shit! Some bastard's nicked me bloody paper!"
Robin hesitated.
"Well it does sound like you nicked it first," he pointed out.
"That is the kind of minor detail that will see you getting pieces of office furniture jammed into yer back, Batman," Gene told him as he continued to look for it. It quickly became clear that then paper had gone, taken by person or persons unknown. "So much for me big reveal," he stormed.
"Can't you just tell me what it said?" asked Robin.
"Could do," moped Gene, "not as impressive that way." He sank onto the side of the desk and rubbed his temples. "Deadly batch of drugs has been flooding the city," he said, "guess whose name came up in the story?"
Robin didn't need to guess.
"Shit," he whispered.
"Can't tell me that's a coincidence," said Gene.
Robin shook his head.
"No," he said quietly, "I don't think it is."
Gene looked at him seriously.
"Drake wants me to deal with Layton here to help her get home," he said, "so that's what I'm going to bloody do. Already got Fletcher transferring the search to CID."
"What do you want me to do?" Robin asked, "Do you want the dogs for the search? Because... Unfortunately, I don't think they're ready for that yet. Unless Layton's got particularly stinky feet." He paused. "Actually, leave that one with me…"
"No," said Gene, "I can't be doing with things that have got more legs than I have. I need yer help but not to find the twat."
"Then what?"
Gene hated what he was about to say. It put him on a side of the line he was highly uncomfortable with. He had been on the same side of the world for decades and knew where he stood with that. Now he was putting himself amongst the fruitbaskets and nutcases who ran screaming around CID looking for their offices. Or trying to recharge staplers, if they happened to be Eddie.
"This message bollocks," Gene began, "it's new to me. I don't do coded crap on the goggle box. No idea what I'm supposed to make of it. One minute I've got some Cheshire Cat grinning idiot with paint for brains making me Bolly's chest too small and the next Layton's invading teletubby-land slipping illegal substances into the Tubby Custard."
"What are you saying to me, Gene?" Robin rubbed his forehead, "you want me to get some Teletubby custard tested for tainted drugs in case Dipsy drops down dead in the middle of an episode?"
"Tell me how to get from where I am to getting Bolly back in me bed!" Gene snapped.
Robin stared at him. He shook his head slowly. He could feel his heart sinking. For someone who pretty much ran the world it felt like Gene didn't understand the most basic rule.
"I… I can't do that," he said quietly, "I don't know how. When I was here before you said you didn't know how I could get home. We asked what we had to do and you didn't know. We asked if it was anything to do with Nailer and you said it couldn't hurt but there were no guarantees. These are your rules, Sir, not mine. I can only guess…" he sighed, "…that they work the same the other way round too."
Gene hesitated. For the first time he started to really hate the ways of his world.
"Bollocks," he muttered. He reached for his flask. He'd known he was grasping at straws. Even if Robin or Simon had come up with a super sparkly idea about what they had to do with Layton it still didn't help him work out how Alex was going to get back from her side. He wondered if he was trying to take too big a step at a time. Maybe he was looking too far ahead. But he couldn't help it. He'd been without Alex long enough and now she'd given him a message he just wanted to see it through and bring her home.
"But I'll keep thinking," Robin promised him, "and if there's anything that comes to mind…"
Gene shook his head. He was fairly sure nothing would come to mind.
"You get back to yer four legged freaks," he said, "when I hear from Fletcher I'll bring you on board."
Robin nodded slowly.
"That's fine by me," he said. He was glad of any excuse to get away from the new dog unit for a while. Between dogs with a foot hygiene obsession and wanting to fall down a large hole every time he saw Shaz he would be quite happy to stick to beings of the two legged variety for a while.
~xXx~
2012
Alex felt fairly smug as she settled herself back into the car. She'd been on a mission. She'd managed to poach some blankets from a trolley in the hospital and purchased some food and drink for overnight from the hospital cafeteria before it closed for the evening. In fact, despite the circumstances of the day she felt fairly cosy. It was a bit like camping, she thought, except with less canvas and swearing from Gene when he tripped and got a tent peg up the arse.
She wrapped the blanket around her legs and tucked into a baked potato. It was warming and comforting which was what she needed right then. As an act of solidarity she had gone for the beans as a filling, despite her earlier comments about Robin. She silently made a wish as she ate them, that Robin would be back to his own home soon, too. If they could only have swapped places then everything would be OK.
When she finished her potato she leaned forward to place the empty container on the dashboard and felt her foot scrape something under the seat. She frowned, wondering what she'd dropped. Could have been a map or something, she suspected. With some difficulty, navigating her bump, she managed to stoop down and scrape it off the floor. It was a newspaper, which confused her. She didn't remember anyone buying one earlier that day.
It took a few moments to realise that it didn't have that day's date on it. In fact, it didn't even have that year on it.
"Oh… my…" she trailed off as she stared at the top of the paper. 1997 stared back at her.
Deadly Drug Sweeps City.
She took a deep breath. The paper hadn't been there before, she was sure of it. Someone would have noticed it. She felt a strange tingling sensation running down her arms as she stared at the headline.
Outside, the stars seemed to twinkle just a little more brightly than usual that night.
