Thank you Jess, for your reviews, and I'm glad the little one liners are keeping you amused! As for Kirsty, she might redeem herself yet...or she might not...

Smithy watched the sky lightening, Hugo on his lap, purring lazily. He hadn't been able to sleep, despite the Temazepam still not being completely worn off. Okaro had dropped by, as promised, but only to see how he was, as there had been no sightings of Andrea or Kit. Footsteps came down the stairs, and he turned as Gina entered the room. Usually, the sight of his Inspector in her dressing gown would have made him die laughing; somehow she didn't look half as fierce without her police uniform on.

"How long have you been up?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't really sleep, so you could say all night."

"Come on Smithy," she said, sitting on the arm of the chair and putting an arm around his shoulders. "What good are you to Andrea exhausted?"

"I couldn't Gina. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was…"

"He's not going to kill her, Smithy. He does that, he has no leverage, and if Sam's right about Kirsty, he's going to want that."

"She is right," said Smithy. "It's the only thing that makes sense. That coward has kept her mouth shut all this time, and now look where we are."

"And we'll get it out of her, but there are no charges we can bring against her for any dealing in Venezuela."

"I know," he said. "But there are plenty we can bring against her for what she's done since."

"Sam's coming for me at ten and we're going to speak to her together. And no, you can't come," she said, as he opened his mouth to ask just that. "You're too emotionally involved and a complete liability."

"What's to stop me following you?" he said sullenly.

She shot him a stern look and he felt a tenth his size and hunched into his chair.

"That you trust us, as your colleagues, to get to the bottom of this," she said. "You being there is not going to help the situation. I promise I'll keep you informed."

She reached down and gave Hugo a scratch behind his ears. The cat raised his head, eyes closed, purring intensified. Smithy saw the smile on Gina's face and hid one of his own. She caught him watching her.

"Don't you dare tell anyone," she said. "I'll never live it down."

"Ma'am," he said, saluting her with two fingers, then his smile dropped. "What about Andrea's parents? Has anyone spoken to them?"

"Adam has. They're very worried, but I think he's convinced them to stay in Scotland, where they're safe, like Andrea wanted. Hopefully they'll listen and not come charging down here. Maybe you should call them, they might like to hear from you."

"I don't think they know about me," he said.

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Well, because…nothing ever really happened between me and Andrea. Nothing has. Just…one kiss. Once."

"Oh," she said, surprised. "I thought…you two…before her expose, I mean…"

"No," he said. "I wanted it, but she kept telling me no. When I was in hospital after Kit and his heavies gave me a hiding, she told me she had because she didn't want me getting too attached to her. Because she knew that I – we – would all eventually find out."

"Maybe that was wise on her part."

"Yeah, it didn't work though," he said. "I guess that's one thing I can thank Kit for; she finally let me in. But if he doesn't give her back to me…"

"We will get her back," Gina said firmly. "You know we will. Look, I'm going to make you a bacon sandwich."

"I can't…"

"You have to. Stay strong for her. Look after yourself, Smithy."

"Thanks, Gina," he said and resumed his stroking of Hugo as the cat butted at his hand.

"That's what friends are for."

"You're more than that to me, you know that."

"I know," she said gruffly. "But less of the soppiness, thank you. You know that's not me."

He grinned, unoffended. "At least not to everyone else."

"Like I said," Gina said and zipped her fingers across her mouth. "I'll maintain some authority, if it's all the same to you."

She gave the cat one last scratch under the chin and went off into the kitchen. He sighed. He'd always imagined the first time meeting Andrea's parents, and it hadn't been telling them their daughter was dead. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Kirsty lay still. Shed become vaguely aware at some point in the last few hours that wherever she was, it wasn't with Kit. She remembered her eyelids being opened, lights shining in her eyes, tightening on her arm and all sorts going on around her. All she could think of though was him, of Kit, and how he'd seen her plan coming, probably from the other end of the phone. She'd even told herself that though, hadn't she, when the doctor had prescribed those useless antihistamines? That he'd see through her, and he had. What had even been her plan? To drug him, then alert the authorities? No, and she was honest enough to admit that to herself. What she really hoped would happen was that he'd drink the wine, become incapacitated, so incapacitated that he'd choke on his own vomit, and die. Then he'd be out of her life, and every secret he had over her would go the grave with him. And nobody would know she had any hand in it, because, as everyone knew, he was a drug taking lowlife. But it hadn't worked out that way, and who knew where he was now.

"…fine example to set to your kid. Olly, right?"