~xXx~
1997
It had been a long and difficult day for Gene. He hated being on the other side of things. He couldn't handle it. He just liked to live a normal life, go to work, insult his team, bang up a few pieces of scum in the cells, go for a drink to celebrate – all this strange message and riddle bollocks went against his nature and he knew he was doing a bad job of working out what to do next.
With some reluctance Fletcher had agreed to get Gene assigned to the case of the tainted drugs. He was still somewhat cautious about Gene's behaviour of late, not to mention his black eye, but it was good to see Gene fired up and passionate about something again, even if he didn't know why.
Eventually Gene had gone home and spent an hour plodding back and forth through every channel in the TV, waiting to see Alex appear but to no avail. A quick dinner of scotch later and he found himself on the verge of passing out with exhaustion.
However, as soon as he tried to lay down and get some sleep the fact that he was there alone, without Alex , started to get to him. He knew that it was going to be hard, going back there without her, but it felt unnatural. This time he didn't even feel comfortable sleeping on the sofa. It as Alex's flat first and foremost in his mind, and without her he just didn't feel right.
With a sigh he grabbed his scotch, his blankets and his Gameboy, then marched out of the flat. He trailed down the stairs and out the front door, across to his shiny new car parked just outside. It had stood him in good stead for a couple of nights. One more wouldn't go amiss.
He opened the back door and climbed inside. It wasn't the Ritz but, somehow, it felt right. And strangely, he felt closer to Alex right then that he had in months.
~xXx~
2012
Alex bundled up the coats of Kim and Robin which she'd found still lying on the back seat to behave like a makeshift pillow. She laid her head against them and pulled her legs up across the rest of the seat, stretching them out as far as she could. With the blankets around her and the heater that had been running previously she was warm enough. She closed her eyes and felt a strange smile wash over her as sleep descended.
In the split second before she felt asleep she felt for all the world as though there was another body pressed against hers; the bulk of a man shuffling and fidgeting against her. The air smelt of nineteen ninety something and just for a second she caught a whiff of something more. Maybe it was all the stress of the day, maybe it was the shock and the trauma, but for a moment she could have sworn it was manstink.
~xXx~
1997
The back seat was fairly comfortable and the blanket kept him warm enough. He'd switched his Gameboy off sometime previously when he'd failed miserably to beat his high score and had been on the verge of throwing the bloody thing out of the window. Rolling up his jacket as a pillow, he finally laid down with the top of his head pressing against the door and closed his eyes. Bizarre, but he felt warm. Warmer than usual. Like someone else was beside him, keeping him warm. It was strange but he could almost smell the scent of Alex's shampoo around him, even though he knew she'd never been in that new car. It was so strong that he opened his eyes briefly to make sure she wasn't really there.
No one. He was alone.
He closed his eyes again and shuffled down into the back seat to grab as much sleep as possible before a new day began and the Arthur Layton trail started to heat up. The stars outside shone with double strength that night. But his eyes were tightly closed and sleep had already started to drag him away so he didn't get to see for himself.
~xXx~
It was getting too cramped and he was squashing her bump.
"Gene, I need more room," Alex mumbled in her sleep, stretching out her hands to push him away. For a moment she felt something solid and real against her fingertips and a voice rang through her mind;
"Careful, you'll push me off then bloody seat, woman, you want to spend the day rubbing liniment into me bruised backside?"
With a gasp she jumped and her eyes opened wide. There was no one there, just her and her blankets all wrapped around on the back seat. For a moment she'd felt so sure... and it had felt so real…
Ad her heart was doing summersaults in her chest.
She closed her eyes again, as though she could bring back the illusion. Maybe it was all in her head but she felt sure she heard a dull thump and someone swearing. But sleep took over once again and the illusion faded into the night.
X
He landed on the floor of the car with a hefty thump and gave a loud 'Oof!' noise followed by some heartfelt swearing. He opened his eyes and tried to work out what in the hell had happened. One minute he was dreaming about Alex, just lying beside her, the next he felt someone push him and he found himself jammed between the back and front seats of his car.
"That was one of the most violent nightmares I've ever bloody had," he mumbled as he tried to un-wedge himself and haul his tired frame back to the seat where he sat for some time, his heart pounding and his mind racing. He knew it was stupid. He knew it was ridiculous. He knew his mind was running away with him, and after the strange messages the day before who could have blamed him.
But just for a moment –
No. he wasn't even going to think that way. If he even started to then the fact he was now there all alone would be even harder.
The starlight had played its games for one night but two worlds were edging ever closer.
~xXx~
You showed me how to do
Exactly what you do
How I fell in love with you
Oh, it's true
Oh, I love you
You showed me how to say
Exactly what you say
In that special way
Oh, it's true
You fell for me too
And when I tried it, I could see you fall
And I decided it's not a trip at all
You taught it to me too
Exactly what you do
And now you love me too
Oh, it's true
We're in love, we two
You showed me how you do
Exactly what you do
How I fell in love with you
You showed me how to say
Exactly what you say
In that special way
You taught it to me too
Exactly what you do
And now you love me too
You Showed Me – The Lightning Seeds