Olly. He knew about Olly. Panic gripped her and she sat bolt upright, gasping, her eyes pinging open. Gina and Sam sat by her bed, surveying her coldly.

"Olly," she said. "I have to go, he knows about Olly..."

"And Olly is fine," Gina said sharply, pushing Kirsty back onto her bed as she tried to swing her legs out. "We've been in touch with the Peacehaven police. They have protective measures in place."

"He'll get around them, this is Kit! I need to get to my son!"

"Olly is safe," Sam said, her tone equally as harsh. "But Andrea might not be, not if we don't get to the truth."

"The truth? What do you mean by that?"

"Enough games, Kirsty." Gina said, placing her hands on the bed and looking her full in the face. "After your little plan to drug Kit backfired…"

"That's what he told you? You believe him?" Kirsty said, her tone heavy with defence, then her eyes widened as her brain registered Sam's words. "Wait, what about Andrea?"

"Kit's taken her," Sam said. "After your little plan backfired, as Inspector Gold says. Threatened to hurt more people, unless she went with him. That was yesterday afternoon and there's been no trace of either of them since. Kit also asked me to give you a message. 'You were warned'."

Kirsty's hands began to sweat and she tried to surreptitiously wipe them on the scratchy blankets. It didn't go unnoticed.

"You need to start telling us the truth, Kirsty, because you're in enough trouble as it is. Perverting the course of justice and covert administration of drugs for a start."

"Well he didn't drink it," Kirsty said sullenly. "More's the pity."

"Smithy did though, didn't he?"

Kirsty closed her eyes. She'd forgotten about that.

"Is he okay? I only gave him one, I swear it, and it wasn't to hurt him. I just needed him…not to be able to stop me."

"He's okay," said Sam. "But a paramedic Kit attacked at the scene has sustained serious head injuries. Kit threatened to do more if Andrea didn't go with him. He stole ketamine from the ambulance, the vial and syringe we found in the car he abandoned. We can only imagine he used that to subdue her, and we have no way of knowing what he'll do next. But I think you know exactly what this is about."

"I don't…"

"Enough, Kirsty," Gina said, so sharply, Kirsty jumped. "Enough of the lies. Too many people have gotten hurt for you to continue feigning ignorance. Kit told Sam to tell you that you were warned. Now, when I found you about to board that train to Peacehaven, you told me he'd been taunting you on the phone about knowing where you were, but that wasn't the truth, was it?"

"It was the truth. It just…wasn't the whole truth."

Sam leant forwards.

"You were in it too, weren't you? With Kit? Dealing drugs in South America."

Over. It was over. Kirsty felt the red hotness of shame wash over her, and still looking down at her lap, she nodded.

"Start talking," Sam said.

"It…it didn't seem like such a big deal, not back then. Everyone did drugs, it just seemed to be…I don't know, the norm."

"Everyone, did that include Andrea?"

"No," Kirsty said, shaking her head. "Never. She wouldn't touch them. And she'd not judge anyone who did either, but she never touched them herself. And neither did I, until we went travelling."

"Did she know? That you were?"

"I didn't do it around her, so no, I don't think so."

"And did it start with Kit?"

"Me taking them? Yes. And I didn't do anything heavy, I didn't do heroin. It was just some ecstasy, sometimes some coke."

She met the stony eyes of the other two women and knew she was trying to make it sound better than it was.

"So, at first, you just bought from him?"

"Yeah," Kirsty said. "Then, I started seeing how much he was getting from doing it. And…look, I know it's no excuse, but I'm one of five siblings. I never had much to my name. Everyone else around me had money, got what they wanted. I just wanted a feel of that, for once."

"And who did you sell to?"

"I didn't keep an inventory," Kirsty said sharply. "Sometimes you'd see the same faces, but I was interested in making a sale, I didn't want a character reference. Mostly it was just backpackers, like us. Sometimes natives to South America. Anyone who was interested."

"And it made you money?"

"Yeah," said Kirsty. "And it was great, at first. But then I realised I'd made a mistake, a terrible mistake."

"When?"

The face of the girl, convulsing, her lips turning blue as she struggled to breathe filled Kirsty's head and she pushed the image away. Kit surely had no proof that was her.

"People were getting hurt, from taking the drugs. But Kit, he was out of control, just wanted the money. He didn't care about that. And Andrea…he was getting more and more possessive of her, more obsessed. I don't know how she didn't see it, I mean, the man went with us all around South America."

"She was only eighteen."

"So was I," Kirsty said defensively.

"Are you really comparing dealing drugs to not seeing a controlling relationship for what it was?"

"No," Kirsty said quickly. "Of course not, I just mean…well, was he that good?"

"Why don't you tell us?" Sam said acidly and Kirsty's eyes dilated in shock.

"How did you know? Did he tell you?"

"No," Sam said, sitting back, one arm resting on the back of the chair. "I suspected, but you've just confirmed my suspicions."

"It was just sex," Kirsty said, looking down. "I don't think I even enjoyed it, really, and I was too stupid to see it for what it was for him; just another thing to have over me, threaten to tell Andrea all."

"So it was really about saving your own skin?"

"And hers," Kirsty said. "But yeah, maybe more so mine. I wanted out, and he told me there was no out. I knew my best chance was for Andrea to see him for what he was. I knew he was meeting someone that night for a deal, and I told Andrea we should see what he was up to. I didn't know he was going to attack the buyer though, but at the time, I just thought it was an added bonus, that she'd see his violent side too." She bit her lip pensively, then said; "but she already knew that, didn't she?"

"We know of at least one incident of violence prior to what happened at the waterfall," Sam said. "Andrea was supposed to see a psychiatrist friend of mine this morning, to try to recover any memories she may have repressed."

"He was completely obsessed with her. He still is. And when he found out about the baby, I knew he'd never let her go. You need to understand, he was no good for her. I had to get him out of her life. And mine."

"So you went to the police?"

"Yeah," Kirsty said licking her lips. "And yeah, I kept my name out of it. I've never claimed to have a spine."

"We've guessed," Gina said harshly. "And now the friend you claim to care so much about, is missing, with this man you know is dangerous. You need to stop the ignorance, Kirsty, and now."

"I don't know," Kirsty said, shaking her head. "I don't know where they are. When he called me at the hotel, he said he wanted his money, I told you that. That was the truth. I didn't have it, I told him that, and he said if I didn't get him what he wanted that…that he'd kill her. And make me watch."

"Why?" Sam said. "On top of everything else, reporting him, stealing his money would have been the final tug of the tiger's tail. Why did you do it?"

"Because I really did think he was dead," Kirsty said. "It was a high waterfall, I thought, there was no way he could have survived that. And because I wanted to, just for once, know the feeling of having money."

"Was it worth it?" Gina said.

"At the time? Yeah. Now? No." Kirsty wiped her hands on the bedcovers again. "What happens now?"

"We carry on our search, and hope no harm comes to Andrea."

"And what about me?"

"You'll stay here, under police guard until you're fit for discharge," Sam said. "And unfortunately, we have no jurisdiction over whatever you did in Venezuela, but you will likely be charged with perverting the course of justice and covert administration of drugs."

"I didn't want to hurt Smithy, I really didn't."

"Then you're very lucky that you didn't or I'd be coming down on you like a tonne of bricks," said Gina. "And if any harm comes to Andrea, believe me, I will. She might have made her mistakes and hurt people, but she didn't try to hide behind any excuses. She took responsibility. Two people are dead, Kirsty."

"I know," she said tearfully. "I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say."

"It's probably better that you don't," Gina said shortly and got up. "My officer will be watching you. Don't try anything stupid, like running. It won't end well for you."

She left and Sam followed. Kirsty buried her face in her hands, the tears pooling in her palms. She wasn't just crying for herself. She'd been holding onto these tears for the last decade; fear, self-blame, disgust and now, guilt. All Kit had to do was die that day, and the secret would have gone to the grave with him. Through the glass, she saw the face of a policeman watching her and turned away, tears soaking her pillow. She thought of Andrea when they'd been children, how they'd met on the first day of nursery. Kirsty had wanted to play on the trampoline and a group of boys kept pulling her off, laughing, saying it wasn't for girls. No nursery staff had come to intervene, and she'd been getting increasingly upset, and Andrea had marched over, looking as fierce as she could when you were five and had the unruliest mop of curls one could imagine, and told them to leave her alone. Something about her must have told them she wasn't to be messed with though, for the group slunk off to play on the slide, leaving Kirsty and Andrea to enjoy bouncing on the trampoline. Their first meeting had begun with Andrea defending her, and it had never changed. Andrea's loyalty to her had been unwavering, even when she didn't deserve it. Like now. She knew Kit; he wouldn't hesitate to hurt her, just like he had everyone who'd ever crossed him and even some who hadn't. She only hoped she'd be lucky enough to survive when he decided to strike.

Andrea's head was thudding. She tried to bring her hand to her temple, but they were bound behind her. She was surrounded by darkness, and blinked, trying to clear her vision. Either she was blindfolded or in complete darkness. Awkwardly, she made a move to sit up and her head collided with something hard. It did nothing to help her already sore head. She remembered then, what'd happened…whenever it happened. Last night? Two days? Even longer? Kit, forcing her to leave her house with threats of violence, then injecting her with whatever it was he'd stolen from the ambulance. Footsteps approached and light surrounded her, making her screw her eyes up. When they became accustomed to the light, she opened them and looked up into Kit's face and his blank expression chilled her to her very core. How had she never seen that before? Even if it had just been a holiday romance, she never should have gone near him, never should have accepted that drink.

"Morning," he said conversationally. "Glad one of us slept well."

"What was in that syringe? What did you give me?"

He just laughed and leaned down, dragging her from what she now recognised was the boot of a car, but it wasn't the one they'd driven from her home in. He caught her glancing at it and laughed again.

"Come on now, it would be very smart to keep using the car blondie saw me leaving in, would it?"

"And you really think they won't realise you've changed cars?"

"Well you tell me," he said "How smart are these people? In my experience, these cops aren't usually all that bright."

"Then maybe you've just met your match," she said and tensed when he brought his hand to her face. Instead, all he did was touch her lightly, the action making her flinch, then she remembered the sting of his fists, realising her aching head wasn't all to do with the drug he'd given her. "That didn't have to happen. You know I don't like hurting you."

"You do a good impression of it," she said, and he let go of her. Her legs were trembling and didn't support her; she sat down on the edge of the boot.

She watched Kit walk a few paces from her and took in her surroundings. It didn't appear to have very long gotten light; the sky was pink with the first suggestion of sunrise. It had been early afternoon when he'd ambushed them at home, and about an hour later that he'd drugged her. They were looking for her, she knew that, but he had the upper hand. Her feet weren't tied like her hands were, but she knew there was no way she could outrun him.

"Why'd you do this?" he demanded, turning back to her. "Why do you make me so angry?"

She looked at his clenched fists coldly and raised her eyes to his. He looked shocked at her steeliness.

"Grow up, Kit. I don't 'make you' anything. You choose what you do, that's not on me. Everything you've done, you've had the choice not to do it."

"We had something," he said. "In South America."

"No, what we had was a whirlwind romance during an emotionally charged time, and it may have escaped your notice, but I'm not eighteen anymore, and after what you did to me when we were in South America, I knew there was no way I could ever be with you."

"So, that's why you killed my baby? Revenge?"

She flinched; having hated herself for 'killing' her baby for all these years, and only just now learning to stop hating herself for it, it stung, even though she knew he meant it to.

"I never would have kept the baby, not even if we'd parted on good terms. I had plans; university, a career, and an unplanned pregnancy didn't come into my equation."

"So, I didn't even get a say?"

"I thought you were dead, Kit, how long did you expect me to wait for you to have 'your say?' Newsflash, a pregnancy is nine months, not ten years."

"I meant before," he snarled. "You just said yourself, you were never going to keep our child, so you wouldn't have even told me that you were pregnant if I hadn't found out? You would have just gone behind my back and had an abortion?"

"The only reason I told you is because you were threatening to 'get it out of me another way' if I didn't tell you why I was being so 'stroppy and secretive,' remember?"

He scowled; of course he remembered, she knew, but he didn't like to be reminded that he was the villain; that wasn't how it worked in his head

"I was eighteen," she said. "I wasn't ready to be a mother, especially not under those circumstances. What did you expect would happen if you hadn't fallen from that waterfall? That I'd wait for you to get out of jail and we've live happily ever after?"

"'Fallen'?" he said bitterly. "Is that how you remember it? I'm not the only one with a warped reality, am I?"

"I know what happened. I was there. Kirsty pushed you trying to stop you from attacking me."

"Oh yeah. That's the only reason she did it; trying to protect you."

"What does that mean?"

"You don't know her at all, do you? Or maybe you do, and just don't want to admit it. Tell me, when you stopped speaking to her, what exactly was it that she did?"

"Why do you want to know? It's nothing to do with what happened with you."

"Call it a morbid curiosity," he said. "Or, I know, let's see if I can guess. Let's go through what we know about her, shall we? She's greedy, she's jealous, not terribly bright…" With every point, he lifted a finger, and then lifted a fourth, giving her a spiteful smile. "…happy to screw people, even if they are attached to her friends."

He laughed when her eyes widened and he knew he'd hit the nail right on the head.

"So, she really doesn't change, does she?"

"You and her?"

"Yeah," he said casually. "And from your reaction, I'm guessing history repeated itself, but apparently this time, she got a kid out of it."

Olly. He knew about Olly. And…Kirsty and Kit? Her betrayal of her, then, had started way before she'd caught her with Marc, way before she'd stolen Kit's money. Her eyes filled with tears, but he misunderstood.

"If it's any consolation, it wasn't even all that good," he said and leant against a tree. "So who was the other guy, then? Surely not Mr Macho Copper."

"My fiancé," she said.

"Well that's even worse," he said, his voice dripping with sarcastic concern. "And you left her with Mr Macho?"

"Smithy isn't like you and him," she said. "He's a good person; he's loyal. He'd never do that to me, even if we were together, which we're not. Not that it's any of your business anyway."

"You're right," he said seriously. "Probably what he should be more concerned about is anything he says to you ending up on the front of a newspaper, right? I bet all those coppers are laughing over their doughnuts, now they know you were sitting on all of this after outing their secrets over the last year. Some might consider that a bit hypocritical."

"I know what it is," she said. "Unlike you and Kirsty, I take a bit of responsibility for myself. I don't enjoy hurting people. I'm not like you."

"Maybe you should try it sometime," he said. "I mean, the things you can do without the need to think about other people…it makes you…" he raised his eyes to the sky, as if hoping to find the word he was looking for up there. "…powerful."

"It makes you a monster."

He laughed, then whipped around as he heard the rustling of leaves, then from behind the trees, walked a dog, sniffing at the ground. Then they heard the voices, and before Andrea could even take in a breath, Kit was on her, hand over her mouth as he manhandled her into the boot. Leaning over her, he spoke in a low hiss as his fingers dug into her face.

"Don't even think about it," he said. "You just said it yourself darling, I'm a monster. Don't make anyone else see it."

He slammed the boot shut and she was once again plunged into darkness. He ran to the driver's side, and glanced over as he opened the door to see a middle aged couple watching him suspiciously, the man raising a phone to his ear as the dog stood by, barking. He got into the car and screeched away, seeing the man run after the car in the rear-view mirror and gripped the steering wheel hard. It was time to end this.

"Serge!"

Sam jumped, but didn't even have the time to get annoyed before Honey came running to her desk.

"We might have a sighting!" she said. "It sounds like it's them."

"When? And where?" she said, getting up, taking her coat from the back of her chair, Phil mirroring her move.

"A few minutes ago," she said. "Epping Forest, a couple walking their dog called it in; they heard the appeal on the radio."

"And they saw them both?" Phil asked. "Andrea and Kit?"

"From the description, the man sounds like Kit. They didn't see Andrea, just him putting something in the boot; they at first thought was a dog, but he was leaning over like he was talking to someone. They said he just looked suspicious and the moment he saw them watching him, he drove off. It has to be him though, the plates match the groundsman's car from Raven's Wood."

Honey's radio crackled and she turned the volume up; all of CID when quiet as they listened to Gabriel's voice over it.

"…all units from 416, in pursuit of a black Hyundai Accent, registration SE52 YTG, driver failing to stop, believed to be suspect, Kit Maynard."

Sam held out her hand for Honey's radio which she gave over without question, and Sam spoke into it.

"416 from DS Nixon, can you see Andrea?"

"Negative, Serge," he said. "The informants think someone or something might be in the boot, though."

Then in the background, they heard Tony's shout of indignation.

"416 from Sierra Oscar 1, what's happening?" Gina's terse voice asked over the radio.

"Maynard took a sharp turn Ma'am," he said. "We're still in pursuit, but we're now going the wrong way, repeat the wrong way down one way road, Rosamund Lane, over."

"Sierra Oscar from 661," Sheelagh's voice joined the distorted crackling over the radio. "759 and I are approaching Rosamund Lane from neighbouring road, Weaver Street, eta, one minute."

It was tense as they all listened, Sam and Phil still standing with their coats clutched loosely in their hands, to the sounds of the chase over the radio as the two police cars pursued Kit. Gina came rushing into CID, her own radio to her ear, and then they all jumped as they heard tyres screech, then the roar of metal hitting gravel, which seemed to go on forever. Then there was a silence that seemed to go on until Gina raised her radio to her mouth. Even though her hand trembled, her voice was quite steady.

"Sierra Oscar 1, what's happened?"

"Suspect car has crashed, Ma'am," Tony said, his own voice as steady as Gina's but his nerves shakier than jelly. "It's bad, the car's flipped. Ambulances required urgently."